Today, Claire Fontaine and The Grandma are on their way to Barcelona afterspending a few days in El Port de la Selva wherethey are going to pay a final tribute to an old friend andvisit another, TinaPicotes.
Yesterday, they took their bicycles and went up from El Port de la Selva to the Monastery of Sant Pere de Rodes, one of the most imposing and mysterious buildings from where on a clear day you can even see the Serra de l'Albera, Canigó and the Pyrenees.
On the way back, they went down through Vilajuïga and returned to El Port de la Selva along the Llançà road, a road that allows you to enjoy an extraordinarily beautiful landscape and, although you have to keep your attention on the road 100%, it allows you to stop at different places and contemplate how the sea and the mountain coexist.
NOTES SOBRE EL PORT DE LA SELVA per J.V. Foix
Em trobaren ajaçat a la sorra quan ja tots els banyistes havien desertat la platja. Enganxats a la nuca i a l'esquena tenia papers de totes les colors amb inscripcions de duanes i de grans hotels i balnearis exòtics. Me'ls volien arrencar, però seguien trossos de carn viva. Els ulls dels cavalls els pesquen a la cova de la Colomera quan toquen les dotze de la nit. Només en aquell instant precís es poden obrir com qui obre una ostra. Llur pupil·la flota damunt un licor tan ardent, que mai cap llavi humà no ha pogut acostar-s'hi. No els mireu mai de fit a fit, perquè us prendrà per sempre una tristesa sense fi, i la passió per les cales inabordables lligarà la vostra vida al més misteriós dels destins.
NOTES ON PORT DE LA SELVA by J.V. Foix
They found me lying in the sand when all the swimmers had already abandoned the beach. Stuck on my back and the nape of my neck were pieces of paper in all colours with inscriptions from customs houses and from grand hotels and exotic spas. They wanted to tear them from me, but chunks of live flesh came off as well. They go fishing for horses' eyes in Colomera's cave when it strikes midnight. Only at that precise instant can they be opened as one opens an oyster. Their pupils float on a liquid which burns so strongly, that no human lips have ever been able to come near. Don't ever stare at them, because an endless sadness will take hold of you for good, and the passion for inaccessible inlets will bind your life to the most mysterious of destinies.
They
arrived on Friday with J.V. Foix and his poetry and they leave in the
same way, remembering his writings about this beautiful town and what
is, perhaps, his best-known poem, the one that tells us about dreams as a
way to escape from reality, especially when it is harder and crueler
than you can bear.
In this poem, J.V. Foix reminds us of the Occitan poets who also sang
of love at night surrounded by the dreamlike atmosphere, and even
reminds us of CortoMaltese, the character of Hugo Pratt, who also uses
dreams as a way of refuge (or escape) in Les Cèltiques. Calderón
de la Barca also told us that life was a dream and Bernat Metge took
advantage of the resource of dreams to be able to criticize society and the political power of the time and avoid the established censorship, and dreams allow us to live as we want and desire, that's why our beloved BruceSpringsteen also invites us to daydream...
És quan plou que ballo sol Vestit d'algues, or i escata, Hi ha un pany de mar al revolt I un tros de cel escarlata, Un ocell fa un giravolt I treu branques una mata, El casalot del pirata És un ample gira-sol. Es quan plou que ballo sol Vestit d'algues, or i escata.
És quan ric que em veig gepic Al bassal de sota l'era, Em vesteixo d'home antic I empaito la masovera, I entre pineda i garric Planto la meva bandera; Amb una agulla saquera Mato el monstre que no dic. És quan ric que em veig gepic Al bassal de sota l'era.
És quan dormo que hi veig clar Foll d'una dolça metzina, Amb perles a cada mà Visc al cor d'una petxina, Só la font del comellar I el jaç de la salvatgina, -O la lluna que s'afina En morir carena enllà. Es quan dormo que hi veig clar Foll d'una dolça metzina.
It's when it rains I dance alone Dressed in seaweed, scales and gold, There's a patch of sea at a bend in the road And a piece of scarlet sky, A bird loops the loop And a shrub branches out, And the pirate's manor-house Is a broad sunflower. It's when it rains I dance alone Dressed in seaweed, scales and gold.
It's when I laugh I see my hunched back In the pond below the threshing floor, I dress up as a man from antiquity And harass the farm-girl, And between pine grove And kermes oak I plant my standard; With a sail needle I slay the monster whose name I do not utter. It's when I laugh I see my hunched back In the pond below the threshing floor.
It's when I sleep I see all clearly, Deranged by a sweet venom, With pearls in either hand I live in the heart of a scallop shell, I am the spring in the gulley And the bed Of the wild creature, —Or the moon who becomes more delicate As she dies beyond the ridge—. It's when I sleep I see all clearly, Deranged by a sweet venom.
I quan tot just si la tenora sona, Pastors i estels perduts serrat enllà, La Verge i Tu tots sols, a l'Hora Sola, I els corns reials qui sap qui els sentirà, Vindré mudat, al costat de la dona, Amb els vestits de quan ens vam casar.
And then just as the woodwind tenora sounds, shepherds and stars lost beyond the hills, the Virgin and You all alone at the Single Hour, a and who knows who will hear the royal horns, I shall come, having changed my clothes, beside my wife, dressed as we were when we married.
Today, Claire Fontaineand TheGrandma have got up early again to prepare a special and emotional day of diving.
While Tina Picotes has stayed at home having breakfast and reading, Claire and The Grandma have gone to pay tribute to Pepita, who left us last Monday the 2nd after a life full of incredible experiences and leaving a unique and personal scientific legacy.
So, after checking the state of the sea; planning the entry and exit point; reviewing the equipment and doing the buddy check, they have calmly entered while checking their buoyancy before going down in a sad, but at the same time emotional dive, which has helped them remember the moments shared and, above all, to leave them there so that the sea will take them to new ports, and, if possible, reach her beloved Antarctica.
It has been a dive that they have shared with posidonias, corals, cystoseiras, gorgonians; but also octopuses, breams, rays, cuttlefish, sponges, anemones, small corals and countless starfish. One even has accompanied them to take a photo when they have returned to the shore, and then they have returned it to the sea.
And throughout the dive they have had the company of a manta ray, which they have respected the distance between them, but which has been a pleasure to see swimming and unfolding on this seabed where we all mourn your absence today, from your beloved Barcelona and Castelldefels to the great love of your life: Antarctica.
T'estimem Pepita.
Has estat una figura clau per al nostre país, per a la ciència mundial, i una divulgadora i mestra que ens ha mostrat a molts de nosaltres el camí a seguir.
No és un adéu perquè ens acompanyaràs sempre en cada immersió.
Josefina Castellví i Piulachs (1 July 1935-2 February 2026) was a Catalan oceanographer, biologist and writer.
Castellvi Peak on Hurd Peninsula, on Livingston Island in Antarctica is named in her honour.
In 1984, she participated in an international expedition to Antarctica. She received her bachelor's degree in 1957 and a PhD in biological sciences at the University of Barcelona in 1969. In 1960 she started working for the Institut de Ciències del Mar in Barcelona. In addition, she conducted research at the CSIC and was a delegate in Catalunya for two years (1984-1986).
Starting in 1984, she participated in the Organization of Research in Antarctica and assisted with the installation of the JCI Antarctic Base on Livingston Island, of which she was the lead oceanographer from 1989 to 1997, replacing Antoni Ballester. From 1989 to 1995 she directed National Program of Antarctic Research, and later, from 1994 to 1995, she directed the Institute of Marine Sciences.
Castellví was awarded, among other prizes like the Gold Medal of the Generalitat of Catalunya in 1994, the Creu de Sant Jordi in 2003, the IEC Environment Prize in 2006 and the CONCA National Award in 2013.
Josefina Castellví was born the daughter of a doctor and housewife inBarcelona during the last few months of the Spanish Republic before the explosive outbreak of the Spanish Civil War (1936-1939). She studied at the Montserrat Institute and in 1957 graduated with a degree in biology from the University of Barcelona. In 1960 she specialized in oceanography from the Sorbonne. In 1969, Josefina got a doctorate in science from the University of Barcelona.
Castellví and her older sister attended school at an exceptionally young age near Eixample, where their family began. Later, they were transferred to a convent school, where they studied until their second year of high school. Ultimately, they completed their basic studies at the Institute Monsterrat, in the neighbourhood of Sant Gervasi, where Josefina prepared to enter university. In spite of living in a postwar period and the immense poverty the country suffered, Josefina's childhood and adolescence were normal; she lived alternately in Barcelona and Castelldefels, where her parents had a house.
In 1953, around the age of 18, Josefina began studying biology at the University of Barcelona. She completed two tracks in one and graduated in 1957, when she was 22 years old. Only two people finished the degree that year: Josefina and a nun. She continued her studies in order to engage more deeply with her research.
After finishing her degree Josefina Castellví traveled to France to study for two years. By 1960, when she specialized and received her PhD in oceanography at the age of 25, she participated in her first oceanographic expeditions on French ships and taught at the Sorbonne. Also starting that year, she began work at the Institute of Marine Sciences as Council Superior of Scientific Research, where she would later assume the role of director from 1994 to 1995 whilst also being a delegate to Catalunya.
In 1984 she was the first Catalan woman to participate in an international expedition in Antarctica; it ought to be noted that she contributed mainly to those expeditions' research, for which she was awarded recognition alongside Antonio Ballester i Nolla. Ballester was recognized as well for his intervention in the installation of the JCI Antarctic Base on Island Livingston, of which Josefina was chief director from 1989 to 1993.
When she returned to Barcelona, Josefina continued her research at the CSIC. The research in Antarctica was both a great learning experience and emotionally validating for her. Antarctica is a natural laboratory; deep in the ice there is written billions of years of Earth's history and knowing how to analyze these ancient writings allows us to share that vast history.
In 1995, after living a few years in Madrid, where she had commissioned the National Research Program Antarctica, Josefina Castellví returned to Barcelona to lead the Institute of Marine Sciences of the CSIC. Throughout her working life, she combined her research with conference work in order to disseminate her findings and her books, one of which was a book published in 1996 titled I Have lived in Antarctica.
In 1994, she received the Gold Medal of Generalitat of Catalunya and in 2003 she received the Creu de Sant Jordi. The Gold Medal is an honourary distinction awarded annually by the Generalitat of Catalunya to those persons or social entities who on their merits, have provided outstanding services to Catalunya in the defense of her identity, especially at the civic and cultural level. Moreover, it is considered, together with the International Prize of Catalunya, to be one of the most prestigious distinctions granted in Catalunya. From 2010, she was the president of the Summer University of Andorra.
On 8 October 2013, she won the Culture of the Generalitat of Catalunya Award, which distinguishes those people, entities, or institutions in any field that are worthy of institutional recognition for his or her contribution to Catalan culture, with preference for excellence, innovation, trajectory and projection, and bearing in mind their contribution during the year before of the concession. In addition, on 13 May 2013 she received the Catalan of the year Award.
In 2014, she was appointed vice-president of the Consell Assessor per al Desenvolupament Sostenible de Catalunya (Advisory Council for the Sustainable Development of Catalonia) (CADS).
On 5 March 2015, she received the August Pi i Sunyer Medal from the Faculty of Medicine of the University of Barcelona, in commemoration of International Women's Day. Researcher Josefina Castellví was the first woman to receive this medal. Despite her retirement in 2000, Castellví remained active; she continued to collaborate with the Consell Assessor per al Desenvolupament Sostenible de Catalunya. She also continued to give lectures on her work in Antarctica, during which she testified to the importance of this frozen desert. As the coldest place on Earth, she said, it is ideal for studying the capacity to adapt inherent in all organisms, which must change to survive, since, if they do not, they will disappear like the trees and plants that have disappeared from Antarctica.
She was the first Catalan female oceanographer and received many awards in recognition of her research. The difficult part is to receive first prize, here she quoted the scientist Ramon Margalef, because others come such as mimetic actions. Of all the awards that she had, Josefina especially valued two: the Gold Medal of the Generalitat of Catalunya (1994) and the Creu de Sant Jordi (2003), because they represent the homage of her city and country.
Castellví continued to live on the same floor where she was born, a testament to her devotion to origins. She died on 2 February 2026.
Antarctica is the windiest, highest, brightest, most brilliant, driest, and most remote continent on this misnamed Earth, which should be called Ocean, as the writer Arthur C. Clarke requested.
Today, Claire Fontaine and TheGrandma have got up early to drive to ElPortde la Selva where they will meet TinaPicotes this evening.
They have taken their bicycles and their diving wetsuits to enjoy three days of relaxation in a beautiful town that at times like this does not have large crowds, where you can practice different sports in peace and where it seems that time stands still.
On the other hand, Josephde Ca'th Lon who had planned to return to Basel yesterday Thursday has decided to stay a few more days in Lyon enjoying the cultural and sports offer.
El Port de la Selva and the Empordà hide unexpected treasures. A century ago, this fishing village on the Cap de Creus became an important meeting point for Catalan poets, writers, artists and intellectuals, often from Barcelona. An important part of the Catalan artistic creations of the last hundred years have been written, conceived and produced here, such as the famous poem Ho sap tothom, i és profecia, by the poet from Sarrià, J.V. Foix, whom TheGrandma knows well and whose work she greatly appreciates.
Ho sap tothom, i és profecia. La meva mare ho va dir un dia Quan m’acotxava amb blats lleugers; Enllà del somni ho repetia L’aigua dels astres mitjancers I els vidres balbs d'una establia Tot d'arrels, al fosc d’un prat: A cal fuster hi ha novetat.
Els nois que ronden per les cales Hi cullen plomes per les ales I algues de sol, i amb veu d'albat, Criden per l'ull de les escales Que a cal fuster hi ha novetat. Els qui ballaven per les sales Surten i guaiten, des del moll, Un estel nou que passa el coll.
El coraller ho sap pel pirata Que amaga els tints en bucs d'escata Quan crema l'arbre dels escrits; Al capità d'una fragata Li ho diu la rosa de les nits. L'or i l'escuma d'una mata Clamen, somnàmbuls, pel serrat: A cal fuster hi ha novetat.
El plor dels rics salpa pels aires, I les rialles dels captaires Solquen els glaços del teulat. Un pastor ho conta als vinyataires: A cal fuster hi ha novetat. El roc dels cims escampa flaires, I al Port mateix, amb roig roent, Pinten, pallards, l’Ajuntament.
El jutge crema paperassa Dels anys revolts, a un cap de plaça, I el mestre d'aixa riu tot sol. El fum dels recs ja no escridassa I els pescadors faran un bol. Tot és silenci al ras de raça Quan els ho diu l'autoritat: A cal fuster hi ha novetat.
Els de la Vall i els de Colera Salten contents, a llur manera, I els de la Selva s'han mudat; Amb flors de fenc calquen a l’era: A cal fuster hi ha novetat. De Pau i Palau-saverdera Porten les mels de llur cinglera I omplen els dolls de vi moscat.
Els de Banyuls i els de Portvendres Entren amb llanes de mars tendres I un raig de mots de bon copsar Pels qui, entre vents, saben comprendre's. Els traginers de Perpinyà, Amb sang barrada en drap de cendres, Clamen dels dalts del pic nevat: A cal fuster hi ha novetat.
Res no s'acaba i tot comença. Vénen mecànics de remença Amb olis nous de llibertat; Una Veu canta en recompensa: Que a cal fuster hi ha novetat. Des d’Alacant a la Provença Qui mor no mor, si el son és clar Quan neix la Llum en el quintar.
La gent s'agleva en la nit dura, Tots anuncien la ventura, Les Illes porten el saïm, I els de l'Urgell, farina pura: Qui res no té, clarors del cim. La fe que bull no té captura I no es fa el Pa sense el Llevat: A cal fuster hi ha novetat.
Everyone knows, it's a prophecy. My mother said it one day as she laid me down with gentle wheat; beyond dreams it was repeated by the water of intermediary stars and the raw panes of a stable covered in roots, in the darkness of a meadow: at the carpenter's house there's a new arrival.
The kids who roam around the coves gather feathers for wings and seaweed of the sun, and with an innocent's voice proclaim through the holes in their ladders —at the carpenter's there's a new arrival. Those who were dancing in the halls come out and gaze, from the quay, upon a new star passing over the hill.
The coral fisher has been told by the pirate who hides his dyes in scaly chasms when the tree of letters burns; the captain of a frigate is told by the rose of nights. The gold and foam of a shrub announce, somnambulant, through the hills: at the carpenter's there's a new arrivaL.
The lament of the rich sets sail through the air, and the laughter of beggars furrows the ice on the roof. A shepherd tells the vine growers: at the carpenter's there's a new arrival. The summits' rocks scatter scents, and in the centre of Port de la Selva, in the brightest red, strapping lads paint the Town Hall.
The judge burns dossiers from the insurgent years at one end of the square, and the adze master laughs alone. The smoke of the ditches shrieks no more and the fishermen will cast their nets. All is silence on the people's level when they are told by the authority: at the carpenter's there's a new arrival.
Those from La Vail and those from Colera leap happily, in their own way, the people of La Selva have changed; with hayflower they trace out on the threshing floor: at the carpenter's there's a new arrival. From Pau and and Palau-saverdera they bring the honeys from their cliffs and fill the springs with muscat wine.
Those from Banyuls and those from Portvendres enter wearing woollen wraps from gentle seas and a string of words, well received by those who, amid winds, can understand one another. The hauliers from Perpinyà, with blood striped on a sheet of cinders, exclaim from the heights of the snow-covered peak: at the carpenter's there's a new arrival.
Nothing ends and all begins. Mechanics, bondsmen, come along with new oils of freedom; a Voice sings in return: at the carpenter's there's a new arrival. From Alacant to Provence Whosoever dies does not die, if sleep is clear when the light is born in the ploughland.
Folk gather together in the hard night, all announce the good fortune, the Islands bring lard and those from Urgell pure flour: those who have nothing, brightness of the peaks. The faith that boils cannot be captured and Bread is not made without Yeast: at the carpenter's there's a new arrival.
Joseph de Ca'th Lon loves Archaeology,History and Anthropology.Malta is a great opportunity to enjoy the most amazing Megalithic Temples and discoverthepast of the Humanity. Today, he's visiting the TarxienTemples with TheGrandma.
The Tarxien Temples are an archaeological complex in Tarxien. They date to approximately 3150 BC.
The site was accepted as a UNESCOWorld Heritage Site in 1992 along with the other Megalithic temples on the island of Malta. The Tarxien
consist of three separate, but attached, temple structures. The main
entrance is a reconstruction dating from 1956, when the whole site was
restored. At the same time, many of the decorated slabs discovered on
site were relocated indoors for protection at the Museum of Archaeology in Valletta.
The first temple has been dated to approximately 3100 BC and is the most elaborately decorated of the temples of Malta. The middle temple dates to about 3000 BC, and is unique in that, unlike the rest of the Maltese temples, it has three pairs of apses instead of the usual two.The east temple is dated at around 3100 BC. The remains of another temple, smaller, and older, having been dated to 3250 BC, are visible further towards the east.
Of particular interest at the temple site is the rich and intricate stonework, which includes depictions of domestic animals carved in relief, altars, and screens decorated with spiral designs and other patterns.
Demonstrative
of the skill of the builders is a chamber set into the thickness of the
wall between the South and Central temples and containing a relief showing a bull and a sow.
Excavation of the site reveals that it was used extensively for
rituals, which probably involved animal sacrifice. Especially
interesting is that Tarxien provides rare insight into how the megaliths were constructed: stonerollers were left outside the South temple.
Additionally,
evidence of cremation has been found at the center of the South temple,
which is an indicator that the site was reused as a Bronze Age cremation cemetery.
The large stone blocks were discovered in 1914 by local farmers ploughing a field. After the accidental discovery of the nearby Tarxien hypogeum
in 1913, the proprietor of the land underneath which the temples were
buried figured that the large stones that were continually struck by
workers' ploughs may also have had some archaeological value.
On that notion, he contacted the director of the National Museum, Sir Themistocles Zammit,
who began to dig even on his first inspection of the site, where he
discovered the center of the temple compound. It was not long before Zammit found himself standing in what appeared to be an apse formed by a semicircle of enormous hewn stones.
Over the course of three years, Zammit enlisted the help of local farmers and townspeople for an excavation project of unprecedented scale in Malta. By 1920, Zammit
had identified and carried out restoration work on five separate but
interconnected temples, all yielding a remarkable collection of
artifacts, including the famous Fat Ladystatue, a representation of a Mother Goddess or a fertility charm, according to the Malta Archaeological Museum, the Fat Ladystatue is sexless, and could represent either a man or a woman, and several unique examples of prehistoric relief, including ships.
The temples were included on the Antiquities List of 1925. Further excavations at the temples were conducted in the post-World War II period under the directorship of Dr. J.G. Baldacchino.
Protective tent-like shelters, similar to those at Ħaġar Qim and Mnajdra, were built around the Tarxien Temples in 2015, and were completed in December of that year.
The discovery of the complex did much to further Malta's national identity, solidly confirming the existence of a thriving ancient culture on the island.
Also, the general interest aroused by the finds engendered for the first time a public
concern for the protection of Malta's historical treasures, including a
need for management of the sites, the promulgation of laws, and other
measures to protect and preserve monuments.
At the same time, Sir Themistocles' thorough method in excavating the site paved the way for a new scientific approach to archaeology.
Today, The Grandma has been reading about the British colonization of Egypt, and about the Nile, the longest river in Africa.She has remembered a trip along the river with her friends ClaireFontaine, TinaPicotes, Joseph de Ca'th Lon, TonyiTamaki and Jordi Santanyí.Itwas an incredible experience to remember and explain.
The Nile is a major north-flowing river in northeastern Africa. It flows into the Mediterranean Sea.
The Nile is the longest river in Africa and has historically been considered the longest river in the world, though this has been contested by research suggesting that the Amazon River is slightly longer.
Of the world's major rivers, the Nile is one of the smallest, as measured by annual flow in cubic metres of water. About 6,650 km long, its drainage basin covers eleven countries: the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Tanzania, Burundi, Rwanda, Uganda, Kenya, Ethiopia, Eritrea, South Sudan, Republic of the Sudan, and Egypt.
In particular, the Nile is the primary water source of Egypt, Sudan and South Sudan. Additionally, the Nile is an important economic river, supporting agriculture and fishing.
The Nile has two major tributaries -the White Nile and the Blue Nile. The White Nile is traditionally considered to be the headwaters stream. However, the BlueNile is the source of most of the water of the Nile downstream, containing 80% of the water and silt. The White Nile is longer and rises in the Great Lakes region. It begins at Lake Victoria and flows through Uganda and South Sudan. The Blue Nile begins at Lake Tana in Ethiopia and flows into Sudan from the southeast. The two rivers meet at the Sudanese capital of Khartoum.
The northern section of the river flows north almost entirely through the NubianDesert to Cairo and its large delta, and the river flows into the Mediterranean Sea at Alexandria. Egyptian civilization and Sudanese kingdoms have depended on the river and its annual flooding since ancient times. Most of the population and cities of Egypt lie along those parts of the Nile valley north of the Aswan Dam. Nearly all the cultural and historical sites of Ancient Egypt developed and are found along river banks. The Nile is, with the Rhône and Po, one of the three Mediterranean rivers with the largest water discharge.
The standard English names White Nile and Blue Nile refer to the river's source, derived from Arabic names formerly applied to only the Sudanese stretches that meet at Khartoum.
In the ancient Egyptian language, the Nile is called Ḥ'pī (Hapy) or Iteru, meaning river. In Coptic, the word ⲫⲓⲁⲣⲟ, pronounced piaro (Sahidic) or phiaro (Bohairic), means the river, and comes from the same ancient name. In Nobiin the river is called Áman Dawū, meaning the great water. In Luganda the river is called Kiira or Kiyira. In Runyoro it is called Kihiira. In Egyptian Arabic, the Nile is called en-Nīl, while in Standard Arabic it is called an-Nīl. In Biblical Hebrew, it is הַיְאוֹר, Ha-Ye'or or הַשִׁיחוֹר, Ha-Shiḥor.
The English name Nile and the Arabic names en-Nîl and an-Nîl both derive from the Latin Nilus and the Ancient Greek Νεῖλος. Beyond that, however, the etymology is disputed. Homer called the river Αἴγυπτος, Aiguptos, but in subsequent periods, Greek authors referred to its lower course as Neilos; this term became generalised for the entire river system. Thus, the name may derive from Ancient Egyptian expression nꜣ rꜣw-ḥꜣw(t) the mouths of the front parts, which referred specifically to the branches of the Nile transversing the Delta, and would have been pronounced ni-lo-he in the area around Memphis in the 8th century BCE. Hesiod at his Theogony refers to Nilus (Νεῖλος) as one of the Potamoi (river gods), son of Oceanus and Tethys.
Another derivation of Nile might be related to the term Nil, which refers to Indigofera tinctoria, one of the original sources of indigo dye. Another may be Nymphaea caerulea, known as The Sacred Blue Lily of the Nile, which was found scattered over Tutankhamun's corpse when it was excavated in 1922. Another possible etymology derives from the Semitic term Nahal, meaning river. Old Libyan has the term lilu, meaning water (in modern Berber ilel ⵉⵍⴻⵍ means sea).
With a total length of about 6,650 km between the region of Lake Victoria and the Mediterranean Sea, the Nile is among the longest rivers on Earth. The drainage basin of the Nile covers 3,254,555 square kilometers, about 10% of the area of Africa. Compared to other major rivers, though, the Nile carries little water (5% of that of the Congo River, for example). The Nile basin is complex, and because of this, the discharge at any given point along the main stem depends on many factors including weather, diversions, evaporation and evapotranspiration, and groundwater flow.
Upstream from Khartoum (to the south), the river is known as the White Nile, a term also used in a limited sense to describe the section between Lake No and Khartoum. At Khartoum, the river is joined by the Blue Nile. The White Nile starts in equatorial East Africa, and the Blue Nile begins in Ethiopia. Both branches are on the western flanks of the East African Rift.
Below the Aswan Dam, at the northern limit of Lake Nasser, the Nile resumes its historic course. North of Cairo, the Nile splits into two branches (or distributaries) that feed the Mediterranean: the Rosetta Branch to the west and the Damietta to the east, forming the Nile Delta.
Today, The Grandma has received the wonderful visit of their closest friends ClaireFontaine, Joseph de Ca'thLon, Tonyi Tamaki, LauraCollins, Tina Picotes and Jordi Santanyí. They have celebrated Sant Jordi together.
Sant Jordi is the patron of Catalonia and much more places and his origin is unknown. Some studies talk about his Palestinian origin while other talk about his Egyptian one.
The Grandma has been reading the legend of Saint Jordi based in The Golden Legend, in Latin Legenda aurea or Legenda sanctorum, the collection of hagiographies by Jacobus de Voragine that was widely read in late medieval Europe. More than a thousand manuscripts of the text have survived. It was likely compiled around the years 1259–1266, although the text was added to over the centuries.
Georgius tribunus, genere Cappadocum, pervenit quadam vice in provinciam Libyae in civitatem, quae dicitur Silena. Iuxta quam civitatem erat stagnum instar maris, in quo draco pestifer latitabat, qui saepe populum contra se armatum in fugam converterat flatuque suo ad muros civitatis accedens omnes inficiebat.
Quapropter compulsi, cives duas oves quotidie sibi dabant, ut eius furorem sedarent, alioquin sic muros civitatis invadebat et aerem inficiebat, quod plurimi interibant. Cum ergo iam oves paene deficerent (maxime cum harum copiam habere non possent), inito consilio ovem cum adiuncto homine tribuebant.
Cum igitur sorte omnium filii et filiae hominum darentur et sors neminem exciperet, et iam paene omnes filii et filiae essent consumpti, quadam vice filia regis unica sorte est deprehensa et draconi adiudicata.
Tunc rex contristatus ait: «Tollite aurum et argentum et dimidium regni mei et filiam mihi dimittite, ne taliter moriatur.»
Quod rex videns coepit filiam suam flere dicens: «Heu me, filia mea dulcissima, quid de te faciam? Aut quid dicam? Quando plus videbo nuptias tuas?» Et conversus ad populum dixit: «Oro, ut indutias octo dierum lugendi mihi filiam tribuatis.»
Quod cum populus admisisset, in fine octo dierum reversus populus est cum furore dicens: «Quare perdis populum tuum propter filiam tuam! En omnes afflatu draconis morimur.»
Tunc, rex, videns quod non posset filiam liberare, induit eam vestibus regalibus et amplexatus eam cum lacrimis dixit: «Heu me, filia mea dulcissima, de te filios in regali gremio nutrire credebam et nunc vadis, ut a dracone devoreris.
Heu me, filia mea dulcissima, sperabam ad tuas nuptias principes invitare, palatium margaritis ornare, tympana et organa audire, et nunc vadis, ut a dracone devoreris. «Et deosculans dimisit eam dicens: «Utinam, filia mea, ego ante te mortuus essem, quam te sic amisissem.»
Tunc illa procidit ad pedes patris petens ab eo benedictionem suam. Quam cum pater cum lacrimis benedixisset, ad lacum processit.
Quam beatus Georgius casu inde transiens ut plorantem vidit, eam quid haberet interrogavit. Et illa: «Bone iuvenis, velociter equum adscende et fuge, ne mecum pariter moriaris.» Cui Georgius: «Noli timere, filia, sed dic mihi quid hic praestolaris omni plebe spectante!»
Et illa: «Ut video, bone iuvenis, magnifici cordis es tu, sed mecum mori desideras! Fuge velociter.» Cui Georgius: «Hinc ego non discedam donec mihi, quid habeas, intimabis.» Cum ergo totum sibi exposuisset, ait Georgius: «Filia noli timere, quia in Christi nomine te iuvabo.»
Et illa: «Bone miles, sed te ipsum salvare festines, mecum non pereas. Sufficit enim, si sola peream. Nam me liberare non posses et tu mecum perires.» Dum haec loquerentur, ecce draco veniens caput de lacu levavit. Tunc puella tremefacta dixit: «Fuge, bone domine, fuge velociter.»
Tunc Georgius equum ascendens et cruce se muniens draconem contra se advenientem audaciter aggreditur et lanceam fortiter vibrans et se Deo commendans ipsum graviter vulneravit et ad terram deiecit dixitque puellae: «Proice zonam tuam in collum draconis nihil dubitans, filia.»
Quod cum fecisset, sequebatur eam velut mansuetissima canis. Cum ergo eum in civitatem duceret, populi hoc videntes per montes et colles fugere coeperunt dicentes: «Vae nobis, quia iam omnes peribimus!»
Tunc beatus Georgius innuit iis dicens: «Nolite timere, ad hoc enim me misit Dominus ad vos, ut a poenis vos liberarem draconis. Tantummodo in Christum credite et unusquisque vestrum baptizetur et draconem istum occidam.»
Tunc rex et omnes populi baptizati sunt, beatus Georgius evaginato gladio draconem occidit et ipsum extra civitatem efferri praecepit. Tunc quattuor paria boum ipsum in magnum campum foras duxerunt.
Baptizati autem sunt in illa die XX milia exceptis parvulis et mulieribus. Rex autem in honorem beatae Mariae et beati Georgi ecclesiam mirae magnitudinis construxit.
De cuius altari fons vivus emanat, cuius potus omnes languidos sanat. Rex vero infinitam pecuniam beato Georgio obtulit, quam ille recipere nolens pauperibus eam dari praecepit.
Tunc Georgius de quatuor regem breviter instruxit, scilicet ut ecclesiarum dei curam haberet, sacerdotes honoraret, divinum officium diligenter audiret et semper pauperum memor esset; et sic osculato rege inde recessit.
In aliquibus tamen libris legitur quod dum draco ad devorandum puellam pergeret, Georgius se cruce muniuit et draconem aggrediens interfecit.
Today, The Grandma has received the wonderful visit of one of her closestfriends, Tina Picotes, who has been visiting New York City. They have been talking about Cleopatra's Needle, one of three similarly named Egyptian obelisks erected in Central Park.
Cleopatra's Needle in New York City is one of three similarly named Egyptian obelisks.
It was erected in Central Park, west of the Metropolitan Museum of Art in Manhattan, onFebruary 22, 1881.It was secured in May 1877 by judge Elbert E. Farman, the United States Consul General at Cairo, as a gift from the Khedive for the United States remaining a friendly neutral as the European powers -France and Britain- maneuvered to secure political control of the Egyptian government. The transportation costs were largely paid for by railroad magnate William Henry Vanderbilt, the eldest son of Cornelius Vanderbilt.
Made of red granite, the obelisk stands about 21 metres high, weighsabout 200 tons, and is inscribed with Egyptian hieroglyphs.
It was originally erected in the Egyptian city of Heliopolis on the orders of Thutmose III, in 1475 BC.
The granite was brought from the quarries of Aswan near the first cataract of the Nile. The inscriptions were added about 200 years later by Ramesses II to commemorate his military victories.
The obelisks were moved to Alexandria and set up in the Caesareum -a temple built by Cleopatra in honor of Mark Antony or Julius Caesar- by the Romans in 12 BC, during the reign of Augustus, but were toppled some time later. This had the fortuitous effect of burying their faces and so preserving most of the hieroglyphs from the effects of weathering.
The original idea to secure an Egyptian obelisk for New York City came from the March 1877 New York City newspaper accounts of the transporting of the London obelisk.
The newspapers mistakenly attributed to a Mr. John Dixon the 1869 proposal of the Khedive of Egypt, Isma'il Pasha, to give the United States an obelisk as a gift for increased trade. Mr. Dixon, the contractor who, in 1877, arranged the transport of the London obelisk, denied the newspaper accounts.
In
March 1877, Mr. Henry G. Stebbins, Commissioner of the Department of
Public Parks of the City of New York, undertook to secure the funding to
transport the obelisk to New York. However, when railroad magnate
William H. Vanderbilt was asked to head the subscription, he offered to
finance the project with a donation of more than US$100,000, equivalent
to $2,430,313 in 2020.
Stebbins then sent two acceptance letters to the Khedive through the Department of State which forwarded them to Judge Farman in Cairo. Realizing that he might be able to secure one of the two remaining upright obelisks -either the mate to the Paris obelisk in Luxor or the London mate in Alexandria- Judge Farman formally asked the Khedive in March 1877, and by May 1877 he had secured the gift in writing.
The obelisk was placed on an obscure site behind the museum. Henry Honeychurch Gorringe, who supervised the movement of the obelisk, William Henry Hulbert, who was involved in early development of the plan, and Frederic Edwin Church, a cofounder of the Metropolitan Museum of Art and a member of the Department of Public Parks in New York City, selected the site of the obelisk in 1879.
Gorringe
wrote, In order to avoid needless discussion of the subject, it was
decided to maintain the strictest secrecy as to the location determined
on. He noted that the prime advantage of the Knoll was its isolation and that it was the best site to be found inside the park, as it was
quite elevated and the foundation could be firmly anchored in bedrock,
lest Manhattan suffer some violent convulsion of nature.
The
formidable task of moving theobelisk from Alexandria to New York was
given to Henry HonychurchGorringe, a lieutenant commander on leave from
the U.S. Navy. The 200-ton granite obelisk was first shifted from
vertical to horizontal, nearly crashing to ground in the process. In
August 1879 the movement process was suspended for two months because
of local protests and legal challenges. Once those were resolved, the
obelisk was transported seven miles to Alexandria and then put into the
hold of the steamship SS Dessoug, which set sail June 12, 1880.
The
Dessoug was heavily modified with a large hole cut into the starboard
side of its bow. The obelisk was loaded through the ship's hull by
rolling it upon cannonballs.
Even with a broken propeller, the SS Dessoug was able to make the journey to the United States.
The obelisk and its 50-ton pedestal arrived at the Quarantine Station in New York in early July 1880. It took 32 horses hitched in pairs to bring it from the banks of the East River to Central Park.
Railroad ramps and tracks had to be temporarily removed and the ground flattened so that the obelisk could be rolled out of the ship, whose side had been cut open once again for the purpose. The obelisk was carried up the East River and transported to a temporary location off Fifth Avenue.
The final leg of the journey was made by pushing the obelisk with a steam engine across a specially built trestle bridge from Fifth Avenue to its new home on Greywacke Knoll, just across the drive from the Metropolitan Museum of Art. It took 112 days to move the obelisk from Quarantine Station to its resting place.
Jesse B. Anthony, Grand Master of Masons in the State of New York, presided as the cornerstone for the obelisk was laid in place with full Masonic ceremony on October 2, 1880.
Over 9,000 Masons paraded up Fifth Avenue from 14th Street to 82nd Street, and it was estimated that over 50,000 spectators lined the parade route. The benediction was presented by R. W. Louis C. Gerstein. The obelisk was righted by a special structure built by Henry Honychurch Gorringe. The official ceremony for erecting the obelisk was held February 22, 1881.
The surface of the stone is heavily weathered, nearly masking the rows of Egyptian hieroglyphs engraved on all sides. Photographs taken near the time the obelisk was erected in the park show that the inscriptions or hieroglyphs, as depicted below with translation, were still quite legible and date first from Thutmosis III (1479–1425 BC) and then nearly 300 years later, Ramesses II the Great (1279–1213 BC).
The stone had stood in the clear dry Egyptian desert air for nearly 3,000 years and had undergone little weathering. In a little more than a century in the climate of New York City, pollution and acid rain have heavily pitted its surfaces.
In 2010, Dr. Zahi Hawass sent an open letter to the president of the Central Park Conservancy and the Mayor of New York City insisting on improved conservation efforts. If they were not able to properly care for the obelisk, he threatened to take the necessary steps to bring this precious artifact home and save it from ruin.
A time capsule buried beneath the obelisk contains an 1870 U.S. census, a Bible, a Webster's Dictionary, the complete works of William Shakespeare, a guide to Egypt, and a copy of the United States Declaration of Independence. A small box was also placed in the capsule by the man who arranged the obelisk's purchase and transportation, but its contents remain unknown.
Today, The Grandma has received the wonderful visit of one of her closest friends, Tina Picotes.
Tina loves classic dance, and they have been talking about Anna Pavlova, the Russian prima ballerina who is considered one of the best of all time who was born on a day like today in 1881.
Anna Pavlovna Pavlova, in Russian АннаПавловнаПавлова, born Anna Matveyevna Pavlova (12 February 1881-23 January 1931), was a Russian prima ballerina of the late 19th and the early 20th centuries.
She was a principal artist of the Imperial Russian Ballet and the Ballets Russes of Sergei Diaghilev.
Pavlova is most recognized for her creation of the role of The Dying Swan and, with her own company, became the first ballerina to tour around the world, including performances in South America, India and Australia.
Anna Matveyevna Pavlova was born in the Preobrazhensky Regiment hospital, Saint Petersburg where her father, Matvey Pavlovich Pavlov, served.
Some sources say that her parents married just before her birth, others -years later. Her mother, Lyubov Feodorovna Pavlova, came from peasants and worked as a laundress at the house of a Russian-Jewish banker, Lazar Polyakov, for some time.
When Anna rose to fame, Polyakov's son Vladimir claimed that she was an illegitimate daughter of his father; others speculated that Matvey Pavlov himself supposedly came from Crimean Karaites (there is even a monument built in one of Yevpatoria's kenesas dedicated to Pavlova), yet both legends find no historical proof. Anna Matveyevna changed her patronymic to Pavlovna when she started performing on stage.
Young Pavlova's years of training were difficult. Classical ballet did not comeeasily to her. Her severely arched feet, thin ankles, and long limbs clashed with the small, compact body favoured for the ballerina of the time. Her fellow students taunted her with such nicknames as The broom and La petite sauvage.
Undeterred, Pavlova trained to improve her technique. She would practice and practice after learning a step. She said, No one can arrive from being talented alone. God gives talent, work transforms talent into genius.
She took extra lessons from the noted teachers of the day -Christian Johansson, Pavel Gerdt, Nikolai Legat- and from Enrico Cecchetti, considered the greatest ballet virtuoso of the time and founder of the Cecchetti method, a very influential ballet technique used to this day. In 1898, she entered the classe de perfection of Ekaterina Vazem, former Prima ballerina of the Saint Petersburg Imperial Theatres.
During her final year at the Imperial Ballet School, she performed many roles with the principal company. She graduated in 1899 at age 18, chosen to enter the Imperial Ballet a rank ahead of corps de ballet as a coryphée. She made her official début at the Mariinsky Theatre in Pavel Gerdt's Les Dryades prétendues(The False Dryads). Her performance drew praise from the critics, particularly the great critic and historian Nikolai Bezobrazov.
In the first years of the Ballets Russes, Pavlova worked briefly for Sergei Diaghilev. Originally, she was to dance the lead in Mikhail Fokine's The Firebird,but refused the part, as she could not come to terms with Igor Stravinsky's avant-garde score, and the role was given to Tamara Karsavina. All her life, Pavlova preferred the melodious musique dansante of the old maestros such as Cesare Pugni and Ludwig Minkus, and cared little for anything else which strayed from the salon-style ballet music of the 19th century.
While travelling from Paris to The Hague, Pavlova became very ill, and worsened on her arrival in The Hague. She sent to Paris for her personal physician, Dr Zalewski to attend her.
She was told that she had pneumonia and required an operation. She was also told that she would never be able to dance again if she went ahead with it. She refused to have the surgery, saying If I can't dance, then I'd rather be dead. She died of pleurisy, in the bedroom next to the Japanese Salon of the Hotel Des Indes in The Hague, twenty days short of her 50th birthday.
Victor Dandré wrote that Pavlova died a half hour past midnight on Friday, 23 January 1931, with her maid Marguerite Létienne, Dr. Zalevsky, and himself at her bedside. Her last words were, Get my 'Swan' costume ready.
Dandré and Létienne dressed her body in her favorite beige lace dress and placed her in a coffin with a sprig of lilac. At 7 am, a Russian Orthodox priest arrived to say prayers over her body. At 7:30 am, her coffin was taken to the mortuary chapel attaching the Catholic hospital in The Hague.
Today, The Grandma has received wonderful news of one of her closest friends, Tina Picotes who is spending some days in Pretoria, South Africa. She has visited Fountains Valley, the oldest nature reserve in Africa, that was proclaimed on a day like today in 1895.
The Fountains Valley is a recreational resort at the southern entrance to Pretoria in South Africa.
It was proclaimed as a nature reserve by President Paul Kruger on 1 February 1895. Consequently, this 60 ha reserve, along with the contiguous Groenkloof Nature Reserve,constitute the oldest nature reserves on the African continent.
The Apies River flows through the resort, and there are two natural water sources in the area. The resort has various recreational facilities such as a caravan park, swimming pool, lapa, playground and barbecue facilities.
The historic ruins of the house of Lucas Cornelius Bronkhorst (1795-1875) is located near the resort. The Bronkhorst family was part of Hendrik Potgieter's trek party during the Great Trek, and were the first owners of the farms in the district where Pretoria was later established.
The Groenkloof Nature Reserve, located adjacent to the Fountains Valley at the southern entrance to Pretoria, was the first game sanctuary in Africa. The reserve of 600 ha is managed by the Department of Nature Conservation.
The National Heritage Monument is located within the reserve. It is flanked by Christina de Wit Avenue and Nelson Mandela Drive, that separate it from the Voortrekker Monument and Klapperkop Nature Reserves. In aggregate these reserves conserve some 1,400 ha of bankenveld vegetation which is threatened in Gauteng.
This valley on the southern outskirts of Pretoria was proclaimed a game sanctuary by President Paul Kruger on 25 February 1895.
Its main purpose was to protect the shy and timid oribi, which occurred there, and other game that were being depleted by hunters.
For many years however, the reserve was leased for exotic timber plantation, to supply wood and paper. A memorial wall is to be seen beside traces of the homestead of the early pioneer Lucas Bronkhorst, who settled here around 1839.
In April 2015 the head of the reserve, David Boshoff, was suspended and evicted from his council home by the Tshwane metro HR manager. The eviction came in the fifth month of a strike by the majority of the reserve's workers, who reportedly negated their agreement with management to return to work in February.
When the reserve was reproclaimed in 1994, the plantations were removed to allow the natural vegetation to regenerate. Open grassland occurs along the Apies valley and the higher plateau. Native trees occur at varying densities on the hillsides and in the lower valley. These include white stinkwood, hook-thorn, mountain karee, velvet bushwillow, wild pear and puzzle bush.
Since 1999 the reserve was stocked with various game species. These include zebra, blesbok, impala, kudu, blue wildebeest, red hartebeest (since 2002), giraffe (2002), sable (2003) and ostrich. Jackal, duiker and rock hyrax are also resident.
Over 120 bird species have been recorded in the reserve and the adjacent Fountains Valley. Game birds include guineafowl, Swainson's spurfowl and crested francolin. The grassy floodplain of the Apies river and its riparian vegetation provide breeding habitat for a number of weaver, bishop and widow species, while the open woodlands on the lower hill slopes provide breeding territories for bushshrike and tchagra species.
Special invertebrates of the reserve include Gunning's rock scorpion, golden-starburst baboon spider, the violin spider L. speluncarum which is endemic to caves of the Pretoria area, and the purse-web spider, Calommata transvaalica, which is severely threatened by urbanization in Gauteng.
South Africa gives me a perspective of what's real and what's not real. So I go back to South Africa to both lose myself and gain awareness of myself. Every time I go back, it doesn't take long for me to get caught into a very different thing. A very different sense of myself.
Today, The Grandma and her friends Claire Fontaine, Jordi Santanyí, Josep deCa'th Lon, Tina Picotes and Tonyi Tamaki want to talk about LaMarató de TV3, a Catalan public television program that raises funds for medical research and which has reached its 30th edition, this year dedicated to mental health diseases.
Mental health is a serious issue that affects a very high percentage of our society, while being highly stigmatized. The two main objectives of this Marató are to raise funds to research and raise awareness about the medical issues covered. It is a very significant day for Catalans, because they show one of the pillars of their idiosyncrasy, solidarity. No nation can move forward without solidarity and without a strong sense of community.
During the days leading up to the Marató de TV3, thousands of events are held throughout Catalonia, the Balearic Islands and Andorra where anonymous people work together to raise funds which will then be donated to La Marató. Dances, popular culture, bingo, sports events, art exhibitions, concerts ... everything is worth it to be able to come together to make this joint effort a reality: to work together to be able to finance projects that improve everyone's quality of life.
Congratulations on these 30 years of solidarity. Congratulations to the Catalan public television (TV3) and to all the people who participate from the Catalan Countries or from other parts of the world.
La Marató de TV3, or La Marató, is a solidarity gala or telemarathon held annually by TV3 on the Sunday before Christmas and promoted by Televisió de Catalunya and the Fundació La Marató de TV3.
The first edition was held in 1992 and each year funds are raised for research on a type of disease; each year a different type of disease. An average of seven million euros is raised each year.
Its main purpose is to raise funds for research and dissemination of a disease or group of diseases. Over the years, it has grown in prestige and donations to the point of creating in 1996 the Fundació La Marató de TV3, which is responsible for managing the funds, the selection of the best scientific projects for funding and the campaigns of relevant awareness.
To raise money for the fund of the Marató, a thousand events are organized all over the Catalan Countries. Since 2005 it has had the Marató record, which is sold to the main newspapers in Catalonia. Before the start of the 2013 edition, the Marató has allocated more than 119 million euros in 607 years to 607 biomedical research projects.
For the 2020 edition, the Foundation's board of trustees has focused its attention on COVID-19, moving the topic of Mental Illness to the 2021 edition, which will be the 30th edition of the Marató.
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