Choose to Shine – International Be Positive Day ...

Choose to Shine Day – frankly what would look better than this image?  Not a lot ... cheers me up just to look at it ...

International Be Positive Day is the goal we set ourselves for EACH and 

EVERY DAY ...  and no-one has this better down to a T than Lenny ... and I hope you pay him a visit, preferably for the last two posts ...

King Protea

The first on Mother’s Day – nothing could be more poignant than his words – but look how his words lead us to the Choose to Shine post ... we could all do with this realisation that we were granted this life and to fully engage and enjoy we should always be positive ...

Sharon and Robyn are hosting this fantastic idea ... and to them I say – THANK YOU!!

A leopard ..  it's Africa

Being me ... I’d like to highlight Judy Croome, she who is hiding away in the South African winter writing furiously.  Judy’s mother lost her husband of 57 years last year ... and this year decided she needed a different mindset ...

... she contacts Judy, and says before I visit London, and your sister, I think, at age 79, I’d like a TATTOO .... please visit Judy’s post where she tells the story ...

Cape Town by moonlight

Judy has also just been picked up by Huffington post – so she is over the moon ... and I do love Judy’s books – she was extraordinarily kind to me, when my mother was ill ... “The Weight of a Feather” is a delightful read ...

My review of Judy's book "Dancing in the Shadows of Love" ... is so evocative of Africa ... my post is here .... 

Pam and I ... 

I went to Brighton last week to meet Pam McIlroy, who blogs as an avid reader ... what a great meeting - laughter all the way ... John, another knowledgeable reader too, happened to have decided to attend the Brighton Festival ‘discussion group’ on “What Makes a Book Worth Publishing?" – both Pam and John live in Nottingham ...

Pam sat on the discussion panel – while it was a treat to meet two wonderful readers ... Pam runs the Nottingham Book Club, while she tweets her thoughts as she reads a book ... under the Twitter hashtag  #TAIR .... this hashtag approach to reading has created a great deal of interest ...

Pam's story can be read here ... "Confessions of a Book Addict" ... 

I'm adding this as Pam has just posted about the Brighton Festival Event - and her panel discussion, including "How to Judge a Writing Competition, Overcoming Stage Fright and making her soul sing" ... excellent article on the event.

Then many of you are writers, authors ... and the farmer, James Oswald, who has recently been picked up by Penguin ... once you get past the ads – the video clicks in (with wonderful Celtic music) ... it’s only just over 2 minutes ... from The Independent ...

You can get to read his story – how with creative flair, clever marketing skills and a bit of luck have made his book into a best seller ...

Farmer of Highland Cows and Romney sheep in Scotland makes good by drafting stories as he farms!  He still lives in a static caravan – dreams are what make us ...

... here The Daily Mail tells his story ... he’s been writing all his life ... but an incredibly unfortunate event ... made him even more determined to succeed ...

Then last but by no means least ... an interesting article in Saturday’s The Independent on "Bookbarn International" ... about the long tail as far as second-hand books are concerned ...

... you may not like the story as we’re all authors with new stories to tell – but read on – this chap, William Pryor, has had his difficulties – he may be a descendant of Darwin  ... but read to see what he’s overcome ... while ...

... towards the end of the interview they quote the following ... “After all, it was Darwin who said it’s not the strongest of the species that survives, nor the most intelligent, but the one most responsive to change.”

Makes you think doesn’t it .... Choose to Shine – what a great motto for International Be Positive Day ...

Be Positive ... be cheerful, smile often, laugh happily ... live to live – enjoy every hour in each day – there may be 24 of them ... but we only have one life – it’s better to BE POSITIVE ...

The terrible ravages that nature can unleash - have left many in mourning, shocked and  extremely worried about their future ... my thoughts are with all affected.

Hilary Melton-Butcher

Positive Letters Inspirational Stories

A Plutocrat’s Office on the Embankment in London ...

Yes this is an office – though frankly it’s not the immediate name I’d pin to this particular building : Two Temple Place ...

 

c/o Bulldog Trust

My journey there was, via recommendation by our Film Society Chairman, that the place was worth a visit, as particularly was the exhibition, on in the early part of the year:  ‘Amongst Heroes: the Artist in Working Cornwall’.

Well, yes, it is worth a visit to say the least ...  this ‘office’ resembles the mansion of a great Tudor nobleman, which is exactly the impression William Waldorf Astor, for whom it was built, wanted to portray.

 

c/o Bulldog Trust

Astor was a great grandson of John Jacob Astor, founder of one of America’s most celebrated plutocratic dynasties ... having failed to be elected to Congress, he was appointed American Minister to Rome ...

... Astor, a novelist himself, fell passionately in love with European history, culture and art. 

Astor’s father died in 1890, bequeathing him a (small!) fortune of $100 million – due to family disagreements, Astor left America and set up house in London.

This prominent setting overlooking the Thames was intended as an office – the family home was further west in the much more fashionable surroundings of Carlton House Terrace.

 

c/o Bulldog Trust - one half of the Lower Gallery

I was completely bowled over by the workmanship... as the website says – it was built to elaborate specifications by Viscount Astor in 1895:

The imposing casket of Portland stone on the exterior, inside is a testament to the skills and expertise of some of the finest sculptors of the nineteenth century. 

The foretaste on seeing the exterior is quite overwhelmed by the superb quality of the building’s internal decorative schemes, for which a great number of artists and craftsmen were marshalled under the direction of the architect!!

 

One of Clayton and Bell's two
stained glass windows in the
Great Hall.
c/o The Victorian Web

I have given you a photographic taster of the building's wonderful and incredible surroundings ...

In 1999, Two Temple Place was bought by the Bulldog Trust, founded in 1983 by Richard Hoare, a partner in Hoare’s Bank, a short walk away in Fleet Street.

The Trust offers financial support for a wide range of charities, with a focus on education.  Funds are raised from dinners and other events.

However to make it better known, the trust has initiated a programme of temporary exhibitions designed as a showcase for publicly owned art from regional collections in the UK.

c/o Bulldog Trust

Its first exhibition was on ‘William Morris: Story, Memory, Myth’ – works drawn from the William Morris Gallery, Arts and Craft Movement, in Walthamstow, which is closed for refurbishment – I was extremely sorry I missed this exhibition.

Though the “Amongst Heroes: Working Artists in Cornwall” was based around the artists found in the Penwith peninsula – the St Ives, Lands End, Penzance, Falmouth, Camborne and Redruth  areas ...

"A Fish Sale" by Stanhope A Forbes
displayed at Two Temple Place

... artists recording the fishing industry, the trades of the sea, the trades across the sea, craftsmen working their traditional crafts, mining trades  ... these were brought together in one evocative exhibition – my mother would have loved the ‘Tudor Nobleman’s Palace’, together with the representation of the local heroes and their skills.

Post to follow on the Cornish Heroes ...

Please join us over at Sharon Mayhew’s blog on Tuesday, 21^st May for “InternationalBe Positive Day” – and post, tweet, Facebook ... et al ...

Hilary Melton-Butcher

Positive Letters Inspirational Stories

British Food ... the Way We Eat Now – Happy Mother’s Day ...

While I was writing my A – Z posts on Aspects of British Cookery, this nation of gourmets celebrates the joy of fine food.

Apparently London is the world’s most exciting gastronomic city ... it is hard to believe just how gastronomically astute we have become since the grey, beigy wartime rations we’d been used to eating.

Only a few decades ago ... tourist budget Britons started to branch out to travel and trade across Europe, then further afield ... our palates grew more adventurous and much more discerning.

 

Garlic and Onion sellers
peddling the streets of London

Mediterranean produce appeared in market stalls, on station barrows, village stores got edged out with the introduction of small supermarkets, they expanded to become big supermarkets, which e-x-p-a-n-d-e-d even more to hypermarkets ...

The yellow curry or orange sweet and sour pork offered in those early Indian or Chinese restaurants or takeaways, became more upmarket, spices and herbs started to appear in our shops ...

... again we were informed how to make new delicacies ... the British cook was once again being educated ... and asked to expand our culinary horizons ...

 

by Jenny Linford - available
at The London Bookshop

... cookbooks are still bought, recipes in newspapers and magazines included ingredients that three decades ago would have been unheard of here ...

... this melting pot of a nation – a nation rich in cultures ... demanded foods from around the world ... so a Jamaican could make Curry Goat, a Filipino could make Tamarind Sinigang, a South African could have his boerwors, we could all try our hand at making Japanese Sushi ...

So much has happened to awaken our taste buds ... we demand to know where the coffee came from, where the salt was sourced, and which type of pepper is on offer ...

 

Grand Dining London 2013

We have such a diverse range of peoples ... you can find Brazilian foods, Polish stores, Scandinavian dishes ... all within the range of a town or city near you ... if not deliverable by a white van man ... then certainly available to be ordered from a shop near you ...

Cornish Anemones reminding me
of my mother

Then what is even more strange, to me anyway ... is that an enterprising British-Indian young man from Bradford is opening a fish and chip shop in the Indian sub-continent, not even on the coast!

It’s a funny old world – but a fun one ... a very happy Mother’s Day to all families – to all women ... we are all carers in some way or other ...

I'm doing a double dose today and can be found on the Blogging from A to Z Challenge site here.

Hilary Melton-Butcher

Positive Letters Inspirational Stories

Brain Pickings, Roger Ebert, RIP ... blogging ... A- Zers something to reflect over and the ‘what now’ ...

I came across Roger Ebert, the renowned film critic who died recently, when I was researching about the silent movie “The Passion of Joan of Arc”.

 

Film montage c/o The Independent

Ebert’s description then made me realise that he must be one special man and obviously lived passionately for his work.

Maria Popova of Brain Pickings, who has the most incredible blog, posted about RIP,Roger Ebert ... The Beloved Critic on Writing, Life and Mortality ...

... the passages she selects for us, as bloggers, could offer highlights into our minds, our reflections, our future, our next journey, while most definitely making interesting reading.

Ebert had cancer of the jaw, lost his ability to talk, realised the advantage of the internet age, and then sadly died, but having written his memoirs, given a TED talk in Scotland, passed on pearls of wisdom in interviews, articles he was able to type etc ....

Please visit Maria Popova’s blog and particularly this post – it makes thought provoking reading together with all the links ...

With reference to us as bloggers, authors, memoir writers, genealogists for our families, et al ...

Extracted from Brain Pickings:

Much like his ability to summon memories without deliberate effort, Ebert’s mastery of the writing process is largely an unconscious act, a state of mesmerism experienced in finding your purpose and doing what you love:

When I write, I fall into the zone many writers, painters, musicians, athletes, and craftsmen of all sorts seem to share: In doing something I enjoy and am expert at, deliberate thought falls aside and it is all just there. I think of the next word no more than the composer thinks of the next note.

He marvels at how the social web, despite his initial skepticism, liberated his impulse for self-expression as his writing took on an autobiographical life of its own:

My blog became my voice, my outlet, my ‘social media’ in a way I couldn’t have dreamed of. Into it I poured my regrets, desires, and memories. Some days I became possessed.

The comments were a form of feedback I’d never had before, and I gained a better and deeper understanding of my readers. I made ‘online friends,’ a concept I’d scoffed at.

Most people choose to write a blog. I needed to. I didn’t intend for it to drift into autobiography, but in blogging there is a tidal drift that pushes you that way. …

... the Internet encourages first-person writing, and I’ve always written that way. How can a movie review be written in the third person, as if it were an account of facts? If it isn’t subjective, there’s something false about it.

The blog let loose the flood of memories. Told sometimes that I should write my memoirs, I failed to see how I possibly could. I had memories, I had lived a good life in an interesting time, but I was at a loss to see how I could organize the accumulation of a lifetime.

It was the blog that taught me how. It pushed me into first-person confession, it insisted on the personal, it seemed to organize itself in manageable fragments.

Some of these words, since rewritten and expanded, first appeared in blog forms. Most are here for the first time. They come pouring forth in a flood of relief.

There are many other insightful points put over on Maria’s posting ... it is really worth visiting – while the TED talk is definitely worth a 20 minute listen ......... what would you do if you could not talk?

 

The subject of not eating comes up ... where he mentions the ‘experience’ of missing the jokes, gossip, arguments and memories ... that he was not able to interact with.

My mother couldn’t eat or drink ... but we still had communication – mostly perfectly normal, though occasionally I’d need to have my wits about me (provided lots of laughter) ... and usually I never discussed food or drink of any sort – it made it fairer for my mother: though she had loved the experience.

There are some other lovely thought provoking thoughts here – so I hope you will click over and visit Maria’s blog and enjoy this posting on Roger Ebert RIP, together with blogging reflections.

Maria Popova’s Brain Pickings Blog – RIP, Roger Ebert: The Beloved Film Critic onWriting, on Life, and Mortality

My post on The Silent Pianist, which includes notes on the silent film  “The Passion of Joan of Arc”

Hilary Melton-Butcher

Positive Letters Inspirational Stories

Reflections Post .. A – Z (Aspects of British Cookery) 2013 ...

To be a part of the group of Bloggers who participate in the A-Z Challenge has once again been a huge pleasure ...

First – Arlee Bird of Tossing It Out had the bright idea in the first place, all of four years ago ... participating in a group of 100 would have been wonderful, but life wasn’t with me then and I opted not to participate.  

Now with 1700 of us for the last 2 years ... it is an amazing achievement.  This is the link to Lee's Relfections Post ... 

Second – for others to have jumped on the bandwagon as Helpers and Organisers through co-hosting is wonderful for us bloggers, who just participate. 

Lots of ‘stuff’ is sorted out by these willing volunteers – and they deserve all the credit we can give them.

There’s been a few extra minions in the background and I certainly hope we helped clarify things – but then someone has to do the work we forward on ... co-hosts and Lee once again.

What year this refers to - I've no idea!!

Third – us lot: the participating bloggers – congratulations to all who finished and especially to all newcomers this year.

Fourth – to comprehend what is going on in the background defies me and I’m aware that I’m in no position to grump or groan or criticise (sorry I noted someone who wasn't being very positive about it all) – as I don’t fully understand how Blogger, Wordpress, Typepad, et al work and then the Browsers, Internet Explorer, Chrome, Firefox to name a few ... and then how we set them up to work either ...

Five – we come from all around the world with many of you speaking English as your second language – I applaud you ... then many of us with differing educations and outlooks on life ... these we need to remember and consider.

I decided that I could not get round to everyone – but I have the rest of the year ... some bloggers were brilliant and gave us recommendations of bloggers who needed extra help or who fitted the letter of the day ... Arlee Bird and Amanda Trought being two I can think of ...

 

Amanda at the Art4Therapy Street Gallery in
University College Hospital, London

I’m lucky I develop a wonderful rapport with many bloggers and have had some fun email conversations ... this year C.Lee McKenzie even going so far as to make my Pond Pudding in my "P" post and posting about it ...

... then she mentions that in the summer she and a friend are having a Pond Pudding Competition ... to see how high they can go and which height makes the best pudding?!  Health and Safety beware!!!!

 

Amanda and I meeting
up at the participative
event of Art4Therapy

I’ve met some brilliant new bloggers to whom I relate to enormously ... the thing I love about the Challenge – those relationships stick ... some haven’t participated this year ... but they’re there.

So often people need our support and having been through my own recent turmoils of the last 7 or 8 years I’ve learnt much, and endeavour to appreciate everyone where they’re at if they’re having problems.

I’ve learnt understanding and thus try and look at things from others perspectives ... ie their set up, their state of mind, their desires and dreams ... some I relate to more easily – as we all do.

One of Amanda's beautiful paintings ... 

The categorising of the blogs this year certainly helped ... but we never know ... there may be hidden talents in another direction - so don't discard anyone!

I’ve had trouble with/I’ve noted:

• Disqus comment facility being put on Blogger blogs – I am unable to comment as the facility doesn’t appear .... I gather it does on other browsers

• Google+ - I sometimes can’t get access (I don’t participate in it)

• The GUI version of Blogger – especially where the gearwheels pop up as the blog is opened up ... I often can’t comment

• Some of us live in the ark, some are advanced and technically astute – but melding and being able to get on to some blogs can be troublesome ... I endeavour to work a way round ... if not ‘tough’ and I just get on.

• It’s the way of the world – enjoy what you can do ... meet like-minded bloggers – by luck as they drop in on you (that happened to me a few times this year), and by commenting as we go through the list ...

• Be positive – take the best outlook ... with 1700 individuals, ten or more genres ... it’s not going to satisfy everyone ... but you joined and if you let it, the experience will be truly gratifying and truly mind opening ...

• ... this is a learning experience par excellence and we are so lucky to have the wonderful people we have organising it for us – so enjoy the people you meet .... it’s a fun fun world!

I doubt there's another group as willing, as supportive as the people we find here putting this show on for us ... I am so thankful!

Cheers!!

Amanda Trought - R for Relationships ... Amanda and I meeting ...

Amanda Trought - U for Update ... her brother has cancer, while her mother is suffering from Dementia ... we appreciated each other's situation, though my life is now my own after my mother's long life ... 

... she asked me how I coped, and what I feel now ... questions we perhaps don't get to ask of others ... I expect we'll meet again to continue these thoughts - but she has other priorities right now.

... I could empathise with the amount Amanda has on her plate with her own family, her art therapy and two of her immediate relations needing a great deal of her time.  Admiration is a word I'd apply here .... she deserves much.

The A - Z is one brilliant challenge ... but so many others in the world have much more pressing challenges affecting their day to day lives ... 

and a PS - 

a couple of things I forgot ... one is I wish people had their email on their sites, so we can make a personal contact, if necessary.   I resisted this for the first year .. but once I'd made lots of friends .. the whole thing became ridiculous and I put up my email - I'm very grateful for the connections I make.

Re commenting .. I too wish people would leave just a little relevant note re the post .. it doesn't take much more effort (if any) - than say the generic "great post" - each time my blog and others are visited ... personalising things helps the connection ... 

Hilary Melton-Butcher

Positive Letters Inspirational Stories

Z is for Zdena ...

Zdena that follower of Bacchus, the wine god, would not have been left out of any frivolities or ABCings ...

Zdena in all her glory!

... she, like her new mistress, loves life too much ... sent over by Lenny as a companion to Hardwick, Muddy Hippo and Rocky, and who now lives with this blog’s owner after her mother died ...

The beautiful black and white zebra arrived needing a name ... what quoth this blog owner shall that zany zebra be called ... a search was conducted ...

... ah ah ... the name to suit the owner, completely satisfying the last letter of the alphabet Aspects of British Cookery challenge, flew up out of the magic that is the www .... "Zdena"...

 

Hardwick, Muddy Hippo and Zdena

... how appropriate that she is a follower of the wine god Bacchus ... Zdena on being named, very quickly caught up with the 21^st century ...

... dying her hair bright red, painting her toes (and hooves in the process) and then completely shocking her mistress with two heart tattoos on her cheeks ... to round her image off – she wears a red bow ...

Here's to you all ... 

She is one pretty smart Zebra ... on top of that her mistress rather likes her name Zdena ...

.... the short and sweet end to a wonderful A – Z ... please join us for a delicious glass of wine, cider, mead or .... drink of your choice ... 


... Zdena and I will join you with a toast to Arlee Bird, who started this razzamatazz, and his wonderful co-hosts for keeping us on track, and to you all who so generously comment ... cheers and thank you!

That is Z for Zdena from Aspects of British Cookery ...

To all newcomers ... this is Lenny - he blogs and frequents bloggers when he feels inspired, at the moment he seems to be stuck with lots of school work -as he says yuck!!!!  This is my blog post about the Valentine prezzies he sent over --- very lucky me!!  You can see from the post what a brilliant character he is ...

Hilary Melton-Butcher

Positive Letters Inspirational Stories