WORLD FOCUS ON BRITISH ISLES CORONATION MAY MISS HISTORICAL NUANCES WITHIN KINGDOM
FIRST WEDNESDAY SURFACING from UNDERGROUND WRITER’S CAVERN into LIGHT OF DAY to WELCOME MAYDAY/BELTAINN CELEBRATING SPRING/ONSET OF SUMMER/ RETURN OF HOPE & JOY & PROMISE
Both Barack Obama and Nainoa Thompson were born in Oahu, Hawai’i—one ten years before the other. Both have grown up to influence a world which has lost its way, and both have taken a lead in altering the course of Mankind for its greater good.
Barack Obama b. August 4, 1961 Honolulu, HI; Nainoa Thompson b. March 11, 1953
“Like Hokule’a captain Nainoa Thompson says, ‘We’re all in the same canoe.’
“We’re all on this planet Earth together, so it makes sense to get along and change things for the greater good-together.”
44th President of the United States, Barack Obama, 1st to implement 2015 Paris Agreement Carbon Neutral goal during his tenure, 2009-2017.
Huntly, Aberdeenshire: Rich Rival Gordon [Catholic] Stronghold Enraged James VI & I So Much, He Forgot Position as King of England, Personally Hacked Coat of Arms on Doorway
Elizabeth I’s rule of England in 1500s was remarkable for its peace & prosperity & fact that she refused to align herself with royal houses of Europe. She died childless & throne passed to her cousin James VI of Scotland & I of England in 1603.
Willy, Willy, Harry, Stee, Harry, Dick, John, Harry Three; One, two, three Neds, Richard Two, Harries Four Five Six, then who? Edwards Four Five, Richard Three, Two Harries, Edward and Bloody Mairee; Elizabeth the Virgin Queen Two Jameses with Charlies in between….
William and Mary, Anna Gloria Four Georges, William and Victoria…
John de Critz c. 1606 courtesy Dulwich Picture Gallery
James VI (Stuart) & I, cousin of Elizabeth I who died 1603 without issue
With a British coronation coming up this month, many cities in the United Kingdom of Scotland, England, Wales & N.Ireland [+oceanic territories & dominions of the far-reaching British Commonwealth) will be celebrating.
Unfortunately, because of an internal lack of foresight on the part of the soon-to-be king, many regional territories within the island chain have felt discarded-superfluous even-[pic far rt below]as Buckingham Palace has been concentrating on a round-the-country series of events—breakfasts, [ancient feast-days] streetside “Big Lunches” & picnics in the run up to Coronation in the heart of London at Westminster Abbey, seated on 1066 Edward the Confessor’s Coronation Chair, with Scotland’s crowning stone: Stone of Destiny (royal Stone of Scone, Perthshire, pic.1 below left) in position under the seat. After coronation it will be returned to Edinburgh Castle.
The Stone of Destiny/Stone of Scone usually resides—along with other Scots royal regalia—in throne room of Edinburgh Castle, pic.lower left above, under protection of @Nat_Trust_Scotland, alongside crown & sceptre, dolphin staff of sovereignty & other crowns of the North. Pic 2 left above shows Scotland’s Lord Lyon King of Arms Lord (Johnny) Douglas-Hamilton bearing regalia for HM The Queen on her last visit to Scotland before she died last year. That particular crown is Scotland’s oldest, created from Rhynie [ABD] gold & pearls from River Ythan, Buchan ABD. Pic 1 top where Stone of Scone used to reside, Scone Palace, Perth.
Forgetting his Elevated Position, Resorting to Childlike Behaviour
Interestingly, when James VI & I was given dominion over England as well as Scotland in 1603, one would have thought honour would have consumed him, banishing all other jealous or childlike thoughts forever. His ancestors, from Guardian of Scotland William Wallace, to Stuart kings before him, had longed to subjugate the southern kingdom from the time of the 1308 Herschip o’ Buchan [wholesale destruction by burning of Scotland’s eastern landmass of ancient Caledonian Forest] by self-crowned Robert Brus in his mindless rampage north to destroy Comyn rivals in Buchan, & coastal Morayshire; when Edward I, Hammer of Scots first demanded subservience.
Instead, one of first actions James chose was in fact to follow a long-time grievance against powerful [Roman Catholic] Earls of Huntly whose ‘Gret Place’ [Palace] of Strathbogie between Aberdeen & Moray coast rankled. From Wars of Independence, through 14th century protestantism throughout the land, Huntly had maintained staunch Roman Catholic ties. It also held sway over one of the richest agricultural valleys [between Deveron-Bogie rivers] in inland Aberdeenshire.
Original castle, known as the Peel of Strathbogie, was built by Duncan II Earl of Fife on the Strathbogie estate some time around 1180 and 1190.
Earl Duncan’s third son, David, inherited Strathbogie estate, later-through marriage-became Earls of Atholl around 1204. During Strathbogie ownership, Robert Brus was a guest after razing Caledonian forests in Herschip o’ Buchan.
The family was loyal to him throughout this awful vendetta, but before [Bruce’s win at] Bannockburn 1314, David of Strathbogie shifted his support to the English. Bruce saw this as treachery and granted the castle and estate to Sir Adam Gordon of Huntly because he was consistently loyal.
In 1506, the castle was officially renamed Huntly Castle. Although the castle was burned to the ground, a grander castle was built in its place.
Huntly—an Aberdeenshire Favourite Royal Haunt
In 1496, Perkin Warbeck, pretender to the English throne, was married to Lady Catherine Gordon, daughter of George Gordon, 2nd Earl of Huntly and Jas. IV was guest at their wedding. James IV came from Edinburgh to Huntly in October 1501 and gave gifts of money to the stonemasons working on the castle. In October 1503, James IV came again and played in a shooting contest at the “Prop” target in the grounds. He came back the following October, on his way south, accompanied by four Italian minstrels and an African drummer. James IV played cards at the castle 10 October 1505 and gave a tip to masons working on the building. These visits were part of the king’s annual pilgrimage to the shrine of Saint Duthac at Tain, Rossshire.
Architecturally L-plan, the castle still consists of a well-preserved five-story tower with an adjoining great hall and supporting buildings. Areas of the original ornate carved façade, above rt. and interior stonework remain from early 16thC. The grounds, though less imposing today, stretched for several acres through rich agricultural farmland which supported all of Earl Huntly’s household, with loads to spare for tenants, friends and neighbours.
Wings were added to the castle in the 16th and 17th centuries. English diplomat Thomas Randolph stayed two nights in September 1562, and wrote that the castle was “beste furnishede of anye howse that I have seen in thys countrie”.
Its rich landholdings attracted other royals.
Royals with more Warlike Intentions found Reason to Enjoy Bounty
Mary, Queen of Scots decided to take the castle, to enhance her power in the kingdom, giving her reason that the Earl withheld from her a royal cannon lent to him by Regent Arran. She sent her half-brother Commendator of Coldingham, John Stewart to arrest Geo. Gordon, 4th Earl of Huntly at the Castle in October 1562. On the day child’s Tutor Pitcur arrived and spoke at the gate, the castle tower watchman spotted Coldingham and the Master of Lindsay with troops a mile off. He alerted the Earl who ran “without boot or sword” and hopped over a low wall at the back of the castle, finding a horse before Pitcur could stop him.
Elizabeth, Countess of Huntly, then welcomed the queen’s men and gave them a meal and showed them around the palace. It was noted she still had her chapel furnished for Roman Catholic worship.
George Gordon, 4th Earl of Huntly died after Battle of Corrichie October 28, 1562; the castle was garrisoned for Mary, Queen of Scots [Queen Dec.14, 1542 until forced abdication 1567] by Crawfurd and 20 soldiers. Furnishings, including beds and 45 rich tapestries were taken to Aberdeen, then shipped in barrels to Edinburgh for the royal bedchamber and MQS’ “refurbishment”.
In 1576, Geo. 5th Earl collapsed from food poisoning, while playing football outside the Castle on the Green. He was taken to a bedchamber in the round tower, next to ‘Grit Chalmer’, Great Chamber. After he died, he was laid out in that Chamber, with his valuables in his bed-chamber.
Supernatural events then occurred: sudden collapse of a servant in the ‘Laich Chalmer’. Next day, another went to the Gallery at the top of the ‘New Warke’ where precious spices were stored. She & two others also collapsed and when revived, felt cold.
After the Earl’s body was embalmed & in the chapel, his brother sat on a bench in the Hall by the Great Chamber door, and heard unexplained sounds from inside. He said “there is not a live thing bigger than a mouse may enter that chamber with the door locked.”
James VI & I’s Jealousy his Undoing
As a child, James VI & I had witnessed his mother MQS systematically rob Huntly of rich tapestries, paintings & furnishings for her own private apartments in Edinburgh. After her imprisonment, he ruled Scotland efficiently, without sentiment as a protestant monarch for 35 years before being summoned as King of England on Elizabeth’s death, 1603. He had to have suffered much pain through his mother’s mistreatment & death; yet he masked it well.
On being visually confronted by the land of his youth, however—the abundant rich landholdings of central Aberdeenshire between rivers Deveron and Bogie in particular, where the policies of Catholic Gordons in his Protestant kingdom flourished, he must have literally “lost it”. No recourse to parliament or pretense of leniency for “misunderstood” or ignorant subjects.
He took a hacksaw, a hammer and a knife and started hacking at the Gordon initials and Coat of Arms on the delicate doorway entrance to the New Warke, left above.
His sublieutenants and courtiers waited while their monarch became exhausted and then found him a carriage and whisked him away from temptation. No-one has so far taken a ladder to erase the beautifully (though egotistically-inspired) lettering on the Castle’s main Warke but it may now seem improbable as inscriptions lie four storeys above ground.
Historical Perspective on Coronation Madness
With impending madness centred on London for next week’s great event, many will forget—perhaps philosophically, and therefore with calm forgiveness that the to-be-crowned Monarch will in all conscience never approach a gentle peaceful. loving countenance which his mother always held in her heart for ALL of her subjects.
Scotland was for HM Queen NEVER a place to wear a pretend kilt or to make false appearance of enjoying the wilderness of the North.
She literally DID love the North: Aberdeenshire, Deeside and Balmoral in particular. She may or may not have worn a tartan skirt but she always had her headscarf and handbag at the ready ❤
We love you your Majesty, r.i.p.
Writerly Word to the Wise
From our (not so insecure) Writers’ Cavern below the present Earth, as it continues on its endless rotation around our solar parent & the great Universe beyond: may we say how “admirable” it is to be calmly confident enough to forgive any and all silliness on the part of current royal pretenders who wear kilts one day as a gesture (?to what) & forget about our northern region of the British Isles on the next.
ORIENTAL YEAR OF WATER WABBIT aka MARCH HARE BRINGS FALSE SPRING, ICE BALLS, MASSIVE SNOWFALL in UNEXPECTED PLACES
FIRST WEDNESDAY TUNE-IN FROM DEEP INSIDE MOUNTAIN WRITERS’ CAVE for[?INSECURE] CREATIVE, SCRIBBLERS to WITNESS UNUSUALLY HIGH TEMPS & SUNSHINE in SOUTHERN PARTS of ‘REAL WORLD’
GOLF BUFFS CELEBRATE @PGA HONDA CLASSIC PALM SPRINGS, FLA in 80ºF, w/BAHAMAS, PUERTO RICO, CARIBBEAN vs. SAN FRANCISCO, LAS VEGAS, SHASTA’s SNOW & ICE BALLS
HONDA Classic golf tournament just ended at the hugely complicated PGA golf course in Palm Springs, Fla, with a final playoff between champion Chris Kirk & challenger Eric Cole, Kirk winning by a triumphant birdie on water/bunker-enclosed 18th green.
Rubber Duckies Join the Throng Aboard new s.s. Scarlet Lady
More than a decade ago, ocean studies conducted by major New England ocean research state-funded institutions discovered that “rubber duckies“, below rt. were being unwittingly transported around the globe, following natural current fluctuations & boosted by tropical and Arctic storms. While a concentration of these tiny plastic toys gathered naturally in Central Pacific’s Great ‘Pacific Garbage Patch’, others found their way to Alaska, Pennsylvania, Trinidad, CA & even the Magellan Straits & Chile’s Cape Horn.
Virgin Cruise ship, top rt. s.s. Scarlet Lady has joined Richard Branson’s family of human transportation to unusual places-space, airline jets & deep sea adventures with ocean voyages to Caribbean, Florida Keys, Bahamian Cays, and Leeward Islands, & soon Puerto Rico in essentially British style cruises: the Scarlet Lady takes only adult passengers; although a little bird succeeded in hiding mini “rubber-duckies” under passengers’ dining room chairs & in cabins (for charity) before they sailed on last adventure.
During Mardi Gras Carnival in NOLA, the ‘Big Easy’, and Brazil last month, there were all versions of duckies, although it took return to semi-normalcy for our fave creatures to feature—Valentine’s Day duckies, rt, 2nd top & middle rt. reigning supreme.
Ocean-fishing begins to surge now, with the waxing March moon encouraging fishermen—particularly Pacific islanders-to join their fellows in catch-to-eat swordfish & Ahi-(popular member of tuna family), while Ocean tourism by local Hawai’ian Tourist Board yachts is bringing in early whale-spotters. Humpbacks, monk seal pups, even shark babies are being born in seasonal balmy waters—Hilo Bay, Big Island, HI air temp 80ºF; water temp 76ºF.
Even if no mythical hippocampus sea monsters have been seen drawing god Poseidon/Neptune’s chariot—as in Fishbourne Roman Palace mosaic floor, above bottom rt., indeed gentle giant Mama humpbacks have been spotted giving birth to babies in balmy waters off Kailua-Kona on Hawai’i’s leeward coast. Right now volunteer preservationists are diligent in removing all discarded fish-netting gear & plastic debris from these waters. Even sharks, stranded in unusually high spring tides have been carefully assisted by the volunteers (wearing protective dive suits) back into the Bay. Baby monk seals caressed in sand by Mama are also being monitored,
Thankfully, we are seeing the last of February’s month of high winds and rainfall—two feet in places, up to 7inches per day Hilo coast, associated with high surf & wintry showers over Mauna Kea mountain top, 29,000ft from ocean floor—which coated the telescope array (ELT, extra large telescope) with a dusting of white snow. It had a surreal edge to it, particularly on Virgo full moon night February 19th.
March full “Worm” moon next Tuesday March 7th, will be followed by new moon March 21st, coinciding with Spring Equinox and the beginning of Ramadan. In the old pre-Xtian calendar Equinox falls precisely six weeks after Feast of Bridei/Brigid, aka Candlemas, February 2nd.
Clocks spring forward on March 12th, 2023 (Daylight Saving time in U.S.A.), while British clocks change later month 3/26/23.
Ancient pre-Celtic Deities Based on Babylonian/Greek/Carthaginian Model copied into Roman Pantheon
In the ancient pre-Xtian Calendar, based on Roman/Greek/Babylonian mythology, we [Europeans] still calculate Palm Sunday, Easter & even Islamic Ramadan/ Jewish Rosh Hashanah around solstices & equinoxes. e.g. Candlemas, Feb.2nd, Feast of Bride/ ancient Brigantia falls precisely six weeks after winter solstice; six weeks before Spring Equinox; with one exception—Easter in R.C, Anglican & Presbyterian Churches varies from Orthodox Church by one week.
This clearly wasn’t an issue to the pantheon aka atheist gods of myth; as theirs was a realm “above”/beyond the human sphere, where “God was killable”. Pantheon=place where gods dwell. So, when Zeus/Helios at first reigned within the pantheon [below 3rd l.] he drove his chariot drawn by horses of his creation around the sky in the day, resting at night in the arms of Nyx, Nut in Egyptian pantheon. When Zeus took on the rôle of sole sun god & Hades [the place/underworld] became incarnate as god of night, he delegated the job of ocean protector and father of (sea)horses to Poseidon/Neptune, pic below bottom l. & top rt. who not only birthed equine offspring, but was in charge of earthquakes-[earth-shaker] Sculpture below rt. Poseidon stands at Melenara harbour entrance Gran Canaria; Canary Islands, on Atlantic Ocean side of entrance to the Mediterranean Sea.
His trident symbolizes triple rôle as god/protector of ocean-and ocean-going vessels, sailors and fishermen-earthquakes and horses.
Nymph Scylla, above rt, (in myth sister of Carybdis, the whirlpool), because she was hated by Zeus’ wife Hera-putative reason:her ex-marital lover preferred Scylla to her-was forever doomed to cause the death of fishermen/sailors, therefore the antithesis of a protector, in contrast to Poseidon/Neptune, their guardian god, (adjacent pic w/sea bubbles) whom she loved.
Before Hades was given dominion over the underworld, Poseidon was seen as its ruler: logical, as Ocean and (underground) Earth Shaker. At that time he was married to Demeter, with Persephone as their daughter. When Zeus took over that godhead, in Bronze Age Mycenaean Greek pantheon, Hera, his wife who hated Scylla, bottom r. above, changed her from delicate inspirational nymph -Muse to forever land-bound beauty, so that passing sailors and fishing craft would be inspired/transfixed by her earth-bound loveliness and not see their ship being drawn into the whirlpool of her sister Carybdis in the waters ahead of them.
Homer’s Odyssey describes her fatal attraction in some detail, as a warning to sailors and fishermen throughout the ages.
Traditional belief that planet Earth goes through a transformation in spring, summer and fall/winter, personified in female form by Greek, Babylonian & Roman triad of goddesses Persephone, Demeter, Hecate/Ceres. Earlier Babylonian/Greek goddesses seem to fit the classical image of that female triad: maiden, mother & crone better than their Roman counterparts Artemis/Diana & Selene/ Luna.
Muse-nymph Scylla, above rt. however, never ages, never experiences winter, never becomes the crone.
Archaeologists in 2000 discovered the tomb of Babylonian GILGAMESH aka Nimrod, rt. the first anti-Christ of the Bible (Old Testament).
The U.S, under excuse of going to war, collected the body, looted the museum, stealing 5000-year old Babylonian tablets describing how to ‘raise a god from the dead’.
Cold war antics do not go away. They are just superceded by modern politics.
RAF Nimrod, jet aircraft pictured here on take-off from R.A.F. Lossiemouth airbase—still operational—on Moray Firth coast, near mouth of River Spey.
It lies adjacent to Gordonstoun School, (private), and 7thC Pictish stronghold Duffus Castle & estate.
Neighbours to W: Findhorn intentional spiritual community, Burghead Scotland’s largest Pictish stronghold
Duffus House, previously leased boys’ boarding house attached to G House on school grounds, has returned to private ownership, now operates as a holiday venue entertainment centre for visitors to Morayshire’s North Coast, ABD Scotland.
Enter the Slippery Slope of Politics as Humans Decipher Code from the Stars—or from Rival Regimes
Hacking isn’t anything new. I became a victim of the dreaded hack in late autumn last year, making it impossible to continue writing this, my beloved blog—a fave occupation next to novel-writing; tree-planting—necessitating a three-month hiatus [+deep self-questioning & doubt of my abilities as a writer—guess you could call that truly Insecure], partly rescued by “reality”, a period of enforced confinement in hospital for a hereditary diabetes-related condition, and addressing the ‘real’ prospects of recovery in a [Telosian eternal, I know, I know] body which was in ‘real world’ terms past its sell-by date! i.e. fledgling octogenarian.
Fave trees of ancient vintage-top of page 2nd row: sacred ash, last remaining one of four planted 1752 as church boundary marker Bourtie kirkyard, ABD to delineate division between kirk burial ground (full of Pictish remnant stones) & ‘outsiders’/non-believers who had to settle for burial in ‘annexe’! And companion in age—though worlds apart—Prairie Creek State Park, N of Orick, CA off Old State Hwy & present Hwy-1 UCal/Arcata/Eureka: ‘Corkscrew’ Redwood [Sequoia sempervirens] first-growth i.e. 2000yr old with twisting trunk in characteristic counter-clockwise motion.
It became clear to me that the world of hackers—now being adopted en masse by powerful regimes around the world as a political ruse to familiarize themselves with the prospect of world domination by bot [as opposed to domination by tank, military force, or clever television manipulation of innocent masses] operates with cleverness at the most innocent level, [my persuasive lady who wanted my site/personal info was a mid-life crisean from Lancashire, N.England, working hard to support a family after a lifetime of poverty]. It is also being commandeered by top officials in hugely powerful regimes in both hemispheres of the globe, neither admitting their stealth or outright theft to one another.
‘Cold War’ was a term used c. 1990-2000 to describe an uneasy agreement among war-capable nations not to use their weapons. The expression has raised its head again, as political heads in U.S. imply unconfirmed reports of certain nuclear-capable countries in the Eastern bloc readying their arsenals for ‘potential’ deployment. North Korean leader Kim Jong Un has backed his Chinese allies in promising aid—nuclear-capable implied—along with military force if needed. While neighbour (U.S. Ally) S. Korea, Seoul press releases have emphasized both neighbor countries’ poverty-stricken masses’ need to return to traditional (organic, hand-tooled) farming. Food scarcity has become a shared world issue.
This younger generation has been storming the White House environs & midtown New York with signs & blocking traffic.
As a footnote to the recent mid-February 2023 President Biden (much-televised, but unofficial) visit to Warsaw, Poland, combined w/Ukrainian leader & Euro NATO member nations’ meetings, U.S. White House supremo promised $500million in (military) ‘aid’ to Kyiv. Teens/children supporting nursing & hospital staff on strike in U.S. mainland agree this sum would pay for rescue food & care packages for the poor, aged care-home residents and homeless within mainland U.S. for the next three years.
39th President Jimmy Carter, 95, recently committed to receiving care treatment at home, would certainly agree.
In order to add weight to White House speculations, U.S. political spokespersons in the D.C. capital have allowed television cameras to reproduce their claim that a variant of the pandemic Covid virus was caused by an accidental leak from a medical laboratory in China. Absolutely no evidence of the validity of this so-called ‘received information’ has been given.
It adds to the nuance of lying by a White House official to an already festering issue of anti-China sentiment.
Oblivious to Needy Millions within Continental U.S.A, White House Focuses on 2024 Election
Meanwhile, as of yesterday, Feb.28th, 2023, the White House has given all Federal Agencies 30 days to purge Chinese-owned video-snippet sharing app TikTok, pic above (on millions of private phones) from all U.S.Government-issued devices, setting a deadline to comply with a ban ordered by U.S. Congress—ordered end-January by Texas governor/Austin agents & removed the app. The ban does not apply to businesses within the U.S. (that have no association with the government) or to private individuals.
With my fairly poor excuse that I never quite got the hang of Tiktok anyway—or SnapChat for that matter; I’m a traditionalist & Tweet-person at heart—Elon Musk eat yours out! ❤ with occasional fanciful flights into Instagram—when I’m not being hacked!
Great Britain has not issued any statement on the subject.
Meanwhile Biden seems more concerned with his own image vis-à-vis rivals to his status in 2024 election, as both D.Trump & newcomer Marianne Williamson, who believes in politics of ‘Love inspired by Spirituality’ through ‘Eyes of the Heart’, have a lot of support & promise fairness & equality in federal spending. We wait to see if that might downplay any nuclear arms race.
Writing—and Nature-Watching—a Healthier & Happier Solution to All Ills
Farmers—in particular Organic agri-buffs who use natural companion planting to foster good relationship between plant offspring—remembering Findhorn founder & Angel-chat lady Dorothy Maclean who chatted her sweet peas (below) into producing a more abundant crop—her 1960s’ residence blue caravan at the Park, rt—have always had the edge over those who mow their lawns into oblivion or plant in weed-free rows as means to a quick harvest. Weed killer a no-no!
I have always been one of the former, with addition of hundreds of free-range henny-pukes 2add free manure to an already abundant pasture. See jungle fowl below.
Tree-related p.s.Trees-for-Life started @ Findhorn as a woodland charity, creating its own forest-environment ethos, now centred in Glenfeshie. INV, Scotland
Dorothy, caravan above, in the first garden she planted at the ‘Park’, Findhorn’s perennially thriving growing plot, now peopled with other structures, spoke daily to the sweet pea fairy, left. She was told by the entity’s non-corporeal essence that its cousin, the gloriously edible pea loved humans so much it wanted to thrive.
Peas have always been my fave veg. As a child growing up (in Aberdeenshire) within a hugely productive [organic] garden available to me, I used to pick & stuff my apron with them, climb up the tower of our Victorian granite house & munch [& meditate] overlooking vast-undeveloped-green rolling fields.
As an adult in my own (also granite) house, there was an 18thC walled garden. It welcomed my simple ways, making horticulture a delight. I grew both sweet peas & peas on trellises—wouldn’t you guess, they thrived.
Where I live now-a mid-Pacific ex-pat with gratitude for Hawai’ian warm temperatures to caress my bones-most people grow their own food aka organic. Gardens & woodland [+supermarket parking lots & harbour entrances] are domain of ‘jungle fowl’ who roam freely. You’re lucky to find a nest, as eggs are clearly organic. Go Jungle Fowl!
It is good to hear that Chinese and Polish, Russian and Pakistani agencies are encouraging the innate ability of their country’s poor to grow their own food as a partial solution to modern-day crises—political or otherwise. Poor people, imho, have always known how to make their backyards productive.
U.S. GROUNDHOG DAY, PRE-CELTIC CANDLEMAS FOCUS ON INTERNATIONAL REWILDING/REUSE OF OLD FARMLAND w/SOLAR ASSIST
First Wednesday Creative (& Insecure) Writing Celebration of Indo-Euro-Brit Support for Rewilding Old Spaces w/Solar Panel Technology
Getting Carried Away by their own Animal Festivities
Americans do seem to take Groundhog Day a little too literally sometimes—Pres. Biden’s staff getting rather more worked up about holding the poor animal (ground squirrel/marmot) on high for the cameras this year, rather than low for the (poor beast’s fodder) grass & wood-fiber—beaver cousin pictured below top left). And it is the magical creature’s flat-tailed beaver cousin, that Europeans (bar a few Scots purists) think will save the Day—or at least some of our blessed days in the immediate future of the planet and for all of us grateful inhabitants—if we’re spared!
In U.S.A., February 2nd is usually reserved as a fixed date for the miracle animal’s so-called peep out of his underground hideaway—very similar to us obscure writers, hidden away in our Muse-bower or whatever serves to give us undisturbed solitude with our keyboard—before he theoretically pronounces the weather forecast for the coming month [traditional six week gap]. This year’s Candlemas-Beaver-Groundhog Day got a little complicated by Chinese New Year’s being celebrated early with the beloved #Wabbit—aka Hare—coinciding with the last week in January 2023—so they can celebrate a candle-on-water floating ceremony; but the end results appear to come together as February—ancient Candlemas—begins.
Candlemas, as we learn repeatedly from our ancestors, is traditional Feast Day of Bride; Bridei; old British Brigantia; Forest Maiden & Earth Mother—identifying with Ancient Egyptian ISIS [‘Eset’], above far rt., Egyptian Queen of Heaven & Mother of the World. As Patron of all women, she has in recent years (with feminism rising) become world icon for International Women’s Day. It’s crazy in the Shetland Isles as they, too, are celebrating Up-Hellya amid gale-force winds!
It’s Brazil & S.American Carnival time also—traditionally an end to winter with street parades taking over every town.
Chinese New Year tradition—in nations like S.Korea, Taiwan, Japan, Singapore, mainland China, Burma & Philippines include a prayer-float from shore towards the open ocean, pictured left.
Hawai’i, particularly in winter months, is dominated by an increase in numbers on the southern route of migrating Whales—most vivid & entrancing, the Humpback whales, who often give birth in these tropical waters before returning to their northern grounds in the Salish Sea(B.C.) to overwinter.
Mid-Pacific technology appears already to be able to outstrip Western thinking—perhaps increased hours of sunlight have something to do with it—a Hawai’ian farming project, given Local Government funding & support, are offering farmland acreage on Oahu, HI, complete with installed solar panel-covered roofs—like glasshouses w/built-in sun—so their solar panel technology will be used to maximum, gathering rays while simultaneously covering useful greenhouses.
British Weather Used to Max for Windpower
As a Scots ex-Pat—grateful for no longer having to endure the rigours of the wintry North Coast [Aberdeenshire, Banffshire, Moray Firth], I’m proud to see, not only restoration of my personal tree glade outside my walled garden, pic top rt. but the continued appreciation of the stand of hazel, wild & domestic cherry (gean; morello; pear & alder, bottom 2nd l.) to supplement plum, birch & previous century’s copper beech. Foregound Redwood [Sequoiadendron Giganteum] planted to celebrate the birth of my son there adjacent to/obscuring the two-century-old Douglas Fir [Pseudotsuga Menziesii; gifted by David Douglas as a seedling to the then Minister in residence in 1827 at the Old Manse who was designate Moderator of the General Assembly of the Church of Scotland, Edinburgh, at that time. Scots pine aka Caledonian Pine abound.
It is also truly amazing—and fairly Scots in nature—to know that the little kirk below the Manse in the farmland of the Kirkton continues to celebrate a Sunday service once every two weeks!
Nevertheless, weather & human nature being relatively constant—although increasingly wild conditions appear to be taking hold, the winds of the North are being harnessed—following a lead by radical innovator Burnett of Williamston family, led by daughter ‘boss’, with their Culsalmond/Colpy windfarm. Now wind & wave harnessing is occurring through the Glens of Foudland as far as Maggieknockater in the Buchan peninsula to electric generator power centers in the Black Isle, Cromarty; reaching into Sinclair territory in the Far North.
Bejeweled Whale-centred Dreamcatcher holds all bad nightmares at bay
Easter Island Facial Traits Show Influence on Other Pacific Island Residents
Many Europeans may not notice, but there is a noted characteristic in Hawai’ian, and other mid-Pacific island residents like French Frigate Shoals, Guam, resulting in a less-circular “Caucasian” round-headed appearance, and more flat-backed, almost sheared-off shape for which Easter Island’s gods, below—and presumably their ancient resident population—were known. It is remarkable that the Hawai’ian Royal House, headed by King Kamakameha whose statue stands in downtown Hilo, HI overlooking Lilli’ewa Bay, (bottom rt.) took pride in this trait.
Last of the Royal Hawai’ian line, Queen Lilliuokalani, died last week, aged 90. Her hand-sculpted coffin made of local koa wood is currently lying in state in the Royal Palace, Honolulu. She was the daughter of Queen Lydia Kamakameha (1838-1917) who was the ultimate sovereign of the Islands and who lived during the annexation of Hawai’i by the United States in 1898.
Hawai’ians are not only proud of their facial characteristics and unique Pacific heritage, but on special occasions—during hula dance festivals or fire & light ceremonies, they dress with leis (orchid garlands w/mix of tropical blossoms-frangipani, plumeria, hibiscus-in their hair) usually tied in a “topknot”, shown above left. Easter Island topknots were a feature of all the gods aligned on the island’s shore. They were carefully chosen from local volcanic rock, sculpted into the topknot shape.
Many are now lost.
Hawai’ians are not only expert hula dance performers—using hip movement which Europeans take years to learn. But their body shape—maybe considered large to Britiish eyes—in particular with current mountain-climbing madness gripping a (mostly male) muscle-bound population.
Body movement, however, reveals a supple quality within waist & hip gyration that Caucasians are hard-pressed to emulate. It takes years to learn.
Access 2 balmy ocean temperatures have a lot to offer, & many Hawai’ians bathe once or twice daily in local pool. Pictured here rt. within a literal stone’s throw of downtown Hilo, is fave Lilli’ewa Bay. Its easy shallow sandy beach makes it popular not just with locals, but w/Oldies visiting who may have found volcanic black rocks difficult to negotiate elsewhere!
It’s also the single most sought-after go-to pool for that Pacific anomalous practice of Doolah-tending: South Seas (Bali, initially) assist within water to help young mothers prepare for giving birth.
Bottom Line:when all else is said, locals may complain about the weather; Californians about drought alternating with hurricane disruption; New Zealander Kiwis about people raiding their carefully-guarded environmentally-protected reefs, but it’s relative.
Pele—Hawai’ian goddess of fire & ice—continues to reside atop the Mauna, pic above l, holding the world’s largest telescope array [extra-large telescope, ELT] in her sacred grasp, while anchoring her watery toes 29,000ft into the Pacific Ocean’s deepest trench below. She is revered from ocean fringe to Mariana Trench; from coastal California—earthquake roadblock above top rt.—to Bali, Indonesia, Fiji and beyond. Like the Phoenix, ISIS, Egyptian Queen of Heaven, pic top far rt. she may fade but will never die. Even the world telescope symposium atop her sunset summit, above l., keeps touch with local Hawai’ian ‘guardians’ adhering to their policy of no unnecessary disturbance/development at her summit.
It is sacred ground, after all.
Meanwhile, despite record dry rock-bottom water supply (not) in drought-ridden No.Cal (pic 3 above rt.), organic rewilders and other gardening/planting enthusiasts continue to allow the ground around the sacred mountain and its new farmland project in Oahu to prosper—as it will even more when planned solar-panel-roofed greenhouses are erected.
And what about the workers?!
Yes:we writers, IWSGers, NaNoWriMo-ers, Muse-driven regular bloggers, insecure or otherwise, are fortunate to have such a neighborly friendly heritage right on our doorstep. Whether we’re groundhog fans or not, whether we’re just monthly First Wednesday bloggers with a leaf of fresh mint or homegrown lettuce to chew on [lucky us]; let’s agree we are a fortunate lot.
Some people never get past the comic section in their local newspaper—confusingly, Hawai’i’s own is Bahamian (Herald-Tribune) in reverse:Tribune-Herald! See what happens when you let the fritillary (above bottom rt.) out of the chrysalis!
And meantime in authentic Hawai’ian lingo, may I again wish all Hau’oli Makahiki Hou! Happy New Year. Keep on writing!
ONE WRITER’S [CREATIVE, INSECURE or JUST PLAIN ORNERY] RESPONSE to ENFORCED LITERARY–& LITERAL—SILENCE
ONE WRITER’S [CREATIVE, INSECURE or JUST PLAIN ORNERY] RESPONSE TO ENFORCED LITERARY—& LITERAL—SILENCE
Cat-lovers versus Dogophiles
I admit it. I’ve always been a cat-lover, with only a passing interest in (certain types of) dogs. My father had a golden Labrador—Timmy—labs are okay; they fall in the category of ‘beloved of ancient memory’. Collies—because they work for their keep; my sister’s very large & out-of-control Doberman. But pugs, dachshunds or small snivelling types of hyper-interbred terrier fluffiness leave me cold. And—with apologies to my dear-departed Monarch, H.M.QEII—so do Corgis.
Cats in literature can be inspiring, as for instance T.S. Eliot’s Macavity the Mystery Cat aka the Hidden Paw aka the Napoleon of Cat Crime, the all-singing-dancing master criminal villain of his collection of starstruck poems with its popular Andrew Lloyd Weber musical adaptation. Based on Sherlock Holmes’ arch-nemesis Professor Moriarty, the ginger tabby’s nefarious deeds include cheating at cards, kidnapping, and exhibiting a general disregard for the laws of Jellicle society.
Macavity is a star.
Similarly, Lewis Carroll’s friend of Alice (in-Wonderland) who grins from tree branches or appears magically at her side, below right, brings an other-worldly take on what Americans loosely call “pets”.
Similarly, Lewis Carroll’s friend of Alice (in-Wonderland) who grins from tree branches or appears magically at her side, below right, brings an other-worldly take on what Americans loosely call “pets”.
I could go on, but then that would be straying from the subject—something my dear writing professor, pic below, would never do.
Feline-Canine Opposites: Everyday Revelation—Apart from the Obvious
One afterthought which hadn’t escaped me, but needed an Earthly anchor to make it relevant: just such a circumstance is currently happening—the recurrence after a gap of two centuries of inactivity (historic eruption 1984 after silence since 1881) of Moana Loa volcano (supposedly dormant) which threatens the ELT [extra-large telescope array internationally owned] at its peak.
Moana Loa is the world’s highest volcano, dominating Hawai’i Big Island’s northern horizon, affectionately known to locals as home of goddess Pele, calculated from the central Pacific Ocean floor at 13,678 feet. The 1984 eruption flattened the large housing community of Leilani Estates, pictured below left, which has never recovered.
Lava sputtered and shook the ELT just before Christmas 2022.
International vulcanologists are closely watching current lava flows alongside neighbour Mauna Kea that simultaneously joined the lava lake concerto with a crater lake of its own at Kilauea’s Halema’uma’u. A fresh crater lake popped a few corks last week—a fine beginning to 2023.
Feline Connection? or Just Another Random Writerly Aphorism
People can suffer the tragic loss of pets, should fate dictate the awful circumstance of accidental fire to their home—happens all the time in the U.S. of A. This is particularly relevant right now in Western states, given the unusual weather conditions of recent months, where houses are usually made of wood. [Eastern U.S., much of Europe, Great Britain and Eire favour stone buildings—e.g. Marischal College’s Rubislaw granite, top].
It is a sad but well-established fact known to American fire-fighters that, even if homeowners are not out dining or visiting neighbors when the event happens, owners have difficulty finding and rounding up (particularly little) dogs within the depth of a blaze—without being overcome by smoke and toxic fumes—therefore having to get out themselves. This is because dogs run towards the burning inferno, bark—bark—barking at the intruder as if to guard their space; resulting in intoxication and death.
Cats hate noise, [fireworks] disturbance of their comfort zone [Mewgi in situ among his sweet peas on his personal trolley, pic above bottom l., and, as a kitten, pic top of page under Bast-et far right kitty].
In a smoke-filled situation, they’ve got a particularly feline/sneaky means of finding an exit—even through rubble, chaos, disorientation, toxic fumes.
They use it as quickly as possible to get out of that alien environment. Hence, they’re survivors.
Steven King‘s marvellous Pet Sematary pic l., 1983 [deliberate misspelling as felines aren’t quite as masterful as human scribes in the spellcheck department] draws on the underlying theme of accidental disturbance of an ancient Native American burial ground, causing untold havoc to owners of puss (‘Church’-how typical of S.K. is that name)-a doctor & his family who just moved into their new house in Ludlow, Maine.
Mayhem ensues.
Puss/Church survives, of course, but the doc & his family ?
S.K.’s 1983 feline masterpiece [book cover, l.], has been adapted as a movie, with the camera bringing extra blood & gore to the screen for theatergoers.
Afterword to the Word-Wise
I love survivors.
With apologies to my fellow creative scribblers, journalists, insecure IWSGers, NanNoWriMo-ers and all who put pen to paper in their spare moments, because a writer never has one of those, unless cooking, cleaning or something else domestic needs attention: like cat crunchie treat time.
I know you understand! I couldn’t do a First Wednesday Blog in my generally chaotic but sortof regular style for circumstances alluded to above. Hoping you’ll forgive me, cos you’re all so good at wot you do.
This one—out of synch, out of rhythm, but hopefully not out of whack—will have to do.
Peace. And, until the next round, as they say in the gentle tones of Hawai’ian, while waving a [heavily-Brit-colonial-influenced flag, above bottom right]: Hau’oli Makahiki Hou! Happy New Year.
Not certain if as a Brit ex-pat, currently living mid-Pacific, I should announce her death as a post- or ante-script to IWSG & First Wednesday, but a series of unprecedented events this week led me to miss this month’s deadline by 2 days {GMT-1 day PDT}.
SOCIAL MEDIA MEETS ITS MATCH—HACKERS WITH PRETEND MONEY WORMING THEIR WAY INTO PEOPLE’S HEARTS
FIRST WEDNESDAY BLOG—TIME FOR CREATIVE WRITERS, ARTISTS, MUSICIANS—INSECURE OR OTHERWISE—TO RISE OUT OF OUR DUSTY WRITING CAVERN INTO THE LIGHT OF DAY TO CHRONICLE/COMMENT ON HUMANITY’S SEPTEMBER FOLLIES—BEFORE THE FALL
Hack-Attack: new fearsome enemy on the home front that nobody thought would last
Human memory bank-especially in a child’s 1st, happy, protected, familiar territory with beloved toys, dollies, baby names-rulez!
"I'm gonna buy a paper doll that I can call my own / A doll that other fellas cannot steal / And then those flirty flirty guys / With their flirty flirty eyes / Will have to flirt with dollies that are real" John Mayer
As the Old World [double-entendre] gets demolished around us to make way for the New—below left Cahuenga cut-off where SoCA’s Hollywood “superhighway” (no longer exists) used to link northern end of San Fernando Valley Hwy with downtown Los Angeles Civic Center. Demolished too are downtown Alhambra district Japan and Chinatown, with loss of beloved restaurants like The Far East Café. Korean food trucks replace.
As fuel prices soar, superhighways aren’t getting the traffic. Windfarms and environmentalists rulez.
A ‘stay-at-home work-from-home’ preference shown by majority of employees during our enforced two-year isolation period—using video meetings instead—has begun to rub off on businesses around the globe, with outdoor walks, recreational gardening and a work-at-home-ethic becoming the norm. Remarkably, Saudi desert’s THE LINE, recreational ‘outdoor living’—a feature of old hippie times—is likely to catch on with the new wave—nouvelle vague—of iGen/Generation-Z of youngsters finding joy, pleasure and fulfillment in simple pursuits.
This shorthand version of ‘happiness’ is the wavelength accomplished hackers beam in on. But it’s the oldies—but goodies with a kindly trusting heart—who get spammed.
Decline… and Fall—Call Center Consciousness
There are many spaces between Earth and Heaven and in between are The Doors
misquote Wm.B.Yeats by Jim Morrison & The Doors
In the ‘Fifties when Baby Boomers were ‘in’, English-speaking nations commissioned call centers in Kenya, Ethiopia, Uganda, Pakistan using [cough] “English-speaking” local labour at a fraction of cost of a similar outfit at home in the West. They died pre-internet revolution, with onset of mobile phones, but seem to have raised their head again in this latest phone-related scandal.
In the ‘Sixties and ‘Seventies, nobody gave a thought to such strange remote telephone exchanges. An antiquated (but cheap) method of communication did survive the noughties’ boom. But now, surprise surprise, not only is the hacking empire privy to your personal information, but it has resuscitated the old call-center theme—this time in Nigeria, South Africa and Midlands England.
To a veteran ex-pat Brit with octogenarian comfort zone, a Manchester accent even in text—dahling—is a whole lot less intimidating than a voice on the line in broken accent telling you to hang up already.
The little lady from Manchester—so short of breath you can hear her gasping between texts—but so inner circle—in the know about it all—she has time and patience to chat (text)with an oldie—usually a safe bet as we Booomers & beyond less likely to baulk at bottom line when the money chat comes up.
iGens & Millennials are decidedly wary creatures; have little time for subjects that need a long-winded explanation. Often the shortest answer—no—can take Boomers and vintage grannies a very long time to unearth from their verbal repertoire. So they/we say yes instead and then wonder why our friendly social media accounts no longer belong to us.
Cleverly, the technique works in the hackers’ favour: soc.med. sites like Pinterest and Facebook aren’t equipped to handle breakdown. Restoring isn’t an option, either—your site no longer belongs to you. One has to start all over at the beginning; ask to join Insta, send a new photo—the newbie approach.
Meantime—every day since—my poor iPhone jumps and splutters, beeps and cajoles me from mine- no-longer Insta account telling me fifty-two messages from the hacker to all of my followers. Some of my followers still think it’s me. And until I have the strength to initiate a new account, I’m unable to correct that. Thankfully some (young, bright minds) figured it out & challenged the chat-monkey.
Monsieur Musk Plunges into Twitterdom
Most brilliant of all events, however, unfolding in this cyber-saga of crazies, and because I managed to (sortof) get my Twitter page up and running again, albeit with no files or explanation to friends: I asked Elon Musk to look into security risk and hacking potential of his new acquisition.
True to his image as Humanity’s Saviour, not only did the dear billionaire listen, actually read my text, give it some thought, respond! and follow up but my stats on that day hit the ceiling. Bless you M.Musk
Warning to oldies who get targeted: at first it feels friendly, ‘why not help her? I’m old, what harm can it do?’ Loads. Don’t mean losing friends. I mean losing one’s mind. Constant texting-even when I didn’t reply- sent me to cloud cuckoo-land. More below.
I believe in Musk. I believe he will actually make the change which wraps all this garbage up into a spaceball and flings it into orbit to join all the other spacejunk circling ever circling out there till it falls…
In 40% of hacking cases, the target is older, newcomer-friendly, artistic, feels socially responsible to help humanity and therefore, almost invariably will respond to the long-reaching arm of a complete stranger asking intimate personal questions with a view to “helping out”.
Generation Gap Plus Factor—More Oldie+Goodie Vibe
The older the target, the greater likelihood of receiving off-the-wall personal questions amicably. This sole fact of difference in age producing a different response on a thorny subject has been a miracle catalyst in the whole “false-coin” issue. Hackers already know who the best targets are: they’ve usually well beyond middle years. They’ve had their life. It’s okay to help another out, especially if they’re only just past the starting gate.
One pill makes you larger / And one pill makes you small / And the ones that Mother gave you / Don’t do anything at all Go ask Alice when she’s ten feet tall
And if you go chasing [White] Rabbits / And you know you’re gpin’ to fall ——— Tell them a hookah-smokin’ caterpillar / Has given you the call
When logic and proportion have fallen sloppy dead / And the White Knight is talking backwards / And the Red Queen’s lost her head / Remember what the dormouse said:
‘Advice from a Caterpillar’ from Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland by Lewis Carroll illustration by Arthur Rackham d. Sept. 6th 1867-1939 (71) via his dau. Mrs B. Edwards
‘Sixties: Biggest, Most, Best, Weirdest—all the Superlatives
Sample text (below right) received by new Insta ‘followers’, with emphasis on revealing your own pet project, so that #superfriendly lady hacker from Birmingham or Wolverhampton can encourage a ‘sale’
If you were assured a sum of 50 thousand [take your pick, Euro, Yen, Roubles], how would you spend the money?
New car
New house
Cruise liner vacation abroad
Help relatives
None of the above
I don’t want to achieve immortality through my work. I want to achieve immortality by not dying
Woody Allen
Music holds the space as underlying influence in all 20thC generations. The earlier the group, the more likely are they to be controlled by addiction of choice. Twenties and Thirties: booze, including illegal venues. Forties: war-restricted, but booze and cigarettes. Fifties & early ‘Sixties: heroin, cocaine, opium. Late ‘Sixties: everything including hard drugs, heroin, cocaine, synthetic and natural coca, ayahuasca, methamphetamine, opiate morphine, lysergic acid diethylamide (LSD) & recreational ganja.
Closing the StarGate: Full Harvest Moon ends Twin Flame Month
So what do the ‘Sixties and 21stC 2022 Full Harvest Moon post-8/8-Lionsgate Twin-Flame month have in common?
For several generations of moviegoers/big screen watchers, film production invariably features as a growing-up medium. Less so is the attitude of Millennials, 16-year old Gen-Zs and 20-year old iGens to anything that smacks of Media, television news, man-made hype. They are, as a rule, only interested in one person aka self.
This generational trait surfaces in art, film, media presence, social interaction, text and creative identity.
For us (Insecure) Creative types, writing fills the gap between empty memory Muse-infused hippie cabin in Redwood country and 21st Century internet wobble from a system of bots who will control our cyber-future.
Stargates are familiar. We’ve all been here before. As all the best ‘Fifties & ‘Sixties beat generation know, Reggae and Boyband Dance Moves are just playful repeats of an age-old message. This one’s REALLY the last time round, this time. Maya gate-keepers confirm.
p.s. Rainstorms over Pacific and gates of Balmoral; yet HM managed to hold an audience with new Tory PM Liz Truss to form a goverment, before she died Weds/early Thurs—like her daddy Geo.VI— in her sleep. Royal Family members William, Charlotte & George had flown north from Norfolk to Ballater and Balmoral on Monday, to be by her side as she rested on advice of doctors. She asked Tory appointee Liz Truss in her official capacity as Monarch to form a government Tuesday. Died peacefully in early hours of Wednesday a.m.
Ticking all the boxes, Your Majesty. Stay cool, Ma’am. We love you.
Like Her Majesty, tapping her riding crop with an impatient dig at the Almighty B4 the Pearly Gates: Open the Door brother: Immortality here we come.
NEW ‘ROARING TWENTIES’ GENERATIONS Breathe Life into Past from a Futurist Perspective—Create Multi-linguistic Multiculture
FIRST (WRITING) WEDNESDAY OF NEW YEAR NEW DECADE-EMERGENCE FROM (INSECURE) SCRIBE CAVE OPTIONAL
New Multi-linguistix Multiculture Shares Subconscious Synchronicities with Fans
Throughout our human past, future generations were traditionally the ones we ‘prepared the way for’, ‘made allowances for, (Boomers) ‘scrimped and saved for’ (pre-WWII) ‘did without so they could have… Several decades down the line, WWII is a distant memory for Oldies; an historical event for Millennials, iGens, GenZs. Yet, there’s full complement of #NewTweenties totally unaware of its political influence in Vintage-gen lives.
Internationally, from a social-media-altered perspective—fueled by two years’ isolation, health concerns and personal angst—the internet has developed/become a huge market for media, news, entertainment and (crucially) under-age teens’ ‘stuff’—ENHYPEN’s seven-crew member dance moves troupe, above, an ‘influencer’ group that skyrocketed to stardom over last twenty months.
Be Prepared
Be prepared!
One of many new groups surfacing through a (suppressed) creative interlude during world isolation, Korean-born Enhypen speak Korean, Japanese, Taiwanese and English. Their age range is from 16-20.
If you’re a Baby Boomer, you’ll recall the Beatles started playing in Liverpool as teenagers. (Sir) Ringo Starr is Richard Starkey, and Macca is short for Paul McCartney—technically pre-Boom (b.1940) oldies. Both still perform.
If you’re a Baby Boomer, you’ll recall the Beatles started in a local Liverpool skiffle group as teenagers, 1963. Boomer British nicknames were all the rage then: Sir Ringo Starr (rt.) is Richard Starkey; performing with Macca (l.) Paul McCartney in 2019
Tweenties Stage a Visual Revolution in 2022
With medical resources and technology being shared globally in the current situation, culture and language barriers seem to melt: Native American knowledge revealed, Asian multilanguage interchange commonplace. Differences in generations, too, have a chance to cross (former) boundaries.
In this peripatetic iPhone world, communication by visuals rather than text becomes the norm—sacred realm of Social Media kings/queens familiar to iGens, Tweens and some six-year olds.
While Boomers (and even pre-Boomer Vintage pros) may deign to tweet occasionally (biz, professional, sports, less personal, more oldie), hardcore iGens have Twitter accounts. They also dabble in TikTok, Pinterest, Instagram and possibly also have a YouTube account to show their wares, e.g. artwork, meme graphics, cartoon and classic video art, movies, travel selfies and, most recently, drone footage from the world’s classic locations, never-before seen elevations of ancient strongholds from an angel’s view.
“When the Condor of the South flies together with the Eagle of the North, the spirit of Mother Earth—Pacha Mama—will awaken. Then She will wake millions of her children. This will be the Resurrection of the Dead.” Quechua Inca Prophecy
Baby Condorreintroduction Klamath, CA
Prehistoric Landscape Remembered in Folklore Tradition
Newbie selfies are an attempt by tweens to join a venerable bunch of (#Vintage) bloggers like me—tapping out keys since 2009—described in psychiatric terms as ‘essential journaling accessories’ in maintaining mental health, by Columbia University neuropsychologist Sanam Hafeez. Also adequate sleep and ‘happy-feel’ activities, particularly outdoors, promote serotonin which produces calm within.
Focus has turned on Mother Nature. Renewed commitment is high priority in Cairngorms to ‘save the Earth’, rewilding and restoring former natural pine, hazel and birch forest lost over centuries of careless husbandry. Scotland in particular has lost 90% of its former ‘wild’ Caledonian Forest—plus rainforest— c.f.Pacific redwood old growth stands sprouting 1000-year-old pine needles; rowans as old as Perth’s Fortingall yew; casualty of the Clearances: guilt added to landowner anxiety=restore, replant, rewild.
Some ancestral memory still exists from that distant time when Scotland’s Highlands, Islands and (even) Lowlands were covered in thick ancient pines (Pinus sylvatica) supporting rich arboreal/fungal understorey. Even before the Herschip o’ Buchan, 1308 burn by Bruce, when people remembered trees burning for 30 years, some isolated villages remain where ancient tree spirits are celebrated and given gifts, respect—offerings in pagan tradition.
Glen Lyon, the longest completely enclosed mountain loch in Perthshire, source of the River Tay, is held sacred by local (prefer anonymity) guardians of the Cailleach(Old Woman) and Bodach(Old Man) stone altars, especially through winter until released to grow wild again on February 2nd, ancient Candlemas.
The Old Woman—Cailleach—original creator deity of Caledonia—Roman North Britain—was celebrated in the Western and Northern Isles (now treeless and devoid of any growing medium but sheep, grouse and heather moor) as an entity disguised as a raincloud (prehistoric rainforest—are rewilders ready for extra rainfall that goes with it?) who flew in anger, dropping lightning bolts into forest canopy, starting forest fires. Shades of Pacific NW forest fires where trees burn for square miles in summer, impervious to H20.
Difficult to imagine the Old Woman gathering her skirts to set the Cairngorms alight—only heather. But time will tell.
Rewilding aka Allowing Nature to Do What She Does Best: Growth
Despite political shenanigans surrounding land ownership, traditional (post Highland Clearances) moor management (burning heather, shooting grouse), some landowners allow access to this treeless land in an attempt to encourage interest in new tree-grow projects. Scotland’s Right-to-Roam Act complicates matters in giving an impression that hiking is legal everywhere—more signs get erected in an attempt to clarify who is allowed where.
Meanwhile back in Rainforest Alley aka Underground Word & Verbage Cavern camouflaged as Writing Cave Subterranean Style, we (insecure) writers have a Plan. Plant More Trees; write more stories; keep the Door (to the Future) Open. You never know who may walk right in.
700 Years since Wallace, Wars of Independence, & ‘Hammer of the Scots’
WRITTEN HISTORY or CULTURAL FOLK MEMORY—MONTHLY MISSIVE fromour INSECUREWRITERS‘ CAVE
‘Wallace Guardian of Scotland was a tall man with the body of a giant lengthy flanks broad in the hips, strong arms and legs with all his limbs very firm. He had the gift of speech and kindness’ —Walter Bower Scotichronicon
Wallace statue Aberdeen “So lang’s this stane stands on this craft The name of Keith shall be held alaft’ But when this stane begins t’ fa’ The name of Keith shall wear awa’” Inverugie Castle, Banffshire
“As long’s there’s an eagle in Pennan There will be a Baird in Auchmedden”*
Thomas the Rhymer
*Baird was a Keith family name–hereditary Earls Marischal and Master of the King’s Horse. In historical records of the House, a pair of eagles built their nest in the cliffs near the village of Pennan and the Bairds protected them with the greatest care and fed them by placing daily on a ledge of rock near their eyrie food and tidbits. Willam Baird joined ‘Bonnie’ Prince Charlie as an officer of his bodyguard at Culloden. He continued in hiding for some years after and then lived the remainder of his life at Echt House (central Aberdeenshire) where he died in 1777. Auchmedden was not confiscated, but Mr Baird had to sell it in 1750 to relieve debt contracted in support of the Stuarts. When it was bought by Earl of Aberdeen in that year, the eagles left.
400 years before that time of the Old and Young Pretenders (Stuarts), Scotland needed its nobles to stand together. Their Declaration of Arbroath, 1320, was still a pipedream. The action was around Stirling Castle on the River Forth.
Wars of Independence and the ‘Hammer of the Scots’
HISTORY REVEALS REGIONAL LOYALTY SPLIT BETWEEN NE-SW WAS BRUCE’S ACE CARD
After the death of the infant queen Margaret Maid of Norway, Scotland was without a monarch—technically an interregnum. King Edward I of England negotiated to choose a successor from several claimant Guardians of Scotland—Wallace, Comyn, Moray, Balliol—he chose John Balliol. Crowned on St.Andrew’s Day 1292 at Scone—atop the Stone of Destiny—Balliol ‘ruled as Toom Tabard’ (empty cloak, i.e. no substance to his leadership) for all of four years, i.e. until King Edward decided to invade Scotland 1296. Balliol (founder of college Oxon) was arrested, but survived, and died in exile 1314.
Galvanized by 1296 shock tactic, but flying independent banners, Scots nobility from Annandale to Badenoch, the Black Isle to Galloway grouped their forces and, with newfound zeal under Guardian William Wallace, with Andrew, Mormaer of Moray in tow, fought in the world-changing historic Battle of Stirling Bridge, September 1297. And won.
Balliol’s lineage had been important in the search for an heir to the Crown of Scotland: Norman French paternally from King David I (Huntingdon); impeccable matrilinear descent thru Pictish-Celtic princess Devorguilla. John ‘Red’ Comyn, Mormaer (Earl) of Buchan was last of Pictish line on his mother’s side, owned lands of Badenoch, Banff, Strathspey, and Buchan with fortresses, rich hunting forests, cathedrals and strong fishing grounds linking ancient maritime North Sea and Baltic routes.
Braveheart Scenario Masks Murder at the Altar
‘When Dee and Don shall run as one And Tweed shall run with Tay The Bonnie Waters o’ the Urie Shall bear the Bass away.’
‘Papist’ Bourtie-ancient Bowirdin-a Battlefield
Sometime between 1170-1199, Barra-Bourtie landowner Sir Wm. de Lamberton granted an endowment charter on personal lands on his estate in favour of the Priory of St.Andrews at Kilrymounth, mid pic below. Rich endowment was added to by subsequent heirs, confirmed in 1202-06 with added acreage given; confirmed Pope Innocent III 1206, Pope Innocent IV & King Alexander 1248.
Radulf, Bishop of Aberdeen added further ‘two pleughs’ or ploughgates:100 Scots acres to kirklands between 1248-68. Effigies of medieval knight and his lady (head sever recent) probably grave of de Lamberton although tradition claims affiliate of Bruce, Thomas de Longueville, who died at 1308 Battle of Barra, in valley below kirk.
As soon as the king (Balliol) was arrested and escorted into England, all knightly valour and honour were put aside and allegiances changed overnight. Wallace (SW) and Moray (NE) combined forces and their military strength took English-occupied Stirling Castle troops by surprise. Battle of Stirling Bridge, 1297, below l. Bower’s Scotichronicon
Edward abandoned his French invasion, prepared to attack— Falkirk July 22, 1298. As at the Bridge the previous year, English numbered more than the Scots, so Wallace created defensive strategy. Pikemen of Scots foot soldiers formed schiltrons—below—circular positions where the soldiers’ 12-foot spears were turned outwards, positioned at an angle as a tactic against cavalry charges. The schiltron wounded horses’ flanks, yet protected archers ranged behind them. It was near impenetrable.
Unfortunately, it was no match for the English longbow.
Example of the schiltron, deadly against cavalry attacks.
Wallace had used local familiarity with the River Forth estuary and its winding pockets around Stirling Bridge to confound the English, capture and kill Edward’s highest officers. His schiltrons worked. Cavalry collapsed in mud.
One year later, similar numbers, but wide open locale + added reach of Edward’s longbowmen. Scots slaughtered.
To make matters worse, Edward ‘Hammer of the Scots’ confiscated Scone’s sacred Stone of Destiny, took it by wagon to London installed it in Westminster Abbey—where it remained until returned to Scotland 1950.
Thirty Years of Burning Forests Embedded in Folk Memory
Caledonian Pine Forests Burn from Castle Country to North Sea Shore
Aberdeenshire royal forests were extensive. From Midstocket, Hazelhead, Foresterhill, Pitfodels within city limits, they extended to ancient Caledonian hunting groves under protection of local landowner-lairds like Irvines of Drum, Innes of Learney, Crathes, Birse, Forbes of Newe, Strathdon, Kildrummy (Earl of Mar), Corgarff & Huntly (Gordons) aligned with original (Roman and native) paved and unpaved drove roads to north (Moray) and south (Perthshire, rt above Dupplin), when Scone was capital (Alexander I); later Stirling on River Forth (Wallace and Bruce); currently Edinburgh. Stone of Destiny now resides in Edinburgh Castle when not needed in Westminster to crown a monarch.
From earliest annexe of the Pictish kingdom (above left Forres, ‘Sueno’s Stone’ said to show McAlpin takeover of Pictish ‘kingdom of Alba’ AD843), Scots coveted the wealth of hinterland streams and Buchan’s deep forests from mountain to coastal plain. Rich landholdings afforded longstanding family protection by the laird to all his people—the origin of ‘clan’; housing, smallholding crofts and fishing bothies guaranteed survival even through worst times.
Guardian of Scotland, William Wallace kindled allegiances easily, had huge support unlike his peers, and Edward knew he had to go. The English king offered a truce, but demanded he swear fealty. Wallace refused. Sometime between 1298 and 1305 he left Scotland for France, where Edward was persona non grata. Betrayed by pro-English Sir John Menteith on his return, he was arrested August 5th, 1305, taken to London and condemned as a traitor. Three weeks later, August 23rd, he was executed in Smithfield (current meat market) his body hanged, drawn and quartered, each part sent in packages to remote regions of Scotland.
Two years later it was Robert the Bruce who prepared to die.
Sharing Guardianship of Scotland with arch rival John ‘Red’ Comyn had ended in Brus stabbing Comyn to death—with a concealed dirk before the high altar in Greyfriars Church, Dumfries. Pope excommunicated Brus. Wounded, he proclaimed himself king in 1306. Yet defeat followed defeat, his former army fled, and the sick monarch spent three winter months 1307 hidden in a makeshift shelter near Slioch ‘in the Kingdom of the Garioch’ pron. Gee-ree. Overwintering in a cave, gravely ill, without support of the army, the Brus believed he was going to die.
While westcoasters may argue location, the river-worn cave on the Don’s south bank outside Inverurie (former Slioch estate—RtheB ally) is the spider cave of legend, taught to children for another five centuries as rôle model of Scots perseverence and fortitude.
Bruce has Change of Heart, Burns his Way North—Herschip o’ Buchan
What greeted the (sick and ailing, aka disbelieving) self-crowned king of Scots on awakening early May 23, 1308 from his Slioch hideout cave in Inverurie, was surprise arrival of troops in support of his claim to Comyn lands in Buchan and Banffshire. After a brief skirmish on the fields East of Barra Castle (the battle), local Seton, Strachan and de Lamberton lairds scattered; Comyn retreated to the safety of Fyvie Castle.
It was the last straw. The Bruce army proceeded North, burning everything in its path.
While history records the cataclysmic loss of hunting forest, stream pollution and laying waste of productive arable acreage, it fails to mention Bruce’s act as a criminal, personal vendetta to destroy the offspring of his last rival—Black & Red Comyn Earls of Buchan and Badenoch—murdered in Greyfriars Church, Dumfries, 1306. By torching lands of neighbouring lairds—Herschip o’Buchan fires visible all day, all night for thirty years—he ensured no further rival claims for his kingship. He rendered the Buchan-Aberdeenshire triangle (half size of Switzerland) a scorched desert, impoverished, disconnected, with desecrated wells and dead cattle everywhere.
Imagine NoCal forest wildfires with no fire brigade to dowse flames—no end to roaring crackling through the night.
Bannockburn, 1314 came as a reward for his perseverance: milestone schiltron vs. longbow battle outside Stirling Castle, occupied by English, whom he routed. It was touted as his pinnacle. Or swan song.
Six years later, his Buchan legacy still flaming in public view, Comyn, Keith, Fife, Mar and Forbes abstaining, the fame was all Bruce’s. It was shortlived. Edward II followed what the Hammer of the Scots had begun. Brus’ reign j[1306-1329] survived English domination; his nobles acquiesced—their collective signatures at Arbroath appealing to Rome for support. He even negotiated a truce with England, 1328. He died in his bed (in palatial surroundings, nevertheless: Cardross palace Dumbarton) June 7, 1329 aged 55. Not bad for an excommunicated felon.
Scottish wildcat's endangered habitat may be restored
Caledonian forest regeneration by private individuals and charitable groups brings back hope for endangered species: wildcat, speedwell
Think Like a Mountain Breathe Like an Ocean
Charity Trees for Life, Scotland: The Big Picture, and a phalanx of individual tree-planting/reforestation groups and landowners throughout Moray, Invernessshire, Aberdeenshire and the Mearns have found hope for a return to ancient habitat for Scotland’s (rare) red squirrel, (threatened) pine marten and (endangered) wildcat.
They join similar earth-and ocean-friendly associations of privately-funded and charitable umbrella organizations who, during a year of renewed growth and natural regeneration of wild spaces (without humans), have chosen EarthFirst contra pollution-growth-waste. We writerly types (insecure, successful or wannabe) applaud the move; would encourage personal plantings—begonia, thyme and catmint do well in cave-dweller LED lighting. Spider-friendly.
And Nature is good for us—thinking like a Mountain even better. Our Muse (privately) told us so.
Onward and upward. Happy height of summer. Look out Lammas—here we come.
NAMES AND NAME-CALLING—A GENERATIONAL GIVEAWAY
Attempt at Humor in Monthly Writerly Cave, When All Around Are Losing Theirs…
Lavendar’s blue, dilly dilly
Lavendar’s green
When you are King, dilly dilly
I shall be Queen
Don’t Despair—Humor Crosses All Borders
Roland, der Riese am Rathaus zu Bremen… North German iconic past
Traditional girls’ and boys’ names seem to be in disfavor at the mo—both with Millennials and with their offspring—iGens. Who these days would name their child Guinevere (Wessex-Saxon), Marian (Anglian Northumbrian), Marjory (last Pictish countess of Buchan), Eric (Viking), Roland or Norbert (Norddeutsch, with appropriate refined accent)? Or even Eve or Luke (multi-purpose Biblical)? unless to commemorate a generational icon within the family.
Roland, der Riese, am Rathaus zu Bremen
Stand er ein Standbilt, standhaft und stark*
North German medieval icon in Bremen marketplace, used to teach ‘correct’ purist pronunciation in Hansestadt accent
Saturn Return (30) and Uranus (86) Cycle
Experiencing the joy of knowing a friend from Old School times—he’s on his third Saturn Return while I am delicately navigating the waters towards my Uranian first; it occurs to me that iGens and their offspriing (yes, it’s happening) may be missing a huge opportunity, nay, treasure trove of centuries, in calling themselves Lavendar or Thyme (‘Sixties and ‘Seventies cool); Bron, Zion or Dwayne (‘Eighties/Nineties) or (Noughties) Star, Elf, Lake.
I met a man the other evening calling himself Vivid. As a token Boomer, I am now almost totally deaf; so I heard him call himself Ribbit. Like the frog, I thought; and enjoyed repeating it a couple times, until a sensitive friend gently corrected me. Guess if you are Vivid, all the world must look bright to you—or at least rainbow-hued. I kept the Ribbit joke to myself.
In 1969, when the Hippie Generation resolved to have only one child—or fewer—world population was 3.6 billion souls. In 2020 we have reached a staggering 7.8 billion. I register astonishment that we have doubled in my lifetime; but wonder how Mother Earth can sustain. [Coronavirus and Gay/Lesbian marriages notwithstanding, perhaps we have some responsibility to curb our enthusiasm for progeny]. Imho.
Days of Week, Months show Opposing Ancient Traditions
Brigantian bronze mirror, AD600-900, found 2019 in elite grave Birdlip, Glos. Brittonic-Pictish women made all tribal and lineage decisions
If Roman names were still with us, we might name a child Mars, Venus or Cupid. Where English and German went Viking/Saxon, weekdays in France still recall Roman gods. Lundi is Monday/Montag for the Moon, jeudi for Jupiter; where in the Saxon world, Thursday/Donnerstag god Thor (thunder) is in charge, with Freya, Norse goddess of Love and wife of Odin, giving her name to Friday/Freitag. The French venerate the same goddess but with a Roman name: Venus = vendredi. Saturday, Sunday and Monday align both calendars: Saturn-day, Samstag; Sonntag for the Sun; Montag for the Moon.
Name-calling Reaches New Heights
I laughed a little when I first heard that for iGens, Stoopid is considered almost the worst epithet you could use. For us Star Trek generation, it’s like using the F-word continuously, or Mr Spock’s version of a ‘Colorful Metaphor’. I don’t get it. There are some doozies out there—Oxford dictionary, Wikipedia, take your pick—and yet that’s all they can come up with? Nothing personal, but poor show, Drama-ah, Lagoon and Racie: your expletives seem lame.
I’m not complaining. My fellow writers’-cave IWSGers probably agree the English language is a source of untold wealth, maintaining an open door—through time, culture and imagination—to whatever the next generation devises.
What we may be seeing is the cultural influence of Smartphones and, with instant messaging, a dwindling of tradition in the written word.
I hope I’m wrong.
Language has so much to offer—it influences a whole half hemisphere of our brain. Without it, the human race rushes towards what? A bunch of Lefties with Right-hemisphere conceptual retention and overloaded emotion without words?
All this—and what currently serves as World News—may make us Bring on the Budgerigar, top, or any current fave instant laughter-producing image. My fellow generational writing stalwarts*, like Space Capt. Alex, will empathize if I quietly hum the 1948 Woody Woodpecker Song.
*Just happens stalwart is North German standhaft 😉
Spoken so initial ‘s’ is pronounced pure ‘s’, not (lower German)’sch’ Translation:
Roland, the Giant, at the Town Hall in Bremen
There he stands, a statue, stalwart and strong.
SPLASH OF LIGHT ON LONG WINTER NIGHTS—COMET JOINS FESTIVE SHOW in December Skies
Winter CatchUp Corner for IWSGers, NaNoWriMos and All Writers
Comet 2I/Borisov, discovered by amateur Crimean astronomer in October, is being monitored by Hubble Space Telescope as it flits through the solar system
Firstly, most important—and also because we writers are an insecure lot—I want to say ‘well done’ to all writers, great and small, of any age and persuasion, insecure or self-assured, who completed their NaNoWriMo W.I.P., and who may now be editing! their next world-famous novel.
Next: how do we WRITERS intend to face the world through the winter, after keeping ourselves hidden from political mayhem on all continents, down in the dungeons and self-imposed depths of computer/typewriterdom?
Voilà, Comet Borisov to the rescue.
Comet for Christmas—Southern Hemisphere Style Comet 2I Borisov is interstellar. Not one of our own Oort Cloud near-solar system (domestic) comets that take a quick dip around the sun—perihelion—and back home to the Cloud. Borisov has more hyperbolic ‘orbit’, merely grazing our solar system, scheduled for its closest solar approach in one week’s time—December 7-8th, 2019—a mere couple of AUs* distant, roughly on the inner edge of the Asteroid Belt, between the orbits of Jupiter and Mars. Its closest approach to the Earth—perigee—is 29th/30 December at a safe distance of around 2AU, just in time for Earth New Year. Sadly then only visible in Southern ocean skies.
*Astronomical unit (AU): unit of length used in astronomy equal to the mean distance of the Earth from the Sun—or about 93 million miles (150 million kilometers).
Crop Circle predictions, summer 2019 leading to December sky dynamics, graphic by Jonas Passos
“A comet with a parabolic trajectory (with an eccentricity of 1) would leave the Solar System in the direction it entered, having had its path altered by 180°. 2I/Borisov, with its higher eccentricity, has a more open trajectory and will have its path altered by only 34° as it passes through the Solar System” Gennady Borisov, comet discoverer, Black Sea.
Borisov entered the Solar System in October from the direction of Cassiopeia, near its border with Perseus. This direction indicates that it originates from the galactic plane, rather than from the (nearby) galactic halo. It will leave the Solar System in the direction of Telescopium, southern hemisphere’s Telescope constellation. In interstellar space, 2I/Borisov takes roughly 9000 years to travel one light-year, relative to our Sun.
Tree-felling in the Christian Tradition
How does this fit in with our OTT fixation on Christmas Trees? I hear you ask.
Don’t get me started on the Victorian encapsulated tradition of Tannenbaum in the English-speaking world. British Royals do it; Slavs & Lats do it; Niggas in their boats upon the Flats do it. Let’s kill another conifer for Christmas. With apologies to Cole Porter.
Oops. Just slipped out.
It’s the tree-planter in me waving an olive branch. Eventually, I hope, our 200-year-old heavily Germanic ritual of felling and decorating a live conifer for (Saxe-Coburg-Gotha) Christmas Eve festival of light may be replaced by fairy light branchlets and garden strewn sparklers. But that’s a future possible. Not an immediate likelihood. December is fairy light time, virtual or actual, worldwide.
Same old, same old: Laysan Albatross Wisdom, and her partner, sitting on the same old nest again this year, Midway Island Refuge
Thus we enter the Season of Goodwill and Peace to all Men, women, children, dogs, cats, wolves, whales and albatrosses.
I need to bring in my friend Wisdom from the Midway Island Pelagian Wildlife Refuge. She and her 64-year old mate have just flown half-way across the Pacific to return to their nest. Both veteran Laysan birds come zooming in—with their 12-foot wingspan and impressive haunting call, tidying up, preparing and then sitting on their nest for another year. It’s like two giant desks perched on top of a pillar of guano, their magnificent wings tucked in for comfort and warmth.
They already have one egg they’re taking turns hatching. Albatross monogamy is supreme in birds—64 years is a long time to be together.
Thanks for an inspiration to all of us to be faithful and true to our (writerly) selves and keep on keeping on.
And if you still have energy and can’t wait to write, there’s the IWSG December W.E.P.Challenge—Write, Edit, Publish in 1000 words—and the theme is Footprints.
Footprints in the sand…Footprints in the snow—they don’t have to be human—alien, monster, unknown creatures all in 1000 words. Details here.
Lots of writers use a nom de plume to distinguish between their personae – it’s the way publishing works. Blogs, too. What choice, what abundance: we can be guided by all our Muses and still retain our integrity (who doubts it?)if we are prone to take one persona more seriously than another. For this blog I become this particular blogger because the material is time-sensitive; the research is all coming together now and our way forward is mapped. That said, it’s up to us whether we take the information and run with it.
“So lang’s this stane stands on this craft
The Stellar Perspective
Youngblood Blog 