I am one of the fortunate ones a member of the last cycle of breeding in the North American summer and as such I got to fly South past California – could have stopped there but by then I had the travel bug and I, and many of my cohort carried on to Mexico, not for the heat Oh no! We settled in the great pine forest in the mountains, where it was warm enough as long as we huddled together to survive the winter
We curtained the trees with our colour – the reason we are called monarchs allegedly – orange in honour of William the Third of England – William of Orange – so I guess we were named by the Brits before the proto-Republicans got their act together and kicked their oppressors out – anyway, the name stuck and no one thought fit to change it even now, when Americans are driven to hold “No Kings!” parades – we butterflies – the most numerous in North America retain our royal soubriquet and regal we were as we rose en masse from the Mexican trees to head North again for the summer and it’s not just for the food of course but for the perpetuation of the species
I would like to tell you of my life as a caterpillar and later a pupa but as I overheard a young teacher explaining to his class what happens inside the pupal case is so complete a transformation it’s as if we liquefy and alchemically transform into a completely new creature and with it, gone all memories of that earlier life – of course – we see them – the caterpillars our offspring munching their way through milkweed but I can’t imagine their lives ae very interesting – not compared to we adults, travelling thousands of miles seeing the sights, hanging out together and then becoming one of the sights ourselves – a wonder of nature!
That teacher also said that we are of the genus Danaus Which is perhaps the masculine of Danae upon whose great- great-grand daughter Zeus came as a shower of gold – and that is surely a fitting origin story for the naming of we Monarchs…
Over at dVerse Poets Pub, it is Open Link Night and lillian invites us to submit a poem of our own choice and if possible, to join on Saturday to read them out live…
This poem came out of my writing group, where, after reading The Promotion by James Tate, we were prompted to write the compressed life story of a previous life as an animal…
“Four seasons in one day” sang Crowded House and as you draw nearer to the Equator all the seasons happen in every day’s cycle
In Tennerife, north side of the island you wake to blue skies and yet already a wisp of cloud pours over the lip of Mount Teide like the tentative sign of an eruption by this still hot to the touch at the top, relatively sleeping giant, but as the morning wears on the cloud finds it’s level and spreads less threateningly over the pine forests below the crater edge shrouding them in fog on out over the banana plantations that surround Puerto de la Cruz then on over the city itself where, just after lunch they deliver their own micro-seasonal rain hardly worth the unfurling of an umbrella but nurturing the bananas as reliable as clockwork except when the occasional Atlantic storm disrupts the proceedings and having delivered their promise, the clouds dissolve and the season of sunny evening takes their place…
Over at dVerse Poets Pub, kim881 in Poetics, invites us to write about “micro-seasons” after the Japanese custom of dividing their year not just into four seasons but into seventy-two “micro-seasons” such as ‘frogs start singing’ and ‘crickets chirp around the door’…
1 – I am grateful that there is almost always a parking space just outside the gates of where I work my 2.5 days. There is a parking bay, occupied at night by residents of the adjacent houses and there is usually just one space beneath a tree which sports a lot of berries – currently ripe and so the birds feeding there leave little offerings on my car bonnet and roof (for which I am not so grateful lol).
2 – The tree mentioned above continues to unfold Autumn colours – not in a uniform way, but branchlet by branchlet – it is the same with many trees this year and I feel I am being shown something about Autumn that I haven’t seen before…
3 – I received this novel micro watercolour kit from my partner by way of a thank you for all the things I do for her for which she is grateful and I in turn for this…
The white thing at left is a wristband on which to wipe the brush…
4 – I have been involved for the last ten years, with the building of a mosque in Bradford, the city I work in. When I first started on the project, I was between jobs, and it gave me both income and a chance to keep my hand in with AutoCAD (computer draughtsmanship) and led to me working at an Architect’s office as the oldest person there, but in the office junior post lol. Now the mosque is nearing completion with the roof being put on the minaret tower which means the lift can finally be installed within the tower. The project has taken time because the money is raised from the community a little at a time, so the work progresses in fits and starts… I am not religious yet this is not the first sacred space I have been involved with as a designer ( I did work in Catholic churches when I lived in Ireland) and over the years, the ongoing role as project draughtsman to the mosque, has provided a little supplementary income, a chance to learn about Moslem culture, some enjoyable design opportunities and a number of friends. Within a year, my task there will come to a close and at 70, I feel this is a fitting time for me…
This is the area which would eventually become the Main Prayer Room on the ground floor and this is the state of the building when I was first brought in to survey and draw up the building “as built”
The Prayer Room almost complete and in use already…
The mosque is a modern building but these traditional Islamic geometrical designs which I had to draw up so that they could be cut out on a CNC router machine – the finishing touches to the Prayer Room! As well as a place of worship, this mosque has been designed as a community centre. Many of the mosques in Bradford were converted from churches, halls, even cinemas but this one was purpose-built and is the most far-sighted in offering many roles to its congregation and community…
5 – Another project that requires my AutoCAD skills, amongst others, is coming to fruition at my 2.5 Day Job at the gelato (and pudiing and cake) factory. We are installing a new gelato production plant, bought from a factory closing down in Eastern Europe some ten years ago and awaiting the space to be reassembled. The oldest brother in the family firm is the prime mover in this and he has been thoroughly enjoying himself assembling it all, drilling walls for pipework to pass through. My job is now to draw out the system with a view to writing and illustrating the SOP’s (Standard Operating Procedures) which we will have to teach the workers who will opreate it. What makes it complicated is the CIP system in which successive flushes of Acid, Alkali and Hot and Cold water must be used to clean the entire system between batches. Below is just a small part of the task…
These are the “Ageing” Tanks where the pasteurised mixture of milk, cream and a special thickener will b held before being flavoured and frozen into gelato.
Just a tint part of the labyrinth of pipes, and more importantly, valves needed to get the right fluids flowing to the right places and which must be opened and closed correctly to stop the wrong fluids contaminating the product – imagine drawing up this system…
6 – My post-holiday cold version 2 is slowly abating…
7 – We had a lovely visit to my youngest but one grandson and his girlfriend in their new flat in Sheffield (home of steel, cutlery and scalpel blades).
8 – The roofers return on Monday to repair a few slates and coping stones above the work they did last week on the extension fascias, soffits and gutters…
9 – Managed to think of things I am grateful for
10 – It is a grey day, but it is not raining, or blowing and I see the reservoir above the town has largely refilled after the Summer drought…
Ten Things of Thankful draws people from all over the world to share the best of their week – why don’t you join us…
1 – I am profoundly glad that a ceasefire has begun in Gaza although a lot will depend on whether President Trump will continue to hold Netanyahu’s feet to the fire to carry on with the terms outlined – however, a ceasefire is a start…
2 – I am glad the second cold I have had in as many weeks is abating as we are supposed to be going to see my grandson and his girlfriend’s new flat tomorrow…
3 – I finally got around to finding someone to redo the fascias, soffits and gutters on the extension. The oood has been cut for two years…
The gutters have been up for about 45 years and had gone brittle and needed replacing…
There were some very tricky angles involved in cutting the wood and the guys did well working from the old wood as templates – job well done…
4 – The building work meaned moving half the garden away from the building but I am glad as it all needed rearranging with next year’s bulb containers coming to the fore…
5 – The Spider Orchid Lilies are still producing excuisite blooms when not much else is showing…
6 – My Rhubarb – started from a fragment attached to a pulled stem, is a good size now and I will put it in a bigger pot once it stops for the Winter and hopefully get “fruit” next year…
7 – Some plucky bulbs are jumping the gun for Spring – crocii, I think…
8 – the weather was good today allowing me to paint the new woodwork
9 – I have finished posting poetry/postcards for this year – even the bonus ones from the International list – here is my favourite painting of the challenge – it is “The Island” – Spinalonga, former leper colony made famous by Victoria Hislop’s book…
10 – glad to have thought of 9 lol…
Ten Things of Thankful draws people from all over the world to share the best of their week – why don’t you join us…
October, you are no more the harbinger of Autumn The green elm with the one great bough of gold came in late August – the yellowing of drought stealing the march on your glorious displays and dooming those boughs to die with your first frost for those burned leaves made no antifreeze for the tree to suck back in before the leaves their final purpose fulfilled into the grass slip[ped] one by one… And too came branches near breaking with berries their colour near drowning out the last green leaves turning the trees a brown when seen from afar another false Autumnal hue and a feast too early for the migrant birds which land in October they will find the berries gone over, their bounty wasted and now the land is draped in true October colours we may be lulled into thinking the season too runs true but like those birds in coming hunger mired will Harebell and snowdrop, at their season due, awake to the unseasonal “beast from the East” or interminable drought or rain or heat? October you are not the only month no longer acting true to expectations – all is climate changed…
Over at dVerse Poets Pub, Dora in Poetics invites us to trip the October Light Fantastic and although that beautiful display has begun, it is not the whole story this year, and indeed, for coming years, and I find I cannot celebrate with unalloyed pleasure…
This week has flown by – back to work after the holiday and this weekend, a visit from some grown-up grandchildren…
1 – The olive buds seem to have set and are beginning to change colour from bright yellow to purple and will hopefully become Black Olives – there were a few last year but not enough to do anything with…
2 – Still grateful for work which took me out of the office briefly – doing a Fire Risk Assessment for my bosses’ property portfolio which they converted an old office block into accommodation and the local council will take over tenancy tomorrow to accommodate their tenants who find themselves temporarily out of home due to fire, flood etc.
3 – Also changing colour as Autumn arrives, the tree which I often park under at work, only to receive gifts from the birds feeding on the berries…
4 – Always on the lookout for photo opportunities – this nice shadowplay on the building opposite our kitchen window…
5 – I posted the last of my group list poetry postcards on the PoPoFest Facebook page – just a few responses to the International list to go. This one was to a poet in Dublin and like me on both the group and International list…
The link is to a news item from 2006 0r 7 of me painting the mural…
6 – I got over the cold I had in just 7 days…
7 – One of my grandsons, an up-and-coming rapper (he had a very small stage slot at Glastonbury) has been staying for a long weekend and his brother, a policeman in nearby Bradford came for the day too so lots of catching up with their careers…
8 – Had a Zoom meeting with my writing Critique buddy after a two month gap over the summer – despite 20 years difference in age, we enjoy our double zoom slot immensely, talking about our writing but also wider issues like politics, AI (he is a programmer) and whales…
9 – I am going to be on a drug trial for an oral version of a weight loss drug used to assist in type 2 diabetes ao that might be helpful…
10 – no, I haven’t hit a brick wall for Ten Things but this is another in my collection of useful textures…
We are The dreamers of dreams But they are the creators of nightmares She cannot bear to listen to the news now He oscillates between feeling fury and futility They control the narrative with false news We cannot believe the lies that others will swallow They wave false flags to justify Their repressive responses We wonder where the bullies came from That swell their ranks They raise their fists in anger We throw up our hands in horror They wave their guns in the air We waiver in fear for our lives But he nurtures resistance And she writes poems and placards He investigates logistics She strategizes They start a movement Others join the march All are non-violent but They shout “We the People!” And congregate to be counted He who would be strong Looks weaker by the day They garner solidarity We can push back I can have hope…
The opening line of this poem is taken from “Ode” by the poet Arthur O’Shaughnessy and first published in 1873.[1] It is the first poem in O’Shaughnessy’s collection Music and Moonlight (1874). In it, he extols the role of artists in creating new worlds and the poem was put to music by Edward Elgar as The Music Makers (Op. 69) – Elgar’s final choral work. Both poem and choral piece should inspire us to come our of the shadows currently being cast by authoritarian regimes around the world today, and to stand together…
We are back from our holiday in Cornwall, which, after all the good weather this year, proved the worst choice of weeks when it rained all but one of the days and one day rained for the whole day! Still we need to be thankful for the rain as we have hosepipe bans in many parts of the UK due to drought, and as it rained back home, my neighbour was spared the task of watering our yard full of container plants (100 literes or ten watering cans full on a dry week…) and yet, a change is as good as a rest, so this is a thankful glance back over the holiday.
1 – between showers, we walked around Charlestown, a port for the St. Austell china clay mining area and heard Cornish fishermen singing a sea shanty…
2 – On the day that it rained all day, we drove to Lands End, but rather than pay to look into the mist and rain, drove down to nearby Sennen Cove to await the promised clearing of rain, eventually giving up and driving back home – but looking at waves is always something to be thankful for…
3 – A garden to be thankful for – The Lost Gardens of Heligan are the largest garden restoration project in Europe – once again, between showers…
The Giant’s Head greets visitors at the beginning of their walk around the gardens…These are Rhododendron trunks grown so large during the period when the gardens were neglected, that you could cut wood from them…
3 – We did visit this beach, Porthlunny Bay, and managed a walk on the sands without rain lol…
Porthlunny Beach, Cornwall
4 – Thankful for the beauty of boats – this one, converted from a fishing boat to a tourist ride in Mevagissy Harbour…
5 – Thankful for the security guards who allowed us down to the disabled car park at Carlyon Bay without a Blue Badge (we are applying for one…)
Carlyon Bay, Cornwall – rain holding offBarbara contemplating the waves…
6 – On our way home to Yorkshire, we stopped for the weekend in Worcester/Malvern – Barbara to stay with an old friend she han’t seen for years and I to join the annual reunion of my schoolfriends of the class of ’72 – 53 years since we left and friendships still going strong. We spent the Friday morning going round The Morgan Car Company, where they still build cars by hand…
The main assembly hall
A Morgan ready for road testing before the bodywork is added (it’s easier to make any adjustments needed)Hand finishing the Ash framework for the bodywork…Morgan’s top of the range offering – the Supersport – 0-62mph in 3.8 seconds (for the petrolheads amongst you…) The price – don’t ask…The last supper on the saturday night – old boys and their gals…
7 – On the Saturday, we visited a tiny two-room museum giving the history of the invention of radar, amongst other things, at Malvern – 2000 scientists were secretly moved to and billeted in Malvern to keep their work out of sight of the Germans during World War 2. The invention of radar and especially the airborne radar in the Battle of the Atlantic was the saving of Britain – for which we are thankful…
Other things invented at the Malvern scientific establishment include Liquid Crystal display, Touch Screens, Night sight vision and the Queen sent the first email from Malvern where they contributed significantly to the development of the Internet…
Also at Malvern Station, the much older technology of cast-iron (with embellishments) gave us these beautiful columns.
8 – On returning home, the weather changed to Fine and as if to taunt us, here is an early morning view from our kitchen window – still thankful to be home safely…
Silsden, West Yorkshire
9 – on the door mat awaiting our return, were 10 more cards from the Poetry Postcard Festival, from which I have received 22 out of 31 from my group so far and 16 from the International list. Most of the festival’s participants are American, but everyone wants to exchange cards with someone outside the US and so we Internationals appear on an additional list. There is no obligation to reply to these “bonus” cards, but if people put their name and address on the ones they send, I feel they are dying to get one back, so I have about 4 more to send still…
Cards from my Group 4 so far…
Postcards from the “International List”…
10 – Back at work again, after a couple of days working at home with a cold, on Thursday, I had to take samples for microbiological testing, over to the labs at Luddenden Foot, and driving back home across the moors, I stopped to photograph this particular landscape, which fascinates me. At the centre you can see strips where the heather has been burned off to let the grass grow through for the sheep, creating a linear pattern at odds with nature. I painted this scene several times for the Postcard Poetry Festival and this day, the clouds were scudding across, throwing different parts of the view into shadow…
Another photo, top left, from which I made three different paintings
Black and white surely opposites? Yin and Yang perfectly nested complete a circle no mixing, no grey areas
White light is a mixture of all the colours whilst dark is the absence of light light’s shadow friend inseparable
For as long as stars burn bright with light and there are objects arrayed to block the light then there must necessarily be shadow until all the stars go out
When we paint we use chiaroscuro to bring our canvasses to life light and dark to throw our subjects into relief to shade them – then we see
that shadows are not universally dark but illuminated by reflection of the light from other objects whose colour has sucked dry those hues that are not it’s to own
Yellow swallows everything that we do not deem yellow and reflected into neighbouring shadow – a hint of gold will now suffuse the shade making it less than black
Nowhere is free from scattered light and so no white nor black are wholly pure Yin and Yang a pure conceit
Shadows are shades of other colours who are merely filters that absorb some wavelengths reflect back the rest to our miraculous eye
Watercolourists work with transparent hues whilst oil painters apply solid, light-absorbing paint and TVs shine out light and print must duller be
We swim in a milieu of light and filters making shades of hues and dappling shadows with subtle colour – we are all in reality, impressionists…
Over at dVerse Poets Pub, Grace is hosting Open Link Night when you can post a poem of your own choosing. This one was written for the monthly poetry group at my local library, a small and distinctly analogue group whose subject this month was Opposites…
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