I love scrapbooking when I have time, with my paintbrush and pot of glue! I plan for this to be an alphabetically-listed space where I can share some of my favourite things - eg books, music, places, writings of others etc.
Art
Christ Washing St Peter's feet, painting by Ford Maddox Brown
B is for Books
Beethoven's Ode to Joy - thank you, Wolfgang!
Dance ...
A wonderful collage of Rita Hayworth dancing - with the inimitable Fred Astaire among others ...
Dogs I have encountered on my travels!
Siegburg - Red Cross collecting-dogs!
If you would like to see some more of our canine cousins....
Memorials
Wherever I go, I love to seek out memorials which people have placed to remember and honour those they loved and respected.
Memorial to the women of Aachen
I came across this memorial, when visiting the Christmas market at Aachen (see Poetry page). My German friend Petra helped me with the translation:
"In memory of all the women of Aachen, who ensured the survival of the people of our city through the war and who, after the end of the war, worked exceptionally hard to make it inhabitable again".
I found this interesting blog when searching for Trummerfrauen, which Petra told me of - the women who cleared the rubble in Germany after the bombing etc:
http://www.ruerude.com/2006/03/the_rubble_wome.html
For more memorials ...
"In memory of all the women of Aachen, who ensured the survival of the people of our city through the war and who, after the end of the war, worked exceptionally hard to make it inhabitable again".
I found this interesting blog when searching for Trummerfrauen, which Petra told me of - the women who cleared the rubble in Germany after the bombing etc:
http://www.ruerude.com/2006/03/the_rubble_wome.html
For more memorials ...
Music
Click here for some of the musicians I've encountered on my travels
RUNNING - see here for pics
Postboxes
Soundscapes |
A place for some of my favourite sound recordings ...
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Trees
The tree which moves some to tears of joy is in the eyes of others only a green thing which stands in the way
William Blake
(Pictured left) Ancient Oak on Southborough Common
Beech woods, Southborough Common, on a May afternoon
This passage by Richard Jefferies says it all for me. I hope you enjoy it too:
If we had never before looked upon the earth, but suddenly came to it man or woman grown, set down in the midst of a summer mead, would it not seem to us a radiant vision? The hues, the shapes, the song and life of birds, above all the sunlight, the breath of heaven, resting on it; the mind would be filled with its glory, unable to grasp it, hardly believing that such things could be mere matter and no more. Like a dream of some spirit-land it would appear, scarce fit to be touched lest it should fall to pieces, too beautiful to be long watched lest it should fade away. So it seemed to me as a boy, sweet and new like this each morning; and even now, after the years that have passed, and the lines they have worn in the forehead, the summer mead shines as bright and fresh as when my foot first touched the grass.
If we had never before looked upon the earth, but suddenly came to it man or woman grown, set down in the midst of a summer mead, would it not seem to us a radiant vision? The hues, the shapes, the song and life of birds, above all the sunlight, the breath of heaven, resting on it; the mind would be filled with its glory, unable to grasp it, hardly believing that such things could be mere matter and no more. Like a dream of some spirit-land it would appear, scarce fit to be touched lest it should fall to pieces, too beautiful to be long watched lest it should fade away. So it seemed to me as a boy, sweet and new like this each morning; and even now, after the years that have passed, and the lines they have worn in the forehead, the summer mead shines as bright and fresh as when my foot first touched the grass.
U is for Ukelele
My Dad graduated from the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art in the 1920s. Among his other talents, he played the ukelele. There was a huge craze for playing the ukelele at that time, as there is now, and he made great money teaching young ladies to play - I recall him saying he charged a guinea (that's £1.05p in modern money) per lesson, which was a fortune then! Thanks to the wonderful world of Twitter, I just came across this fab You-Tube film of local players here in Tunbridge Wells. Hope you enjoy!