I wish all my blog followers a very Happy Christmas, and thank you for taking the trouble to look at my site!
Old School Gardener
Archive for December, 2014
Here’s my sixth extract from the book ‘Noah’s Children’ by Sara Stein. Here she talks about the decline of communities where people (including children) feel that they belong and experience a sense of common purpose:
‘Several times I’ve run into an interesting statistic in the books I read: the people we count as friends- those with whom we comfortably share meals and other forms of visiting- number no more than 150 (and usually fewer)…we seem to be biologically limited to a smallish circle of those whom we can know in a more familiar sense and who we feel know us. The number is about the upper limit of any group that can be sustained by a hunting/gathering economy and not much less than can be sustained by a subistence farming community.
So it may be that, in addition to the fact that residents of a tract development or a block of apartment houses are not assembled in common purpose, the sheer scale of the community may stand in the way of our sense of belonging to it. We seem to realize the importance of social scale for children when we call for smaller classes and smaller schools within the neighbourhood. The trend to gated communities, neighborhood gardens, pocket parks, and local streets closed to traffic indicate our urge to safely congregate where we can consult the social mirror. But for many of us, and possibly for most, the urge is thwarted or was extinguished before it had much chance to grow.
Aware of that difficulty, many have proposed that we teach community and family values in school. The proposal is as hopeless as teaching children what an apple tree is without their experiencing the tree or instructing them on how to fish without going fishing. A sense of community is absorbed through experience of the actual community, just as family values are incorporated within the actual family. So we are left with our good nature flapping raggedly without the pole that once lifted it aloft, and we are lonely…’
I’d love to hear your thoughts on this and the wider issues raised…
Old School Gardener
Old School Gardener
The view from Old School Garden, Norfolk at sunset today, the shortest day of the year…
Here’s yet another extract from a book I bought in a charity shop in the summer…..
Gnomic Pondering:
The astonishing anthropomorphic success of garden gnomes is based on the simple British proposition that dirty old men are lovable if they wear red hats.
Another Couple of Inches Law:
Any fool who thinks a pool is simply a hole in the ground, filled with water, has never tried to make water level with the surrounding ground.
Corollary- No pool looks aslant until it has been filled with water.
Kite’s Fundamentals Relating to the Preservation of Fences:
1. If the paint or preservative is harmless to plants, it will kill the goldfish.
2. If it is clean, quick and simple to use, the large-sized brush recommended won’t fit the pot.
3. If the brush fits the pot and the paint doesn’t write off the goldfish, the plants will probably die anyway.
From : ‘Mrs. Murphy’s Laws of Gardening’ – Faith Hines (Temple House books, 1992)
Old School Gardener
Old School Gardener
By Sophie Towne
Something a little festive for you. Have you ever wondered what real jingle bells sound like on Santa’s sleigh? Of course you have! And if you haven’t I bet you’re wondering right now! Well today you have the answer. Click on the link below to hear what sleigh bells from the 1800s sound like:
The bells in the video are known as a triple sleigh bell set which were donated to the Museum of Norwich in 1931. The bells date from approximately 1800. They would have attached to the harness of a horse (or reindeer) pulling a carriage (or sleigh) and would alert people and animals that there was a horse coming.
These kinds of bells are also known as conestoga or hame bells. Hame bells relate to the hame or harness of a horse where the bells would be attached. Conestoga refers to the type of horse…
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Guest Post by Nick Taylor
I’m grateful to my old friend Nick for sharing these wonderful pics from his recent trip to Singapore. I’ve featured some of these gardens/ spaces/buildings before, but these pictures make a revisit a must. Here’s Nick’s commentary….
‘Seeing your recent blog with a picture of the hotel in Singapore reminded me that I said I would provide some photos of the Gardens by the Bay, with the artificial trees, which gather rain water and generate solar power…. Some of the trees – there are many – have climate domes (a bit like the Eden Project).
Twice each evening, a sound and light show takes place at the main group of trees. Being close to Christmas, there were familiar tunes! There are also currently additional Christmas lights, which detracted somewhat from the effect of the trees themselves. A ‘German’ style Christmas market was being erected at the time. The whole effect was, as with much of Singapore, rather unrestrained, but good fun and a free show.’
‘Here is the hotel at the Gardens By The Bay, with the linking bridge featuring infinity pool and roof garden, another view of one of the climate zone domes and a view of the Park Royal Hotel you featured, with the hanging gardens…’
‘The next pic is of highly colourful water lilies at the Arts and Sciences Museum. The building itself is shaped like the opening petals of a waterlily. In the background is the Shoppe (sic) at Marina Bay shopping centre, which has four levels, each the size of a large airport terminal, with a canal with gondolas (see photo) on the basement level. Shopping is one of Singapore’s main pastimes and a major economic driver. There are huge, modern malls all over the city, but mostly concentrated in Orchard Road, which at the time of WW2 was lined with – orchards.’
‘Finally, here are the gardens of Raffles Hotel, named after Sir Stamford Raffles, the official of the British East India Company who took a flyer and established the colony in the face of Dutch resistance. We performed the ritual of ordering Singapore Slings in the Long Bar, as countless Brits have done over the last 100 years or so. It’s a very sickly, sweet cocktail and not particularly nice!’
Old School Garden 