New Light Through Old Windows

Well, after yesterday's many hues of fracas, and after all that hoo-hah about Google/Booger farting about with missing and not missing followers of our blogs, which really set the cat amongst the pigeons to be fair, I am in a more reflective mood today...

Can I just quickly share with you one of the many bold and wise comments left for me yesterday? This by the literary Beth Kephart:

"Beth Kephart said...

I so believe that this is about finding what is real, finding the people who would be your friends if they were standing right there beside you.

Clearly you have about you some wonderful friends. And they'll stay true.

A Woman Of No Importance said...

Beth Kephart: You are very right, my friend - Have I said already that I love all of them? All of them - Even the dastardly clever, cunning, and curmudgeonly ones...

And I do not give my love lightly... xxx"

This is honestly very true - And for those of you who would like a small token of my fondest thoughts about you, at the bottom of this page is a lovely Friends Award which came via the most beautiful, La Belette Rouge, to all her loved followers -

Can you see the sweet Peanuts cartoon - Snoopy and Woodstock, the little bird? Please feel free to take it and know that you are never, never far from my thoughts... (Often addled as they are, it is true - Thank you, Diane for mentioning that!)


Men have arrived this morning, to rend the very windows of my house to scrap and dust, shard and fragment...

I am taking the opportunity, being still at home recuperating from the op, to have the doors and windows of my house refreshed. We have lived with them for almost seven years, (and they were already at least 20 years old then), and to be honest, they are ready to be be pushed out of their own accord, with scarcely a jemmy/jimmy required!

You know by now. if you drop by from time to time. that I am a lover of glass, and not only the kind that delicious wine comes in...

I love the art of stained glass, and although my own windows will be plastic and modern, without many redeeming features, other than serving to comfort us against the cold winds that tend to blow up here around our turret overlooking the Simonside Hills; We hope they will also buffer us against the howls of a neighbour's noisy hunting dog - My doors, front and back, will each have a touch of glass magic... The front door will have an etched diamond-cut pattern surrounded by an arch of vermillion glass, while the back door has a raised Rennie Mackintosh-style rose in clear glass, again couched within a frame of vermillion*** glass.

My most favourite glass is that made famous by Tiffany. I had a chance to call in to leave a sprig from yesterday's flowers for favoured followers for La Wiki, and she whispered to me thusly:

"Tiffany glass is the generic name used to describe the many and varied types of glass developed and produced by Louis Comfort Tiffany, (1848-1933), one of the most famous stained glass artists of the United States and remembered not only for his windows but for decorative glass objects, in particular so-called Tiffany lamps.

"In 1865 Tiffany travelled to Europe and in London he visited the Victoria and Albert Museum, whose extensive collection of Roman and Syrian glass made a deep impression on him. (And there you have it - The inspiration for his wonders came from this side of the pond - Amazing, non?!)...

"He admired the colouration of mediaeval glass and was convinced that the quality of contemporary glass could be improved upon. In his own words, the "Rich tones are due in part to the use of pot metal full of impurities, and in part to the uneven thickness of the glass, but still more because the glass maker of that day abstained from the use of paint".

"Tiffany was an interior designer, and in 1878 his interest turned towards the creation of stained glass, when he opened his own studio and glass foundry because he was unable to find the types of glass that he desired in interior decoration. His inventiveness both as a designer of windows and as a" manufacturer of glass " with which to create them was to become renowned.

"Tiffany wanted the glass itself to transmit texture and rich colors and he developed a type of glass he called Favrile. Tiffany patented Favrile glass in 1880. The trade name "Favrile" was derived from the French word, fabrile, meaning handcrafted.

"Favrile glass often has a distinctive characteristic that is common in some glass from Classical antiquity: it possesses a superficial iridescence. This iridescence causes the surface to shimmer, but also causes a degree of opacity. This effect was obtained by mixing different colors of glass together while hot.

According to Tiffany:

"Favrile glass is distinguished by brilliant or deeply toned colors, usually iridescent like the wings of certain American butterflies, the necks of pigeons and peacocks, the wing covers of various beetles."

That's ma petite lecon on glass over for today, mes chums.

*** A little footnote: "Vermilion, sometimes spelled vermillion, when found naturally occurring, is an opaque orange red pigment, used since antiquity, originally derived from the powdered mineral cinnabar. Chemically, the pigment is mercuric sulfide, HgS, and like all mercury compounds it is toxic. (Yikes, as Scooby would say!). Its name is derived from the French vermeil which was used to mean any red dye, and which itself comes from vermiculum, a red dye made from the insect Kermes vermilio. The words for the color red in Portuguese (vermelho) and Catalan (vermell) derive from this term".

Moving along, I know that many of you are going through considerable upheaval and trials at the moment, so I thought I would send a few little whispered wishes through the incense-scented, Moorish blue and brown tiled hallways of Goddess Wiki's chambers.

I wish for you patience to deal with whatever situations you find yourself in, while you grapple with finding a way through from where you are...



I wish for you courage to deal with what life and fate chooses to throw at us - "The slings and arrows of outrageous fortune" and consequence, to quote the noble Bard himself...



I send you, for all that it is worth, thoughts of love and grace...



I wish for you great strength, and I know you will cope with what lies before you, just as well as you have handled all the nuts and bolts of what you have encountered in the past...



Some of you have faith from whatever source... I hope that that which sustains you continues to bring you comfort and joy...



I know that those of you who trot alongside my portal occasionally are light-filled souls replete with goodness... I know it because you share your wit, wisdom and experience with me every day, and I know you are blessed with it... I hope you can feel it, glowing within you now.



I also know you have such generosity of spirit and love... I know that because you demonstrate it every day through your words, deeds and energies...



I know some of you think I am certifiable, and I can live with that, so I ask that angels continue to watch over your every step in life, and may you feel their fine feathers brush your skin occasionally to cool and comfort you...




Finally, will the last of you here, please switch off the light, as I am keen to conserve the earth's resources, after all... (And keep the 'leccy bill down after all, I am not made of money!)... I shall be otherwise engaged, you see - Busy making builders' tea for my Window Knights In Shining Armour! A tout a l'heure dahlinks!

Seven, ooh er, Six Deadly Sins In Order To Highlight Six Things About Me!

For the purposes of today's lesson, dear congregation, I shall (mainly) refer to 6 of the Deadly Sins. You'll see why in a bit, well a longish bit really; I must learn to do short and sweet, like some of you do most beautifully - I can see you scrolling down and yawning, as I type... Yes I can!

One final point, I do not intend to offend with this post, or any of them, so if you are particularly sensitive to any slight to your perceived faith, please look away now!

So, in accordance with the goddess Wiki:

"The seven deadly sins, also known as the capital vices or cardinal sins, are a classification of the most objectionable vices that were originally used in early Christian teachings to educate and instruct followers concerning (immoral) fallen man's tendency to sin.

They are: lust, gluttony, greed, sloth, wrath, envy and pride.

Please scroll through this next bit, if you were born, or converted into the Catholic religion - I wasn't, so apologies for any errors...

"The Catholic Church divided sin into two principal categories: "venial", which are relatively minor, and could be forgiven through sacraments of the church, and the more severe "capital" or mortal sin.

Mortal sins destroyed the life of grace, and created the threat of eternal damnation unless either absolved through the sacrament of confession, or forgiven through perfect contrition on the part of the penitent". Out with the rosary beads then...

"Beginning in the early 14th century, the popularity of the seven deadly sins as a theme among European artists of the time eventually helped to ingrain them in many areas of Christian culture and Christian consciousness in general throughout the world. One means of such ingraining was the creation of the mnemonic "SALIGIA" based on the first letters in Latin of the seven deadly sins: superbia, avaritia, luxuria, invidia, gula, ira, acedia".



"There is nowhere in the Christian Bible that a specific list of the Seven Deadly Sins is given, although lists of virtues contrasted with lists of sins are found in certain books of the New Testament, such as the Epistle to the Galatians ~ (Did you know that?).

"The modern concept of the Seven Deadly Sins is linked to the works of the 4th century monk

Evagrius Ponticus, who listed eight "evil thoughts" as follows (Refoule, 1967):

Gluttony; fornication; avarice; sorrow; anger; discouragement; vainglory; pride.

The first three of these sins, as Refoule explains, link to lustful appetite; anger links with the irascible; and vainglory and pride link with the intellect.


Some years later, in 590 AD, Pope Gregory the Great would revise this list to form the more common "Seven Deadly Sins".

So, as follows:



Pride (Latin, superbia) is excessive belief in one's own abilities, that interferes with the individual's recognition of the grace of God. It has been called the sin from which all others arise. Pride is also known as Vanity".

Here, the ball is in my court; Where was I?

I would not describe myself as vain, or particularly proud. In my last house I didn't even have a full length mirror. I just used to hang smaller mirrors up at a certain height, so that I could tilt my chin, pretend I didn't have a double chin, and look down my body to ensure that my clothes matched. I went to work on occasion with blouses turned outside in with their seams showing, trousers that didn't match my tops, and covered most of it with a shapeless beige cardi - Well, they were sort of in fashion then, and as a young (I was then!) mum, I couldn't afford better clothing.

Now, six years later and in our new home, I inherited (along with three laying chickens - don't ask!), beautiful longer mirrors - In the bathroom (Yikes - Too much is visible, and in so many ways!) and in the bedroom...

So, I'm no clotheshorse, but I am proud of my son, Griz, in all his delights and torments, but I don't regard that as a sin at all, do you?



Envy (Latin, invidia) is the desire for others' traits, status, abilities, or situation.



Ok, I'll admit it, of all things, I am probably most guilty of the sin of envy. I am envious of pretty women carrying covetable pretty, or noteworthy, bags in the street, or if their shoes are lovely and just look more comfortable than the ones I'm wearing, or if their tights are a better shade of black than mine (I always seem to get the most hideous tights...)

I want to ask them where they got the bag/shoes/coat - but am afraid of being committed/sectioned/humiliated by them in return for my cheek!

So, I'm no clotheshorse, but I am proud of my son, Griz, in all his delights and torments, but I don't regard that as a sin at all, do you?



Gluttony (Latin, gula) is an inordinate desire to consume more than that which one requires.

And you know that I am a bit porky, right - so I cannot shake my head and say, "No - I am not gluttonous!" - Is that even a word??!

I just looked up to see something hideous on TV - My son, has just come in from the school bus - He's put the TV on, something that seems to be about fashion - Run's House - and they're talking about Pastry Shoes - I looked up to see sneakers that looked like those we see on Cake Wrecks blog - I asked Griz how they made them as cakes, and he looked at me with an expression of utter disdain, and said - "Of course you can eat them, mum; What do you think?... It's a brand name! - Are you going to blog about that?!" Well I am, so there! Sometimes my mind is just on one track, and it concerns my stomach - Greedy, moi?!



Lust (Latin, luxuria) is an inordinate craving for the pleasures of the body.

GJ and I have been married for 23 years this year.
We've been together 26 years - Lust - Qué?

Anger (Latin, ira) is manifested in the individual who spurns love and opts instead for fury. It is also known as Wrath.

I can and do get angry. It sometimes takes me quite a while to get there, at other times not... I'm generally quite a patient person, although I would say I am intolerant of those I deem to be fools... or racists, or rude people, or cruel people, or war-mongers, or child beaters, or friends who ask you for advice with no intention of ever taking it... Is that enough?



Greed (Latin, avaritia) is the desire for material wealth or gain, ignoring the realm of the spiritual. It is also called Avarice or Covetousness.

Material wealth or gain - No, that's not me, not really. I don't measure our lives by what we've got, what kind of TV, what car - We live well enough, I think, but we are sort of hippy tree-huggers, so there is 'stuff' that is way more important to us than wealth.

I'll be totally honest though, we have been really strapped for cash a couple of times in the past, in spite of pretty much always being in work, (bless my parents for helping us to survive); And so I would have to say, that while money can't buy you happiness, it can certainly help you to look for it for a while!



Sloth (Latin, acedia) is the avoidance of physical or spiritual work.

Like I said, I'm not doing the Sloth thing! Of all of these sins, I have chosen to leave out that of Sloth, because I feel that is well covered in my 'About me', and also under my profession: "Serial Housework Avoider..."

Speaks for itself really, no?



(NB: All images of women, copyright Artist Marta Dahlig - http://blackeri.deviantart.com/)

Did you know, there is even a list of the sins and what the anticipated sentence in Hell will be?

Sin = Punishment in Hell

Pride = broken on the wheel
Envy = put in freezing water
Anger = dismembered alive
Sloth = thrown in snake pits
Greed = put in cauldrons of boiling oil
Gluttony = forced to eat rats, snakes
Lust = smothered in fire and brimstone

(Source: http://www.deadlysins.com/sins/history.html)

But......If you had been guilty of gluttony, it would be a bit difficult to be forced to eat those rats and toads, etc, if you'd also been guilty of anger - And who among us isn't? - Because if you'd been dismembered alive first, how could you ever eat??!

You can see how my mind runs!

Back to Wiki: "On March 9, 2008 the Vatican newspaper published an interview with Bishop Gianfranco Girotti, in which he listed seven modern social sins.

These "social sins" include environmental pollution (yes), genetic manipulation, (not always bad if it saves lives...), obscene wealth (I'm so with that one!), infliction of poverty, drug trafficking, morally debatable experiments, and violation of the fundamental rights of human nature (yes, yes, yes and yes!)".

To finally chip in on the subject of environmental pollution - Interesting!


I am currently weighing in as part of a healthy battle to try to get the council to refuse planning permission for a large, even gigantic, wind farm to be perched within sight of my cottage... We fear that the energy returns will be minimal; that the wind turbines will blow away our endangered little red squirrels; that tourism in the area will be negatively impacted (we are on the edge of the ,protected, Northumberland National Park), and that they are just trying to make some money out of Government grants! I'm getting off me soap-box now, honestly...




The Roman Catholic Church also recognizes Seven Virtues which correspond inversely to each of the seven deadly sins:

Vice ↓ Virtue ↓

Lust = Chastity/Prudence
Gluttony = Temperance
Greed = Charity
Sloth = Diligence/Fortitude
Wrath = Patience/Justice
Envy = Kindness/Hope
Pride = Humility/Faith


Perhaps I'll save those stories for another day...





You might have guessed but this post is in response to a tag by La Belette Rouge, the devastatingly beautiful and unruly, she-weasel.

The Rules of this meme:

1. Link to the person who tagged you.

2. Post the rules on your blog.

3. Write six random things about yourself.

4. Tag six people at the end of your post and link to them.

Diane's Addled Ramblings
Fat, frumpy and fifty
Ann's Rants
French Fancy
Clippy Mat
Stinking Billy

I could have tagged loads of others of you, you are probably all heaving heavy sighs of relief as I type...

You know who you are, the lot of you who have the guts and the good fortune to live over the Channel - in Europe, where I would always rather be - and I envy you that, I'm sorry ; )

All apart from French Fancy, who has copped for it this time!

And those of you, stand up Belette, Braja, and Vodkamom, and yet you keep getting tagged by your many followers, and I did not want to intrude and give you too much to do...

And others of you, yes, Auntiegwensdiary, Henry The Dog Diaries, who I know would not necessarily have appreciated being tagged, either because you don't like having to pass things along, understandably, or probably because you have such fabulously exciting lives, you probably never struggle to find something wonderful to blog about!

And those professional writers, most of you, because I just wouldn't dare, and you're just too busy writing the stuff that keeps the wolf from the door! Is that all of you, apart from the newbies??!

5. Let each person know they’ve been tagged and leave a comment on their blog.

6. Let the tagger know when your entry is up.

The Power of the (Flash) Mob, Performance Art and the Feel of Silence

For those of you who missed yesterday's, Thursday's post concerning Geordie Ferrets, please see further down the page - I have been all over the place with the dates for my posts, sorry for any confusion caused!

Today is Friday, so I really don't understand why the blog is now showing Thursday - I have had it with Blogger! Bring on the Luddites!!!


Ever heard of Flash Mob? Here's a very short introductory clip courtesy of Look North - the North East's local TV Station about the phenomenon, including crappily posed piece by the studio staff!


Just shout if you need anything translated - but you can see how people really get into it, and onlookers, even the elderly, aren't unsettled; They are amused, bemused and perhaps pushed a little bit outside their comfort zones, but hey, they seem ultimately cool about what has happened to them.
It wouldn't be me without a little bit of WIKI history, would it?

"The first flash mob was created in Manhattan in May 2003, by Bill Wasik, senior editor of Harper's Magazine. The origins of the flash mobs were unknown until Wasik published an article about his creation in the March 2006 edition of Harper's. The first attempt was unsuccessful after the targeted retail store was tipped off about the plan for people to gather.

Wasik avoided such problems during the second flash mob, which occurred in June 3, 2003 at Macy's department store, by sending participants to preliminary staging areas—in four prearranged Manhattan bars—where they received further instructions about the ultimate event and location just before the event began.

More than one hundred people converged upon the ninth floor rug department, gathering around an expensive rug. Anyone approached by a sales assistant was asked to say that the gatherers lived together in a warehouse on the outskirts of New York, that they were shopping for a "love rug".

Subsequently, 200 people flooded the lobby and mezzanine of the Hyatt hotel in synchronized applause for about fifteen seconds, and a shoe boutique in SoHo was invaded by participants pretending to be tourists on a bus trip.

Wasik claimed that he created flash mobs as a social experiment designed to poke fun at hipsters and to highlight the cultural atmosphere of conformity and of wanting to be an insider or part of "the next big thing." The Vancouver Sun wrote, "It may have backfired on him... [Wasik] may instead have ended up giving conformity a vehicle that allowed it to appear nonconforming."

And so, flash mobs are a form of performance art and spontaneous social interaction. The phenomenon uses modern communications technologies, (just like us!), including decentralised personal networking, known as smartmobbing, the Internet, email, chat rooms and text messaging, so not actually spontaneous at all, but definitely subversive and 'underground'. Sometimes these get-togethers are used as a means of making charitable donations, such as taking food to the homeless, so they're a good thing, right?!

The first recorded use of the term flash mob was in 2003 in a blog entry posted in the aftermath of Wasik's event. And so we are returned to our world of what you could call Flash Blogging... You know the kind of thing:- Where someone writes a poignant and meaningful piece, or chooses particularly touching images, and it sets you or I off on a chain of thought, that serves to influence our writing or thought patterns in turn...

This short video shows the recent Flashmob Finger Gun Fight at the Tate, London


My own first experience of these flash mob performances, was when I and GJ were two out of only 100,000 people in the UK who tuned in to the newish station BBC Three to watch Flashmob - the Opera, which took over London's Paddington station one evening when people were making their way home from work.

Three professional singers and 65 musicians from the BBC Concert Orchestra belted out popular arias from operas such as Madame Butterfly, Don Giovanni and La Traviata. They were joined by opera lovers and performance buffs, who wanted to play their part in the fun, bringing opera to the commuting masses... Unsuspecting travellers wandering around the concourse were regaled with an aria from a woman, dressed in a red winter coat, who appeared to be going about her normal business, while mourning her lovelorn state. commuters.

Over the years and months since 2003 there have been other kinds of social gatherings, across the world, and these are just a few:

... Pillow Fights across the world, here in Paris.

and here in, I think this is Germany:



Giant Conga Lines, just like the one in Newcastle:



And people just doing something odd - It looks pretty cold for the posers of this piece:


I just recently learned from a colleague about the trend for wedding parties to break out into an impromptu rendition of Michael Jackson's 'Thriller' dance - Look for it on Youtube, there are many amateur videos, some obviously more rehearsed than others... Great fun, and seeing the brides taking their dance so seriously in their frou-frou dresses is priceless! This sits slightly outside the world of Flash Mobbing, but is based on the same principles, of course.

Which brings me to another form, and my favourite Flash Mob performance - The Big Freeze in Paris. Please take the 5 minutes to watch it - The music isn't bad either. This is the official video by the way, and it's just amazing to see people's reactions to the freeze, including the Police and the many tourists. And some of the poses being held for 5 mins are incredible...



What moves me in this piece is the stillness, and to be fair, appreciating those still moments in life, in our ever hectic lives, is not the easiest of things to do... How often do any of us just sit, still our minds, and properly reflect for more than five minutes?

Do we allow ourselves the thinking time we deserve, when we are busy with our children, our animals, and our understandable and ever-present cares and our woes? Ought we not to occasionally stop to smell the flowers, and not just photograph them, for example?

Braja recently posted on silence and its strength, so I will not replicate that here, but it is important to note that:

'The benefits of silence and an empty mind are well known: less stress, clearer thinking - Studies have even pointed to a strengthened immune system and better heart health. Silence is something to welcome. It's nurturing and refreshing. It offers a unique feeling of peace'. (Source: allspiritfitness.com)

So, do look out for Flash Mob - There is a website - Google it if you want to take part, and you could be alerted by text message to the one nearest you, and you could be the next Flash Mob Ninja, or Still As A Statue I see!