Figs

The figs above my head are starting to ripen. At last! It's a nice word "Fig". It could have a big impact on language and meaning if it was used more often.

The cook, the fig, his wife and her lover. A fig, a fig, my kingdom for a fig. Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Fig. Figless in Seattle. The four figs of the Acropolis. Seeking Figs. Lord of the Figs. Much ado about Figs. Four Figs and a Funeral. The Fig Patient. Captain Correlli's Fig. Figs of the Caribbean. A Fig in Paris. Apocalypse Fig. Easy Fig. The Figs of Wrath..........................

Facebook?

What's all this with the 'mini feeds' and 'stories' on Facebook? "John is jointing a chicken", "Jane is eating a marmalade sandwich"? This person has updated their photos; this person has joined/left this or that network, changed their interests or left their wife! OK, I don't know if people say that they've left their wife, but I suppose they could.

I can see why it might be seductive to chronicle your life on the web. Hey, I blog, so I know something of what that's about. But the question is: are you spending a good portion of your life commenting on it?

I know I said, in a previous post, that there should be a 'sheepbook'. However, I'm not sure about that, now. I think the ovine thing in relation to sheep is really important. We are both singular and plural. I'm sure that affects how we think. And we flock. That's probably important, too.

Let's take the word face. I've selected the following from an exceedingly long list of definitions in Rhymezone for your delight and delectation:

• noun: the act of confronting bravely
• noun: the side upon which the use of a thing depends (usually the most prominent surface of an object)
• noun: the general outward appearance of something
• noun: status in the eyes of others
• noun: the front of the human head from the forehead to the chin and ear to ear
• noun: a part of a person that is used to refer to a person
• noun: a surface forming part of the outside of an object
• noun: the expression on a person's face
• verb: turn so as to expose the face
• verb: be opposite
• verb: cover the front or surface of
  
• verb: turn so as to face; turn the face in a certain direction
  
• verb: be oriented in a certain direction, often with respect to another reference point; be opposite to
  

Then there's book
I have chosen the following from another quite long list of definitions:

noun: a compilation of the known facts regarding something or someone

If I select one from the first list and add it to the one I've already selected from the second list, then we could have a definition that reads as follows: Facebook = A part of a person used to refer to a person [together with] A compilation of the known facts regarding ... someone.

And there you have it. Let's face the book and live a mediated life.

Magic

When you are tired of 'when' and 'should'
and long internal strife
There's just a chance that 'magic' could
begin to change your life.

This metaphysics might begin
to offer up a route
By showing you that what's within
will bear external fruit

So ask yourself "What do I need,
to bring good things to me?"
And plant a happy asking seed
to grow a happy tree

What you believe, the world will bring
Please don't expect the worst
Think how your life can be like spring:
So full, you want to burst

Facebook

The lady of the house has been setting up her Facebook page, today. However, I don't think she found it as easy as she had expected. She thinks because I blog every day that she will be as good as I am on the web. I don't think so!

Funny name, that: Facebook. I think there should be a Sheepbook. We could have wool networks, field networks, flock networks, mouton networks for those of us in France, etc.

You put the first coat on..........

You put the first coat on
The first coat off
On-Off, On-Off
Wipe it all about
You do the painty painty and you want to shout
That's what it's all about ...................................when you have painted an expensive matt colour over some French vinyl. It doesn't stick and scratches off. Therefore, you have to scrape the whole lot off. It's taken Lizzie all day. (She's covered from head to toe with white dust.) Then you have to wash the walls down with soap and water. Then you have to rinse them. Then, you have a stiff gin and tonic!

Wait not, want not?

If life is like huge play, then I don't feel as if I figure much on the stage of life. I experience myself as more of a 'bit part' in the life of the lovely Lizzie. I feel as if my place on the veranda is like the wings, so to speak, watching and waiting.

Hmm.......I understand the watching bit but I'm not too sure, now I come to write this, what I'm waiting for: waiting for visitors; waiting for talking practice; waiting for the figs to ripen; waiting to move into my winter quarters?

A definition of waiting is:

· noun: the act of waiting (remaining inactive in one place while expecting something)

· adjective: being and remaining ready and available for use
Waiting doesn't sound much fun, does it? If one is waiting, it sounds as if one isn't actually doing anything or enjoying being in the present moment because all the focus is on some future event, which may or may not happen. That can't be good.

I can see that I need to reconsider my role in my life.

Let's suppose I change my role from a bit-part to the main character. (If I'm not the main character in my life, then I don't know who is!) In this scenario, I could stop seeing myself as waiting in the wings, but moving onto the stage and becoming a full participant in the mise en scene. Then I can play out my role in any way that I consider appropriate. Things will still happen around me, but they will be tangential to my sense of being where I am at this present moment. And, I can write myself content, if I choose. Can't I?

Hmmm.......................Wait not. Want not?

Not at the party

She's not at the party
She's out here in France
It's clear that she won't be
invited to dance

She's chosen to make it
a day to reflect
To potter and sit
Her thoughts to collect

The burning fire gives her
a sense of okay
Though I know she'd prefer
to be far, far away.

Peach time

I know I'm always going on about the figs that are on the tree just above where I stand on the veranda but, because of the weather this year, they aren't ripening very well.

It is peach time, however. This photo is of peaches in the garden last year. Don't they look good?

There were three varieties: yellow, white and red. I say were, because the red one fell over last year. It was cut off at ground level and although a new one has sprung from the stump, it is too soon for it to be having fruit. Then this year, the white peach tree died and had to be cut down. Only the yellow peach tree (the oldest) is left. It was so laden with fruit that Lisbeth had to prop some branches up because they were so heavy they were touching the ground.

It is truly the season of mists and mellow fruitfulness!

All in a name

I have become aware that several of Lisbeth's newer friends call her Lizzie. I have no idea why, nor does she. She didn't ask them to, or anything, they just started using it. She told me that a couple of people, quite independently, said they wanted to use 'Lizzie' because they liked it and felt that it really suited her.

I am finding it a bit confusing because some people call her Elizabeth, some French people call her Lisbeth (pronounced Liz-bet). Old friends and family call her Liz and now there's Lizzie. And none of these are her first, birth name, anyway!

P.S. If you want to pass a few useless moments, you can get your very own Chinese name based on your birth name (in proper Chinese writing) from this web page.

Towers don't think

One of the towers from Chateau Touffou

It doesn't think.

It doesn't know it's a tower.

It just is.

I think, therefore.........

I think, therefore I am
I think, therefore I am a sheep
I think, therefore I am a sheep sculpture
I think, therefore I can
I think, therefore I can think
I think, therefore I can think anything
I think, therefore I can think I am a sheep
I think, therefore I can think I am a sheep sculpture
I think, therefore I am

Of course, if I didn't spend my entire time thinking, then I would have more time to just be. If I was just being, then notions of 'I', 'am' and 'can' would be irrelevant. Entity is. End of story.

I think, therefore I am a sheep sculpture

Well now. It's been a bit of a special day for me and for that, I am indebted to Andy B: Mr Occasional Stirrings. Special because? Because he has taken the time to write a lengthy and in-depth comment to my Thursday post. In that post, I was pondering the idea that I might be a boltzmann brain. In his comment, Andy B explains very succinctly (and amusingly) why, and how, I can "rest easy" in the knowledge that I really am a sheep sculpture and that I really do blog. Isn't that nice of him to take the time?

So if I really am a sheep sculpture and I really do blog, then this is the real world and I am in it: thinking and being (and blogging). Exciting stuff for an ovine mind (and very comforting). Thanks, Andy B.

That being said, I would like to hold on to the essence of my being some sort of cosmic entity. (I am stardust, after all.) Also, it is a little disappointing to discover that you're not an entity (like a boltzmann brain) that came into being as the result of some chance fluctuations in the universe, because that sort of thing sounds so romantic and mysterious. So........... I was wondering if my cosmic roots could be traced through the word 'ovine'?

Let us suppose, for the sake of argument, that the word 'ovine' is the result of some sort of verbal corruption over the years. Suppose before 'ovine' the word had been 'dovine'. Then, even earlier, the word had been 'divine'? If that sounds anything like a reasonable posit, then one could argue, that this definition captures what it's like to be me:

"of such surpassing excellence as to suggest divine inspiration."

I write, therefore I am diverting myself

If I am a Boltzmann Brain, then I suppose this blog could be viewed as a bit of a brain dump? Not that I think I have a great deal of useful information to discharge. Maybe it's more of a divertissement.

I write, therefore I divert myself. From what, you might be asking? Well, from life! From being too serious about it, I suppose. That's the problem with being an entity and having a brain: you think. If you think, then it's hard to keep present. It's as if you have two parallel lives: the one where you do stuff in the real world and the one that exists in your mind. The mind seems less easy to organize and control because it has a proclivity for depressing thoughts about the past or the future; both of which are irrelevant to the present moment.

One of the definitions of divertissement (Websters 1913 Dictionary) says it is some form of "entertainment between the acts of a play". Well that is what writing this blog is for me: a diverting pause between the various acts of my life.

I think, therefore I am a Bolzmann Brain

I think I am a boltzmann brain
I think, therefore I am
I'm here from quite another plane
So wasn't once a lamb

I'm here, by chance, in this strange land
I'm self aware and smart
An entity that wasn't planned
A cosmic work of art

I am a brain, I know it's true
From fluctuations rare
And random things that could construe
a sheep, out of thin air

The thinking sheep's brain

There seems to be a lot of chit chat on the web at the moment about Boltzmann Brains. And I was wondering (as you do, on a quiet September day in France) if I might actually be one? The thought came to me after I read Mr Occasional Stirrings' post, a while back, in which he talks about these brain thingys.

So what is a Boltzmann Brain? Well, you need to think universe, then imagine an entity (kind of cosmic) which is supposedly self aware (so it sort of lives) suddenly creating itself (just like that) in a hypothetical future. This happens entirely by chance, (that's very important) as a result of fluctuations that occur randomly; which themselves arise out of some sort of future cosmic, chaotic state. (Phew!)

Now then, if we suppose that what I've described above was hypothesized many light years ago, then I, being self aware, could be a Boltzmann Brain believing itself to be a sheep sculpture. I could be here, now, because of some past prediction of a future random chaotic fluctuation that has already occurred in the universe and, quite by chance, up I popped in France! Well, it's a thought!

And why not! Another Boltzmann Brain is blogging under his BB name!

Acrylic nightmare

Water-based chalky paint doesn't go over acrylic paint. How do I know? Because Lisbeth has painted the bedroom in the flat and, on two of the walls, the paint scratches off. She hadn't realised that they were already painted with a white acrylic paint until after she had finished. It's a bit of a disaster as she doesn't know what to do. After trying to get some of it off - unsuccessfully, as it won't all come off - she has contacted Craig and Rose and asked them what to do. As I write, she is waiting for a reply. The customer services have forwarded her email to their laboratories.

The paint she is using is called Hemp Beige. It sounds pretty drab but she says it is very nice and restful. The other colours she wants to use are Mortlake Cream and Deep Sung Cream. However, she has had a good look at the other walls in other rooms and is pretty sure that all of them have had acrylic paint on them, so she won't be able to use any of the paint she's bought!

She's not a happy bunny!

Being still with the dog

Here is my friend the 'Master's Voice' dog. He is propping open the door. He knows how to be still. He is very good at it: being still and keeping the door propped.

He is still
He is still a dog
He is a dog being still
Still, being a dog
Still a dog
Being still

Being still

Being still. Is it important to do some 'being still'?

I overheard Lisbeth talking about this with a friend the other day and it struck me that you humans spend a lot of time rushing about with this and that: working, shopping, watching TV, spending time on the computer, working on various projects etc. They were talking about how hard it is to fit everything in, as if life is a constant struggle to manage time rather than live through it.

Arbitrarily divided into smaller sections, it would appear that time sits waiting to be filled with the stuff of living. How often, I asked Lisbeth, do you just experience the passing of time; time as a presence in itself and not as something waiting to be filled?

For me (a sheep of sculptural proportions) I spend a lot of time being still: just standing and being there. It's like Canadian writer Frank Baron says in his blog (Random Musings) "Try it. You'll learn stuff." Pohangina Pete talks about being still, as well (with some great photos).

So that is what I will be encouraging Lisbeth to do: have 'sheep time', be still and, more importantly, be there.

Facing the point

Keep your pyramid on the ground
Make sure it's the right way round
Look towards the pointy end
See the project as your friend

Never look from point to base
Think of it as a visual space
As a metaphor for things
Projects don't have apron strings

Don't be tied to negative views
Teach yourself how to enthuse
Turn your head from base to point
Then your life won't disappoint

Legumes?

To have a break from working in the flat, today, Lisbeth has been restocking patches of her vegetable garden with things for the winter. She planted another big patch of leeks and then moved on to plant these sprouty things shown at the bottom of the bed. I can't tell you what they are because Lisbeth doesn't know.

She bought them from one of the producteurs in the market, when buying the leeks. The man said that they were a winter vegetable and, although she couldn't work out exactly what they were, she decided to give them a go.

They look a bit cabbagey to me but we shall just have to wait and see. Whatever they are, it will make a change from leeks. It is pretty much 'leek city' down there!

Pyramid Live

While we're on the subject of pyramids, I thought you might be interested in this site. It's the first live web cam on the pyramids at Giza. How cool is that!

For something a little less cool, you could acquire plans showing how to build your very own "Deluxe Giza Meditation Pyramid"

I suppose it might be interesting to meditate inside a pyramid, instead of under the fig tree. Perhaps this mini pyramid would do?

Pyramids do seem to have some amazing powers, if this article is to be believed. It seems that bunnies grow quicker, and into better bunnies, if kept in a Giza replica pyramid hutch.

Keep y'r pyramid up

While Mr Dancer was here on holiday, he talked about seeing projects in terms of a pyramid. That is, do you see what needs to be done from the point or from the base.

It seems that if you see projects in your life from the point looking to the base, what's in front of your seems huge and overwhelming because it just gets bigger. If, on the other hand, you see it from the base, then the task in front of you diminishes, as you head pointwards.

Now, I know I'm a sheep of somewhat challenged brain capacity, but even I can see that this analogy isn't a world beater. However, you get the drift....................

Lisbeth can get overwhelmed by what there is to do on her projects here, in France, and things left to do in England. Mr Dancer says that when this happens, she sees it from the point position: everything just stretching away, getting bigger. So he was encouraging her to see things from the base. This way, the work diminishes as things get done and, bit by bit, she can know that projects will be achieved and life will get easier to manage.

I am pleased to report, Mr Dancer, that despite the traumas of her legal problems, she is managing to keep herself grounded and is, I feel, envisioning her projects from the base of the pyramid, more often than from the point.

Cape Crusader

Well done, Maud, for guessing that Saturday's picture was on it's side and thanks Andy B for your 'cell-by' comment. I must confess to, not only turning it on it's side, but to chopping off my house mate's feet.

As you can see, she's under a sort of camouflage cape. The location is Futuroscope and she's in one of the interactive buildings that has animal stuff in it.

How to ride a sheep

Now I'm not suggesting that sheep like to be ridden, nor is it something that I would advocate. However, as this little chap seems to be having such a good time, and the sheep in question appears not unwilling to oblige, everyone seems happy.

And while you're viewing, you can be thinking up a caption for Saturday's post!

See Yesterday's post

Distracting myself

Lisbeth's time is taken up with this avocat stuff

I'm bored with the bad weather

I need a distraction

Any suggestions for a caption?

Go on...... You know you want to!