Today is the Queen's birthday, and though I would rather prefer to call myself a socialist rather than a royalist, Happy Birthday to a grand old lady. The photo by Annie Lebovitz looks like a beautiful old master, the soft colouring of the background furnishings emphasis the sweet faces of her grandchildren and great grandchildren, the little one holding the Queen's bag reminds you of those 18th century picture of family groups. Three children even have 'modern' names, the world certainly moves on.
The Queen with her great-grandchildren and youngest grandchildren. From left: James, Viscount Severn; Lady Louise Windsor; Mia Tindall (holding the Queen's handbag); Princess Charlotte; Isla Phillips; Prince George and Savannah Phillips.
But as I saw this on Facebook news, other news is hardly as peaceful and The Independent's Drone video of the destruction of Homs shows we should not lean back in contemplation of one family's good fortune but look to the many millions of people in Syria who have faced such horrors and are homeless. It is as if the good things are matched by evil happenings in the world. What I find so sad as I make bread and scones this morning between writing, is that the women and children do not have a home where cooking is part of the family's daily activity.
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Changing History. Bridge Farm
Meeting with Elizabeth; Her family owned Bridge farm, her grandparents ran a mixed farm, she reckons that the land is not really suitable for arable farming. It was a sad day when the farm was sold years ago, all the beautiful old furniture was put out in the front garden for auction.She reckons that the farm is not worth the 2 million that it has been put on the market for, the vegetable garden has gone and in fact all the garden is stripped back to bare minimum, the house to me looks most unloved. The outbuilding's roofs are collapsing as well, it potters along as a working farm but that is all. Her parents and grand parents are buried in the church yard.
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| Someone needs a haircut |
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| Butterbur amongst the violets, (see how it grows in straight lines it must be stoloniferous) on a small patch of ground that escaped the tractor. |
My views on the Royal family too Thelma. But one cannot help but admire a woman who really has devoted her whole life to what she sees as the service of others. Privilege means that none of them have to consider where the next meal is coming from, or what to cook for lunch; they habe numerous houses and move between them at will.
ReplyDeleteI have a friend who lived in Aleppo for three years some years ago and she speaks of what a lovely city it was - lovely people, happy children. Now it is just a complete ruin. A whole generation ruined.
It is as if we live in a fortress sometimes locked away from the real world of terror and war. Someone said of last weekend, that BBC only concentrated on 'two people sitting on a bench in India' yet a protest meeting of 150,000 people about austerity was not remarked upon.
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