matouenpeluche

The 14th of October. This day in history...

(Image from The Castle Keep)

The Norman (French Viking) William the Conqueror defeated English Harold at the Battle of Hastings in 1066. Above is the iconic Bayeux Tapestry (more embroidery actually) of Harold's defeat. A very important moment in history and a super important moment in the English language - we now have approximately 30, 000 words in the English language that have a French origin as a result.        

 

(Image from wikipedia)

Lovely Lillian Gish was born in 1893. You may remember an earlier post I did about Lillian and her sister Dorothy. That's Lil on the left and Dot on the right.

 

(Image from Syracuse)

One of my favourite American poets e.e.cummings was born on this day in 1894. Here's a terrific poem of his.

'the hours rise up'

the hours rise up putting off stars and it is

dawn

into the street of the sky light walks scattering poems

on earth a candle is

extinguished    the city

wakes

with a song upon her

mouth having death in her eyes

and it is dawn

the world

goes forth to murder dreams...

i see the street where strong

men are digging bread

and i see the brutal faces of

people contented hideous hopeless cruel happy

and it is day,

in the mirror

i see a frail

man

dreaming

dreams

dreams in the mirror

and it

is dusk   on earth

a candle is lighted

and it is dark.

the people are in their houses

the frail man is in his bed

the city

sleeps with death upon her mouth having a song in her eyes

the hours descend,

putting on stars...

in the street of the sky night walks scattering poems

 

(Image from Sound on Sound)

Cliff Richard was born on this day in 1940. Cliff Richard was Britain's answer to Elvis - well an attempt at it anyway...

On this day in 1947 Chuck Yeager was the first man to fly faster than the speed of sound in his Bell X-1. I've always had a thing for Chuck ever since I read Tom Wolfe's  The Right Stuff. Chuck was the real hero of the whole space race in my opinion...

 (Image from Airport Journals)

Lots of other cool stuff happened today too...Roger Moore for example was born in 1927, Dwight D Eisenhower was born in 1890 and so was Isaac Mizrahi in 1961.

...and it is also my birthday today too!! Yippeee! 

Ode to Autumn

Ode to Autumn by John Keats

Season of mists and mellow fruitfulness!
Close bosom-friend of the maturing sun;
Conspiring with him how to load and bless
With fruit the vines that round the thatch-eaves run;
To bend with apples the mossed cottage-trees,
And fill all fruit with ripeness to the core;
To swell the gourd, and plump the hazel shells
With a sweet kernel; to set budding more,
And still more, later flowers for the bees,
Until they think warm days will never cease,
For Summer has o'erbrimmed their clammy cells.

Who hath not seen thee oft amid thy store?
Sometimes whoever seeks abroad may find
Thee sitting careless on a granary floor,
Thy hair soft-lifted by the winnowing wind;
Or on a half-reaped furrow sound asleep,
Drowsed with the fume of poppies, while thy hook
Spares the next swath and all its twined flowers;
And sometimes like a gleaner thou dost keep
Steady thy laden head across a brook;
Or by a cider-press, with patient look,
Thou watchest the last oozings, hours by hours.

Where are the songs of Spring? Ay, where are they?
Think not of them, thou hast thy music too, -
While barred clouds bloom the soft-dying day
And touch the stubble-plains with rosy hue;
Then in a wailful choir the small gnats mourn
Among the river sallows, borne aloft
Or sinking as the light wind lives or dies;
And full-grown lambs loud bleat from hilly bourn;
Hedge-crickets sing, and now with treble soft
The redbreast whistles from a garden-croft;
And gathering swallows twitter in the skies.

Yesterday, Sunday, my boyfriend and I went for a walk through the gardens and bush surrounding the Eastern suburbs here in Sydney. I can't tell you what a glorious day it was! I couldn't stop thinking of Keats' "Ode to Autumn" as I was walking along. Apparently he wrote a letter to a friend after taking a Sunday walk in September of 1819 and said how lovely Autumn was and how much more he preferred it was to "chilly" Spring. This Sunday walk inspired "Ode to Autumn".

In other news, there is a fabulous print give away of my work over at Lilly's Life!

Have a lovely rest of your Spring weekend Northern Hemisphere - ians and enjoy your Autumn week you folk down South!