[UPDATED WEDNESDAY15th MARCH 2017]
A little reminder: please follow at least some of the links (they're in green type) in our posts, as Alice can't resist spending the time (rather too much, I think) finding interesting stuff online.
Yes, it's been ages, I know, but we've been away again, and since coming back Alice has been even more busy than usual, setting up a new group with her U3a. That stands for University of the 3rd Age, but it's not just for oldies: anyone not working full time is able to join.It's something about singing for people who can't sing, I think. Oh dear, she got very annoyed here and said it's called Body and Voice and is far more subtle than that. But she's been endlessly filling out forms, writing a blurb and going to meetings and NOT getting on with catching up here.
She was going to go to Five Rhythms Dance in London, and wanted to look the part for the big city.
But first of all, We visited Colet House, where they do the Whirling Dervish dancing. Alice says the proper name for it is Turning. This photo comes from an article about the Turning in London in the Londonist.A friend of Alice's has been doing this practice for a while, and he suggested we come to a special evening when you can be there as a witness. Ba found it so tedious and boring she went to sleep, and I was frustrated, because my only view from where I was sitting on the floor was like the one below, mostly just the feet. The original photo was taken by one Lori Henry, who wrote this article about her visit to Colet House on her blog. You can see a short video of parts of the Colet House ceremony, with an interview as well, on Vimeo.
Alice said she was at times feeling a bit bored (as it went on for so very long) but also at times quite mesmerised by the Turners' steps and the beautiful whirling skirts. She kept thinking of this quotation from T.S. Eliot's Four Quartets, one of her favourite pieces of poetry, so she couldn't resist adding it to the image. Typical of her, of course, and in my opinion it took up far too much time with all the fiddling about instead of just getting on with typing up the blog.
There's an "official" account of the different phases of the Turkish ritual here, and a different explanation of the rite, more with tourists in mind, on Turkey Travel Planner. One tourist has given his own extremely vivid account in Istanbul Life.
Alice's friend told us later that it can take several years to learn how to do it correctly, so that you don't fall over, but can reach the sought-for mystical state. Not quite my cup of tea somehow, if you know what I mean, and I don't have the right sort of feet either.
There aren't any more photos from this half of the trip, and we didn't take part in the Five Rhythms bit, so we'll pass straight on to our second stop.When we went to stay with Alice's friend in Hassocks again, we just had to pay another visit to Mama Ghanoushe: the food is so delicious - and pretty to look at too. [ Click on any image to see it enlarged. ]
Ba of course was attracted to the rose petals, which I suppose were quite becoming. "But becoming what?" you may well ask. It may seem a strange use of the word, but the etymology is actually quite interesting.
She said I was just being silly with the carrot swirl. She's not usually as forthright as that, so I let it go.
We passed a super shop on our way back, and Alice fell in love with this red dragon, which reminded her of one of Dany's dragons in Game of Thrones.Anyway, I climbed in with him, and tried to persuade him to run away with us. But he refused, and said he would rather get bought by some-one who can afford him.
Snooty, eh?
And yes, we are still watching G-o-T, and waiting impatiently for Season Seven. See HBO's Trailer. Winter really is coming, but not until this summer: 17*7*17. Spooky numbers, eh?
We finished our lunch off with coffee and some totally scrumptious cake. Ba was very puzzled by the "Table Tracker" sign.
Here is one of the said devices: you put it on your table, and it
magically broadcasts its whereabouts to the waiters, who don't then have
to look for silly little flags. The dining area is huge.Alice here is enjoying her "disgusting" cake. She means that metaphorically - it's quite the opposite, but doesn't fit in with her aim of losing weight. "We're on holiday!" she protested.
Don't forget you can click these smaller images to see them in their full glory. Or tap or press, we must now learn to say, for those of you looking at this on your phone or tablet or other amazing new digital thingy. Maybe even a pair of "smart glasses"?
In a courtyard area beside the restaurant was a statue of a magnificent boar, being admired here by ourselves. We kept to a safe distance, as Ba was just a bit scared, despite reassurances.And above is the boar from the opposite direction.
Alice had to reconstruct his eye from the one on the far side, as this one was annoyingly obscured by a leaf in the foreground. She spends just hours getting these details done to her satisfaction. It's Virgo rising.
The sign says it all, and was very tempting indeed, but Alice said we must be already full up with other goodies. Spoilsport![ See the origin of the word here, and for information on the book mentioned there, go to good old Wikipedia. ]
Our next stop was to this interesting ecological burial ground. See contact infomation on their website.Further information about Natural Burial Grounds in the UK can be found here.
Alice said that in Frank Herbert's wonderful novel, Dune, the Bene Gesserit buried their bodies vertically, and planted a fruiting tree on top, to create a productive orchard. She'd like it when her time comes, and fancies Binning Wood, which looks lovely and is close to us. Nothing morbid about that, is there? Good ecologically sound thinking, if you ask me. Oh, and we've just found a great article about Dune and its influence in a back copy of The Guardian that's well worth a read.This is a view across a new plot, towards the South Downs ridge, with the Jack and Jill windmills just visible on the horizon.
Here's the "Jill" windmill as Alice photographed it back on our October 2016 visit: but she only got round to the editing in February 2017. Sigh.That's us on the steps up to the actual windmill hut. Ba is such a sensitive wee soul, she was too scared of the height to look up at it, so I gave her a reassuring hug.
There's more to tell you about how things have been going since we got back, but that will have to wait for another update, or more likely, for a new post altogether.
