Sepia Saturday26/03/2016

Marvelous Marbles;

My grand children and I had a lot of fun playing marbles.

Since they have grown out of it the marbles are somewhere in the garden now merely as decorative objects. I am still fascinated by Marbles.

The game of marbles is common all over the world. From archeological discoveries from Babylonian, Roman and Germanic times, we know that the game of marbles is very old. Marbles were found in the tombs of ancient Pharaohs. The oldest marbles originate from the period of about 3000 BC. The famous painting "Children's Games" by Flemish painter Pieter Brueghel,1560 shows children playing with marbles, Anno 1560.

Painting/Kunsthistorisches Museum Vienna, Austria

The size, material and colours of the marbles were very different. However, real marbles were very expensive. In general real marbles were not affordable for the common people so children played with nuts. The production of glass marbles began in 1848 in the Thuringian city of Lauscha. A glassblower, Christoph Simon Karl Greiner invented a tool, called Marble scissors. This tool was actually made to cut glass eyes for stuffed animals but soon they started to produce marbles too. In September of 1848, Christoph Simon Karl Greiner was awarded a license for the exclusive production of artificial agate and gemstone beads.

 Marbles from coloured clay were widespread in Europe. Today, marbles made from glass are most popular.The rules and options of the games with marbles are as numerous as the colors of the marbles. It is mainly played outdoors on firm ground, to make a fist sized hole and the start lines for the game, and the fun may begin.

Please visit 

  for a game of marbles.

Good Friday....where are thee?

We Wear the Mask

BY PAUL LAURENCE DUNBAR

We wear the mask that grins and lies,

It hides our cheeks and shades our eyes,—

This debt we pay to human guile;

With torn and bleeding hearts we smile,

And mouth with myriad subtleties.

Why should the world be over-wise,

In counting all our tears and sighs?

Nay, let them only see us, while

       We wear the mask.

The world's  global Mafia at work.

please just a few more atrocities...

We smile, but, O great Christ, our cries

To thee from tortured souls arise.

We sing, but oh the clay is vile

Beneath our feet, and long the mile;

But let the world dream otherwise,

       We wear the mask!

My verdict; all of  these elegant, suave, well conversed globalists are  lower than a snake's armpit.

Text Ts

Pictures Internet

Poetry from the one and only wonderful Paul Laurence Dunbar.

Wednesday; Simple things...

I am content and happy,  yet some days, happiness embraces  everything and it comes from nowhere, nothing has changed over night that is different from the day before, but here it is this singing feeling which leaves your inner being  completely at peace.…

All love Buddleia..

I watch a butterfly and marvel at its beauty. It dances and sparkles on its wings for a short time, if it is lucky 14 days. It does not ask to be or not to be. 

Since I planted a butterfly garden, the music and delight never stop….butterflies, ponderous fat bumblebees, honey bees, solitary bees, covered in pollen, self absorbed, checking, hum and buzz from flower to flower, cleverly and diligently  harvesting the provided pabulum.

Salvia Waverly is a very attractive plant for bees and butterflies.




Love the Teddy Bear bees in my garden.


©Photos/Text Ts