Geese

 

Geese

                                            Greylag goose

                        Image courtesy of Wikimedia Commons

The Greylag goose (Anser anser) is the only native breeding goose in Britain. It was first domesticated in Ancient Egypt 3000 years ago. It is a large, bulky bird  and is thought to be the ancestor of most domestic goose breeds. Greylag geese mate for life. 

 

Christmas is coming, the geese are getting fat,

Please to put a penny in the old man’s hat,

If you haven’t got a penny, a ha’penny will do, 

If you haven’t got a ha’penny, a farthing will do,

If you haven’t got a farthing, God bless you!

This old rhyme has been spoken and sung for centuries and first appeared in print in 1885, ascribed to that well-known and modest author Anon. It is difficult to find any more information about it.

Goose was the traditional Christmas meat until the 1950s when turkey began to overtake it in popularity and availability. Goose was also roasted at other festivities, notably Michaelmas.

Goose has a short season, being reared naturally between September and December. In the UK, before most common land was seized under the Enclosure Acts, small communities grazed flocks of geese on open spaces in their parishes. Apart from the meat, which was much prized above other poultry, the birds gave eggs, feathers, down and quills. After cooking, the fat produced was used for medicinal as well as culinary purposes.

Goose quills were used as dipping pens until the 19^th century. The pinion feathers – flight feathers on the outer edges of the wings – were used to make the flights or fletches on arrows as they were shorter and stiffer and would not interlock with other feathers. The most fortunate in society used down and feathers for their mattresses, which were a softer alternative to straw or horse hair.

Today, the most favoured – and expensive - duvets are filled with goose down to provide warmth and excellent insulation without great weight. Hungarian goose down is the supreme duvet filler. The geese raised in the cold climate of Hungary produce thicker and fluffier down, which provides greater warmth and superior insulation.

 

Decorated

Decorated

The cats were not enthralled with the idea of being decorated for Christmas. There was a great deal of rushing around as they tried to rid themselves of the rustling, strange-smelling adornments. Thus, in some instances, their photographs are rather fuzzy

'Who will rid me of this turbulent tinsel?'

Herschel decides on the off-the-shoulder look

Jellicoe raced around as if by moving really quickly the thing around his neck would be left behind. His off-the-shoulder look eventually became an off-the-tummy look and finally an on-the-floor look. He and Herschel quickly forgave me for my insult to their dignity, Jellicoe even deciding to sleep on the tinsel. It's true, as Eleanor Farjeon said, 'Cats sleep anywhere.'

Gilbert and Roxy took the whole exercise in their stride and didn't attempt to escape. 

                                Just look at those eyes!

                        How long will it be before I'm disturbed?

                                                 Not long!

                                    I love him really!

Gilbert and Roxy went to sleep with their fancy collars. Is there a poem starting, 'Dogs sleep anywhere'? There should be.

End of term

 

End of term

                            Image courtesy of Wikimedia Commons

The schools in this area break up for Christmas soon. Weary teachers and pasty-faced children stagger towards the final day of term, the work gradually tailing off as the holiday beckons. Everyone is under the weather, coughing and sneezing, all reserves of energy almost depleted. Lists have been checked a multitude of times to ensure that each child has made a Christmas card, a calendar, a tree or table decoration, a hat to wear at school Christmas lunch - no-one must be left out. Costumes for the play have been gathered and named.

In a primary school, particularly among the younger children, Christmas has been ‘done’ a hundred times by the end of term. Many rehearsals of Nativity plays have led to the final performances, when angels and kings, shepherds and animals, and of course, Mary and Joseph, are transformed by the donning of costumes.

 The angels are never quite sure whether they're angels or fairies but love the glittery, scratchy tinsel headdresses. The angel Gabriel may be wearing neat wings or enormous appendages which threaten to weigh him down or lift him aloft in a strong wind. The shepherds wear dressing gowns and their striped or checked tea towel headdresses have a tendency to slip off. The kings have elaborate cardboard crowns and carry brightly wrapped ‘gifts’ while the animals have a variety of masks to show what they are.

Excitement builds as the moment for performance arrives. Little children worry in case their mums or grandparents aren’t in the audience. Some cry, others suck their thumbs, all are over-excited, nerves as tight as harp strings. The teachers try to keep their charges calm and then the opening music plays.

Audience and performers' eyes seek each other out and exchange small waves of recognition. The age-old story is told  and children sing the familiar carols with enthusiasm. The magic gradually overwhelms, adult eyes glistening unexpectedly as the innocence of the children adds poignancy to their performance. 'Away in a manger' lisped by little children moves even the hardest hearts.

                            Image courtesy of Wikimedia Commons

 The teachers, who have coached and cajoled their children and at times despaired that they would ever be ready, see the little boys and girls as if for the first time as they give their shining best. 

 Everyone is a star and the final applause is heartfelt and prolonged. 

Children exclaim that they loved doing it and want to do it all over again. Teachers praise them and give silent thanks that everything went off without a hitch. Everyone goes home singing or humming with their proud parents.

There’s nothing quite like a Christmas celebration in a primary school.                                                                                                             

Sometimes children, especially very young ones, display an excess of enthusiasm. I challenge you to get through this clip without giggling.                                                                                                                                                               .

Little Jack Horner

 

Little Jack Horner

Illustration by American illustrator W W Denslow (1856-1915) 

Image courtesy of Wikimedia Commons

Little Jack Horner

Sat in the corner

Eating his Christmas pie;

He put in his thumb

And pulled out a plum

And  said, ‘What a good boy am I.’

I always thought this was a strange rhyme and wondered whether it had any relevance to Christmas. The rhyme dates from the 18^th century but appears to have its origins in the dissolution of the monasteries during the reign of Henry VIII in the 16^th century.

Jack Horner was steward to the Abbot of Glastonbury, Richard Whiting. His responsibilities were to manage the church property and finances and to help the Abbot in administering the diocese.

 Glastonbury was the second richest monastery in England after Westminster by the end of the Middle Ages and was still affluent when Henry VIII came to the throne in 1509. In 1536 there were over 800 monasteries.

 Following the King’s separation from the Roman Catholic Church and the foundation of the Protestant Church of England, Henry ordered the dissolution of monasteries and other religious houses in England, Ireland and Wales, and appropriated their wealth. The dissolution was conducted for five years, from 1536 to 1541. The majority of the religious communities accepted their fate and the money and pensions they were given, but others, like the Abbot of Glastonbury, would not comply and were executed and their monasteries destroyed. Richard Whiting was hanged, drawn and quartered on Glastonbury Tor for his refusal to cooperate.

It is said that the Abbot of Glastonbury, in a bid to appease the King for his non-compliance, sent Jack Horner to London with a Christmas gift of a plum pie. Hidden under the pastry crust were the deeds to twelve manors. Jack opened the pie and removed the deeds to the village of Mells in Somerset.

Thus, the ‘plum’ of the pie was the manor of Mells. The rhyme was about greed and opportunism and has been used by satirists to illustrate the nefarious activities of politicians and others interested in improving their lot in life by devious means.

 

Illustration by American illustrator Blanche Fisher Wright (1887-1938) 

Image courtesy of Wikimedia Commons

The melody for the rhyme was first recorded by James William Elliott in  'National Nursery Rhymes and Nursery Songs

Snapdragon

 

Snapdragon, but not the flower

                  Snapdragon being played in Elizabethan (?) times

                        Image courtesy of Wikimedia Commons

The English game of snapdragon originated in the 16^th century and was played in England, Canada and the United States. It was a popular parlour game, particularly in the winter.

 On Christmas Eve in Victorian times, the family would gather round while raisins were put in a bowl of warmed brandy. Then one of the adults would set a match to them, all the lights would be extinguished and everyone would take turns to snatch a raisin from the flames. The idea was to put out the flame by closing the mouth around it and swallowing the raisin.

Although the traditional treats were raisins, other things might be substituted, like almonds, figs, candied fruits or grapes. Children often burnt their fingers and mouths and that may be why the game fell out of favour in the early years of the 20^th century.

Antirrhinum

 

Antirrhinum

In a pot in the front garden an antirrhinum has been bravely blooming for several weeks, withstanding wind, rain and frost. Antirrhinums or snapdragons normally flower between June and October.

 The snapdragon is a favourite flower for children who like to squeeze the throat of the bloom to open the mouth. Some cultures hold that opening the snapdragon’s mouth allows it to whisper secrets and wisdom. I always knew the flower as bunny mouth and remember the pleasure of playing with it.

 

Gilbert the Good – musical appreciation

   

Gilbert the Good – musical appreciation

My humans often play music and, being a musical sort of dog, I enjoy listening. Sometimes I join in but I don’t sing like Buddy Liver Spots used to. He loved listening to Maria Callas. He really appreciated her most distinctive voice and accompanied her with his fine baritone.

Instead of singing, I join in with my favourite instrument, the saxo-duck. The Youtube videoclip here gives you some idea of my expertise or it would, if the link worked!! Ditto the uploaded/downloaded/offloaded/unloaded clip from the computer.

I know it was really good because my humans couldn’t stop smiling and they sent a copy of the video to all the family.

😕   

TTFN

Gilbert

Difficulty

Difficulty

 

I know that Blogger often throws a spanner in the works, not deliberately, I’m sure. Everyone has experienced occasions when comments have been relegated to spam, while others have had comments from years past magically reappear. 

My current difficulty lies in uploading videos. I cannot now upload private or public videos. This is not an unheard-of problem. In Blogger’s ‘help’ section the question has been raised . . . and closed! 

Has anyone else resolved this particular problem? We’ve been all round the houses with it . . .

The Twelve Days of Christmas

The Twelve Days of Christmas

This English Christmas carol is a cumulative song, each verse building on the one before. The twelve days start on Christmas Day and finish on 5^th January. January 6^th marks Epiphany, the day the three Magi arrived in Bethlehem to worship the baby Jesus.

There are variations to the lyrics, but the following version from 1909 is familiar to many. It begins:

On the first day of Christmas my true love sent to me

A partridge in a pear tree.

 

On the second day of Christmas my true love sent to me

Two turtle doves

And a partridge in a pear tree.

It continues, adding one more gift until on the twelfth day the list is complete:

On the twelfth day of Christmas

My true love sent to me

Twelve drummers drumming,

Eleven pipers piping,

Ten lords a-leaping,

Nine ladies dancing,

Eight maids a-milking,

Seven swans a-swimming,

Six geese a-laying,

Five gold rings,

Four calling birds,

Three French hens,

Two turtle doves

And a partridge in a pear tree.

It is not known how the song originated but it is likely to have sprung from a memory game for children, in the same vein as ‘This is the house that Jack built’. The earliest publication of the words was in a children’s book, ‘Mirth Without Mischief’ in 1780.

It was then a chant, but in 1909 the English composer and singer Frederic Austin (1872 – 1952) adapted a folk melody to fit the words and this is the tune that is sung today.

There is a splendid version on YouTube which I attempted unsuccessfully to download . You can find it here  My father played the organ and always said that playing the foot pedals was like dancing and there are many shots of the organist, William Elliott,  doing just that.

John Julius Norwich wrote an alternative version of the carol. It imagines the correspondence between 'my true love' and the recipient.

On the first day of Christmas, Emily, the recipient, is touched and overwhelmed with love.

By the sixth day she is becoming exasperated and rather less effusive in her affection.

On the tenth day she has reached the end of her tether, and Edward, her true love, is now persona non grata. He does not take the hint, persisting in his efforts to please her.

Finally, Emily makes it plain that Edward is never to darken her doorstep again.

The best laid schemes o' mice an' men gang aft a-gley.

Hannukah

 

Hannukah

Hannukah, or Chanukah, often occurs around the same time as Christmas but this year the eight-day Jewish Festival of Lights begins at nightfall on December 7^th and finishes on December 15^th. It celebrates a miracle that occurred in Jerusalem two centuries before the advent of Christianity.

The Syrian king Antiochus ruled the Seleucid Empire from 175 BC to 164 BC and persecuted the Jews of Judaea and Samaria. He forbade them worshipping God and erected a statue of himself in the temple of Jerusalem, ordering them to bow before it. They refused because it transgressed the commandment forbidding them to worship any other than God.

The Maccabees, a priestly Jewish family, led a revolt against Antiochus and his army and after three years they recaptured the city from the Syrians. The Temple had been violated and most of the ritual olive oil desecrated. 

They cleaned and rededicated the Temple by lighting the menorah using the one remaining sealed vial of holy oil. There was only enough to keep the menorah alight for one day but yet it burned for eight days, the exact time it took to press new oil. This miracle is recorded in the Talmud, the primary source of Jewish religious law, written about 600 years later.

To celebrate this wondrous miracle the candles of the menorah, the central candle, called the shamash or attendant, placed centrally and higher than the rest, is lit and used to light the others.

On the first night, the shamash lights one candle. On the second night two candles are lit with the attendant and so on until by the eighth night all eight candles are burning.

Hannukah is a time of thanksgiving, remembrance and celebration. It will be a time of great difficulty and fearfulness this year for many Jews across the world.

Pumpkin Mice Tales (3)

 

Pumpkin Mice Tales (3)

When the colder weather came, the Pumpkin Mice decided to move to a warmer shelter. They found a lovely hole deep underground between the roots of an old oak tree.

One morning, White Mouse with the exceedingly long and beautiful green tail peeped out of the den. She squeaked with excitement. The other Mousekins scurried across to look.

They saw that visitors had arrived on the Tall Tower. Big Brown Mouse joined them. He had eaten a lot of books in his life and digested a lot of information. He told the Mousekins about the new inhabitants.

‘They have travelled from Antarctica,’ he said. ‘The black and white birds are penguins and the white animals are seals.’

The Mousekins gazed at Big Brown Mouse in awe, wondering if they would ever be as wise as him.    

       Big Brown Mouse continued, ‘Seals and penguins don’t like each other because seals eat penguins.’

 

 In this, though, Big Brown Mouse was mistaken for these particular penguins and seals were great friends. There are exceptions to every rule.

The penguins were brothers. The oldest, the one with the bobble hat, was called Bob Bobble. The first thing he and his brothers did was to build an igloo. They chipped the ice off the puddles and fashioned a rather fine dwelling just big enough for all the penguins to live in.

Mysteriously, the seals created a pond and stocked it with fish. They enjoyed watching Blue Scarf hauling fish from the icy pond. He was generous and shared his catch with them.

His brother, Rufus Red, was the youngest penguin and he was excited every night by the coloured lights that twinkled so brightly on the Tall Tower, lighting up the snowman he had built. ‘They’re better than the Northern Lights,‘ he said.

Little Grey, the smallest Mousekin, asked, ‘How long will they stay?’

Big Brown Mouse smiled kindly at him and answered, ‘I think they will stay until the weather starts to get warmer, then they will return to Antarctica.’ Seeing the disappointment on the Mousekins’ faces he added gently, ‘That will be a long time.’

White Mouse with the exceedingly long and beautiful green tail said, ‘How did they get here?’

Big Brown Mouse sighed and said, ‘Nobody knows, ‘Tis a secret never to be told,’ and they all wiggled their whiskers and skittered back into the warmth and safety of their nest.

Advice

Good advice

 

Taxi, police car, hearse, ambulance

'Tis the season of idiot drivers. Avoid at all costs.

The first Friday

 

The first Friday

                     The window of one of the local estate agents

Every year, on the first Friday in December, Crowthorne high street is closed to all traffic from 4:00 until 8:00 p.m. for the annual ‘late night’ Christmas shopping event. Stalls are set up along both sides of the road, selling all sorts of goodies. Many of the shops offer free mince pies, mulled wine and coffee.

 Susannah, James and I went that night. It was amazing to see how transformed the street was and it was thronged with people and a surprisingly large number of friendly and well-behaved dogs. 

                         Carol singers outside the Baptist church

Carol singers representing all ages of the community, from little angels from a local school to bigger people in Father Christmas hats, sang for the passing crowds. Live music was everywhere, inside the shops and outside the library and other locations.

                                               A fuzzy angel

It was good to see so many people out and about and the weather played nicely, too. It had been a very cold day but it was dry and seemed warmer in the evening. Maybe that was warmth given off by the crowds!

A great deal of effort went into this event from the organisers and there was a general feeling of goodwill. It’s a pleasant place to live.

                                Outside one of the hair salons. We have an abundance of hair salons, barbers and estate agents . . .

My photographs are rather fuzzy, I’m afraid!