RSS

Category Archives: Humanism

Three Gifts – A Snowflake, Cookies and A Poem

A snowflake arrived in today’s post, beautifully crocheted and a gift from a follower. It has gone straight onto our tree.

Thank you very much Judith

Another gift came today, one we were instructed not to keep until Christmas but to consume soon. So this evening we have each had a delicious Raspberry and White Choc Chip Cookie for dessert.

Thank you S and E, absolutely gorgeous!

A fellow Humanist has written the following poem which touched me and she kindly gave me permission to share it with you.

‘

It’s Our Christmas Too’ by Mary Fletcher

Christmas comes just at the darkest time of year

flashing lights

a twinkling tree

some time for lovely food

for friends and family

for children to be given too much stuff

for those of us with no children

to realise what we lack.

We look forward to the New Year

warm sunshine and green shoots will come back.

Those of us that do not believe in god

and worship no one

but put our faith in hope,

In folk to do their best,

we do not go to church.

we do not believe we’ll live after we die,

But we can light a candle,

share in singing,

pass some treats around.

Its our Christmas too,

Our Solstice,

Our Midwinter,

Our humanist joy,

That celebrates and treasures

Every baby girl and boy.

Thank you, Mary.

8 Comments

Posted by mybeautfulthings on December 19, 2025 in baking, Christmas, Christmas decorations, crochet, friendship, Happiness, Humanism, Kindness, poetry, Postaday2025

Potting On, Paella and A Poem

02 Apr

So much potting on today that a whole team of us were working on many baby plants including cucumbers, okra and cosmos. The tomato plants sown only a few weeks ago were being planted out into a poly tunnel.

Tomato plants

Tomatoes going into their growing space

More very heavy rain

Our lunch today was the most delicious paella made by one of the volunteers – such a delicious and warming meal after a hard working morning.

I saw the following poem on Facebook and loved it so I wrote to the poet, Caroline Mellor, and she very kindly sent it to me to post here. It is printed in her book, “The Honey in the Bones.’ This poem links so well with the song I posted a couple of days ago which can be found here.

We Need to Teach the Children the Old Words

“Words are world-makers”

– Robert MacFarlane

We need to teach the children the old words,

words like brabble and grubble,

twitter-light and clinkerbell;

words which dance and trip and slip

and drip like honey off the tongue

Teach them that a hazy halo of cloud

around the moon is called a moonbroch

and that swiftly moving clouds are named cairies;

how a vixen’s wedding is a sunny shower of rain,

and that a single sunbeam breaking through thick cloud

is known as a messenger

Teach them to know the seasons and scents

of queen of the meadow and bride of the sun,

how to tell Jupiter’s staff from fairy fingers

and which roses bloom with the strawberry moon

Teach them to spot pricklebacks in the tottlegrass,

how to recognise a smeuse or a bishop-barnaby,

when to watch the sky for flittermice and yaffles,

and to pay attention to the dumbledore and mousearnickle

as she graces the lazy leahs of summer

Teach them a few of the old Sussex words for mud,

like gubber and slub and stodge and pug,

so they know that the precious soil beneath their toes

is anything but worthless dirt

Teach them to be users and keepers and makers

of the words which bring the land alive:

a storybook, where everything has its rightful place,

including us;

where the wilds are fearful and filled with magic

and people do noble things, and nothing is impossible

In this world of harsh new words –

words like planetary dysmorphia and solastalgia,

extinction debt and grief mitigation,

megadrought and megafire,

anthropogenic, pyrocene,

words which alarm and get stuck in our throats

describing a world which our hearts cannot grasp –

we need to teach the children the old words,

so that if they should feel lost,

the old words might colour for them

a warm and breathing, living map,

a light to guide them safely home.

Once again, as when I have posted other poems, WordPress has decided to take out all the verse breaks. Why do they do this? It makes me so mad!

Glossary – also given to me by the poet, Caroline Mellor, for which I am very grateful. Regular readers will know how I love words, old and new, and I just love all these and the poem.

brabble — to argue loudly about matters of no importance
grubble — to grope around in the dark for something that you can’t see
clinkerbell — icicle
twitter-light — twilight
queen of the meadow — meadowsweet
bride of the sun — calendula
Jupiter’s staff — mullein
fairy fingers — foxglove
prickleback — hedgehog
tottle grass — high grass
smeuse —the gap in the base of a hedge made by the regular passage of a small animal
bishop-barnaby — ladybird
yaffle — green woodpecker
flittermouse — bat
dumbledore — bumblebee
mousearnickle — dragonfly
leah — meadow, clearing
gubber — black mud of rotting organic matter
pug — a kind of loam, particularly the sticky yellow Wealden clay
stodge — thick puddingy mud
slub — thick mud

And for all of us –

5 Comments

Posted by mybeautfulthings on April 2, 2024 in community, Cornwall, environment, Food, friendship, Happiness, Humanism, Postaday 2024

Tags: Caroline Mellor, community roots, Robert Macfarlane, The Honey in the Bones, We need to teach the children the old words

Happy Days and Poppies

21 Jun

Happy Summer Solstice to all our friends and readers, especially our Ukrainian friends.

View, Weaving and Cake

05 Oct

I arrived at the venue for the Humanist Baby Naming I was conducting this afternoon and what a view! The wind dropped, the rain held off and we had the most joyous ceremony you can imagine.

Across the Carrick Roads

Friends and family were asked to write their wishes for the little boy’s future on coloured strips of linen. They will be woven to make the body of the sailing boat which is made up of cream linen strips on which friends and family wrote wishes for the lovely young parents when they were married. What a beautiful idea!

Linen wish weaving

Also saved from their wedding six years ago, in the traditional manner, was the top tier of their Wedding cake decorated by the bride, to which their little boy, who will be one year old on Monday, has been added.

Wedding Cake

1 Comment

Posted by mybeautfulthings on October 5, 2019 in Baby Naming, Beauty, Cornwall, environment, Happiness, Humanism, Humanist ceremony, Photography, Postaday 2019

Tags: linen wish weaving, wedding traditions

Cosmos, Lupins and A Poem

25 Jun

We have said goodbye to a friend today, a Humanist and a Socialist. We each took a red rose to put on his coffin and it was very beautiful . We listened to John Lennon’s Imagine and to an anti-fascist song, one which I sing with my choir, Bella Ciao, amongst the memories and life stories and it was all very moving.

Our white garden is very pleasing. White Cosmos in one border and the Lupins in another.

White Cosmos

White Lupin Spires, just standing there

I love the poetry of Seamus Heaney and this one is another delight.

Lupins – Seamus Heaney

They stood. And stood for something. Just by standing.
In waiting. Unavailable. But there
For sure. Sure and unbending.
Rose-fingered dawn’s and navy midnight’s flower.

Seed packets to begin with, pink and azure,
Sifting lightness and small jittery promise:
Lupin spires, erotics of the future,
Lip-brush of the blue and earth’s deep purchase.

O pastel turrets, pods and tapering stalks
That stood their ground for all our summer wending
And even when they blanched would never balk.
And none of this surpassed our understanding.

3 Comments

Posted by mybeautfulthings on June 25, 2018 in Beauty, garden, Humanism, nature, Photography, Postaday2018

Tags: Lupins - Seamus Heaney, Seamus Heaney

Strawberry Moon and Happy Day

21 Jun

Yesterday’s moon was a special full moon as it fell on the Summer Solstice and this only happens every 40 some years, the last time being in 1967, the summer of love. It is called a Strawberry Moon as the date heralds the start of the strawberry season. It is sometimes called a Honey Moon.

Today is Happy World Humanist Day. Have a happy day, each of my lovely readers.