Tub of pencil crayons..

I went to an event planning meeting today at BArts in Stoke. It’s going to be an opera based on the witch (wise woman) from Burslem, Stoke-on-Trent, who was alive in the 17th and 18th centuries. She was buried at 90 degrees to the normal North South orientation.

From Wikipedia :

Margaret ‘Molly’ Leigh (1685–March 1748) was an English property owner in the Staffordshire town of Burslem who, in her will, left substantial sums to charity. She was also accused of witchcraft, and, after her death, her grave was disturbed following claims she was haunting the town.

We had a singing session based on some of her life and the treatment she received from her neighbours. We were also invited to create some art based on her life. (hence the tub of pencil crayons. The opera is due to be put on later this summer.

Church window

Apparently our local church was designed by a famous architect? I may be wrong but I think it was Pugin?

He was renowned for designing the houses of Parliament in London.

Here is some information from Wikipedia because I don’t want to plagerise and reiterate it, it’s too complex.

Augustus Welby Northmore Pugin[a] (/ˈpjuːdʒɪn/ PEW-jin; 1 March 1812 – 14 September 1852) was an English architect, designer, artist and critic with French and Swiss origins. He is principally remembered for his pioneering role in the Gothic Revival style of architecture. His work culminated in designing the interior of the Palace of Westminster in Westminster, London, and its renowned clock tower, the Elizabeth Tower (formerly St. Stephen’s Tower), which houses the bell known as Big Ben. Pugin designed many churches in England, and some in Ireland and Australia.[2] He was the son of Auguste Pugin, and the father of Edward Welby PuginCuthbert Welby Pugin, and Peter Paul Pugin, who continued his architectural and interior design firm as Pugin & Pugin.[3]

Bara brith for tea.

With a cup of tea.

Just back from Llandudno in Wales where my sister bought me a Welsh fruit loaf for a treat. I just had a couple of slices with some butter and a cup of tea. Very nice. Apparently it’s lost favour with younger people but I’d urge you to try it.

Wikipedia says :

History:

Bara Brith derived its name from the Welsh languagebara meaning bread and brith translating as speckled. It was traditionally made in farmhouses by adding fruit, sugar and spices to the basic bread dough to make a sweet treat for special occasions. It has subsequently been used as a colloquialism—to “over spice the Bara Brith” means to do something to excess.

We got two loaves from a little tea and cake shop in Llandudno.

Spleen wort identified.

Asplenium trichomanes, the maidenhair spleenwort, is a small fern in the spleenwort genus Asplenium. It is a widespread and common species, occurring almost worldwide in a variety of rocky habitats. It is a variable fern with several subspecies. The specific epithet trichomanes refers to a Greek word for fern.… Wikipedia

Scientific nameAsplenium trichomanes

Have you seen the little camera sign on your phone? I’ve only just found out about it. It’s on the top right of the Google search bar. I guess there are similar tools on other   search engines and I am not advocating you use any of them. It is good to use something to identify things like plants. I saw this growing out of a wall today and I wanted to know what it was as I have different ferns growing out of my yard wall. I’m glad to extend my knowledge.

Whiskers

Whiskers, white and pointed, scientific name Vibrassae they pick up on vibrations in the air, see Wikipedia :

This vibration gives whiskers their scientific name, vibrissae, from the Latin word vibrio, meaning “to vibrate.” Detecting subtle changes in air currents, cat whiskers transmit information about the size, shape, and speed of nearby objects, which helps cats navigate the world.

They are also used to express the cats emotions. When I try and stroke my cars cheek the whiskers pull backwards. When they are interested or annoyed the whiskers come forward, especially when sniffing something. And they are supposed to stick out sideways to measure the size of a gap they can get through (although cats are thinner than they look, you can see that when they get very wet!). And don’t forget the whiskers above their eyes too..

My dream chocolate bar

Describe your dream chocolate bar.

Sorry I don’t have a picture…

It actually existed in the 1970’s.

An aztec bar was multi layered, as Wikipedia explains:

Aztec was a chocolate bar produced by Cadbury’s from 1967. It was made of nougat and caramel covered with milk chocolate and was sold in a deep purple wrapper. The Aztec was created by Cadbury’s to compete with the Mars Bar, but it was discontinued in 1978. Wikipedia

I think they were actually tastier than Mars bars, if they were in the shop it was what I spent some of my 50 pence pocket money. That and comics like the Bunty and Judy. Life was so simple then. Only exams to worry about I would time travel back if I could!

The Earth is a sphere!

What’s something you believe everyone should know.

A look at the Earth from space, the North American continent is fully visible, but the South American continent follows the curve of the Earth around to the other side. Also note the left side is darker as the Earth rotates into darkness.

Question. If Earth was flat where are the other continents hiding? Why isn’t the whole planet in full sunshine? Why is the shadow the Earth casts on the moon always round? (which gives us the moons phases). If Earth was flat the shadow would sometimes be a line. Why is every planet a sphere but not Earth?

Occam’s razor says that usually the simplest explanation is the truth.

From Wikipedia :

In philosophyOccam’s razor (also spelled Ockham’s razor or Ocham’s razorLatinnovacula Occami) is the problem-solving principle that recommends searching for explanations constructed with the smallest possible set of elements. It is also known as the principle of parsimony or the law of parsimony (Latinlex parsimoniae). Attributed to William of Ockham, a 14th-century English philosopher and theologian, it is frequently cited as Entia non sunt multiplicanda praeter necessitatem, which translates as “Entities must not be multiplied beyond necessity”,[1][2] although Occam never used these exact words. Popularly, the principle is sometimes inaccurately[3] paraphrased as “The simplest explanation is usually the best one.”[4]

Substantial

My #bandofsketchers prompt today was ‘substantial’, I can remember seeing photos of standing stones with a flat stone on top. This was done from memory. I didn’t even know what they were called so had to look it up. Felt pen drawing. Wikipedia says: dolmen (/ˈdɒlmɛn/) or portal tomb is a type of single-chamber megalithic tomb, usually consisting of two or more upright megaliths supporting a large flat horizontal capstone or “table”. Most date from the early Neolithic (4000–3000 BCE) and were sometimes covered with earth or smaller stones to form a tumulus (burial mound). Small pad-stones may be wedged between the cap and supporting stones to achieve a level appearance.[1] In many instances, the covering has eroded away, leaving only the stone “skeleton”.

Recognising clouds

I tried to look up what these clouds might be so I checked Wikipedia. I thought they were castellated cumulus, but now I think they are Altocumulus_castellanus_cloud.

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Altocumulus_castellanus_cloud

The clouds in the photo are a bit more broken up than these but they do seem to have a sort of towering effect. Anyway there are so many cloud types and shapes, and new types are being identified, like Asperatus. Can you tell I like clouds?

Virga

Image from Wikipedia, Virga clouds

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Virga

I was discussing weather with a friend and recalled seeing clouds that seemed to drop rain but it evaporates before it reaches the ground. I love clouds and I know I knew the name for then at one time but had forgotten it so I looked it up on Wikipedia (see link).

What I saw was what appeared to be snow falling from shower clouds, but it never landed on the ground. It was one winter day a few years ago when I was out visiting friends. I guess it’s very bad for gardeners or farmers who need water for their plants.