Jacqui Murray's Book Blast for her new book - Endangered Species ...

Jacqui of WordDreams is writing these amazing books on the early species of us … and has asked that we contribute various articles on aspects of their life … mine is:

Jacqui - smiling happily

How did they store water?

Essentially they wouldn't have wanted to store it … as they'd have known where to find sources:

... they couldn't live without water;

... by understanding the landscape;

... noting the seasonal swings;

... watching game and birds go to drink;

... they'd have noted the seasonal fruits and herbs ready to eat

... also they'd have realised there were water storing plants which are moisture rich in their flesh or roots …

Nara Melon

For instance the !nara melon (Acanthosicyos horridus) has tap roots penetrating down to water near the water table (not obvious in the landscape).

These ancient inhabitants would have lived in and around an area where there'd have been sufficient resources to support the group, only spreading out when numbers of their group became too many, or they met others and thus Neanderthals spread …

Bushmen drinking from
the bi bulb

They'd have been constantly learning … adding to each generations' brain power as the semi-nomadic peoples lived and learnt.

They'd have lived in caves … where possibly a permanent water supply might have been found … or near a spring line …

Rivers were (and still are) both permanent - or ephemeral – would have been located and noted …

A Bushman drinking from an ostrich egg

They'd have realised that Ostrich eggs could be used for storing/carrying water … these huge very nutritious eggs … would have been invaluable to indigenous groups … they'd learn to create sip-wells ... feeding water into an ostrich egg ... 

Rocky outcrop

There were no straight lines (despite those modern day tyre tracks!) to be followed, or corners cut … they had to find their way each day, otherwise they would not have been able to survive long.

Beef tripe - prepared for filling

When they wanted to travel beyond their normal range … they'd have taken cleaned out intestines and stomachs of animals to hold enough water in case of need … but they'd not require much – those early peoples were very resilient.

Book two of the trilogy
due out in April

Jacqui's email details ... all her wonderful contributors can be found here ...

Word Dreams Book Blast for Endangered Species 

I just congratulate Jacqui - her books are fascinating ... and I so enjoy them - it's great so many of us are promoting her second book in the trilogy ... 

Hilary Melton-Butcher

Positive Letters Inspirational Stories

17th year and counting, and remembering …

 

I'm a year behind Damyanti (Damyantiwrites .com) … she's just moved into her 18^th year – where she mentions that a blog anniversary is a strange thing ...

17th and onwards

... as they (blogs) sound so ancient … but as it's my birthday – that crumbling connotation can be applied – actually I'm really lucky as generally my health is in good nick …

Anemones - my mother's
favourite Cornish flowers

However this isn't really about me … I wanted to mention Lenny, whom many of us know, but who is now having a really difficult time … he had a bad fall … and now he just needs to get past this major problem in his life …

Lenny's logo over the years

Back in June 2011 – those youthful years! about 30 of us, at Sharon's instigation, were asked to write blog posts for Lenny – as he'd just gone back into hospital … since then in his short life he's been in and out …

I chose the Hippopotamus song, by Flanders and Swann, as an amusing, happy go-lucky offering … and we all went off humming Mud, Mud, Glorious Mud … the link to my post is below.

Hippos 'basking' ... 

Lenny was amazing – for some reason he took Mum and I under his youthful wing … and sent us presents and email notes – my mother waxed lyrical about him and his thoughtfulness. He's an amazing lad … I just feel for him now – so please wish him the best …

African tea lights ... 

Re today – another year – another St Hilary!! I'm off to lunch with the family, and with some friends who've spent time in Rhodesia (before it changed to be Zimbabwe) … so we'll have some happy African tales.

Wine and cheese ... I expect we'll 
be having a roast ... 

The accompanying images … send me off to remember days gone by … as the years tick along …

The weather in 1962/63

By golly the cold eventually reached us here in the south east … but of course for us ancients this brought back memories of the 1962/63 season .. which I wrote about in January 2013 – thankfully it looks like it's warming up a little in the next few days …

I'm hoping to get myself into a more youthful gear shortly! … ever hopeful … as my brother said – well we thought we'd do lunch today – no worries re working for us elderlies … yet there's grandchildren my friends are occupied with …

Hardwick (Mum's beloved) with his pals
from Lenny - Muddy Hippo and Zdena

My goddaughter and her twin – my brother's wife's niece – who has just had a baby met up in London at the weekend – great that they're in touch again … fun pics as goddaughter met her twin's (honorary goddaughter's) first baby …

Roses with South African
fynbos

If you don't comprehend this rather odd post – apologies … the brain has been remembering, but obviously gets addled at times!!

Thanks for visiting and in particular remembering Lenny - he's one special lad ... 

Lenny Lee fest of 2011 ... 

Cheers to you all - and happy New Year to each and everyone of us, and our families and friend - 

Hilary Melton-Butcher

Positive Letters Inspirational Stories

Happy New Year ... 2025 here we come?!

 

HAPPY  NEW  YEAR

TO  YOU  ALL

LET'S HOPE THE WORLD MOVES TOWARDS

PEACE AND GIVES US ALL BREATHING SPACE,

without upsetting our apple carts of life.

Hi everyone … I've been having interesting techie headaches … probably me having the blanks, then the poor head being fed up with clearing the mess up …

Here's to us ... 

Next Monday will be a somewhat important post … for me, and updating you on another great blogging friend …

This week we have our first 2025 European Movement dinner – so I'm kept busy in that direction …

Heaven help me?!
I'm sure I didn't turn into this?!

I also have a talk to give on Magna Carta – which if I wasn't having techie challenges would be fine … but I really need to work something out – so I can finish it here and not have to go and ask for help …

That's it for now – I will need to catch up … sloth really has set in – let alone the wet weather (no snow here, so far) we've been having … a few chills ...

This is 'my Mummy' from about
40 years ago ... appropriate n'est pas?

Good luck to all with the weather we're having in various parts of the world …

Hilary Melton-Butcher

Positive Letters Inspirational Stories

Sculptures - two heads, one mouth ...

 

These three sculptures fascinated me … then of course various tentacled rabbit holes appeared, let alone my own grey cells with lots of space between, which enjoy taking their time …

Sculpture of Oscar Wilde's head in
the format adopted by Eduardo Paolozzi,
the sculptor

I came across this posthumous sculpture by Paolozzi of Wilde's head. Did you know these are his names: Oscar Fingal O'Fflahertie Wills Wilde (1854 – 1900) … I laughed and thought oh well … I'd better write them up for this post.

Wilde lived a great deal of his life in Chelsea – hence the positioning of this sculpture – which Sir Eduardo Paolozzi (1924 – 2005) was commissioned to produce … more on him anon in 2025 …

On the website there's a short video -
hence 'A Flying Visit ... '

Pangolin Editions, where this sculpture was crafted – there's a short video on its home page about The Foundry 'A flying visit to Pangolin'.

Pangolin Foundry, Stroud, England

I was pleased to learn that The Foundry has formed the Ruwenzoni foundation in the UK and in Western Uganda furthering the talent to be found …

… expressed on their home page 'The impetus driving the idea was a belief that 'good news also comes out of Africa' where so much talent can flourish if given an environment which allows it''.

Students learning in Uganda

It's worthwhile looking at the Trustees, and the Ugandan directors … rabbit holes with tentacles worth exploring … 

Head number two, the Apennine Colossus, has taken millennia to form … but was crafted by the Flemish sculptor Giambologna in the late 1500s …

Apennine Colossus
(by Giambologna)

… it is about 36 feet (11 metres) high and is meant as a personification of the Apennine Mountains … more information can be found in the link … it always amazes me at man's creativity.

Last but not least … the mouth of a river … a stack of slate … what to do … but create a hedge (usually a wall in town) in London – that's actually a pictogram of the river Thames as it twists and turns its way through London to the North Sea …

Can you envisage the River Thames
as it winds its way to the North Sea

This last creation is by Andy Goldsworthy – who we consider to be the founder of modern rock balancing … 

... this artwork is permanent, found in a side street just behind Buckingham Palace … being 'just some stacks of slate' …

I love what we can learn … I've just joined a TED group here … and I was able to bring up two subjects I'd posted about as part of this blogging fraternity … it's a learning environment.

One was about bees keeping elephants at bay in Kenya (2015) … and the other was relative to one of my favourite computers on the market – RaspberryPi (2020 x 2), linked to a robot … which we were discussing at the TED group.

I will try and recalibrate my brain to be more stable and methodical in its approach to humanity outside its own sphere … let me hope!

Pangolin Editions - their sculpture

Oscar Wilde sculpture - c/o Ian Visits 

Pangolin Editions - Foundry

Ruwenzorifoundation in Uganda - supported by Pangolin Foundry

Apennine Colossus - natural/crafted sculpture

Slate Wall - c/o Ian Visits ... Andy Goldsworthy

Bees and elephants in 2015 

(PS Lenny is a young lad, who has been extraordinary over his tough young life)

Raspberry Pi x 2 in 2020

     first Raspberry Pi                 second Raspberry Pi used by young engineer

Thanks for bearing with me …

Hilary Melton-Butcher

Positive Letters Inspirational Stories

King John - the good, but mostly the bad ...

 

Frankly … King John (1166 – 1216) was mostly bad … I'm not sure I can find much good to say about him after his early years, when he was doted on by his father, King Henry II and Duchess Eleanor of Aquitaine.

King John his
tomb effigy

He was awful … other kings were as incompetent (Edward II (1307 - 1327)), or perhaps as cruel (Richard III (1483 - 1485)), but in the eyes of his contemporaries John appears to have been uniquely both.

Yet his disastrous and bloody reign led to one of the most famous documents in history: Magna Carta.

Magna Carta - perhaps you can read it?!
... part of it ... 

To save you the history lesson … and me to make it short enough to be entertaining … perhaps this all you need to know …

Rous Roll depicting Richard III
(c/o John Rous)

John was not in any way diplomatic … alienating many, cruelly leaving others to die, sometimes killing many others …

… his reign as King of England was a failure … although some historians have tried to paint a more positive picture of John, but this is hard to do when one recalls his deeds as monarch:

the murder in France of his young nephew, Arthur;

the English lands lost to the French;

the starvation of a mother and her young son;

the submission of his kingdom as a fief to the papacy;

his blatant adultery;

his cowardly retreat from combat;

the taxation that finally pushed the country into open rebellion; and after his death ... 

leaving London and one-third of the country under French rule.

To somewhat confirm the above - here are a couple of quotes recorded in history …

Gerald of Wales:

'He Feared Not God, Nor Respected Men'.

The Barnwell annalist:

'A Pillager of his own People'

King John ratifying Magna Carta in 1215

Yet from his reign came one of the greatest legacies – Magna Carta … it might have been forced upon him as a damning verdict of his rule, but it has endured as a global symbol of political rights and freedom …

Hilary Melton-Butcher

Positive Letters International Stories

Remembrance Day - for Librarians ...

 

To remember all who have served for us over the centuries, particularly on this Remembrance Day …

Cenotaph, London (2004)

The Library Association in recent years has uncovered historical information about librarians who signed up and who had fallen during WW1 …

The commemorative plaque

… the 142 members came from libraries in the British Isles, or the Empire overseas …

Acknowledging
both WW1 and WW2

The commemorative plaque consists of five panels of well seasoned English Oak – the particulars are set out in letters of gold: giving their names, their military particulars, together with the name of the library from which they have honoured by volunteering and serving.

Royal Canadian Legion poppy
from 2004

This Memorial is now to be found in the British Library, Euston, London at the main entrance to the reading rooms …

They shall always be remembered

Links: British Library blog post 

in this blog post there are various newspaper articles referring to the Memorial ... 

Edinburgh University Press article

Imperial War Museum article

Hilary Melton-Butcher

Positive Letters Inspirational Stories

Jumping Jelly Beans ... tunnels and bridges ...

 

A bridge or tunnel too far perhaps … but as is my wont – I need(ed) a filler post … so coming from a bridge (civil) engineering family …

Their logo

When I saw that the Marmaray Tunnel – beneath the Bosporus Strait, Istanbul … linking Europe with Asia … had been built … my grandfather's firm of structural engineers had been contracted for the Bridge across the Bosphorus … opened in 1973. I was taken aback …

Bakirkoy - where the trains meet

As I'm no engineer my uncle and I would have brief discussions about engineering projects – particularly when we met out in South Africa … but he died in 1997.

The tunnel had passed me by … opened in 2013 just after my mother died, so perhaps understandable I hadn't 'twigged' … as the deepest immersed tube tunnel in the world.

Bosphorus Strait ... dotted
red lines indicate tunnel project

The construction originally mooted in 1860 … obviously not much happened – 130 years later! … preparatory work was able to commence.

As is usual archaeological discoveries held the work up somewhat … still unearthing our history enlightens us … in this instance from the Byzantine-era and other 8,000 year old archaeological finds …

East Mediterranean/West Asia
showing the various plates, including
in the north the North Anatolian Plate

The other part I enjoy learning about is the geology of the area … somewhat to my surprise – the tunnel is only 18 kilometres (11 miles) away from the active North Anatolian Fault:

Tectonic Plates

Since AD 342, it has seen large earthquakes that claimed many thousands of lives. It is expected that there could be a major earthquake in that area fairly soon …

Simpler map for info

Most of humanity lives through these eruptions, while others lose their lives … perhaps to be discovered at a later date, and then provide new information of eras past …

Some basic facts about the Strait …

It connects the Black Sea to the Sea of Marmara, and eventually into the Mediterranean Sea – it is an international waterway …

Length about 19 miles

Width between 0.45 miles – 2.05 miles

Maximum depth of 110 metres (360 feet)

Heavy traffic … 48,000 ships annually … reportedly three and four times denser than the traffic that used to go through (but due to war/drought) in the Suez Canal and Panama Canal; this traffic has also reduced due to restrictions placed on night-time transit of large oil tankers.

The Bosphorus Bridge

My filler got longer than necessary … but those rabbit holes became tunnels or bridges … letting us travel around and learn …

But where Jumping Jelly Beans came from ... I've no idea?! 

Links if you wish to look further …

Marmaray Tunnel ... 

Anatolian sub-plate ... 

Marmaray - the portmanteau word for this commuter rail project ... 

Bosphorus facts from Marine Insight ... 

BUT I almost forgot why this post got written – I found this fascinating interactive image – just click it … it's brilliant – just check it out please …

Bridges schematically shown from Trajan's Roman Bridge, to the Ponte Vecchio, Sydney Harbour Bridge, Brooklyn Bridge and many more … see here:

1915 Canakkale Bridge ...  see comparison of notable bridges at end of this link ... 

Hilary Melton-Butcher

Positive Letters Inspirational Stories