The Cloud Makers

 

After the rain, Albuquerque
- July 21, 2025, 3:05 pm, DS.

(Sand spins into mountains,

Mountains spin into streams,

Streams spin into fountains;

Clouds are made of these.)

- The unpublished chant-like addendum to the poem, Nature's Signature, found here.

"The extensive and more personalized symbolism of clouds appearing in landscape painting at the turn of the twentieth century reflected the cognitive uncertainty we experience in relation to clouds, in their constant variability and instability, and the dictatorship of the imagination, which allows only a subjective description of the phenomenon."

- A quote from the excellent article: Cloudscapes over the Baltic Sea–Cloud Motifs in Finnish, Swedish, German, Russian, Polish, Lithuanian, and Latvian Symbolic Landscape Painting around 1900. The highlighted text acknowledging our "cognitive uncertainty" regarding clouds really resonated with me, but not merely for the reasons described. For someone who has invested a great deal of time watching them, the uncertainty lies in the method of their creation. While, logically one cannot accept intelligence is involved, it is also difficult to accept, in some cases, that clouds are fashioned merely by the random fluctuations of air currents. That is, unless we redefine our concept of "random," (made, done, happening, or chosen without method or conscious decision)... or, maybe, come to the understanding that, in nature, "random" includes patterns & processes not, yet, fully understood.

The random appearance of a cicada in a cloud shot.
Cellphone photo,  August 25, 2025, 4:28 pm, DS.

The cloud introducing this post is one of the exceptional clouds.  It possesses an almost unworldly presence. Perhaps, this is due to the subdued coloring of the sky that day after it had rained. It has a dreamlike quality. What is especially intriguing about it, however, is that it's a cloud which is in the process of transforming. Moreover, it isn't isolated; it appears to be one element in a peculiar circle of clouds. (See below)

An odd ring of clouds - July 21, 2025, 3:07 pm, DS.

You may not recognize it at first. It is the cloud on the far right, which, in my eyes, appears to have grown a human head seen in profile! The rest have no recognizable shape but they, too, are odd, if not downright weird. The small dark cloud (towards the left) is a prime example. What exactly is that square-shape below it?

Now, I do not manipulate or edit the content of my photos in any way. They appear as nothing more than what they are, but, if this photo were an actual painting - and, in ways, it almost looks like one - we might assume it was painted by an imaginative artist... a Surrealist of Nature, (if this wasn't an oxymoron). In other words, and the point I'm attempting  to make is that, while the odd group of clouds was not manufactured, they seem to have arose from an imagination.

Personally, I think this is what attracts me to clouds... a weird sense of witnessing something imaginative where no "imagination" should logically exist. This represents another cause for the "cognitive uncertainty" mentioned earlier, but, for a visual artist it represents something else as well... that is, a conundrum: what defines art when the source of an intriguing creation is not merely inhuman, but is logically without consciousness? In this case, we might say it's a Beauty of Nature/Nature of Beauty kind of thing, but, ultimately, this does not tell us enough.

So, who or what are the Cloud Makers? I doubt it's possible to know. But, the question is tantalizing and will be carried into a future post: The Imaginarium.

Clouds, Time & Spiraling Planes (revised August 19)

 

Credit: Jinik Renatus, Jinikal Art.

(Update: September, 9, 2025. A new, and even better video from Jinikal. This one features amusing little pentagrams! See: Cosmic Joy: The Infinite Playgrounds.)

It occured to me recently that in the earlier days of blogging, I made a point of trying to feature new digital artists on Trans-D, a habit I somewhat abandoned after the genre grew to such a degree I could no longer keep track of it. And, I can only marginally keep track of the burgeoning AI video artists; new artists seem to appear literally every day.* But, every now and then, a video makes an appearance that resonates on a personal level - call it kismet - and, well,  Jinik's In a World Where Time and Space are Distorted is one of those videos.

Don't be fooled by the title. Time and space are not "distorted." In terms of spatial effects, they are either intentionally (or intuitively) orchestrated and organized around the laws of pentagonal phi and/or the Fibonacci series,** and best of all, Jinik created some fantastic spiraling clouds! Regarding time, spiral clocks  (also here) and time spirals are all the rage in cyberspace, everywhere from scientific circles to Fantasy Fandom worlds.

As it happens, spiraling clouds are not unusual in the real world. I see them every day, albeit on a smaller scale. Inset left (above) is an example I shot earlier this summer but often the golden spiral's signature paisley shape can be found on a much larger scale. (Below is a detail of a photo found in a previous cloud post.)

A cloud in desperate need of a Phi-shell!

Clouds and spirals? Can't get any better! Thank you, Jinik Renatus, your video made my day!

(My apologies for all the typos and delays with the text... hopefully, now corrected!)

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* I have been featuring them on Mac's memorial, with the latest appearing on this post... and his birthday post.

** I want to be perfectly clear about my use of mathematical terms regarding art here. That is, while phi may, indeed, be mathematically present in a work of art, the exact math is not required for it to fit the criteria of possessing the Golden Meme; best described as a shape, sound, or movement based on a mathematical ratio present in the geometry of the pentagram - in itself, a fractal - that is so perfect in its mysterious beauty and/or powerful efficiency that it might be described as Divine, or Golden. Regarding space-time, the Golden Meme represents a key to understanding the eternal.

(Note: The Golden Meme as a theory and an artistic investigation is mine alone and is not currently recognized as valid by any accredited source. It is also in its infancy. In any case, for me, it serves as an organizing center for the pentagonal phi material I've been amassing for 6 years. See: Reflections on Water, or the golden snail shell on the sidebar.)

 

The Philosopher's Dove (with Addendum)

 

The enigmatic glyph of a pigeon poised in flight, Albuquerque - one frame of a cellphone video - June 2, 2025, DS.

A pigeon is considered feral when one member of its line has, at some point in time, severed ties with (human-produced) domesticity.

Pigeons - rock doves - are free agents in human cities. Huddling together in small groups high up in the rafters of old, abandoned buildings, they are quiet, gentle, trusting creatures. We know them mostly by the snapping sound of their beating wings.

Time-stamped: August 1, 2025, 6:22 pm.

They are essentially travelers, vagrants and refugees and are generally despised (and exterminated) by property owners. After all, pigeons do not pay rent, nor do they sing for their supper. They search for seeds that have fallen on the pavement, trodden by human feet, or flattened beneath the wheels of a driverless car.

Time-stamped: July 31, 2025, 1:19 pm.

But, the sky glorifies those in flight and, in flight, the rock dove is as fleet as any bird.

Always, the sky, whispering in silent, Sylphid syllables, welcomes its feathered acolytes back into its cool, incorruptible embrace.

(Continued below the break...)

A Word about Charlie, a Cat's Cat (Complete)

 

A Cat's Cat - cellphone photograph - July 22, 2025, DS.

(As I write, the clouds have been scarce for two days in Albuquerque; the blazing sun has held them hostage. So, I feel motivated to address other matters... such as our resident Cat, Charlie.

Regarding this post, I think it was my idea, but as Charlie seems uncharacteristically enthusiastic about it, I have my suspicions.

In any case, Charlie has waited for me to finish it for months now, so, I hope he enjoys it; i.e., I hope to remain in his favor.)

Charlie is a Cat's Cat. Allow me to explain.

To begin, we must define Cats in a way Charlie would approve. It isn't as if he's holding a tiny gun to my head as I write this - he can't, he's sleeping - no, he just wants me to set the record straight. So, here it goes.

First up (and most importantly), Cats do not, never have and never will belong to humans. They are - all of them - wild. And, unlike most other "domesticated" beasts, human companionship will never alter a Cat's essential wildness. (Try telling Charlie he's domesticated. No, really, go ahead.)

In actuality, the situation is reversed. Human entities belong to Cats. Allegedly, (according to Charlie) this was written into an ancient Universal Feline - Human Pact, which stated that, in return for certain services (vermin extermination, toxin removal, cuteness, emotional rescue & psychic management), Cats would forever Rule. And, so, they do.

Charlie, for one, had not come to stay for more than several days in our present abode - formerly he was the self-appointed motel security guard - when he informed us he was, indisputably, His Royal Majesty, the King of all Cats to whom we must now bow down in willing servitude. And, so, we did.

Lastly, Cats seem to possess an almost alien intelligence... as mysterious as their mineral coated, almond-shaped eyes. This, I suspect, is because Cats originally came from another world. We'll call it (for a momentary lack of imagination): the Planet of the Cats. In other words, the "chariots of the gods" had cats on board!* And, the ancient Egyptians knew this; they didn't build temples to their feline overlords for nothing.

Charlie** won't admit to this, of course... because it goes without saying that Cats never divulge anything. Also, they never stoop to unnecessary chatter unless it's directly beneficial to them... dinner, for example.

(More below the jump...)

Leonardo's Cloud & the Shrine of Venus

 

A massive storm cloud touching down over the Sandia's, Albuquerque - June 10, 2025, 6:19 pm, DS.

(Note: While the memory of this cloud immediately came to my mind after reading Da Vinci's passage it is in no way representative of Leonardo's cloud.) (For more about my cloud see "The Cloud Matrix" at the end of the post.)

"Landscape with cloud effect

I have long had the opportunity of observing many different [atmospheric effects], and once, above Milan, over in the direction of Lake Maggiore, I saw a cloud shaped like a huge mountain made up of banks of fire, because the rays of the sun which was then setting red on the horizon had dyed it with their colour. This great cloud drew to itself all the little clouds which were round about it. And the great cloud remained stationary and retained the light of the sun on its apex for an hour and a half after sunset, so enormous was its size. And about two hours after night had fallen there arose a stupendous and phenomenal wind storm."

- Leonardo da Vinci via Leonardo da Vinci's Note-Books Arranged And Rendered Into English by Edward Mccurdy, 1923. (Book 2, Nature, p. 125).

Inset left is a chalk drawing by Leonardo - A Storm Over an Alpine Valley, 1480. A facsimile of this drawing accompanies the artist's text in Mccurdy's translation. There appears to be a few versions of this odd image on the web, mostly in red chalk. For example, this one was dated circa 1509.

I don't think that this drawing represents the mountain-shaped cloud Leonardo describes in his notebook. The cloud in the drawing seems to have the anvil-shape of a certain variety of cumulonimbus: the incus.

Admittedly, the drawing is difficult to make out. But, if you click on the image, you might find what is possibly the image of the artist with his beard and hat on the upper left side of the cloud - portrait, inset left - Leonardo's cameo appearance in the clouds!

(Correction. Actually, this bit of cloud looks most like him from a distance and not at all like any sort of face close up.)

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The Temple of Venus featured in one of a series of illustrations by Walter Crane
for Edmund Spenser's epic poem The Faerie Queene, 1590.

"For the Shrine of Venus

You should make steps on four sides by which to ascend to a plateau formed by nature on the summit of a rock; and let this rock be hollowed out, and supported with pillars in front, and pierced beneath by a great portico, wherein water should be falling into various basins of granite and

porphyry and serpentine, within recesses shaped like a half-circle ; and let the water in these be continually flowing over; and facing this portico towards the north, let there be a lake with a small island in the centre, and on this have a thick and shady wood. Let the waters at the top of the pillars be poured down into vases standing at their bases, and from these let there be flowing tiny rivulets."

-  This passage from Leonardo's notebooks appears several pages later in Nature; The Earth an Organism - on page 131. It is then followed by The Realm of Venus. (Both are discussed below the jump.)(Photo source.)

(Continued below the jump...)

The Cloud Agenda

 

Cloud formations over the Sandia's, Albuquerque - July 6, 2025, 12:52 pm - DS

"I’ve always loved looking at clouds. Nothing in nature rivals their variety and drama; nothing matches their sublime, ephemeral beauty. If a glorious sunset of Altocumulus clouds were to spread across the heavens only once in a Generation, it would surely be amongst the principal legends of our time."

- A quote from Gavin Pretor-Pinney’s The Cloudspotter’s Guide, mention of which is found in two Marginalian articles worthy of a view. See here and here. (Note: This section was removed from the previous cloud post, and inserted here.)

Gavin Pretor-Pinney just happens to be the founder of the international Cloud Appreciation  Society... which even has it's own manifesto and an outstanding collection of cloud photographs!

Also, Pretor-Pinney has a talk over at TED; see Cloudy with a Chance of Joy. While there, also see another illuminating discussion: Can clouds buy us more time to solve climate change?

***

No, the photo above - with a cloud that suspiciously resembles a lion or an Egyptian sphinx (bull? dog?) - is not a book cover for the latest New Age exposé, nor is the title of this post. The Cloud Agenda is not a hidden agenda. The agenda is mine and there are no sinister aspects involved. I am simply recording clouds because they and I seem to be sharing the same location in space and time these days and I feel we ought to know each a little better. The clouds seem to agree, and I'm learning some amazing things I'd like to share.

Today's cloud - and, yes, each photo below represents the sequential transformation of the same single cloud - was a real surprise for me. I never saw a large cloud transform in place before. Generally, the smaller ones slowly float out of the camera's range and the larger ones dissipate. This one clearly wanted to be captured.

Below is its first incarnation. 

1st appearance - July 6, 2025, 12:27 pm - DS.

Clouds frequently form animal shapes and this is always delightful. What intrigues me though are the stranger configurations like the one above. I'm not going to even venture a guess on what this odd scene might represent. That it seems to represent something, however, is a peculiar quality clouds possess and one I suspect humans recognized the minute they crawled out their caves: clouds form interesting shapes; some of which seem eerily familiar.

1st transformation - July 6, 2025, 12:52 pm - DS.

Often, finding recognizable shapes in what is assumed to be a random pattern is referred to as pareidolia, a (sometimes derogatory) term often used by unimaginative skeptics. Wiki informs us, however:

"Pareidolia plays a significant role in creative cognition, enabling artists and viewers to perceive novel forms and meanings in ambiguous stimuli. Joanne Lee highlights that this phenomenon has been harnessed in artistic practices for centuries (Da Vinci for example)."

So, there.

Anyway, the transformation above is the most recognizable one of the group (to me) and it kind of blew me away. But, imagine my surprise when I realized that the "show" was not, yet, over...

(More below the jump.)

A Face in the Crowd

 

"A girl looks on among Afghan women lining up to receive relief assistance, during the holy month of Ramadan
in Jalalabad, Afghanistan, June 11, 2017." Photo credit: Parwiz/REUTERS (found here).

ICC issues arrest warrants for Taliban leaders over persecution of women and girls

"THE HAGUE, Netherlands (AP) — The International Criminal Court issued arrest warrants Tuesday for the Taliban’s supreme leader and the head of Afghanistan’s Supreme Court on charges of persecuting women and girls since seizing power nearly four years ago.

The warrants also accuse the leaders of persecuting “other persons nonconforming with the Taliban’s policy on gender, gender identity or expression; and on political grounds against persons perceived as ‘allies of girls and women.’”

***

“I am not free while any woman is unfree, even when her shackles are very different from my own. And I am not free as long as one person of colour remains chained. Nor is any one of you.”

- Poet Audre Lorde via Uses of Anger: Women Responding to Racism.

I think we've all been waiting a long time to hear news like this, but I suspect the women living in Afghan (and other countries in which women are denied full autonomy)  have been waiting far longer... and with an urgency most of us have experienced to a lesser degree. One should keep in mind that all things are relative and this gap is always in danger of closing... and, I don't think there is one woman or feminine person who is not in some way aware of it. It is embedded in the feminine morphic field (along with many other fears). 

But, if there has been any good news this year, this is surely it! Take heart; some good may come of it... keeping in mind that the wheels of justice seem to turn very slowly these days.

Also see: Afghan women face near total social, economic and political exclusion.

Artful Resistance: How Afghan Women are Wielding Art Against the Taliban

New! A thoughtful reader just sent me this sobering link. Think you live in a free world? Guess again. (Thanks Bella!)

What Is Modern Slavery: A Comprehensive Research

"Over 49.6 million people (0.61% of the global population) are subjected to modern slavery, surpassing the populations of around 200 countries."

Send in the Clouds (Updated - July 19)

 

Cloud formation over the Sandia Mountains - cellphone photo - June 30, 2025, DS.
(Note that the bird - left of center - appears to be a raptor.)

"I'm glad to be with you, Sam Gamgee, here at the end of all things."

- Frodo Baggins speaking to his closest companion, Sam, on Mount Doom while Mordor is consumed in flames, via this scene (also here) from The Return of the King, Peter Jackson's cinematic retelling of J. R. R. Tolkien's classic trilogy. 

The saga of Middle Earth from The Lord of the Rings was the first thing that came to my mind at the beginning of this year, when someone had apparently sent in a swarm of menacing clowns to replace the government here in the States.

In Tolkien's tale, the Great Eagles, led by the wizard Gandalf, saved the day for Frodo and Sam.

But, who will save the day for those of us in the West, who are currently suffering under the escalating Republican Reign of Terror?

Monstrous cloud over the Sandia Mountains - cellphone photo - July 27, 2025, DS.

I'm thinking... clouds. 

But, no, don't get me wrong. I'm not talking about the little fluffy clouds drifting by on a sunny day. I'm talking about the massive, icy thunderheads that spell doom for an unwary pilot.

(More below the jump...)

The Philosopher's Cloud (Revised June 26, 2025)

If all the World's

Wisdom

were written in the clouds...

who would be

the wiser?

***

The five cellphone photographs above document an interesting procession of low flying cumulus clouds passing over the Sandia Mountains in Albuquerque on June 15th of this year.

Incidentally, this single line of clouds went on for miles and miles.

Text and photos: 2025, DS.

Flying North for the Summer - A Study of Clouds (revised, completed: June 12)

 

Flying North for the Summer - cellphone photo (filtered), Albuquerque - 2025, DS.

"At this point you are possibly saying, what on earth are you doing gazing at paintings of clouds in the sky when the earth is actually on fire? It’s an excellent question. But there is a difference between looking at the details of the universe that others insist are important– often at great profit to themselves – and looking at the details that move you on their own. They can be the same details. The important question is, which ones do you actually feel?"

"We spend so much time staring into our laps these days, looking desperately down into our smartphones and hungrily inhaling whatever the Internet has to offer. We live there now, down that dank, semi-real, untouchable and ultimately unknowable hole. But every once in a while, we forget it’s there, and look up."

- Two quotes from Canadian journalist Ian Brown's excellent, perennially relevant 2022 article: Paintings of clouds are just what the world needs right now. In the article, Brown features the Canadian landscape painters, The Group of Seven. Inset right is A Celebration (1924) by Georgia O'Keefe.

***

Link Update! Also see:

A Meditation on the Endless Appeal of Clouds in Art

Clouds in Art

Artistic depictions of Clouds (via Medium)

***

(Instead of taking photographs, these days I'm shooting short videos of clouds and exporting frames. This seemed like the best approach after a weird experience I had with a cumulonimbus cloud I wish I'd filmed... discussed recently on Mac's memorial in The Giant Awakens. Here lies the other half of that story...)

For an artist, working with clouds can be an illuminating experience. Working with an anomalous cloud, however - even if only documenting what you see with a digital camera - borders on the mystical realm. Something unexpected happens.

The first thing this artist discovered is that the lens was not recording the image exactly as I saw it. And I mean this beyond simplistic rationalizations such as faults with either a.) camera, b.) photographer. No, the clouds in the photographs rarely matched the clouds I saw from my perch on the balcony. It took me some time before I realized why.

(Continued below the jump...)

GrowIng Roses in the Clouds - A Safe Haven (revised and completed May 31)

 

Clouds clustering over the Sandia Mountains (in the distance), Albuquerque, May 19 - cellphone photo - 2025, DS.

"A cloud forest, also called a water forest, primas forest, or tropical montane cloud forest, is generally a tropical or subtropical, evergreen, montane, moist forest characterized by a persistent, frequent or seasonal low-level cloud cover, usually at the canopy level, formally described in the International Cloud Atlas (2017) as silvagenitus ('created from forest')."

- A misty, moisty, mossy forest is the stuff of European folklore and fairy tales... bringing to mind a spooky sort of magic. The true cloud forests (via Wiki) - generally found on cloud-covered mountaintops -  are mostly a phenomenon of tropical climates but they can also be found in temperate zones. The Appalachian mountains are a stunning example. But, can they exist in the American southwest?

Large cluster over the Sandia Mountains, Albuquerque, May 26 - cellphone photo 2025, DS.

Probably not. But, I can dream... and I can wonder about the frequent cloud clusters that seem to stretch over the Sandia mountains, regardless of the weather. The photos above was taken during a bright respite after 2 days of rain but the Sandia cloud phenomenon was the first thing I noticed upon visiting New Mexico and it continued to amaze me all through my peak travelling days.

As for the cloudscapes - or cloud terrains - on top of the Sandia mountains, see the collection of photos linked to from this page, and see if you can find evidence of one. (There is!)

Large cluster over the Sandia Mountains, Albuquerque, May 26 - cellphone photo 2025, DS.

"Monteverde has unquestionably become one of Costa Rica's most popular draws, making it a must-do for 70,000 tourists each year. Its popularity is largely due to its many protected reserves, including the star of the show: the Monteverde Cloud Forest Biological Reserve. Listed in National Geographic and Newsweek as one of the top cloud forest reserves in the world, the government even deemed it one of the Seven Natural Wonders of Costa Rica.

...Interestingly, its origins can be traced to Quakers who settled in the area in the 1950s. After fleeing the US to avoid the Korean War draft, the cool climate of Monteverde allowed them to set up dairy farms in the region."

- Via the article: Ultimate Guide to Monteverde: Costa Rica's Lost World. The photo of a suspension bridge inset left was found in the Wiki entry for the Monteverde Cloud Forest Biological Reserve. Suffice to say, the world's cloud forests are allegedly vanishing... however, dreams of cloud cities begin to arise.

"Roses – native or naturalized wild roses, old roses (dating prior to the development of hybrid tea roses in 1867), and modern cultivars grow well in New Mexico. Perhaps you’ve admired them blooming in summer, in filtered light along mountain trails and in canyons, on abandoned homesteads or historic sites, and along irrigation ditches and streams, as well as in urban gardens."

- Excerpt from an illuminating article from the Santa Fe Botanical Garden. According to the article there are five species of wild roses native to New Mexico! The photo (Credit: Paul Rothrock) inset left is of an Asian, naturalized variety: Rosa multiflora. Allegedly, this beauty is considered an invasive species, but, in my estimation, if roses were invasive we would all live in paradise.

(Continued below the jump...)

Cinco de Mayo - the New Mexican Skies (revised & completed May 9)

Albuquerque clouds in May - cellphone photo - 2025, DS.

(Text added May 7)

This past Monday was Cinco de Mayo - the 5th day of the fifth month in the 25th year of the 3rd millennium. You might say, due to all the 5's, it was a golden day, and, coincidentally enough, one tradition of the holiday is kind of an unintended nod to the pentagonal golden spiral.

The China poblana, the colorful costume featuring a voluminous castor (circle skirt) worn by festival dancers - like the one inset left above (found here) - are really something to see in action. The circle skirts generate spiral shapes continuously as the dancer swirls through her routine. For a regular Phi festival view the short video below the jump break.

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Albuquerque clouds in May (#2) - cellphone photo - 2025, DS.

(Text added May 9)

I guess, in keeping with the times, it isn't too weird that this post has been almost completely revised before it was even finished. But, don't worry, I have no desire to address the "times" nor the shit-storms that (too) many of us are dealing with these days. My goal is to regain a vestige of mental equilibrium again and experience tells me there's only one place to go: back to the natural world. Some of my most serene moments in New Mexico were spent photographing the Sandia mountains, and, in ways, I'm doing the same again; but my view of the mountain range has changed... and, this time I'm obsessed with the clouds.

(Continued below the jump...)

The First of May

 

Rose Pentacle (Rose Detail) - clay pattern - 2025, DS.

The Philosopher's Rose

Why is it that some of us must fight

to create (in) this world?

Why is it that some of us must fight

to stay alive?

Therein lies the Logos of

a Dying God.

But, then, I wonder:

why is it that the Rose

continues to unfold so

magnificently?

- May 2, 2025, DS.

Amo, ergo sum.
(I love, therefore I am.)

Spring (Interlude)

 

Nature's Signature

Nature is sexy by nature.

Sexy is tactile and, yet,

magically enabled to cross all boundaries

w/ one vibrant,

undulating

curve.

- 2025, DS.

Video credit: Remmzo.

Spring sky, April 22, 2025, Albuquerque, NM - DS.

Contrails, April 22, 2025, Albuquerque, NM - DS 

Go Tell it to the Olive Tree (4/4/2025 - Post Abandoned)

 

A living historical record: the olive tree of Vouves, Greece.

The Olive Tree - A Living Record

Oldest olive tree in the world is located in Crete

"The ancient Olive Tree of Vouves (Elia Vouvon) is located in the village of Ano Vouves on the island of Crete. It is believed to be the oldest olive tree in the world which still produces highly-prized olives.

Although its exact age cannot be verified using radioisotopes as the tree’s heartwood has been lost through the centuries, scientists from the University of Crete have estimated it to be 4,000 years old. It is presumed that the tree first appeared in 1100BC, in the sub-Minoan period of Cretan history." (2020, Andriana Simos of the Greek Herald)

Meet The 4,000-Year-Old Olive Tree That Saw The Rise And Fall Of Alexander The Great’s Empire—A Biologist Explains

"Deep in the heart of Crete, where myth intertwines with natural wonder, stands the legendary olive tree of Vouves. For millennia, this 2,000-year-old ancient sentinel has silently witnessed the rise and fall of civilizations, outlasting even some of Greece’s most famous historical figures.

Olive trees have long been revered not only for their fruit and oil but also for the resilience encoded in their DNA. These trees symbolize endurance, wisdom and continuity. In a landscape where nature’s secrets are often obscured by time, the olive tree of Vouves reminds us that life can sometimes persist against all odds."

- The Olive Tree of Vouves was my initial inspiration for this post. It is a protected historical monument in Greece and has possibly witnessed over 4000 years of human history.

Ironically, less than a week later, what should appear in new's headlines, but articles about a different historical tree.

White House to remove magnolia tree dating to Andrew Jackson

•

Historic tree planted nearly 200 years ago to be cut down at the White House

_____________________________________________

One American Political Party Attempts to Censor Natural History, a Nation's History and the History of the World

“Every record has been destroyed or falsified, every book rewritten, every picture has been repainted, every statue and street building has been renamed, every date has been altered. And the process is continuing day by day and minute by minute. History has stopped. Nothing exists except an endless present in which the Party is always right.”

“And if all others accepted the lie which the Party imposed—if all records told the same tale—then the lie passed into history and became truth. 'Who controls the past' ran the Party slogan, 'controls the future: who controls the present controls the past."

- Excerpted from George Orwell's novel, "1984", and sourced from this sobering article.

•

Trump targets 'anti-American ideology' at Smithsonian museums

"Trump has set out to radically reshape American culture, which he says has been contaminated by "woke" left-wing ideology. He has signed several orders that are intended to eliminate diversity, equity and inclusion programmes from the federal government - some of which led to legal challenges."

•

Trump Executive Order Targets ‘Anti-American’ Content at Smithsonian

"President Donald Trump has signed an executive order on Thursday directing the Smithsonian, a federal consortium of cultural and research institutions, to eliminate “divisive” and “anti-American” content from its exhibitions and restore “monuments, memorials, statues, markers” that have been removed from public spaces since 2020.

The “Restoring Truth and Sanity to American History” order gives Vice President JD Vance the authority to determine what content is “improper” at the Smithsonian Institution. A fact sheet from the White House describes the order as opposed to “anti-American ideology.”

•

Unabashed Fascism': Trump Executive Order Targets 'Improper Ideology' at Smithsonian

"First Trump removes any reference of diversity from the present—now he's trying to remove it from our history," wrote one Democratic lawmaker. "You cannot erase our past and you cannot stop us from fulfilling our future."

•

US orders French companies to comply with Trump's diversity ban

"American interference in the inclusion policies of French companies, along with threats of unjustified tariffs, is unacceptable," France's Ministry of Foreign Trade said in a statement sent to Reuters.

"France and Europe will defend their businesses, their consumers, and also their values," the ministry, which is under the authority of the country's Ministry of Foreign Affairs, added."

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Aphroditus - Gender in the Ancient World

"There's also a statue of Venus on Cyprus, that's bearded, shaped and dressed like a woman, with scepter and male genitals, and they conceive her as both male and female. Aristophanes calls her Aphroditus, and Laevius says: Worshiping, then, the nurturing god Venus, whether she is male or female, just as the Moon is a nurturing goddess. In his Atthis Philochorus, too, states that she is the Moon and that men sacrifice to her in women's dress, women in men's, because she is held to be both male and female."

(Continued below the jump...)

Vale, Marianne...

"Will you take me across the channel,

London Bridge is falling down

Strange a woman tries to save

What a man will try to drown

And he’s the rain that they predicted,

It’s the forecast every time

The rose has died because you picked it

I believe that brandy’s mine

And all over the world

Strangers

Talk only about the weather

All over the world

It’s the same"

- Lyrics to Strange Weather, written by Tom Waits and Kathleen Brennan, 1987.

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"I know I'm not young and I'm damaged," she wrote defiantly. "But I'm still pretty kind of funny."

- Marianne Faithfull, ironic till the very end. In youth, irony is an art... In old age it's a necessity. This quote was sourced from the BBC's comprehensive tribute.

I'm sad to report that Marianne Faithfull slipped away from us on January 31 of this year. Weirdly, I didn't find the news till yesterday, although I can't understand how I managed to miss it.

It seems like I had just blogged about her recently. So, the news hit hard. Marianne was a special  woman; sort of a triple goddess figure: a charming, gracious lady, a bawdy  broad, and, lastly, an enchanted little match girl. But, for those of us who more or less grew up with her, she was an invincible survivor. Throughout all of her trials and tribulations she remained strong, maintaining her dignity and a sense of humor. Oh, and she remained an unapologetic smoker, an outstanding feat of resilience these days.

As a performer she was unique; she had at least 3 incarnations. Marianne #1 had the clear-bell voice of an angel. Marianne #2 sang like a wildcat on the prowl. Marianne #3 was the world-weary chanteuse. She could've glammed it up with feathers and furs, but, she never needed to. She was the real deal.

And, we'll miss her.

(The lovely photo - inset right above - was taken by Bruce Weber in 1996 and can be found on MF's website, along with many other great shots.)