Bran Tub # 24 … Spoon-billed Sandpiper and its 1869 lithographer …

 

Being behind the curve as usual … I spotted this wonderful looking lithograph of the spoon-bill sandpiper – illustrated by John Gerrard Keulemans in 1869 – which led me to various things …

Illustration by John Gerrard Keulemans
(1869)

Oh dear … my interpretation of the title on this book in my little mind was Eleven Birds in House and Town … but as you can see it should be and is: Our Birds in House and Garden …

Keuleman's publication
volume one

Not sure now how I got to the Spoon-billed Sandpiper … but another name came into the frame … Laysan Island … one of the North-western (Leeward) Islands (originally the Sandwich Islands – so named by James Cook in 1778).

Laysan Island one of the tiny islands in
the long-tail of the volcanic chain

This is part of the Hawaiian Islands … a chain of volcanoes that stretch about 2,700 km (1,700 miles) in a north-westerly direction … these are constantly on the move as new islands are created over tens of thousands of years … about 7 cm (or 2.75 inches) per year …

This bird is critically endangered … the main threats to survival are habitat loss on its breeding grounds and loss of tidal flats … in and around that huge area the Pacific Ocean …

Spoon-billed Sandpiper's distribution -
around the Pacific Ocean

… it nests in June-July on coastal areas in the tundra, choosing locations with grass close to freshwater pools.

Head of the Spoon-billed Sandpiper 
c 1890 illusration

They feed on moss in the tundras, as well as smaller animal species like mosquitoes, flies, beetles, and spiders … at times they feed on marine vertebrates such as shrimp and worms.

Captain Cook's three voyages: red in 1768,
green in 1772; his final one - he was killed
in the Hawaiian islands in 1776

The gales and storms above the seas will send many a small animal off course …

Captain James Cook c 1775

On looking at Captain Cook and then his wife through these portraits … we can certainly see some of the cultural changes that have occurred in the last 300 years …

Elizabeth Cook - 56 years a widow (1830)

The storms of life are most definitely still occurring … I digress once again … I think it's time I disappeared back onto my curve again …

Spoon-billed Sandpiper ...

John Gerrard Keulemans - his three volume works ... 

James Cook and his history ... 

National Geographic and the chain of Hawaiian Islands hotspot ... 

Saving the Spoon-Billed Sandpiper site ... 

Hilary Melton-Butcher

Positive Letters Inspirational Stories

Crags and Splinters of Life, including Panoramic Maps …

 

Nothing wrong … just life jiggers ups and downs … and though getting lighter, still is dark and glum – but perhaps I need to look beyond what's in front of me – deal with that – and check in on nature and its beauty.

Amsterdam in 1538 - depicted by Cornelis
Anthonisz -a bird's-eye view

The art of creating Panoramic Maps, or scenic representations, came into my brain-line via Heinrich C Berann, as I'd always been 'bemused' by the birds-eye views dating back to those of the 1500s – especially for someone like me, who cannot visualise a landscape.

A depiction of Cape Town, with 
its Table Mountain standing proud and tall

Travelling – the touristy maps were often coloured, prettied up, sketchy clever outlines of a pictorial route – that could be driven, hiked or wandered along.

Denali National Park and Preserve (1994)
Alaska

Berann's depictions of the American national parks is that they look fairly realistic, while enhancing the landscapes. He made sure all the important features of each park were visible, sometimes this required creative distortion.

Cape Town's hinterland

Other aspects of cartography also entered into the realms of this brain … but had better be suppressed here … otherwise there will not be a post.

For more on Berann please see here …

Those enjoying themselves celebrating
being together ... have fun

Wishing everyone a happy week ahead … I hope to continue blogging, though I'm very tempted to retire and read … but that won't be happening … I need to blog – it opens my eyes to so much, and I'd miss you all …

Hilary Melton-Butcher

Positive Letters Inspirational Stories

Write … Edit … Publish … Bloghop / ISWG hop: The Great Wave …

 

As a kid, geography was a lesson that could cover various sciences … her early ones were a blazing volcano seen exploding from the page, the ensuing great waves travelling the oceans, an outline of the continents, the darkness in the skies, an art lesson …

 

The Great Wave of Kanagawa
by Katsushika Hokusai
(1831)

Well they learnt about Krakatoa’s eruption in 1883 … it impinged – enough for her to remember to this day …

 

Stormy seas off Newlyn, Cornwall

… the stormy seas when visiting her grandparents in Cornwall … huge waves of water crashing into the harbour walls or coastline …

 

Hayle estuary at low tide

Grandpa would regularly take to the sea … swimming in St Ives Bay and on occasions taking the plunge to cross Hayle estuary – a treacherous channel of water … this she remembered …

 

 

An artist's depiction

… the pictures in the school book gave her imagination time to wander … art was never her thing … but the images were added to the memory bank as the years went by …

 

 

Krakatao's eruption

… at some stage the form of a nightmare occurred disturbing her sleep … but her imagination had common sense … so all was well …

 

 

Hokusai's Great Wave - as a backdrop
to the 'beach' as part of an art
installation for the Paris catacombs 

As she aged - more was learnt … but those minor nightmare reminiscences continued on … the Great Wave arising from the volcanic explosion, the colours master artists crafted into magnificent depictions of events … released into her mind, never to be forgotten …

 

 

Racing great wave across an ocean

The things as a child one can start to learn and appreciate over time … volcanoes, ocean swells with rushing waves, how to explain things, creative vision through art, with the added recurring nightmare thrown in … that this ‘Great Wave’ reminded her about …

 

 

Cargo Boat passing through the waves -
print by Hokusai (c 1805)

She is grateful for those early geography lessons, before the discipline separated the sciences out … the ‘Great Wave’ lingers on into her eternity …

 

Hilary Melton-Butcher

Positive Letters Inspirational Stories

Birthday feedback … part 2 - oxbows, Cuckmere River and Haven...

This is going to be an easy post – photos taken from a ride on bus or taxi … going along the Seven Sisters coastline, Cuckmere River estuary, and views from my lunch venue …

River Cuckmere near its 'estuary'

 … to set the scene for the foodie post about the new vineyard that my family took me to for a birthday lunch …

The meandering river across the
flood plains - that is haven for wildlife ...
oyster catchers to be found in the water meadows;
numerous birds enjoy the different habitats ...
particularly skylarks rest in the long grass on
the rising hills, then ascending ... 

It was a wet week … with dirty bus windows … while my photography is snap and go … so no expectations … but you’ll get an idea of this part of the coast line: Eastbourne in the east to Seaford in the west 

Eastbourne in the east, Seaford on the west,
with the A259 the coast road, which connects and
is the bus route.  The Cuckmere is shown near Seaford, while
Rathfinny's vineyard marked in red is in the top left corner!

… the vineyard, Rathfinny’s, is above Seaford on the edge of Alfriston village …

It really does meander
- the road bypasses
this river twist

The meandering river is the feature here … with ox-bows forming and formed – long walks along the cliffs, fantastic views on clear days!

The Seven Sisters looking west - the Cuckmere estuary
appears at the end of the first series of chalk cliffs

Artists congregate to enjoy the light and the views at various points along our white cliffs …  

Looking south eastwards from the vineyard -
with the flood plain and haven in the distance

Personally: ox-bows have always been remembered from my school geography lessons – so now they’ve come to light and I love the journey along the coast ...

This is when we got the taxi up ... so we could all
have a drink ... but Aflriston church, with the village
mostly to the left (west) of the river and flooded area

… especially on the double decker bus – regardless of the weather – the views are exceptional.

Looking across the river from the vineyard

Titling some of the photos I hope will have filled in a bit of extra information …

Planting by GPS

The next post – will be foooood … exceptional food and the tale of the new vineyard …

Eurasian Skylark

Thanks for visiting … and as these things do ... this poem and the music by Ralph Vaughn Williams came to rest in the little grey cells ... 

The Lark Ascending by George Meredith

He rises and begins to round,

He drops the silver chain of sound

Of many links without a break,

In chirrup, whistle, slur and shake, …

… the second verse begins:

For singing till his heaven fills, …

The Lark Ascending poem c/o Allpoetry.com

Hilary Melton-Butcher

Positive Letters Inspirational Stories

Educational Book Journey (part 5) ...

The last book (for now) is titled Circling the Midnight Sun: Culture and Change in the Invisible Arctic by the Canadian geographer, writer, speaker: James Raffan.

I found this book riveting ... it's about the four million people in eight countries, speaking dozens of languages and representing almost as many indigenous ethnicities.

Yamalo Nenets -
 autonomous region
in Russia

It highlights that we (in the middle latitudes - as Raffan describes it)  may be worrying about climate change - but they (the indigenous peoples) are concerned about their loss of language, cultural decay, loss of land - which we purport to own - yet they have travelled and accessed those lands for millennia ... their lands are their home - their soul ...

Nomadic Nenets - reindeer hunters

I made lots of notes ... but as I was leant this book - I need to get my own copy ... that says it all really.

Raffan decides to circumnavigate the globe at 66.6 degrees latitude: the Arctic Circle.  He is Canadian,  but starts his journey in Iceland, and on via Norway, Sweden, Finland, various places across Russia, over to Alaska and then into Canada ...

... this is where having read Island of the Blue Foxes, as mentioned in part 2, was really helpful ... I had some notion about Siberia ... and now recognise some of the names.

Yes, I have other books on the go ... but I thought you'd be interested to know about these ... back to normal posts in the future - but more books will follow anon!

The Yamalo Nenets Autonomous Region - Russia's most important source of Natural Gas ... 

Hilary Melton-Butcher

Positive Letters Inspirational Stories

Educational Book Journey (part 2) ...

After Vancouver ... came this book:

Stephen Bown's book on Vitus Bering ... 'Island of the Blue Foxes' I found via a review in the paper ... I was enticed as it looked as though it would introduce me to Russia, Siberia, and the Bering Strait ... named for Vitus Bering (1681 - 1741) ...

... I found it fascinating and informative, especially about Siberia, the eastern side of Russia, down into China and Asia: particularly geographically and settlement-wise ... and the Europeans' early search for the Northwest passage and Alaska ...

Moving right on to more Eastern Europe -

The next book I read, having had access to one of the book club's books, was Red Notice: A True Story of High Finance, Murder, and One Man's Fight for Justice by Bill Browder;

Browder's Russian tax accountant, Sergei Magnitsky, was beaten to death in prison ... the Magnitsky Act, promoted by Browder, was passed into USA law in December 2012.

I found Red Notice a really informative read - disconcerting to say the least ... but I'd worked in this sort of life in my early days in London and Robert Maxwell features in the book - another fleeting personal connection ... his home was next to my school in Oxford.

Then I was able to read Disinformation: Former Spy Chief Reveals Secret Strategies for Undermining Freedom, Attacking Religion, and Promoting Terrorism ... how salutary: of the world we live in today ... (by a former three-star general in the Secret Police of Communist Romania, Ion Mihai Pacepa, and law professor Ronald J. Rychlak).  There's a companion film: Disinformation: The Secret Strategy to Destroy the West (which I haven't seen).

Some of the back blurb - the sentence by
R James Woolsey is worth noting

Upcoming in the fifth post ... Circling the Midnight Sun: Culture and Change in the Invisible Arctic by Canadian James Raffan.  This I was given by the lady who'd introduced me to the book club - she'd studied nursing at the John Radcliffe Hospital in Headington, Oxford - where I'd been at school ... we'd just about overlapped. 

Midnight Sun, Altafjord, Norway

Small world - she'd been up in the Yukon ... so I asked if she could bring me some information back - sadly my email to her was sent as she was on her way back ... but she lent me Raffan's book, and to change the subject,  inspired me to write the post about Salmon in the Yukon from some information she had given me.

The fifth post will be about the book 'Circling the Midnight Sun' - but otherwise here I have mentioned:

Island of the Blue Foxes by Stephen Bown

Red Notice by Bill Browder

Disinformation by a former three-star general in the Secret Police of Communist Romania, Ion Mihai Pacepa, and law professor Ronald J. Rychlak

Hilary Melton-Butcher

Positive Letters Inspirational Stories

Educational Book Journey (part 1/5) ...

Where to start ... at the beginning: in this instance my arrival here in Canada, but really the A-Zs in April - my posts on subjects in Canada, and indigenous aspects that interested me ... there will be more - but I think these books are interesting and I learnt a lot - some you'll relate to others probably not so much - but I'd like them here ... I'll 'punch' these out every other day ... they go from Siberia to North America, Russia to circling the Midnight Sun ...

The book I highly recommend.

A Vancouverite suggested I read 'Vancouver' - a one book saga if ever there was one (along the lines of Michener's Alaska and Rutherford's Sarum) ... a Siberian's movement across Beringia into Alaska and down the west coast of north America ... introducing me to various myths, traditions, cultures of those early peoples ...

Little Women - the March sisters:
some of the 1994 film was filmed
in Cobble Hill.
By Louisa May Alcott

I read up on local families too - the Dunsmuirs - coal and railways on Vancouver Island; local history of Cobble Hill, where I live now; local artists Maud Lewis from the east coast (see post in February), and Emily Carr - who'd intrigued me for a while ... recommended by Deniz Bevan, a Canadian now over in Geneva.

Then came the A-Z ... starting at A for the Canadian Arctic Games ... and oh yes the extra comments, questions and queries ... as too my thought processes re what I was learning ... I felt somewhat overwhelmed - to make sense for me, let alone you.  More on these anon.

Beringia - pre glaciation
when it was possible to
walk from Siberia to
North America

I'd joined a book club ... a rather educated set of ladies, with some amazing insights into life ... I, who've never been much of a reader, nor moved in their sorts of careers - now am in the deep end ... once again: live and learn.

 So I've fluttered by the whole of the Canadian coast (and Alaska) ... touched areas of Canada ... and come across the indigenous peoples; as in Africa I'm pretty devoid of knowledge ... so some immersion dips were required ...

Emily Carr house 'restored' back to
1863 era

... Emily Carr and her artwork of the indigenous people's lands in the 1920s - her books to be read anon; ... totems - an eyelash pass so far ... so much to understand ...

Then the thrust of the group of intelligent women in this book club - that I happened to have the opportunity to be a part of, for the duration of my visit - max til Nov 2019.

So for this post ... the book 'Vancouver', and references to earlier posts.

Emily Carr - who was called 'Klee Wyck' by the indigenous people she met and painted particularly on Vancouver Island.

V for Vancouver ... 

Maudie film - based on Maud Lewis ... seen at Cobble Hill

Hilary Melton-Butcher

Positive Letters Inspirational Stories