Reading

Fairies

Cecily Mary Barker produced the first of her Flower Fairy books in 1923. As a small boy I thought them frightfully soppy, Now I find them charming.

I looked her up. And found, to my surprise, that she lived in Croydon, the famously ugly Surrey town where I spent most of my childhood.

A bit back I made a produced a picture of a mischievous little imp who I decided, after asessing him, had to be the Stinging Nettle Fairy.

My friend Deborahlka liked him and asked for more. Specifically the Poison Oak Fairy and the Poison Ivy Family. I wasn't intending to go any further down this road but I can't say "No" to a lady.

So here, with apologies and an affectionate thank you to Cecily Barker are...

The Poison Oak Fairy

and

The Poison Ivy Fairy

Partying

Mike and Su and Sej are visiting for the first time this year. It was Mike's idea to have a cook-out. I don't know if he was thinking 4th of July but he's half American so he may have been. We borrowed the portable barbeque from Damian- and Sandra, Damian's wife, fired it up for us because neither Mike nor I could figure it out.

Damian and Sandra and Aoife were at the party along with Mark (who is fully American) and Dawn and Danny from Quakers. We were a really disparate group but everyone seemed to get along.

Su is booking a seat at a Spurs home game for a visiting nephew. Seems that the cheapest seat is £100. Football used to be the people's game. 'T'ain't any longer.

Entry tags:

display one entry centered vertically

hi! here's what i'm trying to achieve: i want my journal's main page to display one entry (the most recent one), and i want that entry to be vertically centered, so that the distance from the top of the entry to the navstrip is the same as the distance from the bottom of the entry to the bottom of the page. here is a quick mockup of what i have in mind:

click here for fullsize
i've tried using margin: auto for this, but it didn't work; googling around leads me to believe that that's because the entry container is an inline element and thus doesn't have a specified height, which you need for that to work. i thought about using a flexbox inside the entry with three elements arranged in a column, with the middle element holding the actual contents of the entry and the top and bottom elements growing/shrinking to provide padding, to achieve something visually similar, but i don't think that would work either for the same reason (no specified height).

is there any way to do this? the theme i'm currently using is blanket, but i'm not married to it, so if there is a different theme that allows me to do this, i will happily switch.

thank you!

Dragon On A Stick

Steve Judd, the astrologer, is excited about the present relationship of the outer planets- Neptune, Uranus and Pluto- and especially about the conjunction of Neptune and Uranus, which is something that has never happened before- at least not in a very long time. It means Change- Change with a capital "C". Out with the old and in with the new.....

He believes (and I believe) that's what we're seeing everywhere now- event after event after event.

The old order in its death throes, wriggling and snapping- like the dragon impaled on the end of St Michael's lance

The_Archangel_Michael,_St_Leonard's,_Seaford.jpeg

The_Archangel_Michael,_St_Leonard's,_Seaford.jpeg

Steve, who is 70- says he's been waiting 40-50 years- so all of his adult and professional life- for this moment to come round.....

As have we all- all of us born into this Time- consciously or unconsciously- even those of us who are not astrologers. It's why we chose to be here.....

Shredding

Ailz's work as a trustee of a local care home generates lots and lots of paper- most of which has to then be shredded because it deals with confidential matters. There's so much of it that our shredder regularly over heats.

Shredding paper generates dust.

A-tishoo!

Pop

I was sitting out on the patio in the cool of the evening and there was a snapping noise coming from my left- tiny, irregular, continuous- like small arms fire. Eventually I got up to see what it was. At first I thought it was coming from behind the gorse bushes- like some bird was doing it- but it wasn't, it was coming from the bushes themselves- and was the sound of the pods that had once been flowers popping open to release the velvety seeds inside.

"Well" I thought, "I didn't know that was a thing..." and then I remembered John Davidson's poem "The Runnable Stag"- the first line of which is "When pods went pop in the broom, green broom" and realised I'd known it since forever but discounted it- because who'd have thought that poets might have anything to tell us about Nature?

P.S. I've been told since first posted this that broom and gorse are two different plants. Drat! Still they do look very similar- and both have pods that pop.

A Little Memento Of One Of The Decisive Moments In World History

Damian found a Roman coin while digging foundations somewhere in the Eastbourne area.

We researched it for him.

It's a silver denarius, minted by Octavian to commemorate his naval victory over Mark Antony at Actium in 31 BC. For further details consult Shakespeare W. "Antony and Cleopatra"

On the one side we have a male figure representing Octavian himself, with his foot on the terrestrial globe. In one hand he holds a staff of office and in the other an object I took to be a whip or flail but is apparently the stern post of a war galley. The inscription reads "Ceas. divi. f"- which translates as "Son of the Divine Caesar".

And if Caesar is a god what does that make his son? Octavian lets you work that one out for yourself.....

On the other side appears the bust of a winged female who is variously identified as Victoria (Victory) or Pax (Peace).

The coin was struck sometime between 31 and 27 BC- after which Octavian was no longer Octavian but Caesar Augustus, first Emperor of Rome.

Hi from Southwestern Quebec!

I'm Kraka, I've been on Dreamwidth before under a different account that was mostly for fandom, but created a new account to journal and share about myself and my path. I'm past mid-40s and used to be on LiveJournal until they sold. I've been a pagan of some stripe for nearly 3 decades. Also am disillusioned with the Book of Faces and other more recent social media.

I'm currently solitary, but I worship mainly Greek and Norse (I know, no relation at all between the religions) with some French-Canadian folk magic and practices thrown in and a heavy dose of animism. I will be studying with a group, starting in September. I used to be part of an Eclectic Wiccan "tradition", had my elevation to 2nd Degree and was teaching, but left due to realizing how toxic a group it really was. Funny how experience makes you realize people aren't what they seem to be on the surface. I've been sort of adrift since, and trying to find my footing again.

I love reading, writing, drawing and painting, learning new things, hiking and camping. I am obsessed with fountain pens and the inks for them, but don't have that extensive a collection because those things are not exactly cheap. I'm nostalgic for the 90s and early 2000s.

I am queer, happily married to my wife since 2017. We have a jenday conure who is almost 3 years old and is named Freyja (she is DNA tested female, since that species of parrots is not sexually dimorphic). She is a veritable toddler with wings.

I don't have icons yet, since I have just set up my account, but I intend to have some soon.

Picture Diary 97

Picture Diary 97

1. Who you lookin' at?

2. At the crossroads

3. Passing through

4. Levitation

5. Breaking through

6. The Stinging Nettle fairy

7. The warrior gene

Gas

We've been using more gas than we've been using- if you see what I mean. The central heating has been turned off for the summer and yet the boiler has been running almost continuously. We indulged ourselves in various theories, then called Sergei in to give us an informed opinion- and, incidentally, service the boiler. He suggested something we hadn't even considered- that there's a leak somewhere on the hot water system. OK, that makes sense- and now I know what I'm looking for I think I know where it is. It's in the area where Damian will be working over the next few weeks- converting the garage and adjoining areas into a bedsit- and if I'm right he'll be able to sort it along with everything else- and I can dial down the anxiety levels. The worst thng in a situation like this is not knowing- and feeling powerless.

I watched a bit of Wimbledon yesterday. It gives me an excuse to be sitting indoors out of the lovely sunshine. There exist pictures of me as a teen with my shirt off- and they shock me rather because it's been many decades now since I've enjoyed being out in really hot weather. I think the horseflies in Switzerland may have cured me of sunbathing. If one of those 'orrible little fuckers bit you you stayed bit.....

Rebuilding journal search again

We're having to rebuild the search server again (previously, previously). It will take a few days to reindex all the content.

Meanwhile search services should be running, but probably returning no results or incomplete results for most queries.

(no subject)

Hi, I would like to ask why every new topic and every new page piles up vertically in the form of posts in the main home page? I would like to have separate pages, for each separate category, and when the link on the page is clicked, it opens a whole new page instead of scrolling down the posts! I tried changing the template with other templates, it doesn't help...

I also looked in the settings: Select Journal Style / Customize Journal Style / Test Beta Features, but I didn't find a function to create separate pages anywhere.

I also looked in the CREATE menu, but there is no option to create a new separate page, only Post Entry / Edit Entries, but again I didn't find a function to create separate pages anywhere.

I would be glad if someone with more experience could help, thanks in advance!

A Kindly Light Amid The Encircling Gloom

Today will be hot. Tomorrow, they say will be even hotter. I looked out and the air was so clear it seemed the hills had moved a mile closer.

A Friend gave us a talk yesterday about the Samaritans and their work in prison. At least one of our other friends said, "Suicide and prisons? No thanks. I'll give it a miss." But the talk was inspiriting. Our prison system is horrible. It shuts up unhappy people in conditions guaranteed to make them even unhappier. But the Samaritans- who train inmates to be "listeners"- bring a little light into the gloom. Our friend says the work keeps him sane.

Here's Lewes Prison (not my picture)

It makes me think of my boarding school. For two reasons.

1. We used to drive past it on the way to school- and as we turned the corner by those high, horrible grey walls I knew my own incarceration was only half an hour away.

2. It's a building of the same period (mid-19th century) and of a similar design. The Victorians thought you could terrify people into good behaviour. It doesn't work.

Unbelievably... no, scrub that and substitute all too believably....Lewes Prison is a Grade Two listed building, which means the fabric can't be altered without permission from on high. In consequence the people who run the prison have to pay a recurring fine to the authorities for further uglifying their ugly building by topping it off with razor wire.....

Bits And Pieces

When I was chopping the tall grasses down a week or two back I left a clump of barley standing next to the bird bath. This morning I watched a jackdaw jump up, pull a stalk down onto the path and proceed to peck away at it. Clever bird!

"I dodn't suppose anyone falls out with you," said Mark. "Oh, but they do," I replied,"And especially since I became a Quaker elder." I forebore to mention that he'd come close to falling out with me himself a few weeks before.

I'm reading Evelyn Waugh's Sword of Honour. It's not what you expect. There's comedy, but it's no longer heartless- and there's an understanding- that there rarely was in the earlier books- that people, even obnoxious people, are trying their best. When Waugh divests himself of farce he stands revealed as deeply unhappy. It's not exactly autobiographical- Crouchback is very much not Waugh himself- but it follows the trajectory of Waugh's own wartime experience- which wasn't glorious- and gives a lot away. It's a stoic book. I'd even call it brave......

Improving My Posture

I walk with a stoop. I've done it all my life. Comes of being a bookworm.

But now I'm 74 people see me prowling around with my eyes on the ground and mistake me for an old man- and we can't have that. Time to straighten up.

Picture Diary 96

Picture Diary 96.

1. Forward to the Past

2. CAN

3. Romantic composer

4. Avians

5. Autumn

6. New Ice Age

The Future Of Movies

Judy is annoyed about a book that says Hollywood is finished because in a few years time movies will be entirely constructed in AI- with no need for actors or cinematographers and- what hits her hardest- screen writers.

I'm not going tp play the prophet but I'm inclined to think- as she does- that old-style movie making will continue as a craft- just as other things superceded by the machine have done- like cabinet making or lace making or watercolour painting.

All the same I cannot help noticing how AI image-making proceeds by leaps and bounds. I have been making AI pictures for less than two years and when I started it was cutting edge and now the things I'm producing are looking a bit old hat. This morning on YouTube I was watching some nice little clips of people walking with dinosaurs that were created using MidJourney. Very good they were too. Effects that once cost millions can now be knocked off in someone's back bedroom.

Not With a Bang....

According to the media the mysterious bottle that cleared several streets in the heart of Eastbourne was found in a house previously occupied by squatters. The contractors tasked with clearing the property called the police who summoned the bomb squad who sent in a robot to blow it up.

Was there a mighty explosion?

Apparently not.

The Eastbourne Open

The police had discovered a bottle of "mysterious liquid" in a house in the centre of town and had sealed off and evacuated the surrounding streets. It was all very discreet and if the Daily Mail hadn't told us to look left as drove up Grove Rd we'd not have guessed anything was out of order. Entrance to the afflicted area was sealed off with tape and a single affable copper was standing by to deter the general public from ducking under it.

Nothing to see here. Now move along please.....

We were on our way to the tennis. The Eastbourne Open has been downgraded this year but a good number of top players have shown up anyway. I sat myself down alongside Court 4 and watched this match....

Note that Rakhimova doesn't get a flag which means she's Russian.

Here she is

And here's Cocciaretto....

Rakhimova won.

I've never been to Wimbledon. A friend who has been to both says Eastbourne is quiter, more relaxed and better tempered. There's no champagne, no strawberries and cream, but the sea-food infused mac and cheese I bought off a kiosk was perfectly nice. They have a big screen so that those who haven't paid for seats on Centre Court can watch the action at one remove. No extra charge is made for the very comfortable deckchairs.....

You know, I think this is the very first time I've attended a professional sporting event of any kind.

Golden

I remember a blind man telling us that what he saw- in his mind's eye- was not darkness- as we'd presumed- but a "wonderful golden light".

A "wonderful golden light " is what I "see" when I close my eyes in the Meeting House.

"Golden" is not quite right. There are other colours there. You know when you look at a sunset and you can't tell where one colour ends and and the next begins and you call it golden because words fail? Well, its a bit like that- only the colours don't shade into one another but are all present at once. Also it's soft and deep, as gold, the metal, isn't.

And I don't just see, I also hear and feel. And all these verbs are approximate. The light is bound up with the silence and has dimensions beyond the senses. It has consciousness, an internal movement as of motes in a sun beam- and is somehow involved with Peace and Love....