To love someone deeply gives you strength. Being loved by someone deeply gives you courage.
Lao Tzu
18 Comments CherryPie on Sep 13th 2009
Yesterday, Radio 2 made me smile when it announced that Autumn had arrived 4 weeks early. I have been saying that for a couple of weeks. Do you think that the Radio 2 presenters read my blog?
Yesterday was also the day for visiting my opticians for an eye test. I had received several reminders telling me how important it was to make sure I had my annual eye test. So I was rather puzzled with my reception when I got there.
Three receptionists plus the optician were standing by the reception desk. I was asked to take a seat so that my details could be checked. At this point the optician disappeared into her room and my address details and phone number were checked. Then I was told the optician would call me when she was ready.
A few minutes later the optician came out and said there had been a mistake and my eyes didn’t need checking until next year. She then went on to say how important it was for me to attend my contact lens check up next week…
It left me wondering what was wrong with the telephone, it would have saved me a 14 mile round trip!
On the plus side I did spot this autumn scene which proved ideal for this weeks PhotoHunt theme so all was not lost after all.
For more of this weeks PhotoHunt pictures check out tnchick.
12 Comments CherryPie on Sep 12th 2009
This was one of my book group reads. Tonight is the first meeting after the summer break and the group will be discussing their thoughts on the book. As I have been off sick for a couple of days with the lurgy I decided it was safer to stay at home and chill out a bit. I am looking forward to hearing what the other members of the group have to say about the book, but in the meanwhile here are my thoughts.
Synopsis (from book cover):
Saturday, February, 2003. Henry Prowne is a contented man – a successful neorosurgeon, the devoted husband of Rosalind and proud father of two grown-up children. Unusually, he wakes before dawn, drawn to the window and filled with a growing unease. As he looks out at the night sky he is troubled by the state of the world – the impending war against Iraq, a gathering pessimism since 9/11, and a fear that his city and his happy family life are under threat.
Later as Perowne makes his way through London streets filled with hundreds of thousands of anti-war protestors, a minor car accident brings him inot a confrontation with Baxter, a fidgety, aggressive young man, on the edge of violence. To Perowne’s professional eye, there appears to be something profoundly wrong with him. But it is not until Baxter makes a sudden appearance as the Perowne family gathers for a reunion that Henry’s earlier fears seem about to be realised.
Review:
The book as the title suggests, covers just one day of Henry Perowne’s life. The current and recent past events of the world are laying heavily on his shoulders as he wakes unusually early to see what he initially thinks is a comet fly low through the night sky. Ian fleshes out all the characters in the book very well and gives them all individual personality. He describes very well the Perowne families history and what makes them bond together or not. All the family members, although quite different in character are all successful in their different ways.
The pending war on Iraq and the anti-war march cause tension within the family due to differing view points. The march itself is the cause of what turns out to be one of the major events of the day for the Perowne family.
I loved the style of writing and descriptive details, but in some places I found there was too much detail which slowed down the narrative to much for my liking.
The book throughout gave a feeling of ominous foreboding and uncertainty, but ultimately I found the book delivered a glimmer of hope.
Overall I would give the book 4 stars.
14 Comments CherryPie on Sep 10th 2009
Autumn Fires
In the other gardens
And all up the vale,
From the autumn bonfires
See the smoke trail!
Pleasant summer over
And all the summer flowers,
The red fire blazes,
The grey smoke towers.
Sing a song of seasons!
Something bright in all!
Flowers in the summer,
Fires in the fall!
Robert Louis Stevenson
20 Comments CherryPie on Sep 9th 2009
The photographs in yesterday’s blog post were taken at Flodden Field, which over the years has witnessed many battles between the English and the Scots. One of the most famous battles was the Battle of Braxton Moor which is more commonly known as the Battle of Flodden Field. It is hard to believe that such a lovely idyllic hillside could have been the site of so much bloodshed.
The website Flodden 1513 has a wealth of information about the battle.
The year 1513 saw Henry VIII campaigning in France, leaving seasoned warrior, the Earl of Surrey, to guard Northern England.
Invoking the Auld Alliance with France, James IV of Scotland crossed the Tweed with a large well-equipped army. He took Norham, Etal and Ford Castles and established a stronghold a mile to the south of here, on Flodden Hill.
Surrey marched his forces north but avoided the Scottish position with a wide flanking move to the east, making his approach to the Battle from the north, via Twizel Bridge.
James was forced to relinquish his fortifications and move his troops and heavy cannon to the ridge of Branxton Hill. The English lines spread out west to east along the ridge on which Branxton stands.
Battle commenced in the late afternoon of 9th September 1513, when the Scots’ guns opened fire. It was dull, damp and muddy, having rained for most of the day.
In the following hours, these fields became the scene of bloody carnage in which an estimated 4,000 Englishmen and 10,000 Scots, including their king and many nobles lost their lives.
Sir Walter Scott describes the battle of Flodden in his poem Marmion.
From Flodden ridge,
The Scots beheld the English host
Leave Barmoor Wood, their evening post
And headful watched them as they crossed
The Till by Twizell Bridge.
High sight it is, and haughty, while
They dive into the deep defile;
Beneath the cavern’d cliff they fall,
Beneath the castle’s airy wall.
By rock, by oak, by Hawthorn tree,
Troop after troop are disappearing;
Troop after troop their banners rearing
Upon the eastern bank you see.
Still pouring down the rocky glen,
Where flows the sullen Till,
And rising from the dim-wood glen,
Standards on standards, men on men,
In slow procession still,
And sweeping o’er the Gothic arch,
And pressing on in ceaseless march,
To gain the opposing hill.
More of the poem can be heard on the following YouTube video:
14 Comments CherryPie on Sep 8th 2009
20 Comments CherryPie on Sep 7th 2009
The pursuit of happiness is a most ridiculous phrase; if you pursue happiness you’ll never find it.
C. P. Snow
22 Comments CherryPie on Sep 6th 2009
