Creating a space

Thoughts drawn together; Or, "clearing the mind and sliding into that created space"  I have two pretty granddaughters both entering the world as independents.  They are not defenseless but well aware of the world around them but then things do happen. Lillie came back  last night she was worried about a man who sat down beside her on the bus when there were plenty of empty seats, this wasn't the first time he had done it.  Matilda got harassed by someone on the internet, luckily she is a student amongst other students who come from the good and worthy families of this country.  And one of the fathers had a contact with the FBI and the wretched  man  disappeared off the net.  So no matter how careful we are, our young are vulnerable.

But earlier that day I had been perusing my F/B page and looked at Rebecca Solnit column and found out that there is an ongoing thread about bears, comparing the danger of bears killing woman - 8 and men killing women - 12000.  This of course in America.  It led me back to Smokey the Bear, I have copied Gary Snyder's Smokey Bear  here. 

Most men act round women in a normal day to day way, but there are a very small percentage who view, and a great deal larger amount in other countries, who see women as inferior (no jokes there please).  Picking up the thread who view women as prey.  I doubt that it will  be otherwise, and for all the talk of cancel culture, wokeness it will always be there.

Actually yesterday I listened to the problems of teenage boys on Woman's Hour as to how to approach females when they wanted to go further then a chaste kiss - always there are more problems than answers!

Still it brought me back to Gary Snyder and his poetry - 'Mountains and Rivers Without End'

And just something musical.  A rather sad but silly green protest on You Tube

Bits and bobs

 

In the darkness

This is a print by Jane Tomlinson and though it has a childish element, it reflects some of my life.  It represents the birds, animals and megalithic stones that slowly revolve round in my head.  I can see Silbury Hill, Wayland's Smithy long barrow, the Uffington Horse.  Though I have never quite worked out the white oxen (which you can't see for reflection).  Jane also does maps, and has even won an award for her Shipping Forecast one, which you can find here.

The basket, it has turned slightly asymmetrical but normally it has a straight top

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The other thing I have been looking through are the churches we visited, and now I have worked how to get photos up on my blog.  The ones below was an ideal talking point, in my head at least;)

So what caught my  attention this morning.  It was pudding stone in Essex.  Essex as a county, as is most of the Eastern side of England, a megalithic stone desert.  Yet they do crop up here and there, like Alphamstone church (but is it a stone circle???) which is presumed to have a small glacial outcrop of stones down y the River Stour.  And here at Little Baddow church.

Now if you are building a great cathedral or abbey, the stone would be quarried from one place, there would be an uniformity of design, yet in these small country churches you used whatever was to hand.  Old tumbled down Roman villas, Saxon churches and any local stone you could find.  This of course was flint, and its neatness was banded into the wall. But there are also courses of pudding stone.  From a distance it looks like mussels clinging tightly to the rock.

In the link below, the archaeologist refers to possible sites of ritual significance in prehistoric time, and it is definitely one of the things to look out for when walking round churches.

I think the Pewsey church in the Pewsey valley in Wiltshire the most sacred of spots with its old Yew tree and the wooden covers that hide below the great stones that once may have been a stone circle.  One religion crushing another.

 

Christianity makes it slow progress to convert  the heathens

Pope Gregory's answer to a letter from Augustine in the 7th century as they tackle the native paganism in England, converting the Anglo-Saxons.

"Because they (the English) are in the habit of slaughtering much cattle as sacrifices to devils, some solemnity ought to be given in exchange for this. So on the day of the dedication or the festivals of the holy martyrs, whose relics are deposited there, let them make themselves huts from the branches of trees around the churches which have been converted out of shrines, and let them celebrate the solemnity with religious feast.
Do not let them sacrifice animals to the devil, but let them slaughter animals for their own food to the praise of god, and let them give thanks to the giver of things for his bountiful provision."

Alphamstone: Were these ice age rocks an ancient sacred place? - BBC News

29th April 2024

 We had a power cut this morning.  For a short time we had the fun of candles, though of course it was getting light.  Also, the Aga produced tea and toast without any problem and then of course the power came back  at 7-0-clock.  It knocked out the internet, but was eventually righted by turning the router off, leaving a couple of minutes, and then turning it back on.

Our willow lessons went off very well, now I have a small basket for my patchwork, but will admit that Joe our teacher wove much of it.  It is much more difficult than I expected, the different stitching seeming to change every ten minutes or so but our teacher Joe was superb, and so patient.

The willow classes are had in the Willow Cafe, so we can get any drinks or food downstairs, I had a delicious Vegan puff pastry, when I crashed out yesterday with hunger,  I have a tendency to faint, if I am not fed regularly;)

Weirdly enough there was someone from Bath there.  She said it with a short 'a' in typical Yorkshire way, I say the long 'A', which of course sounds more pretentious and is always picked up by someone who will mimic me. But believe me it goes against every grain in my body to speak in a flat tonal.

Joe was obviously a great expert on willow, and she sees it as having a spirit of its own.  One thing she said was that climate change is affecting the willows as well.  There were some lovely colours,  from a coppery one, to the shiny grey edging on mine and a dark green band in the centre of the basket.

26th April 2024

 I did a silly thing yesterday, deleted (by accident) my links on the side bar.  But there is always a silver lining to be had when you make foolish moves.  I found extra Paul's blogs.  His most important one being the Megalithic Poems one.  He collected them over the years on The Modern Antiquarian, though I see the idea has happened elsewhere, or at least they have copied the idea but that is good, it puts the poems out into the world.

So over time I shall remember the names that used to be on the side and trace them, I have already started and it is a very enjoyable journey.  Over the weekend I do my weaving course in willow basketry at the aptly named Willow Cafe.

25th April 2024

 Well this is not a rant but an observation.  In this household, people order things. Parcels come to the door regularly and as I am the only one in the house I have to be on alert to hear them.  So slightly worried I have notes stuck to the front and back door, one which says 'knock loudly'  the other please slip the parcels inside the door.  All our 'eco' stuff comes through the post, so it is not all frivolous stuff.

So, when the two came back from Switzerland last Monday, my daughter had ordered a takeaway for tea. My granddaughter answered the door to the driver and he mentioned the note.

Well lots of the drivers make jokes to me as well and it doesn't worry me at all, but Lillie was obviously embarrassed and said why did we have to have to notes on the door. 

We could have a bell I suppose, but there are strong stone pillars on either side which are terrible to drill in, as we found out when I demanded a number on the door for said drivers to find us! Someone mentioned a wireless doorbell but I rather fancy the CTV camera in which you can watch your dog use the doorbell which tickles me but we haven't got a dog only a resident deaf cat who can't be let out.

I feel for these drivers as they stand on the doorstep in the pouring rain, trying to keep on schedule for a heavy workload, it is hard labour and we should speak out against it for better pay and working conditions.  Technology has given us good tracking systems so that a delivery can make its way straight to your door through Google guidance. 

We have in this town pick-up points for parcels, at Morrison and Lidl supermarkets, the train station and 'One Stop' so the underpinning of another change in how we live is slowly being evolved.

24th April 2024

 Sometimes just sometimes I could scream at the internet.  Today is one of them.  QR codes, can I upload from the medicine company I am trying to establish my ID with - no way.  It all began...... when my  BP pills prescription had not come through.  So I thought to order privately, a hopeless task and probably by tomorrow or next day the order will be cancelled because of zero ID and hopefully I should get my money back.  On phoning the doctor's surgery, they had never received my prescription but have promised my pills in two days.  Wonder if someone nicks the prescription forms out of the box, I do like a drama ;)

The other thing that has happened is that when I went to have the lenses in my glasses changed, only one lense on two pairs of glasses, the girl who did it on my two pairs of glasses got it wrong, so now my short sighted glasses have changed to my long sighted ones.  So another trip on the bus to Hebden Bridge.

Actually if I want to go on the train alone without a family member I am stuck if I do not have my train ticket on my phone.  But A) I don't know how to do it and B) my phone seems to go dark when outside and I need to change my glasses - this is followed by a lot of swearwords!

I managed when we changed gas years ago and I managed when we went on the metric system but I am damned if I can manage my phone!

Minor rant over.

Hocking Hills State Park

Then I went downstairs for lunch and found a postcard from a dear friend in America which cheered me up.  So thank you Loie, I know you sometime read my blog.  Sadly in this country the mink you mention would probably be shot.  Eating local creatures and especially the water vole makes it a vicious predator.  I see they are American, the mink in England got out because unfortunately the mink were in fur farms.  They were released by people to give them freedom and have colonised our river banks ever since,

But indeed the park is an incredibly beautiful place with all its waterfalls.

22nd April 2024

Inclusive or Exclusion?  Guardian article

"Lord Pannick, a British barrister and a crossbencher in the House of Lords whose opinion was commissioned by several members of the club, said that the pronoun ‘he’ is interchangeable with ‘she’ in the law, meaning the club’s current rules already allow women to join."

That made me chuckle this morning.  There has been some action over the male only Garrick club in London, and everyone has been getting their knickers in a twist over it.  Several outstanding females have been proposed to join the club, including Dame Mary Beard.  Though she has said should the male members of the club rule otherwise she will accept it and not legally challenge.

There is an argument for women joining the club, though I am sure its austere interior and subdued talk will not go well with the ladies tinkling talk, but that is just a small matter.  There does seem an unfair advantage when the 'great and good' males of the country exclude women from the top jobs that are obviously discussed and commented on within its austere walls.

I am listening to Nick Drake at the moment to banish from my head the Abba songs.  These earworms are such an annoyance and I shall be glad when the BBC stops reminding me of them.

Voice From the Mountain 

21st April 2024 - this and that

Cabinets of Curiosity: There was and is, a great desire to collect bits and bobs.  It doesn't matter what but a good way of displaying those small finds was a cabinet and I see that there is a small exhibition at The Folklore Centre just round the corner.  I will give you the title and then explain a couple of the words....... Museum of Monotropism by Tzipporah Johnston.

Monotropism is a "Monotropism is a theory of autism that explains how autistic people tend to have their attention pulled more strongly towards a smaller number of interests"

I think many of us might be so inclined but it is one of the things identified over the last few years.  And now for that gorgeous name, how do you pronounce it for a start?

"Tzipporah is a feminine name with  Hebrew origins, originating from the name Zipporah and is ultimately derived from the Hebrew word Tzippor meaning 'bird'."  

Well there's the explanations, learning something every day is not a bad thing.  As I went to a meeting yesterday I did not look at the exhibition (it is very small) but listened to the speaker dutifully.  And learnt what I had already thought that there wasn't much of a history about springs on this side of Yorkshire, or their magic.  There  again it would probably take a few more years of my life to track the necessary history down.  Michael Dames said something relevant about the logical and analytical work of the archaeologist as opposed to a much freer reign of thought.*....

 "the historian R. Hutton, summarises the beneficial effect of the analytical approach to the goddess, favoured by pre-historians: ‘She has been blown to pieces for ever by them. There is no possible answer to their analysis.’  Analysis again!"

It is very true that archaeologists abide by their discipline and do not stray into the land of imagination, and definitely from their secular views into the house of religion.  But the once head of English Heritage, Geoffrey Wainwright moved to the Presceli mountains in his retirement and listened to the music of the stones ;) though of course in reality he was trying to find the exact quarry where the bluestones of Stonehenge came from.

* That statement is not quite accurate, after all there are books written on the 'warrior' cultures and the prehistoric cultures of religion but they often follow each other ideas and there is only a few archaeologists that seem to break out of the mold of recording the physical finds, which is probably a good thing anyway.  After all who wants woo-woo ;)

19th April 2024

Here I sit drinking coffee with Mollie glaring at me sitting at the window.  What have I done? Given her one of the tins she doesn't like.  So when she gets cross, she will do something wicked in her estimation.  Either claw the settee or the carpet.  If I tell her to stop, I sometimes get an angry very loud reply.  The battle of food has begun!

A name came to mind this morning, an author I had read years ago, the word esoteric would perhaps be applied to him.  He is described as a mythologist, spanning the world between archaeology and myth.

I read a lot at one time, and because of my blog was able to record the books I read.  Perhaps a name would be in order, Michael Dames, he published a lovely book on Ireland which I can still remember, and he tackled Silbury Hill as well. It is his book on Silbury Treasure that I must have read, it is full of imaginary vision.  Making Silbury into a mother goddess and whether you want to believe that or not (I don't) but it definitely stretches the mind.  

I wrote a lot about it at the time, especially as English Heritage was tunnelling into the hill to mend a hole that had mysteriously appeared at the top.  Alisdair Whittle had written a book on what was found inside, a concise thorough archeological survey - Sacred Mound, Holy Rings - which I managed to get from the library, he listed the plant material, you will find it here, the plants buried beneath the chalk material of the hill.  You will find that there were 'strings' radiating across an inner barrow which was outlined with small stones.

 

 

North Stoke: Tuesday and memories

North Stoke: Notes on the word Kennet

North Stoke: Miscellaneous

North Stoke: Silbury Hill seeds

The Silbury Monument Michael Dames (artcornwall.org)

20th April 2024 - Springs

Rabbiting" Richard Armer:

"You don’t grow old in Yorkshire.

The Dales are ageless too.

You’ll walk amongst the heather, drift into a different age.

The gorse and bracken timeless they free you from the cage.

The rivers, streams and tarns will forever fill your dreams.

So take a walk up the fell and be a child for good.

A day amongst the Yorkshire wild will leave you feeling how you should." 

Later today I am going to a meeting on Springs and Wells at the Folklore Centre so I thought I would look up a couple of 'sacred' wells that I had been to. The first is 'Old Wife's Well' near to Wheeldale and just before you go past the supposed old Roman Road...... taken from here

Signs of modern day acknowledgement of 'sacredness' with the clooties hanging

The other one of course is the Swallowhead Spring in the Avebury area, with a great deal of sanctity with modern day pagans.  Springs are quite interesting there are some around Silbury Hill which maybe one of the reasons the mound was built.  I shall have to study spring lines which seem to go through the landscape joined together?  It makes you think of ley lines if you are that way inclined.

The two streams or river and stream that meet here belong to the winterbournes, which means they only appear in winter.  I love this willow, a true Tolkien tree, but not for its clooties which I find rather ugly.  Unspoilt nature is what I prefer.  I remember coming to this spot and a good Christian had put up an angry typed missive accusing paganism of goodness knows what. I took it away.

The configuration of Swallowhead Spring can be found on the map on Michael Dames thesis here 

It's all about stones

This is not really interesting to most blog readers, but Jennie asked a question and I started pondering;) 

Taken from the following site

The Oxenham Arms Standing Stone

The other day I came across on a website a large standing stone within the building of a pub on Dartmoor.  So intrigued I went looking, not much information on it, I think because archaeologically it is impossible to gain any insight into it.  It had obviously been there when the house was built and embraced in a wall rather than take it out.  It is a large stone and there is, written down, talk of it going 26 feet deep.  The Rudston Monolith situated in Yorkshire had similar depth I believe.

Rudstone Monolith

The story goes that there was a religious site on it and in the early 14th century the land was taken over by the Burgoyne family and it became a manor house.  Turning now into a very fine pub.  Though I looked for archaelogical stuff on it, there was hardly anything, frazzled by Pastscape and when did British Online History devolve to encompass everything I did not need to know? 

The stone stands there mysteriously in the wall, enormous for this end of England which is Dartmoor but surprisingly near to other prehistoric bits and pieces, which includes a stone circle and a ceremonial path way of stones.

All intriguing of course, did some religious person centuries ago come on this great pagan stone and decided to Christianise it, and slowly it became a focus to build round it.  Just like the Rudston Monolith of course, posed so near to the church.

There are always a lot of questions to be asked and answered in the prehistoric world, Tom provided one the other day when he said how did they manage to balance a heavy capstone on two support stones on the Carreg Coetan Arthur cromlech.  I expect it  was slippage of the other two stones, and the weight bearing of the capstone just settling down over the centuries.  In fact the stones went down another metre into the earth, or probably to be more accurate it was accumulation of soil on top through time.  What we see today is not the 'actuality' of 5000 years ago. 

Someone's impression on it on The Modern Antiquarian site

The Pointed Stone in the Icy Corner

16th April 2024

A moss garden.  Not to be walked on but a place to contemplate and meditate

Mostly this is family news.  How I wish that people all over the world could sit down and write with joy about their family, the heartbreak is almost unbearable.  Tensions come and go.

We had raclette for tea last night, the Swiss poor man's cheese and potatoes dish we all love, though Lillie cooked some steak on the top of the raclette oven.  Eaten with pickles to breakdown the cheese in your stomach, never forget to do this, and drink wine or tea as well.  End of raclette sermon.

My daughter is off to Switzerland over the weekend with Andrew, she will be carrying English extra mature cheddar for her aunt who has requested it.  The cheese basket in the fridge was so heavy when I lifted it out yesterday I thought she was going to start a cheese shop.  Karen brings back the Fondue and Raclette cheeses and chocolate; chocolate which is so expensive and I am not sure that it is any different to good chocolate you can buy in this country.

Nestles, as I remember, was in Vevey, and there were plenty of British expats around who worked there.  And of course 'grandpa's church' where he was church warden. 

The only other thing of interest (to me) is that we are due to have elections of mayors.  Andy Burnham, mayor of Greater Manchester is standing for re-election again.  Sure he will get in.  I noticed from his last missive that he belongs to The Labour and Co-operative Party which I presume is left of centre and a step down from Kier Starmer's more right wing presence.  Also, another mayor to watch is Tracy Brabin, again a member of the above political party.  Is this a move away Up North from the stridency of Starmer.  We belong to a group of wards and have five candidates to choose from, my choice will be between Tracy Brabin or the Green Party member.

Will we have the old values of the Co-op resurfacing round here in our mixed communities?  Devolution maybe, okay I am joking, but Manchester could rival London any day.

Another two members of the family are out in Japan, Tom and Ellie are spending two weeks there, both in Tokyo and Kyoto.  I can see their photos on Instagram.  Paul said I would never cope in Tokyo with the great rush of people in the city and the packed trains. I get rather panic-stricken in big cities and towns much preferring the little country towns, especially round North Yorkshire.

An old blog

Cloud bushes - Imperial Gardens

15th April 2024

I have been slightly down the last few days, life is quiet and the news in the background holds  a threat.  I get told to get out of bed by 7 0 clock in the morning by Mollie, so that she can sleep on it in peace and quiet and I begin to wonder should I be ordered around by a cat. 

I have been watching lots of The Last Homely House videos on quilting but somehow I think it is more a way of life they are projecting a bit like that American old series - Little House on the Prairie, but the family have comforting overtones.  The other video I am watching is about 'at home surviving in the wild' and about a Scottish couple, who are looking after a small cottage on a tiny island.  What is rather magical about it is the layers of history in this small snapshot of an island that is just off the land by a loch.  

The first thing you notice is to live the self-sufficient life you need an awful lot of stuff to survive, and expensive videoing equipment to record their daily life and support it.  Yes, well........ I suppose the pioneering spirit still lives on.

Outside the wind rattles away and the rain falls heavily on the Velux windows and the weather gets colder.  I have been doing a bit of sorting out.  Each year I make a note of the clothes I have and see what else is needed, obviously another rain mac would not come amiss.

We all wait, not exactly with baited breath, for a date for the next election.  Lillie wants it after the 10th June, her birthday, when she will be 18 and ready to vote.  Andrew Rawnsley says we should not be too worried about Labour getting in and the money needed to be spent.  Perhaps we have all turned into worryguts over everything, but £16 for olive oil from Waitrose? okay that was a joke, Lidl sells it at £6.

Magpie habit of picking things up

Things I pick up along the way, or taking a leaf from someone's blog .....

The Buddha of Eternal Light

 “When the wind blows, the downy willow seed floats away” is a Zen koan 

Guess what these scissors are used for?

Chateau.......? Think Byron

Nature's first green is gold,

Her hardest hue to hold.

Her early leaf's a flower;

But only so an hour.

Then leaf subsides to leaf.

So Eden sank to grief,

So dawn goes down to day.

Nothing gold can stay.

~ Robert Frost

And perhaps Bede for I love the story of the sparrow flying through the Saxon hall telling us that nothing really changes.

“The present life of man upon earth, O King, seems to me in comparison with that time which is unknown to us like the swift flight of a sparrow through the mead-hall where you sit at supper in winter, with your Ealdormen and Thanes, while the fire blazes in the midst and the hall is warmed, but the wintry storms of rain or snow are raging abroad. The sparrow, flying in at one door and immediately out at another, whilst he is within, is safe from the wintry tempest, but after a short space of fair weather, he immediately vanishes out of your sight, passing from winter to winter again. So this life of man appears for a little while, but of what is to follow or what went before we know nothing at all.”

 Bede - The Ecclesiastical

6th April 2024

In between making my patchwork squares, and thoroughly enjoying it I take a break and read my latest book 'Thursbitch' by Alan Garner.  Garner is thought of as a children's writer but many of his later books are well written literature with an air of mystery around them.  Of course he brings 'the stones' into it, he comes from Cheshire and this latest book explores the geographical naming of a prehistoric track in Cheshire.  He does this through two points in history.  The first is an old tale of a packhorse man who froze to death on the Pennines.  The other path is through a modern couple who walk the hills, though the wife is seriously ill.

A moment of clarity came when reading about a ceremony, was it prehistoric? I am not sure but it was a frightening gathering.  A head is taken from a cave, the head is called Crom.  Stone heads figure quite often up North.  Of course the head is the seat of wisdom, and probably sticking the head of your enemy in battle on a pole, signifies good defeat.

But, and believe this or not.  Have you heard of a Cailleach - the old Celtic hag that has powers.  Well it is said that there is one shrine to her down a deep valley in Scotland.  Her shieling is called Tigh Na Bodach at Glen Lyon and it takes several hours of walking to get there.  But every year the stones that represent the family are moved out of their shieling home between Beltane and Samhain and then moved back for the winter.  You can read the story here.

So just sometimes stories of magic do exist, though it is rumoured that the gamekeepers on the estate move the stones.  There are some 'Easter Island' stone effigies in Ireland as well, slightly outside the Celtic era.

Crom Cruach: According to an Irish dinsenchas ("place-lore") poem in the 12th century Book of Leinster, Crom Cruach's cult image, consisting of a gold figure surrounded by twelve stone figures, stood on Magh Slécht ("the plain of prostration") (pronounced Moy Shlokht) in County Cavan, and was propitiated with first-born sacrifice in exchange for good yields of milk and grain. Crom Cruach is described as a wizened god, hidden by mists, and is said to have been worshipped since the time of Érimón. An early High King, Tigernmas, along with three quarters of his army, is said to have died while worshipping Crom on Samhain eve, but worship continued until the cult image was destroyed by St. Patrick with a sledgehammer.

Interesting that Crom Cruach was surrounded by twelve stones because it is said that Tigh Na Bodach had at one stage twelve stones. There is a wiki here on him but follow through to Crom Dubh

references:

Eight-Foot-Tall, 1,600-Year-Old Statue of Pagan Deity Found in Ireland | Smart News| Smithsonian Magazine

A You Tube video on the god Crom

Crom Dubh

Jotting down thoughts

 Murr Brewster always cheers me up with her wit and this morning she was brilliant.  I leave you her blog.  Politics at its best, I always thought politicians were there to govern the country for the inhabitants of that country.  But in America as in our country, it is all talk of bringing the other side down.  They should make a game of it, Trump has the money but not the brain unfortunately.

The other blog that caught my eye was Bensozia's blog - Inside the Prophet's Hat.  It will set you thinking about your own beliefs, and in my case, the need for some mystical happenings in the world.  So what do you see inside the hat I wonder? it's rather greasy interior, or maybe a marvellous new world into which you can step.

I had asked that question with the Easter holidays hanging over our head.  Why was Tolkien a strong Catholic and whether C.S.Lewis was one also, no, apparently more of a strict Anglican. 

How can intelligent people be Catholics I wondered, a faith built on small stories, or do they see something different to us. 

This morning, and isn't it better news that there is a movement from the law makers of this country to challenge the government on its refusal to face up to the genocide in Palestine and do something about it.

But to get back to Catholicism, it is no different from the early religions, whose patterns are often reflected in our Christian faith, for there are standard parts to fix your star to.  The moon and the sun, reflected in gold will tell you the time of year.  See the Coligny Calendar from Roman/Iron Age times and then brood for a while on the fact that we are now going to give the moon a time frame...

“An atomic clock on the Moon would tick at a different rate to a clock on Earth. It makes sense that when you go to another body, like the Moon or Mars, that each one gets its own heartbeat.”

There is magic in the world.  Well perhaps not in the physical world but in our hearts we want more than the daily boredom of our lives.

2nd April 2024

Shibden Hall;  My long awaited belated birthday present from Andrew, a trip to Shibden Hall in Halifax.  We went by train and 'ubered' up to the park.  As we got off the train at Halifax about 30 odd young teenagers got on, they were heading to Harrogate for a football match there, they were Gillingham supporters. Noisy, proudly clutching beer cans they pushed their way onto the train.  They'll grow up one day;)

An Uber was summoned, in all these for hire cars I have been in, the driver is always from the Asian community, who are kind and courteous by the way.  Around the cities of the North, an Uber will arrive probably within 3/5 minutes, the buses will have to pull up their socks if they want to compete.

We got dropped off at the park, and had a meal in the cafe there. It was a very big park, noticeable by the amount of dog walkers and young children who were being paraded around.  Yes a lot of them ended up in the cafe, an Easter Monday treat. Creamy cockapoos were noticeable by the dark brown muddy legs they sported.  Many must have been due for a bath on arriving home.

Shibden Hall, this is where the famous lesbian Anne Lister lived and was the star of 'Gentleman Jack' not so long ago.  I haven't watched it, but I did watch the first episode last night.  They had managed to feature the hall in  bucolic green scenery which I thought was clever.  There is a coach crash at the beginning (dramatic effect) and then Suranne Jones in her role as Anne rolls in as the tough lesbian, driving the coach from York back to Halifax.  The driver had had an unfortunate accident, I did switch off when she shot the farm horse though at the end.  Though of course I know it did not really happen in real life! 

You will see from the following photos, that the hall's dark interior is due entirely to wood panelling, it gave a somewhat cosy appeal to the small rooms and must have been quite warm to live in. There was a beautiful magnolia tree on the front lawn, buds waiting to break and I hope Jack Frost keeps away, the flowers of magnolia always degenerate into a slimy brown when they die.

Anne Lister was obviously talked about, mostly for her mannish ways, she got 'married' to a wealthy young heiress to improve the estate of Shipden Hall.  She kept a secret diary written in code, but her brother deciphered some of it after her death but hid the diaries away.

Not forgetting, that my daughter went down a steep muddy bank to collect some garlic leaves, which were turned into a great pesto for the evening meal. She also found the following: when we say 'night, night, sleep tight' it goes back to when ropes underslung the mattress of the bed.  Make sure the ropes are tight!

29th March 2024 - Spring

Sitting Hare by Charles Tunnicliffe

Raised in the Catholic faith by a Jewish grandfather who had adopted me, no wonder I look on Easter with a quizzical eye!  Completely non-religious as I am now I still enjoy the pagan festival when we acknowledge Spring with eggs (okay chocolate ones are not very exciting) and images of hares.

But each year I will bring forth this story about Saint Melangell, for it captures the goodness of looking after animals, the moment the Prince stops killing and Melangell steps forward to save the hare.  I often wonder if Boudicca also raised a hare to the skies as she led her people into battle against the Romans.

The lovely story of Saint Melangell and her little hare. She was the daughter of King Cufwlch and Ethni of Ireland and she fled to Wales to escape a forced marriage. She settled in Pennant at the head of a valley, and whilst one day sitting in a clearing she heard the sound of a hunt, dogs and horses galloping up the valley. This was Prince Brochwael of Powys hunting hares. As she sat a hare came into the clearing and Melangell hid it in the sleeve of her dress to protect it. When it peeped out the dogs fled, and so the Prince gave her the land on which he hunted, and she lived at Pennant for another 37 years and no animal was killed in her sanctuary. Hares were known as wyn bach Melangell or Melangell's little lambs, and to kill a hare was an act of sacrilege.

This morning a beautiful hare painting went through a forum, it was outlined in gold and it reminded me of how Paul would delicately take the little sheets of gold to highlight a scroll, tamping it down.  Gold is splashed easily over the painted surface of Mary and Jesus, it shines like the sun at Spring.  So my favourite depiction of a hare by Charles Tunnicliffe, golden in the light of the sun, basking quietly away is the heading above.  

I have two prints of hares both by Colin Blanchard, he gouges his wood printing block out and writes words with the artwork, on the one he has written ----

"Spring witch passed through the edge of the wood then bidden by a blackcap and watered by a willow warbler's trickle the ground turned green where her feet fell."

Looking back through old blogs, is a mostly happy experience and I see from that date I wrote the following---

So my print has come home, Antony did a good job on framing, a dark blonde wood with a pale green matt.  It seems strange amongst the Japanese prints, and has replaced an old painting we bought from a local dealer.  This old painting has a history of falsification, a print over painted with oils, but it is very Yorkshireish.
When I look at the 'Spring Witch' it will remind me of the pale lemon of the primrose in Spring, it will remind me also of scouring the woods for mushrooms, but most of all the words will remind me to accept the fact that witches, fairies may not exist but it would be magical if they did. ;)

Last night I watched a video from the 'The Homely House' about a small clutch of 'makers, or crafters'.  What do you call them? artists maybe. The person who had done a small painting lived in a wooden 'Hobbit house' for goodness sake, must look up that video!

So as an end note, I say welcome Spring, primroses and hares for they are the sign of renewed hope.

27th March 2024

 "Verified" What do we mean by that? that what we are reading is a truthful and honest account but how many minds has it gone through filtered by the prejudices our minds and also others apply.

At the moment I am listening to Robert Galbraith, (pseudonym for J.K.Rowling) book called 'The Ink Black Heart'.  Some would argue that it is to do with the battle Rowling had with the transgender row, now voraciously picked up by some of the young to justify whatever they think fit.  University lecturers asked to resign from their jobs because of clashing with their students over the use of terminology when they address the student's gender.  All complicated and rather minor, given today's real problems with people starving in Gaza and the other wars that surf the world.

The book itself, through the crime detection of Strike and his sidekick Robin, is longwinded.  This of course due to the long conversations that go on in forums. Rowling says that the book was written before the uproar about what she had said had arisen.  She sticks with what she originally says and of course the fuss will die down.

Computers were invented. But someone forgot to write the rule book and laws that would appertain to their use thereof.  We are terrified of A1 and the ability to change photos and words is rather frightening, but how do we police it? Or does it need policing given that the human race is very vocal anyway.

Computers have changed our lives and probably for the better, it has unfortunately unleashed the evil side of mankind as well and eventually cyber crime will warrant real live prison sentences.

Gender Dysphoria

Hind Rajab - not to be forgotten.

22th March 2024

I wait: My nerves slightly on edge, okay all I am doing is going for my appointment at the opticians, but will the bus get me there on time I panic.  We will see. Also two parcels are coming this morning, I have left a plastic box with lid for them to go into at the back door.

The wind is chill coming down from the North, there is talk of snow sometime - normal weather.  Matilda left for London yesterday moaning about the cold.  I pointed out maybe the bare midriff did not help, but fashion rules in this house, except of course me.

Lillie has just gone off to Rochdale, it is the last evening of the college's play - Sweeney Todd, we have hardly seen her this week, as she leaves early and comes back at 10 in the evening.  She takes an Uber every night, her mum is not happy with her walking through the streets of Rochdale for an unreliable bus.

I look round the room which is a cluttered mess of my stuff but...if...I was tidy there would be nothing to do or read.  Patchwork, knitting and reading are I consider  my hobbies.  

Then of course the computer, the saga of the church graves still goes on.  The new vicar was in a past life a barrister so she should know the law of the church.  The volunteers who have worked hard at tidying the graves, are now contemplating removing one large plant stand and the gravel which they laid so neatly.  Must admit it is all intriguing, after all it measures out into what will happen to our redundant churches.

We wander round the lichen clad gravestones with a feeling of awe but they are falling into slow decay, the wording indistinct with time as are the people who occupy them.  God's Acre should be host to the wilderness of native plants, tidy grave yards are a bore and sadly take up land, is that why we cremate and have our ashes thrown to the wind I wonder.

Well on that dour note I shall leave for the bus ;)

 

21st March 2024 - Carreg Coetan Arthur

Thumbing through photos again I came across most of Paul's photos.  He must have asked me to upload onto my computer for safety.  I first visited this perfect little cromlech in 2007 and many times afterwards.  Paul's photos capture the same images.  You will see how the capstone balances on the tips of the upstanding stones.

"When people write about this small dolmen they talk of mushrooms and fairies, and it does indeed sit tranquilly in its own little garden surrounded by a surburban small settlement of bungalows. Coetan Arthur was excavated in 1981, there had been a build up of plough soil over the centuries and in fact, the stones would have had another metre added to their height originally, making them much taller than they are today. There are four stones theoretically supporting the capstones, but only two are in contact."

How they lifted these heavy capstones on to the standing stones heaven knows, but it is still standing delicately balanced.  I have been listening to the Must Farm videos, several of which are on fabrics.  There was plenty recovered, but all black from fire and decay.  But interestingly according to the conservator finely woven (26 threads to the centimetre).  plants as well as animal wool was used, the weaving done of course on standing looms the warp threads weighted down by stones.  This can be found when all the wood has  disintegrated, the stones still remain in a straightish line on the ground.

We think of prehistoric people as miserable, ill-dressed with scruffy hair, well that maybe describe me, but often evidence unfolds of well made garments, specialty hairstyles and a comfortable way of life.  All the cromlechs situated along this Pembrokeshire coast had access to the sea, and land for their animals.  True the land was not much good for arable farming, but the gut contents of many a deceased prehistoric person showed a variety of seeds eaten.