No.181

WISE MEN SAY

If you observe a really happy man you will find him building a boat, writing a symphony, educating his son, growing double dahlias in his garden. He will not be searching for happiness as if it were a collar button that has rolled under the radiator. (W. Beran Wolfe)

-o0o-

THROUGH THE CAMERA LENS

Our eldest daughter took this photo of ring-tailed lemurs while on holiday in Madagascar

-o0o-

I’ve been reading lately of how things were in the year 1910.

Much of the world news then sounds very familiar to us today. Chinese troops had occupied Tibet and the Dalai Lama had fled. In Hungary one thousand people lost their lives in floods, and an earthquake in Nicaragua killed five hundred.

There was one item of good news, however - Marie Curie succeeded in isolating radium.

At home there was a great deal of unrest among railwaymen, shipyard workers and the Welsh miners. The suffragettes were active and on one occasion three hundred of them clashed with police outside Parliament buildings.

On the political scene, there was a General Election in January, and a second one in December. On both occasions the Liberals were successful, and Mr Asquith was Prime Minister.

One man’s name became known world-wide. Dr. Crippen, an American homeopathic doctor living and working in London, poisoned his wife and buried her body in the cellar. In June he was arrested on the SS Montrose which was bound for America. Later in the year he was found guilty and hanged.

King Edward VII died on 6th May and was succeeded by his son George V.

1910 saw the first Labour Exchanges, later to be known in Scotland as “the buroo.”

Robert Falcon Scott was put in charge of the British Antarctic Expedition. This was to end in disaster two years later.

The cinema of course was still in its infancy, but in the USA many short one-reelers were being produced. The first Frankenstein movie was shot in 3 days and lasted 16 minutes. A version of Charles Dickens’ Christmas Carol lasted all of 10 minutes!

In the world of literature, Prester John by John Buchan, Howard’s End by E.M. Forster and The History of Mr Polly by H.G. Wells were published.

And what were folks singing and whistling? Down by the Old Mill Stream, Chinatown my Chinatown, Some of these Days and Let me call you Sweetheart.

Imported from South America, the Tango was making its first appearances on dance floors, and causing controversy - it was NOT respectable!!!

-o0o-

JOHN’S GALLERY

The Soldier’s Return
By John Faed (1819-1902)

-o0o-

POETRY FOR PLEASURE

In an Artist’s Studio
Christina Rossetti (1830-1894)

One face looks out from all his canvasses,
One selfsame figure sits or walks or leans;
We found her hidden just behind those screens,
That mirror gave back all her loveliness.
A queen in opal or in ruby dress,
A nameless girl in freshest summer greens,
A saint, an angel; - every canvass means
The same one meaning, neither more nor less.
He feeds upon her face by day and night,
And she with true kind eyes looks back on him
Fair as the moon and joyful as the light;
Not wan with waiting, not with sorrow dim;
Not as she is, but was when hope shone bright;
Not as she is, but as she fills his dream.

-o0o-

Charlie Chaplin once said “A day without laughter is a day wasted.” This video uploaded by corky1459 had me laughing!!!



-o0o-

A QUOTE FOR 80 PLUS

I'm happy to report that my inner child is still ageless.
(James Broughton)

-o0o-

Next post here Wednesday 8th February

-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-