Fritillaries …

 

Frittering away … well enjoying some time-space … with a nodding head as the Winter and early Spring disappear before an easier Summer, one (I do) hope/s, at least on the nature side, arrives …

Snake's-head Fritillary

Diddle away dissipate fribble away … words, words, words … aren't we lucky to have so many expressions to illustrate our ideas …

I'm on slow-go time … lots to do, and no doubt will get there … so in the meantime … some wonderful plants from a by-gone era …

Nodding Meleagris
in the meadow

Fritillaries first recognised in Europe in the late 1500s … characterised by nodding flower heads … probably brought over from the Middle East ...

Cultivated (Dutch) Fritillaries

... in Oxford there's a wild meadow, which hasn't been cultivated for centuries, as it's annually flooded …

... once the fritillaries in Iffley Meadows have finished their flowering, the deer herd is moved in for the summer and autumn …

Meadow Fritillary - underside of the female

Shakespeare in his narrative poem Venus and Adonis, Adonis metamorphoses into a purple flower checked with white:

By this, the boy that by her side lay kill’d

Was melted like a vapour from her sight,

And in his blood that on the ground lay spill’d,

A purple flower sprung up, chequer’d with white.

Helmeted Guinea Fowl in Namibia

The Latin specific epithet 'meleagris' means “spotted like a guineafowl” …

Then I came across the 'Fritillary' an academic term's magazine of the Oxford Women's Colleges … published between 1894 and 1931 …

Fritillary
Summer term
1927 magazine

... which I'd noted in the book Joanne Faries had reviewed last December … titled “The Eights” …

... and came about from Joanne Faries at her Word Splash blog in December last year when she reviewed “The Eights” - about four women in 1920 starting at Oxford University … which took me back to my school days in Oxford, and brought some history to life …

... and then oh yes! - in the book Joanne recommended … 'The Hilary Term' … which has just finished. I'm more than delighted today … I'm cheered at the coincidences!!

So here's to hope – I do fall on the side of optimism … and relate to my name derived from the Latin 'hilarius' – cheerful merry...

Section or Semester heading

Joanne Faries - Word Splash blog 'The Eights'

Hilary Melton-Butcher

Positive Letters Inspirational Stories

April Fool's Day … let's collect fog to drink ...

 

April Fool's Day (I know 'twas yesterday) … let's collect fog to drink – shall we?!

Fog collection in Atacama Desert, Chile

Yes – it's real … fog has been collected over aeons, while in human times traced back to the 13^th century Inca Empire … fog was collected for their water requirements … from trees dripping their moisture into containers placed underneath the foliage from the coastal mists and fogs …

Strange but true … and those early humans, of course, realised that nature offered this ancient practice … from the small-scale drinking pools of condensation collected in plant stems, to these Namib beetles … all do it!

The Racingstripe Darkling Beetle,
Namibia. (stenocara gracilipes)

Also the Redwood forests survive particularly due to the addition of condensation on needles which drip into the trees' root stems …

Fog collecting has been devised using stone piles in Ukraine, medieval dew ponds in southern England and volcanic stone covers on the fields of Lanzarote …

Fog Collection

One of the first recent projects was in 1969 in South Africa … the collector is made up of three major parts: the frame, the mesh netting, and the trough of basin …

Mist or fog amongst
Red Forest

The design is adjusted according to the area – geography, the mesh has to be appropriate, while the frame size can vary as necessary …

You're lucky … I will not try and work out how much, etc etc … I'd probably be here in a few years still pondering!!

Cloud Forest in Sri Lanka

Building-integrated fog collectors into architectural elements is an ongoing emerging technology … we are still learning …

Fog can be harvested in the Atacama and Namib Deserts … fog fences … and surprisingly in Canada: where fog collecting devices were deployed on Mont Sutton in Quebec to study the constituents of the fog.

Village - Ait Baamrane, bordering
the Sahara Desert, Morocco
Men and Women collect potable water
from fog and mists

This project sparked the interest of other scientists … particularly in Chile, southern Africa … and other places … links below:

Fog Collection - Wikipedia - see Quebec information here

Fog-Harvesting - c/o UN Climate Technology Centre & Network ...

Case study: Morocco

Humans are behind the curve, but 'suddenly' we realise we could learn from our ancestors and their environment … we do not appreciate that which we have … thank goodness for scientists and people who are curious … always looking to improve life for all …

Hilary Melton-Butcher

Positive Letters Inspirational Stories

Crinoids … St Cuthbert Beads …

 

Stepping on eggshells … or walking on the beach with sharp, stony pebbles … both would make us jump around trying to find a more comfortable place from which to enjoy the seashore …

"So-called
St Cuthbert's beads"

I remember a holiday I had with my father years ago up on the Northumberland coast, when we visited the tidal Holy Island of Lindisfarne – an important centre of Celtic Christianity, including St Cuthbert (c 634 – 687AD), and later the Venerable Bede (c 672 - 735AD) …

Falsies from years ago!

I don't know how many have seen the fossilised false teeth set that hit the airwaves recently … actually some crinoids ossified as the planet evolved about half a billion years ago … entitled the 'smiling fossil' see link below …

Lindisfarne - Holy Island

Crinoids, marine invertebrates, can still appear … but these fossilised ones tend to be found from the Triassic era (c 250 million years ago to 200 million years ago) ...

Crinoid Stem

I realised the crinoid find … false teeth from the triassic era … rather quaint - which gave me, and continues to give me, a laugh …

Explanation of a Crinoid - via Lumen

Amazing what can be found millions of years later … protected in a layer of sediment the skeletal remains compacted, turn to rock …

One of the pinnules - before
the crinoids separate away

... the bones are dissolved by water seeping through the rock, while the minerals in the water replace the bone, leaving a rock replica of the original bone called a fossil …

As described within image

...then over geological time these replica bones become displaced leaving us with the so called “St Cuthbert's Beads' from the Jurassic era…

Triassic flora and fauna

Strange but true … false teeth idea and all?!

Happy Spring finally, though we're in for a few chilly days …

Smiling False Teeth fossil

Lumen - c/o Wiki

Crinoid - c/o Wiki

National History Museum - discover the triassic period

Hilary Melton-Butcher

Positive Letters Inspirational Stories

Mothering Sunday … “Altar of Nonn” …

 

The village Altarnun, Cornwall, is named after Saint Nonna, mother of the Welsh patron saint: St David, who had moved to Cornwall in AD 527.

The village of Altarnun

I've been thinking about the servants, who would have to get the morning chores finished on Mothering Sunday …

... but at some point would be released to see their own mother often gathering violets on the way as a small token of their love ...

Bodmin Moor - the area known as
'Rough Tor'

... the images conjured up in my mind were of perhaps a peasant child struggling across the moors, against the biting wind and odd squally shower, to see their mother on their annual day off …

...yesterday Mothering Sunday – a day of honouring mother churches, as celebrated in the Middle Ages – is fading from many people's views of life … recorded though in literature – which I couldn't find - I'm sure one of the Bronte's wrote something?!

Violets

However here it is thought that Shakespeare's King of the Fairies, Oberon, might have given the Fairy Queen a bouquet of violets … as depicted in Act 2, Scene 1 from A Midsummer Night's Dream:

"I know a bank where the wild thyme blows,

Where oxlips and the nodding violet grows,

Quite over-canopied with luscious woodbine,

With sweet musk-roses and with eglantine.”

The UK, Ireland and some Commonwealth countries celebrate this observance per the Church calendar … on the fourth Sunday in Lent – no doubt we will, as usual, also succumb to the American secular Mother's Day observation … on the second Sunday in May.

Nodding Violet -
Violet odorata

I'm feeling my way back in … I think the NHS (hospital) has faded into the background … and now Spring is about here … I can comfortably get on … as I hope you all can …

Hilary Melton-Butcher

Positive Letters Inspirational Stories

World Book Day … and International Women's Day …

 

The aspect of reading and its benefits are being encouraged for all … be it for the little ones, or for those older, perhaps even silver ones, who've not explored what's out in the written world …

Oracy is a word I hadn't come across … meaning the oral equivalent of literacy and numeracy … numbers can defeat many too!!

The National Literacy Trust empowers people to achieve literacy skills that'll be needed to succeed in life.

One book to start with (I've more … I'm back!) … I've just read Julia Gray's 'I, Ada' about Ada Lovelace, Byron's daughter.

Julia Gray writes as though she's Ada … bringing her story to life, yet sensibly adding snippets to bring the story more to our attention … as we know relatively little about Ada …

Ada - portrait by Margaret
Sarah Carpenter (1836)

... at the end in the author's note Gray talks about 'imagine out' from what is known or can be found on a subject … then round out those notes … which Gray describes as some kind of middle plane between fiction and non-fiction where books like I, Ada must sit...

... Gray goes on to say that whatever topic she's been researching there will always be questions that can only be answered by imagining out as to what might have happened … enlightening the reader a little more about the subject to hand …

I found this imagining aspect really quite insightful … and, oh yes!, it's a great read … about the mathematician, who envisaged the analytical engine … Ada Lovelace is often considered the first computer programmer.

Illustration from Sydney Padua's
graphic novel

2015 celebrated Ada's bicentenary … when I'm sure I came across Sydney Padua's webcomic and graphic novel 'The Thrilling Adventures of Lovelace and Babbage' abbreviated in a newspaper … bemused and hooked me …

I believe I'm on the way to being back … and am feeling distinctly easier … so here's to the future. Books galore and Women galore on the way to you in the coming months …

Ada - the computer programming language is named for her ... all two hundred years later ...

Ada (programming language) ... 

Literacy Trust organisation ... World Book Day ... and skills ... 

Not Your Typical Role Model from the 18th century - an overview on Sydney Padua's graphic artist's take on Ada Lovelace ... an overview by Dr Hannah Fry - who is Cambridge University's Professor of the Public Understanding of Mathematics ... utterly fascinating (only 1.15 clip's viewing) ... 

Hilary Melton-Butcher

Positive Letters Inspirational Stories

Balance of Nature ... Jacqui's book launch ...

 

Apologies one and all … life has caught up with me – Jacqui booked her 'date' with me back in December tying into the launch phase …

Jacqui's book ... without
the extra title would help -
but ... so be it

... times were free then – but, as happens, life and people caught on … and here we are in the New Year – with too much happening in February …

Hospital today, but that's another story, a new appointment booked for next Friday … so life can go on and I can finish this week, then my talk, I'm giving, on Mrs Beeton, to our History group, on Monday – which I wasn't expecting to be asked to do in February – ah well!!

Daylight is getting longer … bliss … and I'm sure my mojo will properly return soon – but for now, my Balance of Nature is there … but pretty static …

Jacqui's 'handle' for us all to use ... 

Minor adjustments to the 'see-saw' and this week will have passed off happily … I'll be back properly soon …

For now – Jacqui deserves all the kudos we give her … I've loved the earlier books in the series, and this one I need to order and read – then I'll do a post anon … my choice was 'Book Review' … firstly: Do what you committed to do!! Failed in this case …

Crocuses (or Crocii) 
Spring is in the air

Congratulations to Jacqui for this launch – amazing achievement … and she's given us much to think about along our ancestral eras …

https://worddreams.wordpress.com/2026/02/13/im-over-at-hilarys-today/ 

Thanks for thoughts re hospital - just an outpatient visit, similarly next week - no emergency ... thank goodness.  I'll be pleased when this is all resolved!!

Hilary Melton-Butcher

Positive Letters Inspirational Stories

Chips Ahoy!

 

What to write – my mojo is around … trouble is I have too many mojos … where to start – but today January continues, named after Janus, the god of beginnings and transitions … which we seem to have succumbed to …

Eastbourne shoreline

So towards food I go … would you like some chips? – they come pre-prepared, par-cooked and lightly salted … if you would – please be ready for a cold dip!! A container's worth has disgorged itself onto our coast … nothing like a view of Beachy Head with chips!!

Chips ahoy!
Beachy Head lighthouse in the background

The walker who apparently spotted them first … could smell vinegar … not what one expects from a shoreline.

These are the British version of chips!!

We've had a few ocean going vessel spills recently – these chips are probably not the worst … except for the plastic bags, they were stored in. People have been down clearing the plastic away … there's a seal colony nearby …

A Canadian blogging friend from days of yore (2010 days of yore!!) … has had a similar health problem to me – so she's offered to give me some clues and I can at least have some idea of what the future holds. I just remembered her situation from a few years ago – and so emailed to ask her for some guiding help: I'm very relieved to say.

Beachy Head lighthouse without being
framed by spilt chips

I've no idea what I'm doing … but this will suffice before February rocks around …

Three Mojo Sauces

However – I'd never realised 'Mojo' is a sauce from the Canary Islands … also that there are a lot of Mojos in the world … live and learn again, I guess!!

We are living in very odd times … take care to you all in the cold, the heat down under and just generally …

Hilary Melton-Butcher

Positive Letters Inspirational Stories