25/12/2008 by admin.

The American singer, dancer and actress Eartha Kitt has died today from colon cancer at the age of 81. 

Eartha famously played Catwoman in the Batman television series in the 1960s. Amongst her hits songs are Let’s Do It, Old Fashioned Girl and Santa Baby.  She rose to the top of the entertainment world from humble beginnings.

Given her name was Eartha, the timing of her death is very curious  - falling as it did on Christmas Day, which are odds of 365 to 1.  It curious as the Blakesware Set came together on this day in 1822 to leave us ‘The Haymakers Survey’ out of fear that our actions would lead to the death of the Earth as we know it due to industrial creep and environmental abuse.  

Another coincidence is that Eartha’s middle name was Mae - the month when Charles began his journal. So, Let’s Fall in Love - Hey watch out for the Tiger fur - another clue of the threat of extinction?

http://au.youtube.com/watch?v=U-oEA1sK374

Posted in Haymakers: Watch Wonders, Q75 Have you ever put on a show?, Q54 Do you enjoy a bit of a mystery?, Q12 Is our Earth enchanted? | No Comments »

12/12/2008 by admin.

A glance up at the night sky reveals the closest full moon to the Earth for the past 15 years.  According to NASA, the Lunar orb passed over the Northern Hemisphere 30,000 km closer than usual at the nearest point in its oval orbit.  Only every few years does the near orbit coincide with a full moon, creating an appearance that’s brighter and larger than usual.   Not only is the moon at its largest now for 15 years, but also for the period between 1993 and 2016 - 23 years in total.

How curious that this should occur on the 12th day of the 12th month at the heart of the 3 year period of the Whittenbury Watch given the presence of the full moon that loomed large in the night sky at on the horizon behind the head of the ‘Goblin Tree’ at the start of our magical adventure.  Hear the voice of nature. Read the extract:

“Q14: Do you believe your stars?

Astrology was considered science in man’s early history, with messages written in the stars serving as the guiding force for many.  Old traditions die hard, of course, so in these days of supposed reason and facts, millions in developing countries regularly consult their stars for an insight into the future. What about Ben what did the stars predict for him?

After Ben had left the cottage, Julia had dashed to the bedroom to watch her husband’s progress.  To get the best view, she switched off the bulb and peered out into the darkness.  Several rooms were lit in the farmhouse opposite. It was their solemn neighbour’s house.  She speculated whether Ben’s Lady in Grey was inside.  Julia saw no sign of Ben, so she tried a second, smaller window; one which overlooked the Goblin Tree.  She had no choice but to look through its silhouette to the fields where Ben ventured.  A harvest moon had positioned itself right behind the tree’s crown.  The moonlight turned the route to the Nimley Bourne into a shimmering pathwayto a surreal and magic world.”

But much more than this, Charles Lamb’s journal appeared to bring to life William Wordsworth’s poem ‘Lucy’ which has a bright full moon at it’s heart, including the lines, “The sinking moon to Lucy’s cot. Came nearer and nearer still.” (Page 346 of the novel).

THE DAY THE EARTH STOOD STILL

12 December is a significant date in our project, given the role of the sacred stones and our ‘Give Away Draw’.  How fascinating that on this day, as the people of planet Earth are slow to act on the need to preserve our natural world from the ravages of our consumption lifestyles, a new movie should appear namely, ‘The Day the Earth Stood Still’.  The movie is about an alien visitor to warn us about an impending global crisis. The trailer begins with the line, “Are you aware of an impending attack on planet Earth?”  The key question posed by the movie is “whether mankind desrves saving… indeed it may already be too late.”

http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=A_bNDv0-ZrU

Posted in Haymakers: Watch Wonders, Q20 Have your eyes ever deceived you?, Q15 Do you sometimes fear the worst?, Q14 Do you believe your stars?, Q12 Is our Earth enchanted? | No Comments »

03/12/2008 by admin.

Stargazers have enjoyed the sight of a smiley face in the night sky.  An extremely rare positioning of Venus, Jupiter and a crescent moon provided a smiley face over Asia.  What a wonderful coincidence to have the crescent moon right beneath the two planets just as they appear close together in the night sky.   The next time the 3 will be this close together will be in 2054.

It’s amazing as the Moon, Venus and Jupiter all feature in our story, and the ‘magician’ chose to leave us a emoticon ’smiley face’ in one of his messages.  What’s more, the date of the event is curious too - the 3rd of the 12th - when our story is designed to promote 3 things - Art, Love and Nature - and the role of the 12 sacred stones in helping to reveal the wonder of the survey.  

There’s more magic to this life than we know! LOL!

http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=7ljA9y7QRF8&feature=related

MARCH OF THE INVADER ANTS

A recently discovered ant species, Lasius Neglectus, capable of forming supercolonies has begun to invade Northern Europe, including the UK.  Originating from Asia, a garden infested with them will contain between 10 to 100 times more ants than their European counterparts.  One of the species co-discoverers, Professor Jacobs from the University of Copenhagen, said, “When I first saw them I didn’t imagine it possible that so many ants on the same lawn.”  Perhaps Charles Lamb would have something to say about this given his encounter with ’super ants’ invading his boots just prior to the arrival of Malachi, the messenger.

Posted in Q70 Do you like to look at the stars?, Haymakers: Watch Wonders, Q52 Do you believe in miracles?, Q39 Do you believe in magic?, Q20 Have your eyes ever deceived you?, Q27 Do you like gardening?, Q12 Is our Earth enchanted? | No Comments »

10/11/2008 by admin.

Tinker Bell, arguably the most famous fairy in the world, has been immortalised in wax at Madame Tussauds musuem in London.  The figure is the smallest ever created at the attraction, measuring just 5 and a half inches.  The artists involved in the pixie’s creation worked studiously to re-create her in a perfect life-like form  - in a way that reveals her magic and love.  At the attraction, children can see Miss Bell at Pixie Hollow, the home of the fairies in Never Land.  All delightfully enchanting given Sarah’s desire in our tale to see a real fairy at Never Land and the, yet to be fully explained, role of the Shadows’ poem.

Let’s celebrate…

http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=qJKEhqnp_AQ&feature=related

We do love a green fairy…

http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=uwyCfi6qcS0

Posted in Haymakers: Watch Wonders, Q37 Do you know how to have fun?, Q25 Do you believe in fairies?, Q12 Is our Earth enchanted?, Q.3 Do you have a good imagination? | No Comments »

21/10/2008 by admin.

We have an encore! A mysterious luminous fushia cloud appeared in the sky above London last night, turning the heads of amazed commuters.  Metrologists suggest that the pink cloud is simply a reflection of city lights on a low cloud against the background of a low sun.  Others suggest it’s the work of Breast Cancer Awareness - pink is their adopted colour and October is devoted to their campaign.  The proposal is they simply sent a beam of pink light into the sky.

None of these explanations are especially convincing.  We judge this the most amazing of all the signs from Mother Nature or a divine force of the need to change our behaviour. Why? In our story Charles Lamb’s journal opens in May with he and Lucy - Nature personified - sat upon Philosopher’s Point when he witnesses a rose cloud in the zenith. He tells Lucy it represents his undying love for her.  Prior to this he had speculated about adorning her way with petals from the Mayfair celebrations from the day before.  So, on the eve of the birthday of Samuel Taylor Coleridge, we have the spectacle of ‘The Rose Cloud over Mayfair’.     

For the benefit of the doubters, here’s the text verbatim (from page 227)! Remember - we published the book in May!  In the journal Charles wrote:

‘To convince her of my devotion, I searched the heavens for inspiration. Clouds drifted serenely from west to east, from whence it came; and ambassador of love.  “Lucy, open your eyes,” I enthused. “Look, directly above us - in the zenith.  There, the cloud, do you see it?” I asked.  In the heavens was an ancient symbol of love  - a rose in the shape of a cloud, as though sent to us as a gift from the Greek goddess, Aphrodite herself. “Mother Nature speaks,” she said. “Why it is the rose I vowed to thee, to honour our eternal love,” I claimed.  Lucy smiled. I kissed her. “hark, they call in celebration,” I cried, as a peel of bells rang out from the distant St John’s Church, Widford. “May this rose endure?” I called, with my arms outstretched.  “Do you wish it so, Charles?” she said, as I watched the rose travel across the sky. “I do.” Two little words that rang in my heart. “Then it shall be,” she claimed, but the shape of the cloud was soon lost.”

Surely, this is beyond coincidence? What’s more, the cloud appeared at 08:30pm for an hour or so before fading away, which is also very strange as there are 83 questions in ‘The Haymakers Survey.’  As the magician in our tale says, “I save the best ’till last”.

Posted in Haymakers: Watch Wonders, Q76 Are you going to take action now to save our world?, Q52 Do you believe in miracles?, Q20 Have your eyes ever deceived you?, Q12 Is our Earth enchanted? | No Comments »

19/09/2008 by admin.

Today, BBC Three Counties Radio Beds, Bucks and Herts featured an item about a crop circle at Barton le Clay in Bedfordshire, which was first reported on 14 August.  The radio announcer described the circle as extraordinary and questioned how it could possibly have been made by human hands. Well, the circle is the closest to Noblin Green we’ve witnessed during our watch so we decided to take a closer look.  Here’s a picture of the circle:

Commentators describe it as a ‘key circle’ and focus on the mysterious inner pentagram - a shape which was very important to the Pythagoreons. For us the circle seems to resemble a spider’s web - our fabled Web of Life! 

It’s also curious that the circle was in a field at Barton le Clay, given our ‘treasures in jars of clay!’

Posted in Haymakers: Watch Wonders, Q17 Can you speak another language?, Q12 Is our Earth enchanted? | No Comments »

17/09/2008 by admin.

A rare upside down rainbow has appeared in the skies above Cambridgeshire.  The arc was formed by sunlight bouncing of ice crystals high in the atmosphere.  It appeared in the sky for just the briefest of moments but was caught on camera by a local astronomer, Dr Jacqueline Mitton.  Dr Mitton, who has a doctorate in astrophysics from Cambridge University, said, ”I’m 60 and I’ve never seen anything like this before.”  Seen against a setting sun, the dazzling sight was accompanied by a phenomenon known as ’sun-dogs’ , which are gleaming spots on a halo around the sun.  The Dr added, “It was just an amazing combination of events that happened at the same time.”

Arc rainbows are rarely seen outside of the polar regions. What’s interesting about the location is that the Royston Cave is on the Herts/Cambs border! Our readers will know of the significance of the cave in our story.  Beyond that, our curiosity is simple - first, our story begins against a setting sun; second, Charles Lamb’s journal recalls how he observed 3 rainbows simultaneously at a time when Malachi emerged from beneath the centre of the arc; and, third the sun-dog event is strange, given that  our Samoyed, Malachi is the messenger! 

Let’s celebrate with a song…

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2A2Jt4WOxN8

As if to herald the rainbow, the famous hourly Greenwich time ‘pips’ on BBC radio stations were a little late this morning!  The delay was unprecedented and put down to a computer error. Listen in…

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk/7621996.stm

Meanwhile, across town, the artist Damien Hirst has donated a a pair of his heart-shaped butterfly paintings to two London children’s charities, amounting to a £1.4m gift. 

It represents a slice of the record-breaking £111m raised from auction of his work at Sotherby’s.  The amount is ten times the amount raised by a previous auction dedicated to one artist.  His famous animal corpses in tanks were the best sellers. One, the Golden Calf, went for £10.3m.

So, what does this mean for us? Well - the heart is the most obvious link, but beyond that we’re interested in the 111 or Nelson.  Readers may recall Malachi’s reference to the supposed misfortunate number, related to the admiral’s downfall.

Posted in Q72 Are you a good time keeper?, Haymakers: Watch Wonders, Q23 Do you believe all the laws of physics?, Q20 Have your eyes ever deceived you?, Q12 Is our Earth enchanted?, Q.2 Are you an art lover? | No Comments »

06/09/2008 by admin.

One of the most important parts of our story is a poem called Shadows, which includes the verse:

“Ah, be ours the task to stop it, ours the task this Earth to keep. With imagination blot it, woe decry industrial creep. Woe decry that icy tear, “Forget me Not,” the time is Near.”

In our tale, the poem was passed to Julia by her Grandmother who advised her to, “Look out for the signs. You have the gift…”  Charles Lamb’s journal reveals how the poem came about and who wrote it - that it captures concerns about the impact of machines upon Mother Nature.

Julia wondered if events in the poem were beginning to unfold in the world and at home. Well, Sarah believes the presence of a 50ft mechanical spider creeping about the streets of Liverpool (home of the Beatles) in icy rain represents the line, ‘woe decry industrial creep.’  The creation is by the french company La Machine.  The spider is made out of steel and popular wood and is operated by up to 12 people.

Here’s a video of the spider caught in the snow!

http://www.bbc.co.uk/liverpool08/video/08/lamach_lee_snow.shtml

A read of the poem inspired Julia to examine the 12 white stones our dog, Malachi, had helped to discover.  Funny then how a Labrador was discovered with 13 golf balls in its stomach - one of which had turned black and was decomposing.  The dog named Oscar had apparently swallowed the balls when accompanying his owner about a golf course in Fife, which is strange in itself as Malachi passed Ben a fife to help inspire his thoughts and actions on the survey. 

Commenting on the operation, the local vet said he’d never seen anything like it, claiming it was just like a magic trick!

Posted in Q29 Could you live without machines?, Q39 Do you believe in magic?, Haymakers: Watch Wonders, Q26 Do you take poetry seriously?, Q20 Have your eyes ever deceived you?, Q.3 Do you have a good imagination?, Q12 Is our Earth enchanted?, Q.2 Are you an art lover? | No Comments »

19/08/2008 by admin.

Scientists have discovered that Magpies are able to identify their own reflection in a mirror; the first time that self-recognition has been seen in non-mammal. Dr Helmet Prior from the Geothe University in Franfurt found carried out the tests on 5 hand-reared birds, placing coloured stickers on the birds in places where they could only be seen in the mirror.   The magpies became focused on the stickers and sometimes succeeded in removing them.  What’s curious about the discovery is that Malachi refers to the ode, ‘one for sorrow, two for joy’ early on in our tale. The tune is, of course, synonomous with magpies!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mWqXZEngVc8

Dolphins have also been putting on a show off the coast of Australia.  It seems a wild dolphin is teaching other memers of her group to ‘tail-walk’.  Due to illness, one of the group spent a short time in a dolphinarium 20 years ago and may have picked up the trick there. Experts from the Whale and Dolphin Conservation Society cannot understand why the dolphins are doing it.  Maybe they’re trying to tell us something?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wKqutWejmTk&NR=1

Posted in Q75 Have you ever put on a show?, Q37 Do you know how to have fun?, Q17 Can you speak another language?, Q12 Is our Earth enchanted? | No Comments »

01/08/2008 by admin.

It’s been a long wait, but the second feature-length movie of the cult TV series X Files has reached British cinemas. It’s called ‘The X Files - I Want to Believe’ and comes six years after the end of the TV series.  It ran between 1993 and 2002.  The first feature film, ‘Fight the Future’ issued in 1993.  Commenting on the movie, Director, Chris Carter said, “It’s always magical to see David Duchovny and Gillian Anderson together; it’s almost as though time stops for them.”

The timing of the release is curious as we asked early on in our story - Do we have the X factor?  Humanity must also decide whether the many ’coincidences’ we’ve recorded on this Watch amount to a message from Mother Nature, the Earth itself or some other force, or do we have an over-active imagination? As Mulder would say to Scully, “Open your mind Scully… The truth is out there.”

Posted in Q75 Have you ever put on a show?, Haymakers: Watch Wonders, Q54 Do you enjoy a bit of a mystery?, Q35 Do you trust your instincts?, Q.4 Have you ever wanted to stop the clock?, Q12 Is our Earth enchanted?, Q.3 Do you have a good imagination? | No Comments »