Arithmetic
at the sea ... every day the waves eat into our coast, but every day they add
more land to these islands than they take away ...
 |
| North Pole arithmetic without Great Britain! |
...
once we’re into the BCDEs et al I shall elaborate more on the arithmetical outline that is the British
Isles ...
An
adventure to the seaside ... what could be more British, especially in those
years after the War ... deck chairs, towels, blankets, swimming trunks for us
kiddies ...
 |
| Donkey Rides |
... an
adventure picnic ... pasties I’d hope!, crisps packets with little blue wraps
of salt, sticky, sandy fingers, orange squash (given up trying to define that
except for us English lot!), apples, pieces of cheese, a thermos of coffee and
then biscuits, sweets ...
 |
| Seaside picnic |
... or
A for Artists, intrepid travellers who came to the coast to record places unknown
to the city dwellers or rural custodians ... such as Turner (1775 – 1851) and
Constable (1776 - 1837) intent on bettering
each other in their portrayals of life by the seaside ...
 |
| Lonely sea and sky at Bude |
... or
A for Authors, who would write about distant shores – Virginia Woolf with “To
the Lighthouse”, Shakespeare and his Tempest ...
... or
Salt-Water Poems and Ballads by John Masefield – from where “I must down to the seas again, to the lonely
sea and sky ...” the original first line of his classic “Sea-Fever” poem
...
 |
| by charabanc |
By
stage coach, or by those early trains, then by the introduction of the motor
car, or charabancs ....
That is
A for Arithmetic, an Adventure, Artists outlining, Authors in abandonment ... articulating
at the sea from Aspects of British Coasts ...
Hilary
Melton-Butcher
Positive
Letters Inspirational Stories
81 comments:
I love how you wrapped up so many "A's" in such a colorful package, and tied them all into a bow with your admirable last line! A+ for creativity, Hilary!
Julie
You have certainly whet my appetite to come back for more. I love learning about Britain, home of many of my ancestors. I'll be back for more, I'm sure.
Ha Ha Hilary! Couldn't believe your lovely little short post! Good girl! I love Virginia Woolf with “To the Lighthouse" and Shakespeare and his Tempest ... I think the raging seas and coasts provide an excellent atmosphere in stories.
Wishing you well for the A-Z.
Hi Hilary
Amazing start for the A to Z Challenge! The post is filled with colourful pictures and thoughts!
Cheers
Kau
I want some of that seaside. So inviting. Good presentation, Hilary!
What Julie said above. I love the creativity of combining so many A-words in one post :)
I wanted to go on that picnic you mention. And lucky me.. I know Orange Squash. Lots of people call it by the name of one of the popular brands here in South Africa... Oros? Perfect for hot summer days when I was a kiddie.
I loved your A kickoff on the coast, and can just feel the sand between my toes.
I can remember one of my high school literature teachers reading that line, "I must down to the seas again..." Thank you for that memory.
I love the pictures, Hilary.
There's nothing like a day at the seaside, and I live in a northern resort! It's wonderful to feel like a tourist strolling along the Prom! "I must go down to the sea again ..."
A very inspiring post.
What a wonderful start! You don't disappont, Hilary! And I kept reading and thinking (Another!"
Brilliant start, Hilary. Nonplussed I'm not.
I learned a lot from your food theme last year and I think I'll be getting another education, this year.
Great theme :)
Enjoyable and clever post. I enjoyed reading it a lot
I love the pic of the sky at Bude!
Wow, that's a lot of "A"s. You sure are off and running. Glad you are having fun this challenge :)
How clever of you. I was wondering how you would tie the coasts in together. You open up new vistas. Here we go on another month of adventure in A-Z. Looking forward to all your letters. Love, Manzanita
my life is arithmetic...def some of my fav people are authors and artists as well..
Such interesting words!
Ah Hilary...Super start with 'A' bit of English history, memories, geography, and more. Yep...more that's what I'm looking forward to. Neat 'thumbnails' and combinations of 'shorts' for the letter 'A'. Well done!
Sue at CollectInTexas Gal
So many As :) I love the seaside, although I don't get to go much any more. Sandcastles were always my favourite part. The seaside always was an adventure :)
Tasha
Tasha's Thinkings
Hellooooo everyone to all my adventuring awesome commenters - really appreciate seeing you here ..
This is B for Brief .. as the A-Z is rocking and rolling adventuresomely along ... and C for Cheers - Hilary
Great start for the A-Z. I can't wait to see the rest. AND I want an adventure along the British coasts.
Love the post. I'm enjoying being back by my British seaside! Don't forget, Dovercourt & Harwich on your travels through the A-Z ;)
I always love being reminded of Virginia Woolf and her book, To the Lighthouse. Your theme is unique and one I will look forward to reading - - a lot!
Thank you!
Julie Jordan Scott
A to Z Challenge Participant/2011,12,13,14.....
The Bold Writer from A to Z
Hilary, I love your eclectic posts!
I can't remember when last I heard the word "orange squash"...
And I love Sea Fever - I don't know when last I heard that either... it's filled with nostalgia!
It made me think of The Daffodils by Wordsworth...
"I wandered lonely as a cloud that floats on high o'er vales and hills..." which has that same kind of feel/rhythm... another poem that has stuck with me over the years!
Writer In Transit
Hilary, you always manage to pack in so much information that coming here is like taking a trip! Here's to happy traveling through the AtoZ Challenge!
Hilary, you always manage to pack in so much information that coming here is like taking a trip! Here's to happy traveling through the AtoZ Challenge!
This artist and writer would like to take a walk on that beach! Funny, you just gave an idea for a story. :)
Hilary, you really brought back memories. The roads crammed with cars all heading south to the nearest beach in Kent.
Smith's crisps and orange squash. I used to make Weight Watcher jellies with that, I wish I could still get it. Love the mustard poster too. I have the complete works of John Masefield given to me by an American when I was a youngster. He was devoted to Masefield's poetry, especially the dauber.
An adventure picnic sounds lovely. Perhaps I'll take my little guy out for a picnic today before the rains arrive tonight.
That was an articulate accumulation of adventure. Lots of As in there. I particularly liked the picture you painted of people flocking to the seaside with their picnics. Who doesn't enjoy soaking up the sun and building sand castles?
Arithmetic struck terror in my soul as a schoolgirl. Thank heavens there were authors who kept me sane as I buried myself in their books!
I didn't realize the tide adds more to your coast than takes away! The only English beach I've been to was Lyme Regis (or thereabouts). Had fish and chips on the sea wall. England is so rich in history - a favorite spot for authors to place their stories in!
River Fairchild – A to Z Challenge, a Jeremy's Angels Co-Host Minion
Seasoned With Words
Did you ride donkeys on those trips?
Wow, that was a LOT of A's! Absolutely wonderful post! Although I would like to know what orange squash is! Try me...After all, I'm European, that might help me...
You're off to a smashing start, my dear friend!
Tina @ Life is Good
A to Z Team @ Blogging From A to Z April Challenge 2014
The A's have it in this post, Hilary. I'm up for one of those donkey rides and a picnic by the sea. Give me a copy of Virginia Woolf and some pasties and I'm in heaven. Lovely start to the A to Z!
Way to start, Hilary, with a good, fun numbers of As. I, too, love Virginia Woolf for that haunted tone in her writing. Arithmetic, interestingly enough, I began to like more and more as a young adult. Looking forward to reading all about those As. Thanks, Hilary.
Silvia @
http://positiveletters.blogspot.com/
Not a fan of arithmetic (hiss), but I do enjoy a good old-fashioned adventure. Awesome post to start the challenge! :)
An April adventure and an adventure to the seaside, that won't be going anywhere according to the arithmetic you present here... this is already shaping up to be an awesome month already..
What a poetic post! And a view from the Arctic Circle--a whole different vision of our world. Thank you, Hilary.
Mary Montague Sikes
Britain is a place I've always wanted to visit. What did Louis Lamour write of adventure: a terrible time happening to someone else!
I just love the British coasts all around the UK, they are so pretty.
End June I will discover the coasts of Cornwall and in August being back in Easbourne again !
Loved reading the post and the pictures are just great!
Great post Hillary. Thanks.
Woinderful post, Hilary, that brought back so many memories. As a child, I lived for the donkey rides. My parents couldn't drag me away.
Oh yes, and orange squash. Wonderful. :)
That's a lot of A's! And I loved them all - can't wait to see where your alphabet will take us.
Lisa
A brief walk through history :)
So enjoyed this post, Hilary.
I would like 'that adventure picnic with the cheese, coffee and biscuits and how about a nice cuppa tea, I might take that in the thermos :)
I do love my tea!
You made me feel the sand beneath my feet and taste the salt in the air. Amazing start!
I wish I were on that beach. Great post.
I wish I were on that beach. Great post.
Interesting land is being added to the British Isles by the waves. In other places land is being taken away. Add in tectonic plates, erosion, glaciers, floods, and other geological movements and we have a very active and dynamic planet.
Alex, I certainly rode donkeys as a kid. I expect Hilary did too.
Now you're going to make me all home sick darling, talking about bags of crisps with blue bags (loved them), it strange how it's always the little things that strike a chord with us...I'm going to enjoy Aspects of the British Coasts very much. Cheers Hilary.
On the A to Z Challenge Maggie@expatbrazil.
Now you're going to make me all home sick darling, talking about bags of crisps with blue bags (loved them), it strange how it's always the little things that strike a chord with us...I'm going to enjoy Aspects of the British Coasts very much. Cheers Hilary.
On the A to Z Challenge Maggie@expatbrazil.
Now I want to go on a seaside picnic and have little bags of crisps. You always capture such wonderful imagery in your posts, Hilary. Amazing start. :)
This is a fabulous post, Hilary, with lovely photos and a great start to the A-Z. Thank you! I've remembered a few things from my childhood I haven't thought about in a while.
A Cornish picnic would have to include a pasty!
Very nice post packed with lots of wonderful A's!
A wonderful list of A topics for the first day of the A to Z Challenge, Hilary. An adventure to the seaside sounds like fun. I haven't had a good walk along the beach since I left Florida in 1998.
Very poetic. I have to admit, I didn't know what a charabanc was. Cool post.
What a great idea for letter"A"!
I should read some of those masterpieces you've mentioned, Hilary.
You left me wondering... how can those waves add more land to the islands?
I learn soooo much reading your posts Hilary!
I'm looking forward more of your fact filled and equally entertaining posts throughout A to Z.
That's a lot of As.
I like the sound of your adventure picnic
This post really made me want to visit the English coast. Which I have done, but now I want to again. :)
Thanks for this post!
Hillary! What a great start to your A to Z! Much of it is familiar in different ways. The seaside picnic could be off the coast of Lake Michigan, where I lived as a young girl. The donkey rides were something we did in Tijuana, Mexico, after my family moved to San Diego in 1963 and we spend Sundays there, back when it was safe. A beautiful start and I am anxious to see your "A" for arithmetic as it applies to the British Isles, as I am a true numbers wonk! Thank you! Mary
I'm a big fan of old maps like the one of the North Pole you have here.
Many many thanks to you all for visiting - it's lovely seeing so many and I'm mighty grateful for your interest.
All questions, queries, notes to the post - I'll answer after the Challenge ..
Cheers and looking forward to all the Bs .... Happy 2nd April - Hilary
Okay, I read B before A, and now I see you've managed to pack even more A's into your post even than you did B's! I had no idea buses like that were called Charabancs. Cool name. You sure know a lot about the coast of the UK...of course. Why should I be surprised!
I loved your take on "A", Hilary. And if Arithmetic had been done that way in school, I might have excelled in math. :)
Change of heart everyone .. I'll reply as we go along ..
@ Julie ... many thanks for the A+ for creativity ..
@ Marcy - we sort of started the setting out along with a few Europeans! Delighted to meet you .. and know you're enjoying the posts ..
@ Karen - thanks so much .. I just do my thing ..
@ Denise - yeah! cut short(ish) for the A-Zs ... with a bit of literature and a few artists .. the sea with its wild ways does give us a wonderful atmosphere to stories ..
@ Kaushik – so good to see you – the pictures pick the story up don’t they ..
@ Sharon – I tell you I love the English coast ..
@ Damyanti .. many thanks – it’s fun to be different ..
@ Damaria – oh I’d love to go on a picnic and be a child again! Ah ha – you know Orange Squash .. and you’re right in South Africa it is Oros – I know it well . And it is a good for a long drink in the hot summer days ..
@ Lynn – it’s a lovely feeling isn’t walking along in the warm sun and dry sand, then the cool of the lapping waves cooling our tootsies off ... Masefield’s poem is one of the ones that sticks .. it always comes back to mind.
@ Fanny – thanks – you’re in the north, I’m here at the English Channel – our beaches aren’t as good as Cornwalls! Thanks for mentioning Prom .. for promenade .. I might have forgotten ..
@ Diana – well there’s 24 more if I can get writing! But thanks so much for the “another” ... C’s a few hours away!
@ Bob – many thanks ... and at least this year we’re not peering over each other’s shoulder to see if we clash/duplicate ..
@ Mark – so pleased you remember my ‘cookery’ posts from last year .. you’ll certainly learn something this year .. and thanks re the theme choice
@ Paula – great to see you ... and so glad you enjoyed it ..
@ Keith – the sky, seas and sands are just amazing at times in their colours – love the changes ...
@ Rhonda – yes I usually manage to have lots of fun writing my posts and am always happy when they’re well received – thank you ..
@ Manzanita – I seem to have set my sights now with Aspects of British and it works well .. so delighted you approve!
@ Brian – well this is different arithmetic to me .. as you’ll see at F and H ... and then there’s the authors and artists .. I need to include a few more ..
@ Andrea – just happy you enjoyed the mix of As ..
@ Sue – thank you so much and yes of course ‘A’ bit of English history, memories, geography and more .. the posts this year seemed to work this way ...
@ Natasha – it’s fun having a day at the sea isn’t it .. even though I live by the sea – it’s not the same as a holiday .. but it is an adventure ..
@ Teresa – well I’ll do as much adventuring as I can manage ... lots of choice here ..
@ Glynis – that’s great you’re enjoying being home and it is home isn’t it even if we’ve lived abroad ... I’ll try and bring Dovercourt and Harwich in somewhere .. but I’m not doing places as such – just using them as examples ...
@Julie – many thanks .. I really should read Virginia Woolf’s To The Lighthouse ... especially as she used to live near here ... and I need to write about her home in Sussex ..
@ Michelle – so grateful .. you at least know Oros .. so many bloggers haven’t a clue about Orange Squash and it’s so difficult to explain .. it’s not juice diluted with water .. but how else .. Sea Fever is one of the few poems I vaguely can remember ... and Wordsworth Daffodils – we used to holiday there too ..
1st part ... cheers H
2nd part:
@ Bish – appreciate that you enjoy the learning curve so much ... it’s fun to do ...
@ Al – well that’s great if a story has come to mind .. there’ll be some more prompts in the next few weeks!
@ Jo – I know ... even though we stayed in Cornwall and getting there wasn’t too bad we left early I think and my parents were pretty fast drivers ... thankfully we went further afield ... I think the journey to Bexhill from Surrey wasn’t very easy.
Smith’s Crisps and orange squash ... the mustard poster was a postcard I iphoned .. but it’s a an excellent rendition of the seaside ... How lucky having the complete works of John Masefield .. I must look up more of his poems ..
@ Robin – as Jo mentions above getting to the seaside in summer is ‘A for awful’!! Thankfully now I live here and when I go to Cornwall I go at some unearthly hour and beat the traffic ... but holidays and family time have so many memories ..
@ Karen – funny I loved arithmetic .. but no-one else thought I was good at it .. they’re probably right! I buried myself on the sports field and in the library too – but reading lots of novels ...
@ River – as the tide takes some of the rocks, sand, sediment away – it builds it up elsewhere and more comes away via the rain ... so I guess it has to go somewhere and the waves add to the dunes, to the spits and rocky shores ...
Lyme Regis is full of history and literary history too – I’ve never been .. we always drove straight down to Penzance and St Ives in Cornwall .. fish and chips is good though ...
@ Alex – they didn’t have donkeys where we went – yet Jo had donkeys in Kent and rode them .. so she says later on .. I got thrown from a horse .. and those 4 legged creatures weren’t my favourite ..
@ Tina – I’ve tried before with others and it’s so difficult to explain – it’s not juice diluted with water ... but is very thirst quenching and was a good cheap non-alcoholic for the kids and thirsty adults! Thanks for the smashing start ..
@ Lee – thanks ... those early days were just glorious .. not too many people and we could spend the day at the beach quite happily .. I’ve always messed around, or we played games, looked for shells ... and I never seemed to settle with a book ... perhaps now – a trait I need to acquire ..
@ Silvia – glad you enjoyed the As ... I must remember when I read To the Lighthouse about the haunting tone ... Arithmetic is a necessary evil! And I’m sure it’s fun .. though at school it was ok – it was after it began to pall!
@ David – sorry about the loss of enthusiasm for arithmetic .. while an adventure is always exciting and exhilarating .. then a day in fresh air – what could be better ...
@ Ida – finding the arithmetic snippet made this a bit extra ... the land will always be here – but will it .. I wonder ... for now we can enjoy our adventure by the seaside ..
@ Monti – the A for Arctic circle I hadn’t twigged til you mentioned it! So I had inadvertently even more A’s than I thought ..
@ Roland – I hope one day you can get across here .. it’d be great to meet up – but Louisiana beckons me though .. Louis Lamour but those poor Cowboys always getting into trouble before find lurve!!
@ Gattina – well you’re certainly seeing a few of our coasts .. my mother’s homeland Cornwall and then here to my neck of the woods ...
@ Anirban – many thanks good to see you here and glad you enjoyed the pictures ..
@ Munir – I hope some of the stories and pictures will bring England back to you and your time here ...
3rd lot of replies coming: .. cheers Hilary
@ Shirley – how lucky .. I was never fond of the donkeys – except I don’t we saw any on holidays .. but they are ubiquitous to the seaside .. or certainly were ..... and orange squash – we still have it in the house ... and I certainly enjoy it in the summer ..
@ Lisa – my alphabet is taking me all over the place and to lots of learning curves for me!
@ JGi .. good to see you – thanks for visiting ...
@ Margie – we can certainly have that picnic .. and definitely with a cup of tea and use your thermos! Tea is good for us ...
@ Paula – so pleased you could feel you were with me on my adventurous start ..
@ Cherie – don’t we all wish we were on a beach and we’re only at A?!
@ Stephen – we’re losing land here too ... but the waves add it back in ... and exactly as you say ... we live on a very active and dynamic planet ...
@ Jo – we didn’t have donkey where we holidayed .. they might have had some at Hatings, but we were down the road at Cooden, Bexhill ...
@ Maggie – can’t believe you want to leave Brazil for a visit home?! It is strange how those little blue bags of salt were so special .. and sprinkled so carefully over our crisps ... delighted you enjoyed A
@ Julie – many thanks .. I imagine a picnic with you and those crisps and other goodies at Aquinnah would be just magical ...
@ Sharon – that’s great I’ve brought back some memories – it’s fun thinking back to the fun times ..
@ Susanne – a picnic in Cornwall would definitely include a pasty – and a home made one at that ...
@ Siv – I certainly put a few As in ... good to see you ..
@ Patricia – certainly living inland in the States must be lovely, but not having the shoreline nearby I’d hate .. now I’m so used to it .. I hope you can get away sometime for that walk along the beach once again ..
@ Julia – good to see you .. well I’ll join you in the reading stakes – I’m hopeless at it .. another thing I need to improve on this year ...
Julia – as I mentioned above the land also loses ‘soil or granules’ and they all add to the sea .. and as the sea erodes the coast .. the waves bring the sands along to add to the coast as sand, dune, marsh, mudflats etc etc ...
@ Jen – so pleased and so lovely to see you .. and thanks for enjoying the posts ...
@ Lynda – just glad you enjoyed it ..
@ Trisha – we’re welcoming and always happy to have visitors ...
@ Viola – delighted that my post transported you back to your early days too the donkey rids in Tijuana – that conjures some interesting thoughts, then picnicking on the shores of Lake Michigan ... there’s more numbers coming .. so enjoy the maths!
@ Matt – well we have masses of old maps around here ...and they are so clever now being able to superimpose new London onto old ... some is still just about identical ...
@ Lisa – some of the posts were going to be considerably shorter – but I suspect I’d short change everyone ... so they are reasonably short with lots of pics ... Char a bancs were originally French ...
@ Talon – delighted you thought my explanation made sense .. lovely to see you here ...
Thanks to you all .. always good to see everyone .. cheers Hilary
This was great - what an adventure to read - I am curious about orange squash but I'll check it out on the google as my mom says.
I enjoyed the pictures in this as much as your writing. I also found it interesting that sea adds more land than it takes away. I didn't know that.
I absolutely loved the writing of the paragraph that begins with "an adventure picnic...such great description. "little blue wraps of salt, sticky, sandy fingers, orange squash...a well written combination of senses:~)
So, you're on your way...I'm heading for "B"...:~)
@ Mary - I hope you can work out what orange squash is .. it's so difficult to explain - I've tried .. but to no avail!
@ Sara - all that sediment washing down from the land, has to go somewhere and the sea will grab it and build up new areas around our coasts.
Thanks - just me .. muddling along with some descriptive words - but effective .. so thank you!
I am on my way to E tomorrow .. cheers and thanks so much to you both for coming over here - Hilary
Just thinking fish and chips now...so hungry!
My Canadian Artist friend Terrill Welsh is in UK right now painting
Three months in Europe painting. There is an A
I am thinking about my father during WWII being in the British Navy and teaching High School equivalency to all the navy personnel on each ship He was a math genius and used navigation, astronomy, and knot tying to get the lessons across to young soldiers. I just released all his books form those years to a fundraiser.
This is going to make me want to come back to UK again and see more.
Thank you for sharing
@ Siv - I know it's days later .. but I'm just cooking fish pie for supper!
@ Patricia - how lucky that Terrill is over .. the weather is chilly, but sunny ..
That's good you've given your father's books for a good cause, I hope they raise quite a few dollars from them .. historically they'd be interesting ..
Cheers to you both - Hilary
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