Wasn't that 'The Bishop of Llandaff?'

 I wasn't going to write today but something popped up after a discussion. Really to do with our changing viewing habits.  I am not a great television watcher but like to watch the older dramas featured on the BBC and ITVX.

I have just been watching Kate Jackson's (Last Homely House) tour round Heddon Hall's dahlia plants, though no chrysanthemums.  I just love these two species the chrysanthemums reminds me of childhood, their great mops of head in the cool colours of Autumn and that faraway smell.  The dahlias on the other hand have so much more colour and difference, from the single petalled to the quilled or pom-pom.

Well I pay for Kate's special videos, and a couple of others.  I also pay the TV licence though my daughter pays one for the house so I really don't need to.  She thinks I am silly to do this but the radio has been a companion all through my life, I feel that I am supporting this institution and should the Conservatives moan for privatisation - sod that.

But there is another world out there, podcasts for a start, people chattering away in a polite and courteous way to the camera on their computers.  The young less polite but zealous in their fury as to the likes of Trump for instance.

You have to find the middle road, for instance also listened to Rory Stewart and Alistair Campbell this morning discussing Argentina's new person in charge and then the Israel/Lebanon wretched news and where it all might lead.  

I have thought that should I have been caught up in any war then I would be a pacifist and go to jail for my belief that killing others is an unconscionable act, and yes, I do know the counter arguments. 

Off again of what I was thinking.....  

What we discussed last night was the pay wall, that is starting to appear more and more.  At first it starts with a coffee and then goes on to a monthly donation.  Some people even put their Amazon wish list on as well.  And sometimes they get what they have asked for.  A drone for instance to the two young people who are living a 'self-sufficient' life on a Scottish Island.  Brave young faces set out to that mythical land where you can grown all you need and be self-sufficient but it never quite pans out as they drive off down to the nearest supermarket.  But I suppose it is an experience ;)

And who is the Bishop of Llandaff? a dahlia I have never owned but would have liked to, it has dark beautiful leaves topped by a fiery red flower.

1st October 2024

 Well my daughter returned yesterday and brought me up to date of their wanderings round the towns.  First of all, Andrew rented another car, but again he was given an expensive model for the price of an ordinary car.  This time he got a blue Alfa Romero (penis extension car for men according to my daughter).  She wasn't terribly impressed because everyone kept looking at them.

Now the 'Wrinkled Stocking' cafe at Holmfirth was explained it was where 'Last of the Summer wine' was made.  A long series that seemed to go on for ever but it started in 1973 and finished in 2010.  It is crude, funny and over the top and there is a short video of Nora and Compo down below.  The wrinkled stockings of course belonged to Nora, heavy weight ugly lisle I think.

They also went to Newcastle and drove round, when I asked did they see any rabbits on the traffic islands my daughter looked at me askance.  But yes it is true several years ago when I went with Tom and Karen's ex-husband to see the university at Newcastle there were definitely little bunny rabbits hiding in the bushes as the cars whizzed round them.  I came a cropper at the entrance to the university, tripping over the pavement edge but it was more of a bruised ego than a bruised knee.

Tom of course did not choose this university, which was lovely, but went up to London to study like the rest of the grandchildren.  Newcastle is renowned for its bridges.

She brought me back some Bakewell tart they also visited this town as well, whether it was from Bakewell I do not know, but it was rather lumpy and did not have the exact measure (which I like) of jam underneath the ground almond level.  Somehow the stodginess of yorkshire pudding (not that one, the edible one) and Bakewell tart can only be found up North.

The other place they went to was Huddersfield, why I don't know but apparently it is not a bad place.  I just can't stand the word Huddersfield, always invokes in my mind the blackened grey of the municipal buildings that are such a feature of these Northern towns, they shout superiority at you reminding you of Victorian charity to the poor.

29th September 2024 - Words

"Psychogeography is the exploration of urban environments that emphasizes interpersonal connections to places and arbitrary routes. It was developed by members of the Letterist International and Situationist International, which were revolutionary groups influenced by Marxist and anarchist theory as well as the attitudes and methods of Dadaists and Surrealists"    Wiki interpretation.

Debby said something in comments yesterday about having to go and look words up and it struck me was my vague notion of the above word right?  I know this site,' The Smell of Water' well (I love his photos of the North) and have often looked at his photos of urban spaces and the particular and understood him from my own limited well of knowledge.  When of course I go to look up the word I find it further defined into other eccentric groups  and of course since these groups made in the 1950s universities have since moved on can psychography still be valid.  Its value as a word questioned but has it evolved, does it sit behind teachings of various subjects, for instance, archaeology.

I have by definition moved it out into the wider landscapes, here John Billingsley's talks are occasionally about 'The Coffin Paths' when in olden days the trip from the deceased's house would often follow a paved path across the moors to the church burial.  These pathways had an air of mysticism in the present sense.

Archaeologist have also created new pathways of thought patterns, subjectively titling them under such terms as Post Processual.  So that they can analysis evidence.  I see Christopher Tilley is one of its leaders in this country, and I actually like him ;)  But really my gut response to all this fancy labelling, is these people are just trying to dazzle us with their cleverness.

Geoffrey Wainwright and I think Darvill, both men of eminent positions in the archaeological world once did an experiment of acoustics with the stones in the Presceli Hills.  It seems to have disappeared off the net but it was very interesting. 

So I pick my reading carefully but delight in the 'otherness' of interpretation, doesn't mean I believe it but like that multi facaded silver ball that twinkles and shines on the dance floor, that is how I see the information that falls from the sky and you have to admit Psychography has very worthy ancestral roots;)

This and That  2014

Alternative Theories 2007

Silbury Hill 2008

28th September 2024

 They did things a little differently in Pictland

Psychogeography or the Smell of Water has been on his wanderings again.  And come back with these marvellous Hogbank stones from 'Up North' as you might say.  Early medieval with a strong touch of the Scandinavian influence.  If you peruse his blogs he has also been to the Kilmartin Glen, somewhere I shall probably never go to but am glad others do it for me!

I wrote about the Hogbacks at Lythe Church here.  Which is just outside Sandsend, which in turn is but a couple of miles from Whitby.  These early medieval coffin stones tell us of a settled community down by the sea.  The raiders had become part of the landscape.

The Monymusk Reliquary

26th September 2024 - more bits and bobs

Well a couple of photos from many years ago.  Wayland Smithy Long Barrow, you have to walk a mile or so to find it but one magical year I managed to capture it in Autumn.  The copper coloured leaves lay thickly on the ground and my dog Moss sits in a quiet silence willing me to move and start throwing the ball.

I also walked along here a couple of years later at a scattering of someone's ashes, with my friends and my son.  I had made him come along with me because I wanted to show him how I wanted my death to be, quiet and happy.  I remember it rained as we all sat under the trees.  We were a group of megalithic stone lovers, seems strange now but I have chased these old stones put up so long ago by people I can hardly imagine but perhaps best of all they filled my life with stories.

Wayland Smithy long barrow

Moss

2007 Blog

And some music.  Peter Maxwell Davies Scottish music always reminds me of the seas around Scotland.  Farewell to Stromness with its slow gentle tone is so different to Mendelson Fingal's Cave apparently Mendelson was terribly sick on the boat as they came up to the cave but the first bars of his music came to him and when he had landed back on shore demanded a piano to play it.  Another small fact.  J.M.W. Turner painted Fingal's Cave which was then sold to an American.  Who complained!! that it was indistinct.  Turner replied "Indistinctness is my forte" ;)

Fingal's Cave - Island of Staffa (youtube.com)

24th September 2024 - Hare Krishna everyone

Quietly Content;  I am old but still with it - plus one;) Do I ache? well my knees tell me something as I swing them out of bed in the morning but that soon disappears. I have my family around me; - plus 2 but I would be fairly happy to live on my own, with the present state of my body unimpaired.

So yesterday was a day in which being alone excelled.  First I baked bread, then I made the German potato cakes I love, alongside apple puree which compliments them.  Cleared the kitchen table, and laid out my latest quilt, checking the three layers.  There are two ways to attach the three together, one is just laying them one on top of the other, stitching the sides together and then binding them round the edges.  Quilting afterwards, the second way is to put the three layers together, one inside out.  Sew up the three sides and then turn the bottom layer over to its right side.  And yes that last has seen a few failures, my spatial awareness as always 'up the creek'.

My mind is always busy as are my fingers, knitting a jumper whilst listening to an audio book. I also ordered some tops for spinning, there is a huge choice out there in the dyed world.  So many creative people, young and old.

Someone said on a forum when another young person wrote asking if there were any jobs around. She said something that startled me, why don't you start your own business, how many have thought that when looking around for a job.

George Harrison of course

My interest in gardening was also given a spark this morning.  Did you know George Harrison was a gardener, in his youth he bought a huge run down Victorian House with about 30 acres of land, some of which was a terribly over run garden.  This place was called Friar Park near the town of Henley.  This house had been brought by a Sir Frank Crisp in the late nineteenth century, a wealthy lawyer and the gardens had been developed with a huge rockery.  

Rockeries are a thing of the past, they were built to emulate the high mountains slopes of say Switzerland, and many an Alpine plant has died a sad death in an English garden.  But those thrusting Victorians as the botanists sailed round the world capturing new and exotic plants, never let much stand in their way.

Crisp built an enormous rockery, tumbling waterfalls no less and at the top a representation of the Matterhorn mountain.  Imagination is what we lack in today's world, the rich in this country fleeing our shores and taking their ill gotten gains abroad where there is less taxing 😎 bless them!

I'm off track as usual.  To return to gardens, George and his wife Olivia restored this slightly crumbling mansion and its garden over the following years.  George had introduced a couple of goats to eat the wilderness away but of course not only did the goats eat the bad stuff they also ate the good stuff as well.  So there is no record of what Crisp planted.  But it has been brought back to its own glory.

Patthana Gardens

I love gardens but the garden I have been following on F/B belongs to someone in Ireland called Maher, they are the Patthana gardens.  The use of colour and then the soft shadings of gray and that soft yellow of grasses so beloved of this time of year.  His partner is the photographer and obviously captures the gardens in their 'golden hour', morning or evening.

So listen to Hare Krishna and remember when the world was in a slightly more innocent phase or at least was not bedevilled by social media.

Two more photos of happy family on holiday this week!  The restaurant was called "Wrinkled Stocking" and was in Holmfirth I think

21st September 2024 - As the year turns

Politician Bashing:  Fair is fair after all.  First the conservative party with their ability to reduce this country to a  pale ghost of what it could have been.  Their pockets are full - Austerity worked hurrah 😎no need to govern us anymore.  Sit on the sidelines and taunt the government now in office.

The Socialists, (who are not very good socialists by the way) now have the upper hand and have been dressing themselves in finery due to the largesse of a wealthy donor.  But they have promised not to do it again.  Then there is Rachel Reeves throwing out all paintings of men in the state room and only hanging paintings by women or of women.  Well maybe a clever trick but hardly something to get one's ire up.

On the sidelines we have the right wing  Reform Party, up and away, voted in by those who are indignant at various things that have brought this country down!! But probably are those in poverty with no way of getting out.  There are many bleak towns out there with people claiming benefits that just don't pay the bills.

I read yesterday that crime is down and giggled at the prisoners who were released early, moaning about the fact that they had not got the ankle locks which gives their location - very needy.

Home news is much happier, when my daughter messaged Lillie after her first week in London for a chat she was told too busy to talk.  Off to Scout's meeting in London, she also has a job in a bar come coffee place (barista skills are handy) and was also starting Uni that day.  So she seems to have settled in well, her brother and sister are keeping an eye on her but all good so far.

I am glad we are going to renationalise the trains and build more houses by the way and trust the Labour government will keep to its promises.

  As for more pay for train drivers, so a person who has hundreds of lives under his care is not allowed a decent wage - think about it....

My daughter at the moment can spend three hours travelling one way to Manchester because of the disruption of taking a bridge down on the motorway. Her travel  is synchronized  by the rail line with a coach but of course with the burden of heavy traffic the coaches often miss the trains departure from Rochdale.

20th September 2024

I have my computer back, hopefully unsullied by wicked Russians getting into my files.  Actually, statement here, there is nothing worth stealing in them!

What a maelstrom of things popping up in the bottom right-hand corner, most of which was my computer shouting help.  McAfee and Microsoft Edge kept flying through.  Andrew of course sorted it, glad that I had not pressed the button on anything.  Don't press the X or 'ignore' they are all lethal.

We had gnocchi last night and it provoked the following question this morning, is 'gn' old English?  Well consonant clusters are very rare at the beginning of a word in our language but apparently there are about 70 gn words in our vocabulary.

gn- consonant cluster at the head of some words; the -g- formerly was pronounced. Found in words from Old English (gnat, gnaw), in Low German, and Scandinavian as a variant of kn- (gneiss), in Latin and Greek (gnomon, gnostic) and representing sounds in non-Indo-European languages (gnu).

All this because I never know whether to start with the 'n' or 'g'.  The meal was good, mixed with several peppers and tomatoes.  I love the way language forms of itself with the intermingling of different nations.  Dalrymple captures it in his book 'The Golden Road'  Trade by India with the Romans is captured and exchange of goods brings beautiful silver and gold ware to different countries.  religions become modified too suit as emigres settle and take on new ways.

Also been reading Horatio Clare's 'Truant', it seems to cover his drug-taking years.  Lots of dreamy eyed narrative.  The one that made me laugh was the taking of a dog's medicine tablets.  Horatio nicked a couple of these Ketamine tablets but with his friends was not sure how to take them! 

The drug was explained to me by my daughter it is an anti-depressant but has a psychoactive effect on the brain.  My ignorance amazes me sometimes, though I can tell you about skunk, being very strong and addictive and that the  Fentanyl drug has pretty drastic effects on one muscles, and ends up in the 'fentanyl fold' . 

But enough, both books are fascinating, they explain things to me ;(  Is there any political news to pull apart. Farage is 'selling off' his share in the Reform Party, in fact I think today they are having a party meeting.  And he is not going to do surgeries in a local office for fear that he might be attacked like his good friend in America.  We all know that Farage doesn't give a hang about his constituency and will be up and away in America supporting another rogue.

17th September 2024

 Silly news:  Starmer was all gooey eyed over the female Italian prime minister, Giorgia Meloni and shopping for Armani suits whilst in Italy,  his wife on the other hand had a personal dresser to help with her choice of clothes.  And guess what? Someone else paid for the clothes - rich donors, tut, tut.

In the actual real world there are floods in Niagara and in Europe, Poland seems to be hit very hard. 

Having over the last few days tried to clear my email of surplus stuff, I foolishly subscribed to The New York Times once again, they had been nagging me!  Like a lot of people I do Wordle, but then go on to do the spelling bee. But they only allow me so many points then rush in with a subscription message, so I gave in.  My routine in the morning is to do one 150ish jigsaw, plus the others and not forgetting codewords.   

So my inbox has once again become cluttered with NYT emails, perhaps I ticked too many subjects. As for news from America I will skate over that, though that mud stirring Elon Musk should be put in his place.

James Ravilious A World in Photographs.  His father was of course Eric Ravilious and though James studied painting he liked the camera better.

16th September 2024 - Summoned by Bells

I can't resist it.  I went plodding through my blogs for 'Harvest Festival' blame Sue from Suffolk for that.  I was looking for the baked corn sheaf that was pulled out every year for Harvest Festival, and remembering Christina saying she couldn't remember in which freezer of the villagers it was kept.  But in very cold churches all over the country this traditional act of thanking Our Lord would unwind itself.  As a child saying grace before we started a meal was normal in our schools, not so much probably in the home.

Anyway I stumbled upon John Betjeman poem for Christmas.  Yes it is a bit early but he echoes so much of what I felt as a child when Christmas was on the horizon and we did find the corn sheaf looking immaculate after so much time in the freezer.  The above one though is from somewhere else.

Just as an afterthought and seeing the small mice on the sheaf, there was also another mouse in the church under the wooden font lid, the work of a famous wood carving firm in the area, hiding under the name of 'The Mouseman'

There is also another Betjeman poem in this blog about hungry church mice.  And just to add to the flavour, Jo ringing the bells at the Normanby church, which I believe has now been shut down.

Yesterday

John Atkinson Grimshaw

 The weather information early this morning said there would be strong winds at 11-o-clock. Which is very precise, soon the streets will glitter with rain and the trees become bereft of their leaves, perhaps this painting reminded me as to what too look forward to!  

Grimshaw was born in Leeds and lived in Leeds, in fact the above might be a Leeds park.  And he is seen as a bit of a cheat because he used the method of camera obscura, a lense to project scenes onto the canvas to achieve his paintings, apparently his perspective in his approach to his subject matter was weak.  As his Wiki says he was a painter of "nocturnal scenes in an urban setting".  

What cannot be denied though is the capture of light and the misery of darkening skies and wet slushy leaves under one's feet.  It reminds me of the cold days when you came out of school and had to make the journey home in the gathering gloom.

There is so much art on the net that you would think everyone is becoming an artist.  Craft work as well, in Japan craft is acknowledged under the UNESCO cultural words of 'Intangible Cultural Heritage'.  I just love the word intangible, the object is there but can you understand the work or craft that sits behind it.  All those beautiful Italian religious paintings represent hard work, both intellectually and physically and also of course training over the years.  

They are not just flights of imagination but dedicated hard work. In Japan the art of kintsugi, (joining with gold)  which is repairing broken pottery reminds us that all things have a history we do not need to throw things away. Though of course there is such a lot we would be happy to throw away because of bad design work.

I wanted a decent painting of a tree, or trees, but could not find one.  So as I thumbed through, this character on Lansdown came up. I was tracking Saxon history at the time.

Full of ivy but still standing proud.

Always have an elephant in the room

It wasn't raining.  Taken in Chelmsford

The Imperial Gardens Japan.  Think one tree is a 'cloud' tree

Matilda receiving her award

Rory is always a good interesting talker, especially when I am quilting. ;)

11th September 2024

A day has slipped by.  The 11th September 2019.  Five years since he left this Earth and he is still with me every day.  So to my darling Paul, this is what I wrote .  I could not cope with comments then or now but as he always used to say, he never knew what I was thinking till he read my blog ;).  

so thank you Geoff for reminding me.

10th September 2024

 I have nothing to write about really.  I notice the 'stolen goods' is out of the fridge, probably been thrown away as only Lillie likes steak.  The story is that someone came into the charity shop with no money and went to take some stuff.  She was apprehended, my daughter just tells them to go away and not come back.  But the girl did come back with this piece of expensive meat -'security protected' in exchange for the clothes she wanted.  My daughter found some clothes for free but obviously refused the meat but the girl insisted on leaving it, after all she had no where to cook it.  Is this England I hear you say? Stealing from a charity shop.

Working in a charity shop is good for all the students that volunteer to work there they get to see a different life. 

There are the rogues, there are the poor, and there are those who are always looking for a bargain to sell on and then of course 'ordinary people' who just want some cheaper essential clothing. Charity shops are a game, top designers are hunted for amongst the racks of clothes, football shirts, strange caps.  You may go in on a whim for a jigsaw puzzle but they are essential not only for the money they bring in but for a brief glimpse of the state of the nation.

The heating allowance is cause for concern at the moment, poor Starmer has lost all his brownie points alongside his chancellor who made the decision;  who should have it and who should not?  Well if I was in charge of the country (I know you are all grateful I am not).  But I should soak some of the rich buggers who have helped themselves from the till of the Treasury, I believe a third of the Covid handouts went into the pockets of those contractors who supposedly supplied a lot of the stuff.

Yes I know that is normal!  Simon Jenkins said this morning in an article that they could save the same amount of money from HS2 which still has money to be spent on it.  The Stonehenge Tunnel fiasco has been dealt (hopefully) a last blow and will not be built.  It was not a vanity scheme such as HS2 but its disruption of the countryside and especially the history of the landscape was too  big.

8th September 2024

 

A book recommendation:  Once many years ago I read a book by William Dalrymple, the sort of historical adventure book you can't put down.  He is an excellent writer, for a start he introduced me to Stylites.  Men who follow an ascetic religious life by sitting atop pillars in the desert. My mind grappled with the dangers of falling off the pillar once asleep.  Food of course can be winched up in a basket but it is perhaps a better fate than monks or nuns who choose to have themselves walled up in their respective monasteries for the greater glory of their God in Europe.

Well it is already on Audible and already bought so I shall listen to it as I work.

Early rise this morning, constant meowing in my ear at about 5, when eventually, I looked for what was upsetting Mollie, found she had been sick at the bottom of the bed.  She obviously wanted the duvet changed! Who invented the duvet? I know there is logic to changing one but as I carefully lay the four corners out of the duvet, and then offer up the duvet cover why does it always end up such a mess?

A review in The Guardian

7th September 2024 - Lillie off to London

 It is the big move today,  Lillie the last grandchild is moving to London to start her course in drama.  Her father will bring a van and all her stuff will be carted to her rooms at her accommodation.  Three large Ikea bags house all her new kitchen stuff.

It is a big day for my daughter also, the last chick has flown from home but as she has to work needs to catch the coach to Manchester.  This weekend on the M62 a railway bridge is going to be taken down, so not only the motorway disrupted but also the trains.  I can just imagine the trouble with Saturday traffic.  The journey for my daughter adds an extra hour on to travelling time.  According to the news it will only take two weekends on the motorway to dismantle the bridge, maybe they are being over optimistic.

A quiet weekend for me, though a friend is coming on Monday and Matilda is also coming down on Wednesday, she has already moved into the new flat with her friends, eyewatering rent to pay of course.  I have bought a ticket on Omaze (they are expensive) this time for a North Yorkshire house.  If you remember I bought one for a London house to accommodate the grandchildren.  Yes I know winning is nigh impossible but some of the money goes to charity.

There is a scandal over Ticketmaster upping the ticket prices for the latest tickets to the Oasis show, Marina Hyde wrote a scathingly funny piece on it in the Guardian.  Ticketmaster is a 22$ billion dollar company, obviously profit orientated ;) and don't forget the ticket touts selling on as well.

My book came - The Excavation of the Shrine of Apollo at Nettleton, Wiltshire, 1956-1971.  Though published in 1982 it is a perfect example of a an archaeological excavation neatly laid out in the form of reports.  Speculation kept at bay, with none of the who-ha of excited publicity we experience today whenever a 'new discovery' is made.

The funny thing Wedlake, the author, noted that there seemed quite a special feel to this little valley, as I had found out and perhaps the Romans as well.  The land originally belonged to the Dobunni tribe but they made peace fairly early on with the Romans in AD 43, their capital being Cirencester and Roman administration reverted the area to its control.

I have just discovered the following in the Wiki article which perhaps proves the special nature of the valley.  One piece of statue is of Diana the hunter with a hound.  Though the top half is missing

"Stephen Yeates asserts that a study of the religion of the Dobunni has shown that there was a focus on the worship of the natural world. It is possible to identify deities associated with the landscape, for example *Cuda, a mother goddess associated with the Cotswold Hills and its rivers and springs, and Sulis Minerva at Bath. Other cults were defined by social action, such as mining, for example at Lydney Park, and hunting, for example at Pagan's Hill near Chew Stoke."

So does 'Genius Loci' exist I wonder? or indeed the modern day version of it, the 'Spirit of Place'

And another question did the Romans build their temples over existing native places of worship, as did the Christian church on some stone circles?  The Romans cut down the sacred trees to be found in pagan towns, see France?? Also the tree being carried on the Gundestrup Cauldron

A reconstruction drawing of the Pagan Hill temple

Notes:  The search engine is such a good addition and I have just found what I was looking for in sacred trees chopped down.  It was St. Martin of Tours AD 3l6 to AD397 and this is what I culled from this Wiki...

"As bishop, Martin set to enthusiastically ordering the destruction of pagan temples, altars and sculptures. Scholars suggest the following account may indicate the depth of the Druidic folk religion in relation to the veneer of Roman classical culture in the area:

"[W]hen in a certain village he had demolished a very ancient temple, and had set about cutting down a pine-tree, which stood close to the temple, the chief priest of that place, and a crowd of other heathens began to oppose him; and these people, though, under the influence of the Lord, they had been quiet while the temple was being overthrown, could not patiently allow the tree to be cut down".

In one instance, the pagans agreed to fell their sacred fir tree, if Martin would stand directly in its path. He did so, and it miraculously missed him. Sulpicius, a classically educated aristocrat, related this anecdote with dramatic details, as a set piece. Sulpicius could not have failed to know the incident the Roman poet Horace recalls in several Odes, of his narrow escape from a falling tree."

5th September 2024 - carp

Streams and mountains beyond end.

This rather bad photo of a Chinese landscape speaks to me of a journey through a landscape.  It is housed in the Cleveland Museum in America, and dated 1100-1150, (I presume AD) Late Northern Song Dynasty.

I found it illustrated in a book of poems of Gary Snyder with the following Chinese poem by Ch'i Shan Wu Chin.

Clearing the mind and sliding in

to that created space,

a web of waters streaming over rocks

air misty but not raining,

seeing this land, from a boat on a lake

or a broad slow river, coasting by.

I am I suppose gathering thoughts together. Watching Liam's blogs on paintings flow by has made me think what do I like in art.  Well sadly not those 'brown' portraits of the eminent males in Europe, nor the flighty fancy of Roman inspired themes and Christian art leaves me very quiet.

Also add to this list of nearly about everything, is Japanese art as well, so why does the above, ink on silk by the way, move me, it must be about the idea of action through a landscape. It is a life that moves through the natural world of trees, rivers, mountains and lakes with a flowing water like movement until it comes to death standing at the end.  As a word jolts the memory so does a picture come into the mind without asking.

Gardens and flowers influence me, at the moment Monet, trying to catch the ephemeral nature of their shapes and colour. One of my inherited treasures is a silk cream piano cover.  It has a Chinese dragon embroidered on it with beautiful intricate flowers and butterflies surrounding it.

What I admire of course is the delicacy of the work; so many hours dedicated to it.

So as I wander through this morning's memories, I thought of the one painting that Paul had that I loved and took pride of place in the sitting room. 

It was a painting that stood in the entrance, maybe of a temple, holding evil at bay and not allowing it into the temple.

Two carp leaping among waves Tsukioka Shuei (1790-1830)

You can find the story of the carp here in this blog.

4th September 2024

I have just worked out what is happening with Mollie.  She missed me over the weekend away and now demands my presence near her.  Her furious yowling at the top of the stairs is explained.  Being 19 years old and deaf explains the rest of it.

Well today I trekked to the other side of town to get her food from Morrison, Purina's Gold pate, though she will eat the Savoury cake if there is nothing else on offer but there is a bit of  battle of wills over that.

I set off just after eight this morning, and walked down the canal, a certain coolness but sun and blue sky, ducks sitting on the side of the canal but no Canadian geese, obviously snoozing somewhere else.  Towards this end you come to a very cobbled path under the road.  But before that I noticed two great escapees of Russian Vine or mile a minute on the other bank.

Plant it at your peril, it is rampant and will happily push through everything even paving.

The narrow road between the steep sides of the valley had commuters going to work, up on the road restaurant owners were opening up and gave me a happy 'good morning', Tod was waking up, though yesterday there was a slightly different story to tell about the road.

The Morrison lorry on a too tight turn. Holding up the traffic for sometime

Narrow roads through steep wooded valleys do not make a happy combination. It took me sometime to find the things I wanted at Morrison, normally we have a fortnightly delivery from them. But they are expensive compared to Lidl and Aldi, Aldi is the one supermarket  I have never visited yet.

Home again to wait for Post Office parcels.  I had missed one yesterday because it needed a signature, so I waited in the kitchen for her.  Poor lass she was so apologetic about the signature, she had asked her supervisor could she leave it inside the door but of course he said no.  Have you seen the unintelligible scribble we have to put on a PO phone but I assured her that I didn't mind sitting around in the kitchen.  Three parcels came today, Lillie's of course and another one.

3rd September 2024

Over these springs Minerva presides and in her temple the perpetual fire never whitens into ash but as the flame fades turns into rocky lumps.   Solinus

I have been listening to music this morning, the soft tone of Nick Drake on a recurring link and then 'Blessings' which I will put below, for it will soften the furious bosom wherever it may rest.  Sadness has a healing aspect to it, the imagination wanders and we should be grateful for past memories.

I am glad I invested in a hard backed notebook, I copy out words that pass by and they are caught for evermore. The foolishness of gods at the great Roman temple of Bath as written by Solinus.  The coal came from just up the road at Camerton, silly how belief hits facts!

This morning Rebecca Solnit, gave a link to an essay writer who wrote about 'Why AI Isn't Going to make Art - Ted Chiang'.

It’s harder to imagine a program that, over many sessions, helps you write a good novel. This hypothetical writing program might require you to enter a hundred thousand words of prompts in order for it to generate an entirely different hundred thousand words that make up the novel you’re envisioning. It’s not clear to me what such a program would look like. Theoretically, if such a program existed, the user could perhaps deserve to be called the author. But, again, I don’t think companies like OpenAI want to create versions of ChatGPT that require just as much effort from users as writing a novel from scratch. The selling point of generative A.I. is that these programs generate vastly more than you put into them, and that is precisely what prevents them from being effective tools for artists.

Now when I write anything a nuisance little thing flies out from the corner as my co-pilot, (expletive deleted) if I accidentally touch goodness knows what. Andrew explained that my fears are unwarranted but words are having a very good time of it on social media.  Do like the fact that X + Musk has been banned from Brazil and Pavel Durov + Telegram has been arrested in France.  Freedom of speech unfortunately does not mean that speech is now truthful and factual.

But I must stop waffling, the freezer needs to be switched back on and the dry laundry folded.  Lillie leaves next week, but an old neighbour comes for a couple of days and also Matilda down from London.

Ruminations but I am not a cow!

I am sitting here slightly exhausted after having prepared tea for tonight. It involved pulling every scrape of chicken off the carcass then mixing in tarragon, mustard, cheese and cream. Vegetables and potatoes done.  So should anything happen in the next few hours, at least there will be a meal on the table.

Mollie my cat is very quiet, I wonder if she is on the way out, still eating and demanding to sleep on me through the night.  She had given me a rest from this the last few weeks by going to sleep in the attic room but now has decided that my room is better.

Listening to 'Ann Cleeves - The Dark Wives'.  It is rather good a 'Vera' story but less emphasis on her and more on her two sergeants, Joe and Rosie.  Perhaps the author is pensioning her off, real life actress has said she is leaving the series.

The terrible tragedy of the six Israeli hostages killed yesterday, their smiling faces not showing what it must have been like at all as hostages, who killed them is now being argued over. I have amongst my drafts the smiling face of Hind Rajab, the little Palestinian girl killed in a car.  All deliberate death is senseless and all break the heart.

Now I have hit a sad note, but not all news is good.  William Blake said something, and it really needs a philosophical answer because I am not sure he is right.  Joy by William Blake.

Joy and woe are woven fine,

A clothing for the soul divine;

Under every grief and pine

Runs a joy with silken twine.

It is right it should be so;

And when this we rightly know,

Safely through the world we go.

Well in the  safe but dull Todmorden, there are two/three big issues.  A Cycle track of about half a mile and of course parking near the market. How they rage those car owning fiends. Also against the pedestrianised crossings the poor pedestrians use - too many, too many. Just by pressing a knob, the traffic slows to a halt and we cross in safety.  Such minor problems but the breath of the moaning class.  

And what about mending the potholes for goodness sake says someone else and Josh patiently points out then rather then do it now, it is best to wait for all the utilities to dig their holes to repair everything and then to tarmac the road. And another complaint comes in, Hebden Bridge is being destroyed by the filming around the town.  This highlighting of the town is dragging in terrible stag and hen parties.  

31st August 2024

 Garden video

Well Andrew managed to upload my video from the phone to the camera.  Of course obviously he can as computers are his work.  Now I go round singing to myself "Hey you get off of my cloud".  The earwig for the day!

I notice it is on a rolling link, and no interruption between stopping and starting.  It is there purely for family entertainment and is 8 minutes long.