Bye Bye, November

“Fifty shades of brown” …  (from a walk last week)

The time stamp on this photo says 11:16 a.m. The sun is like me; struggling to get out of bed in the morning this time of year…

The Mists of Avalon (Audio Book Review)

Marion Zimmer Bradley’s The Mists of Avalon was first published in 1983, but I never read it before. Now I listened to it as audio book, excellently narrated by Davina Porter. Even though it’s a very long book – lasting nearly 51 hours – I was kept under a spell all the way.

The novel has been called a feminist take on the Arthurian legend; telling the events predominantly from the point of view of Morgaine, Arthur’s half-sister, who is more often (in other versions of the legend) portrayed as an evil sorceress (Morgan le Fay). We also get the perspectives of other female characters, like Morgaine’s mother and aunts, and Arthur’s wife Gwenhwyfar; while all the men sort of remain in the background for a change.

However, the book is not only about the male vs female lookout on life; but also a great deal about the clashes between the old religion (represented by Avalon) and the new (Christianity).

The ruler of the mystic realm of Avalon, also known as the Lady of the Lake, is the High Priestess of the old (Brittonic) religion. For the major part of the story, this position is held by Morgaine’s aunt Viviane – while Igraine, Morgaine’s mother, spends her last years in a Christian convent. Morgaine herself continues to cling to her bond with Avalon; even though with time, that ancient island seems to be drifting further and further into the mists (and getting harder and harder to find one’s way to, even for believers).

King Arthur’s wife Gwenhwyfar on the other hand is a firm believer in the new religion (Christianity); while certain other characters, including Arthur himself and (the) Merlin*, act as sort of go-betweens, looking for compromises. (For better or for worse will be up to each reader to decide for him/herself, I think!)

*Merlin in this book is not a personal name but rather the Merlin; indicating an ancient druid title in Avalon.

All in all I found the novel giving “food for thought” for our own turbulent times as well.

Postcards for the Weekend – Library

Oh-oh. I find myself in trouble with this week’s theme(s) (museum/university/library), as I haven’t got my postcards sorted like that…

The only card that popped immediately to mind was one that I received rather early on in postcrossing. And as I haven’t received all that many from Australia, I also knew where to find it.

AU-290210 (2013)

Mitchell Library – The State Library of New South Wales in Sydney. It is the oldest library in Australia. (Link to Wikipedia.)

Weekend Reflections

It has become a tradition in my town to have a little pre-advent ceremony when we officially turn on the Christmas lights, on the weekend before the 1st Advent weekend.

I wasn’t feeling “100%” yesterday so wasn’t sure I’d be going… But the rain stopped and it cleared up a bit in the afternoon, and it wasn’t too cold, and I was feeling better - so I decided to go out for a little walk anyway, and then let my feet decide… And my feet decided to take me into town after all.

“Before and after”

Going into town, passing Bodhi in the river

Illuminated street art under a bridge.

I’m rarely out walking in town late at night,
so I’m not sure I’ve seen the art “in this light” before.
This time of year it gets dark early – the ceremony was at 4 pm.

People gathering on a bridge in the Park,
waiting for the Home Guard Music Corps.

Tadaa! Drum roll, and the lights are on.

 

Marching on towards the Main Square…

… and another “aaaw” as the Christmas Tree lights up.
(And no – the tree is not really leaning all that much…
That’s just my camera trying to get it all into the picture.)

Going back home.

Passing by Bodhi again.

Not sure these lights in some trees
in the middle of a roundabout
are supposed to “be” anything at all;
but to me, from a certain angle,
they looked like two deer (or reindeer?)

Postcards for the Weekend – Books

GB-824766 (from Northern Ireland, October 2016)

I love books, and book covers, and illustrations…
I also have a quite few Penguin Classics in my bookcase.

This one, A Book of Toys by Gwen White, I had never heard of before, so had to google to learn more. I find that it was published in 1946 and belongs in a series of hardback ‘King’ Penguins books, published between 1939 and 1959. It is about the history of toys, with colour illustrations of toys found in British museums. You can see some examples from it here (a blog post by another blogger, from some years ago).

AU-482921 (from Australia, April 2016)

When I look up Ladybird Books, I find that those too belong to the Penguin group. I haven’t found any specifics about this little book except that it was published in 1961 and seems to belong in a series of what to look for in each of the four seasons.

From John in England (May 2016)
…who also knows me under my Blogger alias DawnTreader,
which was of course borrowed from this book. (See the top of my sidebar!)

I also own the book with this cover art, along with the other six, in The Complete Chronicles of Narnia box set. (Just a different colour on the strip at the bottom.) And yes, of course Puffin is part of the Penguin publishing house as well…

The Voyage of the Dawn Treader (1952) was the third published of the seven Chronicles of Narnia by C.S. Lewis. In editions sequenced according to Narnian history, it is the fifth.