I am brain starved! I want to learn all the time, I feed on knowledge, but these days I can’t take it in, reading is painful and I have so little stamina!
I am still doing a medical terminology course and need to finish that but have so many other things I want to learn. If only every topic had a video!
To be continued
My grandma (maternal) was a witch. I’m not being a bitch here, I’m talking the pagan variety. She was superstitious, she practised (and taught me) various techniques of divination. She instilled a pagan belief system upon me without me knowing until later life that that was what it was. One of my favourite things that I have left from her (along with some bathroom towels that are approaching a century old and still in daily use!) is her Complete Book of Fortune.
It really look the part doesn’t it. Sadly I’ve no idea how old it is as it has no copyright and it’s not in the healthiest condition but it still has some interesting stuff in it 
The book consists of three parts; fortune telling, meanings and astrology. Meanings has always been my favourite section.
The section I speak of today is that of Floriography aka The Language of Flowers, a method of communications in the Victorian era involving flowers and posies.
For instances a simple example is that of Roses. Simply:
She also had a superstition I cannot find a reference to about not mixing red and white flowers as it signified blood & bandages (like in a Barber’s pole) which was to her an omen of bad things to come.
But back to flowers, it’s not all about roses.
For instance the Azalea symbolises moderation, it means “Be more moderate in your actions”.
The pink clover symbolises injured dignity “Do not trifle with me”
And then there’s the clock… A whole message could be sent using a number of flowers, 12 of which referred to time.
12:00 – Carnation
13:00 – Red Rose
14:00 – Marjoram
15:00 – Violet
16:00 – Field Daisy
17:00 – Sweet-pea
18:00 – Broom
19:00 – sweet-william
20:00 – jonquil
21:00 – herb Robert
22:00 – clove pink
23:00 – sweet sultan
Ivy “Meet me”
White Campion “To-night”
Pimpernel “Today”
Buttercup “Tomorrow”
Ivy & White clover “I will meet you”
So for an example the book gives “Meet me tonight at seven o’clock” ad Ivy, White Campion & Sweet-William but also according to this section it could mean “I desire you for my bride. meet me at dusk. I was only teasing you”… How very confusing!
So I’ll try not to read too much into the huge bunch of pink flowers I received for my birthday. Nor the “Party dress” iris plant 😉
But if you do want to meet me, tomorrow at five, send me a poise of ivy, buttercup and sweet-peas and I’ll try not to think you want to marry me, that I have golden beauty nor that I have left a sweet memory with you.
This topic was suggested by KR
Valentines is like Marmite, I guess you either love it or hate it. In our modern world it has been infected by the hallmark bug of commercialisation. We are expected to buy our loved ones lavish gifts, sell our souls for a table in a restaurant to eat a meal at three times the normal price in a room full of other couples trying to live up to the expectations dictated to us by magazines and adverts. And what does it matter that flowers are triple the price as well, and they just _have_ to be red roses.
The best, the Grand Prix variety of Hybrid Tea Roses have a USDA zone rating of 6b to 9b meaning that they _could_ at least be grown in the uk but let’s face it, they’re probably being shipped from the Netherlands at great financial and environmental expense having been grown in energy guzzling hot houses.
So what is Valentine’s _supposed_ to be about? Well in the Christian calendar it originates from paying homage to two martyred Saints named Valentine, indeed romance was not linked to this day until the 14th century and by 1969 the catholic church had removed it from the majority of it’s calendars.
The Ancient Greeks celebrated Lupercalia around this date (a feast involving animal sacrifice and virgins getting whipped in the street) whilst the ancient Norse religions had the Feast of Vali. Vali is thought to represent love and family and was seen as the protector of the family unit. It is thought that he is the equivalent of the Greek Eros and the Roman Cupid.
So we can finally see where love comes into it. Personally I’m not against a day celebrating love. We never express our love enough in a day-to-day setting and it often takes a terrible event for us to feel a real need to tell our loved ones how much they mean to us. But that love does not need to be limited to your partner or potential lover. A day where we express our love for anyone that means something to us.
Personally my ideal valentines would involve a take-away with minimal washing up, some sentiments expressed in either verbal or written form and a good cuddle. Although if you wanted to buy me diamonds I wouldn’t refuse 😉 (providing they’re ethical, green, fair trade diamonds of course :p)
Whilst I watched Dancing on Ice at the weekend, I was subconsciously giving the skaters marks out of ten as we all do. But I realised afterwards that when I judge them I start with a 10/10 and mark down for mistakes or inelegance etc. And this evening, just now in fact, it dawned upon me that I do this with people too. When I meet someone new they start as a 10/10 with my full trust (unless I get one of those womanly instincts which instantly docks them a lot of points). As I get to know them better they’ll lose points. At a certain threshold they will go below the “suitable potential partner” level and duck into good friends. And at some point they may go down past friends and into acquaintances (although this may happen for more logistical reasons rather than scoring). But if the trust is gone it’s automatically a fail.
Perhaps this is why I end up in so many bad romantic relationships (not saying that they have all been so, but quite a few have been unhealthy). Because I start from a 10, whereas everyone else probably starts from 0.
Hmmm…
PS Happy Valentines, post on that later.
Lazy Munching
This topic was suggested by NED.
From Wikipedia:
The giant panda’s paw has a “thumb” and five fingers; the “thumb” is actually a modified sesamoid bone, which helps the giant panda to hold bamboo while eating.[21] Stephen Jay Gould discusses this feature in his book of essays on evolution and biology, The Panda’s Thumb.
Interesting. Cats seem to have a similar “digit” structure from what I can tell, and the chinese for panda, ?? (xióng m?o), means “bear cat”. The book has duly been added to my Kindle Wishlist
So to answer NED’s question, Pandas don’t have any toes in a sense, but I guess they have 10 fingers, 10 toes and 4 thumbs
So this is me, Panda Cubb. You may have noticed I have other blogs…
Access Log is all about my health conditions and accessibility issues.
Rough Notes is a blog for my Homeless / Rough Sleeper friends to tell their stories about homelessness.
Paw Prints is for my general ranting and raving
I hope you’ll find this an interesting place to converse and and that my ramblings will be of at least some interest
