Author: humanist55

21st December: Ten Things of Thankful

humanist55

Ten things for which I give thanks this week…

1 – I am thankful that, although I still can’t post pictures from my computer, directly, I have found a workaround and so I am back in time to wish you all a Merry Christmas…

2 – We have had a few great sunrises the last few weeks and in this part of the world – “Red sky at night – shepherd’s delight, Red sky in the morning – shepherd’s warning!”

3 – In other weather phenomena – here is a rainbow that greeted me on my arrival at work and also to be seen, the local mosque – evidence of how multi-cultural Bradford is…

4 – And inside work, we have a new cleaner who has brought in some greenery to brighten the windowsill…

5 – And still at work – I managed to catch out some colleagues with the following photo – I told them I had been on a quick trip to the Arctic Circle to see the Northern Lights and snapped this from the plane – in fact, it is a photo of the ice build-up in our gelato freezer, turned upside down lol…

6 – Last week, there were still a few apples on this roadside tree – looking for all the world like Christmas baubles – oh and I picked up a few windfalls which have grown and ripened since last time I harvested some – talk about a late harvest…

and here is our own Christmas Tree ready to rock and roll!

7 – The Winter Jasmine is flowering – tiny flowers with a delicate scent…

8 – Most of the food shopping for the twelve of us who will be here on Boxing Day is done…

9 – presents are all bought and wrapping is under way and one especially for Clark ” What type of music do sana’s Elves listen to at work?
Rap!”

10 – Here in England, if you are lucky enough to have a local branch, Christmas begins when you hear the Salvation Army Brass Band playing Christmas Carols…

Have a Very Merry Christmas Everyone!

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Christmas Tableau

humanist55

Rowland Hilder trees
pepper the landscape
and last week’s snow drifts
still lie in the shade
of the drystone walls
of the Yorkshire Dales

Farmers bring out feed
for the hungry sheep
kids complain now schools
have reopened
but coming Christmas
buzz is in the air

Householders spaff light
in competition
to claim the prize for
showiest display
of unnecessary
Xmas symbolism

and “Once upon a
midnight clear” is lost
to light pollution
and so for Twelve Days
each village will glow
with Christmas fever…

How should we weigh up
cultural tradition
against the cost to
the environment
– consumerism
out of all control

Let’s strip it all back
to the heart of things
remember that love
is of the essence
and all we need to
light up our landscape…

© Andrew Wilson, 2025

Winter Landscape by RowlandHilder

Over at dVerse Poets Pub,  Laura Bloomsbury in Meeting the Bar: Critique and Craft, invites us to paint a poetic tableau using a fixed poetry style entitled The Tableau – created by Emily Romano in October of 2008

Poetry Style:

5 beats/syllables per line

1 or more verses

6 lines per verse

A Tapestry of Trouble…

humanist55

Two crowds of demonstrators
facing off across double lines
of harassed, interfacing riot police
each crowd spouting the bias
of whichever media feed dogs
have been pushing their buttons
there is much darning (and worse)
as the police struggle to keep
them hemmed in whilst a journo
darts in and tries to buttonhole
some talking heads for the news
needles his victims to say something
outrageous but the crowd gathers
round and rips into the man with
the microphone, who wishes he
was home this Saturday afternoon
taking a nap instead of mining
this admittedly rich seam of
newsworthy division – newsworthy
though hardly novel – politicians
of both sides have been dog-whistling
immigration to whip up votes
for decades – a pattern that no amount
of careful work with a seam picker
– will undo and ease the tensions…

© Andrew Wilson, 2025

Over at dVerse Poets Pub, lillian in Poetics, invites us to use a list of words from the world of sewing, albeit with a different meanings…

Depression

humanist55

The granites and schists of my dark and stubborn country form the bedrock of woe that has lasted a lifetime, just waiting to poke through the drift that was built up in more active days. The strata built of depositing a family, laying down a career, the metamorphosis from one relationship to another and the occasional intrusion or outflow of molten anger or passion, built a land that seemed impregnable. But tears are relentless and oceans rise and fall, cutting into the margins and then came the ice age of retirement, the weight of ice depressing the whole and stripping all away except that bedrock and leaving even that, scarred and scratched, rounded into the low hills of the bed where I lay and even the black dog has no energy to venture out on the soggy moors that cover the degraded granite hills.

© Andrew Wilson, 2025

“The granites and schists
Of my dark and stubborn country.”

–Nan Shepherd, “The Hill Burns”
from In the Cairngorms (Edinburgh: The Moray Press, 1934)

Over at dVerse Poets Pub, merrildsmith in Prosery, invites us to write a piece of prose poetry in no more than 144 words and using the given quote above. I should say that the subject of this piece is not my experience but that of someone close to me. As a student of Geology (and Geography) I am aware that Scotland, which is where you find the Cairngorms, has had a remarkable persistence through many geological ages and each age has added layers which may subsequently been removed in another geological age – I am not sure whether this does not give an ultimately optimistic view of things even if it requires a timescale in which we humans may turn out to be but a flash in the pan. Anyway, a metaphor suggested itself with this prompt… I hope it does not bring anyone down…

07 December: Ten Things of Thankful

humanist55

Ten things for which I give thanks this week…

1 – There is a cake shop in Keighley, my local town, whose window always displays the most amazingly decorated cakes and this is their Christmas window display. I always stop to admire their work but this time I went in for a couple of homemade Mincepies and a chat with the utterly delightful owner…

2 – I completed the last demonstration piece of weaving on my loom – Satin Stitch. Now it may be hard to imagine that this is the stitch that produces all those shiny Satin finishes, but that’s because I was using very thick cotton yarn. So perhaps this example might be better called Weft-faced Weave. Then below, is the reverse Warp-faced Weave which is exactly what you see on the reverse of Weft-faced Weave… It is a form of exaggerated twill where the Warp skips over 5 warps before being tied in by a single stitch. If this was done with tiny, shiny silk threads, it would indeed have a shiny, satin finish.

3 – I made a Persimmon Cake yesterday and I have another in the oven as I type. Barbara’s brother went on a cruise many years ago an took up with an American lady, Cindy, and had a long-distance relationship for a couple of years. If she came over at this time of year, she would bring Persimmon Cake made to a secret family recipe which she would not reveal and which I have been trying to emulate ever since – there being plent of recipes on the internet to choose from. Als I can never achieve the moist, rich fruit cake style of Cindy’s family recipe – but the results of my experiments go down well each year nevertheless…

The Persimmon cake wrapped and drizzled with rum, ready for the family on Boxing Day…

4 – Barbara managed to make her coffee date with her best friend Jan on Friday!

5 – Jan uses the tote bag I helped Barbara make for her, every day! She says it goes with everything! FYI – furnishing fabric…

6 – A nice repeat shot of our Kunafa Cheese Bomb at the factory – don’t worry, the only thing this bomb can damage is your waistline! For those who don’t know, kunafa is having a moment – it started with Dubai Chocolate which a chocolate bar filled with Kunafa (like a very fine shredded wheat) toasted and mixed with Pistachio Sauce. Our Kunafa bomb is a pot lined with Kunafa, filled with sweetened cream cheese and sealed on top with more Kunafa – in the words of Weigh-watchers and the Pet Shop Boys – “It’s a Sin!”

7 – Found a Christmas present fo Barbara which I know she will like – I always want to choose something for her to wear but she never likes the things I choose so I am playing safe with this one 0 remind me to tell you what it was, after Christmas…

8 – Just checked the cake and lowered the temperature and put it back in for another 15 minutes – smells good! (You will note I am reprting gratitudes in real time here)…

9 – Barbara’s daughter is sending a stream of lovely videos of her trip to Bali which it seems is centred on a yoga retreat – so a happy bunny…

10 – Managed to think of 10 gratitudes for this week…

Have a lovely coming week everyone!

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Life Goes On

humanist55

Heather Cox Richardson sours
my morning with further news
of the outrageous disregard
for law which is building a
classic dictatorship and
encouraging other wannabe
authoritarians around the world.

I leave to do the weeks shopping
my neighbour, supervised
by his wife, is remodelling
a wooden box into a trug
for an exhibition of snowdrops
to be held in February.
Life goes on…

© Andrew Wilson, 2025

Today is Open Link Night over at dVerse Poets Pub which today is hosted by  Björn Rudberg (brudberg)  – a chance to post a poem of our own choice…

Dragonkind

humanist55

What should a dragon look like
whose myth should we believe?

Western myth has them dark green
plausible giant lizards with wings

Oriental Dragons scarcely feature wings
but writh through the skies like golden smoke

Tolkien’s Smaug rains fire from the sky
in revenge for a small burglar of his golden hoard

Chinese dragons do not hoard, but dispense good fortune
benevolently, celestial controllers of weather for good harvests

Chinese dragons’ benevolence is claimed as ancestral by emperors
dark dragons lurk in the empty spaces at the edge of Western consciousness

Whose myth should we believe
– what should a dragon look like?

© Andrew Wilson, 2025

Over at dVerse Poets Pub, Lisa or Li in Poetics invites us to write about Legendary Creatures. I should remind you that I am an Old Dragon – a former pupil at The Dragon School, Oxford…

23 November: Ten Things of Thankful

humanist55

Ten things for which I give thanks this week…

1 – The sun is shining out of an all-blue sky today, in the midst of a run of rainy days…

The beautiful Silver Birches in the churchyard behind our house shining out against the blue…
Shafts of sunlight illuminating the Willow tree, which for some reason, is still wearing its Summer clothes…

2 – My rapper Grandson was up for a couple of days as he had a gig in Leeds and on Friday I cooked a sumptuous vegetarian curry feast for him and his cousin, and his girlfriend, which went down very well with all!

3 – Grammarly believes in the Oxford comma – yayyy!

4 – Barbara managed some housework and washing-up on two days!!!

5 – I have finally finished the list of topics for my A to Z 2026 which will be on Fabrics

6 – I therefore moved on, to step 2 – making some samples of weaving to illustrate the A to Z.

Using a loom made by a toy company in 1957, but which is nevertheless a fully functioning loom, Iprooduced this sample of Plain Weave at bottom, and Twill Weave at top. Twill is what characterises Denim, for example. The eagle eyed crafters amongst you will see that the tension is gradually curving the sides of the piece inwards – rooky tension error… Well it was my first ever weave!
Plain Weave – blue cotton yarn weft on red warp.
Twill Weave.

7 – I have bought a Christmas present for Barbara – in recent years, we have eschewed giving presents to each other on the grounds that we have most everything we might want but this year, I decided to rebel…

8 – Grateful to be doing this gratitude paractice and for all the kind comments it garners…

9 – I have had two poems accepted by GAS: Poetry, Art and Music, which will be published on Christmas Day!

10 – Barbara’s eldest daughter is on a solo trip to Bali for three weeks – she has been estranged for much of the last year, but bridges have been mended and we shall see her at Christmas…

A very good week ahead, to everyone!

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23 November: Ten Things of Thankful

humanist55

Ten things for which I give thanks this week…

1 – Snow was forecast this week, and sure enough, it came, but I was grateful it was just a dusting on the hills since it was a drive to work day…

The view from our kitchen window

2 – The weather forecast also alerted me to wrap the olive tree against frost, in good time, so we are now stuck with this ghostly shrouded prescence for the Winter…

3 – A giant toddler has been let loose on the sky with a white crayon – anyone remember Harold and the Purple Crayon?

4 – Last weekend I was in our local town, Keighley, and saw this shop window, and as you know, I love repetition and took the first shot, but then went inside for more repeated ballas of wool. However the best bit, was I got talking to the shop owner who turned out to be a mine of information about fabrics and I mercilessly picked his brains (he was delighted – really!) for my A to Z upcoming in April, on the subject of Fabrics. He was made redundant in the ’80’s, and turned to recycling waste from the fabric mills around Yorkshire – cardboard and polythene, obviously, but also waste fabric pieces. He started sorting the latter and sold them back to mills that reprocessed them and included a percentage in new yarns. In ten years, he went form having £200 in the bank, to £100,000! Where there’s muck, there’s brass! Best of all, he alerted me to the fact that so many fabrics are “Warp knitted” as opposed to older weaving techniques – think T-shirt “Jersey” material…

5 – It was my day to take the Micro-biology samples from work, for testing at a firm at Luddenden Foot, in the Calderdale Valley. I always love this drive and the drive home “over the tops” and this Thursday it was crisp, sunny with blue skies and mercifully, there was so little traffic, I was able to dart into the little quarry/layby on the wrong side of the road and take the following pictures and a video. It is one of those spots where you could point the camera in any direction and get a beautiful shot as proved by the panoramic video.
If any of you want to come and live in “God’s own county!” (Yorkshire) – you would be most welcome…

And further up, emerging onto the moors, this Wild Rose bearing rosehips…

6 – And no Ten Things of Thankful without a texture shot, this week, Autumnal, frosty leaves…

7 – We had a most enjoyable hour reading our poems at the dVerse Poets Pub Open Link Night Live session yesterday – read a poem about COVID lockdown in Crete, where we were fortunate to spend 6 months out of harm’s way… https://how-would-you-know.com/2025/11/this-is-crete.html

8 – Our new business (by which I mean my boss’s family) – a Self-Storage facility, opened without mishap this week and we had the first customers! I did various bits of design in the run-up and may pop in to give a hand as it gets busy…

9 – Beverley had her birthday and was delighted with the brightly coloured inside, unglazed outside Tapas bowls I bought for her in Aldi six months ago, you have to buy then when you see them as when they’re gone, they’re gone…

10 – Despite her depression, Barbara has taken charge of buying Christmas presents for the family and has almost completed the task!!!

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This is Crete…

humanist55

We wake up to air as clear as water
sit on the terrace under the Carob tree
as the shadows move across the mountain
whose spine looks like a sleeping dragon
warming its reptilian blood in the morning sun
waiting its moment to arise and shake itself
free of olive groves, villas, and prickly pears

Plants are waging a defensive war
against heat and drought and hungry creatures
not only cacti, but the cups of Mediterranean
Acorns are tough and scaled with prickles
and dark green gloss or pale silver green
dress the trees from Olive to Eucalyptus

The absence of people, as Cretans
hide indoors in COVID lockdown caution
makes us feel like the last people on earth
as we drive the back roads where we are scarcely likely
to be caught by policemen sleeping somnolent in their station
in the Winter midday hour – blazing fierce, this close to Africa

No tourists to disturb the hibernating hoteliers
piles of nested chairs congregate in corners of kafenio courtyards
but supermarkets still shelter cars from the sun
while masked customers complete their weekly shop
but masks don’t stop the swapping of sparse gossip
at the open-air market—fruit and vegetables piled high as ever

This is Crete in COVID lockdown Winter
hotter than a British summer and dry
except for the occasional storm when Greek gods play bagatelle
bouncing thunderballs around the mountains
and drenching the lands in torrential rain
flash flooding the dry gorges and riverbeds

We steep like teabags in the many moods
from spectacular sunrises bursting up from cliff-bounded sea
sunrays angling through the odd cloudy day
resting tourist boats on the sparkling bay
awaiting their turn at the boatyard beauty parlour
purple bloom on ripening black olives

Family bubbles emerge for the olive harvest
for some things in life must go on as normal
and for a few weeks, the groves are as busy
as the centipedes that appear each morning on the terrace
– there is knocking down of olives, bonfiring the prunings
blueing the air with smoke plumes – testament to the busyness

And afterwards, the empty garden chairs doze off again
underneath the olive trees…

This is Crete

© Andrew Wilson, 2025

Over at dVerse Poets Pub,  Jennifer Wagner, hosted by Grace in Poetics, invites us ti write about Local Wonders in the shadow of Ted Kooser’s poem – So This Is Nebraska