Feb 6 2024 - Isle of Skye and Bonnie Prince Charlie

 

The song Isle of Skye has lyrics with two names that are subject to censorship. They are: Bonnie Prince Charlie and Flora Macdonald.  The last time we sang it they were overwritten with something about whiskey.  A strange substitution to my mind that whiskey is an improvement over historical figures. Bonnie Prince Charlie lost the battle of Culloden in 1746.  He led the last Jacobite Rebellion and was trying to overturn the King to take his place - what Charlie considered to be his rightful place. He was defeated at Culloden and then remained at large as a fugitive -  escaping to France in September 1746. After being expelled from France two years later, he wandered around Europe for a number of years, secretly visiting London in 1750 and 1754 to try, unsuccessfully, to win support for his cause. In 1772, the Prince returned to Italy where he married Louisa, Countess of Albany and he died there in 1788. That's a long, long time to languish over lost opportunities. Flora MacDonald was known for her part in the escape of Bonnie Prince Charlie over the sea to Skye.  That's another famous ballad - the Skye Boat Song of 1884. She's considered a Romantic figure in history and has her own adventurous story. There are other Jacobite-inspired songs with censored lyrics about Bonnie Prince Charlie. It is the Skye Boat Song that fills the internet  - it is the famous one.  With lyrics like "Speed Bonnie boat like a bird on the wing" it makes sense.

I wondered if there are any "island" pictures in my portfolio.  I found this one, and it seems perfect for the theme today. Read more daily posts here: marilyncornwellblogspot.com Purchase works here: Fine Art America- marilyncornwell.com Redbubble - marilyncornwellart.ca

March 26 2022 - Is there a turquoise blue colour named Paradise?

 

I was still considering  our notions of Paradise yesterday. The original idea from Wikipedia: "In religion, paradise is a place of exceptional happiness and delight. Paradisiacal notions are often laden with pastoral imagery, and may be cosmogonical or eschatological or both, often compared to the miseries of human civilization: in paradise there is only peace, prosperity, and happiness." After seeing all the places named Paradise, I realize how expanded the notion is today. Today Paradise is here on earth. A dominant notion is the idea of tropical island vacations - visiting Paradise on earth.  The explorers in the mid-eighteenth century who tagged Tahiti and other tropical islands as the new paradise set off the notion of a possible paradise here on earth now.  An introduction to tropical vacations expresses our longings: "Dreamy beaches, silky warm seas, lush scenery, and endless sunshine – these are some of the top ingredients of the ideal tropical vacation. But each destination offers its own sultry charms. Some dazzle with their natural beauty. Others add cultural attractions to the mix, with exotic customs, architecture, and mouthwatering cuisine. A few offer eco-adventures and wildlife-rich wilderness, and some sleepy islands seem to take you back in time." One author says that the Medieval and Renaissance writers believed that Paradise was a findable place on Earth.  Another author says that the connection between Captain Bligh in Tahiti and the turquoise waters, lush landscapes, fruit on the trees cemented tropical islands as what religious paradise might be like.  And in comparison to most northern hemisphere waters, turquoise water is transfixing and mezmerizing.  Turquoise, the sea-green stone of the ancients, represented wisdom, tranquility, protection, good fortune, and hope. Ancient peoples believed in its profound power to protect, as well as its tranquil energy and its association with enduring love. So maybe it makes sense that humans seek to create paradise here on earth in place names, vacation destinations, songs, novels, all kinds of things.  And that those tropical vacation destinations are the epitome of what we long for and desire.  Why else would there be all those pictures of people doing yoga on the tropical beach shores. The tiny snow crocuses and the iris reticulate are blooming in the garden.  Mind you, these are the larger crocuses that haven't come up yet.

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A Guinness a Day

Is there a Guinness Record every single day of the year?  Yesterday's record was a man snapping 98 pencils in 60 seconds. The report claims that it is incredible that he's not the first man to attempt the record.  He beat the previous record of 90 pencils. And on Friday the 13th,  a B.C. bookstore in Victoria attempted to set the world record on the tallest book stack.  Did they do it?  No news.  So that would mean it is unlikely.  It is hard to tell - there are so many stacks of book records.  There's even the tallest stack of Guinness World Records books. And how many people were at Port Dover for Friday the 13th? There were only 75,000 people in Port Dover yesterday.  Attendance was 'light'.  The next Friday the 13th is in December, so no records will be broken then. Who was born and died on Friday the 13th?  Arnold Schoenberg, the composer.  He was reported to be terrified of the number all his life. Salt Spring Island is the home of David Wood Salt Spring Island Cheese.  Here are scenes from the farm.

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