Thursday, January 29, 2009

Song of Innocence; Doctrine;



Doctrine;


Once a month had to go to confession. Though I did not like the doctrine I was dominated by its rules. I never liked to go to confession. I did not like to be intimate with eccentricity. I never new what I should say; I did not feel comfortable with this arrangement. I knew the right order of the ten commandments. I felt uneasy.The priest usually hurried me through the commandments.

In a portentous way the priest behind the wooden grill was a stranger who whispered questions which I was not able to answer. From time to time I tried the little door if it still opened so I could escape. The priest said leave the door alone and concentrate on your sins.

It felt like he was not taking the whole procedure very serious it was more like going through set motions. I did not like the cubicle. It smelled musty, of old paint and dust. I was kneeling on a hard plank which hurt my knees. The priest asked me all this questions which I always answered with no, which I felt was safer.

The priest never denied me absolution but he also gave me an awful lot of Hail Mary’s to recite.
I liked the church, its antiquity, the sacred music, the rituals. I never prayed during mass. I liked to watch the activities of the performing priest and the altar boys. The rituals never changed and I got bored with it all and was having a hard time to concentrate as my thoughts went to other more important things in the life of an eight year old.
The day after confession, which in my case was usually a Sunday, I had to go to holy communion. I was not allowed to have breakfast before communion. My tummy was rumbling, making unholy noises when I was kneeling before the priest to receive it. It went on and on and on through all the rituals. When it all was finished I felt free, a weight was lifted from my shoulders for the next four weeks which was a long time away.
After church I was invited for breakfast at the house of the priest. I was the only child there, because I came by train from the next village, and I could not go straight home for breakfast. That was only when I went to communion and left my home without having eaten any food. I was served in the parlor not in the kitchen. On the table was a white tablecloth. Everything looked very old fashioned with lots of holy pictures on the walls but there was no dust. The housekeeper of the priest, catholic priests are not married, was friendly but did not speak to me. The breakfast was
delicious, hot strong cocoa, bread butter and jam. I did not pray before the meal, because we did not pray at home and nobody was asking me to pray.  

Sunday, January 25, 2009

Today's flowers;


All clad in Yellow;

Alamanda blossom floating on the pond;


The dangerously beautiful Thevetia;


Tecoma capensis is a wonderfully easy shrub to grow. It is not invasive, comes also in different reds, but I particularly love the yellow one.

Daylily,


Keen to see more flowers around the world? Click here

Sunday, January 18, 2009

Today's Flowers; Queen of the night;


Queen of the Night;




Night flowering Cereus. My Cereus had 13 fat buds and yesterday morning they were all open.

For wonderful flowers around the world please click Today's Flowers

Photos T.S.




Tuesday, January 13, 2009

Can we save the planet?

Only when people are informed will they be aware. Only when they are aware will they take action will the environment be saved.
Prize Winner 1996 in the "Green Team"; Ndiakira Amooti; (Goldman Environment)




Zebra Rock, 1200 Million years of history;


Be gentle with Nature;

Be nice to each other;

Bake your own from organic ingredients;

Live and let live;

Provide for others;


Live healthy;



Give the humble chook a fair go; buy eggs laid by happy hens, real free range and organic;


No need to live in a mansion;



Plant trees!











Sunday, January 11, 2009

Today's Flowers





Catharanthus roseus; Madagascar Periwinkle is a much loved, easy to grow flowering plant.

The flowers are not scented but make up by the sheer volume of blooms and flowers continuously from early summer into winter.
They come in many shades from red to pink and white . I usually buy them in punnets in the nursery if I fancy a new colour. Generally I always find seedlings in the garden to replant.



For more pictures Today's Flowers click here
Photos T.S.

Tuesday, January 6, 2009

January reading list;


The Purple Plain by H.E.Bates; Is a classic first printed in 1947

Shy flocks of small banana green parrots had begun to come back to the pipul trees about the......


The Seeker a Novel written by Sudhir Kakar; It is 1925 and India's struggle for independence is in disarray.


Isabella Moon by Laura Benedict; Long buried secrets and lies rise again as murder shatters a small town....


Landscape of Farewell by Alex Miller; From where rises the high tide of desire, of expectation, of an obsession with sheer being defiant of pain, of the treadmill of enslavement and injustice, of the massacres that are history? Georg Steiner


A Game with sharpened Knives by Neil Belton; First published in 2005; In 1941, murder is in the air.... 'An astonishing book' The Times


Orpheus Lost by Janette Turner Hospital; Love can take you to the darkest places....



Julia Margaret Cameron by Joanne Lukitsh; J.M.Cameron is amongst the pre-eminent artistic photographers of the nineteenth century.

This is a book full of wonderful sepia photos recommended to all lovers of photography.


Beth Chatto's Gravel Garden; Great reading and wonderful photos by Steven Wooster.

Sunday, January 4, 2009

Today's Flowers;


The scented, white flowers of the Chinese Doll tree are falling quickly and it is the only way to enjoy the flowers as they are growing in Pyramids high up on the tree. Once they have set seedpods the Lorikeets move in to enjoy the seeds. I don't know how they manage it but they screech and eat at the same time.


This glorious pink Penta is a seedling.


Huge hooded flowers of Monstera deliciosa. The fruit is very delectable like a fruit salad.



Small, fancy Zinnias I buy in punnets. I always find a place to tuck them in somewhere. Some seed themselves which is a bonus.

To enjoy more flowers please click here
All flowers growing in my garden.