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Monthly Archives: October 2017

Story Time, Greetings and Thanks

It’s been another quiet, stay-at-home, curl-up-with-a-good-book sort of a day today too as Storm Brian blows a hoolie outside. Today, however, we have had the best treat, two hours of having a story read to us! Not just any old story either but the first of Philip Pullman’s brilliant new trilogy, The Book of Dust, read by Simon Russell Beale on BBC Radio 4 this afternoon – two and a half hours of entrancement.

Philip Pullman’s new novel

I promised you more of the Onondaga Nation’s Greetings and Thanks to the Natural World. Here are the next two panels.

and from the four directions…..

and now the sun

Tomorrow, the Moon….

Just found this photo which demonstrates the hoolie very well! Thanks to Adam Sprague for this amazing photograph.

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Posted by mybeautfulthings on October 21, 2017 in books, literature, postaday2017, Uncategorized

Tags: Adam Sprague, bbc radio 4, Onondaga Nation Thanksgiving, Philip Pullman, Simon Russell Beale, Storm Brian, The Book of Dust

Resting, Waiting and A Mike Harding Poem

20 Oct

It’s been a quiet, stay-at-home, curl-up-with-a-good-book, rest-after-hectic-holiday sort of a day while Storm Brian begins to make its way across Britain, starting with us in the South West.

I saw this in Tiger in North Finchley on Wednesday and it made me laugh so I had to buy it. I do cook with Tarragon too.

Here is a brilliant poem by Mike Harding for you that came my way yesterday and which touched a chord.

One Swallow

Remember how you’d drive at night in summers past
Through fogs and mists of midges,
Blizzards of fat bugs, snowstorms of moths
All melting on the windscreen glass?
Long, hot, country miles, you’d drive
Dry eyed and squinting out into the dark, cursing,
The windscreen frosted with their last moments,
The wipers useless, washer water gone.
You’d get back home to find the hurl and heft
And spatter, the great smears of death,
The legions lost, all dashed and hurtled to their end –
Guts, brains and wings, thorax and antennae –
Pulped into a patina you’d have to soap and scour away.

But Death comes easy for them now, no battering
Oblivion at seventy miles an hour, head on,
Just the toxic rain of money slathered across
The meadows, hills and downs.
One swallow makes a summer now;
Soon she’ll be gone too with the bees,
The birdsong and the riotous great clamour
That once welcomed every dawn.
And, as we face each silent year
And see the dustbowl fells and fields,
We’ll weep for what we all have lost:
For clouds of midges, nights alive with moths,
The scimitars of swallows, martins, swifts,
The wrens and sparrows, nightingales and jays
And the chanting birds that caroled once
All across those golden, summer days.

(From “Fishing For Ghosts” Available via the online shop at www.mikeharding.co.uk)

Sunflower to attract insects September 2014

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Posted by mybeautfulthings on October 20, 2017 in Beauty, nature, Photography, poetry, postaday2017, Uncategorized

Tags: Mike Harding, One Swallow

Paddington Bear, Night Sleeper and Truro Cathedral

19 Oct

Someone had left a jar of marmalade for Paddington Bear at the station!

Marmalade left for Paddington Bear

We were able to board the sleeper train at 10.30pm and it set off at 11.45. I was well asleep by then and had a surprisingly smooth ride and a good sleep. Breakfast of a bacon sandwich, juice and tea was delivered at 6.45am!

Night Riviera

I used to love coming into Truro station after a term at college. Two tunnels and then the Cathedral and my Dad would be waiting on the platform, grinning from ear to ear, waiting to take me to the sea, usually Perranporth, even before we went home. Here is the Cathedral from the train at just after 7am. However pleasing the holiday, it is always good to come home.

Truro Cathedral just before dawn

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Posted by mybeautfulthings on October 19, 2017 in Beauty, Photography, postaday2017, travel, Truro

Tags: Night Riviera train, Paddington Station

Twenty Four Hours with the LiveWires

18 Oct

We arrived last night just in time to say good night, walked J&T to school this morning and after a quiet day collected them These are our favourite times with the youngsters! We took them for a treat at a small French cafe and after some special time with them and their Mum, have just been dropped off at the station to catch the sleeper home.

Design for the Christmas card competition.

Leaf on the walk home.

2 Comments

Posted by mybeautfulthings on October 18, 2017 in art, Beauty, family, Grandchildren, Happiness

Tags: postaday2017

Breakfast, Butterfly and Arrival

17 Oct

A delicious last breakfast in Lisbon, more street art on the way to the airport and Terminal Two at Heathrow looking rather smart.

2 Comments

Posted by mybeautfulthings on October 17, 2017 in art, Beauty, environment, Food

Tags: Heathrow terminal2, postaday2017, street art

Fishy Street Art in Sesimbra

16 Oct

A drive out of Lisbon today took us to Sesimbra in the Parque National Serra de Arriba where street art was in abundance and almost all had a fishing theme.

I’m

And for more fun, some gnomes we spotted from the coach window as we came into the town.

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Posted by mybeautfulthings on October 16, 2017 in art, Beauty, ceramics, environment

Tags: fishermen, Portugal, postaday2017, street art

Station Art, Belem and Fondue

15 Oct

Two pieces of pleasing tile art from the stations, a gleeful Devil and some Ghost dancers, as we went on our journey to visit Belem, the Tower, the Padrao dos Descobrimentos, (Monument to the Discoveries)and the Berarda Art Museum returning home in time for another jacuzzi and a G&T before a splendid supper at a Fondue restaurant.

The oven where our Crostini were toasted.

The delightful sign on the Ladies’ loo.

Looking up into the sky light at the Berarda Museum, reminiscent of the James Turrell piece in the Tremenheere Sculpture Gardens in Cornwall.
Fabulous photographs by Lu Nan of life in Tibet. I found these very moving.

Wonderful meal!

4 Comments

Posted by mybeautfulthings on October 15, 2017 in architecture, art, Beauty, environment, History

Tags: Adagio holidays, Fondue, Lisbon, Portugal, postaday2017

Free Day in Lisbon

14 Oct

We escaped the tour today to do our own thing – visit The Gulbenkian Museum and Modern Art Gallery, have a picnic lunch, walk in the Eduardo VII Parque and finish with a jacuzzi!

Madame Claude Monet by Renoir

The Stocking by Mary Cassat, one of my favourite artists.

Beautifully worn Library steps

Delightfully naughty little Cherubs in the tapestry from Mantua dated 1540

Gorgeous grasses in the gardens, only 6″ high.

More to add after dinner! And here I am, back again!

Seed pods found in the Parque.

View from the fountain in the park right down to the sea.

Mother’s elegant toes followed by baby’s chubby toes.

A Fig tree growing inside an Olive tree.

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Posted by mybeautfulthings on October 14, 2017 in art, Beauty, environment, nature, Photography, sculpture, Uncategorized

Tags: Adagio holidays, Eduardo VII Parque, Gulbenkian Museum, Mary Cassat, Portugal, postaday 2017

Sightseeing in Lisbon

13 Oct

What a lot of walking and what a lot of lovely things to see. Join us on our stomp!

Pavement designs of city emblem.

A superb example of Manueline architecture.

Discombobulating design that makes one feel that the earth is moving, reminiscent of the earthquake.

Children on a school trip.

Colourful market produce in Mercado de Ribeiro.

After the funicular ride.

Making the best of a hole in the wall!

Fatima’s hands.

A fabulous shop full of things I could buy! All I bought was a scarf but that might change if we return tomorrow…..

I love the detail in the cloth of this young newspaper boy.

Lamps on three corners.

Pasteis de natal which we had at the end of the afternoon in a small cafe near our hotel.

4 Comments

Posted by mybeautfulthings on October 13, 2017 in architecture, art, Beauty, environment, Food, Photography, sculpture

Tags: Adagio holidays, pasteis de nata, Portugal, postaday2017, sculpture, travel

Breakfast, Nazares and Lisbon

12 Oct

Bucks Fizz has been on offer each morning in our Porto Hotel and this morning, being our last, some of our party indulged!

Our long journey was broken half way through by a visit to Nazares, a lovely old town on the coast.

A stroll around the streets near our hotel in Lisbon revealed some more street art. Both here and in Porto, in between the glorious architecture, there seem to be very many abandoned buildings left to deteriorate. At least here they have been painted with some humour and imagination.