The Tree, the Whole Tree, and a birthday surprise

I thought it was time for a view of the whole lime tree, rather than the daily one from our kitchen window


and a very poor quality picture of a surprised Leo and Laura when I turned up in Stromness, Orkney for his 18th birthday.

buzzards, birthdays and Balmoral

one of our buzzards over the courtyard; it's taken all summer to have bird in view and camera in hand so ...

the same buzzard over the lime tree.

and tomorrow it's Leo's 18th birthday. What kind of present suits an 18 year-old blues-man I wonder ... Have a great day, Leo; looking forward to seeing you soon ..

oh, and I think I'm on the trail of my Scottish ancestors; it seems my great grandfather was born in Balmoral in 1853, but i dont have the confirmation yet ..

blank limes

To my serious disapointment, I seem to have deleted the images of the lime tree for July 22 to July 29. I was so upset about this that I nearly abandoned the whole project. However, a few days in a tree's life are but a moment; it still stands much the same; even looking as closely as I am reveals only the slightest changes in the last two weeks, so I will fill those sapces with regrets, and take more care with the delete button.

serpents and stones and iron bars

In The Architecture of the Spirit I included an image if the stone on Froson Island in Sweden which depicts a serpent tied 'with a ribbon' into a circle, along with the story told in the runes that this serpent surrounded the island and if the ribbon were untied, the island would sink. (It's here)
I have just discovered two more stones with the same serpent, both in Gotland. They are posted on the web here . The runes here are dedications to the dead heroes, but the serpent image is identical.
In case you wonder why this story is so important, I should add that there a very similar tale is told in West Africa, except that there the encircling serpent is wrapped around the world itself. Monkeys feed it iron bars; were they to stop, the serpent would let go its hold and the world would sink into the ocean.

tales of far and near

This wonderful envelope arrived in the post this week. Why dont we have stamps like these?
Inside was a message from Willard. Thankyou, Willard, I am writing a reply. I read you journal about Vat Phu and was fascinated. You are bold indeed to plunge into the mystery of how the horse's head is put back on, not least because it is a mare's head that the god is wearing.
However, your letter makes me realize how out-of-date my bibliography is; I will have to re-write some sections to relate what I have done to what others are doing. I also feel that someone should compile a major review of all this work, and sum up the state of the various arguments. It makes me feel rather weary; I feel we (that is, those of us that are intersted in this stuff) are on a downward slope, sinking into a mire of misguided speculations; When I first wrote my book, I felt we were on the way up. maybe I'm getting old; perhaps this is really a state of vibrant energy generating exciting new perspectives.
While I'm discussing responses to AS, I should thank johnr60 for his comment a few weeks ago. I've let this journal lapse a bit recently, but thankyou John, whoever you are (I guess your in N America somewhere, since you post at 3am, but I may be wrong). I followed up your links. However, I think that after 'Creation', the most misunderstood term in English must be 'Goddess'.

meanwhile back at the tree (diary now updated)


These presumably are limes. The tree is overloaded with them, but I've never seen them turn into edible ones.
The cherry tree goes on supplying bowlfuls. The plum tree broke under the weight of fruit; most of it survived, but is weighed down to the ground.

Joel has been here for a while, and has just come to say he has finished Stanley Wells' story. Well, all but the epilogue.
He went out for a moment and has just re-appeared with another bowl of cherries.