A bit under paaaaar

Ah me! I seem to be feeling somewhat out of sorts and don't know what to write about. I just don't seem to have the energy that I had a few weeks ago. It could be the weather, of course, because it has rained on and off for days, probably longer. I stand here under the veranda musing on this and that and listening to the rain. On the other hand, I could have over-taxed my brain with posts about biquintiles or quincunx or my bespoke poem for IBM's Boswell? Who knows? Maybe it's an age thing?

Perhaps life in France isn't for me, after all. I could just be seeing the grass as greener in the UK where, it seems, you can get a job as a creative sheep on a 'random poetry' project.

An artist has been given a grant (from Northern Arts) to explore notions of randomness and quantum mechanics "through poetry, using the medium of sheep". I think that might be a nice project to be involved in. I would have a word on my back and then wander about, knowing I/we were making poetry. What do you think of that, then, as a way of being part of something bigger than oneself?

Lisbeth says there is a very interesting and amusing discussion about this project on AbleStable

PC Malevich

That Kasimir Malevich sounds very PC for his time..........

"Honor to the Futurists who forbade the painting of female hams, the painting of portraits and guitars in the moonlight. They made a huge step forward: they abandoned meat and glorified the machine."

--Kasimir Malevich, 1918

Mouton Art

And while we're on the subject of Art, I came across this great site artmoutonneux.

I am going to ask Lisbeth to do something arty that includes stuff about me and sends it to this artist, Isobelle Vannobel.

Supremoutism

Here we are. This is me. Minimal Mouty. 'White on White' (1986) paint on modroc, sheep-sized, Vienne, France

From a gosling to Suprematism

So how did I get from a gosling to Suprematism? Easy!

If you've been following me, you'll know that I've recently done a poem about Boswell (the gosling) from IBM entitled The Goose Engine. We got to the gosling through IBM because Lisbeth really liked the site (created at the IBMUS lab in the USA) through which you can listen to the music of Philip Glass via the Glass Engine and Lisbeth had contacted one of the programmers to say how inventive she thought it was. (Boswell was this programmer's favourite gosling, by the way.) Before that, my post drawing readers' attention to the Glass Engine site, generated a comment from one of my regulars expressing surprise (yet delight) regarding my taste for minimalist music. Are you with me so far?

OK. I replied to this comment that I felt myself to be somewhat of a minimalist mouton because of my monochronal hue (different shades of white). Well......... in my talking practice with Lisbeth, later in the week, this white thing came up in conversation and she mentioned a painter called Kasimir Malevich who did a painting which was just different shades of white, like me. How cool is that? Apparently, he's a Suprematist. (No, that's not someone who makes room-saving rugs, but a serious artist!)

So before I can talk more about my minimalist contribution to art, I need you to have a look at this important painting. It's called: White Square on White (1918) by Kasimir Malevich (1878-1935). oil on canvas. 78.7 x 78.7cm. The Museum of Modern Art, New York.

I'll continue tomorrow.

Just another day in France

Nothing much to report today. The weather is bizarre. It was nearly 40 degrees yesterday and Lisbeth did her 'Madame Tomate' thing. (This is what the neighbours call her when she works outside and gets so hot she goes red. ) Then today, it has been quite cool and raining. Honestly, I don't know if I should use my wool to protect me from the heat or insulate me from the cold!

I've been doing some standing on the veranda out of the rain and Lisbeth has been to the local Emmaus (like a giant charity shop) to see if she can find anything of interest. Then, after lunch, she bought a present for a friend: a dustbin from 'Splash' which she then took to the tip to get it filled with compost. The compost (a whole dustbin full) cost just 1 euro 50 centimes.

While on the veranda, I was thinking about minimalism (after the Philip Glass post) and have decided to do something on that subject in the next few days. Well......you've got to do something creative when it rains!

Inside Château Marçonnay

One of the rooms inside (on the left) is given over to the owner's large collection of old implements. Lisbeth took this photo to feature the fireplace (as opposed to the implements) as her friend is restoring and 14th century fortified house which once had a fireplace not dissimilar to this one. On the right, is another fireplace in the owner's sitting room. The shaded parts either side of the central coat of arms are the remains of the original paintings on the stonework.

Re: Sheep Poo order

Just to let you know that my things from Wales made from sheep poo have arrived and we are really pleased with them. Creative Paper Wales have a great saying on their stuff. "You can take the paper out of Wales but you can't take Wales out of the paper"

The Goose Engine

Boswell is from IBM

(leaning to the left)
Trying hard his height to gain
but isn't very deft.

Wants to be a blogger
when he's tall and straight
Fears he will discover
he's developed late.

Listens now to Philip Glass
in wood and leafy glade
(But is he just inertial mass
sitting in the shade?)

The IB-MUS guys think he's cool
and never fly-by-night
He's not just anybody's fool
despite his challenged height.

So don't go goofing off outside
with old Canadian geese
Let cool programmers be your guide
where music's the set piece.

Keep growing tall and filling out
so you can blog with ease
And be the smartest goose, no doubt,
to have web expertise.

Château Marçonnay

Lisbeth got back after midnight from her day out and so I was only able to get this photo from her camera. This privately owned château is 14th century with later additions in the 16th century. You enter the enclosed courtyard through a gatehouse and over a bridge as it is partially moated. She says she's got some interesting photos of the inside which I might put on later when I've had time to look at them.

Meet Boswell

I am very honoured to have been given permission to put this photo on my blog. Hi Boswell!

Well...... it seems that after my Glass Engine post, Lisbeth has been chatting with one of the guys at IBM (T. J. Watson Research Centre in the USA) in the lab that does the Glass Engine. She was so taken with the site that she wanted to tell them how inventive she thought it was.

Anyway, it seems that Boswell is somewhat of a favourite with one (or more?) of the IBMUS programmers and the guy with whom Lisbeth has been in contact told her that Boswell is actually thinking of starting a blog of his own! Brilliant, or what? But only when he can manage to be upright for a reasonable length of time, of course!

So......Hail, Your Gosling Goosiness, Boswell: Fledgling Blogger from IBMUS. I am honoured to welcome you to the world of blogging. (Keep practicing the upright thing.)

P.S. Lisbeth says to remind you that The Glass Engine site is pretty amazing. So if you haven't already, check it out.

General update

I haven't said much about what's happening with Lisbeth but you know how it is when you're busy blogging and researching and stuff...........I really don't get too much time to write about her.

Anyway, she's building some sort of store in the garden and trying to keep on top of the potager (vegetable garden). She's still doing some on-line coaching but not that much these days. She's still waiting for her lawyer to make another rendezvous with her Notaire (spell check suggests Voltaire: if only!) I think she's going out with friends on Wednesday to see a chateau (circumflex over the 'a'.) Over the weekend, she made some special drink that they make around here with wine, sugar, eau de vie and some shoots from sloe bushes. I don't know what it's called but she tells me it will taste like heaven when it's ready.

Oh yes, she has also had a visit from the previous owner of the house to see if there is anything he can do regarding her droit de passage problem. She thought that was very nice of him to care enough to come and she enjoyed his visit very much.

Today, she's cleaned the chainsaw, made some paths in the garden, loaded Postman Pat ready to take stuff to the tip and has just gone down to bring in the washing. Life eh!

As for me: I'm busy blogging and practicing talking. I'm still waiting for my surprise visitor. It was supposed to be last week but Lisbeth assures me they will be coming as soon as they can arrange it. Also, I'm expecting a delivery, in the not too distant future, of my Sheep Poo Paper things all the way from Wales.

So that's us.

Ode to Quincunx

Planets are - very far
And we see them shine

They move on, then they're gone
Rarely in a line

Read your stars. Look for Mars
Five will bring quincunxes

Take a chance and find a stance
to never be sync schnookses

Quincunx

It's been the most horrid of days regarding the weather, so I have been looking at more Astrological terms. So to follow my 'Biquintile Denouement' post I have chosen:

".......logical Mercury quincunxes powerful Pluto....."

These really do strike my poor ovine brain as weird words. I looked up 'quincunx' - as you do - and found a definition which says it is a noun, being "five objects arranged so that four are at the corners of a square or rectangle and the fifth is at its centre."

Unlike for 'biquintile', I don't think I have anything very interesting to impart about this word, other than to say a) I like it; b) I wonder what the other planets are in this specific grouping? c) Which one is in the middle? and d) I fancy writing a poem with the challenge of using 'quincunx' in it. Don't ask me why I fancy writing one of my odes. It's probably because I am outside and feel to be in a quincunx relationship to a pile of wood, 2 chairs and some courgette plants sprouting in toilet rolls. (Lisbeth says the toilet rolls make good potting containers because when the plants are ready for planting out, you just put the whole thing in the ground and the baby plants don't get disturbed and the cardboard eventually rots into the earth: very ecological!)

So hey diddle diddle, I'm quincunxed in the middle.

The Glass Engine

I was doing some more spring cleaning in my sidebar and found this really cool site for the music of Philip Glass. I've put a permanent link in the 'Music I like' section.

If your garlic wouldn't grow...........

You'd......

Dig it all up - wash it all off - and start all over again

back in the kitchen.......

and eat it.

What would you do if your garlic didn't grow?

When Lisbeth had her vegetable garden in England, it was not an uncommon occurrence for her to plant (with a 100% success rate) the garlic cloves that she had bought to use for cooking. So with this in mind, about three weeks ago, Lisbeth planted the remaining six cloves of her kitchen garlic.

However today, after she had finished planting her leeks, she lost patience waiting for the garlic to show itself and decided to have a bit of a poke about in the earth to see if there were any signs of life. Sadly, when she scraped away the soil, she found her cloves in tact, with not a sprout in sight.

So what, if you were her, would you do now?

Après la guerre (Nov 2004)

The troops see some action

Here we have friends and family pitching in to help with the work. And there was plenty of it. From what I can make out, the main project:- cutting the bamboo, dealing with hundreds of cut lengths, digging the trench, putting in the plastic, dragging out the roots (with a digger and by hand) and leveling the ground afterwards - spread over the whole of 2004. In fact, Lisbeth says she has only just finished clearing the last of the root balls. It sounds horrendous and far too much like hard work for this faineant mouton.

However, as it is all done and looking good, I am hoping to spend some time in the bamboo, myself, this summer. If I do, I'll make sure I post a photo.

Battling the bamboo

Before all the excitement of my going outside and now expecting a visitor, I was talking about birds in the bamboo. For continuity, I was planning to stay on the subject of bamboo and talk about how to keep it under control. So, if you've all recovered from the drama of yesterday's noon walk, I'll pick up where I left off.

You will have seen Lisbeth's big patch of bamboo (post for Friday 11th May). There are lots of different types and according to Lisbeth the one here, in this garden, is particularly voracious. When she first moved in, it was pretty much out of control. The roots were running right across the neighbour's garden and she would find great rolls of them leaning by the fence on her return. On the opposite side, the roots were also heading off in every direction into her own garden in a sort of vegetarian version of Dune.

If the young shoots you can see in the photo (up against her neighbour's fence) are not cut down, they will grow anything from 12-18 or even 20 feet high. Cutting them off will make it look tidy but the 'Dune effect', below ground, will be busy creating even more for the following year.

So what Lisbeth did was:

• Made a trench, just under a meter deep (and wide enough to stand in) around a section that she wanted to keep
  
• Put a strip of special thick plastic in all the way round. (It comes in long lengths and is a meter wide)
  
• The plastic was positioned at an angle of 15 degrees (sloping outwards) leaving 3-4 inches showing above ground
  
• The join was tightly held together with metal strips
  
• The earth that holds the plastic in place was very firmly tamped down so that the plastic can't move from its 15 degree angle.
• She then poisoned (several times!) or dug up all the bamboo outside the plastic.
  

Eh voila!

I'll see if I can find some more photos for tomorrow.

A visitor expected

My excitement meter is nearly off the scale. Not only am I outside, but Lisbeth tells me that I am to have a visitor sometime this week. Yes me, not Lisbeth, Me! They're coming especially to see me! She won't say who it is, just that it will be one day this week.

The Mouton has landed

One giant bleat for those inclined

One small step................

Isn't that inviting?

Too excited to write a sensible post

Today I have been in a bit of a pickle because I have been spoiled for choice. I wanted to talk about another astrological phrase. I wanted to talk about how to manage bamboo (with photos) and then there is another poem that I've been thinking about.

However, as I was deliberating at my keyboard, Lisbeth whirled through to the kitchen and said that, if the weather holds, I CAN GO OUTSIDE TOMORROW. Yeeeeeeeeeeeeees!

With this in mind, I confess to feeling too excited to get my head around a sensible post, so................

I'm going out. I'm going out
The weather's fine. It's nearly time
I crave the sun, the breeze, the air
I'm happy standing anywhere

I cannot write. I cannot think
If she says no, my heart will sink
I'm sure it will be right this time
So think of me on my cloud nine.

Birds in the bamboo

While we're on the subject of birds, I thought I would tell you about the birds in the bamboo.

In Lisbeth's garden there is quite a big area of bamboo, as you can see. Every night from spring until the autumn, her bamboo is home to hundreds of birds who come to roost in it at night. They start arriving in ones and twos, then they come in small groups. When the light begins to fade they start swooping down, either in a continual stream or in bigger groups. They sort of dive-bomb into the tops of the leaves, with the last ones, that have been hanging around on the church tower, hurtling in as if the bat out of hell was on their tails.

They are very noisy. It begins with a few twitterings but as more arrive, they get noisier and noisier as they chatter and flutter about in the top of the leaves. By the time it is nearly dark, they are making an amazing amount of noise. Then, quite without warning, they fall silent.

Birds in a Basket

Birds crammed in a basket, feeling all squashed in

Looking out to see the world and wishing they were thin

Birds of different sizes, eyes look here and there
Taking in the different things, trying not to stare

Sometimes Lisbeth moves them, puts them on the floor
(Gives a new perspective) but never near the door

I don't know why she worries, they really cannot fly
But one day I am hoping that I'll see them in the sky

Edging towards the light

My journey towards the garden is on pause as I remain in the room just next to it. If I'm honest, however, I don't really mind. The weather has turned and we have gone from summer temperatures to somewhat of a wintry feel. Two weeks ago, Lisbeth had cleaned the stove, put some dried flowers in front and rearranged the chairs to their more appropriate summer positions. However, yesterday and today has been so miserable that she had to re-rearrange everything so that she could light the wood burner. This was definitely a good idea because Lisbeth's moral still needs a lift and fires are always so comforting, don't you think?

As I've had another pretty boring day (Lisbeth's been out), I googled my post title to see what came up. So for those of you who feel you may be walking in the dark, metaphorically speaking of course, you might like to check out The Light Party and for the arty ones amongst you, take a look at The Light Surgeons.

Is The Light Party for real?

Philosophical Jupiter

After yesterday's mammoth brain dump, I have been pondering this idea of 'Philosophical Jupiter' and what it really means. It is obviously important because it does the 'biquintiling' thing with plain old Sun and Mercury. So I've had a bit of a check up, and I am pleased to say that I have found someone to explain it all for us. In his article The Mystic and the Misanthrope: the Enigma of Arthur Schopenhauer (an astrological portrait), Gerry Goddard writes:

"The ontological substratum he [Schopenhauer] characterized as will can be ultimately symbolized by the trine from Pluto to the focal and philosophical Jupiter (S's [Schopenhauer's] mediating archetypal level) while the concrete individual manifestation of will is appropriately symbolized by the rising Mars trine the Sun."

So that's cleared that up, then!

Biquintile Denouement

I'm feeling something of a 'cosmos moment' coming on, today, so I am going to offer an analysis of why Lisbeth suddenly found (or saw) the lost sheep mug. This analysis is based on some notes that Lisbeth made the other day. They were taken from one of her daily astrological readings. Now I can imagine that, for those of you who know her, you might be surprised that she would be using this sort of thing, so I am happy to inform you that, although these readings are always sitting in her in-box, Lisbeth's first job, each day, is to delete them. So why, I hear you ask, are they still coming? Good question. They continue to come, because she doesn't know how to stop them. She's done all the usual stuff (sending to the stopping link etc.,) but they just keep coming. Anyway, I felt I should explain this. She doesn't think Astrology is rubbish, or anything, she just doesn't use it herself. (Although, I realise that my explanation doesn't say much for her technical skills!)

So.........to continue: She found the mug on the very day that this message arrived:

"Philosophical Jupiter comes to the rescue as it magically biquintiles the Sun and Mercury".

Needless to say, her daily deletion exercise was aborted as her attention was drawn to the word 'biquintile' and, luckily for me, she kept the above statement, plus the definition below, which she found in the 1913 Webster's Dictionary:

n.) An aspect of the planets when they are distant from each other by twice the fifth part of a great circle -- that is, twice 72 degrees.

Well fancy that!

So back to the mug. Let us suppose then, that the same principle could be operating, on a much smaller scale of course, here in this house. Let's consider the possibility that the mug was actually 'rescued' by some object in this vicinity, which 'magically biquintiled' two other objects, (not forgetting the "twice the fifth part of a great circle -- that is, twice 72 degrees", of course) so that the mug suddenly became visible. A neat idea, or what!

Let's see: Perhaps the cat next door 'magically biquintiled' Lisbeth and myself, when it squeezed through the fence? Or, perhaps a fly, emerging from behind the curtain, 'magically biquintiled' a piece of cheese and a French stick? Or, perhaps a sock, falling from the washing basket, 'magically biquintiled' the front door key and her spider plant? The possibilities are endless. Or, it really was "Philosophical Jupiter" doing its biquentiling thing with the far more distant Sun and Mercury?

Anything's possible! Isn't it?

Noun: with handle and usually cylindrical

No, Lisbeth hasn't been taken to the Gendarmerie to look through the mug shots! (See comment to previous post.) She hasn't, because the mystery has been solved. Yeeeeeeeees!

So I thought I would invite all her friends and neighbours round so that I could have a 'Poirot moment' for the denouement but as she is still feeling very down, I thought better of it. As an alternative, therefore, I'll just spin it out a bit.

So where was it? I hear you asking. Was it outside, somewhere, lost in the undergrowth? Had it been stood on a window ledge? Was it mislaid in the workroom? Perhaps it was on the terrace. Maybe she took it upstairs and it was in one of the bedrooms? Did she find it in the bathroom? No. It was hanging on a hook in the kitchen where Lisbeth had put it for safe keeping! (I sneaked a photo and have put it in the 'Bits and bobs of photos' in the sidebar.)

Honestly - it's been no more than about 9 inches from her face, several times a day, since she lost it. I really do wonder about her, sometimes.

On my way

So here I am on my way outside. Yippeeeeeee!

The weather has not been so warm but Lisbeth has taken pity on me (probably because she feels guilty about the lost mug) and let me move into the room next to the garden. I can see the fig tree which not only has knobs on but quite a lot of leaves as well.

Although it's overcast today, I am very happy to be en route vers le jardin.

After the meeting

8.30pm and Lisbeth's just back from Poitiers and looking a bit like Shaun the Sheep. The meeting didn't go well and she is very quiet. I don't know what to say to her. What can you say? She has the law on her side but it is all getting lost in the paperwork and the lawyers and the passing of time. I know what she'll do. She'll look at houses on the web and then go to bed. I wish I could have found the mug for her. At least it might have cheered her up.

Lost in Space

You know the mug that I've been talking about? Well, Lisbeth's lost it. She took it outside to photo it for me for the last two posts and now she says she can't find it. What is she like! She says she's looked everywhere. "Perhaps the mug fairies have taken it?" I suggest.....NOT............

She might be a little distracted at the moment because of her meeting with the lawyers this afternoon but how hard can it be to take a mug outside, photo it, then bring it back inside?

The problem I have now is that this mug is not just any old mug. It will have taken on serious global significance now it has been the subject of one of my more in-depth Musings. If the www has spread the message of the mug, how can I say Lisbeth's lost it? I just hope that I don't end up writing a post entitled 'Requiem for a Mug'. That would be just too much.

The Dark Side of the Mug

I wanted to show you the back of the mug as well as the front because I feel a bit of a philosophical moment coming on..............

I want to put forward the idea that this mug represents the human condition. A bit of a leap, I know, but indulge me on this one.

We all, humans and sheep, have a front: what we can see when we look down (and in the mirror, of course); and the part at the back: what we can't see. (Lisbeth has a friend who is writing a novel based on this idea and how this awareness affects how we think of ourselves.)

However, unlike sheep, I have it on good authority that you humans are also aware of an internal landscape: an internal 'Self'. Also, that part of this inner Self can be experienced as a feeling of emptiness: Who am I? Why am I here? and so on. The space in the mug, therefore, could be said to represent this inner 'emotional void' that can haunt so many of you humans.

So I arrive at the nub of the thing. You can fill the mug with things that are good for you or things that are not so good for you. Likewise, you can feed your emotional void with activities and thoughts that are good for you or activities and thoughts that are not so good for you. You won't always see it as a choice, but that's what it is.

As Lisbeth's house-mate and Talking Practice partner I will be reminding her, the next time she uses this mug, that she has choices about what she puts inside her body as well as, and more importantly, choices about what she does for, or believes about, herself. (Assuming, of course, that she will take council from a sheep!)

A friend to drink with

Now isn't that cute?

It was given to Lisbeth on Monday, when she took some plants to some friends who have recently returned to France. Apparently, they had seen my photo on the blog and remembered that they had a sheep mug in their cupboard in England. How kind of them to bring it all the way out here to give to Lisbeth.

I think I can speak for both of us when I say how much we like it and how much it is appreciated.

Not so sad

Actually I'm not so sad today, after all, and that's because the weather has changed. It's raining heavily and is quite cold; there is even thunder and lightening. As a result, I am pleased to be inside with Lisbeth. She's even lit the big open fire, this evening, and I do like it in that room with the fire lit.

It's been an odd sort of a day, all in all. Public holidays are always quiet in the village: no traffic and virtually no to-ing and fro-ing from the people. Lisbeth's just pottered about, seen a couple of friends and made some notes in her garden sketchbook. Not a day to remember; just a day to relax.