My Library; The Island; Spinalonga was a former leper colony;

The Island by Victoria Hislop.

Plaka 1953, a cold wind whipped through the narrow streets of Plaka and the chill of autumnal air encircled the woman, paralysing her body and mind with a numbness that almost blocked her senses but could do nothing to alleviate her grief. As she stumbled....

A powerful story about the fate of people who were unlucky enough to be infected by Lepra, had to leave their families and friends and were banned to the Island of Spinalonga.

The Island of Spinalonga, off the north coast of Crete, was Greece's main leper colony from 1903 until 1957.

It is notable for being one of the last active leper colonies in Europe. The last inhabitant, a priest, left the island in 1962. This was to maintain the religious tradition of the Greek Orthodox church, in which a buried person has to be commemorated 40 days, 6 months, 1, 3 and 5 years after their death. Other leper colonies that have survived Spinalonga include Tichilesti in Eastern Romania, Fontilles in Spain and Talsi in Latvia. As of 2002, few lazarettos remain in Europe.[1]

There were two entrances to Spinalonga, one being the lepers' entrance, a tunnel known as Dante's Gate. This was so named because the patients did not know what was going to happen to them once they arrived. However, once on the island they received food, water, medical attention and social security payments. Previously, such amenities had been unavailable to Crete's leprosy patients, as they mostly lived in the area's caves, away from civilization.

Pictures and Paintings; a potpourri of memories;

Summer; ripe wheat, a view from a window; in the distance the village of Sommeri. Nomen est omen!

Hudelmoos; a preserved wetland area where we used to go for walks with the children.

The bee house in the garden; The poeta was a hobby bee keeper.

Our home; was; has been; happy days;

The pond where we went skating with the children.

Bought this on a trip to Appenzell; Naive painting on wood by Willi Keller.

I embroidered the Butterflies 1988.

Have we met? I received this water colour painting from my dear friend Jan.

Kilchberg ZH, drawing by Erika Streit, We got married here 1960. Our first home was Toediweg 2. The poeta had a business here. I was treasurer of the Skiclub Kilchberg. Now just memories.

The poeta and I have cherished this drawing; It has suffered with age spots like us!

The piano player is still playing his haunting tunes.

Today's Flowers; Salvia "Black Knight";

SALVIA BLACK KNIGHT

2.0 x 1.50m. Dark purple tubular flowers in black calyces are produced in abundance during the summer months. Great for the back of the border and very easy.

Salvias are some of my favourite plants in the summer garden. The tropical ones grow easily from 1 - 1.5 m in height. There are many colours to choose from, purple, yellow, hot pink, soft pink and mauve and blue and more.

In my garden they grow and bloom from spring into winter, when I cut them back. They also grow from cuttings taken in summer.

Today's Flowers click here please;

Teddy Bear Love;

The Studies Bear, it was given to Lilli when she was studying for her BA in Natural Medicine.

Oliver is a Christmas Bear and was given to Lilli when she came back from an overseas stay.

Roesli the Bear in front belonged to my sister, she gave me hers and our Mother's Bear.

Butzli Bear was made by my middle daughter Jacquei for me, when she was still at High school .

Matti was my Mothers Bear. The little bear in front is a foundling.

This was one of Lucian, my grandson's, bears. He would spend holidays here as a child. He is now 20, studies medicine and sometimes he still comes to study here because it is so nice and quiet, he says.The "Hostipel" bear as Lucian called it, where Jaqcuei worked in the Children's ward at the Mater Hospital.

Lena in front belonged to Lilli.

History

The name Teddy Bear comes from former United States President Theodore Roosevelt, whose nickname was "Teddy". The name originated from an incident on a bear-hunting trip in Mississippi in November 1902, to which Roosevelt was invited by Mississippi Governor Andrew H. Longino. There were several other hunters competing, and most of them had already killed an animal. A suite of Roosevelt's attendants, led by Holt Collier,[1] cornered, clubbed, and tied an American Black Bear to a willow tree after a long exhausting chase with hounds. They called Roosevelt to the site and suggested that he should shoot it. He refused to shoot the bear himself, deeming this unsportsmanlike,[2] but instructed that the bear be killed to put it out of its misery, and it became the topic of a political cartoon by Clifford Berryman in The Washington Post on November 16, 1902.[3] While the initial cartoon of an adult black bear lassoed by a white handler and a disgusted Roosevelt had symbolic overtones, later issues of that and other Berryman cartoons made the bear smaller and cuter.[4]

Morris Michtom saw the drawing of Roosevelt and the bear cub and was inspired to create a new toy. He created a little stuffed bear cub and put it in his shop window with a sign that read "Teddy's bear," after sending the bear to Roosevelt and receiving permission to sell the bears. The toys were an immediate success and Michtom founded the Ideal Novelty and Toy Co., which still exists today.[2]

At the same time, in Germany the Steiff firm, unaware of Michtom's bear, produced a stuffed bear from Richard Steiff's designs. They exhibited the toy at the Leipzig Toy Fair in March 1903 and exported 3000 to the United States.[2][5][6]

By 1906 manufacturers other than Michtom and Steiff had joined in and the craze for Teddy Bears was such that ladies carried them everywhere, children were photographed with them, and Roosevelt used one as a mascot in his bid for re-election.[5]

American educator Seymour Eaton wrote the children's book series The Roosevelt Bears,[7] while composer John Bratton wrote "The Teddy Bear Two Step" which, with the addition ofJimmy Kennedy's lyrics, became the song "The Teddy Bears' Picnic".[8]

Today's Flowers; Lipstick pink;

Ipomea horsfalliae, climber; Please click the pictures

Click here for Today's Flowers;

Thank you to the TF Team;

Luiz

Denise

Pupo and Valkyrien.

Today's Flowers; Plumeria

The wonderfully scented Frangipani are flowering in the garden.

"Plumeria" species are easily propagated by taking a cutting of leafless stem tips in Spring and allowing them to dry at the base before inserting them into soil. Make sure soil has good drainage, to prevent root rot. Pruning is best accomplished in the winter for deciduous varieties, or whenever cuttings are desired.

There are over 300 named varieties of Plumeria.

Click here for Today's Flowers

The pleasure of reading;

Sacred Hearts by Sarah Dunant first published in 2009

Historical Note:

By the second half 0f the sixteenth century, the price of wedding dowries had risen so sharply within Catholic Europe that most noble families could not afford to marry off more than one daughter.

The remaining young women were dispatched for a much lesser price into convents.

Historians estimate that in the great towns and city states of Italy, up to half of all noble women became nuns.

Not all went willingly!

This story takes place in the northern Italian city of Ferrara, in 1570 in the Convent of Santa Caterina.

This book makes interesting reading. It is also scary and cruel that so many young girls were forced to enter a convent when their intent was to get married and have a family.

...and so the story goes...

The convent of Santa Caterina in the city of Ferrara is filled with noble women married to Christ because their families can not afford husbands. Sixteen -year- old Serafina arrives, ripped from an illicit love affair, howling with rage and determined to escape...