Sunday, March 28, 2010
The Lord of the Rings
Three Rings for the Elven-Kings under the sky
Seven for the Dwarf-lords in their halls of stone
Nine for Mortal Men doomed to die
One for the Dark Lord on his dark throne
In the Land of Mordor where the Shadows lie
One Ring to rule them all
One ring to find them
One Ring to bring them all
And in the darkness bind them
In the Land of Mordor where the Shadows lie.
-J.R.R. Tolkien
Three Rings for the Elven-Kings under the sky
Seven for the Dwarf-lords in their halls of stone
Nine for Mortal Men doomed to die
One for the Dark Lord on his dark throne
In the Land of Mordor where the Shadows lie
One Ring to rule them all
One ring to find them
One Ring to bring them all
And in the darkness bind them
In the Land of Mordor where the Shadows lie.
-J.R.R. Tolkien
Friday, March 26, 2010
Tonight the sky has been a grey companion painted with impressionist clouds brooding like smoke-grey mountains that float but hang stationary in the air. I remember thinking that they looked as though someone with the greatest skill had taken a brush and water coloured them in.
The world always draws to dusk, light to rescind until horizons blur, until; I can no longer tell where vapour mountains end and the earth begin. In this visceral mode of thought I become part of another world and as I peer up at the heavens like some ignorant and yet at the same time appear to be looking downward upon a land of valleys and hills backlit by the remnants of the dying rays of the days sun.
Perhaps I am betwixt heaven and earth in this spot and I imagine the future free of physicality. To be ethereal and swift, flitting across sky and land; to have one foot on Earth and the other upon destiny. I shall continue to take joy in every sunset, every cloud and every sky. For like the skies no two days are alike and yet each one is full of the most beautiful possibilities
The world always draws to dusk, light to rescind until horizons blur, until; I can no longer tell where vapour mountains end and the earth begin. In this visceral mode of thought I become part of another world and as I peer up at the heavens like some ignorant and yet at the same time appear to be looking downward upon a land of valleys and hills backlit by the remnants of the dying rays of the days sun.
Perhaps I am betwixt heaven and earth in this spot and I imagine the future free of physicality. To be ethereal and swift, flitting across sky and land; to have one foot on Earth and the other upon destiny. I shall continue to take joy in every sunset, every cloud and every sky. For like the skies no two days are alike and yet each one is full of the most beautiful possibilities
Wednesday, March 24, 2010
So I have learnt that it is probably impossible to seam together different days into a tapestry that cannot be rent. Opposing warps and wefts unwind and thread in the opposite direction and patterns in the fabric blur into a haze of unusual shades. It rains, it shines but ever the fabric grows and stretches until we are all enveloped in the cloth of spring.
Sun shines, the moon reflects
The wind ends,spring interjects
A play is staged, a story told
Encore for warmth, boos for cold
Sun shines, the moon reflects
The wind ends,spring interjects
A play is staged, a story told
Encore for warmth, boos for cold
Tuesday, March 23, 2010
Tuesday 23rd Mar 2010
We had a beautiful sunset last night and I did mean to write about it but got waylaid with altering a picture of the sunset to see if I could improve it...you can judge for yourself below. What the eye sees is not what the camera sees. Cameras seem to capture an image as though you were stood half a mile further back and the colours never seem quite as vivid as those seen by the eye. Probably the closest one comes to capturing the moment are transparencies (slides) and I think that is simply because the field of sight is so large. Rather like going to the cinema to watch a movie and then watching it on a small TV at home. I wonder what a digital projector would be like. Good I think, but to get a high quality one would probably be expensive.
I think we have rain and sunshine for most of the week. I didn’t get much of anything done at the weekend so hopefully we might get a couple of dry evenings up in Robbie’s garden. Oh yes, I think he owns it now! Last night in the garden the frogs were croaking away in the dusk, but fell ever so silent as a large heron flew overhead. How can they know that?
We had a beautiful sunset last night and I did mean to write about it but got waylaid with altering a picture of the sunset to see if I could improve it...you can judge for yourself below. What the eye sees is not what the camera sees. Cameras seem to capture an image as though you were stood half a mile further back and the colours never seem quite as vivid as those seen by the eye. Probably the closest one comes to capturing the moment are transparencies (slides) and I think that is simply because the field of sight is so large. Rather like going to the cinema to watch a movie and then watching it on a small TV at home. I wonder what a digital projector would be like. Good I think, but to get a high quality one would probably be expensive.
I think we have rain and sunshine for most of the week. I didn’t get much of anything done at the weekend so hopefully we might get a couple of dry evenings up in Robbie’s garden. Oh yes, I think he owns it now! Last night in the garden the frogs were croaking away in the dusk, but fell ever so silent as a large heron flew overhead. How can they know that?
From 2001(March 21st)
It has been frosty again but it doesn’t look as heavy as yesterday but poor frogs shall be getting quite frustrated soon. They can’t make love in a frozen pond. But the weather will turn and tomorrow sees the change of days as daylight equals the dark and thereafter increases till mid-June.
18th Mar 2010
I had a walk to the garden last night to check for frog activity and in the newly cleaned pond there was a small raft of spawn. Soon though there will be lots more. It is a great sight. You know these northern frogs…just like the people always surprising. Hey, but worth waiting for. I just checked my diary for 2001 and they are a little earlier this year by 3 days…I’ll take that as a good sign for now. It actually seems as though it is a little warmer. There has been no frost upon the ground for some days now and it should be even warmer by the weekend.
I love you more than the clouds in the sky that are sweeping in from the west on stormy wings to block out the sun’s warming rays. If the frost ever binds the snow to the world again, we shall enjoy it together warm by the fire. But do not pray for snow before the end of March!
It has been frosty again but it doesn’t look as heavy as yesterday but poor frogs shall be getting quite frustrated soon. They can’t make love in a frozen pond. But the weather will turn and tomorrow sees the change of days as daylight equals the dark and thereafter increases till mid-June.
18th Mar 2010
I had a walk to the garden last night to check for frog activity and in the newly cleaned pond there was a small raft of spawn. Soon though there will be lots more. It is a great sight. You know these northern frogs…just like the people always surprising. Hey, but worth waiting for. I just checked my diary for 2001 and they are a little earlier this year by 3 days…I’ll take that as a good sign for now. It actually seems as though it is a little warmer. There has been no frost upon the ground for some days now and it should be even warmer by the weekend.
I love you more than the clouds in the sky that are sweeping in from the west on stormy wings to block out the sun’s warming rays. If the frost ever binds the snow to the world again, we shall enjoy it together warm by the fire. But do not pray for snow before the end of March!
16th march 2010
It’s funny how the seasons change some years. For the last few years they have blurred and presented us with long spells of soulless grey skies that never stopped raining. The line between the winter and the spring this year though appears to have been sharply drawn. The cold, dark and very icy nights have given way to mild, sunny days that are lasting longer each day.
It’s5.30am and already I can hear the birds singing and the first tinges of light escape from behind the eastern hills in the distance. At this time of the year we step from night into day and everything begins to return and be visible again.
I think I’ve done enough tree trimming (read mutilation here,) the pond has been cleaned with Nick at the weekend and generally the garden has come through the winter reasonably well although there are definitely some casualties present. I’ll see what happens, as often with apparently dead plants life will not be denied and they burst into growth again. Think I might give up on the olive tree though...a hope too far I think! Time to turn in some thought now as to what to grow.
Robbie is pretty good most of the time and generally, very patient and quite a quiet dog really. He’s into that everything must pass the mouth test stage, (and I do mean everything within reach of his jaws.) As long as he keeps away from the 240v wires he should be ok, or I’ll wake up to a westie version of Elsa Lanchester one morning.
It’s funny how the seasons change some years. For the last few years they have blurred and presented us with long spells of soulless grey skies that never stopped raining. The line between the winter and the spring this year though appears to have been sharply drawn. The cold, dark and very icy nights have given way to mild, sunny days that are lasting longer each day.
It’s5.30am and already I can hear the birds singing and the first tinges of light escape from behind the eastern hills in the distance. At this time of the year we step from night into day and everything begins to return and be visible again.
I think I’ve done enough tree trimming (read mutilation here,) the pond has been cleaned with Nick at the weekend and generally the garden has come through the winter reasonably well although there are definitely some casualties present. I’ll see what happens, as often with apparently dead plants life will not be denied and they burst into growth again. Think I might give up on the olive tree though...a hope too far I think! Time to turn in some thought now as to what to grow.
Robbie is pretty good most of the time and generally, very patient and quite a quiet dog really. He’s into that everything must pass the mouth test stage, (and I do mean everything within reach of his jaws.) As long as he keeps away from the 240v wires he should be ok, or I’ll wake up to a westie version of Elsa Lanchester one morning.
Monday, March 15, 2010
Hadrian's Wall is taking centre stage this evening to commemorate the 1600th anniversary of the ending of Roman rule.
More than 1,000 volunteers are helping to set Britain's longest historic monument alight for a one-night only event. There will be 500 individual points of light, at roughly 250-metre intervals, along the route of the 84-mile Hadrian's Wall Path National Trail. The lighting up ceremony will begin at Segedunum Roman Fort at Wallsend with the first of the lights appearing just before 6pm. The line of light will then begin its journey westwards.
Along the way it will pass through the cities of Newcastle and Carlisle, and some of England's most beautiful countryside, ranging from rolling fields to rugged moorland. The final gas beacon is due to be lit at Bowness-on-Solway on the Cumbrian coast at about 6.50pm and the full line of light will say alight until about 7.15pm.
The wall was built over a period of years starting in 122 AD by the Roman emperor Hadrian at the northernmost frontier of the empire in Britain. It was made a Unesco World Heritage Site in 1987.
More than 1,000 volunteers are helping to set Britain's longest historic monument alight for a one-night only event. There will be 500 individual points of light, at roughly 250-metre intervals, along the route of the 84-mile Hadrian's Wall Path National Trail. The lighting up ceremony will begin at Segedunum Roman Fort at Wallsend with the first of the lights appearing just before 6pm. The line of light will then begin its journey westwards.
Along the way it will pass through the cities of Newcastle and Carlisle, and some of England's most beautiful countryside, ranging from rolling fields to rugged moorland. The final gas beacon is due to be lit at Bowness-on-Solway on the Cumbrian coast at about 6.50pm and the full line of light will say alight until about 7.15pm.
The wall was built over a period of years starting in 122 AD by the Roman emperor Hadrian at the northernmost frontier of the empire in Britain. It was made a Unesco World Heritage Site in 1987.
For I have had a beautiful, special dream all my life
The culmination of all my hopes and desires for eternity
All joys borne should have gone forward to this moment
Should have made the world sit up, take notice of me
But I find now, that it was always a trifle to muse on
So young a man when it entered my life and thoughts
As the poets always write and the songstresses richly sing
Nature is a gift that takes all dreams and births them to life
It is there within us always, deeply hidden waiting for spring
But it needs time to grow and that now ebbs on a faster tide
Would it have been so much for the world to give me once?
A long and sunshine filled, perfect summer in a garden
The culmination of all my hopes and desires for eternity
All joys borne should have gone forward to this moment
Should have made the world sit up, take notice of me
But I find now, that it was always a trifle to muse on
So young a man when it entered my life and thoughts
As the poets always write and the songstresses richly sing
Nature is a gift that takes all dreams and births them to life
It is there within us always, deeply hidden waiting for spring
But it needs time to grow and that now ebbs on a faster tide
Would it have been so much for the world to give me once?
A long and sunshine filled, perfect summer in a garden
Friday, March 12, 2010
The company pension scheme has changed again so now if you’re 50 before April 2010 you can apply to have your pension now...and carry on working till you’re 65. How great is that but typically I am a year away from qualifying...so how disappointing is that! Although I have paid into the scheme for the last 30 years I am beginning to believe that I shall end up with nothing by the time it is my turn. Sometimes it seems like every bright plan we were promised for the future is slowly turning to broken promises. Soft treads the heart through the times when bad news fills the air. All we can do is take a breath and look into a deep blue sky and try to remember what we are striving for.
Here’s what the Times Online said
DS Smith, the packaging group and a member of the FTSE 250, was revealed as the most vulnerable to adverse pension movements, by one measure — the size of its pension deficit as a percentage of its total market value. DS Smith had no immediate comment on the research. In June, it revealed that its pension deficit had risen by £83.5 million to £138 million. The fund was closed to new members in April 2005. It halved the dividend and injected £15.6 million into the scheme last year. The research said that a tipping point would come during the coming 12 months in which the cost of trying to close the funding shortfalls of the companies’ defined benefit schemes would be equal to the money they set aside to cover new pension benefits earned by workers.
Here’s what the Times Online said
DS Smith, the packaging group and a member of the FTSE 250, was revealed as the most vulnerable to adverse pension movements, by one measure — the size of its pension deficit as a percentage of its total market value. DS Smith had no immediate comment on the research. In June, it revealed that its pension deficit had risen by £83.5 million to £138 million. The fund was closed to new members in April 2005. It halved the dividend and injected £15.6 million into the scheme last year. The research said that a tipping point would come during the coming 12 months in which the cost of trying to close the funding shortfalls of the companies’ defined benefit schemes would be equal to the money they set aside to cover new pension benefits earned by workers.
Tuesday, March 09, 2010
18th Feb 2010
The snow was falling thick and fast when I went to work this morning. As I walked down the road the street lights cast large whirling snowflake shadows onto the ground like a thermal of insects dancing in the evening air. It’s hard to describe, but it was strangely absorbing walking in and out of the shadows into the light of this ghostly swarm.
9th March 2010
Sorry for not doing anything for so long. It’s been a busy week or so with the dog and having a replacement window put in that now lets me walk out of the living room into the yard. Looking forward to doing that in summer or having the door open and letting the smell of herbs like rosemary, sage and thyme waft in on warm dusky evenings. A week after the guy did it all and left the room is not back in order though. I think the highlight last night was one of the curtain pole brackets coming out of the wall and tearing down a huge amount of plaster.
I took some photos of the dog in the garden Sunday and a little video. The sun was shining through the cold and the sky was a sharp blue, like a bluebell through a perfect sheet of crystal. Definitely a spring day and lots more to come I hope. Robbie just gets better and better. He can go all night without any accidents, he doesn’t bark too much and he has a great playful nature. He is definitely a clever dog and already sits up and begs (on his own accord) and fetches things back and walks on the lead without much problem. Not so bright the other day mind when he finally learnt that ice is often fragile and water in pond under ice is very cold and silly dogs can get wet. Still dried him as best as I could, with my scarf and then he ran around wearing it.
Over the weekend watched the movie ‘9’ which was a bit strange and quietly enjoyable although after ‘Avatar’ everything is bound to be a little flat for a while. It’s about little sacking creatures that inherit the world from humans although to be honest they look more like escapees from a knitting circle. Good to see they spared no expense on special effects.
I heard on the news that Sony is launching a mainstream 3D television in June. But I wonder how may time we can all play the lets change the telly game? Despite the advances (and lets face it they are good,) we need to begin making things that last maybe a little longer or are maybe more upgradeable.
I can’t believe it is March so soon and that the snowdrops are out and the daffodils are close behind. Despite a few warm days the average temperature is still cold and I want it to warm up some more. I am enjoying the lighter mornings and evenings though.
The snow was falling thick and fast when I went to work this morning. As I walked down the road the street lights cast large whirling snowflake shadows onto the ground like a thermal of insects dancing in the evening air. It’s hard to describe, but it was strangely absorbing walking in and out of the shadows into the light of this ghostly swarm.
9th March 2010
Sorry for not doing anything for so long. It’s been a busy week or so with the dog and having a replacement window put in that now lets me walk out of the living room into the yard. Looking forward to doing that in summer or having the door open and letting the smell of herbs like rosemary, sage and thyme waft in on warm dusky evenings. A week after the guy did it all and left the room is not back in order though. I think the highlight last night was one of the curtain pole brackets coming out of the wall and tearing down a huge amount of plaster.
I took some photos of the dog in the garden Sunday and a little video. The sun was shining through the cold and the sky was a sharp blue, like a bluebell through a perfect sheet of crystal. Definitely a spring day and lots more to come I hope. Robbie just gets better and better. He can go all night without any accidents, he doesn’t bark too much and he has a great playful nature. He is definitely a clever dog and already sits up and begs (on his own accord) and fetches things back and walks on the lead without much problem. Not so bright the other day mind when he finally learnt that ice is often fragile and water in pond under ice is very cold and silly dogs can get wet. Still dried him as best as I could, with my scarf and then he ran around wearing it.
Over the weekend watched the movie ‘9’ which was a bit strange and quietly enjoyable although after ‘Avatar’ everything is bound to be a little flat for a while. It’s about little sacking creatures that inherit the world from humans although to be honest they look more like escapees from a knitting circle. Good to see they spared no expense on special effects.
I heard on the news that Sony is launching a mainstream 3D television in June. But I wonder how may time we can all play the lets change the telly game? Despite the advances (and lets face it they are good,) we need to begin making things that last maybe a little longer or are maybe more upgradeable.
I can’t believe it is March so soon and that the snowdrops are out and the daffodils are close behind. Despite a few warm days the average temperature is still cold and I want it to warm up some more. I am enjoying the lighter mornings and evenings though.
Thursday, March 04, 2010
Another day falls into the past but the heart is not blind for like a bat in the dusk it feels and it hears and its aim is sure. My heart has hears only good voices and thoughts and so it soars like an eagle each day. The sweetest devotion to goodness must always bring reward; for then eternity is assured. I shall wait on the edge of consciousness for you always, for the days are running in our favour now and there is no cloud so dark it might stop the sun shining. It frightens me only in so much; as fear of an excess of joy with my heart singing and flying higher than the lark ascending to the blue-skied dawn.