Tuesday, 30 June 2020
D.H. Lawrence, Lady Chatterley's Lover
“A woman has to live her life, or live to repent not having lived it.”
D.H. Lawrence, Lady Chatterley's Lover
Artwork by James Lawrence Isherwood
Sunday, 28 June 2020
M. Scott Peck
“Until you value yourself, you won't value your time. Until you value your time, you will not do anything with it.”
M. Scott Peck, The Road Less Travelled: A New Psychology of Love, Traditional Values and Spiritual Growth
Saturday, 27 June 2020
Dan Brown, The Da Vinci Code
“History is always written by the winners. When two cultures clash, the loser is obliterated, and the winner writes the history books - books which glorify their own cause and disparage the conquered foe. As Napoleon once said, 'What is history, but a fable agreed upon?”
Dan Brown, The Da Vinci Code
Thursday, 25 June 2020
Hiraeth
The Welsh have a word for the unattainable yearning you feel for a place that no longer exists, or to which you can never return. *Hiraeth* is a homesickness you feel when home is years ago and far away, if it ever existed at all.
Author Val Bethell beautifully expressed this 'longing of the soul to come home to be safe':
"Hiraeth is in the mountains where the wind speaks in many tongues and the buzzards fly on silent wings. It's the call of my spiritual home, it's where ancient peoples made their home. We're high on a hill, where saints bathed sore feet in a healing spring and had a cure. ... the link with the long-forgotten past, the language of the soul, the call from the inner self. Half forgotten - fraction remembered. It speaks from the rocks, from the earth, from the trees and in the waves. It's always there."
St Marys, Tal-y-Llyn, Anglesey
Wednesday, 24 June 2020
Wales' Seven Modern Wonders
On 24th June 2006 the Western Mail revealed its list of Wales' Seven Modern Wonders as voted for by its readers.
1 The Great Glasshouse at the National Botanic Garden of Wales.
2 Snowdon.
3 Wales Millennium Centre.
4 Eisteddfodau.
5 Portmeirion.
6 Pontcysyllte aqueduct.
7 The Pembrokeshire islands.
The original Seven Wonders of Wales is a list of seven landmarks of North Wales contained in an 18th century rhyme.
Pistyll Rhaeadr and Wrexham steeple.
Snowdon's mountain without its people.
Overton yew trees, St Winefride's well.
Llangollen bridge and Gresford bells.
Tuesday, 23 June 2020
Johnny Morris
Born this day 1916 in Newport, Gwent,
Johnny Morris, Television presenter, best remembered for the BBC children's programme Animal Magic.
Johnny was the son of a postmaster, who learned to play the violin as a child, touring the valleys of South Wales, with his cello playing father. Morris then worked as a solicitor's clerk, on a building site, as a salesman and managing a 2,000-acre farm in Wiltshire, before his broadcasting career took off when he was discovered telling stories in a pub.
Monday, 22 June 2020
Grilled chicken with za’atar and tahini - Nigel Slater
Some wonderful flavours going on here with the smoky chicken and its slightly charred skin; deep nutty notes of the tahini and the underlying hit of sourness from the lemons and yogurt. I can’t tell you how many times we’ve eaten this over the past few weeks. It isn’t difficult to tease the bones from the meat with the point of a sharp knife, but you could always ask the butcher to do it for you if you prefer.
Serves 4
chicken thighs 4 large
lemons 2, for griddling
chicken thighs 4 large
lemons 2, for griddling
For the marinade
olive oil 50ml
lemon juice of 1 medium
garlic 2 large cloves
za’atar 1 tbsp
olive oil 50ml
lemon juice of 1 medium
garlic 2 large cloves
za’atar 1 tbsp
For the tahini dressing
thick yogurt 200ml
tahini 4 tbsp
thick yogurt 200ml
tahini 4 tbsp
Remove the two bones from the chicken thighs and flatten the meat out. Place on a piece of clingfilm or even in a plastic freezer bag, then bat the meat a little with a rolling pin or cutlet bat. There is no need to go the full escalope, just flatten out the thicker parts of the thigh. It is not essential, so don’t worry if you don’t have anything suitable, it just helps to cook the meat more evenly.
For the marinade, mix together the olive oil and the lemon juice. Crush the garlic cloves then stir into the liquid with the za’atar. Place the chicken thighs in the marinade and leave for at least 40 minutes. They will come to no harm if left overnight.
When you are ready to eat, get a cast-iron griddle hot, then place the chicken pieces, shaken of excess marinade, onto the bars of the griddle and let them cook till the skin is golden. Turn and cook the other side. They are ready when the juices run clear when pierced at their thickest place with a metal skewer.
While the chicken is cooking, put the yogurt in a bowl and stir in the tahini. I prefer to do this lightly, leaving ribbons of the sesame paste marbling the snow-white yogurt.
Slice the 2 lemons in half and place them cut side down on the griddle for a few minutes till they are warm. You will get more juice from them that way. Let the chicken rest for five minutes, then serve with the tahini dressing and the griddled lemons.
Auguries of Innocence
To see a World in a Grain of Sand
And a Heaven in a Wild Flower
Hold Infinity in the palm of your hand
And Eternity in an hour
A Robin Red breast in a Cage
Puts all Heaven in a Rage
A Dove house filld with Doves & Pigeons
Shudders Hell thr' all its regions
A dog starvd at his Masters Gate
Predicts the ruin of the State
A Horse misusd upon the Road
Calls to Heaven for Human blood
Each outcry of the hunted Hare
A fibre from the Brain does tear
A Skylark wounded in the wing
A Cherubim does cease to sing
The Game Cock clipd & armd for fight
Does the Rising Sun affright
Every Wolfs & Lions howl
Raises from Hell a Human Soul
The wild deer, wandring here & there
Keeps the Human Soul from Care
The Lamb misusd breeds Public Strife
And yet forgives the Butchers knife
The Bat that flits at close of Eve
Has left the Brain that wont Believe
The Owl that calls upon the Night
Speaks the Unbelievers fright
He who shall hurt the little Wren
Shall never be belovd by Men
He who the Ox to wrath has movd
Shall never be by Woman lovd
The wanton Boy that kills the Fly
Shall feel the Spiders enmity
He who torments the Chafers Sprite
Weaves a Bower in endless Night
The Catterpiller on the Leaf
Repeats to thee thy Mothers grief
Kill not the Moth nor Butterfly
For the Last Judgment draweth nigh
He who shall train the Horse to War
Shall never pass the Polar Bar
The Beggars Dog & Widows Cat
Feed them & thou wilt grow fat
The Gnat that sings his Summers Song
Poison gets from Slanders tongue
The poison of the Snake & Newt
Is the sweat of Envys Foot
The poison of the Honey Bee
Is the Artists Jealousy
The Princes Robes & Beggars Rags
Are Toadstools on the Misers Bags
A Truth thats told with bad intent
Beats all the Lies you can invent
It is right it should be so
Man was made for Joy & Woe
And when this we rightly know
Thro the World we safely go
Joy & Woe are woven fine
A Clothing for the soul divine
Under every grief & pine
Runs a joy with silken twine
The Babe is more than swadling Bands
Throughout all these Human Lands
Tools were made & Born were hands
Every Farmer Understands
Every Tear from Every Eye
Becomes a Babe in Eternity
This is caught by Females bright
And returnd to its own delight
The Bleat the Bark Bellow & Roar
Are Waves that Beat on Heavens Shore
The Babe that weeps the Rod beneath
Writes Revenge in realms of Death
The Beggars Rags fluttering in Air
Does to Rags the Heavens tear
The Soldier armd with Sword & Gun
Palsied strikes the Summers Sun
The poor Mans Farthing is worth more
Than all the Gold on Africs Shore
One Mite wrung from the Labrers hands
Shall buy & sell the Misers Lands
Or if protected from on high
Does that whole Nation sell & buy
He who mocks the Infants Faith
Shall be mockd in Age & Death
He who shall teach the Child to Doubt
The rotting Grave shall neer get out
He who respects the Infants faith
Triumphs over Hell & Death
The Childs Toys & the Old Mans Reasons
Are the Fruits of the Two seasons
The Questioner who sits so sly
Shall never know how to Reply
He who replies to words of Doubt
Doth put the Light of Knowledge out
The Strongest Poison ever known
Came from Caesars Laurel Crown
Nought can Deform the Human Race
Like to the Armours iron brace
When Gold & Gems adorn the Plow
To peaceful Arts shall Envy Bow
A Riddle or the Crickets Cry
Is to Doubt a fit Reply
The Emmets Inch & Eagles Mile
Make Lame Philosophy to smile
He who Doubts from what he sees
Will neer Believe do what you Please
If the Sun & Moon should Doubt
Theyd immediately Go out
To be in a Passion you Good may Do
But no Good if a Passion is in you
The Whore & Gambler by the State
Licencd build that Nations Fate
The Harlots cry from Street to Street
Shall weave Old Englands winding Sheet
The Winners Shout the Losers Curse
Dance before dead Englands Hearse
Every Night & every Morn
Some to Misery are Born
Every Morn and every Night
Some are Born to sweet delight
Some are Born to sweet delight
Some are Born to Endless Night
We are led to Believe a Lie
When we see not Thro the Eye
Which was Born in a Night to perish in a Night
When the Soul Slept in Beams of Light
God Appears & God is Light
To those poor Souls who dwell in Night
But does a Human Form Display
To those who Dwell in Realms of day
Source: Poets of the English Language (Viking Press, 1950)
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