As you will by now have realised this is going to be one of
those posts covering even more subjects than normal … but if I note things here
– they remain forever blogged about for me and by me.
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| Spring Border |
I’m going to add in in S for Stroke, C for Cuisine, B for
Birds … ah ha – what a mix even worse than Four and Twenty Blackbirds Baked in
a Pie …
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| Tilly's (aged 9) winning design for Waitrose's supermarket - the cake they will be selling - raising funds for charity |
Where shall we start – you can’t have not realised Her Majesty
turned 90 on 21st April … an incredible record ... and seeing her on
Friday (22nd) organising the
Obamas into the car and then walking resoundingly around the back of the Range
Rover and getting in beside Michelle – you’d think she was Sixty … not Ninety …
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| Part of the stamp section for the Queen's birthday - here she is with her great grandson Prince George |
… as you might guess – I will at some stage do one of my usual ABCs of celebration of her birthdays – yes … she has two – one private and one official … that comes the weekend the Duke of Edinburgh turns 95 (as sprightly as ever too) … 10th – 12th June.
S for Strokes next … when my mother had her strokes back in February 2007 … I had no idea about them, or how people could heal and continue living: I absorbed knowledge as time went on …
I read two books which came to prominence – Jill Bolte Taylor,
the brain specialist, “My Stroke ofInsight” on her own stroke … then Robert McCrum “Discovering Life after a Stroke” and his wife’s play about thesubject … they were recently married – his wife is American, while he was a
senior editor with Faber and Faber. Both
very well worth reading, as too listening to the play.
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| The Shakespeare Festival at Southmoreland Park in Kansas City, Missouri |
My mention of McCrum brings me to Shakespeare … as he recently
travelled America looking at Shakespeare and the American Dream …
... and how
Shakespeare has always been in the American psyche – since the Colonists came
to settle in the 1600s.
The talk is on BBC radio 4 – but there’s an article in The
Guardian detailing his talk “WilliamShakespeare: a quintessentially American author” … which I found
fascinating and led to me wanting to listen again, or read up on …
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| A descendant of that starling |
… that law of unintended
consequences and Shakespeare’s birds – which have overrun the States …
Eugene Schieffelin is the culprit here … ‘twas he who introduced the invasive starlings
… and wanted to introduce all of Shakespeare’s birds to the States …
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| Shakespeare's Birds |
… Schieffelin belonged to the American Acclimatization Society
– a group that aimed to help exchange plants and animals from one part of the
world to another … a fashionable idea in the 19th century: as we
know today – not a good idea.
I have a book here on Shakespeare’s Birds describing all the
British birds referred to in Shakespeare’s poems and plays … providing a
fascinating and unusual insight into the world of the Elizabethans.
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| Shakespeare Unravelled by Pauline and Michael Black |
But with Shakespeare’s Unravelling (per my book as briefly
noted in my previous post) … was he a writer, did he live in the Shakespearean
era, did he even exist … ? All questions
we’ll never get fully answered …
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| Shakespeare glomped ... c/o the Art of the Ez.com |
… from all angles they came to glomp him … even
vicariously … on this the 400th year since he died … he is all over
the place – everywhere … we can’t get away from Shakespeare quotes and
references …
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| Alan Rickman |
This week someone on the BBC was reminiscing about how many
famous/celebrity figures have died (early) recently – it was after Victoria
Wood, one of our most iconic comedic actresses lost her fight with cancer. The comment was ‘our generation’ had reached
that age – the late 50s to 90s … when a human being is moving inexorably
towards a higher plane.
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| Bowie and Mercury |
Bowie, Rickman, now Prince … all too early – and how many others … we never know whether we will go young, or having had a good life, or the lucky few who can continue on for an extra decade or two …
Then there’s I for the Internet or YouTube … with a link tothe Big Think Blog … which had an eye catching title – “The Science Behind Why Freddie Mercury’s Voice Was So Damned Compelling” … fascinating and I’m sure you’ll find it so …
Bowie is smoking as he sings ... but the bit to listen to is at two minutes - when the post remarks that 'man, the dude had some pipes ... '
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| Add caption |
Now to C for Cuisine … I have a Shakespeare Cookbook – which brings
to light the early days of how our meals developed … Chaldron of Swan – a sauce or soup that has the edible chopped
parts of the bird in it … where our Chowder of today comes from …
… the witches’ brew from Macbeth – bears a striking
resemblance to Chaldron … I give no recipe!
There are a lot of roasts, of spit-roasted animals … spinach was coming
in, sorrel sauce was used for fish … gooseberries were newly introduced and
quince was the fruit for marmalades …
It’s interesting how foods were cooked together and it’s only
in the centuries following that separate dishes were created … meat with fruits
as Chewets … combined whatever food
was around. Baked meats means pies and
fancied baked goods …
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| The ghost of Banquo by Theodore Chasseraiau (1854) |
The Globe Theatre Players have toured the world with his 37
plays … it is still apparent that
Shakespeare rules the world … as the monologue from “As You Like It” quotes ….
All the World’s a Stage,
And all the men and women merely players;
They have their exits and their entrances,
And one man in his time plays many parts,
His acts being seven ages.
At first the infant …
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| Knife and Fork form the 1600s - Waddesdon Bequest by the Rothschilds |
So to celebrate the last week of the A-Z … a quote from
Macbeth Act 3, scene 4:
‘Now, good digestion wait on appetite,
and health on both!’ …
No change this end of the world … my next post will be after
the A-Z … and the next two will be easier reads!
PS - I'm sure there's a quote by Shakespeare about being a ForgetMeKnot ... I've mislaid two Shakespearean cuisine items I was going to put in ... they are amusing - so coming up another day!!
Hilary Melton-Butcher
Positive Letters Inspirational Stories
Positive Letters Inspirational Stories
