Wednesday 23 May 2007
SIN ZIN
Never judge a book by its cover? Never judge a bottle of wine by its label?
Not me.
If the bottle comes in the hand of a good friend, in this case, Karen, visiting from California; if it is a bott le of red Z i nfandel and if it is the same as we enjoyed some years ago, it will be good.
The label? Sin Zin ... clever!
The wine went down a treat aboard Seol na Mara after a pleasant day sail 'doon the watter'.
Karen also has a good eye for a photograph. This is her picture of a swan. For years it has sat p ropped against the wall of my desk.
Seol na Mara is berthed in Bowling Basin which is the west end of the Forth and Clyde Canal (Scotland). She is a Fastnet 34 sloop with a yellow hull. This is her 28th season.
This sea lock opens out to the Clyde Estuary which means that the boat is near home and, that - subject to the tide - it gives access to the open sea. The photo (taken February 2007) shows her tied up in Bowling Harbour.
Tuesday 22 May 2007
LINNEAUS
Staph aureus - CDC/Janice Carr/Jeff Hageman, M.H.S
Thursday 17 May 2007
NARCISSUS
Smell and memory are intimately linked.
With the help of my Lady Gardener Friends (from now on known as LGFs) I have successfully identified a flower whose scent I recall from my early youth. The bulbs that I purchased in the autumn are now in flower and they are, indeed, the flower (and scent) that I strongly recall.
With the help of my Lady Gardener Friends (from now on known as LGFs) I have successfully identified a flower whose scent I recall from my early youth. The bulbs that I purchased in the autumn are now in flower and they are, indeed, the flower (and scent) that I strongly recall.
They are Narcissus "Pheasant's Eye" which has the botanical name of Narcissus poeticus.
My thanks goes to Patrick here who tells me that "Many classical poets and artists apparently described Narcissus poeticus flowers as having a pale skin and a burning heart and this may be why Linnaeus named it "the poet's narcissus". I think a better explanation is that Linnaeus was referring to the poet Ovid who wrote of Narcissus in his Metamorphoses: nusquam corpus erat; croceum pro corpore florem/ inveniunt foliis medium congentibus albis (III, 509-10) - his body was nowhere; instead (the naiads and dryads) find a flower, its yellow centre surrounded by white petals."
This is the cover of a very beautiful, old copy of sheet music, Narcissus, from the piano cycle Water Scenes Op. 13 no. 4 by Ethelbert Nevin (1862-1901), an American gentleman who wrote this piece in 1891. It could be described as a rather sentimental parlour piece. I love it!
My thanks goes to Patrick here who tells me that "Many classical poets and artists apparently described Narcissus poeticus flowers as having a pale skin and a burning heart and this may be why Linnaeus named it "the poet's narcissus". I think a better explanation is that Linnaeus was referring to the poet Ovid who wrote of Narcissus in his Metamorphoses: nusquam corpus erat; croceum pro corpore florem/ inveniunt foliis medium congentibus albis (III, 509-10) - his body was nowhere; instead (the naiads and dryads) find a flower, its yellow centre surrounded by white petals."
This is the cover of a very beautiful, old copy of sheet music, Narcissus, from the piano cycle Water Scenes Op. 13 no. 4 by Ethelbert Nevin (1862-1901), an American gentleman who wrote this piece in 1891. It could be described as a rather sentimental parlour piece. I love it!
Sunday 13 May 2007
A GIFT
Today our neighbour, Margaret, handed in a gift for Wee Ishbel. It is a woolen cardigan which she has knitted.
Wee Ish, as opposed to Big Ish - our Auntie Iseabail - arrived into our lives on Hogmanay (New Year's Eve) 2006. Her arrival has been the driving force for getting this blog up and running! In order not to clog up people's INBOX I hope this method will give access ... pleasure?... to our extended family and friends.
When sending out the announcement of her arrival I found (in Chambers Dictionary) that the derivation of the word is "probably from North Fr[ance] dialect. hoginane - 16th century aguillan-neuf (-l'an neuf) a gift at the New Year."
Quite so.
Wee Ish, as opposed to Big Ish - our Auntie Iseabail - arrived into our lives on Hogmanay (New Year's Eve) 2006. Her arrival has been the driving force for getting this blog up and running! In order not to clog up people's INBOX I hope this method will give access ... pleasure?... to our extended family and friends.
When sending out the announcement of her arrival I found (in Chambers Dictionary) that the derivation of the word is "probably from North Fr[ance] dialect. hoginane - 16th century aguillan-neuf (-l'an neuf) a gift at the New Year."
Quite so.
Thursday 10 May 2007
LAUNCH DAY
A name has be found ... the last props are now taken away .... the champagne bottle is successfully swung ... deep breath and ho-o-o-ld ..... wait, wait .... watch the grease on the blocks.... "There she goes! "... mountainous piles of chains start to drag down the slipway ... ... dust everywhere ... darkness as the hull blocks all the daylight, then ....
KER-SPLASH!!!!!!................ and light.
Liza Dalby in her new book "East Wind Melts the Ice: a Memoir Through the Seasons", Chatto & Windus, talks about the Japanese literary genre of saijki which means "a year's journal" and is written in the prose style of zuihitsu meaning "following the [line of the] brush": follow where your line of thought takes you.
So ... after the Big Splash let's see where the ripples go ....
KER-SPLASH!!!!!!................ and light.
Liza Dalby in her new book "East Wind Melts the Ice: a Memoir Through the Seasons", Chatto & Windus, talks about the Japanese literary genre of saijki which means "a year's journal" and is written in the prose style of zuihitsu meaning "following the [line of the] brush": follow where your line of thought takes you.
So ... after the Big Splash let's see where the ripples go ....
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