PRESERVING FOR THE BIG UNKNOWN AND FOLLOWING MY FEET THROUGH ISRAEL

One of the major jobs on my  'to do' list will be to check my digital stuff, mostly photographs and family group stuff with photos.  I have absolutely no doubt it will be one of those jobs that will roll over every month, maybe, every year.  Perish the thought! But, if I don't get onto it, there will be lots of stuff  that's been important in my life that could be in a 'guddle' - a nice onomatopoeic Scottish word - at worst, lost for future generations; that's assuming they want it.  As I have been interested to know something of my heritage, I believe it is a valid assumption that they will do, and I am therefore, making the assumption.

Storage media that we have used for over a decade, like CD's and DVD's do have a limited shelf life; about a decade. External hard drives live a bit longer. VHS cassette tapes weaken in use. I was therefore, interested when I heard there was a new Disc available; (note spelling, not with a 'K'). It has a thousand year life, a whole millennium!  That would certainly do for me. I would have to buy a DVD writer that works with the technology.  There are a few around.  In every other respect, it seems, the Discs can be used for reading in the drives I already have. Obviously, we know that the length of life of anything can be limited by new developments.  I reckon, so long as there's a reader drive, somehow or another, in a thousand years, if the world still exists, (the other big, big unknown) the media can still be accessed.

I looked at photo CD's that are officially past their perishable date.  So far they seem okay. The pictures stored on one were of  Israel. These pictures show the Roman Aqueduct, it runs along  the fine sandy Beach at Caesaria (named after Caesar Augustus) further than my eyes could see.  Like all places in this ancient land, it has an illustrious history.

If all the disks awake my memories and give me pleasure like this one, the task will not be that bad, probably, just lengthy.

Next, at a market in Jerusalem, not the ancient Shouk/Souk, it's a market that the people who live in the city use for their everyday purchases.  This visit was pre-tram times.  These days trams stop nearby.

Round the corner from a small popular restaurant in the market, called Azur, I saw a group of men outside a cafe playing Backgammon, a game that is popular in The Middle East. Last time I visited, the Azur restaurant had changed location and if I am not mistaken, I believe it had moved here, to the more spacious cafe premises.

This is the ancient Shouk/Souk in Jerusalem, where you walk on cobbled streets interspersed

with stone steps worn by the feet that have climbed them through millennia. Either side of the steps  are narrow ramps for carts to negotiate the steps up or down, just as they always have done here.

You smell this before you see it. Such a mix of wonderful aromas, and all the spices are so artistically displayed.  I have seen similar displays in other markets.  I thought this one was quite special.

 A visit to The Holy Sepulchre. It felt and looked like pure theatre. People were not going to be given access  to this shrine, while it was being commandeered by the Eastern Orthodox Priests and friends, doing their photo shoot.  About 30 minutes later,  when the 'models' had retired to the side aisle, waiting people were ushered in four at a time.  I would not have stayed in the queue, bar encouragement from a friend.

Inside the shrine was a tiny light ante room with an artifact displayed in it. Did a person the proportions of the priest in the picture, really get in there? The little one in black would have had no problem. Eventually it was my turn. I was unable to decipher the lettering relating to the artifact, so, had no idea what it was.

A woman in front of me moved into another small room with a marble tomb structure. you couldn't see the ends.  She dropped to her knees, and using her rosary prayed. I waited  respectfully in the doorway. Someone else had just been allowed into the ante- room. Prayers finished, the woman jumped up, got out a camera and took a lot of flash pictures. 

The tomb room was gilded with everything and anything in Eastern Orthodox church style. You get a sense of it with the decoration you see around the Sepulchre door. Simplicity, it was not.

There are three major Christian sects, at least, represented here, Roman Catholic, Protestant, and Eastern Orthodox. The latter appear to have the guardianship of the place, whether by default or agreement I do not know.  Each Christian representative has their own areas of the Sepulchre. It is worth taking a guided tour as there is much to be explained. It was interesting to see that the Roman Catholic Chapel was relatively very small.  Not all is harmonious  here, you do hear of physical discord in the religious camps. 

Excavations in The Shouk  have revealed ancient fortifications.  On the way through the market, this ancient  museum of life, was the Golden Menorah. It is The First Golden Temple Menorah Constructed since the destruction of the Holy Temple. It is undoubtedly a cultural and religious standard bearer as well as a fascinating and beautifully crafted object.

Click on the pictures to enlarge.

REPEATS....REPEATS....REPEATS

In the Renaissance Period in France, Catherine de Medici ruled as Regent after the death of her eldest son Francis II in 1560, (he was the first husband of Mary Queen of Scots). 

The State treasury was depleted by the wars led by the previous monarch, Francis I, Catherine's husband. The matter had not been addressed during king Francis II short reign. The State was bankrupt and monies had to be found.

Does any of this sound familiar......it should.

To continue:

As other sources of revenue-raising were unavailable at that point, it was suggested that taxes be levied, the burden of which, would fall on the peasantry. There were at best, unimaginative suggestions from the Estates Deputies. It was left to the Crown therefore, to lead by pruning its expenditure.  Catherine cut the number of servants and other elements of the administrative workforce, reduced salaries and pensions.   By so doing, she recouped 2.3 million livres. 

Remember, this is the 16th century.  That is an awful lot of money recouped, say, billions in today's financial terms.

Rather than being congratulatory, the Deputies observed that if such an amount could be so easily saved, "Could not more telling cuts be made?"

History repeats, repeats, repeats......................... and continues to be repeated.

Source:Frieda.L. 2005 Catherine de Medici: p171.

THE STIRLING HEADS

Not so long ago we visited Stirling Castle, Scotland UK., to see a special and short time- limited exhibition of The Stirling Heads.  There were thirty-seven newly carved oak roundels.  The final one, it is said, was an extra head, and allowed craftsman's license, in that the carver  was allowed to use the face of his daughter.   The details on the dress, the epaulettes and the head-dress demonstrate that  she has been accorded high status.   The designs are all based on the details available from historical artefacts, some too fragile to replace on the ceiling in the Royal Apartments.

 These  heads include Margaret Tudor,  sister to Henry VIII of England,  the man himself,  and one head believed to be a copy of James V of Scotland.   Various other courtly characters, include dancing puttos and a jester or two.

If we wanted to see the heads in their raw wooden state, it was to be the only opportunity to do so. They are now in the process of being painted in the style the heads were known to have been originally finished.  The next time we see the replacement heads, will be with our necks craned back,  (not the best viewing position).

Included in future tours of the Castle will be an exhibition of the remaining original heads, there were, in all,  I believe, forty seven.  Some were found in private ownership.  The carver performed a labour of love for his self-taught craft and in the process learned old, but  not necessarily traditional methods of carving.   There were the errors of the past not to be repeated; the crude ability seen in some of the old work; then there was what seems to have been a remarkable discovery. The carver noticed a series of repeating symbols.  The greater the time he spent on his work, the more convinced he became that these symbols could be a form of music.  Consulting with a musicologist, it has become a distinct possibility that the theory is good.  The musical symbols and tones linked to them based on the instruments known to be in use in the period, have produced what might have been popular tunes of the day.

(Click on the pictures to enlarge)

IT HAD TO BE VERY MUCH BETTER THAN GOOD

At a funeral service I attended, I was really impressed with what I heard about the life of the deceased, who I will call M. The service was very well attended by people from all over the county, indicating how well thought of the man had been.

This man was the one of the sons of a shepherd. He in turn was a shepherd. A short period in the RAF brought in into contact with the lady who became his wife. They returned to his home and produced a family that today, comprises of grandchildren and nine great grandchildren, very few of whom, had dry eyes during the service. The minister spoke of what the man had enjoyed in his life, his manual dexterity and his voracious appetite for reading. When M retired he returned to farm work.

It is what was not said the was so impressive. We knew, and so did the people who paid their last respects, that M spent a large part of his working life in an organisation that required absolute reliability and ability in the auditing of specialised working materials. His work had to be 100%, and some more.  It was not just internally checked, the accounting had to be good enough for national and international review as well. The well-being of a large working community was dependent upon M's work and he unfailingly met the exacting standards of the challenge.

HOW SOME PEOPLE LIVED

What really struck me, was the changing light, the swift cloud movements, their formations in just two hours and the effects all these natural changes had on the scenes I had photographed. When I looked at the picture shots I had taken, it was hard to believe I had been in one place, or I had taken all the pictures in that time frame.

Admittedly, I had accidentally timed the visit to occur in a window of opportunity as the weather was highly unpredictable, being that there was a tail end of a hurricane blowing around us. Scotland has some splendid coastal area, many of them highly exposed to the elements as this one was.



The visitor information boards all warned of 'DANGER' particularly with the winds, the exposure to the cliffs, the rocks and the cold North Atlantic sea below. These were the same dangers the villagers who were here, faced on a daily basis. So dangerous was this location that livestock, chickens and children had to be tethered for their own safety. Imagine that!

The people had all gone, many had emigrated to New Zealand. A community of people had been 'cleared' from fertile inland homesteads to this dangerous, stony coastal space where they carved out some kind life for about 80 years, by various and ingenious means. By the early 19th century, all, bar three people, had moved on. The clues to how they survived were mostly hidden under the bracken, thistle and heather growth. All that clearly remained for us to see, in the early years of the twenty-first century, was a monument, constructed in 1911 by order of a great grandson of one of the families, who himself was a New Zealander. It reminded us that it was not just the shadows of people and children whose dangerous pathways we were treading, these people had identities. The monument ensured that their names would be remembered, though the visible evidence of their lives, their stone cottages, which were in ruins, would probably disappear eventually, these hardy people's legacy would not.



Amongst all the thoughts of times long gone, my camera clicked, recording the memories of the current day.