Sunday 25 February 2018

Inheritance

Dear Reader,




 Gloucester Old Spot Pigs



Gloucester Old Spot pigs originated around the Berkeley vale on the southern shores of the river Severn in south West England.  They were usually kept in cider and perry pear orchards of the area, and on dairy farms.  Windfall fruit and waste from the dairies supplemented their grazing habits.  Local folklore says that the spots on their backs are bruises from the fallen fruit. Besides its correct title are variations such as Gloster Spot or just Old Spot, the breed is also known as : The Orchard Pig and the Cottager's Pig.  In a book by the Victorian writer, H.D. Richardson, he  concludes that the Gloucester Old Spot Pig was derived from crossing the original Gloucerstershire pig, - a large, off white variety with wattles hanging from its neck, with the unimproved Berkshire, a coloured prick-eared pig with spots. 
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Seagull news:  In Scarborough birds of prey are going to be hired to tackle the growing menace of swooping seagulls.  These birds of prey are 'specifically trained not to kill' the gulls 'but solely to deter them'.   Well its worth  try, I suppose.

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Inheritance

What was it that made me
think of you, who
are bone-dust now,
with no statue or monument
to bear your witness?
Was it the apple-bruised spots
on the Gloucester Old Spot pigs,
their legacy from apple orchards, long ago,
to mark them out?

In the afternoon sunlight
as I bent to touch their skin
I saw that my hands, brown-spotted,
were you hands, identical.
Was this your legacy to me
something to say you were here?

More precious than possessions,
you passed to our inheritance
from some ancient eastern shore.
Your brownness, your hands, brown spotted,
which marked you.

                                                                            *

With very best wishes, Patricia

Sunday 18 February 2018

In Her Spare Room

Dear Reader,


 


                                                                               The Wind in the Willows



I have been reading yet another book about Queen Elizabeth 1's reign, I think it really was such an interesting time in history from every aspect.  The theatre, which I do so enjoy and am lucky enough to live not far from Stratford-upon-Avon, was very popular in the Elizabethan age.  The religious plays which had been very popular in the Middle Ages were banned and new plays were written. These plays were performed in theatres rather than in the wagons that, in the past, travelled from town to town. .
William Shakespeare, 1564-1616, wrote plays at this time and his plays are still performed all over the world, he is probably the most famous playwright who ever lived.  in 1576, the first theatre was built in London so that actors could perform their plays on the same stage all year round.  The theatre was so successful that soon other theatres, like the Fortune, the Swan and the Globe were built.


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In Her Spare Room

I see these books,
draw in a breath,
as cherished memories
race into my head.

There are:

Akenfield
Portrait of an English Village 
Swallows and Amazon
The Speckledy Hen
The Little flowers of St. Francis
My Friend Flicka
The Wind in the Willows
Tales of Old Inns


The owner of this house
is unknown to me,
but her collection
of treasured books
tells me a little of her,
what makes her who she is,
what makes me who I am.


                                                                          *

With very best wishes, Patricia







Sunday 11 February 2018

Blue Gingham Dress

Dear Reader,




                                                                        Blue Gingham Dresses


When originally imported into Europe in the 17th century gingham was a striped fabric, but today it is distinguished by its chequered pattern.  From the mid-18th century, when it was being produced in the mills of Manchester,  it started to be woven into chequered or plaid pattern, often blue and white.  "Gingham" comes from the Malayan word 'genggang' or 'striped'.  The way we identify gingham, as being a contrasting check shirt, was not the way in which the fabric was originally known.  True gingham is distinguished primarily for being "dyed in the yarn" fabric, which means that the yarn is dyed before it is woven.
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D.H. Lawrence, 1919 (Derbyshire) February 9th

It is marvellous weather, brilliant sunshine on the snow, clear as summer, slightly golden sun, distance lit up.  But it is immensely cold- everything frozen solid - milk, mustard, everything.  Yesterday I went out for a real walk - I have had a cold and been in bed.  I climbed with my niece to the bare top of the hills.  Wonderful it is to see the foot-marks on the snow - beautiful ropes of rabbit prints, trailing away over the brows; heavy hare marks; a fox so sharp and dainty, going over the wall:  birds with two feet that hop; very splendid straight advance of a pheasant; wood-pigeons that are clumsy and move in flocks; splendid little leaping marks of weasels coming along like a necklace chain of berries; odd little filigree of the field-mice; the trail of a mole - it is astonishing what a world of wild creatures one feels about one, on the hills in snow.
                                  
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Blue Gingham Dress

She was wearing
a blue gingham dress
long sleeved, with lace collar,
one summer evening in July.

A sweet smell from lilies
lavender bushes
roses and orange blossom
drifted on the air,

the sea sapphire
played its own repetitive tune
soft and enticing,
and a southerly wind blew.

Suddenly he took her hand
drew her near
kissed her urgently,
then came the call

they broke in two
ran back to the house
her heart racing
knees weak, on fire.

The gingham dress
worn and faded now
hangs at the back of the cupboard,
but the kiss is still as fresh
as it was on that one
summer evening in July.

                                                                              *

With very best wishes, Patricia

Sunday 4 February 2018

Truth Modern


Dear Reader,
                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                    




                                                                                        Gannets



More bird stories.  In an attempt to attract a colony of gannets 80 fake birds were planted high up on the cliffs of Mana Island, New Zealand.  But a real gannet known as Nigel by the locals fell in love with one of the concrete replicas.  He build her a nest of sticks and showered her with attention for years.  But sadly Nigel's body has been found lying dead beside his concrete mate.   When Nigel arrived on the windswept island in the Tasman Sea in November 2015, he quickly became something of a local celebrity as the first gannet to roost there in more than forty years.  Gannets mate for life and when some real gannets were lured to the island Nigel shunned them.

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Truth Modern

Through a kaleidoscope's
shifting, bright colours,
set close to the eye,
the viewer's truth is reflected,
assuring the mind of its veracity,
acknowledging its fantasies
as realities,
seeing truth
not as it is, but as we would
like it to be
spinning words,
detaching truth from its moorings,
setting it loose in murky waters.
Illusions of truth
sandwiched between lies
is the authentic truth
of our times.

                                                                      
                                                                        
Very best wishes, Patricia