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

Happy New Year 2026 …

 

I still can't quite believe … 2026 … where did that come from … I was only seven 'a few years ago'!!

An 1880s
New Year salutation

Still onward and upwards … 2025's health challenges have to be put back in their place in 2026 … somehow – we shall see … life continues and is interesting – albeit quieter as the years tick by … thankfully 'you encouraging lot' are here … cheering me/ us all on …

Gerrard Winstanley's quote from 1649 seemed to ring rather too true today – from nearly five hundred years ago …

"Was the earth made

to preserve a few

covetous, proud

men to live at ease;

or was it made to

preserve all her

children?”

Gerrard Winstanley (1609 – 1676) – Political Philosopher amongst his other talents and ideals … I call upon us all to ...

Think,

read, and seriously ponder between the lines,

concentrate on the quieter words,

no need for division … I like marmite – I know many don't – but I'll be happy for you with your vegemite!!

2025 was not the easiest of years for most people in this world … 2026 doesn't portend well …

Let's do all we can to help others in all ways … so many far worse off than we are … 'doing good does us good' …

Hilary Melton-Butcher

Positive Letters Inspirational Stories

D-day and world pain: 'Weltschmerz' ...

 

As it was D-day and I was remembering my parents who were 19 or 20 at the beginning of the war and 24 or 25 at the end … my father's birthday being at this time of year.

Melancholy - 1891

So in these tempestuous times … I wondered how to title the post … then frustratingly after the internet went down for nigh on 24 hours ...

… just when I needed it to be up and running for work that needed to get done, the ideal title for this post courtesy of Big Think appeared … link also below ... 

Suits me … melancholy at this time, yet uplifting as we're so fortunate to be alive and well … we all have our ups and downs …

Anxiety (1894)

... while in the last 80 years – since the end of the 2^nd World War - which was meant to be the end of all wars … discord never stopped and perhaps more so now as there's the non-stop news, social media traction – all of which add to people's insecurity …

... so rightly described in this article … where reality often doesn't live up to people's ideals and expectations.

Separation (1896)

I was going to include photos of three churches I visited recently ... covering 1,000 years of history - including many skirmishes, conflicts, war-mongering peoples ... locals and invaders ... but that can wait ... weltschmerz is more suitable ... 

An Optimist and a Pessimist by the
Russian artist Vladimir Makovsky (1893)

World Pain - unfairly affects the poor, the disenfranchised ... it also applies to our communities ... especially in these days of the 21st century ... 

As the BigThink article mentions … we can soften our weltschmerz by keeping our positivity out there, and refusing to be dulled by others … our spirits need to be up … 

Syrian girl in Istanbul ... looking wistful 
but with hope ... 

... we can all do it, I know we can … all those little positive actions, optimistic thoughts add up giving us a more generous view of life.

Big Think article: The upside of feeling dissatisfied with the world: How to work your "weltschmerz".

Please note unless mentioned the art is by Edvard Munch (1863 - 1944) - his Melancholy is the one chosen by Big Think to illustrate their article.  

Hilary Melton-Butcher

Positive Letters Inspirational Stories

The 2021 film 'River' – promoted belatedly for Earth Day 2024 …

 

Our fresh water supplies … the rivers of this world … and their journeys around our planet …

Okavango delta - an inland one
in Botswana, Africa

River, rivers burning bright, sparkling perspicuity for life on earth … though this now is almost not so …

… recently we've had fire, floods, storms and all manner of natural plagues that our earth has to deal with, humans have to cope with as per their apparent ability to believe they can control ...

Ural River - flowing south from
Russian into Kazakhstan

… two mega river floodings very recently in the enormous continent that is Eurasia (Europe, Russia, China and the far East); fires burning again in western Canada …

We've manipulated some rivers – which haven't done us any favours … however to get back to my subject for Earth Day … the film 'River' – which our film society promoted in 2022 …

Pearl River basin

It's an Australian film – with an outstanding exploration of the timeless relationship between human civilisation and Earth's rivers, in all their majesty and fragility.

Six rivers in six continents … reflect the extraordinary differences of each of these water-courses … I cannot now remember exactly which rivers were highlighted …

Our six continents
(Eurasia counts as one)

There's captivating cinematography, with distinctive narration from Willem Dafoe, the music score is exceptional … and is available to listen to …

I've been wanting to write about this film for ages and need to re-watch it … there's so much to it – and I often need to see or read things twice to absorb the salient bits I can get my head around …

Poster for the film

If you get a chance do watch 'River' – it is different … the trailer (2.28 mins) will tempt you to see the film …

As the tag line notes: 'The arteries of the planet are the arteries of humanity' – it is a cinematic odyssey exploring the waterways that have shaped our world, in all their majesty and fragility.

Please see Wikipedia for further details of
these amazing instruments - the didgeridoo

The score features iconic works by composers including Bach and Ravel, music by Jonny Greenwood and Radiohead, new original music by Richard Tognetti and the peerless indigenous composer William Barton …

Australian Chamber Orchestra logo

Jennifer Peedom's astonishing visuals are extraordinarily powerful … reminding us of the fragility of this world, and the damage we, as humans, are doing to it - we are poisoning it …

Let us seriously reflect … each day we must do a little more to help life on earth … the rivers are our life-blood …

Belated Earth Day … take your time, absorb the film and its impact …

Directors Jennifer Peedom and Joseph Nizeti;

Robert McFarlane's accompanying words, narrated by Willem Dafoe;

Music by the Australian Chamber Orchestra, and Radiohead;

Conductor, composer and artistic director – the Australian violinist Richard Tognetti; and indigenous composer William Barton, and didgeridoo player.

Enjoy – it will make you think …

Australian Chamber Orchestra 'River' film link ... 

IMBd - link to trailer for 'River' ... 

Hilary Melton-Butcher

Positive Letters Inspirational Stories

Remembrance … Nothing Changes …

 

We need Peace for all humans who live on this earth, and then hope that all those humans respect each other … while considering, appreciating and giving due regard to our world as our lives unfold …

The Peace Poppy

The 'Tower Hill Madonna' sculpture by Jacquie Binns – artist, embroiderer and sculptor - expresses opposites, inspiring the themes of peace and pain.

The Tower Hill Madonna

Jacquie used these for her reflective sculpture which the commemorative plaque at All Hallows-by-the-Tower, London explains.

Photo credit: Anabel of
The Glasgow Gallivanter

c/o Jacquie Binns' Church Textiles site … 'The Tower Hill Madonna' …

c/o Anabel as the Glasgow Gallivanter blogger – posted about the church on the Footsteps of Pepys …

With thoughts on this Remembrance Sunday

Peace Lily

Hilary Melton-Butcher

Positive Letters Inspirational Stories

Write … Edit … Publish … Bloghop /IWSG hop: Life is Beautiful

 

Life is beautiful for us … for some not so … for others it was until life intervened …

We are so lucky … has anyone experienced homesickness … what does it mean? Missing home, or family, or friends, or all three – and then there's our emotions that affect us so profoundly.

I left home – the home that was security – yet exploring beyond my own realms was actually beyond my own imagination …

Victoria Falls with its bridge
(Southern Africa)

I made life easy so used the same language – was able to engage with like-minded people, though different … but I missed home; I couldn't go back – well I could, but I had to give myself a chance living overseas.

Within the environment I embraced … things were much the same … the humour, the music, the books, and yet new memories would be created … I was not going to be culturally bereaved.

Our maternal homeland
(I always miss it!)

Now I am back home – in the country I was born in ... and have that freedom that comes from being in a safe place … there are other adjustments that others cannot easily make …

But I can learn … and need to learn to appreciate others' ways of life – the whys and hows of how others think about life away from their roots …

Look at the other side
of life too

When my mother was in her last years in a nursing centre … I became more aware of how others' felt – in other words how I was feeling – not being completely in control, as I needed to be with my mother, rather than worry too much about myself.

There are two sides of a hand … the palm, or the dorsal side … I learnt that if someone was frustrating me – I needed to rethink … and used my hand as a metaphor to change my thinking.

Others' lives are in our hands

It has made my life easier for me – I can adjust … Life is beautiful – yet it needs to be for all peoples of the world … as a child we are (or should be) born into a positive world … where compassion and thoughtfulness abound – each person helping, caring and understanding the other …

Our world is becoming 'upsy-down', horrific for many, sad for others … so many are homesick yearning for what was …

Courtesy of: NHS Tayside Mental Health

Let's help each other have hope – and allow them time to create their own life of beauty …

Ugliness and cruelty are unnecessary

Life is Kind and Beautiful

Hilary Melton-Butcher

Positive Letters Inspirational Stories

Surfing … Big v Small (film) – Nazaré, Portugal ...

 

I'd often wondered about the draw of the Portuguese coast's Nazaré monster surfing waves – but had never been inquisitive enough to look further …

Monster breaking wave at the end
of the underwater Nazaré canyon

What was it … and why were the waves so big …? well now I know – and so will you in a few hundred words!

A recent Film Society Film 'Big v Small' explained a great deal, as well as opening my eyes to how we can tame the fears inside us … under the ice in Finland.

Holding our breath for any length of time for most of us is nigh impossible … and we all have fears of some sort … perhaps mostly hidden from our friends and the outside world.

Joana Andrade

Joana Andrade, the Portuguese surfer featured, is of tiny proportions – not obviously hugely tenuous … yet this film shows us what can be achieved – by an intrepid character … her comment from Surfer Today just explains her attitude to life:

"I am a small woman - 1.56 meters tall - and not very muscular. My strength comes from the head through a lot of meditation and breathing exercises. I train at home to relax, connect with my inside and find the way to trust myself."

The 'Oeste' Administrative
area on the coast of Portugal

Growing up on the Oeste coastline – about half-way up Portugal's coast – Joana, as many a normal kid would do, rebelled against her mother … no surfing … not in those waves … but Joana had other thoughts. Typical rebellious kid!

She looked and looked at those huge breakers, while improving her paddle-board surfing skill along the coast … at that stage: self-propelled with her surfboard.

Tow-in Surfers shown on the waves

The technique of tow-in surfing came about in the 1990s … when a surfer is towed by a partner into a breaking wave – using a Jet Ski or helicopter. It was pioneered in Hawaii …

Monster surfing waves are found in Hawaii, off California and Nazaré, Portugal … there are other notable big wave surfing spots. These waves could only be caught using the tow-in method …

Joana Andrade surfing a giant wave

This was when waves over 30 feet (9 metres) were beyond the bounds of a surfer … after the tow-in method evolved waves over 50 feet (15 metres) could be surfed …

The ups and downs of 'tow- in surfing fashion' has in the last five decades or so – opened up other areas … one of which is Nazaré – where the waves break really close to the shore … the area known as Praia do Norte (Nazaré).

Geomorphology of
Nazare's underwater canyon

The Nazaré underwater Canyon … is the largest submarine canyon in Europe … reaching depths of about 5,000 metres (16,00 feet) along a length of about 230 kilometres (140 miles). 

There are three distinct sections … one of which I must remember to mention when I get back to my English Language post/s.

Another problem was holding one's breath should one fall out of a wave, as another huge wave would be waiting to break, with perhaps a third soon behind …

Johanna Nordblad - under the ice

So on searching for help … Joana came across another … in this case … Johanna Nordblad from Finland – who is an ice diver, and freediver – who also holds the static breath record of 6 minutes 35 seconds.

They went to Finland to help Joana Andrade hold her breath for longer, as well as overcoming her fear of being submerged … in this case under the ice for a period of time …

Fort of Sao Miguel Arcanjo (1577)

Mind over matter … something at that level beyond my desire to attain … but the film was very intriguing and very absorbing.

The links fill in or add to the informational spaces …

Big v Small IMDb documentary film ...

Portuguese Joana Andrade - article in Surfer Today ... 

Free Diver, Ice Diver from Finnish Johanna Nordblad ...

Adding another link I'd forgotten about: From Cambridge University about 'cold shock' being tested for its value with various diseases". I can't seem to provide a link - but if you're interested ... please type in the sentence below and you'll be sent to the link.

Scientists in Cambridge and Berlin have used a form of gene therapy to increase levels of the so-called ‘cold shock protein’ in the brains of mice, protecting them against the potentially devastating impact of prion disease.

Hilary Melton-Butcher

Positive Letters Inspirational Stories

PechaKucha presentation ...

 

PechaKucha – ever heard of it … nor had I, until a speaker at a local group I belong to came along to give his talk …

Screen shot from their site

It was eye-opening … such a clever way of presenting an idea to a group … a few slides, pertinent comment on each slide, an easy connection to the next slide …

20 slides ...

auto advance after 20 seconds …

by a presenter who spoke succinctly and clearly …

Then 0ur speaker answered questions on the various subjects he'd presented … what more could our audience want …? None - my next post will cover that aspect …

Klein and Kythm

But back to PechaKucha – which means chit-chat – or as we would perhaps understand it:

Talk Less: Show More

This story-telling format was created in 2003 by the two founders of Tokyo's Klein-Dythm Architectural Practice: Astrid Klein and Mark Dythm, as a way of succinctly promoting their designs, ideas and concepts.

Rappongo at night with Tokyo Tower

The architectural practice had an experimental event space in Roppongi – an affluent Roppongi Hills development area and popular night club scene in Tokyo – also there are also a few foreign embassies located near-by.

Having heard the presentation … I wanted to know more – which the online architecture, interiors and design magazine, Dezeen, based in London introduced me to and to the founders … but

Fear of Public Speaking - love the image,
but the video is 8+ minutes

here the PechaKucha website lets us see various presentations … on a number of subjects: including the 'how to … Get Creating ...'

The part I can't get my head round, but that's my age – I suspect, and hope! - are the evenings of PechaKucha presentations … I'm afraid I'm thinking of a Karaoke type-evening where 'a singer' is selected for some award … however the presentation we were given has excited me, not to say I do that many presentations.

Paper Birds

The website shows some of these … longer than I'd expected … but cover these and other subjects: paper birds, paper models, fear of public speaking, world record painting in support of rhinoceroses … showing the opportunities …

A speaker at a PechaKucha
event in Cluj-Napoca, Romania

This image shows a speaker at a PechaKucha night in Cluj-Napoca, Romania … in the heart of the Transylvania region – it is home to universities, a vibrant night life and landmarks dating back to Saxon and Hungarian eras.

Another piece of modern life's puzzle for me to get my elderly brain wrapped around … interesting world we live in – I feel very behind the times, yet know I'm probably more aware than many. Funny old world!

Life's Lessons puzzle

Thanks for reading … I do have a presentation to give on Monday on the Foundling Museum – but it will not be one of these … perhaps I'll be brave enough to give the idea a try next year.

Hilary Melton-Butcher

Positive Letters Inspirational Stories