I like to think of the sea as a seducer of young men, bright eyed and open, with adventure in their hearts: Men who leapt gladly from the underhanded, Shanghai-ing, political world of the privateers, into the democratic arms of honest share-and-split-the-booty-alike piracy, cutlass between teeth and a flintlock, tied to end of a colourful silk sash...
for all of this season's couples... in particular, M+S, T+J, D+D, and L+A. well done all of you, you're certainly doing better than these guys. maybe it's got something to do with this old thing.
still looking forward to S+S later this year, and of course Ch+S coming up sometime soon too!
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oh yes, and a finial in architecture is a decorative knobby thing on a balustrade, or detailed ridge cap on a roof. it's also what you call the twizzly bits at the end of curtain rods, and the flourish at the end of a calligraphic stroke! neat, eh?
The most amazing display of ice haloes I have ever seen. Over the town of Woodstock in Oxfordshire. A 22° halo was visible, topped by a sun gull and parry arc. The sundogs are out of shot here, but were very colourful. The brightest part was the cloud smile (CZA) sitting on top of what looked like a 46° halo, but could also have been a superlateral arc. It was so impressive I was stopping strangers in the street to show them. The may have thought I was a bit mad... They may have been right. It was glorious.
The week of ice haloes concludes tomorrow...
returning from the JR in february, the boisterous spring sky put on a show. streaming whips of cirrus tore across the sky in wide swaths, slipping in and out of a bright 22° halo. above it, a 'cloud smile' lit up a fleeting fibrous veil - its blue-green tones iridescing gloriously - only to fade and flicker away in under a minute. its hard to tell if the arc below was a 46° halo or a superlateral arc. the curves kissed at the zenith - but wouldn't you? all the way up there above the sun? wearing such fine clothes?
Oxford & Adis Ababa are almost 46 degrees apart.
(Looks like we're having a week of ice haloes...)
I was fortunate enough to have a lovely chat to author Lesley Downer earlier this week, author of The Last Concubine, among other delightful works. Something which came up in our chat was the practice of 'sasabeni' (笹紅: bamboo rouge) a shimmering lip lacquer with an iridescent greeny tint, which was applied to the bottom lip by exquisitely dressed ladies in the late Edo period. We wondered whether the trend had originated in the court, the aristocracy or in the infamous Yoshiwara...
This moon has a touch of sasabeni about it.
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