Wednesday, November 07, 2012

Wednesday, November 7th



As we made our daily trip to Penticton today, up through the valley bottom where the trees are still brilliant with autumn shades, we climbed to higher altitudes where a strong wind has thinned the leaves on the deciduous tree and in some cases scattered all the ground beneath them with gold.

At the highest point of the pass the beautiful bones of the alder and aspen are filagree lace, silhouetted against the darkness of the evergreen hills.

I was reminded of Mary Oliver and her beautiful "Lines Written in the Days of Growing Darkness".

Every year we have been
witness to it: how the
world descends
 
into a rich mash, in order that
it may resume.
And therefore
who would cry out
 
to the petals on the ground
to stay
knowing as we must,
how the vivacity of what was is married
 
to the vitality of what will be?
I don't say it's easy, but
what else will do
 
if the love one claims to have for the world
be true?
So let us go on, cheerfully enough,
this and every crisping day.
 
though the sun be swinging east,
and the ponds be cold and black,
and the sweets of the year be doomed.

And I thought about how these words are so relevant to the November of our lifetime

Tuesday, November 06, 2012

ABC Wednesday

The letter is Q

Q is for Quoits

Here is a fun video of a game of Quoits at a local pub.




Which came first, the chicken or the egg, Horseshoes or Quoits??? 

It seems some people are Quibbling about this, but no matter which the game of Quoits appears to have had its origin in ancient Greece  where poorer citizens, who could not afford a discus, made their own by bending horseshoes into a circle.  They were used in their open form only after it became customary to practice pitching at a spike embedded in the ground.

In England Quoits became so popular that Edward 111 and Eichard 11 prohibited the game in order to encourage archery.  However, it became quite a well organized sport by the 15th century probably because of the numerous attempts to eradicate it from the pubs and taverns of England.

The pub variety of Quoits has many offshoots, - games such as ringtoss or hoopla becoming popular as parlour games, and deck quoits which became popular as a means of entertaining blase passengers on long cruises.

For more interesting aspects of the letter Q click here to visit ABC Wednesday, sponsored by Mrs. Nesbitt and her quirky helpers.