Various

[poliphilo]

1.The wooden fence on the other side of the back alley has been replaced by heavy duty wire mesh. Two advantages. One: the kids won't be able to set it in fire. Two: standing at an upstairs window, I can see through it to the lawn beyond and it's almost as if our back garden had been extended.

2. My first attempt at growing tomatoes has been a dismal failure. I've got three plants and they've produced five nuggety green fruits- about the size of strawberries. My father in law- who gave me two of  the plants- says it's been a bad year for everyone. Blame it on the weather.

3. My latest jigsaw is a picture of a village wedding by one of the younger Breughels. I don't suppose I've ever spent more time poring over an old master. The posh people are sitting under a tree in a meadow and their retainers and bodyguards and poor relations are standing behind them watching them eat. One or two of the faces seem to be portraits. I haven't counted the faces but there must be getting on for a hundred. Differences in style suggest this is a studio work and all the apprentices took turns at painting faces and areas of foliage. "Here, Jacob, you're not doing anything important. Come over here and do me a wedding guest." 

4. Professor Dawkins was bashing the New Age last night. And, yes, it deserves to be bashed. But I'm not easy.  He was testing dowsers and this poor woman who had scored no better than average was genuinely distressed- suggesting that normally- out in the field with the wind blowing free- she gets results.  Is she a fraud or a self-deceiver or is it just possible that application of the scientific method causes psi abilities to freeze?  "Which side are you one, boy?" Well neither, actually. Put me down as a conscientious objector. Science on one side, superstition on the other? No, I just don't think it's as simple as that.

Comments

[heleninwales.livejournal.com]

1. Excellent move on someone's part! A win-win situation.

2. If you were trying to grow them outside, then it's no wonder they didn't ripen. When I was a kid we had an allotment for a few years, and even with a greenhouse, we didn't always get reliable ripening in the wet, cold Manchester summers. My mother found a very good recipe for green tomato chutney, which used up at least one crop of green bullet-like tomatoes. :)

3. What a fun way to study old masters.

4. I'm totally agnostic about Psi powers. I'd love them to be true, but am mostly doubtful. However, I do know that even a tiny amount of mental stress can affect my mind in subtle ways.

For example I might have a problem with a computer in class. While the class is there and part of my mind is trying to keep track of what's going on, I'll be unable to solve the problem. But the moment everyone leaves and I can slip into the necessary calm, gently focused, problem solving state of mind, I'll sort it out right away. Thus I can easily believe that the stress of being tested would disrupt a subtle skill like dowsing.

[poliphilo.livejournal.com]

My father-in-law off-loaded a whole lot of little green tomatoes on us last year and they were delicious.

I think it's in the nature of psi to be elusive- and allergic to men and women in white coats.