Brain Rambler - another year gone ...

 

Snowdrops - Spring bloomers

It's that time of year again … the birth of a “Saint” – albeit in the 20^th century, somebody with microscopic literary intent – the birth of a blog, and reminiscences from a mere 59 years ago …

Happy Falstaff - Hilary too
true to my name

Yes – I am still 'St Hilary' Peregrinating with Respair in my heart – just like last year … or Brain Rambling on with hope that 2022 will let us back into a normal life …

January's change … this year is very unseasonal, it's relatively 'warm' and when the sun shines it is bliss for winter – especially when I remember this day 59 years ago … or those times …

I'm happy - a 
big grin!

In 1962/3 we'd had snow for two and a half weeks … it started on Boxing Day – pretty with Christmas lights up, long icicles everywhere – I next saw icicles that long in New York in 1976 in May when I was visiting.

Snowflake through microscope

It snowed, and snowed and snowed – no doubt a few other things in between … I've written four weather posts about that time (in 2013) – and this year the BBC showed film from the archives … perhaps to remind us that our lives today are not so bad.

I was at school in Oxford, a 30 mile trip on 1960s roads, but ended up being ill – perhaps a bad cold or flu – eventually due to the bad weather my parents set off in both cars … one did break down on the way home, but they'd dealt with the war's 1940s weather so knew how to cope – how many of us today would … I know I would struggle.

Walking through drifts 1963

We drove through snow drifts 20 foot high – the road in a narrow cutting, then the hedged field banked with snow, topped with a blizzarded white drift … I do remember the height … it was an amazing journey.

Once the snow stayed around in late December 1962 we co-erced our parents to help build us an igloo … it wasn't large enough to live in – but it was still there at Easter 1963!

Clock patience

Strange but true … I had a virus at the end of term and they isolated me for 10 days, before I could be collected … I played a lot of card patience, read, listened to the radio and looked at the daily newspaper where snow and flood scenes were shown …

I don't remember being ill per se – but have some minor stretch marks to remind me of those days … I've no idea what caused it – or how I caught it, seeing as I was sequestered in a girls' boarding school. Apparently I was one of 9 in the Oxford area to have 'said' virus.

Pepper Virus

Today – we're still being safe … but some meetings are going ahead … last night we had a business dinner for about 50 (socially distanced in a large room), and this morning I'll be at another group meeting … probably 8 or so … then later on I'll meet up with friends for a drink and light meal …. where there is plenty of space.

I hope that 2022 brings more light into our lives and we can put 'respair' out of our minds to enjoy life … as Bob Marley put it:

Don't forget your History

Nor your Destiny

My history is fine and you find out about my thoughts in that direction … destiny is another matter – but living life applies!

Bob Marley quote

Thanks to you all for being so supportive … into my 15^th year of blogging … the years of life are toddling along – my enjoyment in blogging hasn't evaporated …

… I so enjoy the friendships, the comments and the learning about different ways of life I read through your blogs – also I teach myself about so much as I post.

Overlooking Keswick, in the
Lake District

Normality will resume here – I have a number of posts to write up … and as we reach towards Spring I'll be so pleased if it stays 'warm' as the days lengthen … the blackbirds continue to sing, the blossom flourishes, and those beautiful bulbs safely appear.

Beautiful anemones - my mother's
favourite bulbs and flowers

With thanks and all the best for this coming year …

Hilary Melton-Butcher

Positive Letters Inspirational Stories

Life is to Treasure …

 

We are so lucky we live today and have lived as far as this period in history …

Treasure - of Villenna, Spain

Let's enjoy our world, regardless, we are living history … and here in the UK – we live in peace – which means we've had the opportunity to be sensible and realise how lucky we are …

Buses stuck in 1963

There have been a fair number of reflective programmes – reminding us of 'events' that have happened since WW2 – most of us were born since the war …

… some have lived through the Great Depression, all of us (most) will have family memories of times since 1900 or perhaps a little earlier.

Stonehenge with blue skies, which 
have been in short supply recently

I realise my parents, born after WW1, survived the War and privations, which we 'inherited' as we grew up … Winter of 1962/1963 – that time is 'iced' into my memory bank …

That's enough for this first post of 2022 – I'm going to see if I can do something about the layout of my blog postings* …

Hazel Dormouse

Happy New Year – life is ahead of us .. let's go – we have the intellect and education to cope, adjust and help others …

* Well I tried - to start it was ok - then I did some editing ... and ah well it's slipped off track again .... ne'er mind ... cheers!

Hilary Melton-Butcher

Positive Letters Inspirational Stories

We are the World Blogfest # 54 - Power for the Neighbours ... and where are we going in 2022 …

It's amazing in this day and age – how people go out of their way to help their communities …

Here in Murang'a County, south central Kenya – one man got VERY TIRED OF WAITING – so took 'things into his own hands' …

… he found some bicycle parts, scrap metal, built a home made generator – subsequently bringing electricity to his neighbourhood …

Murang'a County

John Magiro expanded his electric operation – thus bringing affordable electricity to 750 local people ...

John Magiro outside his office

… he transformed so many lives – now they don't have to use hand-held kerosene lamps … the kids can study, people can safely move around … and all those benefits those of us have in our day to day lives, they now have ... 

Here's to more John Magiro's – People Fixing the World … giving Power to the People …

BBC How to make electricity for your Neighbours (video 2.43)

Magiro Mini Hydro Power - their website ... 

At the end of 2021 – what will 2022 hold? …

more peace,

more understanding,

more compassion,

more thought for others, before one's self …

George Cruikshank - see my
previous post ... His view
to the opera - taken by me
as 'our view' to 2022 ...

So with this last post of 2021 – I wish you an easier New Year – here's to 2022 …

We are the World Blogfest

In Darkness, Be Light

Hilary Melton-Butcher

Positive Letters Inspirational Stories

Guzzle, Gulp, Swallow – a rare bird …

 I just wish everyone a very merry Christmas, and then during the festive season: a peaceful and blessed time.

A self-portrait (1858)

So many need our help at this time … this seems 'revolting' – yet displays excess, as seen 170 years ago … when trade routes were bringing in 'more and more' goodies for the western world to learn about …

Seen here on ships sailing in: 

Spices / Sugar / Coffee / Tea

George Cruikshank's 'A Swallow
at Christmas'

Waiting to be poured: Champagne / Hock / Port / Gin / Rum / Whiskey … to be drunk by the tankard: Frothy Beer …

Then happily standing in line waiting to be guzzled, gulped, swallowed: 

Fishes (mock turtle soup available too); 

birds various; pies; breads; cheese …

and numerous 'I don't knows' – notations too small or indistinct for me to work out …

Portmeirion tea-cup ... for that 
Christmas relaxing cuppa

The Spitalfield's Life blog brought this to my attention – and as I love the caricatures as illustrated by George Cruikshank (1792 – 1878) … they can be seen on the link … and more can be found in Wiki …

A coloured print can be seen here in AntiquePrintMapRoom - December a Swallow at Christmas - Rara Avis in Terra

With a lot of hopeful thoughts to those in the world who need care, love and compassion ... 

Glad tidings to you all – be safe and see you the 31^st – cheers!

PS Once again - no drink (yet!) ... but those wretched fonts have done their thing and faffed around with size etc ... 

Hilary Melton-Butcher

Positive Letters Inspirational Stories

Whoops, Legs and Boompsy Daisy …

 

I couldn't think up a different title … but this .. or should it be whoopsy daisy?

Human and Gorilla
(stretched out) to
compare

These snippets bemused me – so here they are! Or impressed me for an #WATWB post … but appears here …

King Arthur - our greatest King has ladies legs … who would have guessed – after conservation – it was found that the top of half had been sculpted from Coade stone (invented late 1700s/1800s); while the lower half, including his right leg were crafted from Bath stone in the Roman period (AD 43 – AD 410) - c/o Ian Visits the statue ...

Extraordinary juxtaposition I'd say … especially as the Roman element came from a female statue … possibly even a sculpted goddess?!

Now we move to South America … to find an Inca pottery muscular leg wearing a sandal – on show at the British Museum: “Peru – A Journey in Time” ... 

The leg celebrates the running skills of the Chasquis, messengers in the Inca empire, who took advantage of the vast Inca system of purpose-built roads and rope bridges in the Andes of Peru and Ecuador.

An Inca Quipu

No wonder their legs are muscular – they could run up to 150 miles (240 km) per day – recording administrative details on a Quipu: a fascinating device  ...

Next we come back to London … where a man has been trapped inside a clock – oh yes … more legs to walk forever more; chasing … what? Oh yes – the time …

Maarten Baas, who has been described as an “author designer” … see his bio. The Paddington clock found in Eastbourne Terrace is one of his Real Time Series 12-hour films of performances indicating the time that intends to combine theatre, art and film production in a series of new clock designs ... c/o Ian Visits blog: Paddington has trapped a man inside a clock ... 

I need to see this …Maarten Baas – Real Time Clock outside Paddington station … to quite comprehend it ... 

Last but not least to note a Bristol charity saving prosthetic legs from landfill – here recycling its 10,000^th leg – brilliant inspiring charity.

As we're at the end of this post – just watch those legs especially in the northern hemisphere – where ice and snow may well descend.

Well we were at the end til I remembered the dead parrot - actually a sulfur crested cockatoo - residing on a plinth in South London ... and of course the Monty Python Dead Parrot sketch ... 

One more post to come … stay safe and well during this continuing difficult time …

Hilary Melton-Butcher

Positive Letters Inspirational Stories

Narcissus - the Wear and Tear of Ageing ...

 

Ow! ow! … ooohagh … don't they realise all that chafing hurts – much more than a cut-throat scrape …

What are they doing … restoring me, repairing, re-painting me, cleaning me …? I know I'm 500 years old but … it is 1997 after all.

They've been nibbling pieces of my paint, crushing the rough pieces of oils in their fingers to dust – for some reason they put this stuff into little vials – now I could gaze at those pieces of me …

Cut-throat razor

... they take me off into their ether … there I'm scrutinised from all angles, put into metal boxes which flash lights at me, other containers brightly shine at me … some close-up, sometimes from afar …

… those people stand and stare, gossip until I'm subjected to some infraction … they seem to think it improves me – how could it? I am me – me - Narcissus – I, I cannot be perfected …

Syrian Vial from the 4th C -
today they are made from glass

Caravaggio created me using chiaroscuro … now he was allowed to pore over me, observe my very movements … so that I, in all my perfetto youth, would be captured tenebroso...

I believe they call it research … to see how dark and grubby this masterpiece of me has become – but look ... I shine so brightly out of the shadowy canvas … you can still see my reflection clearly in the pool – but they keep working, thinking they can buff me up …

St John the Baptist by Caravaggio
(1604) highlighting Tenebrism

Over the centuries they've dusted me off – then they attack me – it's nearly the 21^st century – what do they expect … I am valuable as a masterpiece (that has not been so closely examined).

Yet if only I had known what was to come in the next 24 years … they've lost their creativity … it seems they punch things like keyboards (similar to clavichords) and out appears from the constantly changing mirror in front of them many images of me …

1977 unfretted Clavichord

I am me – me - the way Caravaggio painted me so empathetic to my youthful appearance – these 'reproductions' as they are called – do not credit me with Caravaggio's sympatico art-style.

Really they should leave me alone – I enjoy my place on the wall of the National Gallery of Ancient Art, Rome – where everyone can and does so admire me … completely fawning over Caravaggio's creation.

National Gallery of
Ancient Art, Rome

Wear and Tear – they need to look at their own lives … I've lasted more than 500 years, expect they only live about one fifth of my life.

Oh I'm so sensuously beautiful – and will be forever more … no wear and tear for me … more importantly no ageing.

Smartphone screen 21st C

The art work may age – and they can do their damnedest to restore, repair, or conserve – definitively in the era they live in … the technology seems to find things that would not have been found in earlier centuries, but I remain me – "Narcissus".

Wear and Tear begone!

Fine Art Conservation YouTube video by 

Julian Baumgartner of Chicago - for anyone interested

Hilary Melton-Butcher

Positive Letters Inspirational Stories

We are the World Blogfest # 53 – The Red Dress Project …

 

This is such a wonderful project unifying women around the world – Kirstie Macleod from Somerset, England started The Red Dress project to help marginalised women tell their stories through embroidery.

The finished object
c/0 The Red Dress

As she says in her introduction … her dress embroidery project has globally connected 244 embroiderers (239 women and 5 men), their families and their communities from 28 different countries by adding an image onto the dress that represents themselves and their culture.

During twelve years (2009 – 2021) pieces of burgundy silk dupioni have travelled the globe to be embroidered with cultural stories …

Embroiderers include:

• Women refugees from Palestine;
• Victims of war in Kosovo, Rwanda, and DR Congo;
• Impoverished women in South Africa, Mexico and Egypt;
• Women in Kenya, Japan, Paris, Sweden, Peru, Czech Republic, Dubai, Afghanistan, Australia, Argentina, Switzerland, Canada, Tobago, USA, Russia, Pakistan, Wales, Colombia, and the UK, as well as
• Upmarket embroidery studios in India and Saudi Arabia

It is quite stunning … and I would ask that you look at the video twelve minutes of pure indulgence for us to luxuriate in – and wonder at: 

• their stories, 
• their skill … 
• and to see the dress in all its glory – in the individual's homeland …
• and now it is being exhibited in various galleries and museums worldwide …

Each embroiderer has been able to have more positive lives, and have helped others in their villages or camps enhance theirs too … improve their lot, teach others to use their talents, and tell their stories with thread.

Just look at the beauty … this artistic platform has really opened doors for these marginalised people to rebuild their lives.

Kindly commenters, readers – please look at the video and marvel … I exhort you to!!

Hilaria in Mexico - one of the talented
embroiderers c/o the video

The Red Dress will embrace you – draw you in, let you wonder at its beauty. An artistic project to be sure …

This has to be a perfect example of the We are the World Blogfest mantra:

We are the World Blogfest

In Darkness, Be Light

The Red Dress Project has completely transformed their lives … they can afford to feed themselves, earn a decent and consistent living …

Enjoy the video!

The BBC Dress Embroidery Project unifies women around the world.

This has a two minute video - to give you an idea ... but the twelve minute one is superb.

Hilary Melton-Butcher

Positive Letters Inspirational Stories