Illth - Definition on Wikipedia

Illth, a term and concept used by John Ruskin as the reverse of wealth in the sense of ‘well-being’. The Oxford English Dictionary recognises it as a valid word.

In Ruskin's view:

Wealth, therefore, is 'The possession of the valuable by the valiant'; and in considering it as a power existing in a nation, the two elements, the value of the thing, and the valour of its possessor, must be estimated together. Whence it appears that many of the persons commonly considered wealthy, are in reality no more wealthy than the locks of their own strong boxes are, they being inherently and eternally incapable of wealth; and operating for the nation, in an economical point of view, either as pools of dead water, and eddies in a stream (which, so long as the stream flows, are useless, or serve only to drown people, but may become of importance in a state of stagnation should the stream dry); or else, as dams in a river, of which the ultimate service depends not on the dam, but the miller; or else, as mere accidental stays and impediments, acting not as wealth, but (for we ought to have a correspondent term) as 'illth,' causing various devastation and trouble around them in all directions; or lastly, act not at all, but are merely animated conditions of delay, (no use being possible of anything they have until they are dead,) in which last condition they are nevertheless often useful as delays, and 'impedimenta,' (Unto this Last, 1860)

Various other writers have used the term, and continue to do so. A notable example is Shaw, who uses illth as a subheading in an 1889 essey.

Word/Phrase/Moon of the Day/Week

Pawky

(Sly, shrewd, dryly humerous)

Aio Quantitas Magna Frumentorum Est

(yes that is a very large amount of corn)

The moon is waxing gibbous

The Triscombe Stone

May 28th 7pm
Vicky and Cuckco duet together

Buddah's fingers

Crepuscular rays, in atmospheric optics, also known as sun rays or God's rays, are rays of sunlight that appear to radiate from a single point in the sky. These rays, which stream through gaps in clouds, are diverging columns of sunlit air separated by darker cloud-shadowed regions. The name comes from their frequent occurrences during twilight, when the contrasts between light and dark are the most obvious. Various airborne compounds scatter the sunlight and make these rays visible. The reason we see the light so defined is because of diffraction, reflection and scattering.

Crepuscular rays are near-parallel, but appear to diverge because of linear perspective. They often occur when objects such as mountain peaks or clouds partially shadow the sun's rays like a cloud cover. Three main forms of crepuscular rays are:

* Rays of light penetrating holes in low clouds (also called "Jacob's Ladder").
* Beams of light diverging from behind a cloud.
* Pale, pinkish or reddish rays that radiate from below the horizon. These are often mistaken for sun pillars.

The rays of the second and third types, in some cases, may extend across the sky and appear to converge at the antisolar point, which is the point on the sky sphere directly opposite the sun, and they are called anticrepuscular rays. Like crepusucular rays, they are parallel shafts of sunlight from holes in the clouds, and their apparently odd directions are a perspective effect.

Crepuscular and anticrepuscular rays behave in the same way. Crepuscular rays are usually red or yellow in appearance because the atmosphere acts as a giant lens, refracting low sunset rays into long curved paths passing through up to 40 times as much air than the rays from a high midday sun. Particles in the air scatter short wavelength blue and green rays much more strongly than longer wavelength yellow and red.

Crepuscular rays can also occasionally be viewed underwater. Particularly, in arctic areas, appearing from ice shelfs or cracks in the ice.

Warren Cottage, Wiltshire

Tucked in a cluster of trees,
The cottage hides from the walking lane,
Flint-bricked on a wheatened hill,
Crowned by an English rood.

Looking north,
An ancient fort moated by knurled oak,
Where once centurions stood, clenched against the wind,
Plumed in the shade to greet the dawn with fear.

On the south,
Nymphs and a scaled garden,
Foliation's and stems and tarragon and thyme,
Its own Byzantium,
Hedged in the patient simplicity of sun.

Within the cottage,
Musick and an oil-lit fantasy of suites,
Plucked wingless among the old bricks,
A tracery of eaves, and shuttered windows,

All veiled in a brush of trees,
Where the fire and the rose are one.

Keith Treacher 1997

Coruscations of Light

O ‘Children, my Children - come closer
And I will tell you of the stars;
The Stars that fall to earth in glittering array,
And contain the fragments of our future’s hope,

Each one is so precious and so fragile,
The vital force that entices the shoot to bloom
Carries its own burden of stories past;
Each generation fights against the tide.

Listen to me; it is the inherited fears that conspire against the beauty of new life;
And wounds open against every thrust it seems.
So, we must struggle to heal these dark set wounds;
Relinquish and grow aright.

I tell you, I will not add to your burden from my vessel,
Receive no new amount from me to bend and twist your growth.
Together we will staunch the blood that flows,
And grow together strong and new

Vicky Hemingway 2001

Blue

When glassy eyes reflect upon the land,
And torn emotions float
Sky-bound to the cloud-bound high,
Empty is the space and there is peace again

Is this the draught for the soul?
Is this the time for contemplation?
Watching the earth spin,
Exhilarating in the force of movement.

Nature in moments of being, affirms our existence,
Asserting itself, pushing upward edger to make seed.
Clear space expands and the sky,
Rampant now in its freedom, is dappled and vast.

Vicky Hemingway 1989