Open letter to Mr Brown PM

OPEN LETTER TO Mr Brown PM

Dear Mr Brown

Along with the rest of the country I have been reading reports of your alleged inappropriate behavior in the work place. I’m sure you are as dismayed about these reports as the rest of us, and in order to help you ensure this type of allegation is never levied at you again, I am enclosing something I think you and your colleagues may find useful.

I work in a school and in every room and corridor we have a couple of important rules displayed. We have found many young people in their early teenage years find it difficult to differentiate between appropriate behaviour and inappropriate behaviour. Some young people come from extremely disadvantaged backgrounds and don’t understand the concept of zero tolerance, sadly, to some, verbal and even physical abuse are a part of normal every day life. It’s our job as educators to instill into them good social skills and to teach them to be socially responsible adults. We try very hard to teach them to recognize the differences between appropriate and inappropriate behavior, we stress how important this will be in adult life. And I have to say, the vast majority of our young people leave us with good social skills and a firm grasp on what is and what is not appropriate. This is why I am sending you our two most important school rules. I think you will find these two rules invaluable, if you and your colleagues adhere to these two simple rules I can promise you these awful allegations will never be cast in your direction again.

1, Keep hands, feet and objects to yourself  AT ALL TIMES

2. No shouting, no swearing, no insults, no verbal abuse and no ‘’put downs’’ AT ANY TIME

I recommend these be copied onto A3 paper of a suitably bright colour, in large bold print and prominently displayed in every room and corridor within the work place. With these two simple rules clearly visible to every one at all times it will become second nature for someone to point them out immediately anyone has a momentary laps.

Assuring you of my best intentions at all times

Yours sincerely …………….forgetmenot 



http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/politics/article7036464.ece

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1252584/Gordon-bully-claims-Mandelson-PM-accused-abusing-Downing-Street-staff.html

Art Sunday; Jerry Garcia

Art Sunday; Jerry Garcia

Before Jerry Garcia became the lead guitarist and vocalist of The Grateful Dead he studied art at the California School of Fine Arts, which is now the San Francisco Art Institute.

Some of his early pieces became the basis of a line of men's neckties.

They are characterized by bright colors and abstract patterns.

Ten years after Garcia's death, new styles and designs continued to be produced and sold.
Jerry Garcia never stopped painting and drawing, it was one of his passions throughout his life and was never dropped in favour of his more high profile life as a musician.

He was born in 1942 and to the grief of many, passed away in 1995. Jerry Garcia contributed greatly to both the musical and artistic world.

His artwork consists of various limited edition lithographs, silk-screens, etchings, and hand-pulled prints. All of Jerry Garciaís prints have either an original hand signed pencil signature or a silk-screen signature.

Garcia once remarked about his art, “I hope that nobody takes them too seriously.”

Song Saturday; Grateful Dead, 'Trucking' from the album 'American Beauty'.

Thats the ALBUM American Beauty released half a century before the film.
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Garcia at his best.

Jerome John "Jerry" Garcia (August 1, 1942 – August 9, 1995) was an American musician best known for his work with the band the Grateful Dead.
One of its original founders, Garcia performed with The Grateful Dead for their entire three-decade career (1965–1995). Garcia also founded and participated in a variety of side projects, including the Saunders-Garcia Band with longtime friend Merl Saunders, Jerry Garcia Band, Old and in the Way, the Garcia/Grisman acoustic duo, and Legion of Mary. Garcia co-founded the New Riders of the Purple Sage with John Dawson and David Nelson. He also released several solo albums, and contributed to a number of albums by other artists over the years as a session musician. He was well known by many for his distinctive guitar playing and was ranked 13th in Rolling Stone's "100 Greatest Guitarists of All Time" cover story. Later in life, Garcia was sometimes ill because of his unstable weight, and in 1986 went into a diabetic coma that nearly cost him his life. Although his overall health improved somewhat after that, he also struggled with heroin addiction, and was staying in a California drug rehabilitation facility when he died of a heart attack in August 1995.

''Trucking'', from the album
''American Beauty'', Lyrics:

Truckin got my chips cashed in. keep truckin, like the do-dah man
Together, more or less in line, just keep truckin on.

Arrows of neon and flashing marquees out on main street.
Chicago, new york, detroit and its all on the same street.
Your typical city involved in a typical daydream
Hang it up and see what tomorrow brings.

Dallas, got a soft machine; houston, too close to new orleans;
New yorks got the ways and means; but just wont let you be, oh no.

Most of the cast that you meet on the streets speak of true love,
Most of the time theyre sittin and cryin at home.
One of these days they know they better get goin
Out of the door and down on the streets all alone.

Truckin, like the do-dah man. once told me youve got to play your hand
Sometimes your cards aint worth a dime, if you dont layem down,

Sometimes the lights all shinin on me;
Other times I can barely see.
Lately it occurs to me what a long, strange trip its been.

What in the world ever became of sweet jane?
She lost her sparkle, you know she isnt the same
Livin on reds, vitamin c, and cocaine,
All a friend can say is aint it a shame?

Truckin, up to buffalo. been thinkin, you got to mellow slow
Takes time, you pick a place to go, and just keep truckin on.

Sittin and starin out of the hotel window.
Got a tip theyre gonna kick the door in again
Id like to get some sleep before I travel,
But if you got a warrant, I guess youre gonna come in.

Busted, down on bourbon street, set up, like a bowlin pin.
Knocked down, it gets to wearin thin. they just wont let you be, oh no.

Youre sick of hangin around and youd like to travel;
Get tired of travelin and you want to settle down.
I guess they cant revoke your soul for tryin,
Get out of the door and light out and look all around.

Sometimes the lights all shinin on me;
Other times I can barely see.
Lately it occurs to me what a long, strange trip its been.

Truckin, Im a goin home. whoa whoa baby, back where I belong,
Back home, sit down and patch my bones, and get back truckin on.
Hey now get back truckin home.

Craig Murray, human rights activist, a must read for those who care.

While doing the housework, re-potting some cuttings and making my first batch of yogurt, I’m listening to a play on the radio. It’s a play taken from the book ‘’Murder in Samarkand’’, by Craig Murray,  published some time back in 2006. Craig Murray is a Scotsman who was previously an envoy to Uzbekistan. The book is an account of his time there and the things he saw. After listening to this play, the book is top of my list of must reads. This is a pretty good review of the book

http://www.guardian.co.uk/books/2006/aug/12/politics

These are a couple of small exerts from the review,

‘’But when he got to Tashkent, Murray's cockiness started to evaporate. As he describes it, he found himself in a milieu worthy of Graham Greene. The Americans were busy building an enormous airbase, and praising the sinister President Karimov to the skies as a reformist ally in the great war on terror. Karimov himself was exploiting US naivety while running an Asiatic tyranny on a North Korean model, with internal passports, virtual slave labour, and brutal torture of Muslim dissidents. The Americans were kept happy by a supply of colourful "intelligence" about al-Qaida activities, most of which, says Murray, was nonsense’’.

‘’But, as he tells the story, there was just too much that Murray did not realise at the time. He did not know that Tony Blair and the then foreign secretary, Jack Straw, had hitched Britain irrevocably to the White House wagon. He did not know that with the coming invasion of Iraq, any dissent from the architecture of lies used to justify it would be depicted as "unpatriotic". He did not know that the CIA had a secret policy of "rendition" which was not merely condoning torture, but was deliberately exploiting it’’

Back to the housework and back to listening, I’m so impressed with this I just had to take a break and share. This is his web site
http://www.craigmurray.org.uk/

The Gardening Starts; No3

The Gardening Starts; No 3

Or maybe not, perhaps a little optimistic..............I thought we had seen the last of this white stuff.

The Gardening Starts No2

The Gardening Starts; No 2

I've still not actually sowed any of the seeds I bought but I am a step further. I have the organic compost, I've rounded up seed trays and small pots from the shed and ......... I bought these large black plastic pots especially to plant out the veggies. I've thought about it and decided I need to find a way to grow the chili and sweet peppers and possibly the tomatoes indoors, but I'm sure I can put the red onions outside. And that is why, when I saw these large black pots on special offer I just had to have them. They are destined to be my onion growing pots. The actual sowing of seed starts on Saturday

The Yogurt Maker has arrived

The yogurt maker arrived, its very simple, not sure why but I was expecting something far more complicated than this. Apparently all I need do is put a couple of teaspoons of live fresh yogurt into the glass containers, top up with sterilised milk and plug in. It doesn't have a timer, you just plug in, switch on and time it, then switch it off. It doesn't seem to be a very exact science, the instructions read 'between 8-9 hours if the milk is from the fridge, between 6-7 hours if the milk is pre-heated and then cooled. Think I'm going to wait until the weekend to try this out. I bought a timer for it and I'm sure once I've figured out how long it takes I'll be able to go away and leave it; but I think I'll be around the first time its in use. I'm looking forward to this, home made yogurt sounds wonderfully wholesome.

Poetry Wednesday; Very early Spring, Katherine Mansfield

Katherine Mansfield was born Kathleen Mansfield Beauchamp, in 1888, into a socially prominent family from New Zealand. She was born into a middle class family and was first cousin of author Countess Elizabeth von Arnim. Her father, Harold Beauchamp, went on to become the chairman of the Bank of New Zealand and was also knighted. The Mansfield family moved to Karori in 1893, where she would spend the happiest years of her childhood; she later used her memories of this time as an inspiration for her work

Very Early Spring by
Katherine Mansfield

The fields are snowbound no longer;
There are little blue lakes and flags of tenderest green.
The snow has been caught up into the sky--
So many white clouds--and the blue of the sky is cold.
Now the sun walks in the forest,
He touches the bows and stems with his golden fingers;
They shiver, and wake from slumber.
Over the barren branches he shakes his yellow curls.
Yet is the forest full of the sound of tears....
A wind dances over the fields.
Shrill and clear the sound of her waking laughter,
Yet the little blue lakes tremble
And the flags of tenderest green bend and quiver.


Artist Moy Mackay was born in Edinburgh, Scotland, in 1966. She graduated from Glasgow School of Art in 1990 with a BA (Hons) degree in Design. Since then, she has lived and worked in the Scottish Borders.

My none 'Art Sunday'

Today I've been doing an 'Art Sunday' all of my own, which is why I didn't have the time to post my usual 'Art Sunday' here.

My granddaughter and I spend the day creating our own modest works of art on the kitchen table.

She did a colourful abstract and I attempted a seascape inspired by one of my own photographs taken last year.

 Its just a sketch at the moment but I think I may develop it over the next week or so. If I do decide to work on this little sketch I'll be sure to share the progress.

But, if you want to see what a Scottish Seascape should look like, just check out this Art Sunday that I posted back in Aug 08. 


http://forgetmenot525.multiply.com/journal/item/96/Art_Sunday_Scottish_Seascapes


The finished version of my granddaughters painting.

The Gardening Starts Today

Today I took a bus ride to the garden center just outside Dundee, it's mid February and time to start my 2010 'gardening'. I decided a while ago to try some veggie growing this year. Nothing too ambitious to start with, but I figured if I start  now, maybe in a couple of years when I hope to retire, I could be growing a lot of my own food. I have grown food before but my life was very different then. Back then, I didn't have to go to work, I was younger, a lot fitter, and I had a huge garden. Now my time, my garden and my abilities are all limited, the whole thing needs new thinking and a different approach. I came across this very basic little book, it was pretty cheap so I bought it.

Then I found a couple of packets of seeds that can be sown in mid February. I also bought some new fish for the tank today, but that's another story.

Alongside my drive to grow more food, is a desire to create less waste. Once you start thinking about what you throw away, you need to start thinking about what you buy in the first place. I compost and recycle what I can but there still seems to be far too much going in to general waste. Have you tried buying fruit and veg without also buying miles of plastic food wrap?? its a virtual impossibility. And plastic bread wrappers, no one sells bread with out them any more, so I bought bread making flour today. I've been saving the plastic trays you buy tomatoes and peppers in, I thought they would make good seed trays.

 I've also ordered a yogurt maker because, when I actually looked to see what I was throwing out, yogurt pots and margarine pots were pretty high on the list (apparently they are the  'wrong' sort of plastic to recycle).
So................I have the seeds, I have the plastic trays, all I need now is some compost and food production starts for the year. All advice welcome. I thought this song was appropriate, the film is very old and poor quality but the sound is good.

Found an email in my inbox today and it was full of little jems of wisdom. I particularly like this one. Next time I come across an intollorant idiot writing bigoted rubbish please refer me back here; ''Don't argue with an idiot; people watching may not be able to tell the difference.''

Selling Dover Harbour and Selling England by the Pound (for Doug)

Seems there are plans afoot to sell Dover Harbour to the highest bidder, currently I believe a French company, but ultimately it could be any one. This is the busiest ferry port in the country and one of a string of public assets which have been earmarked for privatization. This makes it among the first Port in the country to shed its Trust Port Status. I doubt most of our America friends will appreciate the horror many of us feel at the thought of this very valuable asset being sold out of public ownership and into private ownership, but trust me on this one, we Brits tend to like public ownership, especially when it involves a busy ferry port and a vital link in the transport system between the UK and mainland Europe. I dread to think what horrors the ‘free market’ can inflict on a busy ferry Port, not to mention the security issues involved. But such is 'progress' I suppose. Lets hope our Government have at least learnt a few lessons from the Kraft take over fiasco.

Read more:

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1249194/Dover-symbol-British-sovereignty-sold-French-help-reduce-debt.html#ixzz0fMwEv1xi

 http://www.kentnews.co.uk/kent-news/Confirmed--Dover-harbour-is-to-be-sold---newsinkent32243.aspx?news=local

And……………in appreciation of his fine taste and endless knowledge of music, this one is for Doug, ‘Selling England by the Pound’’ seems somehow very appropriate. The ending is very abrupt which is a shame but i couldn't find a better copy.

Song Saturday; Leon Russell, Stranger in a Strange land

Leon Russell; Stranger in a Strange Land

Lyrics  Written by Leon Russell and Don Preston. This music video features the paintings of Bouguereau, Carlson, Caravaggio, Rembrandt, and Spadecaller.

Lyrics:

How many days has it been
Since I was born
How many days until I die
Do I know any ways
That I can make you laugh
Or do I only know how to make you cry

When the baby looks around him
It's such a sight to see
He shares a simple secret
With the wise man

He's a stranger in a strange land
Just a stranger in a strange land
Tell me why
He's a stranger in a strange land
Just a stranger in a strange land

How many miles will it take
To see the sun
And how many years until it's done
Kiss my confusion away in the night
Lay by side when the morning comes

And the baby looks around him
And shares his bed of hay
With the burrow in the palace of the king

He's a stranger in a strange land
Tell me why
He's a stranger in a strange land
Just a stranger in a strange land

Well, I don't exactly know
What's going on in the world today
Don't know what there is to say
About the way the people are treating
Each other, not like brothers

Leaders take us far away from ecology
With mythology and astrology
Has got some words to say
About the way we live today
Why can't we learn to love each other
It's time to turn a new face
To the whole world wide human race

Stop the money chase
Lay back, relax
Get back on the human track
Stop racing toward oblivion
Oh, such a sad, sad state we're in
And that's a thing

Do you recognize the bells of truth
When you hear them ring
Won't you stop and listen
To the children sing
Won't you come on and sing it children

He's a stranger in a strange land
Just a stranger in a strange land
Category:  Music
Tags:
rock  Paintings  Rembrandt  Caravaggio  Bouguereau  Carlson  Spadecaller  Art 

 

Music to end the day with, Mocking Bird

More music to end the day with, Mocking Bird by Barclay James Harvest. I've not heard this for quite literally decades, and then tonight I heard it on the radio.

 

 

 

Poetry Wednesday; Winter Seascape

Winter Seascape
 by John Betjeman

The sea runs back against itself
With scarcely time for breaking wave
To cannonade a slatey shelf
And thunder under in a cave.

Before the next can fully burst
The headwind, blowing harder still,
Smooths it to what it was at first -
A slowly rolling water-hill.

Against the breeze the breakers haste,
Against the tide their ridges run
And all the sea's a dappled waste
Criss-crossing underneath the sun.

Far down the beach the ripples drag
Blown backward, rearing from the shore,
And wailing gull and shrieking shag
Alone can pierce the ocean roar.

Unheard, a mongrel hound gives tongue,
Unheard are shouts of little boys;
What chance has any inland lung
Against this multi-water noise?

Here where the cliffs alone prevail
I stand exultant, neutral, free,
And from the cushion of the gale
Behold a huge consoling sea.

http://www.johnbetjeman.com/

John Betjeman

a short biography

When John Betjeman’s Collected Poems came out in 1958 they made publishing history and have since sold over two and a quarter million copies.

But Betjeman was not only a poet. Through his broadcasting and journalism he opened people’s eyes to the value of the buildings and landscape around them and became Britain’s grand champion of its heritage. 

Paintings by Sir Peter Scott:

a short biography
http://www.wwt.org.uk/about-us/our-founder

 He foresaw that conservation of wildlife depends on safeguarding habitats and, crucially, on involving and inspiring peopl. Long before it became widely acknowledged, WWT's founder Sir Peter Scott recognised the threat human activity poses to the environment. He foresaw that conservation of wildlife depends on safeguarding habitats and, crucially, on involving and inspiring people. The wetland centres he set up provide more than a sanctuary; they allow people to get up close to, enjoy and learn about wildlife. He remained at the forefront of conservation throughout his life. In 1973 he became the first person to be knighted for services to conservation, and his legacy continues to break new ground.

Sir Peters paintings

As a young man, Sir Peter established himself as a leading wildlife artist. His scientific interest developed in parallel to his artistic interest, a balance that was a theme of his life. His final painting, left unfinished on its easel, is of his vision for the WWT London Wetland Centre bringing wetland wildlife to the heart of the city. London Wetland Centre opened 11 years later and is respected worldwide as a model for urban conservation.

Carol King, You got a friend, (and my garden update).

 Yesterday the sun shone in a very pale sky but there was no snow, no ice, no rain, no wind and the temperature was above freezing; and so I ventured out into the garden. I went into the garden last week to take a couple of quick photos but yesterday was the first time I  stayed out for any length of time, I even did a little ‘garden work’. I swept a little, righted pots that had toppled, cleared rubbish blown in by the blizzards, gathered old leaves for the mulch pile, turned the compost and replaced the bird food.  Visiting the garden for the first time after the snow and ice is like preparing a damage report. You walk around, still wary of dangerous hazards, an unseen, intact lump of ice, ground that looks firm but is sodden underfoot, debris left by the winds, the odd tile hurled from the roof, these are all obstacles found in the recently thawed garden. I walked tentatively around; looking to see what was beyond salvage and what, despite temperatures of -10 and below was showing signs of life.  I checked on the tiny white snowdrop shoots I had spotted the week before and to my absolute delight, there they were bigger and stronger than they had been last week AND they are in bloom.

The rose that carried on growing and producing new pink fragrant blooms well in to December hasn’t fared so well, I think it could be dead, destroyed by the extremes of frost and ice.

 

The parsley is remarkable; it shows no sign of damage and looks as lush and green as if it had spent the winter under glass.

I think my initial instinct about the lavender could be right; it’s almost all dead, no signs of life, I did lose a couple of pots last year but this year I think I may have lost all of it.

Its far too early to assess any frost damage to the new fruit canes I put in last autumn, I’m just hoping for the best.
It was quite sad looking at my garden and wondering exactly how much long term damage it sustained, but……………..it was so nice to be back outside. I’m already looking around and making mental lists of all the little jobs I have to do out there this year. I’m beginning to think of my garden as a friend who I miss very much when I can’t visit.

 

A good night song

It's been a busy weekend for me and I should have been in my bed a long time ago tonight (this morning). This is a very old, and very beautiful peice of music with which to end my weekend. And in just a few short hours, the week starts all over again and the days rush forward toward next weekend. Untill then, just a few minutes of utter peace with this,  Schubert's Ave Maria, sang in German (performed by Barbara Bonney).

Good night my friends 

 

Art Sunday; Hindu Art

Art Sunday with a bit of a difference. These are all images from the Hindu faith. Please don’t think this means I know any thing about Hinduism, I don’t, I just think the images are interesting, often beautiful and nearly always disregarded by the western world. Hinduism sees the whole of creation as the work of three fundamental forces symbolized by three gods, which constitutes the Hindu Trinity or ‘Trimurti’:

 Brahma - the creator,

Vishnu - the sustainer,

 and Shiva - the destroyer.
This Shiva statue can be found at  Parmarth Niketan Ghat in Rishikesh (India)

Ganesha, also spelled Ganesa or Ganesh is one of the best-known and most widely worshipped deities in the Hindu world .

 His image is found through out India and Nepal and is instantly recognisable by  the non Hindu due to his elephants head.

Radha with Krishna
 playing a flute
                                                    Hindu Buddha











There is quite a lot of Hundi art work here to look at

http://www.himalayanacademy.com/art/

This is Shiva dancing on the demon Apasmara


On this BBC site you can find lots of information about the faith, its history and its beliefs.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/religion/religions/hinduism/

Hindu art at Radhadesh