Friday Frills...

                                                    Ship-on-stormy-seas-ivan-konstantinovich-aivazovsky

This ship sums up the past few days!  At least I have caught up, almost got all things ready, and have found all parcels arrive at their destinations, even if she is out at one of them.  

The weekend approaches, checkout lassies everywhere look forward to Sunday just so they no longer have to listen to Xmas music all day long.  There is only so much of that slop that one can take.  That said I will visit the girls in the morning, obtain enough to last for three days, though I have most stuff in already, and be back before the desparate crush through the store all day.  

Later, I will walk around laughing at those men attempting to buy for her indoors.  There are usually a few, easily recognised and their eyes look blankly into every shop window.  It is possible some stalls will be out tomorrow, they are often off before Xmas, so a trinket or two might be found there.  I will distainfully pass by before remembering someone I forgot!  Dearie me...

 

 

 

I like this cartoon, but notice how he follows the 'traditional' tale.  Joseph with an old man's beard, and a donkey, which looks more like a horse.  If these two were as I have proposed before do you think they could afford a donkey?  This is unlikely, and even if they had one the image on many cards at this time of year would be wrong anyway.  If there was a donkey involved it would be Jpseph sitting on it, not the wife!  

The 'Star' may well have been a conjunction of three planets, I forget which, Mars Venus and Saturn I think, which occurred twice.  'Magi,' in Babylon recorded this sighting, as did stargazing men in China.

The first appearance was 7 BC, and it returned in 5 BC, therefore, add in the historical fact that Herod died in 4 BC we can jump to a conclusion Jesus was born around this time.  The exact time is hard to define, but I rush to 5 BC, but with no other evidence.  Travel from Babylon would take time after working out the meaning of the sight.  Gather your men together, collect the sandwiches required, and trot off slowly joining in a vast caravan for safety.  It would take a while to reach Jerusalem. 

 

Monday Mumbling

The milder weather, only two pullovers on today, brought me a visitor this afternoon. Taking his ease on the grubby window a butterfly enjoyed the view through the dirt ingrained pane.  My pondering as to whether he was better off inside or out ended after I downloaded the pics I took, almost all out of focus, and returned to find he had disappeared.  I suspect he realised he would starve to death in here and hopped it towards the park.  Can he survive the winter I wonder?  Will such a frail creature endure the cold?  If only he had turned around and rested on the pane, then I may have obtained a better shot and worked out what he was called.  

You might have picked up from the news, if you had been listening carefully, that Mandela had died.  Being unwell, ninety five years of age, and quite famous I thought we might hear more about him hmmm?  I liked this man.  He was no messiah as some appear to reckon him, he was not even a great president, he was however a great man!  Having spent so many years in jail it meant his ability as leader was limited.  Others were in powerful positions and he himself was not as young as he had been, his close knowledge and awareness of his people were now limited by the long separation.  However with one magnificent gesture, offering forgiveness and reconciliation, he avoided a possible civil war, with the attending bloodbath, and set about creating a new nation.
It has not happened, with the present generation of leaders it will never happen, and the poorest still face unending struggles and dangers day by day. Many have found life much improved, others find life has more dangers.  I had a run in with a chap who considers all TV as 'anti-white,' this Afrikaner is willing to tell of the many whites killed by black folks, but forgets the oppression of the past couple of centuries.  He and I did not get on.  For many whites South Africa is indeed a dangerous place, not all see things his way however.
There has been a certain amount of idol worship around Mandela in the past few days, this is wrong, and he would object to this.  He ought to be seen as the man who saved South Africa, donning a 'Springbok' shirt to do so, encouraging reconciliation and forgiveness, which may well have been hard for him inside, and setting forth a positive view of a new nation.  This did not make him a messiah, but as I said, it made him a great man, and he ought to be regarded as such.

Saturday saw the town centre awash with Christmas shoppers. naturally a donkey, plus two sheep, appeared in town.  Cynics may say the last thing we need is another donkey wandering about here, but I say nothing.  As you do folks were attempting to pet the animals, and as they do they just wanted someone to shove hay in their mouths.  I think the animals came off best here.  I note that a 'Morocco Market' was arranged by one town but fell through at the last minute as the Moroccans could not get visa's, just in case they did not go home again, and the camels got stuck on the motorway!  Whether the brutes were walking or using the bus was not made clear, the camels I mean, not the Moroccans.     

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