Povey Prattle

When many starlings gather together to decorate our skies, it is known as a "murmuration".   See  http://www.theguardian.com/environment/gallery/2014/jan/21/starling-mumuration-season-in-pictures   I have seen such murmurations every now and then  in the skies above Sarasota FL.    They are gorgeous  to behold.   ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------   The noisy crows form similar flocks.  I have seen such flocks three times in the past week.   This photo' is not mine. It is from Google images     Crows do not create a "murmuration". That word is reserved for swallows.   So I have created my own collective noun for the flocks of crows.  I call them   "a cawcophony of crows". (Doubtless some other "wise guy/girl" created this collective long before I).   

91 years old; 5' high, almost blind, smart as a whip, and funnier than heck. This is a partial description of my "new"  (since 2007) friend Betty M.  (We are never too old to make new friends). I was at her home on Thursday 30th October for 5:00 p.m. beverages and nibbles (and to visit with her son John, who was in town with his wife Karen, from their home in Colorado). ( Karen had hoved down to Englewood FL to visit with one of her friends so she was not with us on Thursday). Of course it was a lovely time  (and all the more so for Penne who "adores" Betty). Betty's near-blindness is because of macular degeneration.  She voiced a concern:  "What"  she asked, "do I look like when you talk to me?" Her concern was this :  she wanted to know whether or not she "looked" in the direction of the speaker (John or me) when we chatted. (What an unexpected and interesting question from an almost blind friend). We assured her

Oh those Victorians certainly knew how to make grand buildings.  This is the interior of a London  sewage pumping station, circa 1865.    How wonderful that our forebears would create such beauty, in a building designed to pump crud!   You can read about this in the link (below)........ BUT     (1) Fascinating isn't it, that the Archbishops of Canterbury and York were present for the opening ceremonies.  That says something (negative or positive!)  about the role of the  C of E in the mid 19th Century.     (2)   When I was a child my parents would talk about taking me and my twin to visit an Aunt in London. They always made reference to "Belvedere".  The Crossness Pumping Station was on Belvedere Road.  Was this where the Aunt lived?     I cannot remember if the aunt in question was "Aunt Lily Tubby", or "Aunt Lily Clarke".  In fact I know next to nothing about these two women -  except that they were related to my Mum or D

Penne went sniffing into a Plumbago shrub this afternoon.   This is how she emerged.       She is a pretty girl, with or without her plumbago ear decoration.  

Some years ago the Evangelical Christian magazine "Sojourners"  talked abut racism as "America's Original Sin".   They nailed it. The early Massachusetts Colonists regarded the native population as "savages".    The Declaration of Independence is a noble document, but it is  marred deeply by its designation of native Americans not as men and women made in the image and likeness of God, but (again) as "savages".   As our constitution was created,  the godly framers decided that for electoral purposes slaves would be counted as 3/5ths of a white male voter, see:   http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Three-Fifths_Compromise   Later on, the  infamous Supreme Court decision known as "Dred Scott" extended this racism to African slaves, see:   http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dred_Scott_v._Sandford     Then there was a Civil War, the Emancipation Proclamation, and  Reconstruction;   foll

My post (yesterday) regarding my dream about an Austin "Westminster" car, reminded me of an encounter I had with another Austin -  back in 1986.   I was in England visiting with my family.  My American friend Joe R, who was studying at the University of Kent in Canterbury, came up to Bristol to see me, my brother Martyn, and Martyn's  wife Wendy.   Martyn arranged a car rental via a local "Rent-a-Wreck" company,  so that Joe and I could drive up to Burnley in Lancashire, there to visit with my brother Andy, his (then) wife Barbara, and their two lads Dan and Michael.   The car I had rented broke down on the M5 motorway, somewhere near Worcester.  I seem to remember that we managed to get a tow into Worcester, there to await a rescue/replacement car from the Bristol based  "Rent-a-Wreck" firm.   It was a cold, gray and foggy day.   We passed our time by visiting the Cathedral, and then hanging out at a pub.   The rescue car never ar