a pinch and a kick for playing a trick: spot the difference

(I'll give you a clue: Place de la Concorde, Paris, France)(Luxor Temple, Luxor, Egypt)

it's not often that one sees both the obelisks from the temple built by Hatshepsut, Amenhotep III and Rameses II in the same place - but you can here!

it was Rameses II who built the two obelisks, one of which was taken to France, and is now at the centre of the Place de la Concorde. . . (at the time my Egyptian guide told me that in exchange for the obelisk the French gave the Egyptians a clock which broke on the day it was installed and has never worked since!)

and the other difference? hot and blistering in Luxor, cold and rainy in Paris

oh well. . . one can't have it all!

spring has sprung

the grass is ris. . .

and this month's pinching and punching comes with your choice of wariness, democracy and madness!(the ides are really nothing to worry about tho, it's only the Roman for the 15th of the month. . .)(and really, please, someone tell me, when is spring going to sprung? it was lovely and balmy the other day and now it's bl**dy freezing again. . .)

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"February was named after the Latin term februum, which means purification; in Finnish, the month is called helmikuu, meaning 'month of the pearl'; when snow melts on tree branches, it forms droplets, and as these freeze again; historical names for February include the Anglo-Saxon terms solmonath (mud month) and kale-monath (named for cabbage)"

I wonder if there are any purification rituals involving cabbages frozen into muddy fields. . .

(ps I'm counting on Christopher to fill us in on the wrongness of the fish in the sky!)

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The first month of the year, the beginning, was dedicated to Janus - one of the oldest gods of the Romans - and called January. His festival was celebrated in January 1st."Janus was the god of all beginnings and of passages such as doors, gates and bridges, often depicted with two faces, and was then called Janus Bifrons. There were several temples to Janus in Rome, the most famous was the one in the Forum Romanum, whose gates would be open in time of war, and only closed in times of peace.

"Janus was the patron of concrete and abstract beginnings of the world (such as the religion and the gods themselves), the human life, new historical ages, and economical enterprises. He was also the god of the home entrance ('ianua'), gates, bridges and covered and arcaded passages ('iani') named after him. He was frequently used to symbolize change and transitions such as the progression of past to future, of one condition to another, of one vision to another, the growing up of young people, and of one universe to another.

"He was also known as the figure representing time because he could see into the past with one face and into the future with the other. Hence, Janus was worshipped at the beginnings of the harvest and planting times, as well as marriages, deaths and other beginnings. He was representative of the middle ground between barbarity and civilization, rural country and urban cities, and youth and adulthood."

a new month. . .

"in December, Venus can be seen in the sky near the moon, creating inspiring celestial scenes in early evening skies around the world. . .this twilight view shows Venus about five minutes before the Moon passed in front of it, thus Venus vanished from sight for more than hour. . . the image is a combination of long and short exposures showing details of the lunar surface illuminated by both faint earthshine and bright sunlight. . ."and this, in case you are wondering, is my good self in winter garb. . .

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first of the month!

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O hushed October morning mild,
Thy leaves have ripened to the fall;
To-morrow's wind, if it be wild,
Should waste them all.
The crows above the forest call;
To-morrow they may form and go.
O hushed October morning mild,
Begin the hours of this day slow,
Make the day seem to us less brief.
Hearts not averse to being beguiled,
Beguile us in the way you know;
Release one leaf at break of day;
At noon release another leaf;
One from our trees, one far away;
Retard the sun with gentle mist;
Enchant the land with amethyst.
Slow, slow!
For the grapes' sake, if they were all,
Whose leaves already are burnt with frost,
Whose clustered fruit must else be lost
For the grapes' sake along the wall

ROBERT FROST
.
and for those watching the night sky. . .
what to watch!