This month’s “Wordle” – voila…
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…Senzenina…
Half of the choir {Global Harmony} had a delightful evening overlooking Rutland Water on Friday night.
We sang a dozen songs in a splendid garden in Manton, at then culmination of a safari supper.
Here’s just a snippet: 3 Songs from Africa – (it’s a poor recording on a mobile-phone but better than nowt)
Senzenina (starts 1min 22secs in) is a favourite of mine – (with me on the call and the choir doing an elevating job of swelling the melody ) – I love this song.
It featured in the mediocre film ‘The Power of One’, as part of an excellent sound track. The film is an adaption of IMHO a great 1989 novel of the same name by Bryce Courtenay . This book is on my personal top ten of influential novels.
Interestingly the lyrics of this version of Senzenina translate to: What have we done? Our sin is… What have we done?
My sentiments exactly.
and another…
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Three Poems…
I have been asked to produced three visuals to accompany the reading of three poems at the forthcoming Methodist Conference – July 2013.
Considering that listening, watching and doing, are all ways in which we can realise new things, these visuals hopefully provide another dynamic to the text of the poems.
The images will be displayed on large screens and will also be supplied as a handy bookmark for reference and contemplation.
You can see the pics here:
“Love” by George Herbert.
LOVE bade me welcome; yet my soul drew back,
Guilty of dust and sin.
But quick-eyed Love, observing me grow slack
From my first entrance in,
Drew nearer to me…
It’s a long way off but inside it
There are quite different things going on:
Festivals at which the poor man
Is king…
“How everything adores being alive” by Mary Oliver.
What if you were a beetle, and a soft wind
and a certain allowance of time had summoned you out of your wrappings,
and there you were…
click titles for poems
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New handlebars
After two years of riding, slowly realising new perspectives, and challenging my own preconceptions and assumptions, I have made another change to the routine standard.
Two years ago my bike came with a stock straight Specialized handlebars, with a 8° degree back sweep.
They’ve been good, but I occasionally fancied a more relaxed position and over time I’ve considered changing the bars.
My riding style over the last two years, has changed from:
i. Trying to co-exist with traffic, riding a bike with a similar driverly attitude and outlook.
to,
ii. Aiming to being more aware of place and adopting a more contented, mindful way…
There are a lot of alternative styles of handlebars on the market – I wanted something more comfortable that allows me to sit up more. Seeing the 45° sweep of the Jones H Loop Bar on a friend’s bike, I admired the unique classic design, but shivered at the unique classic price tag.
I was looking for something with a similar sweep.
I came across a few makes that had a similar spec, but the basic simple set below at £12.50 (delivered) stood out like an option too cheap not to try!
The XLC City + Trekking handlebar is made of “6061 aluminium”, they state that they have an “cranking of 59°” and a width of 610 mm. Not sure what a cranking means? I guess it could translate to a sweep of 31°.
Whatever… they are great!
They enable a more upright sitting position.
The new position seems to enable a grip and pull on the bars that helps exert more pressure on the pedals, when you need that extra surge.
With new Ergon grips I am really chuffed with the new set up.
Just what I was after.
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Birdsong…
What do you do four days into man-flu and not able to sleep in the middle of the night?
Stick your phone outside the window and press record.
Dawn Chorus: recorded from 3.45am June 1st 2013
Can you identify any of the birdsong?
My Sound Cloud account has lapsed but here it is on my Google Drive here:
https://drive.google.com/open?id=1mLJI4mEZyHtVJgKx3u4SW1kuHAlxZ74L
A friend has be considering this poem recently and asked if i had any images that might go with it… (thanks R.)
“How everything adores being alive” by Mary Oliver
What
if you were
a beetle,
and a soft wind
and a certain allowance of time
had summoned you
out of your wrappings,
and there you were,
so many legs
hardening,
maybe even
more than one pair of eyes
and the whole world
in front of you?
And what if you had wings
and flew
into the garden,
then fell
into the up-tipped
face
of a white flower,
and what if you had
a sort of mouth,
a lip
to place close
to the skim
of honey
that kept offering itself –
what would you think then
of the world
as, night and day,
you were kept there –
oh happy prisoner –
sighing, humming,
roaming
that deep cup?
Poem featured in:
“Why I Wake Early” Beacon Press.
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May 2013
A respite where we might suspend disbelief in sunny weather – May 2013.
Green Winged Orchid
May Bee
Bobby Robin
Unidentified Moth?
Unidentified Lizard?
Unidentified Egg
Green Winged Orchid
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I dreamed a dream…
Just watched the film Les Misérables DVD, hummm… Great performances and some great songs…
I then watched 15mins of a David Bowie documentary, hummm…. that’s more like it… buzzzzzzzzzzz.
Maybe it was due to the small screen, perhaps it was one of those films designed for the cinema experience? The start of the film hooked me in but by halfway through it lost me.
Romantic claptrap. I wanted more… having not read the Victor Hugo novel I felt that this was possibly a merry dance on what truly is a much bigger creation. As a stand alone work I found it seemed like spicy popcorn and cheap wine. Nice but no cigar.
In contrast, the brief glimpse of some David Bowie interviews got me buzzing.
I have recently wondered if my current medication is affecting my perception, reaction, or emotional reception to stimuli? I used to shed a tear at the least little thing on tv – drama, film and even pop tv might hook me in. But now I think of it, I can’t recall the last time a film got me going, either identifying with pleasure or sorrow.
Is my suspension of disbelief being affected? My experience of Disney Paris was not affected, but that’s sensory overload, you can’t fight the mighty saccharin Americana Mouse and friends.
Am I in the grip of the old academic ‘paralysis of analysis’ chestnut? I don’t think so – more recently I feel under-analysis and the failure to engage is a more likely.
So back to what’s changed… neurones… brain activity… hummmm….
Finally, Bowie, fantastic, creativity…. Reminded me of Matt, Simon and I experimenting with audience/performer relationships in Cheshire… Experimental sound, speech, movement, oh… to experiment and create again….
It seems ‘life’ can kill the dreams you might dream…
“Those who do not weep, do not see”
“To love another person is to see the face of God.”
“It is ourselves we have to fear. Prejudice is the real robber, and vice the real murderer.”
“Often when we think we are knotting one thread, we are tying quite another.”
― Victor Hugo, Les Misérables
It was two years ago, May 2011, that I purchased my Specialized Crosstrail Sport Disc 2011.
Here’s an update on the bike’s needs so far…
- If you are commuting you really need to carry ‘stuff’, hence a multi-purpose the rack on the back for my two panniers.
- You also need decent mudguards if you want to stay relatively dry and clean. Not an easy fit on this bike but my workaround has worked well to-date.
- Even in the day, I use a Serfas ‘True 250′ USB front light. A nights charge last me a week. I consider it invaluable. Both to be seen coming in the daylight and to light your way in the dark.
- And my rear light is a strong CatEye TL-LD1100. Rechargeable batteries last a good while.
- Another essential, and I can’t recommend it enough, is a decent bell. I now have a Widek Chrome Ding dong Bell 80mm and In my opinion anyone cycling among pedestrians or city streets should have one fitted as standard.
- Another good idea are reflective spoke thingies, they stand out when any light shines on them.
- For a birthday, I was gifted a Brooks Flyer Special. A little extravagant but nice!
- Of course there’s the daily banana for fuel!
Over these 2 years, the bike’s needed various replacement parts;
- After 7 months it needed a new chain and cassette.
- After 14 months I replaced Specialized Borough Xc Sport Tyre 700×45 with 700x32mm Schwalbe Durano Plus. These tyres have been fantastic over the last 10mths.
- After 15 months the considerably worn SunTour/SRAM chain set (ring, chain and cassette) was replaced with a Shimano megarange CS HG41.
- After 1 year 7 mths the stock back wheel rim cracked and freewheel was worn. The replacement tough new Mavic rim has been good to date.
- After 1 year 11mths, the bike had a April 2013 full spring chemical clean, and full service.
It get’s quite a pelting from 15 miles around daily commute through all weathers, and very poor road surface. It picks up a lot of crud off the road, especially in winter. Despite this, last August’s chainset etc is still up for another 6 months+ hopefully.
Since the service, the bike is riding really well…
Here’s the stats http://www.endomondo.com/stats/1912852
I started recording my rides on my old bike back in Feb. 2011.
- I totalled 3051 miles recorded over first 12 months riding. (Feb ’11 – Feb ’12)
- Over the last year, June ’12 through May ’13, I have ridden about 3250 miles.
Just for the record here’s a quick low-resolution post of my commute in and out of Leicester.
It’s enjoyable even on a damp morning – the vid does not capture the experience really.
The fresh air, the people you meet, the things you see, the space to think, the openness and freedom…
Jules P Richards 