Samhain

We were born before the wind,
Also younger than the sun
'Ere the bonnie boat was one
As we sail into the mystic.
(Van Morrison)

Homesick

I enjoyed it better with the sound down:

The Walking Englishman

I Am The Master Of My Fate

Out of the night that covers me,
Black as the Pit from pole to pole,
I thank whatever gods may be
For my unconquerable soul.

In the fell clutch of circumstance
I have not winced nor cried aloud.
Under the bludgeonings of chance
My head is bloody, but unbowed.

Beyond this place of wrath and tears
Looms but the Horror of the shade,
And yet the menace of the years
Finds, and shall find, me unafraid.

It matters not how strait the gate,
How charged with punishments the scroll,
I am the master of my fate:
I am the captain of my soul.

William Ernest Henley (Invictus)

Peter, the English Gardener

I could have done with subtitles in places but he's spot on with his pruning tips:



More gardening tips here.

Swordsman 2

Something I Don't Normally Do

I posted the first video at 'the other place' this morning for Sunday Reflection.  Harvey Keitel is a fine actor - some of his films may be 'hit & miss' but his performance never is.  I think he reinvigorates 'If' by Rudyard Kipling and I could listen to his delivery over and over: "... or being lied about, don't deal in lies.."   Perhaps, if this were shown in schools, poetry and its eternal values might gain credence with more of our children. Teaching is not to 'teach', it's to enthuse & enable children to learn - there's a difference.


More on Kipling here, from The Kipling Society
Here's Keitel in the bar scene from Mean Streets:

Something From The Far Reaches Of Memory

I don't know how it came, but it came unbidden in the sad, reflective moments after my son had caught his plane home after three wonderful weeks during which my eldest son and his girlfriend also visited.  I thought I'd inflict it on you as well - well, why not?  Quite by chance the Bala Lake Railway is one we visited when the boys were youngsters.  I'm getting worried about my state of mind though: I thought I saw an Anarchy symbol at 1:23 and the image at about 1:42 seemed to flash up the word 'Nazi'.

Orff: Musik fur Kinder III

Eine Kliene Handel's Musik

'Tell Me Not That I Am Too Late'

Jane Austen

Betjeman: Kings Lynn to Hunstanton

Art For Art's Sake

 

Fred's
Waterhouse & Dodd
Northcote Gallery