Trees
Joyce Kilmer
I think that I shall never see
A poem lovely as a tree.
A tree whose hungry mouth is prest
Against the earth’s sweet flowing breast;
A tree that looks at God all day,
And lifts her leafy arms to pray;
A tree that may in summer wear
A nest of robins in her hair;
Upon whose bosom snow has lain;
Who intimately lives with rain.
Poems are made by fools like me,
But only God can make a tree.
Find this poem online at Poetry Foundation
This year our Ten Things column each month is alternating between composers and artists a century at a time from pre-1500 to 20th century. As always, there’s no guarantee you will have heard of them all!
Ten Artists Born in 17th Century
The average person thinks he isn’t.
Father Larry Lorenzoni
As well as everything else, each month I offer you something to think about and get the brain working. This month …
A different version of you exists in the minds of everyone who knows you.
Each month we’re posing six pub quiz style questions, with a different subject each month. As always, they’re designed to be difficult, but it is unlikely everyone will know all the answers – so have a bit of fun.
World Affairs
Answers will be posted in 2 weeks time.
Our look at some of the significant happenings 100 years ago this month.
8. The Noël Coward comic play Hay Fever opened at the Ambassadors Theatre in the City of Westminster, England.
14. A significant German art exhibition of the Neue Sachlichkeit (New Objectivity) movement opened in Mannheim, with paintings by George Grosz, Otto Dix, Max Beckmann, Rudolf Schlichter and others.
15. Born. Richard Baker, English broadcast journalist and author (d.2018)
24. The Five Sisters window at York Minster was dedicated to the women who lost their lives in the line of service during World War I
On a balmy early evening, on this day 25 years ago, six of us gathered at 7 Ormonde Gate, Chelsea, just across from the National Army Museum, at the invitation of Julian Allason.
Julian had the grand idea that we should celebrate English author Anthony Powell, who had died a couple of months earlier at the age of 94.
I was introduced to Powell’s magnum opus, A Dance to the Music of Time, in 1983 by my wife’s best friend from school. “You like Evelyn Waugh”, she said, “You might like Dance.” Powell soon became one of my heroes.
Since about 1993 I had been building a web presence for Powell. And in 1997, at the time Channel4 TV showed their 4-part dramatisation of Powell’s A Dance to the Music of Time, I had started an email discussion list for Powell’s works. I was resisting suggestions that I should start a Society in Powell’s honour.
Julian was one of the early contributors to the email discussion list, along with our friend Stephen who was one of the six aforementioned. I dragged in my wife, N, and our friend Sue, who was (and still is) a professional conference and event organiser. Julian brought along his friend Catherine, a PR specialist. Experts were needed!
As Julian had said to me a couple of weeks before: “We must celebrate the man. We must have a conference.” Which is where discussion started on that fateful evening.
Being the ever practical project manager, I asked how we were going to achieve this. After all, I pointed out, we were six nobodies, we had no entrée into the literary world, we had no money, and frankly we stood little to no chance of getting useful big name sponsorship (organisations like Vodafone and The Daily Telegraph were mentioned).
Julian, great on ideas and not one to be thwarted, said that we had to have something on which to hang the conference. So at 19:30 under a huge portrait of Peter the Great, the response was …
But we still had no members and no money. Julian committed to fix us a bank account. We agreed that everyone then joined to the email discussion list (barely more than a couple of dozen people) was an honorary member until the end of the year – giving us time to organise a membership system.
And that conference? We held it at Powell’s alma mater, Eton College, the following St George’s Day. To this day I have no idea how we achieved that given that we were all also doing demanding professional jobs.
Since then the Society has achieved a lot: not least 10 international conferences and more than a few publications; we were awarded charitable status in 2003.
(On a personal note the Society has taken me to places, and introduced me to people, my wildest dreams couldn’t have conjured up.)
So today, after a lot of hard work, good luck, and almost against all expectations, the Anthony Powell Society celebrates its 25th anniversary.
Sadly Julian died a few years ago, so will not be here, at least in person, to see the fruit of his idea.
You can find out more about the Anthony Powell Society and its work at https://www.anthonypowell.org/. There is also a Facebook page and a YouTube channel.
Some things to be recorded, or that happened, during the month and which I’ve not otherwise blogged about.
Thursday 1
Phew! 1 May and it is unseasonably hot even for mid-summer. We’ve hot around 28°C today, which is almost 10° above the average for May. The hottest ever recorded temperature in central London was 32.8°C in 1922 and 1944 – and that was towards the end of the month. Apparently this is the hottest London May Day on record. The Met Office are saying the previous UK record temperature on 1 May was 27.4°C in 1990 at Lossiemouth, Scotland.
Friday 2
Today we completed the next set of 50 Postcrossing cards: numbers 301-350. Here they are on the display board.
Sunday 4
Gah! I’ve had one of those days. Pond pumps both choked full of algae which took an hour to clean out. Then the credit card company decided to block my main card as they didn’t like me putting through two transactions for mobile phone top-ups within minutes. And guess what – they can’t unblock it until office hours on Tuesday. Nor can I file a complaint until Tuesday either. Very not impressed.
Tuesday 6
Why do hospital trips take up so much time and energy? I went with N today to her consultant’s appointment, which was booked for 13:00. We left home about 12:15, and I finally arrived back at home at 15:00, the actual appointment having lasted no more than 20 minutes. Mind, I did stop for a sausage sandwich, and spent a very pleasant 20 minutes sitting outside in the sun while waiting to be picked up.
Thursday 8
That was a quick Conclave; they usually take far longer than 2 days. And we have an American Pope; albeit one who has served most of his priesthood in South America. This surprised me – and many others. I had expected the new Pope to be from either Africa or SE Asia; and to be a traditionalist rather than a progressive. So this could all be interesting.
Sunday 11
We moan when it’s wet. So now I’m going to moan about how dry it’s been. So dry that everything outside needed a good watering. Hopefully tomorrow the gardener will manage to get the watering system up and working.
Monday 12
The gardener did come, and did get the watering system set up – just before the thunderstorm. Really heavy rain for about 15 minutes, including some hail. But it is still horribly humid.
Tuesday 13
I woke up with vertigo. Not very bad, but bad enough to put a spanner in the works. Took some ibuprofen and took the day easy; and it went away during the day. It can just stay gone away! As one friend said to me: “So I’m not the only one waking up with a hangover without having a drink the previous night?”
Wednesday 14
I fell over in the kitchen this evening, as I stumbled against the stool and didn’t have anything solid I could grab onto. But I did have enough that as I fell, back down, I was able to descend relatively safely and not crack my head on the tiled floor. But getting up was a real problem as my (replaced) knees won’t kneel, I had nothing helpful to hold onto, and a non-grippy floor. I managed it eventually, but not without having to kneel and really hurt my knees and toes. This is my second fall this week, although the first could have happened to anyone. On Sunday, in the garden, I needed to sit low down to fiddle with the trail camera. But my weight sitting on an upturned bucket doesn’t work, it collapsed and I tipped gently backwards. Getting up from that was easy as I could roll over, put minimal weight on one knee, and had a grippy lawn for foot grip. We’ll not have a third, thank you!
Thursday 15
Pleased today to have a couple of very pretty but unexpected flowers on my dendrobium orchid.
Saturday17
Really really good meeting of GP’s patient group this morning. As expected I was asked to continue as Chairman. Lots of good discussion and feedback from our Practice Manager. I do sense a greater openness and less defensiveness, which is good.
Sunday18
A day of doing absolutely nothing except piddling about, because I couldn’t do anything more. I’ve been very depressed the last few days, so I was even less inclined than usual to do anything – especially as I could not wake up and it was gone 10:30 before I managed to rouse myself and get vertical (which I hate). The last two nights being full of anxiety dreams hasn’t helped at all – you know, the usual dream stuff: losing people in a crowd, exams, work. I wish I knew how to get rid of all this.
Monday19
Oh bugger! N has been suffering over the last few days with a filthy cold which seems to be going round her treatment centre. So of course I now have it: the usual cold, sinus problems, headache and some vertigo too. I was obviously starting it yesterday, which would explain my inability and why it persisted through today. This is the first really filthy cold I’ve had for several years. Luckily N felt up to taking two of the cats to the vet for treatment; I feel guilty for ducking my part of the exercise but I couldn’t face the car journeys. Fortunately the gardener cancelled which took some of the pressure off.
Wednesday21
Still struggling with this cold, which makes the depression worse, so I’ve done nothing much for the last few days. I keep thinking “One good night’s sleep will see it off”, but it hasn’t yet – although it is slowly receding. At least I don’t (yet?) have the awful chesty cough that N still has – and I would appreciate not having it, thank you.
Friday23
“Have you thought what you want to eat this evening” I say to N late in the afternoon.
“No not really” she says, “probably just a sandwich. What do you want?”
“What’s important is what you want; you’re the one who’s struggling. But I’m tired of eating sandwiches.”
I’m thinking, when did we last cook a decent meal; we seem to be eating bread and something for lunch and dinner every day.
“Well, we could have pizza” she says. “At least it’ll give you something hot.”
So I order pizza – it’s our one (occasional) concession to fast food and ready meals.
Saturday 24
Yesterday’s pizza was a damn good move. Two large pizzas not only fed us last night, but lunch today and a picnic evening meal when N got back from the hospital.
Sunday 25
Yum, yum. Two packs of very good meaty pork ribs for evening meal. Marinaded overnight with brown sauce, garlic, tomato etc.; and oven baked on a baking sheet so they were nice and sticky. Served with lots of roast vegetables (an excellent way to use anything getting a little tired). And there’s enough for a quick tea tomorrow.
Monday26
It’s another bank holiday, so of course it is wet – but at least it was forecast. Luckily the rain held off until mid-afternoon, as the gardener came. He had to spend too long clearing algae from the main pond pump; I should have done this but couldn’t get past the depression, and moreover I could not work out how the casing came apart (turns out it needs a screwdriver!).
Friday30
Couriers are the pits. I have a fairly expensive package coming from Italy. It’s been consigned to UPS; originally for delivery today. Now UPS are normally one of the better couriers; but this time they decide to deliver the package early: yesterday afternoon. Except that they didn’t. They claim they tried and there was nobody here – not true because I was here. So they try again today, with the same result; although this time both of us were here. Now they say we’ll try again, a third time, on the next business day (apparently tomorrow) but if we fail again the package will be returned to the sender. At this point I wonder if they’re trying the wrong address, or not leaning hard enough on the doorbell. Having fought UPS’s website, I call customer services. The young lady says: yes I can see that; and OK so it does take you time to get to the door; I’ll talk to the depot; they may ring you. Soon after a young lady rings me from the depot; I explain again. Oh, she says, I can see what’s happened: it’s been put on the wrong van so the driver should have logged it as a sorting error, but instead logged a failed delivery; I will talk to the warehouse to ensure it gets on the right van, and it is flagged for delivery tomorrow between 9 and 12. I’m guessing there’s a driver who’s going to get a rocket. In fairness, both young ladies were very helpful and owned the problem; 10/10 for their customer service. We’ll see what happens tomorrow; because if they try and fail again, and send the package back to Italy, I shall be very annoyed indeed.
Saturday31
Well my package from Italy did arrive, and in the time slot they said. Judging from all the mangled labels on it, it really has been round the houses to get here.
Here is this month’s well packed collection of links to items you didn’t know you’d missed …
Science, Technology, Natural World
Let’s start with something which has always been a bone of contention … Do we all see colour the same way? And if so why is it that what I describe as blue, you say is turquoise?
Research has found that chimpanzees have surprisingly good hygiene habits: they use leaves to wipe bums and clean up after sex.
Down in the ocean depths there is still mystery surrounding the largest light in the sea.
And now up in the air … we’ve long known about their intelligence, but now it appears that crows can do geometry.
Scientists try to imagine what it’s like to be a raven or crow.
And now to our own intelligence … Can you convincingly explain the Monty Hall problem?
Is there really an underlying mathematical sequence which this year’s Premier League title for Liverpool has highlighted?
So there’s a new Pope, but how is the Conclave’s tell-tale black and white smoke ensured?
We’ve all heard of antimatter, but now researchers have discovered anti-spice, which makes chillies less hot. [££££]
Talking of hot … astronomers are now suggesting that a nearby ancient supernova (below) is an invader from another galaxy. [££££]
A new theoretical study is proposing that the very existence of gravity is evidence that we are all part of a giant computer simulation.
Back with the (slightly) more mundane … there’s a collection of astronomers who spend their time trying to find and catalogue the seemingly infinite number of pieces of rock that whizz over our heads every day. [LONG READ]
Health, Medicine
Just why do some of use get travel sick but others don’t?
Sexuality & Relationships
Here’s a look at sex, art and the art of sex in ancient Pompeii.
Environment & Ecology
Not just “no mow May” it needs to be “leave it alone June, July and August” … We’d help our declining butterflies (and many other species) by mowing our lawns a lot less.
Researchers are discovering that there really are fungal superhighways connecting things up under our feet.
Art, Literature, Language, Music
Here’s a look at whether Spencer Tunick’s massed nude bodies (below) constitute good nude photography or not. [LONG READ]
The Courtauld Institute in London has released a huge art photo archive online, and it’s free
Also in London, at the Cartoon Museum, there’s an exhibition of cartoon cats from Korky to Garfield.
They seem to be two unlikely bedfellows but Cockney and Yiddish influenced each other considerably in London’s East End.
Going back in time, here’s an introduction to the history of runes. [LONG READ]
Here’s the story of how English lost several letters from its alphabet. [LONG READ]
And English then underwent the Great Vowel Shift which further ruined both our spelling and writing. [LONG READ]
History, Archaeology, Anthropology
A visit to the Rollright Stones (above) – and IME they’re worth a visit. [LONG READ]
There’s a new study looking at pregnancy amongst the Vikings.
A look at the expansion of Medieval Europe. [LONG READ]
An American looks at what other Americans actually know about medieval history. [LONG READ]
It’s not quite a grimoire but the Picatrix contained all the secrets to becoming an evil wizard.
What was happening in London during the first English Civil War (1642-1646). [LONG READ]
In Austrian village there’s a mysterious mummified priest – and it turns out he was mummified via his rectum!
London
North-west London boasts several Black Madonnas.
Some of the Cold War tunnels under central London are to be turned into a permanent museum of military intelligence.
Food, Drink
How to reduce the risk of your fridge being a breeding ground for bacteria.
Aspartame: a calorie-free, but not risk-free, artificial sweetener.
Lifestyle, Personal Development, Beliefs
So just how much can your name influence your future or occupation?
Here’s something on thinking slowly and recognising your biases and maybe improve your life. [LONG READ]
On the world of Berliners getting together in the nude. [LONG READ]
An Australian sex writer on learning to appreciate her curves.
And the same Australian sex writer on why she loves her full bush, even in a bikini.
On the naturist attitude to the inevitable erections.
Wow! Ha ha!
In 1990, in Calvine, Scotland, two men photographed what is reportedly the best UFO picture ever seen; but it’s remained a mystery.
And I’ll leave you with a little fable about the evolution of why women like performing oral sex.
Be good!