So in my last post I told you all about my recent flying visit to New Zealand…well, more about my encounters with SmartGate. I went to Christchurch actually. I haven’t been there for well over 15 years and don’t really recall my visit there. I suspected I would be hard-pressed to get a decent soy chai latte. I imagined the streets would be deserted because everyone would be tucked up in bed by 6.00pm. I imagined a dreary, unsophisticated city.

Wrooooooong! This is the prettiest city I’ve seen in a long time, with plenty of cafes, tasty food and really friendly people. But the first thing I noticed was the vegetation – lots of trees with soft foliage; gradations of green from dark to lime green and golden yellow; a stunning Botannical Garden smack bang in the middle of the city; and to my delight – plenty of weeping willows.

When I was a kid, there was a beautiful, large weeping willow in the next street. I’d play there with friends, feeling safe and enfolded by the canopy of the willow and its gently cascading, feather-veined foliage. We’d make mud pies in the shade of the tree on lazy afternoons after school. Willows are found on moist soil, so there was plenty of opportunity to make those pies and swing on the branches.

Over the years, I’ve often thought of that tree, which was sadly cut down I guess as it seemed to have disappeared by the 1990s. The weeping willow is my favourite tree and I search in vein for them. I see sad relics occasionally as my train snails speeds across the landscape. The soft foliage has gone and the one I’m thinking of is a dried up specimen, presumably because it can’t draw water from the soil due to the dry conditions of our continent.

So my visit had me contemplating weeping willows and how vegetation can affect a culture. Warning: unstructured thinking ahead.  To what extent do you think a harsh landscape that is populated mainly by dull green eucalypts (ie Australia) affects the people inhabiting that landscape?

I’m about to make a generalisation, I know.. but…the Australian accent is pretty broad and often harsh. Australians can be a tough bunch who are quite willing to openly swear right, left and centre; drink till they drop; dabble in a bit of road rage or a spot of fighting at the local pub. Our arid continent brings out the fighting spirit in many Australians.

Contrast this with Christchurch, which is a bit like being transported back to Oxford or Cambridge, with its English village feel. The Botannical Gardens boast a stunning array of trees and magnificent pink and white blossoms. A spin around this park-like atmosphere decreases the stress levels. Weeping willows abound. Cantabrians (Christchurch is in the region of Canterbury) are polite; incredibly helpful and relaxed. The city is easy to get around and easy to walk really. People can live 10 mins away in a suburb, such as Fendalton, and get to work easily. The city and suburbs are surrounded by soft, willowly, graceful trees and shrubs. It’s a feast of green, gold and red tones.

So I reflected on the extent to which vegetation can actually shape a city’s inhabitants. Is it a marginal influence? Is it a subconscious absorption?  How do trees affect neighbourhood relationships and quality of life? If there is an abundance of trees in an urban area, is there less urban violence? Is the unsociable nature of people in cities related to a lack of trees and plants? Are there stronger communities when there are plenty of trees around?

A spot of research shows that a number of studies suggest community engagement can be strengthened and crime and graffiti reduced by parks and urban vegetation.  I would say that public spaces with trees, such as Botanical Gardens, attract people – who stroll, play with their kids, have picnics, sight other humans, talk with others and so on. Trees are attractors. A Forestry Report (University of Illinois, 1996) explores how trees impact on social ties. And there’s a heap of resources here about the influence and benefits of vegetation in urban areas.

Where I grew up (Sydney’s upper North Shore area), there are still more trees than other areas of Sydney but that willow tree has long gone and the tree-lined street where I lived is far less tree-lined. Every spring, the whole street boasted pink and white blossom trees – neighbours would complete for best blossom tree. They were cut down in the 1980s from memory and when I last drove down the street of my childhood (2008) there was simply a few small shrubs outside the McMansions that now jostle for position. The whole street has lost the beauty and character I remember.

But back to the weeping willow. It has loomed large in mythology surrounding trees and has long been considered the tree of tears, sorrow and enchantment. The Ancient Greeks associated the willow and its deep roots with fertility and would place a slender willow branch in the bed of an infertile woman, hoping for the best.  Psalm 137 reads: “By the rivers of Babylon, there we sat down, yea, we wept, when we remembered Zion. Upon the willows in the midst thereof we hanged up our harps.” (I can’t imagine harps being hung on the fragile branches and there’s a suggestion that it was poplars that figured in this Psalm).

Weeping willows were unknown in Europe until they were imported from China at the beginning of the eighteenth century (and of course, this beautiful tree is commemorated in Chinese willow pattern plates). Legend has it that the first weeping willow in Britain was grown by Alexander Pope, who is said to have planted a budding wand from a basket containing figs that a Turkish lady admirer had given him. There are so many myths surrounding these trees that I plan to research more, it’s really quite fascinating.

But meanwhile: take a moment to look around your urban area. Any weeping willows? Is there a lack of trees and greenery? An abundance?  Are you like me – you need to live near trees? How do you think a lack of trees affects society?

Blanda lika delar Moneybrother och Weeping Willows i en stor bålskål. Rör om, tillsätt is samt garnera med ett paraply för indie-regniga dagar.

Drinkens namn, tillika dagens musiktips, stavas Johannes Vidén & Bluebird Association – Time that you love me.

Lyssna, njut och lyssna igen.

Det verkar inte bättre än att allas vår melankoli-profet Steven Patrick Morrissey fyller 50 år idag. Morrissey har en speciell plats i mitt hjärta, dock inte på det fanatiska och homoerotiska sättet som många andra verkar omfamna Manchester-sonen på.

Nej, jag har en mer tudelad känsla för Morrissey. Mannen som gjort några av världshistoriens bästa låtar (Everyday is like Sunday och Suedehead för att nämna de främsta) och agerat frontfigur i ett band som skapat There’s a light that never goes out och Bigmouth strikes again är lite för mycket. Det blandas och ges hackad och malen slutprodukt. Lika brilliant som I have forgiven Jesus är, lika intetsägande är flertalet av spåren på nya skivan Years of refusal. Om sanningen ska fram så var det bara spåren Something Is Squeezing My Skull och One Day Goodbye Will Be Farewell som verkligen gjorde något för mig.

Men Weeping Willows frontman Magnus Karlsson och övriga Morrissey-fans må ha en så trevlig afton. Förhoppningsvis har en av vår tids intressantaste textförfattare några skivor till i kroppen. Eller förlåt, några genuint intressanta skivor till i kroppen.

Sveriges bästa sångare underhåller mig medan jag tvättar.

Hi everyone.

Each week I will post a blog about an artist I have come across and who has blown me away.

This week for the first entry, I am travelling all the way to Sweden to tell you about Irya Gmeyner ( http://www.myspace.com/iryamusic ) & (http://www.irya.se/).

She started off in a band called Urga which musical genre was closer to punk & ska though you could already hear some pop melodies. (http://www.myspace.com/urgamusic)

Now her musical genre is more pop rock. The melodies are enchanting, the lyrics beautiful. The whole project is very catchy!

She has recorded her first EP with some of the best swedish musicians (from T.S.O.O.L to weeping willows), mixed by Mr Lundberg himself from Soundtrack of our lives (a few years ago, Noel Gallagher supported this band as being one of the best of our times).

So you can all imagine the quality of this first EP.

All that is left to say, is go and listen, buy, download, stream whatever you like doing, but go check her out!

Iryas webshop : http://www.irya.touchplaymusic.com/

Take care.

Hittills i musikalfabetsleken har avverkats ku, ärr, ess, te, u, ve, och nu så har turen kommit till dubbelve.

Heja Världen länkar till MySpace och ett band som heter Wildbirds and Peacedrums. Tack för tipset! Låter bra det lilla jag hörde. Det blir guldstjärna. (noterade också att båda bandmedlemmarnas efternamn börjar på W)

Jacobsteel ger tre låtar med The White Stripes. I like.

Ejmis gillar Wham. Ger två låtar varav en fanns med redan V. Som sagt. Det börjar bli ganska rörigt i den här leken…

Maria väljer en låt med Weeping Willows. Helt okej.

Cia bryter lite genom att välja en låt på W som i Wonder Woman och då inte bandet. Men det får funka.

Cinnamon som varit extremt engagerad och hört varenda låt i hela utmaningen tror jag valde när turen kom till henne White stripes. Två låtar.

Abbes pappa har tänkt till. Och ratat underbara saker som Freddie Wadling och Tom Waits till förmån för Paul Weller. Intressant. Bra låt.

Robert på södermalm ger sina förslag i kommentarerna här. Jag hoppas han lägger ut något i egna bloggen så dyker länk upp här också.

Matti gillar även han Weeping Willows. Vi tackar för det.

Catherine gjorde mig lycklig. Jag hade glömt bort Whale. Helt och hållet. *börjar rota efter skivan*

Om någon är glömd eller ej nämnd eller inte har hunnit med utmaningen så är det bara att säja hojt så kompletterar jag listan.

Men nu ger jag upp. Det är ett jäkla pyssel att sitta och leta upp alla låtar och sammanställa listorna, inte minst nu när det blivit oordning i alfabetet och en del hoppat över bokstäver och sånt. Utmaningen kan ju som någon sa fortsätta i evighet ändå, men jag tar härmed min hand ifrån den.

Om någon har frågor om reglerna så vänd er till de självutnämnda regeltolkarna deeped och Josh. Dom vet hur det ska vara.

Tack till alla som medverkat, det har varit jättekul att lyssna, titta och upptäcka lite nytt, påminnas om gammalt och förfasas över sånt man önskar man kunde glömma.

Sist – mymlans val på w. Jag valde bort freddie eftersom jag lagt ut honom så många gånger förr, och gick på andra deltagares val och förslag:

Andra bloggar om: musikutmaning, bloggar, alfabet, weeping willows, white stripes, wham, paul weller, w

Ikväll har jag spanat in höstens musik. Jag har inte balanserat önskemålet med min ekonomiska standard än, men önska får man ju…

Få se nu… Åtminstone Weeping är planerad just nu… Några klassiska konserter… Fredrik Lindström, absolut, men Jonas Gardell hoppar jag över… Sådärja. Resten får ske i takt med dagsformens ekonomiska upp och nedgångar.

Valde att shuffla alla Weeping Willows skivor som min städmusik ikväll. Och denna låten dök upp. En ljuvlig version på “Jag Ger Dig Min Morgon”.

Enjoy!

This absolutely magnificient Weeping Willow grows in Dayton Virginia and is joined by hundreds more. Someone had the good sense to plant these way back when. From way back when to today, they have become the pride of the area. I’ll go back to visit if it’s only for the willows. They are so strong and spread their long willowy arms to the ground yet reach high in the sky to touch the sun. The roots below ground are just as powerful as the limbs above. 

That’s how it is with blacks in America. Those brave people who sat where they weren’t suppose to sit and made everyone take notice of the situation are the strength for those who are reaching for the sky. Some are gone and buried but not forgotten. Some are reaching and growing and planting more. But there is still unbroken ground. There is still ground where they can not thrive and we need to make a way so they can grow and thrive on their own. Until each little willow can have a chance to become the one shown above, we must continue to cultivate the land until it is ready for the planting. So much still to be done. 

I wrote an article at my examiner site if you care to read it. The title is:

Desegregation through the eyes of a white child  I tell you my journey through third grade and our first black child in the classroom. I’ll tell you why white kids did not do more.

Weeping Willow

This past May a new stretch of parkland along New York City’s Hudson River was completed. Rustling tall grasses, a winding wooden boardwalk, slant-back chairs, and an abundance of Weeping Willows make Riverside Park South a serene destination. One feature of this park is rare for the city: a section of tiered steps at the water’s edge allow you to sit at water level.

The majority of the Weeping Willows (Salix babylonica) are young; many years will pass before these fast-growing trees reach their full height of 30 to 40 feet. I imagine that someone at the Park’s department must have weighed in on the invasive capacity of these trees. Not only can one tree drop half a million seeds a year, the easily broken twigs can root in the ground where they fall.

That said the enveloping canopy of shade created by a full-grown Weeping Willow is exceptionally lush. This past August I sat under one at a Lower East Side community garden. The drooping branches curtained me from the heat like a gigantic beach umbrella.

For more information on the park and the dedicated volunteers who fought to preserve the land for public use go to the NYC Parks and Recreation site.

På torsdag den 27/11 arrangerar Debaser en konsert för papperslösa personer i Sverige. Namnet är “Rätt till vård-festivalen” och det är en rejäl laddning med artister som ställer upp för att peka på omständigheterna kring denna grupp av människor; Robyn, Weeping Willows, The Sweptaways, Twig och Anna Järvinen bland andra. Mer om festivalen här!

Under The Willow, originally uploaded by Tokenhippygirl.

Great shadows under a weeping willow tree at Cathedral Park, Portland, Oregon.

A picture of weeping willows at Ghent, Belgium.  Selective colorization using gimp!

The boys and I are taking a much-needed day off today. And possibly tomorrow-can’t get much work completed with two little ones running around a construction zone anyway. Erick actually works amazingly well and quickly without any distractions around; I hope to see the house finished by the time Saturday comes! (I wish. OH, how I wish).

In reality, although it still looks like a tremendous un-livable mess, things are starting to come together. On Sunday, even though we were too worn out to go to church, we sent a note asking for help and people came out in full force. Oh my. One family in particular has been there every afternoon and evening since Monday and has not only provided help, but as also provided food. 5 other friends have come to offer assistance too. People are just flat-out awesome. Makes me want to get out there and help people, too! Our living room floor and hall are almost finished with the new hardwood flooring…it’s purty. I think as soon as the floors are completely done and we have at least one coat of paint on the walls it’ll feel like a new place. The walls look particularly horrendous right now and I can’t wait to see them cleaned up a bit!

In other news, I think I’ve talked Erick into planting a weeping willow in our backyard. I adore weeping willows; how romantic are they? They just beckon you to come sit underneath and read a book during a lazy afternoon. They are incredibly fast growing and really soak up water…we have a small water problem in our basement (who doesn’t?) but if we planted the tree relatively near the house (not too near, of course) I’m thinking that it might soak up some of the moisture that would normally make it’s way into our home. That obviously might not happen, but I’d still have a lovely tree to gaze at and to dream under!

Well, time to whip mom and dad’s house into shape. It’s gone sorely neglected for awhile, so I’m going to hit it hard this morning then spend the remainder of the day relaxing and playing with the kiddos. And possibly posting more posts. We’ll see.

If you thought The Last Shadow Puppets were a bit swingin’ camp-O-rama for me, try this lot.  This is an album from the year I got to spend in Holland as part of my Master’s degree.  I met a couple of really good blokes while I was there, Andy from Middlesbrough and Andreas from Sweden, and I pinched loads of good music from them, but this album probably stands out from that era due to sheer silliness.

The high camp swinging drama of this stuff, apparently entirely sincere, is so utterly, guilelessly exuberant that there is just no way not to love it.  Seriously.  And apparently they’re still going too.  Given that I spent most of that year listening to Echo & the Bunnymen, Supergrass, Blur, Finley Quaye, Gorky’s Zygotic Mynci and The Verve I have no idea how I managed to find myself adoring this utter silliness, but I did, and because I never took a copy of it when I left this music is now irreversibly associated with that crazy year of drink and fornication in Groningen.

Ironically enough, Mrs. Toad’s best friend lived there at the time (I’m pretty sure, and heartily relieved, that I never shagged her – now that would have been uncomfortable) and apparently Mrs. Toad visited her there on a couple of occasions at the same time I was there.  That was about three years after we’d last seen each other and six before we’d fall in love at first sight, eventually, about five years ago.  So some say we might have saved ourselves six years of inadequate relationships and just got things over with then and there.  Myself, I think it might have been a disaster – as the Dutch apparently say: this marriage isn’t ready yet.

Oh yes, and, erm, Weeping Willows.  They’re still going apparently. And as for this album, well it’s completely preposterous, entirely ridiculous and utterly fucking brilliant!

Weeping Willows – Under Suspicion

Hola ppl! Welcome to another episode of the complete randomness that is my mind.I just read Adzzie’s post and decided to actually go read that particular forward, because U C, I tend to ignore them normally and when I get 15 of them at a stretch I just give up hope.According to it, I fell from….a Weeping Willow.Oh Joy! A Weeping Willow?! Do I look, OK sound Melancholy to U?! Though the description wasn’t half bad..

WEEPING WILLOW (Melancholy) – beautiful but full of melancholy, attractive, very empathetic, loves anything beautiful and tasteful, loves to travel, dreamer, restless, capricious, honest, can be influenced but is not easy to live with, demanding, good intuition, suffers in love but finds sometimes an anchoring partner

Yeah, except for the melancholy part! I was looking up Weeping Willows and found this…

I can just imagine sitting under that with a book…That would be so perfect! Its horrid here in Chennai. We haven’t a single place to sit and just read like that. There’s the beach but if you do decide to read at the beach, U’d get quite a few weird looks…

Moving On..I like this test better. Even though it did say that Adzzie and I had the same personality ( Not in a million years!) and that I like impressionism. Which I do. I love the way that the artists are able to show the light in their paintings. Its makes them look all the more real. If only I could paint..I can draw..a little but the minute I decide to color it in..Bam! Its ruined! Its like a law! But I am trying…I’m learning to draw portraits right now. Hopefully by the end of summer I’ll be able to produce a half decent portrait of someone I know. We’ll C.

Oh Yeah! NEbody watching Idol these days? I love David Cook!! The studio version of U’ll always be my baby is constantly playing in my room! Now I don’t usually like song with such cheesy lyrics, but U knw until he wins (which he will!!) and releases his own album with better songs, this will have to do.

On a completely unrelated note…I Love Twilight!!!!!! U knw, the books..If U don’t…Shame on You! Go read them RITE NOW! Edward is Mine!! Muahahahaha! Do not mess with me on this!

That would be the reason for my sudden change of Pic. I can’t believe the last one lasted for less than a week!! Lolz!

K L8r ppl..person..OK whoever has read this..

I bet u’re tired of lstening to me NEway..

Cyaz!

Yesterday I received my tree order – all to end up down south at our new property.  What is funny when you order trees and bushes or even plants for that matter, you expect to receive this growing beautiful plant … rarely, is that the case.  You usually receive a twig with a few leaves and some roots… this is fine for me, it’s just the expectation that you have and the reality that is that differ.  The trees I received had a very understandable explanation and guarantee – they store the trees/plants in dormant stage over the winter and ship this way.  If ordered in later months I guess they come in pots and are in growing stages already……OK makes perfect sense to me.  Now let’s see if I can perk these twigs up a bit.  I will plant them in pots for a while…because if I just go ahead and plant them the dear deer and other critters will have them for lunch.  So hopefully they will grow big and strong by the time I transplant them to their permanent spot. 

I also purchased 2 other items earlier this week … I am a curious person and both these items will satisfy that need LOL   The first is this HUGE bulb which is an Elephant Ear plant and the other is Aqua Shield.  The Elephant Ear bulb I was advised not to plant out just yet since it is still cold here….the Aqua Shield will go down south with some tomato and pepper plants and the experiment Will Begin and that is going to happen next weekend.