FOR THE LOVE OF DIRT!

Today John notified me of a wonderful item that was on BBC Radio 4 yesterday.  It is about, broadly speaking, gardening. The 12 minute program looked at the question: "Why are so many people drawn to gardening?"

 

There were several threads covered but I will expand on one, only, here. It related to the fact that in the field of neuroscience researchers noticed something, namely, "Antidepressant Microbes In Soil: How Dirt Makes You Happy".

I have always responded to people who ask "Are you a (keen) gardener?"  I always reply "Well, I do a lot of it because I just love being out in the garden puddling about, getting my hands dirty!"  Yes, I sit out in it from time to time, and I certainly cut flowers for the house, but this article (reference below) had me nodding my head in agreement as I listened the iPlayer podcast over a cup of coffee.  (Funnily enough, my 85 year old neighbour, from a farming background is exactly the same; that is why we spend a lot of time together!)

Tthe BBC Radio 4 programme is on iPlayer here:

 http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b06nq1fb

For people not in the UK I found this article on the internet which relates to the topic in the first half of the programme:

http://www.gardeningknowhow.com/garden-how-to/soil-fertilizers/antidepressant-microbes-soil.htm

Maybe all those microbes help gardeners come to terms with gardening failures .... like my strawberry crop this wet summer!  Nothing that a good bottle of vino couldn't sort!

REMEMBRANCE DAY 2015

Two weeks ago I took some photos of Stirling Maxwell sculpture which is in a field near Doune, Stirlingshire.

The stone with the inscription is also there but near the car park. I did not notice at the time that there was a shaft of sunlight on the stone highlighting the carved dates. With the use of Photoshop I managed to move it through the fog to his feet and 'plant' a few poppies.

And fields of poppies there are not, at this time of year but again, with Photoshop, it makes it easy to introduce them.

PRESTIGIOUS GATHERINGS & TIME TO COME ACROSS AN OLD FRIEND

Prestigious events are a bit like Glasgow buses: there are never any for ages, then they all come along at the same time.

Iain has been very busy preparing a speech for the Royal Society meeting in Edinburgh yesterday  The occasion was a day conference entitled

 

Celebrating the Genius

and Legacy of James Clerk-Maxwell

Friends and family were able to watch the talk being Live Streamed from the Royal Society lecture hall.  It was wonderful technology ... really very well done!

These 3 photos are screen shots of his presentation.

His input to the day was to talk about Maxwell's experiments and thinking in the field of what is today called Structural Mechanics.

Always mindful to keep a difficult subject alive, he uses models to explain how structures behave and how certain mathematical equations came about in this field.

He was very honoured to meet people from science, engineering and astronomy who gathered to talk about Maxwell's contribution in their particular field.

 * * * * *

And on a completely different note, today he was involved in a Graduation Ceremony.  He needed his academic gown for this.  

Handing me a crumpled gown and hood which has been in the loft or some other not very ventilated place, I decided to revive it by hanging it on the line and letting the (days' long) rain do its work.

That was a good move.  The gown, made by Forsyth's of Glasgow in, probably, the 50s, ironed beautifully as the fabric is very good cloth. It is a PhD gown of Glasgow University, with the lovely red panels down the front.   "Doctors of Philosophy (Ph.D.) wear as Undress Black silk or stuff, with a collar falling over the yoke and full sleeves half the length of the gown. on top of this there are facings of crimson silk."  I wonder what "stuff" is...I have a feeling it is 'grosgrain' as described below.

The hood is an old friend!  I made it. The year must have been 1969 or 70.  I bought the black cloth and seem to recall it was barathea.

I found this:
BARATHEA: [neckties]. 1. A silk, rayon, or manufactured fiber necktie fabric with a broken rib weave and a characteristic pebbly appearance. 2. A fine, dress fabric with a silk warp and worsted filling, woven in a broken filling rib which completely covers the warp. 3. A smooth-faced worsted uniform cloth with an indistinct twilled basket weave of fine two-ply yarns.

GROSGRAIN: A heavy fabric with prominent ribs, grosgrain has a dressy appearance and is used in ribbons, vestments, and ceremonial cloths.

I simply copied another hood, bought some crimson silk material (actually I think it is taffeta) to match and sewed it on my Singer machine.

And it is still going strong!

LIFE ON THE LEDGES

Christina has returned from Sweden with a book written by Inger's daughter, Anna Ribbing, for Mairi.  We met for lunch at Carluccio's and caught up on all the news.

She gave me the book and also the lovely cotton bag produced by Gudrun Sjoden.  I was delighted to learn that there is now a store in London at   65-67 Monmouth Street.  website: http://www.gudrunsjoden.com.

On another window ledge in the I discovered that the desert type of plant that Mairi gave me about a year ago has produced a flower! 

Given that plants never do well in my care, at least in the past, I am quite delighted with this emerging splash of colour in the living room.