WHO IS THIS GUY CALLED ARIEL?

By ariel70 - About Me - E-mail this page - Add to My Favorites - Add to Blog List - See other blogs in Journal

Friday, June 16, 2006

ANOTHER POEM THAT BEGOT A STORY, A SERIAL AND AN UNFINISHED PLAY FOR KIDS

Once more this lousy window won't support columns ( or is it me?) This poem looks a mess, and once again, I've put asterisks where the verses start. Should one really have to do this To a favourite poem? Vandalism! ARIADNE Ariadne stood on Naxos isle gazing our to sea the while: watching playful wavelets run, shading her eyes from summer sun. *She stood there in zephyr breeze, Summer’s flowers to her knees: mouth like a flower, skin like milk. Earth had never seen her ilk. *Ariadne’s face was... Sign in to see full entry.

Thursday, June 15, 2006

A MUSICAL EVENING, AND ANOTHER BIT OF ARIEL'S OTHER STUFF, I GUESS.

We had a busy day yesterday, and returned home late in the evening, after attending a concert to mark Mozart’s 250 th anniversary. It was performed by young children studying in the Conservatorio de Santa Cecilia in Velez Malaga. St Cecilia, as you are no doubt aware, is the patron saint of music, for Christians could hardly include the Greek goddesses of music in their pantheon of saints, now could they? The school concert or Nativity play are hallowed institutions by now, but the baleful... Sign in to see full entry.

Wednesday, June 14, 2006

AND NOW!! AT ENOMOUS TROUBLE AND EXPENSE!!! ER ... A REPOST

Our feet have hardly touched ground today, so I haven’t been able to work on the many posts that are in hand. However, I know how many thousands of folks out there are just panting to read my blog each day, LOL. So, to satisfy their deep yearning, I offer this … LAST WALK The walk up from the cortijo, along the narrow, winding, steep tracks had been exhausting: harder than she had ever known it to be, and she had lagged far behind the others, gasping for breath, her joints stiff and painful. She... Sign in to see full entry.

Tuesday, June 13, 2006

ARIEL'S SPRING EVENING IN ANDALUCIA

Our middle son, and his wife and two children have returned to England; Lady Ariela is out at her yoga lesson, and, dinner cooked and eaten ( Lady Ariela’s is in the microwave oven ). I sit on my terrace with a glass of sweet, heady Andalucian wine, enjoying the peace and tranquillity all about me; for now it is almost dusk only the twittering of the birds in our almond trees, and the song of the nightingales break the silence. Except for the soft tones of a Mozart piece on my radio, that is,... Sign in to see full entry.

A PROBLEM WITH REPLYING TO COMMENTS LEFT ON MY BLOG

I hope those of you who've left comments on my bog, and not received an acknowledgement, don't think me rude or lacking in courtesy. Since the new toolbar was introduced, for some totally unfathomable reason, I can't go " Back" from the comment/new entry window. Once in this window, all I can do is go to " Home", or log off, and log back in. I've just got on to Blogit to ask for help. Sign in to see full entry.

Monday, June 12, 2006

SPRINGTIME IN ANDALUCIA

We haven’t had much rain this year, but for some unknown reason there have been more wild flowers that we’ve seen since we moved here almost six years ago. After the autumn and spring rains they sprang up by the million everywhere that one looked. Below is a photo of a field of poppies, that form great swathes across the fields, and edge each roadside verge with scarlet. Although it isn’t nearly as hot now as it usually is at this time of year, it’s becoming dry very rapidly now, and most of the... Sign in to see full entry.

AN APOLOGETIC NOTE ABOUT REPLYING TO COMMENTS ON MY BLOG

I hope those of you who've left comments on my bog, and not received an acknowledgement, don't think me rude or lacking in courtesy. Since the new toolbar was introduced, for some totally unfathomable reason, I can't go " Back" from the comment/new entry window. Once in this window, all I can do is go to " Home", or log off, and log back in. Infuriating! I've got to get Brian by the ear soon Sign in to see full entry.

Sunday, June 11, 2006

THE POEM THAT BEGOT THREE VERSIONS OF A STORY. ( SO FAR!)

This is the poem from which my story sprang ( the one you’ve just read was the third, longest version. ) Some things that one writes exert a powerful grip on one’s imagination, and it’s very interesting to explore other possibilities inherent in the piece. I might just re-post some other pieces that have undergone just such a transformation. You might find them interesting! Blogit doesn’t seem to support columns very well, and for some inexplicable reason insists upon inserting extra lines. So,... Sign in to see full entry.

Saturday, June 10, 2006

THE FOUNTAIN OF CANDELAS, FINAL PART

1521 For a time the people rejoiced in the copious flow of water from the rocks, yet gratitude kindles but a small and transient flame in the hearts of men, as fleeting as his memory of past gifts. And, with the spool of Time unreeling, they forgot how it came to pass that in all that sun seared land; that land of dust and savage clime: alike at Yuletide as at Lammastide, there was but one place where water was to be found, and that in the fountain of Candelas. But one there was – young Don... Sign in to see full entry.

Friday, June 9, 2006

THE FOUNTAIN OF CANDELAS, PART SEVEN

I believe I mentioned that this story, like several others, was one that came to me while I was asleep; that “ I was bade thus to do by one whom I know not, in my dream. If dream it truly was.” It’s also a little strange to find that it’s so easy to write in this archaic manner; as if to the manner born. Good job I don’t believe in reincarnation! Some measure of relief of the all-pervading sorrow of that dire day was afforded by Don Salvador’s words of acceptance of Candelas’s infant son, and... Sign in to see full entry.

Thursday, June 8, 2006

THE FOUNTAIN OF CANDELAS, PART SIX

When splitting a long story into bite-sized pieces, one faces the problem of finding suitably dramatic moments at which to end each part. Hence, the first part of this one ought really to have been the end of the last one, but I thought that that would make it too long. Bloggers do tent to have a somewhat attenuated attention span. Posting fiction also tends to depress one’s popularity rating! I found this last year, when I posted another six-part love story. The things I do for my friends! Aged... Sign in to see full entry.

Wednesday, June 7, 2006

THE FOUNTAIN OF CANDELAS, PART FIVE

No answer gave Candelas to Juan’s plea, but stood rigid in her trance. Then, her face seeming lit from within by that light: a light more powerful than that of the greatest of lanterns, she said “ Hearken well to me my love: as long as I shall live shall these rocks their waters yield.” Then, shaken by unearthly tremors: a quaking of the body and a tremoring of the soul, she said “ But if ye ever come hither and ye find this place be dry, look no more for me my darling, for I shall then be gone... Sign in to see full entry.

Tuesday, June 6, 2006

THE FOUNTAIN OF CANDELAS, PART FOUR

Still ain't feelin' up to scratch, and until it's business as usual on Ariel's blog, with some more reflections on Christianity, I hope you're enjoying my little story. The plot thickens... Hearing Candelas’ words, Juan shivered in superstitious awe, and hastily crossed his bosom. “ Nay my Love ”, he said, “ ‘twas the Devil spake you thus. For how may a simple maiden work such magic, save with the hand of the Devil at the labour?” Sore aggrieved, and pouting like the child which in truth she... Sign in to see full entry.

Monday, June 5, 2006

THE FOUNTAIN OF CANDELAS, PART THREE

Upon that fateful day, it was along that track that Candelas hastened, her dainty feet sending small puffs of dust skywards: that track whose every rut and bump; whose every tuft of wiry broom forcing its way through the parched earth, Candelas knew so well that she might walk it without a stumble in the stygian dark of winter night. She met no other on her way; no campesino, nor laden mule, nor creaking wagon, for it was the heat of day, when the sun leached the colour from the sky and roasted... Sign in to see full entry.

Sunday, June 4, 2006

THE FOUNTAIN OF CANDELAS, PART TWO

I hope you're enjoying this story, which has had a highly chequered history! Candelas was a seer. She had been gifted – or cursed more like – with the power of divination, the power to see things which no human mind may know. This power lay in her breast, in her very soul, as a cold hard stone, a burden such as might not be borne by one of twice her years, and thrice her strength. She could discern at a glance that this person would sicken; would know, as surely as the sun rises each dawn,... Sign in to see full entry.

HELP! I'M FEELING KINDA STUPID!

I've had a senior moment! I read someone's post about chidren being taken into care, and promised to send them a link to an article in The Times on a similar subject. Trouble is, I don't remember who it was!! So, Mrs/ms/Mr ( I think it was a Mrs ) step forward Sign in to see full entry.

Saturday, June 3, 2006

CAN'T WRITE MUCH, SO I OFFER YOU THIS

THE FOUNTAIN OF CANDELAS PART ONE 1489 It was in a land which gazes at Africa across a well-nigh tide-less sea: it was in a distant, fabled time; and in a season of that time when the earth lay seared with heat as is a hearth beneath a fire that the story of Candelas unfolds. Candelas was the favoured only child of the Alcalde of the pueblo of Trabuco. She was the darling and the apple of his adoring eye, the sun and the moon in his firmament. Never had her dainty hands tilled the bony soil, nor... Sign in to see full entry.

Friday, June 2, 2006

ANOTHER EXCELLENT ADVENTURE IN A SPANISH HOSPITAL

Maybe, by remarking so often that life in Spain is never boring, I was offering a hostage to fortune, for yesterday I had the second of my excellent adventures in a Spanish hospital. ( I haven’t finished writing about Excellent Medical Adventure #1 yet, but when I have, I’ll post it. ) Starting about 2 pm, I had some alarming recurrences of those angina symptoms that put me in hospital for eleven days last December; that crushing pain, a shivering, nervous sensation, thudding heart and... Sign in to see full entry.

Wednesday, May 31, 2006

MORE REFLECTIONS ON CHRISTIANITY. PART ONE

Before I continue with this mini-series of posts on Christianity, please let me make one thing clear beyond doubt; and to preclude the somewhat tiresome chore of attempting to rebut statements of opinion that I didn’t make in the first place. And, at the risk of appearing repetitious, one must emphasise yet again the necessity for religious beliefs to be subjected to the same intellectual rigour as any other belief system. I am not dogmatic in my atheism, taking the view that religious people... Sign in to see full entry.

Tuesday, May 30, 2006

GETTIN' STUNG IN THE EYE BY A WASP JUST AIN'T MY IDEA OF A GOOD TIME!

A pot pourri of subjects today: firstly, thanks to all who sent best wishes on my excellent adventure with a homicidal Spanish wasp. I expect a monton of “Get Well Soon!” cards are winging their way by airmail even as I write. On the subject of comments; thanks also to all who commented on my post about bad Christian writing. Some of them raised some heavy-duty subjects, so I intend to ignore them for now, and deal with them properly in the last of what will be a mini-series of posts about... Sign in to see full entry.

About this Blog

Fiction, poetry, articles and a whole lot of other Ariel's stuff ; musings and ponderings ; they're all here, and i hope you'll find something here that you like. But I have a deeper purpose in mind. See, reading the papers and watching TV, it's so easy to think that the whole world's motivated by racial and religious hatreds of various kinds. Well most of us aren't, are we? We ordinary people are moved by love and compassion for our fellow humans ; and respect and tolerance for their differences. It's true that all that it takes for evil to flourish is for good men to do nothing, so we who are motivated by love have a duty speak out against the evils of the world ; not to be ashamed of our histories, nor embarrassed about being and saying clearly what we are and what we believe. If we don't learn to love each other, we'll perish. Although I am an atheist, my guiding principle is, and always has been, Christ's adjuration to " Love thy neighbour as thyself"

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