R:
A faux leather jacket
A spiv hat
A bank account
B:
Cash for a massive computer upgrade ordered and built by himself
J-C
Nothing (ascetic)
Me:
A medieval dress (red with green girdle)
Wednesday, December 19, 2012
Wednesday, December 12, 2012
Winter Tea
In the interests of 'waste-not', I've found an enjoyable way to use organic orange skin.
Before squeezing or eating your lovely orange, slice off the zest with a good sharp knife, a bit of pith doesn't matter. Put the peelings in an attractive open pot on your radiator to make the room smell nice, when thoroughly dry and crisp keep in sealed jar.
Spiced orange tea
Mix some dried orange zest with your favourite spices, eg: some cinnamon (stick or powder), ginger (peelings or powder), one crushed cardomone pod, a clove, a pinchette of allspice powder and of nutmeg.
Pour on boiling water and leave at least 5 minutes and drink as a 'tisane', or add a plain teabag and continue brewing, or leave to brew for 24 hours and add to a hot tea or hot water (the flavour continues to develop for 2 days).
I like to add tea, dark brown sugar and milk to mine.
Before squeezing or eating your lovely orange, slice off the zest with a good sharp knife, a bit of pith doesn't matter. Put the peelings in an attractive open pot on your radiator to make the room smell nice, when thoroughly dry and crisp keep in sealed jar.
Spiced orange tea
Mix some dried orange zest with your favourite spices, eg: some cinnamon (stick or powder), ginger (peelings or powder), one crushed cardomone pod, a clove, a pinchette of allspice powder and of nutmeg.
Pour on boiling water and leave at least 5 minutes and drink as a 'tisane', or add a plain teabag and continue brewing, or leave to brew for 24 hours and add to a hot tea or hot water (the flavour continues to develop for 2 days).
I like to add tea, dark brown sugar and milk to mine.
Monday, December 10, 2012
LATE BANGED TO RIGHTS
R has transformed himself into an organised and on-time guy following his entry into the prison camp otherwise known in this country as 'a school'. He sleeps in his watch. He has an alarm set to warn him when to get ready and knows exactly what time he must leave to be nicely early.
Despite this some censored on the front gate, running on bad temper and a faulty watch, has decided he (and the usual crowd of miscreants who get caught on the capricious whim of the petty dictators who pass for teachers in this country) was LATE.
There is no questioning this judgement. The ticket is written out. She wrote 5 minutes late which cannot be true, I know what time he left, he left the same time as he has done every day for the last 3 months, he can only have arrived as the gate was closing (presumably early) not 5 minutes afterwards, and this is for 8.20 when classes start at 8.30, so no actual inconveniencing lateness actually took place.
Pupils are of course MARKED on a collection of statistics under the heading "Class Life" (in reality there is neither class nor life in any real sense of the word in this country's schools), arbitrary and subjective judgements are made with reference to tickets for: lateness, absence, detention etc, R got 18.5 out of 20 for 'Class Life', but there is no statistical evidence or references available for why he lost 1.5 marks. So he will suffer marks to be struck off for this affair which will go towards the final judgement of whether or not he is a Good Student (Bon eleve). Anglophone schools just don't think like this, thinking of our children as 'good' (or not) students. In the anglophone world we try to evaluate the progress of the child and we are unashamed to form a relationship with our children and to actually like them and want them to succeed.
Why do French teachers behave like this towards a child who is thoroughly respectful of the rules? What do they hope to achieve? What they achieve is at best indifference (shrug shoulders, "I don't care" ((about anything)), or hostility. Which is perhaps whey they need a police officer to supervise the inmates at hometime. By the way 'hometime' is not subjected to the same precision, they finish any time they want, tough if your child has an appointment at the dentist.
I don't have any recourse following this ticket injustice (or any other injustice), my option is to sign it. I wrote 'not possible' underneath it but I doubt if anyone will notice and then I called the offending person a very rude word in front of my son. He said I just shouldn't care. I wish I didn't.
Despite this some censored on the front gate, running on bad temper and a faulty watch, has decided he (and the usual crowd of miscreants who get caught on the capricious whim of the petty dictators who pass for teachers in this country) was LATE.
There is no questioning this judgement. The ticket is written out. She wrote 5 minutes late which cannot be true, I know what time he left, he left the same time as he has done every day for the last 3 months, he can only have arrived as the gate was closing (presumably early) not 5 minutes afterwards, and this is for 8.20 when classes start at 8.30, so no actual inconveniencing lateness actually took place.
Pupils are of course MARKED on a collection of statistics under the heading "Class Life" (in reality there is neither class nor life in any real sense of the word in this country's schools), arbitrary and subjective judgements are made with reference to tickets for: lateness, absence, detention etc, R got 18.5 out of 20 for 'Class Life', but there is no statistical evidence or references available for why he lost 1.5 marks. So he will suffer marks to be struck off for this affair which will go towards the final judgement of whether or not he is a Good Student (Bon eleve). Anglophone schools just don't think like this, thinking of our children as 'good' (or not) students. In the anglophone world we try to evaluate the progress of the child and we are unashamed to form a relationship with our children and to actually like them and want them to succeed.
Why do French teachers behave like this towards a child who is thoroughly respectful of the rules? What do they hope to achieve? What they achieve is at best indifference (shrug shoulders, "I don't care" ((about anything)), or hostility. Which is perhaps whey they need a police officer to supervise the inmates at hometime. By the way 'hometime' is not subjected to the same precision, they finish any time they want, tough if your child has an appointment at the dentist.
I don't have any recourse following this ticket injustice (or any other injustice), my option is to sign it. I wrote 'not possible' underneath it but I doubt if anyone will notice and then I called the offending person a very rude word in front of my son. He said I just shouldn't care. I wish I didn't.
Thursday, December 6, 2012
Human Business, Humanity Profits
Today my mum and I were bemoaning the fact that business ethics seem to differ so much from human ones.
In Britain, business ethics seem set apart from human ethics, and yet are increasingly dominating our human society - for which everybody (but a very privileged few) suffers.
For a relatively mild example (compared to companies that lie cheat and kill) but an important one; Amazon and Starbucks are not paying tax by setting up in Jersey. It's perfectly legal, and that seems to be the end of the story. This despite the fact that Amazon is now a market leader, surely it doesn't need to behave like this? It could be contributing positively to society, taking a philanthropic approach which would be good for business and good for society. Is it just thinking about the business ethic PROFIT?
Here is an idea for getting business ethics back in line with human ethics (from the film "The Challenge of Rudolf Steiner" rudolfsteinerfilm.squarespace.com)
"Customers and bankers at Triodos bank are trying to work in a different way with money: greater tansparency, greater responsability, and greater consciousness about the way the money deposited is actually used.
Peter Blom is Chairman of the Executive Board of Triodos Bank:
"I am convinced that we need to concentrate more on what is really needed in society, and then make that into a feasible business. There is profit of course, you cannot do without that - but you don't have to start with profit. Profit is the result. This relates to what Rudolf Steiner said - profit is not something to aim for but is a sign of a healthy operation, emerging from healthy transaction. This is a much better way of looking at profit than putting it there as a goal, as an objective, making everything work for that goal.
Steiner always had the human being at the centre of his thoughts, whatever he was talking about, economics, medicine, whatever....in most of our thinking now we exclude human beings - it is about a system and we must fit into the system. What he did lets us take each human being as a starting point; let's design around debt for example, in a way which serves human beings.
We cannot achieve this by just repeating or copying Steiner. Our challenge is to work with what he brought us."
In Britain, business ethics seem set apart from human ethics, and yet are increasingly dominating our human society - for which everybody (but a very privileged few) suffers.
For a relatively mild example (compared to companies that lie cheat and kill) but an important one; Amazon and Starbucks are not paying tax by setting up in Jersey. It's perfectly legal, and that seems to be the end of the story. This despite the fact that Amazon is now a market leader, surely it doesn't need to behave like this? It could be contributing positively to society, taking a philanthropic approach which would be good for business and good for society. Is it just thinking about the business ethic PROFIT?
Here is an idea for getting business ethics back in line with human ethics (from the film "The Challenge of Rudolf Steiner" rudolfsteinerfilm.squarespace.com)
"Customers and bankers at Triodos bank are trying to work in a different way with money: greater tansparency, greater responsability, and greater consciousness about the way the money deposited is actually used.
Peter Blom is Chairman of the Executive Board of Triodos Bank:
Steiner always had the human being at the centre of his thoughts, whatever he was talking about, economics, medicine, whatever....in most of our thinking now we exclude human beings - it is about a system and we must fit into the system. What he did lets us take each human being as a starting point; let's design around debt for example, in a way which serves human beings.
We cannot achieve this by just repeating or copying Steiner. Our challenge is to work with what he brought us."
Wednesday, December 5, 2012
Why 0 out of 10?
Things were not so easy for R with Papa, who wanted to know how the 0 out of 10 was won. Here are some of R's responses:
- Because she wants me to be superman & work 24 hours a day
- I don't have the test with me
- There's nothing to see
- Strange Donald Duck noise
- Forget it
- I'm tired
- I'm too tired get up and go upstairs
- I don't need to talk about it the teacher talked about it for an hour and shouted at everyone and I've understood now.
- I feel WEAK
- EVERYONE got zero
- My friends got 5, 7 and 8 out of 20 (oh dear, the stoats and weasels are not performing)
- OKOKOK she wants us to put the title on one place and the number on each page and the subtitle underlined and the holes punched and the pictures stuck on and the sources listed.
- Strange Donald Duck noise
Papa finally located the evidence in R's bag. It would appear that the 0 out of 10 relates to file management, which R seems not to have concerned himself with for 3 months, considering it not important and making no sense and because the teacher issued instructions at the end of a long day just before the holidays and nobody was listening.
Finally the teacher's instructions for getting marks for subject of folder administration were uncovered (I translate):
Documentation in the Folder
- Number of documents: a minimum of three per theme
- Relevance of documents to the theme
- Neat and tidy work (cutting out, presentation)
- Title and source
- Personal remarks (at least one phrase to describe the document, make the link with the theme, and show why it is relevant)
Sapristi Knuckoes (this is of course my personal remark).
School Report; Judgement Day Approaches
We are to be honoured with a school report which I am informed by printed message will be delivered into my hands (presumably they can't trust the inmates to deliver it) on the 20th December 2012 (just in time for Christmas, how lovely). The teacher has calculated that she will have precisely 6 minutes for each parent, and if you have more than 6 minutes worth of things to say you should make a separate appointment. I can only deduce that as I will not have had time to read the report, the 6 minutes will be spent by the teacher presenting me with her facts.
My interest in this piece of fire-fodder can be summed up in the French style as 0 out of 20, however, the teachers are in a frenzy of statistical collation and the pupils are preparing for Judgement Day.
R told me today that he managed a 7 out of 10 for one Geography test, but a 0 out of 10 for the other, which he puts down to 'bad organisation' on his part. His overall mark for the Report is therefore 7 out of 20, which tells me precisely 0 out of 20 about my son's ability achievement or improvement in geography.
"Any teacher who gives a pupil 0 out of 10 without giving him a chance to re-do it gets 0 out of 10 from me" I said hotly. "If my pupil got 0 I would be questioning my ability to teach".
R tells me that the school report will divide pupils into categories. Those with consistently low notes would seem to be unworthy of attention, those 10 - 12 shall be called WHITE, and those over 12 shall be called ENCOURAGEMENT. He didn't have anything to say about the top scorers, presumably because he has no hope of being one of them. I'm not sure he's totally understood. I certainly haven't.
"What is WHITE a sort of blank neutral nothing of a white wall? I said to R
"Yes".
And what of ENCOURAGEMENT, you are all encouraged I would hope? In fact I would have thought those with low notes need the encouragement whilst those with high could be congratulated?
"Yes".
I have had to do some emotional processing following all of this and was unable to empty the dishwasher without the help of Amy Winehouse Back to Black turned up very loud.
At least it is midwinter, when I go to collect the offending article I can wear a hat and a scarf round my mouth to hide my hostility. R says I should just say 'I agree not good' about any complaints and 'Jolly good' for anything satisfactory. This could be the longest 6 minutes of my life.
FULL REPORT OUT ON 20TH DECEMBER 2012 watch this space
My interest in this piece of fire-fodder can be summed up in the French style as 0 out of 20, however, the teachers are in a frenzy of statistical collation and the pupils are preparing for Judgement Day.
R told me today that he managed a 7 out of 10 for one Geography test, but a 0 out of 10 for the other, which he puts down to 'bad organisation' on his part. His overall mark for the Report is therefore 7 out of 20, which tells me precisely 0 out of 20 about my son's ability achievement or improvement in geography.
"Any teacher who gives a pupil 0 out of 10 without giving him a chance to re-do it gets 0 out of 10 from me" I said hotly. "If my pupil got 0 I would be questioning my ability to teach".
R tells me that the school report will divide pupils into categories. Those with consistently low notes would seem to be unworthy of attention, those 10 - 12 shall be called WHITE, and those over 12 shall be called ENCOURAGEMENT. He didn't have anything to say about the top scorers, presumably because he has no hope of being one of them. I'm not sure he's totally understood. I certainly haven't.
"What is WHITE a sort of blank neutral nothing of a white wall? I said to R
"Yes".
And what of ENCOURAGEMENT, you are all encouraged I would hope? In fact I would have thought those with low notes need the encouragement whilst those with high could be congratulated?
"Yes".
I have had to do some emotional processing following all of this and was unable to empty the dishwasher without the help of Amy Winehouse Back to Black turned up very loud.
At least it is midwinter, when I go to collect the offending article I can wear a hat and a scarf round my mouth to hide my hostility. R says I should just say 'I agree not good' about any complaints and 'Jolly good' for anything satisfactory. This could be the longest 6 minutes of my life.
FULL REPORT OUT ON 20TH DECEMBER 2012 watch this space
Friday, November 30, 2012
Dyslexia French Style
R: "There's a boy in my class who always makes lots of spelling mistakes. It doesn't matter what he does, he makes loads of mistakes I don't know why..."
He tells me teacher announced to the class: "I DON'T UNDERSTAND why you make so many spelling mistakes" (for which points are taken off each time).
"Miss, I'm a bit dyslexic" says the child.
"Mmm, I see, that explains it" says the teacher.
I don't have any other news on the teacher's reaction to this piece of information. I wonder if she even knows the child's name.
"Well, you can't expect them to know everything in a school with 600 pupils" says R, who is very forgiving of
dreadful teaching practice, appalling school management and an education sytstem which is scandalously ill- concieved and antiquated.
ARE THE BRITS THINKING OF COPYING THE FRENCH SYSTEM IN ANY WAY? PLEASE PLEASE DON'T!
Sunday, November 18, 2012
Thursday, November 15, 2012
The Planet Saving Business
"We are not going to save the planet by putting our country out of business" says George Osborne, Chancellor, to applause from his Conservative gathering.We're not going to save the planet at all if we carry on with this kind of attitude.
Firstly, we assume that our country is a business (debateable, and if so, sad) and that BUSINESS comes before saving the planet...upon which all our Businesses (and lives) depend. What a tragedy; if there's no planet, then we can't do business...It's not logical Captain.
If every country thinks and acts like this, then our countries will just carry on being self-interested Businesses fighting each other and it won't take us very long to finish off the planet; which will make our country going out of business an utter irrelevancy.
Wednesday, November 14, 2012
Dishonorable Government
A horribly fascinating film of the vindictive schoolboy type of sneaking and cheating which passes for Government...
Greenpeace has caught a militant faction of the Conservative Party doing Government in its own squalid way...and we can now watch it as it happens.
Whatever the pros and cons of the particular issue (in this case trying to get out of renewable energy promises) this way of behaving, which seems to be quite acceptable amongst certain types, can't go on, can it? It's doing too much damage.
WATCH HERE Tell David Cameron to listen to the country on clean energy, and don’t forget to watch the undercover report.
Dirty Energy: Some Higher Friends who are involved...
 |
| Chris Heaton-Harris Conservative MP |
Greenpeace has caught a militant faction of the Conservative Party doing Government in its own squalid way...and we can now watch it as it happens.
Whatever the pros and cons of the particular issue (in this case trying to get out of renewable energy promises) this way of behaving, which seems to be quite acceptable amongst certain types, can't go on, can it? It's doing too much damage.
WATCH HERE Tell David Cameron to listen to the country on clean energy, and don’t forget to watch the undercover report.
Dirty Energy: Some Higher Friends who are involved...
 |
| Chancellor George Osborne (Conservative) |
 |
| John Hayes Conservative Energy Minister |
 |
| Lord Howell, Conservative politician, journalist and economic consultant |
 |
| Peter Lilley Conservative MP |
Tuesday, November 13, 2012
Teenage Sons and Techno Temptation
The dark truth
With the arrival of the teenage years, if you let
things run their course, your home is pervaded by the stench of virtual death. Your son takes to hanging out with urban
killers, gangland car thieves and hideous intergalactic robot killing
machines. Your son and his friends pass their time killing to beat them, killing to survive, and will die at their hands on a regular
basis. Watch your sons in front of the computer: their jaws drop open, they jitter and grunt, stabbing out with blind fingers. Disembodied voices caw from
phone and Skype, “what the f***” and “I’m dead”. Your son’s friends invade your home with concealed palm
sized temptations, they invade on a virtual level too, things are downloaded and uploaded into your computer without
your knowledge, nothing is secret and everything is known – to your son - but not to you. They agree they are addicted, they agree with everything you say. But ultimately, the temptation is too strong. I am on a mission to stop the games, they are
on a mission to let them in, it becomes another, quite hopeless, game.
The Linux story is told here, elegantly and succinctly, for people with not much time or concentration.
I am the mother of a teenage son. If you are the
mother one of these you will understand why I sometimes find myself in front of
the computer with a wild look in my eye, a mallet in one hand and a claw hammer
in the other; why I sometimes wish new technology had never been born.
It starts at a tender age, for example 6 years. The
boy in question comes home from school and informs you that he wants an
electronic thing (ET). The type of ET he
wants depends on what is in fashion. He
really really wants the ET, he needs to join the club of
boys because everybody has one (except him).
It seems innocent enough at first, at last he is able
to sit still and concentrate and you have time to peel the spuds, then cook the spuds, and finally redecorate the kitchen. You decide to experiment to see just how far it goes before they snap
out of it; 12 hours per day and they
don’t.
With the arrival of the teenage years, if you let
things run their course, your home is pervaded by the stench of virtual death. Your son takes to hanging out with urban
killers, gangland car thieves and hideous intergalactic robot killing
machines. Your son and his friends pass their time killing to beat them, killing to survive, and will die at their hands on a regular
basis. Watch your sons in front of the computer: their jaws drop open, they jitter and grunt, stabbing out with blind fingers. Disembodied voices caw from
phone and Skype, “what the f***” and “I’m dead”. Your son’s friends invade your home with concealed palm
sized temptations, they invade on a virtual level too, things are downloaded and uploaded into your computer without
your knowledge, nothing is secret and everything is known – to your son - but not to you. They agree they are addicted, they agree with everything you say. But ultimately, the temptation is too strong. I am on a mission to stop the games, they are
on a mission to let them in, it becomes another, quite hopeless, game.
Left unchecked, the gaming invasion can cause your teenaged
son to forget everything: he will forget to talk, eat sleep and pick up his
dirty pants. The virtual world crushes
all in its path: imagination, conversation, bodily activity, tranquillity,
passion, and availability for washing up duties. It renders promises meaningless and truth a
thing of the past. Left unchecked I am
convinced that I will one day find a skeleton seated before the screen, its jaw
dropped open, its hand eternally clenching the mouse.
Is there a Way of Computing?
Looking for Hope
Looking for Hope
I’m looking for alternatives, I’m looking for
something that will engage my son, take him out of the zone of killer games and mindless quasi-communication (hw r u? gd) without opposing the forces, desires and creative abilities that are so obviously part of him. Without trying to separate him from the exponentially changing technical world in which we all find ourselves...or lose ourselves.
Alternative Technologies
I bring news of great joy, an antidote. I bring
you the story of how the human spirit can surf the tidal wave of new technology
and triumph, how faith in humanity allows us, (those of us who want to and
are capable of it) to find creative and moral freedom in front of the computer.
Once upon a time Linus Benedict Torvalds, a Finnish
American software engineer, had a good idea. He created LINUX and gave it away.
“What is Linux?” I ask my teenage son: Words pour from his mouth which appear to
have sense and syntax, but I can’t make anything of it, I just can’t grasp anything…graspable.
“Yes, but WHAT is Linux?” I ask.
“core, distribution, exploitation system, opensuse Kubuntu Lubuntu Wordy
one…” says my son, or something similar:
my brows knit, I hold up my hand…
“But what IS Linux?”
I ask, making little grasping gestures with my hands. My son becomes more than a little impatient
with me. I become impatient back, “I am
a total technical ignoramus I live and function in a real world, I’ve always
got along without virtuality until now, and so, for the sake of my generation, please what IS this thing and also WHAT IS IT
FOR so I know whether or not I need one?”
Phutting noises emit from his lips, his eyes roll
heavenward, and he shouts a bit, using his new Version Two upgraded loud scratchy
voice. But eventually, with the help of a
few diagrams which he sketches for me, I have managed to understand this
much:
It is my screen, the thing I see when I turn on
my computer. It is the interface between
human me and the shadowy world of the Computer.
It translates the ungraspable binary world of the computer into
something which I can see and understand and which offers me options which I
can take up such as opening my emails. Linux is the equivalent of Microsoft Windows
or Apple Mac IOSX.
Why would I want to change my screen view?
I can offer moral, technical and financial reasons, read on...
Linux and the Great Give Away
In the Microsoft story there are two pioneering players, one famous and iconic, and a co-founder with an unmemorable name (Paul
Allen b.1953) who had lots of ideas
which Bill Gates ( born 1955) was able to put into action for profit. In the Linux story, an inspirational
character (Richard Stallman b.1953) helped a young amateur programmer called
Linus Torvalds (b.1969) to start off on the right track. The right track is; give
it away.
 |
| Richard Stallman, Freeware Inspiration |
 |
| Linus Torvalds, Founder of Linux |
 |
| Bill Gates Cofounder Microsoft |
 |
| Paul Allen Cofounder Microsoft |
The Linux story is told here, elegantly and succinctly, for people with not much time or concentration.
To know more about the idealist, visionary and activist, Richard Stallman, (helpful mnenomics Tall Man, All Man, Stall (the
baddies) Man) the bare bones of his story can be read here en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Richard_Stallman
What if we got rid of Them and Us, and we concentrated on
Us?
What if we did things based on Need rather than Greed?
The Alternative Way
Share your idea and give your software product to the world
Don't hog it and charge for it darling, here's why
When you share the world will be inspired,
Ideas will bounce and further ideas will be born
Humanity benefits (you are part of humanity after all)
Everyone is free to benefit from your product, and contribute to it!
You put in place laws so it is impossible to commercialise your product for personal gain
But you let people use it to improve or fuel their own businesses
You have a world wide network of creativity and solutions
You have a world wide network of friendly colleagues ready to help out
You are FREE from company restrictions and constrictions
From having unlimited good ideas crushed to protect a limited company
You don't need to be worried, mean and grasping, hiding from or attacking enemies...
Instead you are free to help others, humanity and yourself at the same time, as you choose
Linux rarely suffers viruses because everyone has
access to ‘fill in weaknesses’ in the system to avoid viruses and solve them, de-bug,
find solutions, upgrade and improve;
also there is no money-making exploiting power to ‘rebel against’ or ‘punish’
and so there are fewer attacks.
Here are two examples of commercial interest taking precedence over human interest: James Dyson when he cracked it with the bagless hoover, was turned down because companies were interested in selling hoover bags, and then there's a certain laboratory in the news lately, and the vital cancer data which it witheld...
Here are two examples of commercial interest taking precedence over human interest: James Dyson when he cracked it with the bagless hoover, was turned down because companies were interested in selling hoover bags, and then there's a certain laboratory in the news lately, and the vital cancer data which it witheld...
Linux is continually given away and shared, in a
continual process of change and development, in line with life.
As Linus Torvalds says (pardon the grammar): "The cyberspace earnings I get form Linux come
in the format of having a Network of people that know me and trust me, and that
I can depend on in return." As Linus
says; "In my opinion Microsoft is a lot
better at making money than it is at making good operating systems." And: "Any program is only as good as it is useful.
ETHICAL, EFFECTIVE, FREE AND FUN!
ETHICAL, EFFECTIVE, FREE AND FUN!
Back to Teenage Boys and IT
There seem to me to be certain principles at stake as
we try to guide our children through a New Technology terrain is new to us and changing exponentially all the time. Here is what I hold onto:
Our teenagers are going to be seduced by computers, as
are we all, so it’s good to know how they work, mechanically, morally,
technically, to make sure we are in charge of them, and not they of us. To avoid being sucked into addictive consumerism. And there is endless educational fun to be had on this project
that absolutely does not involve mindless killing games and can involve human discussion, physically making things and reading Linux magazines for example.
Learning about and installing Linux is an option for freeing yourself from Microsoft, its charges, its invasion of our computers, its technical problems and its underlying moral values which undermine creativity and promote over consumption. Our teenage son as been an active participant and is now the family leader in Linux and has installed it in his father's computer and a family friend's computer.
Exploring and discussing the world of ‘free ware’ is a wonderful topic!
Building a Raspberry Pi http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Raspberry_Pi
(small simple cheap educational computer kit) is another idea.
Do you know of others, have you tried them?
Do you know of others, have you tried them?
Insisting that New Technology turns towards honesty, transparency,
sharing, genuine creativity and faith in humanity seems to me like a vital
mission for our children.
Friday, November 9, 2012
Tuesday, November 6, 2012
Ginkgo, our friend
Ginkgo, the tree which came to earth in the Jurassic period and never left, can, according to herbalism, help us think more clearly and live longer.
For thinking clearly, use green leaves, and for living longer, pick them as they start to yellow at the end of October. Which is just what I've been doing, as we have a small ginkgo tree (probably a dwarf) in our garden. I really like the fact I can gather leaves which would fall anyway, without harming the tree. JC took a few green leaves earlier in the year, I hope he asked nicely. The green leaves are higher in ginkgolides for the brain, the yellow leaves higher in bioflavinoids for anitoxident anti-aging effects.
I've realised that it has beautiful butterfly leaves. Each has an inclusion, partially divided in two, rather like the brain. We dry the leaves and add them to our herbal tea brews. If you need something stronger, you can buy full potency extracts.
It can also help with boosting immunity, PMS, diabetes, preserving vision, tinitus, impotence, skin aging, cancer prevention and unclogging your arteries...
One clinical trial failed to show that Ginkgo had any effect on the development of Alzheimers http://www.thelancet.com/journals/laneur/article/PIIS1474-4422(12)70206-5/abstract
This study has lead some scientists and journalists to claim that people who take ginkgo are irrational. Human health and human sickness is a multi-faceted thing and we don't yet understand that much about it in whole human terms. I'm wondering whether we should avoid thinking of plant friends as wonder drugs and testing their componant chemicals on passive subjects. All good food sustains life and maintains health, but we don't damn it because it isn't tested and proved to be a wonder drug. And here's a funny thing: conventional drugs are tested using a placebo, to see whether the drug is more effective than a sugar pill. BUT, if the drug, or the sugar pill, is given to the subject with love, or white-coat authority, it will be more effective. I think there is something more going on than the "efficacy" (drug testing word) of the chemical component on controlled subjects when it comes to medicine, even conventional medicine.
For more about Ginkgo, try "Ginkgo the smart herb" by Jonathan Zuess, Three Rivers Press
 |
| A flight of ginkgo butterflies... |
I've realised that it has beautiful butterfly leaves. Each has an inclusion, partially divided in two, rather like the brain. We dry the leaves and add them to our herbal tea brews. If you need something stronger, you can buy full potency extracts.
 |
| Ginkgo leaf spreads its wings |
 |
| Moth leaf |
It can also help with boosting immunity, PMS, diabetes, preserving vision, tinitus, impotence, skin aging, cancer prevention and unclogging your arteries...
One clinical trial failed to show that Ginkgo had any effect on the development of Alzheimers http://www.thelancet.com/journals/laneur/article/PIIS1474-4422(12)70206-5/abstract
This study has lead some scientists and journalists to claim that people who take ginkgo are irrational. Human health and human sickness is a multi-faceted thing and we don't yet understand that much about it in whole human terms. I'm wondering whether we should avoid thinking of plant friends as wonder drugs and testing their componant chemicals on passive subjects. All good food sustains life and maintains health, but we don't damn it because it isn't tested and proved to be a wonder drug. And here's a funny thing: conventional drugs are tested using a placebo, to see whether the drug is more effective than a sugar pill. BUT, if the drug, or the sugar pill, is given to the subject with love, or white-coat authority, it will be more effective. I think there is something more going on than the "efficacy" (drug testing word) of the chemical component on controlled subjects when it comes to medicine, even conventional medicine.
For more about Ginkgo, try "Ginkgo the smart herb" by Jonathan Zuess, Three Rivers Press
Education Link!
If you want an idea of what Steiner Waldorf education is all about, see this link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=leTIyWJWyY8.
It's from a wonderful film by Jonathon Stedall about Steiner in general, here you can find the education bits gathered together.
Here is the link for the full film, which is warm and uplifting and I recommend it highly http://rudolfsteinerfilm.squarespace.com/
Saturday, October 27, 2012
Autumn impressions
 |
| Fiery vegetation in the wet grey wet |
 |
| Fig chutney cooking |
 |
| Last of the autumn figs |
 |
| Fig chutney closer |
 |
| Gathering together, peaceful and snug |
Saturday, October 20, 2012
Smuggling confectionary, Being Out of Bounds and Rumbles
R has finally met a reputedly wicked teacher and seen her in action; he has been telling exaggerated eye rolling tales about this woman for six weeks and it turns out he hasn't even seen her.
"But I've seen her now" says R, "She is really terrible"
"Why, what did she do?" I said, we were eating Saturday lunch (mince with rice and sweetcorn),
"She came running over shouting...and gave one of my friends a detention".
"What for?"
"Having a lollipop in the corridor. She said it won't do" (A lollipop, did I hear right?)
"Well, is it against the rules to have a lollipop in the corridor?"
"I don't know, we don't get shown the rules" (????)
He then told us he now knows why he got caught being in the wrong place, he was being watched on camera, which he says explains why the teacher came charging in so soon after their arrival shouting "Identity papers, detention!".
"What were you doing in this forbidden place?" asks Papa
"Nothing"
"Why were you there?"
"Don't know"
"So why did you go there?"
"Don't know"
"Did you know it was out of bounds?"
"No"
"Nobody showed you what was out of bounds?"
"No" (you will noticed that this conversation is reading like the transcript of a police interrogation)
"But do you know now?"
"Yes" he grins (presumably because he's been caught in all of them)
"Well, why is it out of bounds, there must be some reason?" continues Papa, doggedly.
"Because you can escape"
"Escape, escape from school?"
"Yes"
"How?"
"There is a staircase"
"Where does it lead?"
Shrugs "I don't know"
I intervene being the soft guy in the softly softly approach: "you mean your friends wanted to check out a possible escape route for a future date?"
"I don't know. No. In fact (the truth at last) it is a short cut for getting to the school gate without having to go right round the playground..." he muses "in the playground you can hear shouting and that means there is a fight. As soon as there's a fight everyone runs over and starts shouting "Baston Baston Baston" (fight rumble fight). But what I like doing is staying at the edge and looking back, because then you see the teachers come running over."
I can't help visualising the teachers in peaked caps with truncheons and handcuffs.
"How often is there a fight?" asks Papa
"Every day"
"Every day? NO"
"Yes"
I butt in "You won't hear about any of this from a GIRL, as far as they are concerned none of this happens..."
"And you enjoy it when there's a fight?
"Yes, it's fun." He grins to himself.
Well I suppose they have to do something to relieve the tedium in the exercise yard.
"But I've seen her now" says R, "She is really terrible"
"Why, what did she do?" I said, we were eating Saturday lunch (mince with rice and sweetcorn),
"She came running over shouting...and gave one of my friends a detention".
"What for?"
"Having a lollipop in the corridor. She said it won't do" (A lollipop, did I hear right?)
"Well, is it against the rules to have a lollipop in the corridor?"
"I don't know, we don't get shown the rules" (????)
He then told us he now knows why he got caught being in the wrong place, he was being watched on camera, which he says explains why the teacher came charging in so soon after their arrival shouting "Identity papers, detention!".
"What were you doing in this forbidden place?" asks Papa
"Nothing"
"Why were you there?"
"Don't know"
"So why did you go there?"
"Don't know"
"Did you know it was out of bounds?"
"No"
"Nobody showed you what was out of bounds?"
"No" (you will noticed that this conversation is reading like the transcript of a police interrogation)
"But do you know now?"
"Yes" he grins (presumably because he's been caught in all of them)
"Well, why is it out of bounds, there must be some reason?" continues Papa, doggedly.
"Because you can escape"
"Escape, escape from school?"
"Yes"
"How?"
"There is a staircase"
"Where does it lead?"
Shrugs "I don't know"
I intervene being the soft guy in the softly softly approach: "you mean your friends wanted to check out a possible escape route for a future date?"
"I don't know. No. In fact (the truth at last) it is a short cut for getting to the school gate without having to go right round the playground..." he muses "in the playground you can hear shouting and that means there is a fight. As soon as there's a fight everyone runs over and starts shouting "Baston Baston Baston" (fight rumble fight). But what I like doing is staying at the edge and looking back, because then you see the teachers come running over."
I can't help visualising the teachers in peaked caps with truncheons and handcuffs.
"How often is there a fight?" asks Papa
"Every day"
"Every day? NO"
"Yes"
I butt in "You won't hear about any of this from a GIRL, as far as they are concerned none of this happens..."
"And you enjoy it when there's a fight?
"Yes, it's fun." He grins to himself.
Well I suppose they have to do something to relieve the tedium in the exercise yard.
Embercombe: Committed Action
"Touching hearts stimulating minds and inspiring committed action for a truly sustainable world"
Have a look at where B is this week http://www.embercombe.co.uk/
Have a look at where B is this week http://www.embercombe.co.uk/
Friday, October 19, 2012
Feed the world, or feed success?
If we want to feed the world we have to set ourselves the goal of feeding the world. It might seem obvious, but we seem to be setting ourselves other goals, such as individual national success and glory, money for shareholders... and missing the point.
It's no good going to big companies to ask them to feed the world. Their job is to make money, feed the shareholders and survive by beating the world. It's no good going to the governments of self-interested 'rich' countries; their job is increasingly to make sure their company competes successfully on the world market or be destroyed by it. Big agroindustrial compaines have the goal of amassing personal, corporate or national wealth to the detriment of others, and feeding the world always comes second to feeding their success.
Whether we realise it or not, this money-making mentality applied to food for life is to the detriment of others: put simply, if we all want to live like Americans, we need 7 planets, or even Europeans we need 3 planets. (Paul Aries) At the moment some of us are over fed at the cost of most of us who are poor and too many of us who starve. We can't go on like this.
If we want to feed the world, we should not confuse this either with the simplistic goal of 'producing more' which doesn't in practice feed the world.
In a nutshell and a soundbite, if we want to feed the world our thinking has to be based on NEED and not GREED.
It is wonderful how resourceful we humans are if we are freed from greed and free to concentrate on need, and how bountiful the earth is, if we can work together. Each country, each region within that country needs to take responsibility for feeding itself, individual farmers need the possibility, information and practical help to interpret the general principles on their farms: the reward are: more resistance to pests and diseases, to weather extremes, higher yield, and no dependence on expensive products. These solutions can be brought into being by dipping into the bountiful resource of human thought: human thought guided by science, compassion and insight, and importantly, unimpeded by corporate or economic competition. Agroecology is an example of this. There's no shortage of human resourcefulness and natural resources with this approach.
If we think there is a global need, too great and horrifying to contemplate, 9 billion of us soon, in one big mass, and not enough food to go round, and if we think we need to turn to a global company or government to solve this need we are going to make a very big mistake. We are going to make the earth suffer and humanity is going to suffer. Global companies and governments who take false ideas and turn them to profit are not going to feed the world; they are going to poison the world, they are going to starve the world, and if we let it happen, they are going to kill the world. (If you have any doubts about this, please see two films, The World According to Monstanto and Our Daily Poison both by Marie-Monique Robin).
We need to turn away from production/profit thinking, that is corporate thinking, it is taking us nowhere in terms of the banking economy and it is falsely applied to the challenge of feeding the world. The goal, remember, is not to produce, over produce, produce for profit and force your produce on others or force up prices, but to enable the world, in all its myriad countries and regions, to feed itself. Poverty, ignorance, bad economic practice and misguided food production are important causes of world hunger, not a simple 'lack of food' which can never be rectified by some big company using chemicals and coercion to produce 'more'.
The earth gives us life. The successful relationship of farmer with the earth which gives us life and is more sophisticated, clever and beautiful than ever narrow corporate thinking can be. It is healthy and strong. It is long term and it is the future.
AGROECOLOGY; Scientific facts and inspiration for feeding the world;
Here is an approach based on need not greed, informed by facts not profit figures, inspired by the generosity and versatility of nature, instead of seeing her as the enemy. The general principles of agroecology provide an infinite number of possible solutions waiting to be worked out for an area near you. .www.agroecology.org/
Please see the film The Harvests of the Future by Marie Monique Robin, for the most beautiful, sensible and understandable presentation of true solutions for feeding the world.
It's no good going to big companies to ask them to feed the world. Their job is to make money, feed the shareholders and survive by beating the world. It's no good going to the governments of self-interested 'rich' countries; their job is increasingly to make sure their company competes successfully on the world market or be destroyed by it. Big agroindustrial compaines have the goal of amassing personal, corporate or national wealth to the detriment of others, and feeding the world always comes second to feeding their success.
If we want to feed the world, we should not confuse this either with the simplistic goal of 'producing more' which doesn't in practice feed the world.
In a nutshell and a soundbite, if we want to feed the world our thinking has to be based on NEED and not GREED.
It is wonderful how resourceful we humans are if we are freed from greed and free to concentrate on need, and how bountiful the earth is, if we can work together. Each country, each region within that country needs to take responsibility for feeding itself, individual farmers need the possibility, information and practical help to interpret the general principles on their farms: the reward are: more resistance to pests and diseases, to weather extremes, higher yield, and no dependence on expensive products. These solutions can be brought into being by dipping into the bountiful resource of human thought: human thought guided by science, compassion and insight, and importantly, unimpeded by corporate or economic competition. Agroecology is an example of this. There's no shortage of human resourcefulness and natural resources with this approach.
If we think there is a global need, too great and horrifying to contemplate, 9 billion of us soon, in one big mass, and not enough food to go round, and if we think we need to turn to a global company or government to solve this need we are going to make a very big mistake. We are going to make the earth suffer and humanity is going to suffer. Global companies and governments who take false ideas and turn them to profit are not going to feed the world; they are going to poison the world, they are going to starve the world, and if we let it happen, they are going to kill the world. (If you have any doubts about this, please see two films, The World According to Monstanto and Our Daily Poison both by Marie-Monique Robin).
We need to turn away from production/profit thinking, that is corporate thinking, it is taking us nowhere in terms of the banking economy and it is falsely applied to the challenge of feeding the world. The goal, remember, is not to produce, over produce, produce for profit and force your produce on others or force up prices, but to enable the world, in all its myriad countries and regions, to feed itself. Poverty, ignorance, bad economic practice and misguided food production are important causes of world hunger, not a simple 'lack of food' which can never be rectified by some big company using chemicals and coercion to produce 'more'.
The earth gives us life. The successful relationship of farmer with the earth which gives us life and is more sophisticated, clever and beautiful than ever narrow corporate thinking can be. It is healthy and strong. It is long term and it is the future.
AGROECOLOGY; Scientific facts and inspiration for feeding the world;
Here is an approach based on need not greed, informed by facts not profit figures, inspired by the generosity and versatility of nature, instead of seeing her as the enemy. The general principles of agroecology provide an infinite number of possible solutions waiting to be worked out for an area near you. .www.agroecology.org/
Please see the film The Harvests of the Future by Marie Monique Robin, for the most beautiful, sensible and understandable presentation of true solutions for feeding the world.
Feed the WHOLE World
Feed the World. Originally Bob Geldof's concert, now the catchphrase introduced into our consciousness by Monsanto, you'll hear it everywhere. If you are not conscious that you have been brainwashed you may be using it yourself.
EXCITING AND UPLIFTING STUFF - a film has just come out which will allow us to answer the question, how do we feed the world without resorting to intensive farming with petrochemically produced pesticides and herbicides. It's called The Harvests of the Future by Marie Monique Robin, it hasn't arrived yet at Amazon UK, but it exists in English and I've ordered 2 copies, one to keep and one to lend.
The myth goes like this:
But the truth is so much more uplifting, please readjust your feed the world view:
YES AGROECOLOGY CAN FEED THE WORLD
www.agroecology.org/
AND NOT ONLY THAT!
EXCITING AND UPLIFTING STUFF - a film has just come out which will allow us to answer the question, how do we feed the world without resorting to intensive farming with petrochemically produced pesticides and herbicides. It's called The Harvests of the Future by Marie Monique Robin, it hasn't arrived yet at Amazon UK, but it exists in English and I've ordered 2 copies, one to keep and one to lend.
The myth goes like this:
- Only intensive agriculture using petrochemically produced pesticides and herbicides can feed the world, will be able to feed the world when the world population reaches 9 billion, we've got to be realistic.
- Organic, sustainable agriculture is all very well, but it can't feed the world.
But the truth is so much more uplifting, please readjust your feed the world view:
YES AGROECOLOGY CAN FEED THE WORLD
www.agroecology.org/
AND NOT ONLY THAT!
- ONLY agroecology can feed the world
Leading scientist says agroecology is the only way to feed the world
www.non-gmoreport.com/.../scientistsaysagroecologyfeedsworld.php - Industrial agriculture is not only less productive,less efficient and more expensive in real terms, it is killing the world
- The economics of mass production by developed countries tends to mean in practice Feed the Rich, while the rest of the world goes without. T
Mm, that's better, we get the slogan back and we get things back in order.
BEST DOCUMENTARY I'VE EVER SEEN please watch this, for humanity's sake. I've asked Amazon.uk why they don't have it yet, please ask them too, because we can't wait for this film!
Wednesday, October 17, 2012
What the Holly Tree Said
My readers have mobbed me, demanding to know how the conversation with the holly tree continued*. Oh alright then...
Stop to think and think without stopping
First of all we need a big fat dollop of Po. Po is the thinking tool of our age developed by Mr Edward De Bono, the Father of Lateral Thinking. It encourages a break from binary black and white yes or no thinking which can sometimes block our curiosity, research, creativity and problem solving. Po is the third way. If I say po to something, I do not say the something (perhaps an idea) is wrong, I do not say it is right, I do not say anything at all but I do accept to take the idea and run with it; see where it takes me, see what it tells me, see what I think and investigate further.
Po Tree Possibilities...
Anne-Laure suggested that trees have an inner nature, that this is an objective fact, and that we can develop our innate ability to recieve information about this inner nature...we and trees have something to do with one another.
The Experiment
We present ourselves before one of 5 trees (pine, maple, holly, beech or lime), stay silent and humble, and see what happens. And then we investigate further as we feel right: perhaps approach the tree, use senses of sight, touch, smell taste and sound, and write down our observations.
This method gives credence to the whole human being as tool of investigation, and values artistic expression as a way of accessing and describing objective 'inner' truth.
Then said Anne-Laure, we will re-group to share our impressions, to see if any of us perceived the same thing, and to be filled in by Anne-Laure on what she knows about the tree.
Holly and me
I was sulking when I stood before the Holly because I wanted to do a pine with a shaggy trunk but everyone said oh no that's not a pine it's a something or other that I didn't understand in French; so why did Anne-Laure point it out then, and why didn't JC tell me to bring a pen and paper he doesn't think of me and I made his picnic and of course he has a pen for himself, and why is it raining quite so hard and why am I here?
I stood in front of the Holly for quite some time and nothing happened other than ever increasing wetness.
Then I felt a strip of warmth from the top to the centre of my chest. It was an intense, inner heat. I wondered if this was my personal sensation and nothing to do with the holly so once I had finished with the holly I tried the same thing with the Maple and got an unmistakable and quite different sensation, a sort of whoosh going outwards and floating on the airs with its almost horizontal branches, a specific form of movement which I could imitate with my arms. The heat came again when I returned to the Holly.
With the comfortable heat glowing in my chest, I looked at the tree's scraggy shape, a tangle of tough defensive leaves. I looked at its way of growing: no harmonious and high symmetrical growth and shape; I sensed a reluctance to shoot upwards, but rather an impulse to shoot up a little and then out, and then in this direction and then in that, and then to pull back, and then to shoot out again, and to keep the growth for itself, close to it's centre.
Mmm. After a while I plucked up the courage to go closer to the tree. It's leaf crown was parted in one place and I entered and approached the trunk. The tripartate and intertwining trunk was small and had a delicate pale skin. When I touched it I was surprised, it felt warm and supple like a child's limb, and very sensitive and vulnerable in contrast to the leaves. It felt marvellously good close inside the crown of prickly leaves and I felt moved almost to tears...of joy.
I began to really notice the leaves, the edges pale, the tips of the points pale brown and dry, the spaces between the points perfectly rounded, the skin glossy and leathery. Then I noticed that the leaves were not, as I supposed from afar, tangled up in a disordered fashion. Each leaf, rather than overlapping like the maple leaves, interlocked, so each leaf had its own space as it danced in between the other. And each individual leaf twisted in every direction, as if expecting to be attacked or to capture joy from every direction. This appeared to me a marvellous and exuberant thing. This tree was exploring all directions, all possibilities, in constant reformation and eternal dance of life. It was plucky and difficult, defensive and joyous. I couldn't help but admire it's all-angles reaching out and connecting, and its endurance, remaining richly green leafed in all seasons, growing steadily, able to become very old and very tall in time, but somehow still youthful.
The berries were nut hard a satin finish, grew in the angle between the branchings on the tiniest of stalkettes, close to the stem.
An unshaped box tree grew next to it. The box veered in one direction, the holly in the other, so they both had space. The branches rose from the trunk, dipped, but did not droop as if defeated, formed an arc and then seemed to chose again to rise towards the sky at the tip.
I went to find a bigger older holly because I wanted to know what the trunk was like, whether it would thicken and crack with age. The aged skin was criss crossed with fine lines, but not in any way thickened or wrinkled.
If I had to say a medicinal virtue, from it's inner heat and central strength, I would say: Heart.
I felt quite full after all that. I presented myself to the Maple for contrast and comparison, but I didn't stay long, it was quite enough.
* this is a porky pie
Stop to think and think without stopping
First of all we need a big fat dollop of Po. Po is the thinking tool of our age developed by Mr Edward De Bono, the Father of Lateral Thinking. It encourages a break from binary black and white yes or no thinking which can sometimes block our curiosity, research, creativity and problem solving. Po is the third way. If I say po to something, I do not say the something (perhaps an idea) is wrong, I do not say it is right, I do not say anything at all but I do accept to take the idea and run with it; see where it takes me, see what it tells me, see what I think and investigate further.Po Tree Possibilities...
Anne-Laure suggested that trees have an inner nature, that this is an objective fact, and that we can develop our innate ability to recieve information about this inner nature...we and trees have something to do with one another.
The Experiment
We present ourselves before one of 5 trees (pine, maple, holly, beech or lime), stay silent and humble, and see what happens. And then we investigate further as we feel right: perhaps approach the tree, use senses of sight, touch, smell taste and sound, and write down our observations.
This method gives credence to the whole human being as tool of investigation, and values artistic expression as a way of accessing and describing objective 'inner' truth.
Then said Anne-Laure, we will re-group to share our impressions, to see if any of us perceived the same thing, and to be filled in by Anne-Laure on what she knows about the tree.
Holly and me
I was sulking when I stood before the Holly because I wanted to do a pine with a shaggy trunk but everyone said oh no that's not a pine it's a something or other that I didn't understand in French; so why did Anne-Laure point it out then, and why didn't JC tell me to bring a pen and paper he doesn't think of me and I made his picnic and of course he has a pen for himself, and why is it raining quite so hard and why am I here?
I stood in front of the Holly for quite some time and nothing happened other than ever increasing wetness.
Then I felt a strip of warmth from the top to the centre of my chest. It was an intense, inner heat. I wondered if this was my personal sensation and nothing to do with the holly so once I had finished with the holly I tried the same thing with the Maple and got an unmistakable and quite different sensation, a sort of whoosh going outwards and floating on the airs with its almost horizontal branches, a specific form of movement which I could imitate with my arms. The heat came again when I returned to the Holly.
With the comfortable heat glowing in my chest, I looked at the tree's scraggy shape, a tangle of tough defensive leaves. I looked at its way of growing: no harmonious and high symmetrical growth and shape; I sensed a reluctance to shoot upwards, but rather an impulse to shoot up a little and then out, and then in this direction and then in that, and then to pull back, and then to shoot out again, and to keep the growth for itself, close to it's centre.
Mmm. After a while I plucked up the courage to go closer to the tree. It's leaf crown was parted in one place and I entered and approached the trunk. The tripartate and intertwining trunk was small and had a delicate pale skin. When I touched it I was surprised, it felt warm and supple like a child's limb, and very sensitive and vulnerable in contrast to the leaves. It felt marvellously good close inside the crown of prickly leaves and I felt moved almost to tears...of joy.
I began to really notice the leaves, the edges pale, the tips of the points pale brown and dry, the spaces between the points perfectly rounded, the skin glossy and leathery. Then I noticed that the leaves were not, as I supposed from afar, tangled up in a disordered fashion. Each leaf, rather than overlapping like the maple leaves, interlocked, so each leaf had its own space as it danced in between the other. And each individual leaf twisted in every direction, as if expecting to be attacked or to capture joy from every direction. This appeared to me a marvellous and exuberant thing. This tree was exploring all directions, all possibilities, in constant reformation and eternal dance of life. It was plucky and difficult, defensive and joyous. I couldn't help but admire it's all-angles reaching out and connecting, and its endurance, remaining richly green leafed in all seasons, growing steadily, able to become very old and very tall in time, but somehow still youthful.
The berries were nut hard a satin finish, grew in the angle between the branchings on the tiniest of stalkettes, close to the stem.
An unshaped box tree grew next to it. The box veered in one direction, the holly in the other, so they both had space. The branches rose from the trunk, dipped, but did not droop as if defeated, formed an arc and then seemed to chose again to rise towards the sky at the tip.
I went to find a bigger older holly because I wanted to know what the trunk was like, whether it would thicken and crack with age. The aged skin was criss crossed with fine lines, but not in any way thickened or wrinkled.
If I had to say a medicinal virtue, from it's inner heat and central strength, I would say: Heart.
I felt quite full after all that. I presented myself to the Maple for contrast and comparison, but I didn't stay long, it was quite enough.
* this is a porky pie
Tuesday, October 16, 2012
R's School: the impersonal touch
JC goes to Parents 'Meeting'
Mrs Scruton, showing her sadistic credentials, arranged the parents 'meeting' for 8.30am on a Saturday. JC had to go because of my entirely justifiable fear that I would not be able to keep my mouth shut. He was Not Happy at having to get up early on a Saturday.
JC set off, and sat down at a meeting for quite some time before someone said 'Who's dad are you?'
and when he said our son's name they said 'no, we don't know him' (how very true) and he eventually realised he was in class 5C rhymes with 5E where he should have been. He was forced to telephone R from the concrete courtyard and ask him what room the meeting was in (something he had already been told), and luckily R has a keen interest in figures and had retained the number of the room; 242.
JC was handed a printout of R's personal profile consisting of a column of numbers out of 20, available on Pronote, the mark-consulting website. The assembled parents waited until a teacher came in to make a short presentation. There was sometimes time for JC to read a book between the departure of one and the arrival of another, which pleased him.
"Did the assembled parents interract with one another in any way?" I asked. "No".
"Did anyone appear to know our son or say anything about him?" "No".
"Did the teachers interract with the parents in any way?' "No. But some of the younger teachers said if we had any questions or difficulties we should not hesitate to contact them, and some gave their email address".
(Clearly a trap; I certainly won't be contacting any of them, anything I say could be used in evidence against me.)
JC said it was a good meeting because he saw the face of every teacher and it was all over in under an hour. I said I didn't see why they couldn't set up a site called Proprof where the teachers posted a photo of themselves and a short presentation of their work which could be accessed at a time to suit the parent.
R goes Missing
Yesterday the school phoned JC at work to say R had not turned up to his English class and was officially Missing. JC phoned me in a whisper from his Very Important Meeting to delegate the problem. After careful consideration of the options (run away from home, thought lesson was cancelled, lying ill in bedroom without my knowledge) I phoned the school to ask if there couldn't be some mistake. There was, another boy bearing the same surname was not in class. R told me later this boy was ill, and presumably without parental leave of absence. The secretary was most apologetic, rare in a Frenchwoman, but she wasn't looking for reassurance from me, she was inconsolable because an ADMINISTRATIVE ERROR HAD BEEN MADE.
Sapristi Knuckoes.
Mrs Scruton, showing her sadistic credentials, arranged the parents 'meeting' for 8.30am on a Saturday. JC had to go because of my entirely justifiable fear that I would not be able to keep my mouth shut. He was Not Happy at having to get up early on a Saturday.
JC set off, and sat down at a meeting for quite some time before someone said 'Who's dad are you?'
and when he said our son's name they said 'no, we don't know him' (how very true) and he eventually realised he was in class 5C rhymes with 5E where he should have been. He was forced to telephone R from the concrete courtyard and ask him what room the meeting was in (something he had already been told), and luckily R has a keen interest in figures and had retained the number of the room; 242.
JC was handed a printout of R's personal profile consisting of a column of numbers out of 20, available on Pronote, the mark-consulting website. The assembled parents waited until a teacher came in to make a short presentation. There was sometimes time for JC to read a book between the departure of one and the arrival of another, which pleased him.
"Did the assembled parents interract with one another in any way?" I asked. "No".
"Did anyone appear to know our son or say anything about him?" "No".
"Did the teachers interract with the parents in any way?' "No. But some of the younger teachers said if we had any questions or difficulties we should not hesitate to contact them, and some gave their email address".
(Clearly a trap; I certainly won't be contacting any of them, anything I say could be used in evidence against me.)
JC said it was a good meeting because he saw the face of every teacher and it was all over in under an hour. I said I didn't see why they couldn't set up a site called Proprof where the teachers posted a photo of themselves and a short presentation of their work which could be accessed at a time to suit the parent.
R goes Missing
Yesterday the school phoned JC at work to say R had not turned up to his English class and was officially Missing. JC phoned me in a whisper from his Very Important Meeting to delegate the problem. After careful consideration of the options (run away from home, thought lesson was cancelled, lying ill in bedroom without my knowledge) I phoned the school to ask if there couldn't be some mistake. There was, another boy bearing the same surname was not in class. R told me later this boy was ill, and presumably without parental leave of absence. The secretary was most apologetic, rare in a Frenchwoman, but she wasn't looking for reassurance from me, she was inconsolable because an ADMINISTRATIVE ERROR HAD BEEN MADE.
Sapristi Knuckoes.
Monday, October 15, 2012
Hallo Holly, You're looking swell, Holly
I talk to the trees
That's why they put me away (Spike Milligan)
The Holly and the Ivy, when they are both full grown
Of all the trees that are in the wood, the Holly bears the crown (English traditional carol)
Yesterday it poured with rain, then it poured harder, and without letting up it poured harder still for 8 hours, and I spent this day at the park, in the aforementioned rain, talking to trees.
I was encouraged to do this by a remarkable woman called Anne-Laure Rigouzzo-Weiller, a botanist Dr of Science turned tree- talker with a remarkable understanding of medicinal plants http://www.prometerre.com/.
It became obvious to me some time after communing with a holly tree, that Anne-Laure is not only one of those people who can speak to plants, and not only do the plants listen and speak back, but she can persuade them to speak to other people, and persuade other people to listen. That's quite something.
That's why they put me away (Spike Milligan)
The Holly and the Ivy, when they are both full grown
Of all the trees that are in the wood, the Holly bears the crown (English traditional carol)
Yesterday it poured with rain, then it poured harder, and without letting up it poured harder still for 8 hours, and I spent this day at the park, in the aforementioned rain, talking to trees.
I was encouraged to do this by a remarkable woman called Anne-Laure Rigouzzo-Weiller, a botanist Dr of Science turned tree- talker with a remarkable understanding of medicinal plants http://www.prometerre.com/.It became obvious to me some time after communing with a holly tree, that Anne-Laure is not only one of those people who can speak to plants, and not only do the plants listen and speak back, but she can persuade them to speak to other people, and persuade other people to listen. That's quite something.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
