Tag: Patchwork
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Food is Home
“A woman is like a tea bag – you can’t tell how strong she is until you put her in hot water.”– Eleanor Roosevelt High up in the Bohea Mountains of China, farmers cut terraces into limestone crags and built dikes and drains in order to grow tea. Endowed with fertile soil and a mild,…
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Food is Science
Legend has it that the panettone came into being from a forbidden romance in the 15th century. During a Christmas Eve feast hosted by the Duke of Milan, Ludovico il Moro, his head pastry chef burnt the dessert while stealing a kiss from a nobleman’s beautiful wife in the medieval passageway. A young scullery boy…
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The Song Bird
Each day as it dawns,Mother, I should walk in your footsteps.Swinging off branches, playing in valleys,I should be coddled in mother’s lap everyday.The nightingale that sings from behind the treeShould be with me as it reciprocates with a “koo” whenever I call her.– Komma Uyala It is remarkable that the birds which sing are rarely…
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Oranges and Lemons of St. Clement’s
Oranges and Lemons of St. Clement’s is a traditional English nursery rhyme which references the bells of several churches within the vicinity of the City of London. It is also a children’s singing game, in which two children place their hands together to form an arch to symbolize the arch of sanctuary while the others…
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The Reindeer
Long before the tales of Santa Claus, images of the flying reindeer had been etched onto the Bronze Age’s stones, scattering across the deserts and steppes of western Mongolia and stretching into the Altai Mountains and up to the border of Manchuria in the east. On these stones depicted the reindeer with its antlers reaching…
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The Juniper Tree
I was following the pack, all swallowed in their coatsWith scarves of red tied ’round their throatsTo keep their little heads from falling in the snowAnd I turned ’round and there you goAnd Michael, you would fall and turn the white snow redAs strawberries in the summertime.– Fleet Foxes, White Winter Hymnal Since it was…
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Neptune
The planet Neptune is the farthest planet orbiting the Sun and is invisible to the naked eye. In 1613, Galileo Galilei had mapped the planet with his telescope, but he mistakenly perceived it as a star, even though he appeared to observe that it had moved relative to other fixed stars. Rather it was unexpected…
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Mercury
Across cultures since ancient times, mercury has been a substance of fascination and immense utility. Being liquid and shiny, it was commonly known as quicksilver and was associated with the fastest planet, which was named after the Roman god Mercury. In Greek mythology, Mercury is equivalent to the god Hermes, who was the “soul guide,”…
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The Cat
Ever since the Stone Age the cat has adopted man for companionship. In an excavated grave in Shillourokambos, Cyprus were found skeletons of a cat next to a child’s, dated 9500 years ago. That Cyprus has remained separated from the mainland since its formation suggests humans brought cats along with them to the island. Unlike…
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The Dragonfly
The Brazilian poet Mário Quintana was quoted to have said, “Don’t waste your time chasing butterflies. Mend your garden, and the butterflies will come.” As a gardener, I can say that birds will come as soon as there’s a slightest sighting of fruits, flowers, a water puddle, or even just freshly tilled soil, but it’s…
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