Under the Hills near the Morava River By Gary Snyder
She lay there midst
Mammoth, reindeer, and wolf bones:
Diadem of fox teeth round her brow
Ocher under her hips
26,640 plus or minus 110 years before "now."
Burnt reindeer-pelvis bone bits
in her mouth,
Bones of two men lying by her,
one each side.
Gary Snyder struck by the strange burial practice of these three teenagers wrote the above poem, it came to mind when I put the little Neanderthal girl up, the practice of burial so many thousands years ago just allows us to speculate, and to be touched by what we think and see, the stories of course could all be very different. There is a link showing the skeletons here.
Life at the moment is a bit like living in no-man's land, a limbo of waiting for things to happen, this house has been taken off the market, and so has the one in Yorkshire, both wearing those signs that say sold 'subject to contract', surveyor and solicitor appointed from Whitby for us, and LS panicking are we doing the right thing! I return to spinning, very relaxing but cannot start sowing seeds which I find frustrating.
I meant to write about the Mayer Celtic mirror in the Isle of Man, it has an early first century BC date it had appeared as part of a museum display which ended in February of this year.
This flat bronze mirror displays a variety of sub-triangular and curvilinear forms with lobe patterns accenting the design. For the most part, the decoration consists of three circles, or roundels, in which three-sided voids are carefully situated. With the placement of the three roundels, a fused design is formed. This well planned placement of voids creates a triskele-like form in the circle on the lower right corner of the mirror. In the lower left circle, it appears as if part of a triskele is cut in half. Also, a roundel is visible at the tip of an appendage of this partial triskele. Just like the Desborough Mirror, the designs on the Mayer Mirror are asymmetrical. "The unprovenanced Mayer mirror, possibly one of the earliest, shows a simpler version of the lyre, a design executed with consummately economical craftsmanship"
This is Cyril, our squirrel having a word with Buddha, is he the culprit that is digging the soil out of my pot plants and destroying plants I wonder? or is it the doves, or maybe the magpie who knows - wretched creatures.
I think buying and selling property is one of the most stressful things. I have two friends, both widows, involved in the process at the moment and they are finding it so trying. Good luck with it all.
ReplyDeleteIt is very nerve-wracking Pat, but it will all unfold one way or another ;).
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