Yakety-Yak part 2 …

 

Lunana, a Yak in the Classroom film … is a quite delightful story telling about a Yak in Bhutan, a recalcitrant youth, and a school high up in the Himalayas in need of a teacher …

Lunana is between the 'M & A' of the 
Himalayas name

… said youth had to finish off his teaching diploma before he could leave Bhutan, with his guitar, to pursue his dream of achieving a musical career in Australia – for which he already had a provisional visa.

Ultimately he has to qualify as a teacher … so off he goes up into the Himalayas … grumping and groaning as only a rebellious youngster can …

Pokhara Valley in Bhutan

The headman sends two herdsman to meet him – when the 'road runs out'; he has his walkman headphones permanently clamped to his ears … ultimately the batteries run out …

… the two villagers reassure him the walk is easy – it's along a river – yes, but that stream is pouring down the mountains – so the walk is an uphill wet trog. He'd purposefully bought Goretex boots before leaving – well they're no good – soggy wet feet step onwards!

Poster for film

We journey with him … it is beautiful, hardwork, we see cultural aspects, are introduced to a few peoples along the way.

Eventually he arrives – it is basic to put it mildly – he has his own hut … he's fed that first night … and given some basic instructions about how things work – he needs to light his own fire, cook his own food etc etc … eventually sleep comes …

Early the next morning there's a knock on the door – by the littliest schoolgirl – we're ready for you 'teacher' she beams announcing with delight …

See link at end

… oh dear – nothing's organised … eventually things sort themselves out – he's beguiled by the children, copes with wet yak pats – told he needs dry ones to light his fire … etc etc

His guitar comes out – he recognises there are excellent songsters in the hamlet … he sends for teaching tools from Thimphu, capital of Bhutan …

A Yak - they're sleek animals

He's given a Yak to look after – who has pride of place in the classoom – domesticated yaks are highly regarded for their milk, fibre and meat, and as beasts of burden – then there's their droppings – fuel for their fires … but the yak will not eat grain … they must have grass …

… in the end they have a happy year – but he's determined to leave … and does … he's qualified and can travel to Australia … his dream has come true … but has it …

Here he's playing his guitar to his yak!

… he's playing in a bar in Sydney and realises no-one is listening to him … they're all nattering away … he's upset … then appreciates there's a calling at home – high up in Lunana …

Some brief stats and info … Lunana's administrative area has a population of under 900; rainfall is over six feet a year; many of Bhutan's glaciers are within the district, which lies at an altitude of 3,400m (over 11,000 feet); yaks are related to cattle and are also known as the Tartary ox, grunting ox, or hairy cattle …

The movie inspired me – and still does – I hope you'll be able to make a plan to watch it sometime … 'a teacher touches the future' and 'you find what you seek in a place you least expect' …

The trailer to watch ... Lunana: A Yak in the Classroom 

Wikipedia's page on the film ...

Hilary Melton-Butcher

Positive Letters Inspirational Stories

Concrete Lemon …

 

Well it's not what I thought … I imagined that this would be a great subject for a We Are The World Blogfest post …

Detailed taxonomic illustration by
Kohler 1897

… but no … it is most definitely not concrete in the way we understand it today … the term arose in the early 1500s coming about from Latin (concretus) – having different meanings as the language English progressed – and those grammatical aspects are way beyond me … (I looked up concrete origin of word): the English Language is a dynamic one … always changing …

Right let's get back to lemons … and the Mr Coxwell … who perfected this concrete lemon substance …

An essay by Dr Trotter

Mr Coxwell was a chemist and druggist in Fleet Street, London and was a member of the Committee of Chemistry at the Society for the Promotion of Arts, Manufactures, and Commerce, and … as you know the inventor of concrete lemon.

Concrete as we know it – it was not - but it did have the appearance of smashed white sugar … perhaps I'll look at concrete dust differently now …

Henry Coxwell's description

However Mr Coxwell had created crystallised lemon juice for use at sea … to ease the disease of scurvy …

Scurvy had been recorded in Ancient Egypt over 3,500 years ago; Hippocrates, the Greek physician, described the symptoms of scurvy; the Chinese recognised it …

Eventually in the early years of the 2^nd millennium 'we' started to catch up - that fresh citrus particularly could ward off scurvy …

Produce could be part of the cargo – but would not last … so stop off points were found and then planted with fruit trees and vegetables to be available for maritime travellers …

Very early Cape Town, harbour and 
Table Mountain

… Jan van Riebeeck, acting for the Dutch East India Company, arrived in 1792 at what is now the Cape Town area to set up a victualing settlement to grow fruit trees and develop gardens for a permanent supply of fresh produce.

These stop off points developed in places such as St Helena Island, along the St Lawrence River ... and other places as explorers opened up the world …

Communication and the spread of information was not easy in these early days … so it took until the 1920s before 'our world' understood scurvy … now in the 21^st century it is virtually eliminated though still occurs amongst malnourished people and there have been outbreaks in refugee camps ...

Back to Coxwell and his concrete lemon that particularly valuable commodity … developed in the late 1700s and early 1800s – at least it could be kept and stored easily in the cargo … as a veritable increase in trade spread around the globe.

Description of his reduced lemon juice
in the Bath Chronicle of 1799

The wonders of life through the ages ... 

On July 10^th 1784 … see Crell's Journal in the link … where he notes that 'there is a worm that cankers the bud of all improvement here' … the Naval Service took a while before this ingenious discovery would benefit its seamen.

This subject bemused me … to be found … c/o British Library and its archives … and I learnt quite a lot from reading it …

Hilary Melton-Butcher

Positive Letters Inspirational Stories

Bran Tub # 24 … Spoon-billed Sandpiper and its 1869 lithographer …

 

Being behind the curve as usual … I spotted this wonderful looking lithograph of the spoon-bill sandpiper – illustrated by John Gerrard Keulemans in 1869 – which led me to various things …

Illustration by John Gerrard Keulemans
(1869)

Oh dear … my interpretation of the title on this book in my little mind was Eleven Birds in House and Town … but as you can see it should be and is: Our Birds in House and Garden …

Keuleman's publication
volume one

Not sure now how I got to the Spoon-billed Sandpiper … but another name came into the frame … Laysan Island … one of the North-western (Leeward) Islands (originally the Sandwich Islands – so named by James Cook in 1778).

Laysan Island one of the tiny islands in
the long-tail of the volcanic chain

This is part of the Hawaiian Islands … a chain of volcanoes that stretch about 2,700 km (1,700 miles) in a north-westerly direction … these are constantly on the move as new islands are created over tens of thousands of years … about 7 cm (or 2.75 inches) per year …

This bird is critically endangered … the main threats to survival are habitat loss on its breeding grounds and loss of tidal flats … in and around that huge area the Pacific Ocean …

Spoon-billed Sandpiper's distribution -
around the Pacific Ocean

… it nests in June-July on coastal areas in the tundra, choosing locations with grass close to freshwater pools.

Head of the Spoon-billed Sandpiper 
c 1890 illusration

They feed on moss in the tundras, as well as smaller animal species like mosquitoes, flies, beetles, and spiders … at times they feed on marine vertebrates such as shrimp and worms.

Captain Cook's three voyages: red in 1768,
green in 1772; his final one - he was killed
in the Hawaiian islands in 1776

The gales and storms above the seas will send many a small animal off course …

Captain James Cook c 1775

On looking at Captain Cook and then his wife through these portraits … we can certainly see some of the cultural changes that have occurred in the last 300 years …

Elizabeth Cook - 56 years a widow (1830)

The storms of life are most definitely still occurring … I digress once again … I think it's time I disappeared back onto my curve again …

Spoon-billed Sandpiper ...

John Gerrard Keulemans - his three volume works ... 

James Cook and his history ... 

National Geographic and the chain of Hawaiian Islands hotspot ... 

Saving the Spoon-Billed Sandpiper site ... 

Hilary Melton-Butcher

Positive Letters Inspirational Stories

Ellen Terry and her Iridescent Beetlewing Dress ...

I had already come across the ‘beetlewing costume’ via posts I had written about closing up Kipling’s home – Batemans – particularly the conservation of its contents.

Ellen Terry as Lady Macbeth -
painting by John Singer Sargent
(1888)

I knew Ellen Terry’s name (1847 – 1928) … but really nothing about her life or the magnificent glistening dress she wore when performing Lady Macbeth.

So when hearing a talk on Ellen at our Social History group … I was enchanted to learn more. 

Terry came from an acting family … and began performing in her childhood … she was one of 11 children … at least five became actors – Kate, her elder sister, was the grandmother of Sir John Gielgud, who along with Sir Laurence Olivier and Sir Ralph Richardson were the trinity of actors dominating the British stage for much of the 20^th century …

'Choosing' - portrait of Ellen
Terry, by George Watts c. 1864

The Terry family gave performances around the country … with Ellen taking parts from the early age of 9 … it seems she never stopped.

An eminent artist, George Watts, painted the two sister’s portraits … and then despite the age difference (46 – 17) – Watts and Terry married: it didn’t last, but the time allowed Terry to meet various luminaries of the time: Browning, Tennyson, Gladstone and Disraeli … which opened new doors and gained her more admirers.

Julia Margaret Cameron's photo of
Ellen Terry, aged 16

While the portraits painted by Watts and the early photographs by the renowned photographer, Julia Margaret Cameron, ensured she became a cult figure for the poets and painters of the later Pre-Raphaelite and Aesthetic movements, including Oscar Wilde.

Terry lived life to the full … beginning a relationship with a progressive architect-designer, by whom she had two children, Edward William Godwin (1833 – 1886).  Godwin had a particular interest in medieval costume … which led him to design theatrical costumes and scenery for Terry and her performances, even after their affair cooled.

Northampton Guildhall - designed in the
Ruskinian-Gothic style by Godwin

Terry had two further marriages, and other liaisons over her long life … one where she married an American, James Carew, who was 30 years her junior … that lasted only two years.

Two other partnerships developed – not of the romantic kind – for a short while with George Bernard Shaw – they had struck up a friendship and conducted a famous correspondence …. they weren’t so keen when they met!

Henry Irving (1838 - 1905)

The other was with Henry Irving who had worked hard to become a successful actor-manager-theatre director … particularly after his association and subsequent partnership with Ellen.

She remained popular regardless of how much and how often her behaviour defied the strict morality expected by her Victorian audiences … it is unknown whether Terry had a romantic relationship with Irving – who was considered the doyen of English classical theatre, even, in 1895, being the first actor to be knighted.

Much of Ellen Terry’s life has been recorded in art and photography … often wearing gowns designed by Godwin.  The most spectacular, and one which was worn and worn over the years – here and in America – is the Iridescent Beetle Wing costume she wore as Lady Macbeth.

The costume in dire need of repair ... 

The gown was made in crochet using a soft green wool and blue tinsel yarn from Bohemia to create an effect similar to chain mail.

Part of the portrait by John Singer Sargent

John Singer Sargent on seeing Terry in her performance in 1888 was compelled to paint her portrait, hence we have a detailed image to refer to.  It is in the Tate Gallery – where it had been donated in 1906; there is a contemporaneous photograph of Ellen Terry wearing the dress in the National Portrait Gallery.

Beetle wings

The costume was embroidered with gold and decorated with over a thousand of those sparkly wings from the green jewel beetle.  By the way the beetles shed their wings naturally – thank goodness for that clarification!

The Bejewlled Beetle

I found that the Victoria and Albert Museum have an article on Ellen Terry, the actress, her designer and her costumes … well worth a read.

Henry Irving watching a rehearsal -
illustration c. 1893

Irving died in 1905 leaving Terry distraught however she returned to the theatre in 1906.  She continued to perform, appeared in her first film in 1916, travelled back and forth to America, toured Australasia … while also lecturing on the Shakespearean heroines. 

She continued to participate in the theatrical world, though after WW1 withdrew more and more … she was recognised by society and appointed a Dame Grand Cross of the Order of the British Empire – only the second actress to be so honoured.

Smallhythe Place

Terry, in 1899, had bought Smallhythe Place, near Tenterden on the Kent/Sussex border – which she first saw with Henry Irving.  Terry’s daughter, Edith Craig, opened the house in 1929 as a memorial to her mother. 

A walk through the gardens at Smallhythe

It is now owned by the National Trust who maintain the many personal and theatrical mementos, the house, garden and the Barn Theatre in the grounds … where the tradition of putting on a Shakespearean play every year on the anniversary of Ellen Terry’s death (21 July) has been maintained.

The Barn Theatre

That costume, transforming the beautiful red-haired actress into a cross between a jewelled serpent and a medieval knight, was the talk of the town in 1888 after the first night … and was, after one hundred years (with all the wear and tear of tours, behind the scenes change of costumes, and packing crates), desperately in need of a touch of conservation.

Ellen Terry c 1880 - aged 33

This Guardian article explains that the repairs proved as muchcostume archaeology as needlework … it was restored to its present glory by a specialist textile conservator, Zenzie Tinker – whom I had across as the expert used by Batemans, in Rudyard Kipling’s, home.

I so enjoyed learning about Ellen Terry, which led me to look at theatre in the 1800s, actors and actresses, society, art and literary works, epistolary collections, textile conservation … and then the history of it all, ending with Smallhythe Place – which I have never visited … definitely something I need to correct.

Hilary Melton-Butcher

Positive Letters Inspirational Stories

It’s a bug’s life … or not …

... saving itself from extinction, appearing as a magnificent rainbow jewel 175 million years later, or humans’ thinking ah! this would make a good meal …

Matrix Opal c/o National Opals, Australia

Bugs are incredible, and together with the natural earth, keep this world in balance, which is more than can be said for the Anthropocene epoch.

Nothophantes Horridus – yes, more commonly called the Horrid Ground-Weaver – an extremely rare species of spider in the family Linyphidae (sheet weavers or money spiders).

 

Goldcrest love Sheet Weavers

Etymology gives this little bug its name: from the Greek words ‘notho’, meaning spurious, and ‘hyphantes’, which means weaver, and the Latin ‘horridus’, which means … not horrid! … but bristly.

Anyways … it is very rare and has only recently (1989) been found in a microscopic area of Plymouth, Devon,  less than one kilometre square - whereupon its environmental friends called this endangered species ‘to action’:   as evidence that a housing development in a quarry should not go ahead:  the Planning Inspector upheld the bug’s right to exist.

 

A fossilised Belemoidea

The next is a Belemoidea, which has raised its pretty little head after life in the Jurassic era – about 175 million years ago.

They are an extinct group of marine cephalopod  (being millions of years old I guess that’d they'd be extinct?!) – but very similar to squid and closely related to the modern cuttlefish.

This particular bug has had a chequered life … seen by marine dinosaurs in Australia’s vast inland sea, before the sea regressed.  At that time the weather was erratic and very acidic – the effects caused silica-rich gel to become trapped in the earth.  Over time the silica solidified to form opals.

The Virgin Rainbow Opal

This Virgin Rainbow Opal was found in the Coober Pedy district of Western Australia – “The Opal Capital of the World”.  It has been secured for the South Australian Museum in Adelaide.

Coober Pedy

Not knowing the area at all … I was interested to see that Coober Pedy lies on the Adelaide to Alice Springs road and on to Darwin – I’ve taught myself a bit of geography here.

We are running out food … well so they say … and we’ve always constantly looked at other alternatives of food sources … how about bugs?  Australia has them … Balmain Bugs – I always liked the look of these slippery lobsters – a food to be enjoyed.

Balmain Bug

Some of these aren't bugs ... buttttt .......... I enjoyed writing about them!

Balmain Bug, Prawn, Squid, etc

A lot of us won’t eat bugs … just the thought of scrunching down a creepy crawly sends shivers down our spines.  They’re not unhealthy; they’re often quite tasty and loaded with the sort of nutritious good stuff dietary professionals love.

Sooner or later we’re probably going to have to get over our apprehensions and embrace these remarkably efficient sources of protein. 

Served at a pub near you ... 

Let us eat worms, we already eat snails … the American Army Survival Handbook, I see, tells you (not me!) how to catch worms, clean (purge) them and then you can eat them raw.

Late 1800s ad

But remember we used to despise oysters – the poor man’s food … and those bugs the lobsters despised by American coastal dwellers, but beloved by the train passengers (good to eat) and railroad bosses (cheap to provide).

Now there’s the Wild Food School in Lostwithiel, Cornwall – which provides Entompohagy Courses – new word?!  Yes for me too … but here they show us that eating insects is de riguer in many parts of the world ...

So let’s embrace bugs … for their use, their balance of life, and for the beauty they might provide in a quarter of a billion years ahead!

Here are some links … that might amuse and tell more of their story:

Finest Opal Ever c/o The Jewellery Judge 

Big Think on Eating Bugs

How Lobster Got Fancy c/o PSMag 

Wild Food School: Edible Insects and Bugs

Hilary Melton-Butcher

Positive Letters Inspirational Stories

Happy New Year and Year End Thoughts …

As 2014 ticks away and we are gathered up into the embrace of 2015 … so often we are thinking of our goals, our ambitions for the year ahead …

 

Happy New Year to 2015

… this year I’ve been struck by messages from the Queen, the Pope, the Archbishop of Canterbury and Archbishop Desmond Tutu of South Africa’s new book …

We agreed the Queen’s Christmas Day speech was a good one – yes it reflected British things, but importantly as head of the Commonwealth she reached out beyond our shores to her people, and then there was the wider audience of those who respect Her Majesty, Queen Elizabeth II, as one of the great leaders of this era in history.

The United Nations encompassing logo

The Queen touched on Reconciliation, Truces, Sport as a way to bring peoples of different nations together … the form of Reconciliation was thought about … Ireland, Scotland, war zones, Ebola …

Then she mentioned “Christ’s example has taught me to seek respect and value of all people of whatever faith or none” …

The rainbow peoples of this world

… with finally to the haunting sounds of “Silent Night” a reminder to us all that “even in the unlikeliest of places hope can still be found” as in World War One when the Christmas Day football game in the trenches in 1914 took place, when the War was meant to be over.

The Pope has not been frightened to take the bull by the horns (I wonder if that’s where the term ‘Papal Bull’ comes from? – I doubt it!!) … and to quote from Kathleen Kelley Reardon’s Big Think article “What ManagersCan Learn From Pope Francis’ Christmas Missive”:

“It takes courage to stand up to powerful others who can make our life miserable.  That does not appear to be Pope Francis’ concern.  He knows the mission of his church and has every intention of saving it from the hands of those who have lost sight of why they’re there.”

The Archbishop of Canterbury was recently out in Sierra Leone supporting the Ebola health workers … disease does not have any truce, nor does persecution of Christians …

We can do more, when we are healthy

This down-to-earth man, our Archbishop, who was a business man, knows about leadership and reaching out to one and all … to lead by example the peoples of this world, who are or who will be inspired by his faith …

… sadly he has pneumonia and was unable to give his Christmas Day sermon – a lesson to us all that our health and balance of all things needs to be remembered too – in the daily fulfilment of our duties and life.

I just liked these phrases/ ideas / steps ... 

I will hold notes on Archbishop Desmond Tutu’s new book until our Ubuntu post in February, which I am led to believe Michelle Wallace, Writerin Transit, will once again instigate next year.

Taking time out to reflect, to think, to read in different areas will enlighten us the more as 2015 starts its journey … may you all have joyful, successful and blessed 2015s …

Her Majesty The Queen's Christmas Day broadcast

The Pope's Christmas Missive - c/o Big Think

The Archbishop's Christmas Day Sermon

Happy New Year to you all - may we have healthy lives, an easier time ... give more, need less ... see you in 2015!

Hilary Melton-Butcher

Positive Letters Inspirational Stories