Life The Stage

Photo is The Minack Theatre Cornwall

My Blog this week I have called Life the Stage, it is really about death and of how life's perceptions can change. The subject of death hardly ever gets an airing and is rarely discussed most likely because of our conscious fear, regardless of the fact that it is a journey that we all must undertake and from which there is no escape.

Earlier this week I was conversing with a friend about life, its mysterious intricacies, the paths that we have walked that have somehow led us to where we are now. To have the circle of friends that we have now, yet each of us started out in different places on the planet at different dates.

As individuals our lives contain experiences that shaped us and these continue, through some remarkable events or an event in our separateness that brought us all together. This does make me wonder is life accidental or are we living to a pre arranged script ?

Perhaps the poem below will clarify for you the words that I have left unsaid above, even though you may need to read the poem more than once.

Life the Stage

The living dreams of life

stay curious in minds that sleep

As we thespians play out

unwritten lines from a script.

A mystery in waxed footfalls

the rugged stage stumbles players

To shout aloud ‘accident’

unaware of the plot.

That pain creates character.

Babes whimper in hungry winds

starved of words that feed

The editors press with love

that which parents fumble to create.

A continuous dramatic comedy

ever changing scenes unheralded

Through time and space the acts

receive no applause or curtain calls.

For thespians are the critics unpaid

as unborn babes queue as audience

Impatient for a part on the stage.

© MRL 1983

The Universal Egg makes positive changes!

In May we received a phone call from Buster of www.talkingtrees.com to say he was in Killarney and wanted to stop by to present us with a gift. So that he and his good lady would be able to tour the island without having to worry about cracking the Universal Egg.

The Universal Egg is a terracotta ali-baba styled pot, which on Buster's direction we buried in the garden in a position where it would accumulate extra energy (other than that for which the pot is known). We placed it in the centre of a stone circle.

quote from Buster :
The Universal Egg ! Specially designed and constructed according to principals laid down by the father of eco technology Viktor Schauberger. The first true living, breathing water vessel, called by Viktor the holy grail or chalice, venerated by the ancients. The material and shape of the universal egg means it can be used for above and below ground uses. It can heal and ennoble tap water, maintain the freshness of spring water, re-energise and cool sick land, rejuvenate and enliven sick or dying trees. The many uses are as varied as the imaginations of the users.

I followed Buster's instructions and gave the water filled pot a regular stir, even making a stirring device made from a broom handle & two tired CD's.

About two weeks ago I received a email from the great man to remove a third of the water and sprinkle it like rain drops around the garden.

Now I have to admit to having been rather sceptical about the whole business, because as you and I know, that when still water is stored for a lengthy time it becomes stagnant,as well as rather smelly.

So surprise, suprise !

For on lifting off the hessian cover there was definitely no smell or sign of stagnancy. The water that I extracted via a jam jar tied to a pole, was amazingly crystal clear and I was totally gob smacked !

We did indeed sprinkle the water, like rain, around the garden and the remainder I shared with friends, for them to do the same in their gardens.

I have known for some time that water is a special element in that it stores memory. Think of flower & gem essences, as well as homeopathy, all three use fresh spring water as the base to store an energy pattern.

The energy from the Universal Egg, has I am sure had a positive effect on a three year old pear tree growing about about twenty feet away from the UE. For this year it has produced many extra large pears, the majority of them on the side of the tree nearest to the universal egg. (see photos)

DINOSAUR

Courtesy

Anybody else noticed that in the last few years that Common Courtesy has dwindled down to such an extent that it has now become virtually extinct .

I wonder if the new vogue of Political Correctness is to blame, or is it modern communications with all of its jargon. A ridiculous idea of course.

But what influence is it that has put a stopper on common courtesy that's what I would like to know ?

I do recall that twenty years ago it was the folks from the USA who having scrounged a holiday in our home, would return to theirs and nothing would be heard from them until they wanted to make a return visit.

Today I no longer entertain those whose manners are so poor that they cannot show a bit of honest decency and send greetings .

Another relevant grouse of mine is honesty, people are seemingly dishonest with themselves or is it that they have lost the ability to clearly state their desires.
Ask them a straight question and the reply is "I don't know I will let you know"

I am still waiting and have been waiting for a number of years for an honest answer
from one individual. Now don't run away with the idea that I have only ever asked them a simple uncomplicated question just the once. I do jog their memory from time to time.

I may very well be seen as an old dinosaur for sticking to my point of principles but am constantly fed up with the modern society that has its head up its arse !

road to the heartlands

" You must not burn logs of Rhododendron wood on an open fire because the gas which they give off is extremely toxic"

This being a lesson that I learnt while walking with companions, through the shoreline woodlands that border one of the Glengarriff inlets. After me commenting upon a neatly stacked pile of Rhododendron logs.

Here four of us were strolling on a balmy September morning, the second of a short break including two of my relations from that other island (see previous entry). The air was still, the temperature exactly perfect for me and so on spotting an open craggy place, that over looked the opposite shore I chose to sit awhile, alone and drink inwardly of the ambience. Whilst three walked on….

I have added this spot now to my growing list of places of where to visit, to meditate and commune with nature. On the coast of north Clare is another, a special solitary point that I know as Where Curlews Sing, for their song echoes across a wide bay, like a mantra designed to transcend the listener into a different consciousness and it does. Stilling the Mind: is a study and a practice that I under took many years ago, one of the better things that I have ever taken on and studiously maintained. Unlike a religion that entraps and ensnares. StM allows one to have freedom of thought, to be actually in charge of the Self and in control of the mind. It is the ability to be free in the truest meaning of the word.

Twenty four hours later the three of us stood at Healy Pass on the Bheara Peninsula, after having driven up from Adrigole, along a a twisty road that can best be described as being like a Serpents Tail !
At the apex of the Pass (as with all passes) you get the impression of being at the top of the world, with superb views here in easterly and westerly directions. We stayed only minutes for our destination that day lay further to the west and the Ring of Kerry.

My personal knowledge is that the best parts of the Ring lay not on the coastal roads, but on those small country roads found on the O.S maps that bisect the very middle and heart of Ring of Kerry. The suggestion of doing this fell on deaf ears as we, like every tourist before us, clung like fleas to the well beaten coastal roads.

Communications

BATH not 'barth'

Continuing on from last weeks blog Snow Leopard has been loaded it is fully operational, without any visible glitches and all is as perfect as Apple claim it to be !

* * *

Today we are awaiting the arrival of special visitors from that island that lies between us and the european continent, on that island four old nations live in comparative harmony. These particular folk are from England two will arrive this day and two more tomorrow, neither couple knowing the other. It will be interesting to see how they communicate and interact when they get together both having the same language.

The way in which the English speak English often denotes the class or the assumed class of the speaker, nowhere is this more apparent than in London and its outer areas where dialect is largely avoided by the professional classes and is a common form of snobbishness or so it seems to me.

I often wonder why people with good strong county accents feel the need to lose their dialect and conjoin with others in uttering a flat insipid style of speech that lacks vitality. Fortunately the displacement of dialect

rarely occurs with the people from Northern or Southwestern counties.

This past week I have been listening to the Beeb in order to attune my ears to hearing and deciphering English English, which is entirely different to that which is pronounced on this island. The most noticeable difference with the non dialect English is the addition of the R sound when using an A which sounds like AR for example Bath actually sounds like Barth !

They have been here, those non dialect English speakers, and after having had several drinks while sitting around the fire, their rich county accents have flowed out and warmed the atmosphere. Which makes me suspect that their adoption of the non dialect English in the first place stemmed from some sort of inhibition or insecurity.

I do though understand the need to fit in when moving to a different area or country. Fitting in is done by being considerate to others, using common sense by not forcing your ways on them or comparing the new place with your last abode. Otherwise an outspoken neighbour might tell you to return to whence you came.

Our accents do though change minimally and naturally as we unconsciously accept the different idioms of dialect of our new place of abode.

Strangely, every person that meets us hears different parts of our voice; in much the same way as each person recognises facial features differently too. For example, I once shaved off my beard. Some people noticed right away while others didn't notice at all and some did not even recognise me until I spoke.

Anticipation!

I am waiting, I was going to say patiently. Except that would hardly be right, because anticipation is in the air within these walls, it has been slowly building since I first ever read of the concept many months ago. My appetite for new knowledge has caused a hunger that is now soon to be sated.

I am speaking of SNOW LEOPARD of course Apples' new operating system.

It will be delivered and installed in a few days time - hurrah!

I do recall in the early 80's of having our first computer, a keyboard and a monitor and of having to type in the programs by hand, all copied from a book. Woe to him or her who mistyped and had to start all over again.

Will development ever cease? Now that's a naive question, for I believe that computers have far to go and that they will make even greater inroads into our lives.

Imagine if the transport system in every country was ruled by a system that would control our personal transport carrier. Enter the vehicle, speak in where you needed to be, take a seat and off you go at a speed that would be regulated by the amount of users and gauged to arrive safely at a destination.

Or

You want build a new house? Select the location's ordinates, the design and all would be done for you. Including materials ordered and delivered to the site.

Equipment all controlled by computer. Not so crazy actually, for a friend of mine several years ago designed a machine that could built brick or concrete block walls. The machine failed though and the problem was with the users who failed to clean it properly!

Much the same for anything we want whether that be a Ship, Aircraft or Needle.

There is no end as to how computer controlled equipment could bring us benefits.

AUGUST

I have never been a great fan of August, once past the Lughnasadh festival, I could stay in bed snoozing till September comes around.

The dictionary definition for august describes it as 'imposing and majestic'.

Yes, imposing it is, I can agree with that one. As for majestic absolutely most definitely not !

It is the month of the dogs and the dog bites. I remember, as a youth delivering newspapers up and down the hills of a small market town and of leaving loads of leather gloves between the jaws of ferocious snappy small pets; better that than fingers.

I'll give you another example of August: This morning I rang a friend around 10 o'clock and listened at first to empty silence as the call was picked up. I heard a hoarse rasping and growling sound, which I identified as a Jack Russell with laryngitis. My immediate thought was that I had misdialled through to the Animal Dispensary for Sick Creatures !

I was just about to apologise, when there came the muffled faintly recognisable voice of Ms Q, to whom I now offer my abject apologies for having imposed upon her Sunday morning slumbers.

This then is an example of the first definition of August.

Canals

Legging

In the days of yore: My parents had a boat, a small wooden barge called the Rascal. It was their hide-away, a peaceful retreat from the blitz of a raging war. They were fortunate not to have had it commandeered into the war effort as happened to so many of Britain's small craft.

The above is background information to an often used phrase that my Mother would say to me in later years was

'You were afloat before you could walk' and she wasn't referring to me being in her womb.

I have several memories of being onboard the Rascal. One of which is awakening from sleep and seeing the grey wooden floorboards floating near the base of my bunk. I think that it was probably the sound of the hand pump being used that woke me from sleep. I certainly wasn't frightened so perhaps it was a regular occurrence and another reason why the Rascal remained in private hands!

You know, I never ever enquired as to how or from whom they obtained their fuel for the engine.

Rationing in Britain did not end until 1950s., so where did it come from? My assumption is that it was a black-market arrangement that fuelled the single cylinder petrol/paraffin engine.

Many years later when I was working in a small shipyard, I met a larger version of the Petter Engine, similar to that which was on our boat.

Another childhood memory I have is of going through a long dark canal tunnel and of being kept in the galley (kitchen) area for my own safety. The engine had either stopped or perhaps my father switched it off to save fuel. Anyway he and another were using the old Bargee method of Legging the boat through To do this they either had to lie on their backs on the cabin roof and put their feet on the roof of the tunnel and walk, or if it was a narrow tunnel they would do it one each side with their feet on the walls while my mother took the tiller and steered.

I recall that she disliked going through the tunnels, in case they met a large barge towing a string of lighters coming the other way and the wash would tend to push Rascal on to the mud banks at the tunnels side walls. Mother didn't like mud or the slimy walls of the deep locks, her preference was to go ashore and assist the lock keepers to open or shut the lock gates.

Of course in those days of rationing and shortages, there were certain pecuniary advantages to be gained by travelling the waterways, fields of cabbages, carrots and spuds etc.as well as setting the occasional snare for what might come along during the night!

Today when reading about the narrow boat people for example Maffi's blog www.narrowboater.blogspot.com I see that they use the shops and Supermarkets for their supplies and a smile crosses my face. Of course things have changed, social conditions are very different; they have fresh water points, sewage disposal stations and every modern amenity.

Gone are the carbide lamps that my father used, gone too are old families each having their own individual paint scheme, so to have the cap wearing pipe smoking grannies. There remains today only the canals, perhaps there is a similar camaraderie between all of the bargees I don't know ?

LUGHNASADH

The picture above shows a Rowan Tree/Mountain Ash in full fruit. It is said that the ancient Irish Druids would eat three of these berries to give them inspiration. I have eaten them several times and found them to be a bit sharp, then of course those people were well known for there caustic wit and shrewdness.

Today is the old date of LUGHNASADH, by old I mean before the dates were revised by the calendar change.

Many of today's Druids have longed recognised that the dates given by the 'official calendars' were wrong or out of sync; in fact the dates were set by the British Judiciary for their Assize Courts.

So on taking a look at the solar festivals which are equally spaced throughout the year, realised that the Fire festivals need to be equally spaced too.

DAWN at LUGHNASADH ‘83’

A misty vale screened

half perceived at dawn

Dances faerie phantoms

here before, now again

Visual to bleary eyes

Fresh born spirits

invigorate

the earthly womb

To bring

A harvest home.

© Robur 1983

Home is the Sailor

I often dreamed about living in a long narrow boat and of the comforts it would afford.

The free fresh air and all that greeness to be seen, from every window.

Of hearing the wind and rains lashing down on the cabin roof.

This then is similar - just close your eyes and IMAGINE !

Alphabetical details of me :-

A - Age: 66 years

B - Bed size: King & Queen size

C - Chore you hate: ALL OF THEM

D - Dog's name: TOBY C

E - Essential to start your day : SILENCE !

F - Favourite colour : Purple

G - Gold or Silver: Silver

H - Height: 5' -11

I - Instruments you play: The Comb

J - Job title: Handyman, Chauffeur & Lover

K - Kissing : All Types & Styles

L - Living arrangements: A bijou rural palace place,

M - Married : Twice

N - Nicknames: Pup, Old Coot & Stagbunny,

O - Optimist or Pessimist : OPTIMIST

P - Pet Peeve: Conniving Politicians and so called Experts!

Q - Quotation (Motto) : SERVICE ABOVE SELF

R - Religion : PAGAN

S - Smoking: Pipe & Cigars

T - Tea : Roiboos, Green, Cammomile / Lemon with Ginger.

U- Underwear: Yes

V - Vegetarian: Yes plus Fish

W - Walking : 3.4 km before breakfast most mornings

X - Xmas : No, I'm a Pagan!

Y - Yoga: No, PILATES ! (not that I do any)

Z - ZOO : No, I would rather see them in a Game Park