Lost in clutter of the mind.

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WOMAN, Woman....woman, what sharp tongue lashes me, what course grain of sand are women made...by what wondrous craft we see such pearls...

Words like great books pass into the mind like water into sand, tired eyes and hours pass by, such plesure of a good book is only disturbed by that lost feeling when the last page is finished....It is great to see eBid has an ever growing selection of great books, I am sure if the title you fancy reading is not yet listed there may be another tome to tide you over in eBids book section.

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Five Magpies all skulking about the same field, this scene I caught a glimpse of out of the window of the train just outside of Saltburn...So I just had a look what superstitions surround this bird
1507 Gospelles of dystaues,pt.2 viii."I assure you...y'Whan pyes chatter vpon a house it is a sygne of ryghte euyll tydynges."
I found next ref-1652 GAULE Mag-astro-mances then in 1763 J.Collier,Lancashire dialect(28) makes facinating comment, that I will not mention.....Just to say KEEP UP THE GOOD WORK TO ALL EBID BOOK SELLERS(and every one else)...So much you can get from a great book....SALT as a propitiation/for luck and prosperity. c800 BC Homer IliadIX(tr.Rieu,1667)wow Iliad thank goodness for the written word! But then again Leviticus...ok maybe I should stay away from this written work in conection with superstitions

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The Druids...Held nothing more sacred than the Mistletoe


Well most of what Druids(Druids from the Gaulish-Celtic language)were all about we know from Roman and Greek writings because Druids would pass most knowledge in the spoken word, so it was lucky from an historical perspective that PLINY (Gaius Plinius Secundas) wrote his 37 Volumes of "Natural History"


AD 77 PLINY Natural History XXIV vi Mistletoe...Will promote conception in females if they make a practice of carrying it about with them

Later mention is made about a tradition in farm house that a young man may kiss a women under the hung mistletoe and then remove a berry from the bush, once all the berries are gone the kissing privalage ends.....The writer C.M.YONGE mentions in OLD WOMANS OUTLOOK Dec 1892 that churches had removed mistletoe to end the vulgarity and rudeness that was often seen under the mistletoe.....So young lads started to wear a sprig of mistletoe in their hats....Mistletoe was also associated with various cures and luck-ref Plinys-Druids


I do like a good novel but at the moment I have been reading the Dictionary of Superstitions.....

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A Sixpence in the Christmas pudding, what's that all about? 1778 w.HUTCHINSON view of Northumberland II app.14.The syllabuh, prepared for the May Feast(warm milk sweet cake and wine) by fishing around with a ladle to find a wedding ring that had been dropped in this would be the purpose of "prognosticating" who shall be first married

1823 W.GRANT STEWART Highlanders of Scotland 255.(Fasten's eve) is the matrimonial brose...Before the bree(broth) is put in the bicker or plate, a ring is mixed with the food, and the aim is for the partakers to find


Over the next 70 years lots of variation are found, finding a ring would mean marriage and a sixpence to mean "Die an old maid" later variation, Ring, Button, Sixpence the sixpence became associated with good luck....A Button a bachelor


I remember a book I read, I think it was a Christmas Murder, but anyhow it was set in the 18th century I think and it mentioned how the rich family on Boxing day (26th Dec) would pack a box with food and festive items so it could be taken and given to some poor people....mmmm I had'nt thought about what Boxing was all about until then, but now know there is quite alot of tradition behind this day.... It is facinating what things you can find when reading a good book.

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July 16, 1945 Dr Teller brought a bouncing baby blast into the world....Trinity was a flash in the pan for the folk working on the Manhattan project,before the crater was cool the folk at Los Alamos....were thinking about "Little boy"(gun-style uranium) and "Fat man"(plutonium implosion)

July 18 [19] 45

Ate breakfast with nephew Harry, a sergeant in the Field Artillery. He is a good soldier and a nice boy. They took him off Queen Elizabeth at Glasco and flew him here. Sending him home Friday. Went to lunch with P.M., at 1:30 walked around to British Hqrs. Met at the gate by Mr. Churchill. Guard of honor drawn up. Fine body of men Scottish Guards. Band played Star Spangled Banner. Inspected Guard and went in for lunch. P.M. and I ate alone. Discussed Manhattan (it is a success). Decided to tell Stalin about it. Stalin had told P.M. of telegram from Jap Emperor asking for peace. Stalin also read his answer to me. It was satisfactory. Believe Japs will fold up before Russia comes in.President Truman's diary


Historical events, can look different looking back at things, with archives that were closed to view for many years, new facts and descriptions alter perceptions.... I mean Stalin seems more like a bank robber from the wild west at times and was almost destained to be a great poet when in his teens....I think the smaller almost unimportant things can also cast a light into some darker corners of history...
Always some new things to learn from a good book.

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Don't be deceived when they tell you things are better now. Even if there's no poverty to be seen because the poverty's been hidden. Even if you got more wages and could afford to buy more of these new and useless goods which industries foist on you and even if it seems to you that you never had so much, that is only the slogan of those who still have much more than you. Don't be taken in when they pat you paternally on the shoulder and say that there's no inequality worth speaking of and no more reason to fight because if you believe them they will be completly in charge in their marble homes and granite banks from which they rob the people of the world under the pretence of bringing them culture. Watch out, for as soon as it pleases them they'll send you out to protect their gold in wars whose weapons, rapidly developed by servile scientists will become more and more deadly until they can with a flick of the finger tear million of you to pieces.

Jean-Paul Marat, died 1793


Jean-Paul Marat (May 24, 1743 – July 13, 1793)Swiss-born French physician, (wikipedia.Jean-Paul_Marat)
I think with the Football, France going out and the Swiss connection, plus Marat died mid July-mmm it was mid July when the Rwandan Genocide ground to a halt, 1994 this was an anachronism, how could upto 1 million people be beaten, hacked to death, I mean the guys doing the killing were trained and supported by French military, but bombs cost more than a machete but never mind Mitterrand's worry with "Anglo-Saxon" influence, it is politics and I avoid getting into that area ( I mean I could start thinking Clinton had Somalia on his mind when he blocked the UN...ok Albright blocked things) so back to the next book I think I will read, An Imperfect Offering by James Orbinski, after hearing him talk I gotta keep an eye open for this book, it sounds like a facinating though disturbing read.