“When loud March blows

Thro’ slanting snows her fanfare shrill

Blowing to flame the golden cup

Of many an upset daffodil.


Signs of hope

<<<<

Uneasy lies the head that wears the crown

I am a bit of a fan of wee Rory McIlroy and I am very sorry to see him in such a bad place mentally at the moment.

I am going to take this opportunity to advance your knowledge of golfing terminology by explaining the etymology of the terms “birdie” and “albatross”. 

The word “bird” was once a word like cool, ace, super, champion etc. It was slang for “excellent”.

A golfer named Ab Smith in Atlanta in 1899 hit a shot which came to rest just inches from the hole leaving him one under par. “What a bird of a shot!” he cried and there and then he and his companions decided to call scores of one under par “birdies”.

An albatross is the completion of a hole in golf in 3 shots under par. It is so named because the albatross is an even larger bird than the eagle and much more rare…a bit like making 3 under par.

<<<<<



Here is the last tranche of Dillon Boyer’s lovely convent photos. So sad…..

The Sacred Heart stained glass window

I failed to identify this saint from the internet but I did learn that a palm leaf usually denoted a martyr. I’m sure someone local knows who this is.

Sacred Heart
Another work of art
St. Ann
St. Therese of Lisieux
door to the sacristy
plinth in the front garden
side altar with Sr. Cosolata’s organ covered

<<<<<

Michael Keane in Perth sent me an  interesting email describing an exhibit at
a recent Perth festival,

Perth Arts Festival Exhibition


OF ALL THE PEOPLE IN ALL THE WORLD – TIMEZONE GMT +8

SAT 9 FEB 2013 – SAT 2 MAR 2013


As you enter you are handed a grain of rice. That grain of rice is you. There are a lot of other people there. Hundreds of millions. Each represented by a single grain of rice. In heaps and patterns and piles: all the people in our time zone GMT +8. 1.54 billion. 30 tonnes of rice.


In a hauntingly beautiful, constantly shifting, sculptural landscape, the sheer vastness of population is captured, bringing to life previously incomprehensible statistics and presenting them in eloquent visual form.