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Friday 10 May 2013

Friday, abandoned;


Poveglia  a beautiful Island, I would live there; make it an Island of roses for all the dead and let them rest in
peace for ever!

Poveglia Island is one of many island in the lagoons of Venice, Italy but instead of being a place of beauty, it is eerie, regarded as evil and haunted! Many people like to believe in haunted places, make up stories and add to it to make it more piquant and  interesting.

The dark history of Poveglia Island began during the Roman Era when it was used to isolate plague victims from the general population.  Centuries later, when the Black Death rolled through Europe it served that purpose again.   The dead  were dumped into large pits and buried or burned.  As the plague tightened its grip, the population began to panic and those residents showing the slightest sign of sickness were taken from their homes and to the island of Poveglia.   Men, women, children... all left to die.  It's estimated that the tiny island saw as many as 160,000 bodies during this time.

 The island has become a putrid area indeed.  The soil of the island combined with the charred remains of the bodies dumped there creating a thick layer of sticky ash.  The core of the island is literally human remains that has given the island a loathsome reputation, but appears to be very good for the grapevines that are planted there.
In 1922 the island became home to a psychiatric hospital complete with a large and very impressive bell tower.  The patients of this hospital immediately began to report that they would see ghosts of plague victims on the island and that they would be kept up at night hearing the tortured wails of the suffering spirits.  Because they were already considered mad by the hospital staff, these complaints were largely ignored.

To add to the anguish of the poor souls populating this island hospital, one doctor there decided to make a name for himself by experimenting on his subjects all to find a cure for insanity.  Lobotomies were performed on his pitiable patients using crude tools like hand drills, chisels, and hammers.  Those patients and even the ones who were not privy to the doctor's special attentions were taken to the bell tower where they were tortured and subjected to a number of inhumane horrors.

According to the lore, after many years of performing these immoral acts, the evil doctor began to see the tortured plague ridden spirits of Poveglia Island himself.  It is said that they led him to the bell tower where he jumped, or was thrown to the grounds below.  The fall did not kill him according to a nurse who witnessed the event, but she related that as he lay on the ground writhing in pain, a mist came up out of the ground and choked him to death.  It's rumoured that the doctor is bricked up in the hospital bell tower and on a still night, the bell can be heard tolling across the bay.  The hospital closed down.

For a time, the Italian government owned the island, but it was later sold.  That owner abandoned it in the 1960's and was the last person to try and live there.  A family recently sought to buy the island and to build a holiday home on it but they left the first night there and refused to comment on what happened.  The only fact that we do know is that their daughters face was ripped open and required fourteen stitches.

Today Poveglia is uninhabited and tourism to the island is strictly forbidden.   Every now and then daredevils dodge the police patrols to explore the island, but everyone who has made it there have refused to return saying that there is a heavy atmosphere of evil and they the screams and tortured moans that permeate the island make staying there unbearable.

One report from a misguided thrill seeker who fled the island says that after entering the abandoned hospital, a disembodied voice ordered them, "Leave immediately and do not return."


Rumours are like an avalanche once they are started they can do nothing else but grow. 
A place like this would be THE PLACE for smugglers or for anybody to hide anything.  



Thursday 9 May 2013

Thursday; smell;

Photo Ts


Lignin prevents trees from adopting a weeping habit. Lignin is a polymer that is in its make up closely related to Vanillin. When it is made into paper and kept for years, it breaks down and smells good.  "Divine Providence" seems to have provided second-hand bookshops to smell of good Vanilla, subliminally influencing a hunger for knowledge in us. 



Camilla's Bookshop is a large secondhand/antiquarian bookstore situated in the resort town of Eastbourne.We have over 250,000 books in almost all categories.


Lignin
Chemical Compound
Lignin or lignen is a complex chemical compound most commonly derived from wood, and an integral part of the secondary cell walls of plants and some algae
Formula: C9H10O2,C10H12O3,C11H14O4


The term was introduced in 1819 by de Candolle and is derived from the Latin word lignum meaning wood. It is one of the most abundant organic polymers on Earth, exceeded only by cellulose, employing 30% of non-fossil organic carbon and constituting from a quarter to a third of the dry mass of wood. As a biopolymer, lignin is unusual because of its heterogeneity and lack of a defined primary structure. Its most commonly noted function is the support through strengthening of wood, xylem cells in trees.

Highly lignified wood is durable and therefore a good raw material for many applications. It is also an excellent fuel, since lignin yields more energy when burned than cellulose. Mechanical, or high-yield pulp used to make newsprint contains most of the lignin originally present in the wood. Lignin is responsible for newsprint's yellowing with age.




My dream library; 

courtesy of my favourite painter Jacek Yerka




Tuesday 7 May 2013

Tuesday; orange;


Orange rhymes with Sporange, a botany term  meaning “spore case.”
sporangium 
plural sporangia
 A single-celled or many-celled structure in which spores are produced, as in fungi, algae, mosses, and ferns.


I do like the colour orange in my garden, alas,  I have not that many plants in the colour orange;


This one arrived in my garden,  many years ago, without a name;



Old Tangiers, evokes  a  fiery sundown, a slow tango, cigarette smoke, gin fizz, casual sips, eyes half closed, come to the cinema of a time past...


 
Kwanso, I received more then 30 years ago from a friend in Yamba.



"Starflower" Geranium;



.....always welcome a beautiful sunrise;


©Photos/Text Ts

Monday 6 May 2013

Monday; sweet...


Mandarin Ice cream;

Ingredients:



A Mandarin tree in the garden;



A simple ice cream churner;




2 Mandarins, juice and  grated peel;
2 fresh eggs from your chooks,
 use 2 eggyolks and keep the egg whites to make meringue.
300 ml cream and 200 ml milk
120 g white caster sugar.

Mix all the ingredients together until smooth, pour into the ice cream churner and churn until thick, around 40 minutes. Freeze, take it out of the freezer 10-15 minutes before serving.




Delicious!



©Photos /Text Ts