Journeys of Heart and Mind

Pasqueflower

Plants are available from garden centres and will grow happily in your garden given the right conditions. These plants belong to the buttercup family and are near relatives of the anemones.

< Previous | Index | Next >

Image of the day – 150

What’s in an image? Sometimes quite a lot, more than meets the eye. I’m posting an image every few days.

This makes it three in a row for flower images. The pasqueflower (Pulsatilla vulgaris) grows wild in the Cotswolds on dry grassland areas open to full sunshine. It was once quite common, and although not actually threatened, is something of a rarity these days. There’s a Cotwold dry valley site near Cirencester where there’s a reasonably large colony, but to keep the plants safe, the location is not advertised. However, plants are available from garden centres and will grow happily in your garden given the right conditions. These plants belong to the buttercup family and are near relatives of the anemones.

Protecting endangered or rare species (both plants and animals) is of ever growing importance. There are several ways species come under pressure and we’ll look at those first.

Challenges to survival

Habitat loss is the primary cause of decline for many plants, including the pasqueflower. Land improvement, especially the use of fertilisers to increase crop yields, is an issue for plants adapted to poorer soils.

Physical removal of plants or hunting of animals is an issue too. Most species can cope with limited amounts of removal, but if population levels fall drastically, there are real dangers. The dodo died out on the island of Mauritius following hunting by European sailors. The flightless birds were unafraid as they had no natural predators, so they didn’t run away from their hunters. They were welcome fresh meat after weeks at sea on salt beef.

Ecological damage also causes harm, sometimes unexpectedly. After the dodo became extinct, a tree species mysteriously stopped reproducing. Gradually the population was reduced to only older trees. It turned out that the fruit contained toughly seeds with tough shells that would only germinate after passing through the gut of a dodo. Links like this between organisms can be critical.

Climate change is another danger, especially for plants. If climate change is slow organisms can change the range of places where they grow; if it’s fast, animals might adapt, but some plants may need an entire year to move a few metres.

Pollution is a further serious issue and can exacerbate the other problems already mentioned above.

Diseases of both plants and animals can become pandemic and risk extinction, especially when populations are already stressed by droughts, loss of habitat, or pollution.

Attitudes

Given all of the above, what should our attitude be to the current situation?

Some people will shrug their shoulders. – Perhaps they don’t understand the peril the world faces, or they don’t understand the need to help the natural world recover. Or maybe they just feel there is nothing they can do about it.

Others may understand enough of the science to realise there is a danger, to see that it can be reduced (if not entirely averted), and to take some personal actions to help.

Biologists, ecologists, nature enthusiasts, and climate scientists understand only too well what is happening. Usually, they will be trying to communicate the issues whenever and wherever they can.

Followers of Jesus, and people of other faiths will often understand that we should do all we can to protect this world we live in, and live in ways that will reduce the damage.

All of the groups mentioned here are either responding already, or need help to see and understand that the natural world needs our help and that every single one of us can make a difference. Education and commitment are the way forward, so please share this post with anyone you know who might be influenced by it.

Useful? Interesting?

If you enjoyed this or found it useful, please like, comment, and share below. (If you don’t see those links, click the article’s title above the main photo and they will appear.) Send a link to friends who might enjoy the article or benefit from it – Thanks! My material is free to reuse (see conditions), but a coffee is always welcome and encourages me to write more often!

You might like these posts too…

Image of the day – 60

My Father is a farmer

The full measure of joy

[Jesus] says … ‘Your word is truth’. This makes perfect sense, Jesus himself is The Word, spoken into a broken world by the everlasting Father.

< Previous | Index | Next >

Cruising the gospel – John 17:13-19

Bible text – Read it yourself (opens in a new tab)

Completing the prayer

17:13 – There’s so much in Jesus’ heart and mind as he completes the prayer for his immediate disciples. And there’s a lot for us to dig into and appreciate here too.

Do bear in mind throughout, that Jesus would have been speaking not only to the Father, but also wanted and expected his apprentices to overhear. His words are for them too, and through them passed on to you and me as well, in written form. Jesus intended you to read his words. It’s very personal!

Joy

Jesus wants his followers to have his own joy within them. What is Jesus’ joy? He doesn’t state it here, but surely what makes Jesus joyful is completing the work his Father sent him to do, returning to be in his Father’s presence again after living a life here in our broken world; and knowing that the Father himself is delighted and joyful that, despite unimaginable hardship, the task is completed and has broken the barriers that kept people from entering his Presence. Jesus has the same joy because he knows the same thing, the work is done, the goal is achieved, the way into Father’s presence is open to every Jesus follower, everyone doing Jesus’ own work. That work is love – love towards family, friends, neighbours, even enemies.

17:14 – Yahshua (Jesus) continues to speak to his Father about the situation, making four points.

He mentions that he has given them the Father’s word (not words, this is singular). Jesus is himself the Word spoken into physical existence.
The world has hated them.
The reason the world hates them is because they don’t belong to the world, and the world loves its own.
We are like Jesus, not belonging to the world.

One thing we should take away from this is that telling the Father things he already knows is perfectly acceptable. Our expressing them to him is neither pointless repetition nor trying his patience. We can do this too, we’re laying out the situation as we see it before we ask for help, guidance, comfort, encouragement, or action. The Holy Spirit may respond as we do this, showing us things we’d overlooked, pointing out the way forward, changing our perspective.

17:15-16 – Think about conversations between two friends perhaps over a coffee or sitting in the shade on a hot, summer’s day. A typical conversation might include saying hello (a greeting), checking how the other person is, asking questions, offering help, discussing mutual interests and more. Yahshua says we are no longer servants, but friends, and he says he and the Father are one. He told the disciples, ‘If you’ve seen me you have seen the Father’. So it’s more than OK to be on friendly terms with the Father, the Son, and the Spirit; all those things we might discuss with any friend are things we can discuss with the Father. It’s what he wants us to do!

Only after describing the situation does Jesus move on to asking for things. He begins with clarity about what he is not asking, and then he asks for their (and our) protection from the enemy. Think about it! You are following Jesus, and he has asked for the Father’s protection over you, personally. The prince of darkness is restrained from harming you. How far does this go? Well, let me assure you, it goes the entire way. Down the centuries many of Jesus’ followers have died, as he did, at the hands of bad or ignorant people – killed by lions in Roman arenas or hanged by Nazis in the Second World War like Dietrich Bonhoeffer or Martin Niemöller. But all of them were protected from the greater catastrophe of falling into the hands of a spiritual enemy.

Why do we get this special treatment? Because in following Jesus we become like him. Jesus is not of this world, and neither are we.

Sanctified

17:17-19 – This Greek word, ἁγίασον (hagiason), is specific in its meaning; its sense is the act or process of making a thing or a person holy, to consecrate, to set apart, or as here to sanctify. Greek versions of the Old Testament use the same word in explaining that the Tabernacle and later the Temple were holy, and the priests were holy (set apart to serve). Jesus used the word when talking about the Temple, and in the Lord’s prayer when he said ‘Hallowed be thy Name’. In modern English we might say, ‘Let your name be kept holy’.

Here, speaking to his Father, he uses the same word of his followers, ‘Make them holy by the truth, your word is truth’. If you are following Jesus, then know that he has made you holy and set you apart to serve him and him alone! He asks that we be made holy, set apart, by the truth. So what truth is this?

Elsewhere Jesus said, ‘I am the Way, the Truth and the Life’. He also said, ‘The truth shall set you free’. He says here in verse 17, ‘Your word is truth’. This makes perfect sense, Jesus himself is The Word, spoken into a broken world by the everlasting Father.

And finally, in verse 19, Jesus says very clearly that he has set himself apart for his Father’s use on our behalf, so that we, too, can be truly set apart for the Father’s use as well.

Don’t forget who you are

If you take away nothing else from these verses, take away the amazing truth that following Jesus demonstrates you are set apart, holy and fit to serve the Father, precious and special. Do not be hoodwinked into thinking you are not significant. And don’t for one moment think that you’re significant because of what you do. You are significant because of who you are! Jesus is your brother, you’ve been brought right into the family, welcomed and hugged and loved by the Trinity, no less.

Useful? Interesting?

Truth still matters

If I’m given misinformation and base my thoughts, words and actions on that, sooner or later I’ll run into a problem.

Originally posted in December 2020, I’m republishing a revised version of this article in response to (and in agreement with) a new post today by Chris Dryden, ‘Keep your word‘. His message is well written and well worth reading.

Truth matters. It matters because basing our thoughts, words and actions on falsehood is asking for trouble. Truth is like light: it enables us to see clearly, it banishes darkness, but it can be snuffed out and then we’re left in the dark.

Let’s explore the background, why am I writing about truth at this particular time? And why am I writing about it at all? I’m writing about it at this particular time because truth seems to be valued by fewer people than ever before. There have always been those who trample on truth, but we do seem to be living at a time when peddling falsehoods has become pandemic. Perhaps the most obvious examples are in the political sphere, where governments and their opponents have sometimes made claims based on almost anything other than the simple facts. Policies and decisions are being made on the basis of opinion, personal ambition, whim, wishful thinking, and even denial of clear evidence. I’m writing about it because it matters. It really does. We’ll get to that in a minute.

In a time of deceit telling the truth is a revolutionary act
George Orwell

Is this a new phenomenon? No, people have always made things up, sometimes to fill gaps in what is known, sometimes to deny what is known because it’s distasteful or hard to deal with, or for the base motives that are common, if we’re honest, to all of us – greed, self preservation, shame, fear and the rest. Survival, self-respect, money and power are important to us – sometimes important enough that we will cheat, lie, and ignore inconvenient truths that are staring us in the face.

So why does it matter?

(I said we’d get to that.)

The answer is really quite simple. If I’m given misinformation and base my thoughts, words and actions on that, sooner or later I’ll run into a problem. You can’t avoid the truth indefinitely, it will come back and bite you. Misinformation leads inevitably to error and confusion.

Imagine a map that shows a bridge across a river. An ambulance crew see that the bridge provides a valuable short cut to reach a seriously ill patient in half the time. But when they arrive at the river – there is no bridge. They have to retrace their journey and try a different way, but they are too late and the patient dies. Truth matters, and it can be critically important, even to the point of life or death.

Or imagine a general fighting a battle. He is told by his intelligence agents that the enemy is almost out of ammunition; he decides to mount an immediate attack, before new supplies can reach his opponents. If the intelligence report is true, he will win the battle easily. If they made it all up and it’s false, he might be heavily defeated. Does truth make a difference? Yes – because it leads to right action. This is why intelligence and counter intelligence matter.

Unfortunately, a strategy to deceive and confuse is now being applied widely within our society. We should be friends speaking the truth to one another, but much of the untruth flying around these days seems deliberate and causes serious difficulty for all of us. It’s become a bad habit. Who should I believe? Which ‘facts’ can I depend upon? How can I check? How should we deal with this difficulty? Here are some suggestions.

Dealing with it

Be sceptical of assertions – in other words, ask people for evidence
Don’t accept claims without supporting evidence
Remember that lots of people saying something doesn’t make it more true
Use fact checking websites
Beware of false claims presented as evidence
Treat people with respect and kindness even if they are making false claims
Avoid shouting matches, loudness doesn’t prove anything.

So what is the take away message here? We can all make a difference for better or worse. Search for the truth in every situation, look for evidence, listen to what people say but don’t accept anything without evidence of some kind (this might be evidence about the claims being made or it might be evidence that the person making the claims is reliable and usually speaks the truth). Then base any decisions or choices on the truth, never on claims you know to be false. Never deliberately mislead others. And always bear in mind that people with an agenda may sometimes behave like an enemy general. They may see you as the enemy and will misinform you if they think it will help them in some way. The world is a wonderful place, but it can also be a deceptive and dangerous place. Go in peace, but go very carefully!

Let’s base our lives on what is true, and not on what is false. Even though it’s sometimes hard to tell what is, or is not, true – it’s always worth making the attempt. And let’s remember that truth will never let us down. Untruth is just as reliable – it will always let us down in the end. No wonder Jesus said. ‘The truth will set you free’ (John 8:32). He was talking particularly about spiritual truth, but it’s a valid statement for truth in general. And let’s also bear in mind that science is a search for truth, and all the technology we depend on every day works only because it stands on that foundation of truth.

Whether we turn to the spiritual or the physical realm, we can only rely upon what is true. Truth is a thing of beauty, but deceit is ugly beyond measure. Choose beauty. Choose the light. Choose truth!

Useful? Interesting?

The heart of a tulip

I worked as a professional botanist when I was in my twenties and thirties, studying and publishing scientific papers on pollen and pollination.

< Previous | Index | Next >

Image of the day – 149

What’s in an image? Sometimes quite a lot, more than meets the eye. I’m posting an image every few days.

I have another flower image for you today. This one shows the centre of a tulip flower in more detail than you might normally see. I’ve placed the centre of the flower towards the lower right of the frame so you can see more of the petals towards the upper left. You’ll notice that the petals are yellow near the centre, orange a bit further out, and pink further out again. What a beautiful combination!

The reproductive parts

Tulips are monoecious, a botanical term that means each plant produces both male and female reproductive tissues. The female part of a tulip flower has three stigmas in the centre. Unlike animals and some more primitive plants, the male reproduction process doesn’t involve motile sperm. Instead, pollen is released as a yellow dust, sometimes dry and carried by the wind but in the case of tulips and many other plants, sticky and carried by flying insects.

Flowers work as attractive beacons for pollinating insects, they’re usually brightly coloured, are often fragrant which helps insects detect them from a distance, and provide food – sugary nectar at the base of the petals, and pollen. Bees collect the pollen and carry it back to the hive as a protein rich food for their larvae. Plants produce more pollen than necessary and can spare some in return for the pollen transport provided by the bees. The pollen grains stick to the pollinating insects and as they visit flower after flower, some of the pollen is transferred from the anthers of one plant to the stigmas of another. This cross-pollination is exactly what the plant needs for the female tissues to develop further and produce viable seeds.

Tulips have five of these anthers, and if you enlarge the image and peer closely you can see yellow dust clinging to them. That dust is the pollen.

Intricate

It’s an astonishingly intricate process in which the plants depend on the insects and the insects depend on the plants. I could go into much greater detail; I worked as a professional botanist when I was in my twenties and thirties, studying and publishing scientific papers on pollen and pollination. Maybe some time I’ll write a bit more about that.

Next time you see tulips in the park, at a florist or supermarket, or in your garden – just think about the intricate interactions going on right there!

Useful? Interesting?

You might like these posts too…

Image of the day – 93

Meadow cranesbill

Large White

A glorious colour contrast

The climate has changed dramatically in the past, but it has always happened slowly, usually taking tens of thousands of years.

< Previous | Index | Next >

Image of the day – 148

What’s in an image? Sometimes quite a lot, more than meets the eye. I’m posting an image every few days.

Here are two flowering plants with colours on opposite sides of the colour wheel. They’re very distant relatives; the yellow Narcissus (daffodil) is a monocot, the purply-blue Streptocarpus is a dicot. You can’t get much further apart in the family tree of flowering plants, but they look well together.

These two plants simply could not survive in one another’s home territory. The Narcissus needs plenty of moisture, produces leaves in late winter, is not troubled by frost, and flowers in the springtime. It also appreciates some bright sunshine.. Streptocarpus cannot take any degree of frost at all, and is touchy about water. Not enough and it will wilt and die, too much and… wait for it… It will wilt and die! It likes the soil to dry out completely and then have a real drenching, but do not water it again until the soil is really dry. It likes shade or partial shade, but not full sunshine.

Adaptation

The fact that these two plants like such different conditions is nothing to do with the fact they are very distant relatives. All plants growing in the wild are well adapted to the soil type, climate, other plants and animals of the places they inhabit. Natural selection over many, many generations will ensure that this is so. It’s only the survivors that will have a chance to produce seeds. By definition, the next generation comes only from the plants that survived the current generation. Survivors thrive; the rest die out.

Climate change

And this in turn is one of the challenges life faces in the changing climate we are creating. The climate has changed dramatically in the past, but it has always happened slowly, usually taking tens of thousands of years to shift from ice age to interglacial, or from desert to semi-desert to grassland to forest. A species may seem to move north or south, east or west, remaining in the climate zone that suits it best. But what is actually happening is that as a climate zone shifts geographically, conditions become less suitable in one area and more hospitable in another. Perhaps the species manages to survive a little further north than before but struggles and dies on the southern edge of its old range.

This process takes time, but the global warming trends we see due to greenhouse gas releases are many times faster than any natural climate change. Populations cannot respond fast enough under such circumstances; they go into decline and die out – the species may then become extinct, gone forever.

Useful? Interesting?

You might like these posts too…

Christmas cactus

Firethorn berries

A rose in the rain

Climate change – What can I do?

Bare trees along the horizon

Trying to make out any details when the sun is shining in your face is really difficult. But if you turn around so the sun is behind you, shining over your shoulder, it illuminates everything you can see.

< Previous | Index | Next >

Image of the day – 147

What’s in an image? Sometimes quite a lot, more than meets the eye. I’m posting an image every few days.

This photo was taken on 6th March, it was a grey evening, the sun had set and the only hint remaining was a touch of pinkness in the areas not shrouded in cloud. The ground around me as I walked was already well into dusk.

Details remaining visible

The only details visible were in the edges of the cloud against the fading sky, and the branches of the leafless trees. But what exquisite details those were! Delicate differences in the shades of grey in the clouds, and a wonderful filigree pattern in the branches, varying from one tree to the next.

It’s a subdued scene, still and inactive, but delightful for all that.

Light and dark

In broad daylight the picture would have been so different! The grassy fields this side of the row of trees would have been vibrant green, the sky would have been bright blue and the clouds white or perhaps grey with white edges.

Another kind of light and dark

If you follow Journeys of Heart and Mind regularly you’ll know that I do my best to follow Jesus. I’m not going to say much about that here, maybe I’ll write another article to explain a bit more.

But I will mention here that this image reminds me that Jesus talked to his followers about light and darkness. Imagine the view in the photo if the sun had been visible just above the trees. The brightness would have been quite blinding, trying to make out any details when the sun is shining in your face is really difficult. But if you turn around so the sun is behind you, shining over your shoulder, it illuminates everything you can see and the detail is crisp and sharp, things are well defined, there’s no glare, there are no shadows unless you look to one side or down at your feet.

Light can dazzle us and hide things from view, or it can make things much, much clearer. It all depends which way you look.

Jesus is like that too, I find. If I look towards him I am dazzled indeed! If instead I look towards the places he’s illuminating, I can see everything very clearly. I need to do both, I need to be dazzled by him, but I also need the clarity provided by his light as it falls on the world around me. There’s a double benefit, he dazzles me, but he also informs me.

Useful? Interesting?

You might like these posts too…

Dark sky, bright light

Mist arising

OTKC 05: Let Your Light Shine

An old survivor

Terraced border at Blenheim

Much of this slope is being managed by rows of stones so that each section of soil will have a reduced slope. Trailing plants like Aubretia can be planted behind the stones.

< Previous | Index | Next >

Image of the day – 146

What’s in an image? Sometimes quite a lot, more than meets the eye. I’m posting an image every few days.

What to do with a sloping garden

There are many things that need managing in gardens great and small; one of these things is a slope. If your garden is on a hillside and the slope is steep, you will need to create a winding path to exchange steepness for distance, or as an alternative, build some steps. If you have a sloping flower bed you can make a bank and plant ground cover plants to stabilise the soil and reduce erosion, or you could build a rock garden.

Terracing

In this photo, you can see the initial phase in construction of a third way of dealing with a sloping border – a terraced border. Much of this slope is being managed by rows of stones so that each section of soil will have a reduced slope. Trailing plants like Aubretia can be planted behind the stones, or low shrubs or herbaceous plants could be planted in the lower tiers with tall plants and small trees such as Acer cultivars at the back. The terraced area in the photo will look lovely as it becomes established with some mature plants. Perhaps I’ll go back in future to take more photos for comparison.

A rockery

A rockery would be designed differently, the stones would be carefully placed in a naturalistic way with alpines growing amongst them, but not hiding them. Again, taller bushes and small trees would fit well at the top, concealing the fact the the ‘outcrop’ of rock is of limited height. A well-built rockery should respect overall angles of bedding planes, even though no such planes really exist. But making it look as if they do can give a fine impression of structure. Each stone needs to be angled in two dimensions to fit with angles of all the others. They must all lean backward or forward at the same angle, and they must lie from side to side in agreement as well.

It’s usually best for the stones to lie backwards rather than forwards, they will be much more stable and better supported, but they will also proved better opportunities for planting after the stones are all in place. Careful planting can hide the gaps between some of the stones, giving the appearance of much larger blocks of stone. It’s very convincing if done well!

A hillside

If the garden is large enough, a winding path with several terraced or rockery sections (perhaps both) can be very pleasing. This is a great way of using a hillside, though few of us can afford such an expansive space. But it’s a great idea for shopping centres, university campuses, industrial sites, and parks where there is already a natural slope large enough for this kind of feature.

Useful? Interesting?

You might like these posts too…

An old survivor

Image of the day – 40

Cease fires and talks

Effectively, action in the Black Sea is practically over anyway. Ukraine has sunk half of Russia’s Black Sea Fleet and the survivors have fled to the Caspian Sea. (Ukraine 1, Russia 0.)

Forward look, ukraine – 6

< Previous | Index | Next >

March 2025

Representatives of the American president, Donald Trump, have been talking with both Russian and Ukrainian representatives in an attempt to end the war. Trump repeatedly claims, ‘This war would never have happened if I’d been president’, and further claimed that he’d be able to end it in 24 hours once he was in office. The first claim cannot be tested, but no evidence has been presented as to how the war might have been averted. And the second claim was, at best, wishful thinking; Trump has had a lot longer than 24 hours but there’s still no sign of the war ending any time soon.

What is being discussed between the USA and Russia and between the USA and Ukraine is still only partly clear, but the best we can hope for in the near-term is some kind of Black Sea ceasefire and a 30-day stoppage of attacks on energy systems. It’s hardly the kind of complete ceasefire (‘end the killing’) that Donald Trump promised us!

But when you look a little deeper there are issues that would be obvious to anyone who is a good negotiator. Effectively, action in the Black Sea is practically over anyway. Ukraine has sunk half of Russia’s Black Sea Fleet and the survivors have fled to the Caspian Sea. (Ukraine 1, Russia 0.) And Russia will wriggle and squirm endlessly to avoid an energy ceasefire. Putin wants to seem agreeable to the ceasefire to appease Trump, but he doesn’t want to actually sign on the dotted line because he thinks he’s winning the energy battle. (He’s not.) Nor are Trump’s offers to Putin entirely within his gift. No NATO countries involved? No Western troops in Ukraine? No more weapons or ammunition for Ukraine? Sorry Mr Trump, Europe will not necessarily do your bidding over this. French and British forces might be there sooner than you think. Macron is making announcements as I write; you cannot make a gift unless you’re holding it in your hand. (And you’re not holding it.)

What will happen next?

That is, of course, the big question. I can give my thoughts, but nothing is certain.

Let’s start with what we know.

If Putin is winning this war, he doing it in a very curious way. So far, his initial take-over bid was stopped and then substantially pushed back by Ukraine. He’s lost 900 000 troops, killed or seriously wounded. He’s lost the vast bulk of his armoured vehicles, tanks, trucks, ships in the Black Sea, artillery, radar equipment, anti aircraft missiles, and many aircraft and helicopters.
Energy infrastructure has been severely damaged in both countries, particularly electrical systems in Ukraine; and oil and gas production, transport, refining and storage facilities in Russia.
Militarily, Russia has been seriously weakened while Ukraine has become stronger. Ukraine develops and manufactures cruise missiles and drones that are flying further and further into Russian territory.
Ukraine is innovating rapidly, and faster than Russia. This is noticeable in the first person view (FPV) drone technology, but also in the longer distance technologies and in sea-drones.
Ukraine has focused on specific kinds of target to great effect, taking out much of Russia’s air defence, enabling a greater proportion of attacks to get through undetected.
There are clear signs that Ukraine is getting the upper hand along the lines of contact. For a long time, Russia has been making very slow, but continuous progress (though at very great cost). Recently there have been signs that Ukraine might get the upper hand, Russian progress has slowed almost everywhere, stalled in some places, and Ukraine has been able to take back some ground in several areas. This gadual reversal of Russian success will likely become faster as the summer proceeds.
The Russian economy is in a really poor state and slowly getting worse, not better. This too could well be a trend that will become a fatal crash within the next twelve months or so.

In terms of Trump’s efforts to curry favour with Russia and crush Ukraine – because that is how I interpret what is going on – there is an elephant in the room. It may not be a truly heavyweight elephant, but Europe (and I include the UK here, as well as other allies like Canada, Japan, Australia, South Korea) has no wish to stop supporting Ukraine. Continued supply of weapons, ammunition, electricity and financial help from Europe and her friends may just be something Trump cannot influence very much. He can make offers and promises to Putin, but can he force the rest of us into line? I have no doubt he’ll try, but at the same time I very much doubt he’ll succeed.

In summary

The short term prospects for Ukraine are more pain, more suffering, and significant struggles to deal with both Russia (miltarily) and America (politically).

But I do believe the longer term prospects are much brighter. Ukraine can become an important part of Europe, a member of the EU, with a strong economy and strong armed forces, contributing culturally, economically and acting in concert with other states bordering Russia as a bulwark against Russian expansionism.

Slava Ukraini! Heroyam slava!

Useful? Interesting?

A view of ancient remains

Cirencester is the site of Britain’s second city in Roman times, Corinium … The row of trees beyond the lake is close to the Roman city wall.

< Previous | Index | Next >

Image of the day – 145

What’s in an image? Sometimes quite a lot, more than meets the eye. I’m posting an image every few days.

What’s in an image? And indeed what’s in a field? Let’s take it a stage at a time.

The Abbey

The grass in the foreground is part of one of Cirencester’s public parks, the Abbey Grounds. As the name suggests, this is part of the medieval abbey; the abbey buildings and the great abbey church are out of sight behind you in this view. All of those abbey remains are invisible, remaining as only foundations. After the dissolution of the abbeys by Henry VIII, the stonework was pulled down and re-used as building material as the town developed.

You are looking north-east. The first thing you can see beyond the grassed area is a stretch of water. This was dug by the monks to widen and deepen a branch of the River Churn to form a lake to supply fish. You will need to expand the image to see it clearly, it’s marked by benches, life buoys and low vegetation. The two figures in the extreme right are a good guide, they are just our side of the lake.

Abbey House

Also behind us in this view stood Abbey House, demolished in the 1960s. The Abbey land was later owned by the Chester-Master family who built the house, and the park was their private garden. There is one remaining structure from that time in the photo; the large mound at the extreme right covers the ice house built and used by the Chester-Masters.

The Romans

Cirencester is the site of Britain’s second city in Roman times – Corinium, or to give it its full name, Corinium Dobunnorum. The row of trees beyond the lake is close to the Roman city wall. Roman stone was also robbed to build structures in the later town, but out of site to the right of the ice house is a substantial bank and underlying that, the remaining Roman masonry. Some of it has been excavated and remains visible today. If you are visiting the town it’s well worth a look.

While we’re thinking of the Romans, the Abbey Grounds lie entirely within the Roman city and there’s almost certainly more to be discovered here. Just beyond the row of trees mentioned above is another branch of the River Churn. This, and the city wall would together have formed a barrier sufficient to force all traffic in and out of the city through the five large city gates.

Tar Barrow Field

The rising land beyond the line of trees up to the woodland along the sky line is known locally as Tar Barrow Field. ‘Tar’ is probably a corruption of ‘Thor’. The barrows would have been Neolithic or possibly Saxon, but the Medieval inhabitants clearly thought the Norse god Thor was involved in some way. There was also a Roman temple in this field and that would have been reached by a road or footpath from the Roman gate over what is today London Road.

Take a look yourself

If you are visiting Cirencester and interested in the town’s background and history, consider visiting the Corinium Museum (linked below). In addition to checking out the museum itself, you can pick up leaflets about historical sites to visit around the town.

Useful? Interesting?

Installing our heatpump

It all took longer than we expected and some changes had to be made to the design as events unfolded, but by the beginning of February the new system was in and working.

< Previous | Index | Next >

Image of the day – 144

What’s in an image? Sometimes quite a lot, more than meets the eye. I’m posting an image every day or so.

At the end of January our heat pump was installed, and before long we had warm radiators and underfloor heating, something we’d missed since our gas boiler developed a fault in October. At the time our first thought was to get the boiler repaired, the part would cost £500 and the labour would be a similar amount and at the end of the process we’d still have a seven-year-old boiler and we’d still be burning gas. We wanted to avoid using gas if possible because we want to reduce the amount of carbon-dioxide we produce.

There is a substantial government grant to make heat pumps a more attractive idea, so we thought it made sense to take advantage of it. After discussing it with our energy supplier, Octopus Energy, one of their surveyors visited, made a plan of the rooms, specified the required changes to our radiators, planned for pipe runs and siting of equipment, and we were ready to roll.

It all took longer than we expected and some changes had to be made to the design as events unfolded, but by the beginning of February the new system was in and working.

A different kind of heat

Our old heating system used a gas boiler, it could produce a lot of heat quickly on demand, so we had a series of thermostats to turn radiators and heated floors on and off as required to keep rooms at the right temperature. At night and during the middle of the day a time clock turned the system off entirely to save money, then came back on half an hour before we arrived home after work and half an hour before we woke up in the morning.

The new system is on all the time. A room thermostat increases or reduces the flow rate to keep the house at whatever temperature we set, and starting from cold it can take several days to achieve the set temperature. We’re beginning to like this way of working; the house stays at the temperature we prefer, around 19 C, and it only rises higher if the outside temperature is high. In that case the heat pump stops heating the house and just provides hot water.

Energy bills

It’s still early days to assess how our heating bill will change. The heat pump is an electrical system so our electricity bill will rise, but our gas bill will now be zero. The heat pump cools down outside air by extracting energy from it, and pushes that energy into our radiators and hot water tank. One kilowatt of electricity can push about four kilowatts of heat into our home, and as we have solar panels on our roof and a storage battery, some of that energy can come from the roof even at night. There is no environmental effect, we’re not producing carbon dioxide and the heat we steal from outside leaks back out again over time. The better our house is insulated, the slower it will leak and the less electricity we will need to maintain the temperature difference between the cold outside and the warm inside.

When we buy electrical power from the grid to pump heat (mainly in midwinter), that grid power is more than 50% green as well; so even that is far better than burning gas to keep warm.

Image of the day 144

This is the 144th ‘Image of the day’ I’ve posted. That is what we’d have called a gross when I was a child. Ten eggs in a box was ten, but twelve eggs in a box was a dozen and six was half a dozen. We still use those terms. A baker’s dozen was thirteen, a dozen with one extra for good measure. And a dozen dozen also had a special name – a gross. 12 x 12 = 144. So today there is a gross of ‘Images of the day’ on the Journeys of Heart and Mind website!

I wonder if I’ll ever reach a great gross, ie a dozen gross, or 1728 ‘Images of the day’?

Image of the day – 150

Challenges to survival

Attitudes

See also:

Useful? Interesting?

You might like these posts too…

Cruising the gospel – John 17:13-19

Completing the prayer

Joy

Sanctified

Don’t forget who you are

See also:

Useful? Interesting?

So why does it matter?

Dealing with it

See also:

Useful? Interesting?

Image of the day – 149

The reproductive parts

Intricate

See also:

Useful? Interesting?

You might like these posts too…

Image of the day – 148

Adaptation

Climate change

See also:

Useful? Interesting?

You might like these posts too…

Image of the day – 147

Details remaining visible

Light and dark

Another kind of light and dark

See also:

Useful? Interesting?

You might like these posts too…

Image of the day – 146

What to do with a sloping garden

Terracing

A rockery

A hillside

See also:

Useful? Interesting?

You might like these posts too…

Forward look, ukraine – 6

What will happen next?

In summary

See also:

Useful? Interesting?

Image of the day – 145

The Abbey

Abbey House

The Romans

Tar Barrow Field

Take a look yourself

See also:

Useful? Interesting?

Image of the day – 144

A different kind of heat

Energy bills

Image of the day 144

See also:

Useful? Interesting?