exceptional growers (13. 595)

Recalling that decades ago, whilst in Prague and having frequented the legendary Thirsty Dog (the tavern opposite the capital’s Municipal House, Žíznivý pes made famous by the Nick Cave song) and having ordered a Harvey Wall-Banger was presented a small potted cactus before being served, the bartender later explaining that this was part of her brother’s collection who had seemed to have lost interest in their upkeep, we found history of succulent capers, hardly a one-off occurrence of enthusiasts in the Czech Republic, to be quite resonant. The craze and eventual poaching began with “Alberto” Vojtěch Frič in the 1900s and a botanical expedition to South America after his original garden fell victim to a hard frost, which informed Czech collectors in an enduring legacy, at first isolated from global market to cultivate a space, a pastime separate from Communism and Soviet domination.   More from The Conversation at the link above.

synchronoptica

one year ago: Bauhaus theatre (with synchronoptica) plus Operation Ploughshare 

two years ago: assorted links to revisit, bracket orthography plus Forrest Gump (1994)

three years ago: when in the country 

four years ago: an East German rock opera plus a message beamed into deep space

five years ago: more on artist Sophie Taeuber Arp, a banger from David Bowie, a visit to Mellrichstadt, wolfsbane plus assorted links to revisit

six years ago: time immemorial plus a trip to the Moselle

day one-hundred twenty-five (13. 594)

Dayslong funeral services are held for the late Supreme Leader with the new ayatollah still conspicuously absent from public view. OPEC has agreed to increase production as the Strait Hormuz gradually opens. Trump is slated to discuss maritime security at the upcoming NATO summit as trade resumes between Qatar and Iran as well as ending the Russia-Ukraine war. A cargo ship is attacked off the coast of Yemen. Tehran names a new commander of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps.

an american in paris (13. 593)

Courtesy of Messy Nessy Chic via a link roundup that celebrates the US’ special relationship with France as told though its expatriates and exiles, we learn about American Air Force veteran and expert archer Erika Eiffel (née LaBrie) whom married the famous tower in a commitment ceremony in 2007. Polyamorous by nature, Eiffel first discovered her unique subcategory of paraphilia after an attempted sexual assault by a fellow cadet in the academy, rebuffing her attacker with a training sword, which she was reluctant ever to be without, then credits her skill with archery to her relationship with her bow, Lance. After her first visit to the tower in 2004, Eiffel felt an immediate connection on several levels and was inspired to found an organisation for those with similar feelings for inanimate objects (see also here and here) and advocate how love is reciprocated and empowering, as she explained in an interview with Good Morning America and the Tyra Banks’ Show. Aside from the mythical sculptor Pygmalion and Quasimodo’s love for the bells of Notre Dame, real life examples include a Swedish woman who wed the Berlin Wall in 1979 and an Australian woman who married Le Pont du Diable in Hérault in 2013.

synchronoptica

one year ago: assorted links worth the revisit (with synchronoptica)

two years ago: returning via Switzerland plus a new Labour government for the UK

three years ago: a banger from Janet Jackson, more links to enjoy, Tynwald Day in Manx, the Tiny Awards plus pull-tabs for canned beverages

four years ago: Saint Zoe plus a passport for the stateless (1922)

five years ago: points of departure 

six years ago: Thomas Cook travel agency (1841), a 90s music festival generator plus even more links

days one-hundred twenty-three and four (13. 592)

Preoccupied with state funerals for the leadership killed during the onset of the war and American bread and circuses, Tehran and Washington have been mostly adhering to their armistice—although debates still remain unresolved concerning tolls for Hormuz and the Omani alternate route through the strait. Trump claims he extended the truce out of respect and charity for the former Supreme Leader and his family, though the US president interrupted his holiday schedule to speak with both Zelenskyy and Putin as efforts to end the war are seen as stalled and no closer to breaking the deadlock as the war is well into its fifth year, delivering from Mount Rushmore—there is still a movement within the GOP cult to add his visage to the monument—a relatively anodyne speech about American exceptionalism, the country’s spiritual-misguide, before veering into the sinister threat of Communism with rhetoric that rivals the Red Scare.

thüngen und gambach (13. 591)

 

karlstadt am main (13. 590)

 

kloster schönau (13. 589)

 

Originally founded as a monastery dedicated to the Immaculate Conception in the late tenth century by ministerialis (a type of dependent knight, see previously here and here) by Philipp von Thüngen zu Heßlar with the support of the bishopric of Würzburg as a pilgrimage destination managed by Cistercian nuns of local nobility until the nuns were forced to flee during the Peasants’ Revolt and the last abbess, Veronika Geyer von Giebelstadt returned the property to the diocese, cloister Schönau was given over to a Franciscan friar in the early 1700s, remodeled in the Baroque style, which informs the look today, and acquired the relics of two catacomb saints from Rome, reinterred and adding to the its appeal for pilgrims, called Viktor and Antonius.

Slated for dissolution in 1803 as part of the securalisation of Church land  within the Kingdom of Bavaria, monks refused to abandon the site until only one was left in 1827, Brother Totnan Schech, surviving to an advanced age out of determination and witnessing the decree of King Ludwig I, restoring some still active Church property. Though repopulated back then, the site is today only home to two priests and one monk providing pastoral services to the community—with a hostel for visitors. Schönau is celebrating the recent eighth-hundredth anniversary of the order and as a reminder that St Francis invented the creche, there is a sixteenth-century historical Nativity Scene, not trying to be a costume-drama.

bicentenary (13. 588)

Culminating on this day in 1976, a decade in planning and preceded by numerous events, both sanctioned and unsanctioned by the US government including the Boston Oil Party, when objects symbolising the petroleum industry were tossed in the city’s harbour to promote environmental justice and declare independence from polluting corporations and Richard Nixon was hanged in effigy, elected representatives reenacted the first Continental Congress, a state visit by the Queen, the Freedom Train made a circuit of the nation and a time-capsule opened, America celebrated its the beginning of its third century, focused on themes of renewal and rebirth, recently have endure the Watergate scandal and the Fall of Saigon. The logo was designed by Bruce Blackburn, who also modernised the NASA insignia (see also here and here). The bicentennial parade in Philadelphia was lead by grand marshal Johnny Cash and the US space agency unveiled its first test vehicle in its line of space shuttles—originally to be christened the Constitution in honour of the anniversary but renamed Enterprise due to popular demand.   Fifty years on, the holiday will probably be marked with the end of the fourteenth and seventeenth amendments, reversing birth-right citizenship and direct voting for senatorial representation.

synchronoptica

one year ago: another cosmic interloper (with synchronoptica) plus One Big Beautiful Bill 

two years ago:  the introduction of the Caesar salad (1925) plus the waterfalls of Mount Cuvignone

three years ago: David Bowie’s Station to Station, My Country ’Tis of Thee plus forgotten American mascots

four years ago: an ancient nebula 

five years ago: occupied Austria plus local flora 

six years ago: American Top 40 (1970), Nixon’s Honor America Day plus the superlative of free