We missed the Northern Lights …
Here they are over the coast of North Cornwall.
We have been thinking about large numbers ….
and how hard it is to appreciate what they actually represent.
After listening to this virtual choir rendition of another song by Eric Whitacre, involving over 17,000 singers. Visually, you can begin to get an idea of what that means, but when the credits, featuring every name, last twice as long as the song, it begins to really sink in!
Have a watch and think about 17,000+ singers!
One of us has been thinking about time…
or rather, timelessness (the other one of us, handily, has no real concept of time).
I was intrigued by some photos shared by a friend of mine this month. They are of portraits of women from the Uffizi in Florence. How modern some of them look! In fact, I think we have all seen one particular expression featured on this slideshow. Thank you to Lacey for drawing my attention to their timelessness.
We have been listening to a piece of music written four centuries ago.
I expect they pre-date it, but, if not, I wonder whether any of the young women in the portraits would have listened to this piece of music, written in the early 1600s. It is also timeless enough to have been used on a recent Netflix series.
Did you spot the imposter in the slideshow? If not, here they are again. Image created by Bing’s Image Creator, a relatively easy way to access Dall-e for free. Sign in with a microsoft a/c (including hotmail) here: https://www.bing.com/images/create?FORM=GENILP
We have been trying out a magic to-do list generator!
Do you struggle to get down to a task that feels complicated? Is there something on your to-do list that just defeats you?
If so, the solution might just be waiting for you on this helpful website: https://goblin.tools (‘Breaking things down so you don’t’).
It breaks down overwhelming or complex tasks into manageable subtasks.
I was pretty impressed by the step-by -step list it came up with for a gardening job I’d been leaving for months.
And the good news is that this is only one of the tasks that Goblin Tools can do for you.
Have some fun seeing what the language converter can do! See how your texts come across to other people, or get some help planning your next meal with the ingredients in your fridge!
You can read all about it here, https://liblog.port.ac.uk/blog/2023/12/31495/
We have been (accidentally) finding out about Walpurgis Night…
when we wondered about the Christian name of Swedish female composer, Valborg Aulin. (Valborg pronunciation, here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E1vQeHwImE4)
Busby says, “Yes, indeed and before we explain, greetings to our Swedish readers (we know we have at least half of one out there!).”
Valborg, for those who have never encountered this name before, is the Swedish equivalent of Walpurgis (Saint Walburga / Walpurga – pictured left) in English. Walpurgis Night is celebrated on the 30th April into May 1st, and it is a big festival in Sweden. You can read all about it, here: https://kids.kiddle.co/Image:Valborgsbrasa-1.jpg
Originally a pagan festival, here’s a chance for some colouring(!): https://www.leiahmjansen.com/images/coloring/LMJ-coloring-page-043-spring-goddess.jpg
Heilige Walpurgis – Master of Messkirch – public domain.
Along with several thousand people in the UK…
and probably quite a few dogs, we took part in May’s Global Birdwatch Big Day
One of us keeps a watchful eye on the birds in his garden all the time, but we made a special effort to record them. Using the Merlin App, it wasn’t hard to identify 10 species in a short time.
If you’d like to be involved, there is another Global Watch in October. It was surprisingly moving to see the live map light up every time somebody submitted a list. https://www.birds.cornell.edu/home/citizen-science-be-part-of-something-bigger/
I have been thinking about ‘boredom’…
Apparently, there is no such thing as ‘bored’ – at least there wasn’t whilst I was growing up(!) Maybe you’ve been told you this too?
I rather like the way that children’s poet, Jack Prelutsky, tackles the idea of boredom in his poem below.
Today is Very Boring
Today is very boring.
it’s a very boring day,
there is nothing to much to look at,
there is nothing much to say,
there’s a peacock on my sneakers,
there’s a penguin on my head,
there’s a dormouse on my doorstep,
I am going back to bed.
Today is very boring,
it is boring through and through,
there is absolutely nothing
that I think I want to do,
I see giants riding rhinos,
and an ogre with a sword,
there’s a dragon blowing smoke rings,
I am positively bored.
Today is very boring,
I can hardly help but yawn,
there’s a flying saucer landing
in the middle of my lawn,
a volcano just erupted
less than half a mile away,
and I think I felt an earthquake,
it’s a very boring day.
Images by Bing Image Creator.
You can also watch the poem, here, read by the poet himself for an episode of the children’s cartoon series, Arthur: https://x.com/arthurpbs/status/1514284121245237258?lang=en
And finally, we will leave you with this beautiful animation of the lifecycle of flowers.
Thank you…
everyone who has signed up to follow this blog. Every time we see a new name, I feel great and Busby feels (p)awesome.
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