The Hooverville Hexagon: Are Jersey Tigers a Sign of Being Pixie-Led?

 

What the Wee Folk Saw

(and how they told us about it)

By the Editor and

Paigetheoracle

 

To be clear: although my family has inhabited the Southern Appalachians for nearly 400 years, and I currently dwell in the Northern Appalachians, this story concerns the Hyperborean Appalachians. You know, the ones that got separated from us by what eventually became an ocean, back after the unfortunate incident in Pangea. Family estrangement can be so messy.

 

I don't think the fae have ever quite gotten over it. I mean, you lure one human off the path, entertain them for a few hours at a fairy picnic, let them go, and what happens? They turn up weeks later on another continent? It's kind of annoying.

 

Which is why, I believe, the wee folk up in Inverness have taken to doubling as historical tour guides. Too many people have their noses stuck in their mobile phones these days, anyway. And they probably saw Paige coming. He certainly didn't see them: he was probably too busy looking out for seagull nests. (The parents peck at him.)

 

Paige is from around Norwich. You know, where saints wall themselves up in churches to avoid the locals.

He lives in northern Scotland now. The photos he sends me are kind of random. I'd been asking him for photos relating to the Battle of Culloden, which Americans know about because of movies and caber-tossing Virginians. In reply, he sent me this while he was in Inverness.

Sorry no information on the church as I stumbled upon these on my way to the bus station on my way home. The young variegated holly caught my attention through the fence...

 

Variegated holly. I tutted and did some research. As it turns out, Paige had pointed his camera at a crime scene.

 

According to Atlas Obscura, 'Following the Scottish defeat at Culloden, this graveyard became a "killing field".' They massacred the Scottish prisoners there. Who did? James Wolfe, who later became famous for...checks notes…oh, defeating the French in Quebec. And getting mentioned in that old Canadian national anthem along with the maple leaf.

 

Other things that happened in that church: John Wesley preached there. Going back a few more centuries, St Columba preached there and founded the first church on the spot. Right now the worshippers go over to St Stephen's because this building isn't usable. The old church has been bought by a preservation group.

 

Nice holly, though. Thanks, pixies, for distracting our photographer.

 

Flower Centrefold

'Ditch Lily' (Hemerocallis fulva)

What a rude name. Okay, people: Orange you glad you

saw this lily?

(This 'pun' doesn't work in western Pennsylvania, anyway.)

 

The Return of the Jersey Tiger:

Photos and Video

By SashaQ, Tavaron da Quirm,

& the Kids

 

The Jersey Tiger, Euplagia quadripunctaria, is a drop-dead gorgeous European daymoth.

 

SashaQ found one the other day:

So did Tavaron and the kids:

They made a video, too. Enjoy.

After a while, 

Dmitri Gheorgheni, Editor

 

The Hooverville Hexagon: How Does Your Garden Grow?

 

 

What We Plant

By the Editor

Photo by FWR.

 

I didn't have 'virtually attending a funeral in Dublin' on my bingo card this summer morning, but there it was, live from RTÉ, when I opened Youtube. Beloved musician Glen Hansard died suddenly in a motorbike accident. The cathedral was packed. I knew what would happen, so I kept watching.

 

Funerals of Irish musicians are interesting. The celebrants of the mass – the religious professionals – are very much on their dignity. Not a hair out of place, robes all neat, diction self-consciously polished as they solemnly intone the prayers, the Creed, and the funeral service. It's as if they were really trying to give a worthy person the best possible escort to the divine gates; to say, look, this guy deserves VIP status, welcome him in, please. The robed choir led the congregation in 'Be Thou My Vision'. The rafters rang.

 

But then the priest finished, and nodded to somebody, and the Other People got up. They were the ones I was waiting for: the scruffy people. The ones with weird, long hair (well, one lady had a shaved head) and strange clothes. The ones toting fiddles and guitars and drums. While the robed officiants carried the body out, they let loose and sang – wailed, really – a Bob Dylan song about being forever young. It was from the heart.

 

As the crowd began to disperse, some of the musicians started singing 'The Auld Triangle'. I was puzzled until I found out it was a signature tune for MrHansard. It wasn't until I looked the song up on Youtube that I recognised along with Hansard the men singing at the funeral, and that one of them was playing Hansard's guitar.

 

Glen Hansard must have planted a lot of joy in people's hearts. And talk about angels singing you to your rest. Well done, that. That blessed me this morning: thought I'd share. DG

 

 

 

 

 

Like a Spider from the Ashes

(This week's official cinema review)

By Awix

 

Spider in My Dinner, by FWR

'I think Spider-Man: Brand New Day is a high-quality popcorn movie and a high-quality Marvel movie too…' Click on the link for an in-depth review. 

 

 

How Does Paulh's Garden Grow?

By Paulh, of course

 

There are coneflowers, bee balm, cactus, and sumac in this slideshow.

 

Video of the Day:

Don't Worry, Bee Happy

See, people? I can make bad puns, too. Don't like it when the shoe is on the other foot, do you, huh?

 

CUCU,

Dmitri Gheorgheni, Editor

 

The Hooverville Hexagon: What Were They Thinking? Department

 

 

Fairytale Potemkin Castle

By Caiman Raptor Elk

 

While visiting the German border town of Füssen, I found that due to a lack of builders / stonemasons (probably busy on the Neuschwanstein fairytale castle) they decided to paint the ornaments and fancy windows onto the local castle instead.

 

Maybe this is where Tetris was originally invented?

 

Editor's note: It's called trompe d'oeil. It sounds fancier that way.

 

 

Hohes Schloss Füssen

(Does the Man in the High Castle live here?)

 

 

Environmental Report

(also conceptual art)

By Paigetheoracle

 

By the way, cleared up the fifth 70-litre bag of rubbish – three at the solar panel array at the school and two along the bottom and top paths, in the woods adjacent to the Crawl Park field. The school has repaired the fence surrounding the array because I think the kids vandalised the solar panels (saw engineers there a few weeks back). Probably something was said at the school assembly and the kids have vacated the area.

 

Still Life with Growing Plant

 

Poetry Corner

By Your Editor

 

Why we prefer to do our own writing, drawing, and

photography. Because the word 'smartphone'

is an oxymoron.

Image: Portrait of an angry artist with a kitschy AI painting. Image montage made by DG by egregious misuse of generative AI and a self-portrait by Anton Graff that I found on Project Gutenberg. Sneaky techniques were involved.

 

Video of the Day:

Demolition Derby

 

 

In the US they call it a 'demolition derby'. In the UK, it's a 'banger race'. What do they call it where you come from, other than a lot of fun?

 

CU l8ter,

Dmitri Gheorgheni, Editor

The Hooverville Hexagon: More Time Travel, and a Few Comments on Cultural Change

 

 

Godshill Model Village

By Bluebottle

 

Football is a very divisive sport, and this week controversy has struck the Isle of Wight village of Godshill. Godshill is a village listed in the Domesday Book (1086) so is over 1,000 years old, with the current church, the village's fourth, built in the 14th Century. It is famous for its thatched houses, tea rooms, hosting Britain's first music festival in 1968 and the road-closing triceratops, but most of all for its surprisingly controversial model village, which opened in 1952.

 

In addition to houses the model village shows typical Isle of Wight life, such as camping, excavating dinosaurs, enjoying the park, being in the pub or on the beach and playing sport such as croquet, cricket or football. Since the 1970s the football pitch has included a model of a streaker; a young lady running topless across the field. And this is where the controversy has occurred, as this week following complaints, the streaker has been removed.

 

Isle of Wight society has divided sharply between those who think the streaker was inappropriate and those who believe that the streaker was innocent fun showcasing saucy seaside humour and should be reinstated - and those who don’t really care. The model village has officially said, "We've received a small number of comments from visitors who felt it was inappropriate for a family attraction. Streaking was very much a feature of a different era. It is far less common and is no longer something that younger visitors recognise, so the model has lost much of its original relevance."

 

And that's true – you just don't get streakers in sporting events anymore. When the story broke I had to explain the concept of streaking to my teens, who didn't quite understand why anyone would behave in such a manner. While 40 years ago people would even watch golf on the telly* in the hopes of seeing topless nubile women, that doesn't really happen anymore. Or at least if it does, the cameras nowadays always quickly pan away from the naked figure rather than zoom in. Besides which, the internet has allowed exhibitionist women wanting to broadcast videos of their naked body the ability to do so from the comfort and convenience of their own homes without first having to travel to attend major sporting events.

 

I expect that the model figure herself will probably be painted to have clothes and reappear elsewhere, possibly on the beach, and it was always a bit incongruous having a 1970s streaker in a model village largely set in the 1920s. I've not been to the model village recently, and if I went now the streaker obviously wouldn't be there, but I've searched the photographs of when I’ve been before and can share photos I took showing the controversial figure in 2005 and 2017 (all the figures get repainted regularly which is why her trousers are blue in the images shown in the news this week).

 

*I struggled when trying to explain to my teens why anyone actually watches golf on the telly before concluding that some things remain inexplicable.

 

Godsill Model Village:

TRIGGER WARNING: May Contain Images of Topless Models

 

Tuba Waddle by Audionautix is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 license. https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/

Artist: http://audionautix.com/

 

A Sentiment We Can Identify With

From 1900

 

Translation: Let the outside world do its own thing:

My house will be my refuge.

(Thanks to Tavaron for image.)

 

Brain-Teaser: Answer

Okay, history buffs: what does this do?

 

(Technology Puzzle)

 

Answer: It washes clothes. And doesn't use any electricity.

 

Video of the Day:

Ducks and Pigs

 

The open-air museum in Austria has some

fun but noisy residents.

 

 

CU l8ter,

Dmitri Gheorgheni, Editor

The Hooverville Hexagon: And Now for Some Time Travel

 

 

An Architect in the Museum Village

By Tavaron da Quirm

 

At Museumsdorf Niedersulz, north of Vienna, they demonstrate life at a village from around 1900.

 

They have a section demonstrating various clay building methods. I took pictures of a wattle and daub wall, which consists of woven sticks covered in clay. There are also two different types of ceilings, one with reed mats directly fixed on wooden beams and then covered with plaster. The other I have never seen before: there are wooden beams and between them sticks covered in clay, like sausages.

 

(The kids could make their own clay bricks with clay from about 5 meters next to the workshop.)

 

 

Picture Quiz

What is this?

The coat of arms of Inari, Finland.

That is one world-class Wolpertinger, folks.

 

 

 

Another Brain-Teaser

(Answer tomorrow)

Okay, history buffs: what does this do?

 

 

 

Video of the Day:

We Promised You Sheep.

You Get Sheep.

 The open-air museum had some sheep, too.

Linus just turned five.

'We had a long discussion with Linus about the sheep not being cows…' says Tavaron.

 

Laterz,

Dmitri Gheorgheni, Editor