Carme's summer stories. July: Mountain refuge

While I was busy proofreading the 1669 pages of my opus magnum ‘Pre-Assyrian Philately in a Nutshell’, a gasp made me look up. My friend Sean was standing in front of me, as white as a sheet, staring at me with terror-filled eyes.
‘I need your help,’ he groaned. And he told me that he had been looking round an antiques dealer when a man in a white hat entered the shop. "The dealer seemed to know him, greeted him and asked what Mr. mayor was doing here. The man answered that he was attending to his secret business, turned round, our eyes met and suddenly daggers flashed in his eyes. The next moment, he pulled his hat down low over his face and disappeared."

photo: sa lluna

When I gave him an irritated look, Sean burst out: "Don't you understand, Tetrapilotomos? I have met Death in the guise of the mayor! But I know a refuge at L'Estany de l'Illa in Andorra. He certainly won't find me there. Please help me."
So I sacrificed precious time, and 15 minutes later Sean was able to be transported to his desired destination in a wormhole.

photo: Xavier Puyol

My friend's fear gave me no peace. So I decided to get some fresh air. Not far from the antiques dealer, I spotted the man in the white hat and confronted him:
"You scared my friend to death. Why?"

"I didn't want to scare him", he said. "I was just surprised to see him here because we have an appointment tonight at L'Estany de l'Illa."

Mainau Declaration(s)

"An enormous responsibility lies in the hands of political leaders today. [...] A mentally ill or power-obsessed dictator could then [...] doom the civilised world, but with it also his own country, to radiation death. [...] Such a possibility must never occur, and hence the need for truly international control over the development of nuclear weapons, or better: peaceful coexistence of all peoples. [...] Today, war is no longer 'the continuation of politics by other means'. In a bomb war there are no longer victors and vanquished."
Otto Hahn, 13 February 1955

Five months later, 15 July 1955, the Nobel Prize Laureate initiated the Mainau Declaration at the Lindau Nobel Laureate Meeting. Among the 52 signatories worldwide were the physicists Werner Heisenberg and Max Born, as well as 15 other German and international Nobel laureates.

Two further declarations followed in 2015 (on climate change) and 2024 (on nuclear weapons).
Mainau Declarations

Coffeetime with Lemprière's Dictionary

Lemprière's Dictionary

Saturday Night Music – Anna Lapwood

Anna Lapwood *28 July 1995

Royal Albert Hall Organ 

Friday is Skyday

Soon I shall be dead.
Even without warmongers.
She takes all easy.

***
Morirem tots
no cal tinguin pressa
a eliminar-nos.
(Carme)

***
Si no és avui
serà qualsevol dia.
Llarga l'espera.
(Paula)

***
És al capvespre
que esperar ja no et cansa.
Has posat anys.
(Helena)

 

 

 

 

 

70 Years Russell-Einstein-Manifesto

Bertrand Russel on 9 July 1955:

I am bringing the warning pronounced by the signatories to the notice of all the powerful Governments of the world in the earnest hope that they may agree to allow their citizens to survive. 

Russell-Einstein-Manifesto

Bertrand Russell (18 May 1872 – 2 February 1970) 

Albert Einstein ( 14 March 1879 – 18 April 1955)

Feast for friends

Plenty to nibble on for the hoverflies in Seanhenge.

Bridge ...

... over untroubled water.
This creek is getting thirsty.

34°C in the shadow

Whilst I was sitting
on the bench before the house
enjoying the shade

Inconspicuous

Others may laugh.
White root, fern, poppy, etc.
each time let me smile.

Well, the little things ... ;-)