Folkloric

· In the Philippines, a decoction of the inner bark or fresh cambium and leaves is used to treat diarrhea.

· Acute bacillary dysentery, enteritis, diarrhea: use 15 to 30 gms dried material in decoction.

· Also for colds, sore throat, headache.

· A decoction of the inner bark or fresh cambium and leaves is used to treat diarrhea.

· Anaphylactic dermatitis, eczema, skin pruritus: use decoction of fresh material and apply as external wash.

· Latex used as gum arabic for gluing.

· Seeds chewed for sore throat; inner bark decoction and fresh leaves used for colds and diarrhea.

· In Pakistan infusion of leaves used as laxative. Decoction of inner bark used for diarrhea, colds, and intestinal ailments.

· In Jamaica leaf infusion used for treating blood pressure.

· In Tropical Africa seeds are chewed for treating gum and throat inflammations.

· In Venezuela rain tree is a traditional remedy for colds, diarrhea, headache, intestinal ailments and stomach ache.

· Root decoction used in hot baths for stomach cancer.

· In the West Indies, the leaf infusion is used as a laxative and seeds chewed for sore throat.

· The alcoholic extract of leaves used for tuberculosis.

· In Columbia, the fruit decoction is used as a sedative

 

source: stuart xchange.

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Papaver is a genus of 70–100 species of frost-tolerant annuals, biennials, and perennials native to temperate and cold regions of Eurasia, Africa and North America. It is the type genus of the poppy family, Papaveraceae.

 

Description

The flowers have two sepals that fall off as the bud opens, and four (or up to six) petals in red, pink, orange, yellow, or lilac. There are many stamens in several whorls around a compound pistil, which results from the fusion of carpels. The stigmas are visible on top of the capsule, and the number of stigmas corresponds to the number of fused carpels.

 

The ovary later develops into a dehiscing capsule, capped by the dried stigmas. The opened capsule scatters its numerous, tiny seeds as air movement shakes it, due to the long stem.

 

The typical Papaver gynoecium is superior (the flower is hypogynous) with a globular ovary. The style is characteristically absent for the type species opium poppy, and several others, although those with a style do exist. The sessile plate-like stigmata lies on top of the ovary. Pollen-receptive surfaces. The characteristic fruit type of Papaver is the unilocular capsule. The stigmatic disc rests on top of the capsule, and beneath it are dehiscent pores or valves.

 

Taxonomy

 

The factual accuracy of parts of this article (those related to this section) may be compromised due to out-of-date information. The reason given is: publications since 2006 are not taken into account. Relevant discussion may be found on the talk page. Please help update this article to reflect recent events or newly available information. (February 2021)

Divided into a number of sections by Kiger (1973, 1985), the following are lectotypified with their lectotype species. Subsequent cladistic classification by Carolan et al. (2006) suggested Papaver was not monophyletic.

 

Clade 1. P. sect. Meconella, Meconopsis

Clade 2. P. sect. Carinatae, P. sect. Meconidium, P. sect. Oxytona, P. sect. Papaver, P. sect. Pilosa, P. sect. Pseudopilosa, P. cambrica, P. sect. Californicum, P. sect. Horrida and P. sect. Rhoeadium

Clade 3. P. sect. Argemonidium, Roemeria refracta

The following are lectotypified with their lectotype species:

 

P. sect. Carinatae (P. macrostomum Boiss. & Huet)

P. sect. Oxytona (P. orientale L.)

P. sect. Macrantha (P. orientale L.) - superfluous

P. sect. Calomecon (Calomecon orientale)

Phylogeny of Papaver and related genera

 

Papaver sect. Argemonidium includes four annual, half-rosette species, P. argemone, P. pavonium, P. apulum, and P. hybridum (Kadereit 1986a). Papaver apulum, P. argemone and P. pavonium occur allopatrically from the Adriatic Sea to the Himalayan range. P. hybridum is distributed widely from the Himalayas to Macaronesian Islands. These species are easily distinguished in petal and capsule characters, but are clearly closely related according to molecular analysis. Argemonidium is a sister group to all other Papaver sections, with characteristic indels. Morphological characters also support this distinction, including the presence of an apical plug in the capsules, long internodes above the basal leaf rosette, bristly capsules and polyporate pollen grains. Carolan et al. (2006) supported Kadereit et al. (1997)’s suggestions that Argemonidium and Roemeria are in fact sister taxa. They share some morphological characters that distinguish them from Papaver, including polyporate pollen grains, and long internodes superior the basal leaf rosette. Previous taxonomies of the Old World clade did include the close relationship between Argemonidium and Roemeria, nor Argemonidium’s distinctness from Papaver s.s. Carolan suggest Argemonidium be elevated to genus status, with Roemeria a sub-genus.

 

Papaver sect. Meconella is widely distributed, with populations spanning central, inner and eastern Asia, Siberia, Scandinavia, northern Greenland, Canada, the Rocky Mountains, and regions of Europe. It has been distinguished from other Papaver sections morphologically by its bristly, valvate capsules, pinnatisect leaves, pale stamen, and white, orange or yellow corolla. Older taxonomies divided Meconella into two groups based on degree of leaf dissection (finely dissected leaves vs. broad leaf lobes). Kadereit (1990) and Kadereit and Sytsma (1992) regarded finely dissected leaves as a derived character, and suggested that Meconella formed a group with Argemonidium as sister to other Papaver sects. Bittkau and Kadereit (2002) demonstrated that for P. alpinum s.l. broad leaf lobes were ancestral. Carolan et al. (2006) resolved Meconopsis as sister to sect. Meconella, forming a sister clade to the rest of Papaver, excluding Argemonidium. Meconella possesses a sessile stigmatic disc, similar to the typical discs of Papaver sect. Papaver., yet differences in the disc and other morphological characters have led to suggestions that this feature may not be homologous. The results of the Carolan et al. (2006) analysis present a major problem to previous taxonomy of the genera Meconopsis, and Papaver. As several species of Meconopsis (excluding M. cambrica) and P. Meconella resolved as a monophyletic group, sister to other Papaver sects., either Meconella must be elevated to genus status, or combined with the Asian species of Meconopsis, as a subgenus of Papaver.

 

Papaver sects. Californicum and Horrida have unique geographic distributions in relation to the rest of the genus. Horrida is represented by a single species Papaver aculeatum of, an annual flower native to South Africa. The capsule is glabrous narrow, long and poricidal. The vegetative parts are covered with setae, and the growth form is a rosette with rarely branching axes, and narrowly elliptical incised leaves. P. sect. californicum, is also represented by a single annual species, of the same name. As the name implies, it is native to western North America, and is characterized by a slender, ribbed, glabrous capsule, a racemose inflorescence, yellow anthers and filaments, and valvate capsule dehiscece. Previous morphological-based taxonomies of these species have led to unreliable groupings. Horrida and Pilosa have racemose inflorescences, pale filiform filaments and long capsules with flat stigmatic discs, while P. californicum and sect. Meconidium share valvate capsule dehiscence and pale filaments, but geographically these species are distinct, and do not follow molecular evidence. Commonality among these features is therefore hypothesized to be a result of convergence. In Carolan et al.’s (2006) combined ITS, trnL-F trees, both Horrida and Californicum attach to basal nodes within the main clade Papaver. Kadereit et al. (1997) postulated that Stylomecon heterophylla arose from within Papaver and should not be relegated as a separate genus. S. heterophylla and P. californicum are both native to southwestern North America, and share habitats. They are also morphologically similar, sharing glabrous buds, bright orange corollas, and yellow anthers. Their capsules are different, with S. heterophylla possessing a distinct style that is reminiscent of those in many Meconopsis species. However, Carolan et al.’s (2006) analysis strongly supports a monophyletic group for S. heterophylla and P. californicum, sister to the core Papaver sects, with Horrida, basal to that grouping. They recommended that both sects. Californicum and Horrida be elevated to “subgenera” within Papaver. The authors reject the genus status of Stylomecon.

 

Meconopsis is composed of mostly Asian dwelling species, and a single European representative, M. cambrica. Kadereit et al. (1997) first provided evidence that this relationship is not monophyletic. Carolan et al. (2006) confirmed the separation of M. cambrica from the rest of Meconopsis. In fact, it forms a well-supported sister-group to the core sections of Papaver, excluding Argemonidium, Californicum, Horrida and Meconella.

 

The core sections of Papaver s.s. form a well-supported clade, consisting of Pseudopilosa, Pilosa, Papaver, Carinatae, Meconidium, Oxytona, and Rhoeadium. Pseudopilosa spp. have a subscapose growth habit, and their distribution includes south-western Asia, northern Africa and southern Spain. There are some leaves on the lower part of the flower axis carrying a single flower. Carolan et al.’s (2006) analysis placed Pseudopilosa as sister to the remaining Papaver s.s. sections. Pilosa is a single species, P. pilosum, found mostly in western Turkey Sects. Pilosa and Pseudopilosa are separated based on morphological and chemical differences.

 

The monophyly of Carinatae, Papaver and Rhoeadium is questionable based on current molecular evidence.[3] Papaver sect. Rhoeadium comprises seventeen annual species. Carolan et al. (2006) use three representative species, P. commutatum, P. dubium, and P. rhoeas for their genetic analysis. The geographic center of Rhoeadium’s diversity is in south-western Asia and the Aegean area. They have poricidal capsules and usually dark filaments. This section is morphologically diverse however, leading Kadereit (1989) to recognize three distinct groups. The first comprises species with tetraploid and hexaploid genomes, with long capsules. The second group contains diploid species and diverse morphologies. The third group consists of diploid species and uniform morphologies. Carolan et al. (2006) showed some incongruences between their trnL-F and ITS maximum parsimony trees, showing weak support for Kadereit's (1989) groupings. Further analyses with more species and more samples will be necessary to resolve the phylogeny at this level.

 

Papaver has traditionally been characterized by the absence of a stigma, and the presence of a sessile stigmatic disc. Carolan et al. (2006) demonstrated that several species with this trait however are closely related to taxa possessing a style e.g. S. heterophylla and P. californicum, and P. sect. Meconella and Asian Meconopsis. This evidence, in combination with morphological differences among the discs suggests convergent evolutionary pathways. Papaver has long been considered the most derived clade within Papaveroideae, due to the belief that the stigmatic disc was an apomorphous characteristic. Sections Meconella and Californicum exhibit valvate dehiscence, and their basal position within Papaver suggest this may be an ancestral form. Its presence in Meconidium, however, suggests it is also a synapomorphy within that group.

 

Note: Meconella (not to be confused with the genus Meconella) has an alpine and circumpolar arctic distribution and includes some of the most northerly-growing vascular land plants.

 

Species

There are 70–100 species, including:

 

Papaver acrochaetum

Papaver aculeatum : South African poppy

Papaver alboroseum : pale poppy

Papaver alpinum : dwarf poppy

Papaver amurense

Papaver apokrinomenon

Papaver apulum

Papaver arachnoideum

Papaver arenarium

Papaver argemone : long pricklyhead poppy, prickly poppy, pale poppy

Papaver armeniacum

Papaver atlanticum (syn. P. rupifragum var. atlanticum)

Papaver aurantiacum

Papaver belangeri

Papaver berberica

Papaver bipinnatum

Papaver bracteatum

Papaver burseri (syn. Papaver alpinum) - alpine poppy

Papaver californicum : fire poppy, western poppy

Papaver cambricum : Welsh poppy

Papaver clavatum

Papaver commutatum

Papaver croceum : ice poppy

Papaver curviscapum

Papaver cylindricum

Papaver dahlianum : Svalbard poppy

Papaver decaisnei

Papaver degenii : Pirin poppy

Papaver dubium : long-headed poppy, blindeyes

Papaver fugax

Papaver giganteum

Papaver glaucum : tulip poppy, Turkish red poppy

Papaver gorgoneum

Papaver gorodkovii : Arctic poppy

Papaver gracile :

Papaver guerlekense

Papaver hybridum : round pricklyhead poppy

Papaver kluanense : alpine poppy

Papaver lacerum

Papaver lapponicum : Lapland poppy

Papaver lasiothrix

Papaver lateritium

Papaver macounii : Macoun's poppy

Papaver mcconnellii : McConnell's poppy

Papaver miyabeanum : Japanese poppy

Papaver nudicaule : Iceland poppy, Icelandic poppy

Papaver orientale L.

Papaver paucifoliatum

Papaver persicum

Papaver pilosum :

Papaver polychaetum

Papaver postii

Papaver purpureamarginatum

Papaver pygmaeum : pigmy poppy

Papaver quintuplinervium : harebell poppy

Papaver radicatum : rooted poppy

Papaver rhoeas : common poppy, corn poppy, annual poppy, Flanders poppy, Shirley poppy

Papaver rhopalothece

Papaver rupifragum : Atlas poppy, Moroccan poppy, Spanish poppy

Papaver sendtneri : white alpine poppy

Papaver setiferum Goldblatt, syn. P. pseudo-orientale (Fedde) Medw. : Oriental poppy

Papaver setigerum : Poppy of Troy, dwarf breadseed poppy

Papaver somniferum : Opium poppy (Type species)

Papaver spicatum

Papaver strictum

Papaver stylatum

Papaver tenuifolium

Papaver triniifolium

Papaver umbonatum : Semitic poppy, Israeli poppy

Papaver walpolei : Walpole's poppy

History and uses

Poppies have been grown as ornamental plants since 5000 BC in Mesopotamia. They were found in Egyptian tombs. In Greek mythology, the poppy was associated with Demeter, goddess of fertility and agriculture. The origin of the cultural symbol was probably Minoan Crete, because a figurine known as the "poppy goddess" was found at a Minoan sanctuary in Crete.

 

In the course of history, poppies have always been attributed important medicinal properties. The stems contain a milky latex that may cause skin irritation, and the latex in the opium poppy (Papaver somniferum) contains several narcotic alkaloids, including morphine and codeine. The alkaloid rhoeadine, derived from the flowers of the corn poppy (Papaver rhoeas), is used as a mild sedative. Poppy seeds are used in baking and cooking, and poppyseed oil is used in cooking and pharmaceuticals, and as a radiocontrast agent.

 

The ancient Greeks portrayed Hypnos, Nyx and Thanatos, the gods of sleep, night and death, with the symbol of the poppy. The earliest written record appeared in the eighth century BC. Early Greek accounts seem to indicate the plant was used for euthanasia; on some Greek islands, women used it in old age to shorten the time left until natural death. Hippocrates (460–377 BC) was one of the first to emphasize the medicinal uses of the poppy and outline several methods of preparation. He described poppy juice as narcotic, hypnotic, and cathartic. He also recognized the plant's uses as food, particularly the seeds. By the first century AD, Dioskorides wrote down the first poppy taxonomy. He distinguished between several different kinds, the first of which was the "cultivated" or "garden" poppies. He further distinguished two types within this category, ones with black and others with white seeds. Both had elongated capsules and the black-seeded variety was involuted. Historians speculate this variety was Papaver somniferum. Other species were in use, as well. Dioskorides named the “flowering” poppy as a type with strong hypnotic properties. This is believed to be Papaver hybridum. Finally, the “wild” poppy he described is believed to be Papaver orientale. Pliny the Elder, a Roman historian, later mentioned an “intermediate” type between the wild and cultivated poppy, likely Papaver rhoeas. He wrote about medical applications of the plant; the leaves and capsules were boiled in water to create juice, pressed and rubbed to create tablets, and the dried latex was used to form opium. These products were used in much the same way they are in many cultures today, to promote sleep and to relieve indigestion and respiratory problems.

 

A century later, Galen wrote even more extensively about the diverse applications of various poppy products. He wrote that opium was the strongest known drug for dulling the senses and for inducing sleep. He wrote about its use to treat a variety of ailments, including eye and lung inflammation.

 

The First (1839–1842) and Second Opium Wars (1856–1860) between China and Great Britain resulted from attempts by successive Chinese emperors to suppress increasing imports of opium into the country. In the first half of the 19th century, poppy seed oil was an important food crop, but large-scale production did not begin until Europe began to manufacture morphine in the mid-19th century. While 800–1000 tons of Indian opium are processed legally each year, this represents only an estimated 5% of total opium production worldwide; the majority is produced illegally. The first factory specializing in dry capsule processing was built in 1928.

 

Today, morphine and codeine are common alkaloids found in several poppy varieties, and are important drugs for much of the world. Australia, Turkey and India are the most important producers of poppy for medicinal use, while the US, the UK, France, Australia and Hungary are the largest processors. In the United States, opium is illegal, as is possession or cultivation of the flower itself. However, the law is seldom enforced when poppies are grown for culinary or ornamental use. The Opium Poppy Control Act Of 1942 led to the “Poppy Rebellion”, and a battle between California farmers and the federal government. Today, the law and its enforcement remain vague and controversial, even inciting episodes between gardeners and "the poppy police".

 

They are also sold as cut flowers in flower arrangements, especially the Iceland poppy.

Il papavero comune o rosolaccio (Papaver rhoeas L.) è una pianta erbacea annuale appartenente alla famiglia Papaveraceae.

La specie, largamente diffusa in Italia, cresce normalmente in campi e sui bordi di strade e ferrovie ed è considerata una pianta infestante. Petali e semi possiedono leggere proprietà sedative: il papavero è parente stretto del papavero da oppio, da cui si estrae la morfina.

MORFOLOGIA: È alta fino a 80 - 90 cm. Il fusto è eretto, coperto di peli rigidi. Tagliato emette un liquido bianco.

I boccioli sono verdi a forma di oliva e penduli. Il fiore è rosso dai petali delicati e caduchi. Spesso macchiato di nero alla base in corrispondenza degli stami di colore nero. Fiorisce in primavera da aprile fino a metà luglio.

Foglie pennato partite sparse lungo il fusto.

Il frutto è una capsula che contiene numerosi semi piccoli, reniformi e reticolati. Fuoriescono da un foro sotto lo stimma.

 

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The common poppy or poppy (Papaver rhoeas L.) is an annual herbaceous plant belonging to the family Papaveraceae.

The species, widespread in Italy, usually grown in fields and on the edges of roads and railways, and is considered a weed. Petals and seeds have read sedative properties: the poppy is a close relative of the opium poppy, from which we extract morphine.

MORPHOLOGY: It is high up to 80 - 90 cm. The stem is erect, covered with stiff hairs. Cut emits a white liquid.

The buds are green olive-shaped and pendulous. The flower is red petals delicate and fleeting. Often spotted in black at the base of the stamens in black. Blooms in spring from April until mid-July.

Feathery leaves lots scattered along the stem.

The fruit is a capsule containing many small seeds, kidney-shaped and barbed wire. Emerge from a hole beneath the stigma.

  

© Paolo Salvadori All Rights Reserved. No usage allowed including copying or sharing without my written permission.

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Título :: Title :: Titre ::: Fecha (Date): Uratos y Estruvitas :: Urate & Struvite :: Urate et Struvite ::: 2015/08/18 19:39

 

(Es). Historia: León. España. Finales de Julio, en una de las salida a la Playa de Bayas, me di cuenta de que Fray tenía demasiado tiempo la pierna levantada cuando orinaba. Al principio lo observé a lo lejos pero, ya volviendo para casa, cuando Fray caminaba a mi lado vi con detalle que tenía que hacer demasiado esfuerzo para orinar. Lo hacía a gotas manteniendo durante casi un minuto o más la pierna levantada. Al día siguiente, ya en León, parecía que iba mejor, fluidamente, pero por precaución fuimos al veterinario con una muestra de orina. La tira reactiva no indicaba infección, pero sí un pH alto de casi 8, cuando debería de estar entre 5 y 7,5; también indicaba hematuria. Siguiente paso: centrifugación de la muestra y mirar al microscopio. Claramente se observaron cristales de estruvita debidos posiblemente a la dieta. Decidimos hacer una nueva toma al cabo de unos días y valorar el número de cristales de estruvita que podían existir.

 

Aunque aparentemente en los días siguientes orinaba sin dificultad, la segunda muestra dio aún más cristales, por lo que decidimos cambiar urgentemente a una dieta para descender el pH y provocar la dilución de los cristales de estruvita. Volvimos a Asturias y aparentemente todo evolucionaba bien durante algunos días, pero apareció de nuevo el problema de esforzarse prolongadamente para orinar, agravándose día a día. Finalmente, después de consultarlo por teléfono con el veterinario de León, nos recomendó llevarlo al Hospital Veterinario de Nacho Menes en Gijón. Pedimos cita ese mismo día y lo llevamos al día siguiente, viernes 14/08/2015. Con una ecografía se descartaron masas tumorales, pero había que realizar más pruebas diagnósticas para analizar si en uretra podía haber algún tipo cálculo. La radiografía normal no indicaba obstrucción, pero con una prueba de contraste podríamos detectarlos. Eran las 10 de la mañana y mientras preparaban todo el material para hacer la prueba de contraste, salí con Fray a dar un paseo durante una hora. Casi la mitad del tiempo del paseo lo dedicó a intentar orinar. Agotado por el esfuerzo, lo hacía incluso sin levantar ya la pierna.

 

Volvemos al Hospital de Nacho Menes a las 11. Eramos tres personas para intentar sujetarle y tomarle la vía pero no había forma; se revolvía enérgicamente a la mínima intención de pincharle con la aguja. Nunca ha amenazado Fray con morder a una persona y tampoco lo hizo en aquella situación de estrés agravada además por el dolor que debía de sentir por el problema de no poder vaciar la vejiga. Finalmente hubo que ponerle un sedante y quedarme sólo con él esperando a que hiciera efecto. Mientras esperábamos Fray quedó mirando fijamente a la puerta por donde había entrado a la habitación, pegado a mi lado. Algunas caricias y a los 2 minutos fue inclinándose lentamente hacia la derecha, apoyándose en mi pierna, hasta que se tumbó y quedó completamente sedado. Le cogí en brazos y le subí a la mesa. Llegó Quico, el veterinario que le trató en el Hospital y ya pudieron ponerle la vía, haciendo seguidamente la prueba de contraste. Se observó claramente una obstrucción con un objeto que parecía un cristal de unos 6 mm de diámetro en uretra, dentro del hueso peneano. Quico comentó que se podía resolver con intervención urgente. El cristal no puede eliminarse empujándolo al exterior por su vía normal sino que tiene que llevarse hasta la vejiga y luego abrirla para extraerlo. Si no se consigue llevar hasta la vejiga habría que hacer una uretrotomía y, en adelante, tendría que orinar por un orificio hecho antes del hueso peneano. Había que tomar la decisión en ese instante. El veterinario me comenta que tengo que dar visto bueno al presupuesto, que dependiendo de una u otra forma de resolverlo, oscilaba entre unos 700 a 800 €.

 

Había ido sólo con Fray a Gijón, así que llamé a casa y comenté lo que ocurría. Todos dicen que adelante con la intervención cuanto antes. Le digo a Quico que de acuerdo, añadiendo que Fray está asegurado en MAPFRE y que entiendo que la póliza da cobertura al caso. Al instante de comentar esto, Quico me dice que efectivamente está cubierta la intervención sin el menor problema. Ellos harán los trámites y no tenemos que hacer desembolso alguno. Todo en marcha y Fray sigue sedado. Me dicen que tendrá que estar hasta mañana sábado, quizá hasta el domingo, porque tiene que estar sondado durante unas horas después de la intervención, por lo tanto, controlado continuamente. No tiene sentido que espera allí en ese momento. Ellos me llamarán por la tarde para indicarme cómo ha ido todo y me seguirán teniendo informado por teléfono. Vuelvo solo a San Juán de la Arena, a unos 40 km del Hospital y a esperar la llamada.

 

A las 5 de la tarde nos dicen que está realizada la intervención y que el cristal no era un cuerpo sólido único sino que eran cientos de pequeños cristales posiblemente de urato, que se consiguió llevarlos hasta la vejiga y liberarse de ellos posteriormente desde allí. Comentaron que en ese momento estaba aún sedado y con la sonda. Por la noche nos dirán más porque el servicio del hospital es de 24 horas 7 días a la semana. Llamamos a las 22 horas y nos dicen que ya comenzó despertarse y ponerse nervioso. Debió de pasar mala noche.

 

Al día siguiente me llaman hacia mediodía comentándome que ya puedo ir a recogerlo, que está muy nervioso y se ha quitado el solo la sonda. Con la agitación que tiene es mejor pasar a recogerlo y vigilarlo en casa. Nos vamos rápidamente a Gijón y le oíamos los aullidos de llamadas cuando entrábamos por la puerta. Bajamos a la zona donde estaba y en el momento de vernos se abalanzó lentamente hacia mí y los aullidos se fueron diluyendo al tiempo que le hablaba y acariciaba. Ya tenía puesto el collar isabelino, pero fue ponerle la correa con el característico "click" del mosquetón y ponerse a subir las escalera apresuradamente hacia la calle. Luego hubo que introducirlo en el coche con ese collar isabelino que le impedía maniobrar en los asientos traseros.

 

Los cristales se envían a analizar y nos dirán si finalmente aparecen cristales de urato. Ellos sospechan que es muy probable y que supondrá modificar la dieta porque se necesita buscar un equilibrio entre la dieta para uratos y la recomendada para estruvitas. El resto lo contaremos otro día.

 

Toma: La toma es ya en León, unos días después de la intervención aunque Fray continúa con el collar protector. Se asoma a la terraza atravesando toda la casa mientras choca continuamente su collar con esquinas, marcos, sillones y mesas. Simplemente mira hacía mi y hago la toma.

 

Tratamiento: Con Aperture. Original en JPG. Subo un poco la vibración de color y la definición. En el histograma recorto por ambos extremos. Aplico una ligera viñeta.

 

¡Eso es todo amigos!

 

(En). The History: León. Spain. Late July, in one of the walks on the beach of Bayas, I noticed that Friar lifting leg for too long when urinating. At first I saw in the distance but since returning home when Fray walked to my side saw in detail that he had to do too hard to urinate. He did it drops keeping for nearly a minute or more raised leg. The next day, being already in Leon, looked like he was better, fluently, but as a precaution we went to the vet with a urine sample. The test strip did not indicate infection, but a high pH of about 8, when it should be between 5 and 7.5; also he indicated hematuria. Next step: centrifugation of the sample and look under the microscope. Clearly struvite crystals possibly due to diet were observed. We decided to take a new sample after a few days and evaluate the number of struvite crystals that could exist.

 

Although apparently in the days Fray urinated without difficulty, the second sample gave further crystals, so we decided to urgently change to a diet to lower the pH and cause dilution of struvite crystals. We returned to Asturias and apparently all evolved well for a few days, but the problem reappeared striving for long to urinate, worsening day by day. Finally, after consultation by phone with the veterinarian who was in Leon, he did recommend him to the Veterinary Hospital of Nacho Menes in Gijon. We ask appointment that day and we took the next day, Friday 14.08.2015. With an ultrasound tumor masses were discarded, but had to do more diagnostic tests to examine whether the urethra could be some stones. Normal x-ray showed no obstruction, but with contrast radiology test could detect small stones. It was 10 am and while preparing all the material for testing contrast, Fray date for a walk for an hour. Almost half the time the ride was devoted to trying to urinate. Exhausted by the effort, he did not even lift and leg.

 

We return to the Hospital of Nacho Menes at 11. We were three people to try to hold him and take his vein but there was no way; it is strongly stirring the intention of the needle prick. Fray has never threatened to bite a person and neither did in that stressful situation worsened by the pain she must feel for the problem of not being able to empty the bladder. Finally we had to put a sedative and to stay with him just waiting to take effect. While waiting Fray stared at the door through which he had entered the room, stuck with me. Some strokes and two minutes was slowly leaning to the right, leaning on my leg, until it lay down and was completely sedated. I picked her up and went to the table. Quico arrived, the veterinarian who treated him in the hospital and they could put the track, then doing the test of contrast. an obstruction with an object that looked like a crystal of about 6 mm in diameter obstructing the urethra within the penis bone was clearly observed. Quico said could solve urgent intervention. The stone can not be removed by pushing it outside its normal path but has to take into the bladder and then open it to remove it. If it fails to take up the bladder should make a urethrotomy and henceforth would have to urinate through a hole made before the penis bone. He had to make the decision at that time. The vet tells me I have to give approval to the budget, depending on one or another way to solve it, it ranged from 700 to 800 €.

 

We had been to Gijon Fray and I, so I called home and told what was happening. Everyone says go ahead with surgery as soon as possible. I tell Quico who agrees, adding that Fray is insured by MAPFRE and understand the policy provides coverage to the case. Instantly discuss this, Quico tells me that the intervention is effectively covered without the slightest problem. They will do the paperwork and do not have to do any payment. Fray everything up and still sedated. I say it will be until Saturday morning, perhaps until Sunday, because it has to have a urethral catheter for a few hours after surgery, therefore, continuously controlled. No sense waiting there at the time. They called me in the afternoon to tell me how everything went and I will continue informed by phone. I return to San Juan de la Arena, about 40 km from the hospital and wait for the call.

 

At 5 pm we are told that the intervention is made and that the stone was not a single solid body but were hundreds of tiny crystals of urate may be, they succeeded in bringing into the bladder and later released them from there. They said he was still sedated and urethral probe at that time. At night we will say more because the service of the hospital is 24 hours 7 days a week. We call 22 hours and tell us that and began to wake up and get nervous. He must have spent a bad night.

 

The next day, Saturday, I called around noon and commenting that I can go pick it up, which is very nervous and has removed only the urethral catheter. With the turmoil that has better pick it up and watch it at home. We quickly go to Gijon and heard the howls of calls when we walked through the door. We went down to the area where it was and when to see us slowly lurched toward me and howls became diluted while speaking to him and stroked. He had put the protectdor Elizabethan collar, but was put the strap with the characteristic "click" of the clip and get to climb the ladder quickly toward the street. Then we had to put it in the car with the Elizabethan collar that prevented maneuver in the rear seats.

 

The crystals are sent to analyze and tell us if finally appear urate crystals. They suspect it is very likely that will change the diet because you need to find a balance between diet for urate and recommended struvite. The rest we will have another day.

 

Taking up: The decision is now in Leon, at home, a few days after surgery and Fray continues with protective collar. It overlooks the terrace through the whole house while continually crashes his collar corners, frames, chairs and tables. Just look to me and make the shot.

 

Treatment: With Aperture. Original JPG. Increase a little vibration of color and definition. In the histogram I cut at both ends. Apply a slight vignette.

 

That's all folks !!

 

(Fr). Histoire: León. L'Espagne. Fin Juillet, dans l'une des promenades sur la plage de Bayas, je remarquai que Fray levage jambe pendant trop longtemps au moment d'uriner. Au début, je voyais dans la distance, mais depuis son retour à la maison quand Fray marchait à côté de moi a vu en détail qu'il avait à faire trop difficile d'uriner. Il a fait ce qu'il tombe en gardant près d'une minute ou d'une jambe plus élevé. Le lendemain, étant déjà à Leon, a regardé comme il était mieux, couramment, mais par mesure de précaution, nous sommes allés chez le vétérinaire avec un échantillon d'urine. La bandelette de test n'a pas indiqué l'infection, mais un pH élevé d'environ 8, quand il devrait se situer entre 5 et 7,5; aussi at-il indiqué hématurie. Prochaine étape: la centrifugation de l'échantillon et de regarder sous le microscope. Cristaux clairement struvite éventuellement due à l'alimentation ont été observés. Nous avons décidé de prendre un nouvel échantillon au bout de quelques jours et d'évaluer le nombre de cristaux de struvite qui pourraient exister.

 

Bien qu'apparemment dans les jours Fray uriné sans difficulté, le deuxième échantillon donné d'autres cristaux, donc nous avons décidé de changer de toute urgence à un régime alimentaire pour abaisser le pH et provoquer une dilution de cristaux de struvite. Nous sommes retournés à Asturias et apparemment tous bien évolué pendant quelques jours, mais le problème est réapparu effort pour longtemps d'uriner, l'aggravation de jour en jour. Enfin, après consultation par téléphone avec le vétérinaire qui était à Leon, il recommande à l'hôpital vétérinaire de Nacho Ménès à Gijon. Nous demandons la nomination ce jour-là et nous avons pris le lendemain, vendredi 14/08/2015. Avec une échographie des masses tumorales ont été mis au rebut, mais a dû faire des tests de diagnostic plus d'examiner si l'urètre peut être quelques pierres. X-ray normaux montrent pas d'obstruction, mais avec le test de radiologie de contraste pouvaient détecter de petites pierres. Il était 10 h et pendant la préparation de tout le matériel pour les tests revanche, la date Fray pour une promenade d'une heure. Presque la moitié du temps de la balade a été consacrée à essayer d'uriner. Épuisé par l'effort, il n'a même pas levé et la jambe.

 

Nous retournons à l'Hôpital de Nacho Ménès à 11. Nous étions trois personnes pour essayer de le retenir et de prendre sa veine mais il n'y avait aucun moyen; il est fortement remuant l'intention de la piqûre. Fray n'a jamais menacé de mordre une personne et pas plus que dans cette situation stressante aggravée par la douleur, elle doit se sentir pour le problème de ne pas être en mesure de vider la vessie. Enfin, nous avons dû mettre un sédatif et de rester avec lui attendant juste de prendre effet. En attendant Fray fixa la porte par laquelle il était entré dans la pièce, collé avec moi. Quelques coups et deux minutes se penchait lentement vers la droite, appuyé sur ma jambe, jusqu'à ce qu'il se coucha et a été complètement sous sédation. Je l'ai ramassé et je suis allé à la table. Quico arrivé, le vétérinaire qui l'a soigné à l'hôpital et ils pourraient mettre la piste, puis de faire le test de contraste. une obstruction avec un objet qui ressemblait à un cristal d'environ 6 mm de diamètre obstruction de l'urètre dans l'os de pénis a été clairement observé. Quico dit pourrait résoudre une intervention urgente. La pierre ne peut être enlevé en le poussant hors de son trajet normal, mais doit prendre dans la vessie et puis ouvrez-le pour le retirer. Si elle ne parvient pas à prendre la vessie devrait faire une urétrotomie et désormais aurait d'uriner à travers un trou fait avant l'os de pénis. Il a dû prendre la décision à ce moment. Le vétérinaire m'a Je dois donner l'approbation du budget, en fonction de l'un ou l'autre façon de résoudre il raconte, il variait de 700 à 800 €.

 

Nous avons été à Gijon Fray et moi, donc je appelé à la maison et a dit ce qui se passait. Tout le monde me dit d'aller de l'avant avec la chirurgie dès que possible. Je dis Quico qui accepte, ajoutant que Fray est assurée par MAPFRE et comprendre la politique fournit une couverture à l'affaire. Discuter instantanément cela, Quico me dit que l'intervention est effectivement couvert sans le moindre problème. Ils vont faire la paperasse et ne pas avoir à faire tout paiement. Tout Fray et encore sous sédation. Je dis que ce sera jusqu'à samedi matin, peut-être jusqu'à dimanche, car il doit avoir une sonde urétrale pendant quelques heures après la chirurgie, donc contrôlée en permanence. Aucun sens là à attendre à l'époque. On m'a appelé dans l'après-midi pour me dire comment tout est allé et je vais continuer informé par téléphone. Je reviens à San Juan de la Arena, à environ 40 km de l'hôpital et attendre l'appel.

 

A 17 heures, on nous dit que l'intervention est faite et que la pierre était pas un corps solide unique, mais étions des centaines de minuscules cristaux d'urate peuvent être, ils ont réussi à mettre dans la vessie et les ont relâchés plus tard à partir de là. Ils ont dit qu'il était encore sous sédation et sonde urétrale à cette époque. La nuit, nous dirons plus parce que le service de l'hôpital est de 24 heures 7 jours par semaine. Appel 22 heures et nous le dire et a commencé à se réveiller et devenir nerveux. Il doit avoir passé une mauvaise nuit.

 

Le lendemain, samedi, je appelé vers midi et en commentant que je peux aller le ramasser, ce qui est très nerveux et a seulement retiré le cathéter urétral. Avec la crise qui a une meilleure ramasser et de regarder à la maison. Nous allons rapidement à Gijon et entendu les hurlements des appels lorsque nous avons franchi la porte. Nous sommes allés à l'endroit où il était et quand nous voir embardée lentement vers moi et hurlements devenu dilué en lui parlant et caressa. Il avait mis le collier élisabéthain protectdor, mais a été mis la sangle avec la caractéristique "clic" de la pince et obtenir de gravir les échelons rapidement vers la rue. Ensuite, nous avons dû mettre dans la voiture avec le collier élisabéthain qui empêchait manoeuvre dans les sièges arrière.

 

Les cristaux sont envoyés à analyser et nous dire si finalement apparaître cristaux d'urate. Ils soupçonnent il est très probable que va changer le régime parce que vous avez besoin de trouver un équilibre entre l'alimentation et pour l'urate struvite recommandé. Le reste, nous aurons un autre jour.

 

Prendre: La décision est maintenant à Leon, à la maison, quelques jours après la chirurgie et Fray se poursuit avec collerette de protection. Il donne sur la terrasse toute la maison tout en se bloque continuellement ses coins de col, des cadres, des chaises et des tables. Il suffit de regarder pour moi et faire le coup.

 

Traitement: Avec Aperture. Origine JPG. Augmenter un peu de vibration de la couleur et de la définition. Dans l'histogramme je coupe aux deux extrémités. Appliquer une légère vignette.

 

Voilà, c'est tout!

 

watercolour on paper,

28x44cm

Please, larger version is available :)

 

For Botanical Garden of Moscow State University.

 

Actaea erythrocarpa (red) grows in Siberia and Actaea spicata grows in Moscol Oblast. Both of them are extremely poisonous, both used as a medicine in Russia and Tibet. I was so careful painting it, washing hands, not holding it for two long (it damages skin too). This attractive plants could be a wonderful addition to any garden, but their poisonous qualities could make it really dangerous.

 

'Baneberry contains cardiogenic toxins than can have an immediate sedative effect on human cardiac muscle tissue. The berries are the most poisonous part of the plant (hence the name baneberry). Children have been poisoned by eating the waxy, shiny red or white berries. Ingestion of the berries can lead to cardiac arrest and death.' Wikipedia

    

Vladimir Semyonovich Vysotsky (Russian: Владимир Семёнович Высоцкий, IPA: [vlɐˈdʲimʲɪr sʲɪˈmʲɵnəvʲɪtɕ vɨˈsotskʲɪj]; 25 January 1938 – 25 July 1980), was a Soviet singer-songwriter, poet, and actor who had an immense and enduring effect on Soviet culture. He became widely known for his unique singing style and for his lyrics, which featured social and political commentary in often humorous street-jargon. He was also a prominent stage- and screen-actor. Though the official Soviet cultural establishment largely ignored his work, he was remarkably popular during his lifetime, and to this day exerts significant influence on many of Russia's musicians and actors.

 

Vysotsky was born in Moscow at the 3rd Meshchanskaya St. (61/2) maternity hospital. His father, Semyon Volfovich (Vladimirovich) (1915–1997), was a colonel in the Soviet army, originally from Kiev. Vladimir's mother, Nina Maksimovna, (née Seryogina, 1912–2003) was Russian, and worked as a German language translator.[3] Vysotsky's family lived in a Moscow communal flat in harsh conditions, and had serious financial difficulties. When Vladimir was 10 months old, Nina had to return to her office in the Transcript bureau of the Soviet Ministry of Geodesy and Cartography (engaged in making German maps available for the Soviet military) so as to help her husband earn their family's living.

 

Vladimir's theatrical inclinations became obvious at an early age, and were supported by his paternal grandmother Dora Bronshteyn, a theater fan. The boy used to recite poems, standing on a chair and "flinging hair backwards, like a real poet," often using in his public speeches expressions he could hardly have heard at home. Once, at the age of two, when he had tired of the family's guests' poetry requests, he, according to his mother, sat himself under the New-year tree with a frustrated air about him and sighed: "You silly tossers! Give a child some respite!" His sense of humor was extraordinary, but often baffling for people around him. A three-year-old could jeer his father in a bathroom with unexpected poetic improvisation ("Now look what's here before us / Our goat's to shave himself!") or appall unwanted guests with some street folk song, promptly steering them away. Vysotsky remembered those first three years of his life in the autobiographical Ballad of Childhood (Баллада о детстве, 1975), one of his best-known songs.

 

As World War II broke out, Semyon Vysotsky, a military reserve officer, joined the Soviet army and went to fight the Nazis. Nina and Vladimir were evacuated to the village of Vorontsovka, in Orenburg Oblast where the boy had to spend six days a week in a kindergarten and his mother worked for twelve hours a day in a chemical factory. In 1943, both returned to their Moscow apartment at 1st Meschanskaya St., 126. In September 1945, Vladimir joined the 1st class of the 273rd Moscow Rostokino region School.

 

In December 1946, Vysotsky's parents divorced. From 1947 to 1949, Vladimir lived with Semyon Vladimirovich (then an army Major) and his Armenian wife, Yevgenya Stepanovna Liholatova, whom the boy called "aunt Zhenya", at a military base in Eberswalde in the Soviet-occupied zone of Germany (later East Germany). "We decided that our son would stay with me. Vladimir came to stay with me in January 1947, and my second wife, Yevgenia, became Vladimir's second mother for many years to come. They had much in common and liked each other, which made me really happy," Semyon Vysotsky later remembered. Here living conditions, compared to those of Nina's communal Moscow flat, were infinitely better; the family occupied the whole floor of a two-storeyed house, and the boy had a room to himself for the first time in his life. In 1949 along with his stepmother Vladimir returned to Moscow. There he joined the 5th class of the Moscow 128th School and settled at Bolshoy Karetny [ru], 15 (where they had to themselves two rooms of a four-roomed flat), with "auntie Zhenya" (who was just 28 at the time), a woman of great kindness and warmth whom he later remembered as his second mother. In 1953 Vysotsky, now much interested in theater and cinema, joined the Drama courses led by Vladimir Bogomolov.[7] "No one in my family has had anything to do with arts, no actors or directors were there among them. But my mother admired theater and from the earliest age... each and every Saturday I've been taken up with her to watch one play or the other. And all of this, it probably stayed with me," he later reminisced. The same year he received his first ever guitar, a birthday present from Nina Maksimovna; a close friend, bard and a future well-known Soviet pop lyricist Igor Kokhanovsky taught him basic chords. In 1955 Vladimir re-settled into his mother's new home at 1st Meshchanskaya, 76. In June of the same year he graduated from school with five A's.

 

In 1955, Vladimir enrolled into the Moscow State University of Civil Engineering, but dropped out after just one semester to pursue an acting career. In June 1956 he joined Boris Vershilov's class at the Moscow Art Theatre Studio-Institute. It was there that he met the 3rd course student Iza Zhukova who four years later became his wife; soon the two lovers settled at the 1st Meschanskaya flat, in a common room, shielded off by a folding screen. It was also in the Studio that Vysotsky met Bulat Okudzhava for the first time, an already popular underground bard. He was even more impressed by his Russian literature teacher Andrey Sinyavsky who along with his wife often invited students to his home to stage improvised disputes and concerts. In 1958 Vysotsky's got his first Moscow Art Theatre role: that of Porfiry Petrovich in Dostoyevsky's Crime and Punishment. In 1959 he was cast in his first cinema role, that of student Petya in Vasily Ordynsky's The Yearlings (Сверстницы). On 20 June 1960, Vysotsky graduated from the MAT theater institute and joined the Moscow Pushkin Drama Theatre (led by Boris Ravenskikh at the time) where he spent (with intervals) almost three troubled years. These were marred by numerous administrative sanctions, due to "lack of discipline" and occasional drunken sprees which were a reaction, mainly, to the lack of serious roles and his inability to realise his artistic potential. A short stint in 1962 at the Moscow Theater of Miniatures (administered at the time by Vladimir Polyakov) ended with him being fired, officially "for a total lack of sense of humour."

 

Vysotsky's second and third films, Dima Gorin's Career and 713 Requests Permission to Land, were interesting only for the fact that in both he had to be beaten up (in the first case by Aleksandr Demyanenko). "That was the way cinema greeted me," he later jokingly remarked. In 1961, Vysotsky wrote his first ever proper song, called "Tattoo" (Татуировка), which started a long and colourful cycle of artfully stylized criminal underworld romantic stories, full of undercurrents and witty social comments. In June 1963, while shooting Penalty Kick (directed by Veniamin Dorman and starring Mikhail Pugovkin), Vysotsky used the Gorky Film Studio to record an hour-long reel-to-reel cassette of his own songs; copies of it quickly spread and the author's name became known in Moscow and elsewhere (although many of these songs were often being referred to as either "traditional" or "anonymous"). Just several months later Riga-based chess grandmaster Mikhail Tal was heard praising the author of "Bolshoy Karetny" (Большой Каретный) and Anna Akhmatova (in a conversation with Joseph Brodsky) was quoting Vysotsky's number "I was the soul of a bad company..." taking it apparently for some brilliant piece of anonymous street folklore. In October 1964 Vysotsky recorded in chronological order 48 of his own songs, his first self-made Complete works of... compilation, which boosted his popularity as a new Moscow folk underground star.

 

In 1964, director Yuri Lyubimov invited Vysotsky to join the newly created Taganka Theatre. "'I've written some songs of my own. Won't you listen?' – he asked. I agreed to listen to just one of them, expecting our meeting to last for no more than five minutes. Instead I ended up listening to him for an entire 1.5 hours," Lyubimov remembered years later of this first audition. On 19 September 1964, Vysotsky debuted in Bertolt Brecht's The Good Person of Szechwan as the Second God (not to count two minor roles). A month later he came on stage as a dragoon captain (Bela's father) in Lermontov's A Hero of Our Time. It was in Taganka that Vysotsky started to sing on stage; the War theme becoming prominent in his musical repertoire. In 1965 Vysotsky appeared in the experimental Poet and Theater (Поэт и Театр, February) show, based on Andrey Voznesensky's work and then Ten Days that Shook the World (after John Reed's book, April) and was commissioned by Lyubimov to write songs exclusively for Taganka's new World War II play. The Fallen and the Living (Павшие и Живые), premiered in October 1965, featured Vysotsky's "Stars" (Звёзды), "The Soldiers of Heeresgruppe Mitte" (Солдаты группы "Центр") and "Penal Battalions" (Штрафные батальоны), the striking examples of a completely new kind of a war song, never heard in his country before. As veteran screenwriter Nikolay Erdman put it (in conversation with Lyubimov), "Professionally, I can well understand how Mayakovsky or Seryozha Yesenin were doing it. How Volodya Vysotsky does it is totally beyond me." With his songs – in effect, miniature theatrical dramatizations (usually with a protagonist and full of dialogues), Vysotsky instantly achieved such level of credibility that real life former prisoners, war veterans, boxers, footballers refused to believe that the author himself had never served his time in prisons and labor camps, or fought in the War, or been a boxing/football professional. After the second of the two concerts at the Leningrad Molecular Physics institute (that was his actual debut as a solo musical performer) Vysotsky left a note for his fans in a journal which ended with words: "Now that you've heard all these songs, please, don't you make a mistake of mixing me with my characters, I am not like them at all. With love, Vysotsky, 20 April 1965, XX c." Excuses of this kind he had to make throughout his performing career. At least one of Vysotsky's song themes – that of alcoholic abuse – was worryingly autobiographical, though. By the time his breakthrough came in 1967, he'd suffered several physical breakdowns and once was sent (by Taganka's boss) to a rehabilitation clinic, a visit he on several occasions repeated since.

 

Brecht's Life of Galileo (premiered on 17 May 1966), transformed by Lyubimov into a powerful allegory of Soviet intelligentsia's set of moral and intellectual dilemmas, brought Vysotsky his first leading theater role (along with some fitness lessons: he had to perform numerous acrobatic tricks on stage). Press reaction was mixed, some reviewers disliked the actor's overt emotionalism, but it was for the first time ever that Vysotsky's name appeared in Soviet papers. Film directors now were treating him with respect. Viktor Turov's war film I Come from the Childhood where Vysotsky got his first ever "serious" (neither comical, nor villainous) role in cinema, featured two of his songs: a spontaneous piece called "When It's Cold" (Холода) and a dark, Unknown soldier theme-inspired classic "Common Graves" (На братских могилах), sung behind the screen by the legendary Mark Bernes.

 

Stanislav Govorukhin and Boris Durov's The Vertical (1967), a mountain climbing drama, starring Vysotsky (as Volodya the radioman), brought him all-round recognition and fame. Four of the numbers used in the film (including "Song of a Friend [fi]" (Песня о друге), released in 1968 by the Soviet recording industry monopolist Melodiya disc to become an unofficial hit) were written literally on the spot, nearby Elbrus, inspired by professional climbers' tales and one curious hotel bar conversation with a German guest who 25 years ago happened to climb these very mountains in a capacity of an Edelweiss division fighter. Another 1967 film, Kira Muratova's Brief Encounters featured Vysotsky as the geologist Maxim (paste-bearded again) with a now trademark off-the-cuff musical piece, a melancholy improvisation called "Things to Do" (Дела). All the while Vysotsky continued working hard at Taganka, with another important role under his belt (that of Mayakovsky or, rather one of the latter character's five different versions) in the experimental piece called Listen! (Послушайте!), and now regularly gave semi-official concerts where audiences greeted him as a cult hero.

 

In the end of 1967 Vysotsky got another pivotal theater role, that of Khlopusha [ru] in Pugachov (a play based on a poem by Sergei Yesenin), often described as one of Taganka's finest. "He put into his performance all the things that he excelled at and, on the other hand, it was Pugachyov that made him discover his own potential," – Soviet critic Natalya Krymova wrote years later. Several weeks after the premiere, infuriated by the actor's increasing unreliability triggered by worsening drinking problems, Lyubimov fired him – only to let him back again several months later (and thus begin the humiliating sacked-then-pardoned routine which continued for years). In June 1968 a Vysotsky-slagging campaign was launched in the Soviet press. First Sovetskaya Rossiya commented on the "epidemic spread of immoral, smutty songs," allegedly promoting "criminal world values, alcoholism, vice and immorality" and condemned their author for "sowing seeds of evil." Then Komsomolskaya Pravda linked Vysotsky with black market dealers selling his tapes somewhere in Siberia. Composer Dmitry Kabalevsky speaking from the Union of Soviet Composers' Committee tribune criticised the Soviet radio for giving an ideologically dubious, "low-life product" like "Song of a Friend" (Песня о друге) an unwarranted airplay. Playwright Alexander Stein who in his Last Parade play used several of Vysotsky's songs, was chastised by a Ministry of Culture official for "providing a tribune for this anti-Soviet scum." The phraseology prompted commentators in the West to make parallels between Vysotsky and Mikhail Zoschenko, another Soviet author who'd been officially labeled "scum" some 20 years ago.

 

Two of Vysotsky's 1968 films, Gennady Poloka's Intervention (premiered in May 1987) where he was cast as Brodsky, a dodgy even if highly artistic character, and Yevgeny Karelov's Two Comrades Were Serving (a gun-toting White Army officer Brusentsov who in the course of the film shoots his friend, his horse, Oleg Yankovsky's good guy character and, finally himself) – were severely censored, first of them shelved for twenty years. At least four of Vysotsky's 1968 songs, "Save Our Souls" (Спасите наши души), "The Wolfhunt" (Охота на волков), "Gypsy Variations" (Моя цыганская) and "The Steam-bath in White" (Банька по-белому), were hailed later as masterpieces. It was at this point that 'proper' love songs started to appear in Vysotsky's repertoire, documenting the beginning of his passionate love affair with French actress Marina Vlady.

 

In 1969 Vysotsky starred in two films: The Master of Taiga where he played a villainous Siberian timber-floating brigadier, and more entertaining Dangerous Tour. The latter was criticized in the Soviet press for taking a farcical approach to the subject of the Bolshevik underground activities but for a wider Soviet audience this was an important opportunity to enjoy the charismatic actor's presence on big screen. In 1970, after visiting the dislodged Soviet leader Nikita Khrushchev at his dacha and having a lengthy conversation with him, Vysotsky embarked on a massive and by Soviet standards dangerously commercial concert tour in Soviet Central Asia and then brought Marina Vlady to director Viktor Turov's place so as to investigate her Belarusian roots. The pair finally wed on 1 December 1970 (causing furore among the Moscow cultural and political elite) and spent a honeymoon in Georgia. This was the highly productive period for Vysotsky, resulting in numerous new songs, including the anthemic "I Hate" (Я не люблю), sentimental "Lyricale" (Лирическая) and dramatic war epics "He Didn't Return from the Battle" (Он не вернулся из боя) and "The Earth Song" (Песня о Земле) among many others.

 

In 1971 a drinking spree-related nervous breakdown brought Vysotsky to the Moscow Kashchenko clinic [ru]. By this time he has been suffering from alcoholism. Many of his songs from this period deal, either directly or metaphorically, with alcoholism and insanity. Partially recovered (due to the encouraging presence of Marina Vladi), Vysotsky embarked on a successful Ukrainian concert tour and wrote a cluster of new songs. On 29 November 1971 Taganka's Hamlet premiered, a groundbreaking Lyubimov's production with Vysotsky in the leading role, that of a lone intellectual rebel, rising to fight the cruel state machine.

 

Also in 1971 Vysotsky was invited to play the lead in The Sannikov Land, the screen adaptation of Vladimir Obruchev's science fiction,[47] which he wrote several songs for, but was suddenly dropped for the reason of his face "being too scandalously recognisable" as a state official put it. One of the songs written for the film, a doom-laden epic allegory "Capricious Horses" (Кони привередливые), became one of the singer's signature tunes. Two of Vysotsky's 1972 film roles were somewhat meditative: an anonymous American journalist in The Fourth One and the "righteous guy" von Koren in The Bad Good Man (based on Anton Chekov's Duel). The latter brought Vysotsky the Best Male Role prize at the V Taormina Film Fest. This philosophical slant rubbed off onto some of his new works of the time: "A Singer at the Microphone" (Певец у микрофона), "The Tightrope Walker" (Канатоходец), two new war songs ("We Spin the Earth", "Black Pea-Coats") and "The Grief" (Беда), a folkish girl's lament, later recorded by Marina Vladi and subsequently covered by several female performers. Popular proved to be his 1972 humorous songs: "Mishka Shifman" (Мишка Шифман), satirizing the leaving-for-Israel routine, "Victim of the Television" which ridiculed the concept of "political consciousness," and "The Honour of the Chess Crown" (Честь шахматной короны) about an ever-fearless "simple Soviet man" challenging the much feared American champion Bobby Fischer to a match.

 

In 1972 he stepped up in Soviet Estonian TV where he presented his songs and gave an interview. The name of the show was "Young Man from Taganka" (Noormees Tagankalt).

 

In April 1973 Vysotsky visited Poland and France. Predictable problems concerning the official permission were sorted after the French Communist Party leader Georges Marchais made a personal phone call to Leonid Brezhnev who, according to Marina Vlady's memoirs, rather sympathized with the stellar couple. Having found on return a potentially dangerous lawsuit brought against him (concerning some unsanctioned concerts in Siberia the year before), Vysotsky wrote a defiant letter to the Minister of Culture Pyotr Demichev. As a result, he was granted the status of a philharmonic artist, 11.5 roubles per concert now guaranteed. Still the 900 rubles fine had to be paid according to the court verdict, which was a substantial sum, considering his monthly salary at the theater was 110 rubles. That year Vysotsky wrote some thirty songs for "Alice in Wonderland," an audioplay where he himself has been given several minor roles. His best known songs of 1973 included "The Others' Track" (Чужая колея), "The Flight Interrupted" (Прерванный полёт) and "The Monument", all pondering on his achievements and legacy.

 

In 1974 Melodiya released the 7" EP, featuring four of Vysotsky's war songs ("He Never Returned From the Battle", "The New Times Song", "Common Graves", and "The Earth Song") which represented a tiny portion of his creative work, owned by millions on tape. In September of that year Vysotsky received his first state award, the Honorary Diploma of the Uzbek SSR following a tour with fellow actors from the Taganka Theatre in Uzbekistan. A year later he was granted the USSR Union of Cinematographers' membership. This meant he was not an "anti-Soviet scum" now, rather an unlikely link between the official Soviet cinema elite and the "progressive-thinking artists of the West." More films followed, among them The Only Road (a Soviet-Yugoslav joint venture, premiered on 10 January 1975 in Belgrade) and a science fiction movie The Flight of Mr. McKinley (1975). Out of nine ballads that he wrote for the latter only two have made it into the soundtrack. This was the height of his popularity, when, as described in Vlady's book about her husband, walking down the street on a summer night, one could hear Vysotsky's recognizable voice coming literally from every open window. Among the songs written at the time, were humorous "The Instruction before the Trip Abroad", lyrical "Of the Dead Pilot" and philosophical "The Strange House". In 1975 Vysotsky made his third trip to France where he rather riskily visited his former tutor (and now a celebrated dissident emigre) Andrey Sinyavsky. Artist Mikhail Shemyakin, his new Paris friend (or a "bottle-sharer", in Vladi's terms), recorded Vysotsky in his home studio. After a brief stay in England Vysotsky crossed the ocean and made his first Mexican concerts in April. Back in Moscow, there were changes at Taganka: Lyubimov went to Milan's La Scala on a contract and Anatoly Efros has been brought in, a director of radically different approach. His project, Chekhov's The Cherry Orchard, caused a sensation. Critics praised Alla Demidova (as Ranevskaya) and Vysotsky (as Lopakhin) powerful interplay, some describing it as one of the most dazzling in the history of the Soviet theater. Lyubimov, who disliked the piece, accused Efros of giving his actors "the stardom malaise." The 1976 Taganka's visit to Bulgaria resulted in Vysotskys's interview there being filmed and 15 songs recorded by Balkanton record label. On return Lyubimov made a move which many thought outrageous: declaring himself "unable to work with this Mr. Vysotsky anymore" he gave the role of Hamlet to Valery Zolotukhin, the latter's best friend. That was the time, reportedly, when stressed out Vysotsky started taking amphetamines.

 

Another Belorussian voyage completed, Marina and Vladimir went for France and from there (without any official permission given, or asked for) flew to the North America. In New York Vysotsky met, among other people, Mikhail Baryshnikov and Joseph Brodsky. In a televised one-hour interview with Dan Rather he stressed he was "not a dissident, just an artist, who's never had any intentions to leave his country where people loved him and his songs." At home this unauthorized venture into the Western world bore no repercussions: by this time Soviet authorities were divided as regards the "Vysotsky controversy" up to the highest level; while Mikhail Suslov detested the bard, Brezhnev loved him to such an extent that once, while in hospital, asked him to perform live in his daughter Galina's home, listening to this concert on the telephone. In 1976 appeared "The Domes", "The Rope" and the "Medieval" cycle, including "The Ballad of Love".

 

In September Vysotsky with Taganka made a trip to Yugoslavia where Hamlet won the annual BITEF festival's first prize, and then to Hungary for a two-week concert tour. Back in Moscow Lyubimov's production of The Master & Margarita featured Vysotsky as Ivan Bezdomny; a modest role, somewhat recompensed by an important Svidrigailov slot in Yury Karyakin's take on Dostoevsky's Crime and Punishment. Vysotsky's new songs of this period include "The History of Illness" cycle concerning his health problems, humorous "Why Did the Savages Eat Captain Cook", the metaphorical "Ballad of the Truth and the Lie", as well as "Two Fates", the chilling story of a self-absorbed alcoholic hunted by two malevolent witches, his two-faced destiny. In 1977 Vysotsky's health deteriorated (heart, kidneys, liver failures, jaw infection and nervous breakdown) to such an extent that in April he found himself in Moscow clinic's reanimation center in the state of physical and mental collapse.

 

In 1977 Vysotsky made an unlikely appearance in New York City on the American television show 60 Minutes, which falsely stated that Vysotsky had spent time in the Soviet prison system, the Gulag. That year saw the release of three Vysotsky's LPs in France (including the one that had been recorded by RCA in Canada the previous year); arranged and accompanied by guitarist Kostya Kazansky, the singer for the first time ever enjoyed the relatively sophisticated musical background. In August he performed in Hollywood before members of New York City film cast and (according to Vladi) was greeted warmly by the likes of Liza Minnelli and Robert De Niro. Some more concerts in Los Angeles were followed by the appearance at the French Communist paper L’Humanité annual event. In December Taganka left for France, its Hamlet (Vysotsky back in the lead) gaining fine reviews.

 

1978 started with the March–April series of concerts in Moscow and Ukraine. In May Vysotsky embarked upon a new major film project: The Meeting Place Cannot Be Changed (Место встречи изменить нельзя) about two detectives fighting crime in late 1940s Russia, directed by Stanislav Govorukhin. The film (premiered on 11 November 1978 on the Soviet Central TV) presented Vysotsky as Zheglov, a ruthless and charismatic cop teaching his milder partner Sharapov (actor Vladimir Konkin) his art of crime-solving. Vysotsky also became engaged in Taganka's Genre-seeking show (performing some of his own songs) and played Aleksander Blok in Anatoly Efros' The Lady Stranger (Незнакомка) radio play (premiered on air on 10 July 1979 and later released as a double LP).

 

In November 1978 Vysotsky took part in the underground censorship-defying literary project Metropolis, inspired and organized by Vasily Aksenov. In January 1979 Vysotsky again visited America with highly successful series of concerts. That was the point (according to biographer Vladimir Novikov) when a glimpse of new, clean life of a respectable international actor and performer all but made Vysotsky seriously reconsider his priorities. What followed though, was a return to the self-destructive theater and concert tours schedule, personal doctor Anatoly Fedotov now not only his companion, but part of Taganka's crew. "Who was this Anatoly? Just a man who in every possible situation would try to provide drugs. And he did provide. In such moments Volodya trusted him totally," Oksana Afanasyeva, Vysotsky's Moscow girlfriend (who was near him for most of the last year of his life and, on occasion, herself served as a drug courier) remembered. In July 1979, after a series of Central Asia concerts, Vysotsky collapsed, experienced clinical death and was resuscitated by Fedotov (who injected caffeine into the heart directly), colleague and close friend Vsevolod Abdulov helping with heart massage. In January 1980 Vysotsky asked Lyubimov for a year's leave. "Up to you, but on condition that Hamlet is yours," was the answer. The songwriting showed signs of slowing down, as Vysotsky began switching from songs to more conventional poetry. Still, of nearly 800 poems by Vysotsky only one has been published in the Soviet Union while he was alive. Not a single performance or interview was broadcast by the Soviet television in his lifetime.

 

In May 1979, being in a practice studio of the MSU Faculty of Journalism, Vysotsky recorded a video letter to American actor and film producer Warren Beatty, looking for both a personal meeting with Beatty and an opportunity to get a role in Reds film, to be produced and directed by the latter. While recording, Vysotsky made a few attempts to speak English, trying to overcome the language barrier. This video letter never reached Beatty. It was broadcast for the first time more than three decades later, on the night of 24 January 2013 (local time) by Rossiya 1 channel, along with records of TV channels of Italy, Mexico, Poland, USA and from private collections, in Vladimir Vysotsky. A letter to Warren Beatty film by Alexander Kovanovsky and Igor Rakhmanov. While recording this video, Vysotsky had a rare opportunity to perform for a camera, being still unable to do it with Soviet television.

 

On 22 January 1980, Vysotsky entered the Moscow Ostankino TV Center to record his one and only studio concert for the Soviet television. What proved to be an exhausting affair (his concentration lacking, he had to plod through several takes for each song) was premiered on the Soviet TV eight years later. The last six months of his life saw Vysotsky appearing on stage sporadically, fueled by heavy dosages of drugs and alcohol. His performances were often erratic. Occasionally Vysotsky paid visits to Sklifosofsky [ru] institute's ER unit, but would not hear of Marina Vlady's suggestions for him to take long-term rehabilitation course in a Western clinic. Yet he kept writing, mostly poetry and even prose, but songs as well. The last song he performed was the agonizing "My Sorrow, My Anguish" and his final poem, written one week prior to his death was "A Letter to Marina": "I'm less than fifty, but the time is short / By you and God protected, life and limb / I have a song or two to sing before the Lord / I have a way to make my peace with him."

 

Although several theories of the ultimate cause of the singer's death persist to this day, given what is now known about cardiovascular disease, it seems likely that by the time of his death Vysotsky had an advanced coronary condition brought about by years of tobacco, alcohol and drug abuse, as well as his grueling work schedule and the stress of the constant harassment by the government. Towards the end, most of Vysotsky's closest friends had become aware of the ominous signs and were convinced that his demise was only a matter of time. Clear evidence of this can be seen in a video ostensibly shot by the Japanese NHK channel only months before Vysotsky's death, where he appears visibly unwell, breathing heavily and slurring his speech. Accounts by Vysotsky's close friends and colleagues concerning his last hours were compiled in the book by V. Perevozchikov.

 

Vysotsky suffered from alcoholism for most of his life. Sometime around 1977, he started using amphetamines and other prescription narcotics in an attempt to counteract the debilitating hangovers and eventually to rid himself of alcohol addiction. While these attempts were partially successful, he ended up trading alcoholism for a severe drug dependency that was fast spiralling out of control. He was reduced to begging some of his close friends in the medical profession for supplies of drugs, often using his acting skills to collapse in a medical office and imitate a seizure or some other condition requiring a painkiller injection. On 25 July 1979 (a year to the day before his death) he suffered a cardiac arrest and was clinically dead for several minutes during a concert tour of Soviet Uzbekistan, after injecting himself with a wrong kind of painkiller he had previously obtained from a dentist's office.

 

Fully aware of the dangers of his condition, Vysotsky made several attempts to cure himself of his addiction. He underwent an experimental (and ultimately discredited) blood purification procedure offered by a leading drug rehabilitation specialist in Moscow. He also went to an isolated retreat in France with his wife Marina in the spring of 1980 as a way of forcefully depriving himself of any access to drugs. After these attempts failed, Vysotsky returned to Moscow to find his life in an increasingly stressful state of disarray. He had been a defendant in two criminal trials, one for a car wreck he had caused some months earlier, and one for an alleged conspiracy to sell unauthorized concert tickets (he eventually received a suspended sentence and a probation in the first case, and the charges in the second were dismissed, although several of his co-defendants were found guilty). He also unsuccessfully fought the film studio authorities for the rights to direct a movie called The Green Phaeton. Relations with his wife Marina were deteriorating, and he was torn between his loyalty to her and his love for his mistress Oksana Afanasyeva. He had also developed severe inflammation in one of his legs, making his concert performances extremely challenging.

 

In a final desperate attempt to overcome his drug addiction, partially prompted by his inability to obtain drugs through his usual channels (the authorities had imposed a strict monitoring of the medical institutions to prevent illicit drug distribution during the 1980 Olympics), he relapsed into alcohol and went on a prolonged drinking binge (apparently consuming copious amounts of champagne due to a prevalent misconception at the time that it was better than vodka at countering the effects of drug withdrawal).

 

On 3 July 1980, Vysotsky gave a performance at a suburban Moscow concert hall. One of the stage managers recalls that he looked visibly unhealthy ("gray-faced", as she puts it) and complained of not feeling too good, while another says she was surprised by his request for champagne before the start of the show, as he had always been known for completely abstaining from drink before his concerts. On 16 July Vysotsky gave his last public concert in Kaliningrad. On 18 July, Vysotsky played Hamlet for the last time at the Taganka Theatre. From around 21 July, several of his close friends were on a round-the-clock watch at his apartment, carefully monitoring his alcohol intake and hoping against all odds that his drug dependency would soon be overcome and they would then be able to bring him back from the brink. The effects of drug withdrawal were clearly getting the better of him, as he got increasingly restless, moaned and screamed in pain, and at times fell into memory lapses, failing to recognize at first some of his visitors, including his son Arkadiy. At one point, Vysotsky's personal physician A. Fedotov (the same doctor who had brought him back from clinical death a year earlier in Uzbekistan) attempted to sedate him, inadvertently causing asphyxiation from which he was barely saved. On 24 July, Vysotsky told his mother that he thought he was going to die that day, and then made similar remarks to a few of the friends present at the apartment, who begged him to stop such talk and keep his spirits up. But soon thereafter, Oksana Afanasyeva saw him clench his chest several times, which led her to suspect that he was genuinely suffering from a cardiovascular condition. She informed Fedotov of this but was told not to worry, as he was going to monitor Vysotsky's condition all night. In the evening, after drinking relatively small amounts of alcohol, the moaning and groaning Vysotsky was sedated by Fedotov, who then sat down on the couch next to him but fell asleep. Fedotov awoke in the early hours of 25 July to an unusual silence and found Vysotsky dead in his bed with his eyes wide open, apparently of a myocardial infarction, as he later certified. This was contradicted by Fedotov's colleagues, Sklifosovsky Emergency Medical Institute physicians L. Sul'povar and S. Scherbakov (who had demanded the actor's immediate hospitalization on 23 July but were allegedly rebuffed by Fedotov), who insisted that Fedotov's incompetent sedation combined with alcohol was what killed Vysotsky. An autopsy was prevented by Vysotsky's parents (who were eager to have their son's drug addiction remain secret), so the true cause of death remains unknown.

 

No official announcement of the actor's death was made, only a brief obituary appeared in the Moscow newspaper Vechernyaya Moskva, and a note informing of Vysotsky's death and cancellation of the Hamlet performance was put out at the entrance to the Taganka Theatre (the story goes that not a single ticket holder took advantage of the refund offer). Despite this, by the end of the day, millions had learned of Vysotsky's death. On 28 July, he lay in state at the Taganka Theatre. After a mourning ceremony involving an unauthorized mass gathering of unprecedented scale, Vysotsky was buried at the Vagankovskoye Cemetery in Moscow. The attendance at the Olympic events dropped noticeably on that day, as scores of spectators left to attend the funeral. Tens of thousands of people lined the streets to catch a glimpse of his coffin.

 

According to author Valery Perevozchikov part of the blame for his death lay with the group of associates who surrounded him in the last years of his life. This inner circle were all people under the influence of his strong character, combined with a material interest in the large sums of money his concerts earned. This list included Valerii Yankelovich, manager of the Taganka Theatre and prime organiser of his non-sanctioned concerts; Anatoly Fedotov, his personal doctor; Vadim Tumanov, gold prospector (and personal friend) from Siberia; Oksana Afanasyeva (later Yarmolnik), his mistress the last three years of his life; Ivan Bortnik, a fellow actor; and Leonid Sul'povar, a department head at the Sklifosovski hospital who was responsible for much of the supply of drugs.

 

Vysotsky's associates had all put in efforts to supply his drug habit, which kept him going in the last years of his life. Under their influence, he was able to continue to perform all over the country, up to a week before his death. Due to illegal (i.e. non-state-sanctioned) sales of tickets and other underground methods, these concerts pulled in sums of money unimaginable in Soviet times, when almost everyone received nearly the same small salary. The payouts and gathering of money were a constant source of danger, and Yankelovich and others were needed to organise them.

 

Some money went to Vysotsky, the rest was distributed amongst this circle. At first this was a reasonable return on their efforts; however, as his addiction progressed and his body developed resistance, the frequency and amount of drugs needed to keep Vysotsky going became unmanageable. This culminated at the time of the Moscow Olympics which coincided with the last days of his life, when supplies of drugs were monitored more strictly than usual, and some of the doctors involved in supplying Vysotsky were already behind bars (normally the doctors had to account for every ampule, thus drugs were transferred to an empty container, while the patients received a substitute or placebo instead). In the last few days Vysotsky became uncontrollable, his shouting could be heard all over the apartment building on Malaya Gruzinskaya St. where he lived amongst VIP's. Several days before his death, in a state of stupor he went on a high speed drive around Moscow in an attempt to obtain drugs and alcohol – when many high-ranking people saw him. This increased the likelihood of him being forcibly admitted to the hospital, and the consequent danger to the circle supplying his habit. As his state of health declined, and it became obvious that he might die, his associates gathered to decide what to do with him. They came up with no firm decision. They did not want him admitted officially, as his drug addiction would become public and they would fall under suspicion, although some of them admitted that any ordinary person in his condition would have been admitted immediately.

 

On Vysotsky's death his associates and relatives put in much effort to prevent a post-mortem being carried out. This despite the fairly unusual circumstances: he died aged 42 under heavy sedation with an improvised cocktail of sedatives and stimulants, including the toxic chloral hydrate, provided by his personal doctor who had been supplying him with narcotics the previous three years. This doctor, being the only one present at his side when death occurred, had a few days earlier been seen to display elementary negligence in treating the sedated Vysotsky. On the night of his death, Arkadii Vysotsky (his son), who tried to visit his father in his apartment, was rudely refused entry by Yankelovich, even though there was a lack of people able to care for him. Subsequently, the Soviet police commenced a manslaughter investigation which was dropped due to the absence of evidence taken at the time of death.

 

Vysotsky's first wife was Iza Zhukova. They met in 1956, being both MAT theater institute students, lived for some time at Vysotsky's mother's flat in Moscow, after her graduation (Iza was 2 years older) spent months in different cities (her – in Kiev, then Rostov) and finally married on 25 April 1960.

 

He met his second wife Lyudmila Abramova in 1961, while shooting the film 713 Requests Permission to Land. They married in 1965 and had two sons, Arkady (born 1962) and Nikita (born 1964).

 

While still married to Lyudmila Abramova, Vysotsky began a romantic relationship with Tatyana Ivanenko, a Taganka actress, then, in 1967 fell in love with Marina Vlady, a French actress of Russian descent, who was working at Mosfilm on a joint Soviet-French production at that time. Marina had been married before and had three children, while Vladimir had two. They were married in 1969. For 10 years the two maintained a long-distance relationship as Marina compromised her career in France to spend more time in Moscow, and Vladimir's friends pulled strings for him to be allowed to travel abroad to stay with his wife. Marina eventually joined the Communist Party of France, which essentially gave her an unlimited-entry visa into the Soviet Union, and provided Vladimir with some immunity against prosecution by the government, which was becoming weary of his covertly anti-Soviet lyrics and his odds-defying popularity with the masses. The problems of his long-distance relationship with Vlady inspired several of Vysotsky's songs.

 

In the autumn of 1981 Vysotsky's first collection of poetry was officially published in the USSR, called The Nerve (Нерв). Its first edition (25,000 copies) was sold out instantly. In 1982 the second one followed (100,000), then the 3rd (1988, 200,000), followed in the 1990s by several more. The material for it was compiled by Robert Rozhdestvensky, an officially laurelled Soviet poet. Also in 1981 Yuri Lyubimov staged at Taganka a new music and poetry production called Vladimir Vysotsky which was promptly banned and officially premiered on 25 January 1989.

 

In 1982 the motion picture The Ballad of the Valiant Knight Ivanhoe was produced in the Soviet Union and in 1983 the movie was released to the public. Four songs by Vysotsky were featured in the film.

 

In 1986 the official Vysotsky poetic heritage committee was formed (with Robert Rozhdestvensky at the helm, theater critic Natalya Krymova being both the instigator and the organizer). Despite some opposition from the conservatives (Yegor Ligachev was the latter's political leader, Stanislav Kunyaev of Nash Sovremennik represented its literary flank) Vysotsky was rewarded posthumously with the USSR State Prize. The official formula – "for creating the character of Zheglov and artistic achievements as a singer-songwriter" was much derided from both the left and the right. In 1988 the Selected Works of... (edited by N. Krymova) compilation was published, preceded by I Will Surely Return... (Я, конечно, вернусь...) book of fellow actors' memoirs and Vysotsky's verses, some published for the first time. In 1990 two volumes of extensive The Works of... were published, financed by the late poet's father Semyon Vysotsky. Even more ambitious publication series, self-proclaimed "the first ever academical edition" (the latter assertion being dismissed by sceptics) compiled and edited by Sergey Zhiltsov, were published in Tula (1994–1998, 5 volumes), Germany (1994, 7 volumes) and Moscow (1997, 4 volumes).

 

In 1989 the official Vysotsky Museum opened in Moscow, with the magazine of its own called Vagant (edited by Sergey Zaitsev) devoted entirely to Vysotsky's legacy. In 1996 it became an independent publication and was closed in 2002.

 

In the years to come, Vysotsky's grave became a site of pilgrimage for several generations of his fans, the youngest of whom were born after his death. His tombstone also became the subject of controversy, as his widow had wished for a simple abstract slab, while his parents insisted on a realistic gilded statue. Although probably too solemn to have inspired Vysotsky himself, the statue is believed by some to be full of metaphors and symbols reminiscent of the singer's life.

 

In 1995 in Moscow the Vysotsky monument was officially opened at Strastnoy Boulevard, by the Petrovsky Gates. Among those present were the bard's parents, two of his sons, first wife Iza, renown poets Yevtushenko and Voznesensky. "Vysotsky had always been telling the truth. Only once he was wrong when he sang in one of his songs: 'They will never erect me a monument in a square like that by Petrovskye Vorota'", Mayor of Moscow Yuri Luzhkov said in his speech.[95] A further monument to Vysotsky was erected in 2014 at Rostov-on-Don.

 

In October 2004, a monument to Vysotsky was erected in the Montenegrin capital of Podgorica, near the Millennium Bridge. His son, Nikita Vysotsky, attended the unveiling. The statue was designed by Russian sculptor Alexander Taratinov, who also designed a monument to Alexander Pushkin in Podgorica. The bronze statue shows Vysotsky standing on a pedestal, with his one hand raised and the other holding a guitar. Next to the figure lies a bronze skull – a reference to Vysotsky's monumental lead performances in Shakespeare's Hamlet. On the pedestal the last lines from a poem of Vysotsky's, dedicated to Montenegro, are carved.

 

The Vysotsky business center & semi-skyscraper was officially opened in Yekaterinburg, in 2011. It is the tallest building in Russia outside of Moscow, has 54 floors, total height: 188.3 m (618 ft). On the third floor of the business center is the Vysotsky Museum. Behind the building is a bronze sculpture of Vladimir Vysotsky and his third wife, a French actress Marina Vlady.

 

In 2011 a controversial movie Vysotsky. Thank You For Being Alive was released, script written by his son, Nikita Vysotsky. The actor Sergey Bezrukov portrayed Vysotsky, using a combination of a mask and CGI effects. The film tells about Vysotsky's illegal underground performances, problems with KGB and drugs, and subsequent clinical death in 1979.

 

Shortly after Vysotsky's death, many Russian bards started writing songs and poems about his life and death. The best known are Yuri Vizbor's "Letter to Vysotsky" (1982) and Bulat Okudzhava's "About Volodya Vysotsky" (1980). In Poland, Jacek Kaczmarski based some of his songs on those of Vysotsky, such as his first song (1977) was based on "The Wolfhunt", and dedicated to his memory the song "Epitafium dla Włodzimierza Wysockiego" ("Epitaph for Vladimir Vysotsky").

 

Every year on Vysotsky's birthday festivals are held throughout Russia and in many communities throughout the world, especially in Europe. Vysotsky's impact in Russia is often compared to that of Wolf Biermann in Germany, Bob Dylan in America, or Georges Brassens and Jacques Brel in France.

 

The asteroid 2374 Vladvysotskij, discovered by Lyudmila Zhuravleva, was named after Vysotsky.

 

During the Annual Q&A Event Direct Line with Vladimir Putin, Alexey Venediktov asked Putin to name a street in Moscow after the singer Vladimir Vysotsky, who, though considered one of the greatest Russian artists, has no street named after him in Moscow almost 30 years after his death. Venediktov stated a Russian law that allowed the President to do so and promote a law suggestion to name a street by decree. Putin answered that he would talk to Mayor of Moscow and would solve this problem. In July 2015 former Upper and Lower Tagansky Dead-ends (Верхний и Нижний Таганские тупики) in Moscow were reorganized into Vladimir Vysotsky Street.

 

The Sata Kieli Cultural Association, [Finland], organizes the annual International Vladimir Vysotsky Festival (Vysotski Fest), where Vysotsky's singers from different countries perform in Helsinki and other Finnish cities. They sing Vysotsky in different languages and in different arrangements.

 

Two brothers and singers from Finland, Mika and Turkka Mali, over the course of their more than 30-year musical career, have translated into Finnish, recorded and on numerous occasions publicly performed songs of Vladimir Vysotsky.

 

Throughout his lengthy musical career, Jaromír Nohavica, a famed Czech singer, translated and performed numerous songs of Vladimir Vysotsky, most notably Песня о друге (Píseň o příteli – Song about a friend).

 

The Museum of Vladimir Vysotsky in Koszalin dedicated to Vladimir Vysotsky was founded by Marlena Zimna (1969–2016) in May 1994, in her apartment, in the city of Koszalin, in Poland. Since then the museum has collected over 19,500 exhibits from different countries and currently holds Vladimir Vysotsky' personal items, autographs, drawings, letters, photographs and a large library containing unique film footage, vinyl records, CDs and DVDs. A special place in the collection holds a Vladimir Vysotsky's guitar, on which he played at a concert in Casablanca in April 1976. Vladimir Vysotsky presented this guitar to Moroccan journalist Hassan El-Sayed together with an autograph (an extract from Vladimir Vysotsky's song "What Happened in Africa"), written in Russian right on the guitar.

 

In January 2023, a monument to the outstanding actor, singer and poet Vladimir Vysotsky was unveiled in Yuzhno-Sakhalinsk, in the square near the Rodina House of Culture. Author Vladimir Chebotarev.

 

After her husband's death, urged by her friend Simone Signoret, Marina Vlady wrote a book called The Aborted Flight about her years together with Vysotsky. The book paid tribute to Vladimir's talent and rich persona, yet was uncompromising in its depiction of his addictions and the problems that they caused in their marriage. Written in French (and published in France in 1987), it was translated into Russian in tandem by Vlady and a professional translator and came out in 1989 in the USSR. Totally credible from the specialists' point of view, the book caused controversy, among other things, by shocking revelations about the difficult father-and-son relationship (or rather, the lack of any), implying that Vysotsky-senior (while his son was alive) was deeply ashamed of him and his songs which he deemed "anti-Soviet" and reported his own son to the KGB. Also in 1989 another important book of memoirs was published in the USSR, providing a bulk of priceless material for the host of future biographers, Alla Demidova's Vladimir Vysotsky, the One I Know and Love. Among other publications of note were Valery Zolotukhin's Vysotsky's Secret (2000), a series of Valery Perevozchikov's books (His Dying Hour, The Unknown Vysotsky and others) containing detailed accounts and interviews dealing with the bard's life's major controversies (the mystery surrounding his death, the truth behind Vysotsky Sr.'s alleged KGB reports, the true nature of Vladimir Vysotsky's relations with his mother Nina's second husband Georgy Bartosh etc.), Iza Zhukova's Short Happiness for a Lifetime and the late bard's sister-in-law Irena Vysotskaya's My Brother Vysotsky. The Beginnings (both 2005).

 

A group of enthusiasts has created a non-profit project – the mobile application "Vysotsky"

 

The multifaceted talent of Vysotsky is often described by the term "bard" (бард) that Vysotsky has never been enthusiastic about. He thought of himself mainly as an actor and poet rather than a singer, and once remarked, "I do not belong to what people call bards or minstrels or whatever." With the advent of portable tape-recorders in the Soviet Union, Vysotsky's music became available to the masses in the form of home-made reel-to-reel audio tape recordings (later on cassette tapes).

 

Vysotsky accompanied himself on a Russian seven-string guitar, with a raspy voice singing ballads of love, peace, war, everyday Soviet life and of the human condition. He was largely perceived as the voice of honesty, at times sarcastically jabbing at the Soviet government, which made him a target for surveillance and threats. In France, he has been compared with Georges Brassens; in Russia, however, he was more frequently compared with Joe Dassin, partly because they were the same age and died in the same year, although their ideologies, biographies, and musical styles are very different. Vysotsky's lyrics and style greatly influenced Jacek Kaczmarski, a Polish songwriter and singer who touched on similar themes.

 

The songs – over 600 of them – were written about almost any imaginable theme. The earliest were blatnaya pesnya ("outlaw songs"). These songs were based either on the life of the common people in Moscow or on life in the crime people, sometimes in Gulag. Vysotsky slowly grew out of this phase and started singing more serious, though often satirical, songs. Many of these songs were about war. These war songs were not written to glorify war, but rather to expose the listener to the emotions of those in extreme, life-threatening situations. Most Soviet veterans would say that Vysotsky's war songs described the truth of war far more accurately than more official "patriotic" songs.

 

Nearly all of Vysotsky's songs are in the first person, although he is almost never the narrator. When singing his criminal songs, he would adopt the accent and intonation of a Moscow thief, and when singing war songs, he would sing from the point of view of a soldier. In many of his philosophical songs, he adopted the role of inanimate objects. This created some confusion about Vysotsky's background, especially during the early years when information could not be passed around very easily. Using his acting talent, the poet played his role so well that until told otherwise, many of his fans believed that he was, indeed, a criminal or war veteran. Vysotsky's father said that "War veterans thought the author of the songs to be one of them, as if he had participated in the war together with them." The same could be said about mountain climbers; on multiple occasions, Vysotsky was sent pictures of mountain climbers' graves with quotes from his lyrics etched on the tombstones.

 

Not being officially recognized as a poet and singer, Vysotsky performed wherever and whenever he could – in the theater (where he worked), at universities, in private apartments, village clubs, and in the open air. It was not unusual for him to give several concerts in one day. He used to sleep little, using the night hours to write. With few exceptions, he wasn't allowed to publish his recordings with "Melodiya", which held a monopoly on the Soviet music industry. His songs were passed on through amateur, fairly low quality recordings on vinyl discs and magnetic tape, resulting in his immense popularity. Cosmonauts even took his music on cassette into orbit.

 

Musically, virtually all of Vysotsky's songs were written in a minor key, and tended to employ from three to seven chords. Vysotsky composed his songs and played them exclusively on the Russian seven string guitar, often tuned a tone or a tone-and-a-half below the traditional Russian "Open G major" tuning. This guitar, with its specific Russian tuning, makes a slight yet notable difference in chord voicings than the standard tuned six string Spanish (classical) guitar, and it became a staple of his sound. Because Vysotsky tuned down a tone and a half, his strings had less tension, which also colored the sound.

 

His earliest songs were usually written in C minor (with the guitar tuned a tone down from DGBDGBD to CFACFAC)

 

Songs written in this key include "Stars" (Zvyozdy), "My friend left for Magadan" (Moy drug uyekhal v Magadan), and most of his "outlaw songs".

 

At around 1970, Vysotsky began writing and playing exclusively in A minor (guitar tuned to CFACFAC), which he continued doing until his death.

 

Vysotsky used his fingers instead of a pick to pluck and strum, as was the tradition with Russian guitar playing. He used a variety of finger picking and strumming techniques. One of his favorite was to play an alternating bass with his thumb as he plucked or strummed with his other fingers.

 

Often, Vysotsky would neglect to check the tuning of his guitar, which is particularly noticeable on earlier recordings. According to some accounts, Vysotsky would get upset when friends would attempt to tune his guitar, leading some to believe that he preferred to play slightly out of tune as a stylistic choice. Much of this is also attributable to the fact that a guitar that is tuned down more than 1 whole step (Vysotsky would sometimes tune as much as 2 and a half steps down) is prone to intonation problems.

 

Vysotsky had a unique singing style. He had an unusual habit of elongating consonants instead of vowels in his songs. So when a syllable is sung for a prolonged period of time, he would elongate the consonant instead of the vowel in that syllable.

My heart hurts so much. For everything. For myself. My life. The country. The people of this country. The people that care. The frustration with people that don’t care. I saw this pigeon struggling in the parking lot as I was walking to the liquor store, for five shooters of vodka. I didn’t know what to do. And I I walked by and looked at it flapping around on the pavement, I cried and said to God over and over again, I’m sorry I’m sorry, I’m sorry for waking away and not doing anything. As I walked back from the liquor store, it was still in the parking lot, but sitting upright and wings to its side. I decided to pick it up and move it to a grassy area, the golf course :( I really didn’t know what to do, leave it, take it home (and do what???), take it to a vet (who probably isn’t open at 9pm at night, take it to the ambulance I saw in my parking lot at my apartment & hope they could give it a sedative to make it pass away.... I left my stuff by the sidewalk, approached it from the front and slowly in hopes of not scaring it any more, and I picked it up and put my hands around it. I wanted to calm it. It didn’t struggle when I picked it up. I moved it to the grass, and I don’t expect it to pull through, I hope it doesn’t struggle all night but it might, I don’t want it to be in the middle of the golf course when the golfers are there in the morning, I hope it makes it. I couldn’t tell if a wing was broken. I held it and then put it in the grass. It sat for a while, then started stretching its wings and flapping again. I went back and put my hands around it and tried to smoothe it down. I couldn’t leave. I felt guilty. I felt like I did when my dad died and I wasn’t there at the moment he died, and when I saw him after and had some time to spend with him alone in the room, I felt guilty leaving for the last time. I apologized to the bird. I didn’t want it to die alone. I will post a video of me talking to it. Most people will think it’s stupid. Compassion for a bird. I can’t stand seeing any innocent being suffering, My heart just shattered tonight seeing the news story on the nurses in New York, kneeling for the protesters for George Floyd, saying “you supported us, now we support you.” It just breaks my heart, this world. I cannot imagine the sorrow God is feeling.

Dutch postcard, no. 138. Photo: Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer. Marion Davies in Five and Ten (Robert Z. Leonard, 1931).

 

Marion Davies (1897-1961) was one of the great comedic actresses of the silent era. She starred in nearly four dozen films between 1917 and 1937.

 

Marion Davies was born Marion Cecelia Douras in the borough of Brooklyn, New York in 1897. She had been bitten by the show biz bug early as she watched her sisters perform in local stage productions. She wanted to do the same. As Marion got older, she tried out for various school plays and did fairly well. Once her formal education had ended, Marion began her career as a chorus girl in New York City, first in the Pony Follies and eventually in the famous Ziegfeld Follies. Her stage name came when she and her family passed the Davies Insurance Building. One of her sisters called out "Davies!!! That shall be my stage name," and the whole family took on that name. Marion wanted more than to dance. Acting, to her, was the epitome of show business and she aimed her sights in that direction. She met newspaper magnate William Randolph Hearst and went to live with him at his San Simeon castle. They stayed together for over 30 years, while Hearst’s wife Millicent resided in New York. Millicent would not grant him a divorce so that he could marry Davies. San Simeon is a spectacular and elaborate mansion, which now stands as a California landmark. At San Simeon, the couple threw elaborate parties, which were frequented by all of the top names in Hollywood and other celebrities including the mayor of New York City, President Calvin Coolidge, and Charles Lindbergh.

 

When she was 20, Marion made her first film, Runaway Romany (George W. Lederer, 1917). Written by Marion and directed by her brother-in-law, the film wasn't exactly a box-office smash, but for Marion, it was a start and a stepping stone to bigger things. The following year Marion starred in The Burden of Proof (John G. Adolfi, Julius Steger, 1918) and Cecilia of the Pink Roses (Julius Steger, 1918). The latter film was backed by newspaper magnate, William Randolph Hearst, with whom Marion would continue a long-term romantic relationship for the next 30 years. Because of Hearst's newspaper empire, Marion would be promoted as no actress before her. She appeared in numerous films over the next few years, including the superior comedy Getting Mary Married (Allan Dwan, 1919) with Norman Kerry, the suspenseful The Cinema Murder (George D. Baker, 1919), and the drama The Restless Sex (Leon D'Usseau, Robert Z. Leonard, 1920) with Carlyle Blackwell.

 

In 1922, Marion Davies appeared as Mary Tudor in the historical romantic epic, When Knighthood Was in Flower (Robert G. Vignola, 1922). It was a film into which Hearst poured millions of dollars as a showcase for her. Although Marion didn't normally appear in period pieces, she turned in a wonderful performance and the film became a box office hit. Marion remained busy, one of the staples in movie houses around the country. Despite the dramas, Davies proved to be much better as a first-class comedienne. Her best films were indeed the comedies The Patsy (1928) also with Marie Dressler, and Show People (1929) with William Haines, both directed by King Vidor, and successfully re-staged in recent years at international festivals such as Le Giornate del Cinema Muto and Cinema Ritrovato.

 

At the end of the twenties, it was obvious that sound films were about to replace silent films. Marion was nervous because she had a stutter, so she became excited and worried she wouldn't make a successful transition to the new medium. In the end, she was a true professional who had no problem with the change and some films even integrated her stutter, such as Peg O'My Heart (Robert Z. Leonard, 1933). In 1930, two of her better films were Not So Dumb (King Vidor, 1930) and The Florodora Girl (Harry Beaumont, 1930), with Lawrence Gray. By the early 1930s, Marion started to lose her box office appeal and a downward slide began. Hearst tried to push MGM executives to hire Marion for the role of Elizabeth Barrett in The Barretts of Wimpole Street (Sidney Franklin, 1934). Louis B. Mayer had other ideas and hired producer Irving Thalberg's wife Norma Shearer instead. Hearst reacted by pulling his newspaper support for MGM without much impact. By the late 1930s, Hearst was suffering financial reversals and it was Marion who bailed him out by selling off $1 million of her jewelry. Hearst's financial problems also spelled the end to her career. Although she had made the transition to sound, other stars fared better and her roles became fewer and further between. In 1937, a 40-year-old Marion filmed her last movie, Ever Since Eve (Lloyd Bacon, 1937) with Robert Montgomery. Out of films and with the intense pressures of her relationship with Hearst, Marion turned more and more to alcohol. Despite those problems, Marion was a very sharp and savvy businesswoman. When Hearst lay dying in 1951 at age 88, Davies was given a sedative by his lawyer. When she awoke several hours later, she discovered that Hearst had passed away and that his associates had removed his body as well as all his belongings and any trace that he had lived there with her. His family had a big formal funeral for him in San Francisco, from which she was banned. Later, Marion married for the first time at the age of 54, to Horace Brown. The union would last until she died of cancer in 1961 in Los Angeles, California. She was 64 years old. Upon Marion’s niece Patricia Van Cleve Lake's death, it was revealed she had been the love child of Davies and Hearst. The love affair of Marion Davies and William Randolph Hearst was mirrored in the films Citizen Kane (Orson Welles, 1941), RKO 281 (Benjamin Ross, 1999), and The Cat's Meow (Peter Bogdanovich, 2001). In Citizen Kane (1941), the title character's second wife (played by Dorothy Comingore—an untalented singer whom he tries to promote—was widely assumed to be based on Davies. But many commentators, including Citizen Kane writer/director Orson Welles himself, have defended Davies' record as a gifted actress, to whom Hearst's patronage did more harm than good.

 

Sources: Denny Jackson (IMDb), Wikipedia, and IMDb.

Flower of the week in unforgettable flowers

 

Wetenschappelijk: Chelidonium majus

 

Scientific name: Chelidonium majus

 

Nederlands: Stinkende gouwe

English: Greater Celandine

Français: Grande Chélidoine

Deutsch: Schöllkraut

Wetenschappelijk: Chelidonium majus

Familie: Papaverfamilie, Papaveraceae

Geslacht: Chelidonium, Gouwe

  

Medicinale werkingen

Hier staan de medicinale werkingen beschreven met de reden waarom stinkende gouwe een geneeskrachtige werking heeft:

Doordat het de secretie van de alvleesklier verhoogt werkt het bloedsuikerverlagend.

De urine- en zweetdrijvende werking maakt stinkende gouwe tot een geneesmiddel tegen oedemen, verminderde nierfunctie, nierstenen, artritis, artrose en jicht.

De bloedsomloopstimulerende eigenschappen in de kleine haarvaten maken dit kruid tot een geneesmiddel tegen oogbindvliesontsteking, tranende en brandende ogen en grijze staar.

Omdat het de lever, gal en darmwerking stimuleert is dit een goed geneeskruid tegen de huidaandoeningen eczeem, psoriasis, ringworm en hoofdroos.

Vanwege de kalmerende en licht narcotische werking van chelidonine wordt dit kruid ingezet tegen nervositeit, rusteloosheid, stress, angst en slapeloosheid,

Stinkende gouwe kan in een dieet tijdens de chemokuur worden gebruikt omdat het antitumoraal werkt.

 

Uitwendig gebruik

Melksap van sttinkende gouwe remt ongebreidelde celdeling en staat om deze reden te boek als antitumorale stof. Het breekt de eeltlaag, het eiwit van de hoornlaag, af; in medische termen heet dat een keratolytische werking. Het gaat zowel virussen als bacteriën tegen en het werkt derhalve ontstekingsremmend. Het melksap wordt gebruikt om de volgende huidaandoeningen te bestrijden:

Wratten, goedaardige huidtumoren,

Eelt, likdoorn,

Schimmelinfecties,

Oogbindvliesontsteking en

Hoornvliesvlekken

 

Mens en Gezondheid

  

English

 

plant for the future

  

Greater celandine has a long history of herbal use]. Traditionally it was employed as an ophthalmic to treat and clear the eyesight whilst in modern herbal medicine it is used more as a mild sedative, antispasmodic and detoxifying herb, relaxing the muscles of the bronchial tubes, intestines and other organs. The latex is much used externally to treat warts. Caution should be employed, especially when the plant is used internally however, because it contains toxic alkaloids, The leaves and the sap are acrid, alterative, anodyne, antispasmodic, caustic, cholagogue, diaphoretic, diuretic, hydrogogue, narcotic, purgative. They are used in the treatment of bronchitis, whooping cough, asthma, jaundice, gallstones and gallbladder pains. The plant is harvested in the spring as it comes into flower, it is best used fresh, but can also be dried for later use. The roots can also be used, these are harvested in the autumn and dried for later use. The plant has anticancer properties and is analgesic. It is an important component of a stomach ulcer drug. The plant has an abundant acrid bright-orange sap that stains the skin strongly and is powerfully irritant. It is used as an external treatment to get rid of warts, ringworm and corns and has also been used to remove films from the cornea of the eye. The plant contains the alkaloid chelidonine, which is similar to the alkaloid papaverine found in poppies. This alkaloid has antispasmodic and sedative effects on the bile ducts and bronchi. However, results have been inconsistent, especially if the preparation is not fresh]. The plant also contains the alkaloid sparteine, which restores normal rhythm to feeble arrhythmic myocardia. The German Commission E Monographs, a therapeutic guide to herbal medicine, approve Chelidonium majus for liver and gallbladder complaints.

  

Centrranthus ruber

Famiglia: Valerianaceae

Sinonimi: Valeriana rubra

Nome comune: Camarezza comune, Valeriana rossa

Distribuzione:

La specie è originaria dei paesi del bacino del Mediterraneo (Europa meridionale, Nord Africa e Asia minore.

In Italia è comune nel centro-sud e nelle isole. Anticamente era usata come pianta ornamentale, ciò ha contribuito alla conservazione della specie e alla sua diffusione in tutte le parti del mondo.

Le foglie giovani vengono utilizzate nelle insalate, mente in medicina è apprezzata per le sue proprietà sedative, antispasmodiche e antinevralgiche, a volte come sostituto della valeriana. Gli imbalsamatori la utilizzavano nel loro lavoro.

Bibliografia: La flora della Sardegna

Centrranthus ruber

 

Family: Valerianaceae

 

Synonyms: Valeriana rubra

 

Common name: Camarezza common, Red Valerian

 

distribution:The species is native to the countries of the Mediterranean basin (southern Europe, North Africa and Asia Minor.

 

In Italy it is common in the center-south and the islands. In ancient times it was used as an ornamental plant, which has contributed to the conservation of the species and its spread in all parts of the world.

 

The young leaves are used in salads, mind in medicine is valued for its sedative, antispasmodic and antinevralgiche, sometimes as a substitute of valerian. Embalmers used it in their work.

Bibliography: The flora of Sardinia

 

Centrranthus ruber

 

Familia: Valerianaceae

 

Sinónimos: Valeriana rubra

 

Nombre común: Camarezza común,Valeriana roja

 

Distribución: La especie es originaria de los países de la cuenca mediterránea (sur de Europa, norte de África y Asia Menor.

 

En Italia es común en el centro-sur y las islas. En la antigüedad se utilizaba como planta ornamental, lo que ha contribuido a la conservación de la especie y su difusión en todas las partes del mundo.

 

Las hojas jóvenes se utilizan en ensaladas, mientras que en medicina se valora por su propriedad sedante, antiespasmódico y antinevralgiche, a veces como un sustituto de la valeriana. Los embalsamadores utilizaban en su trabajo.

Bibliografía: La flora de Cerdeña

 

Some months had passed since the great fire in the mages tower...

 

He had started to get use of things living in the castle with the king, perhaps the king wasn´t such a bad prick after everything, taking him in as a lodger in his great kingdom Castle...

 

I mean women was still flirting with him despite he no longer had a weird little wizards tower to invite them to and the kings Palace was huge, so he could sneak around doing clandestine things without anyone noticing!

 

And the Queen, he loved her, very clever despite of she being a woman and sometimes he would help her in her secret garden, they were really tight...

 

Most of his ancient books had survived in a cellar vault so he could still read about weird things he didn´t understand but pretended to do and what was even better is that he now had full access to the kings private library too!

 

Today he was just wandering around the huge walled capital, having some minor plans to go to the fish-market to see if the had any whale-fish scales which he needed for a potion that was mildly sedative!

 

Life was starting to feel pretty ok yet again, despite all his latest setbacks...

 

he walked past a quarter close to the foreign legions city-base when he saw a tower at the very place his old wizards-keep used to stand, weird the King had promise him not to use his plot of land, because even if it was a government plot of land it would still be his when he could afford to rebuild it, that was the kings promise!

 

when he closed up he saw that it was looking a lot like a newly built wizards-tower and when he was even close he saw an Middeleasterling Turban wearing wizard stand in the gate with one of his wizard-trainee younglings!

 

He was now furious!. was the King trying to replace him, as the cheif capital mage while he was in the palace? he felt the blood rushing in to his otherwise grey old face who turned bright purple with a tint of orange!

 

What a sneaky way to outmaneuver him?

 

this is terrible! He knew what he had to do, he was gonna get some gunpowder and rigg it with it at night!, Yes that was what he was gonna do!, he went straight home and started to brew explosive in his wizard room at the palace!

Daddy and I appreciate your prayers, emails, and comments. I will try to be brief, but y'all know that is hard for me to do.

 

Daddy had a stroke. I took him to his family doctor on Monday (a week ago today) because of his increased confusion, disorientation, and agitation. The doctor immediately sent him for a CT scan. That's when the stroke was confirmed. We were told to go to the emergency room. We were in the ER for 14 hours before a room was available. Daddy talked all day Tuesday and continued into the night. I finally had to go home and get some sleep. When I got back to the hospital Wednesday morning, Daddy was delirious. They gave him a sedative and he calmed down. He slept Wednesday night, most of the day Thursday, Thursday night, and part of the day on Friday. On Thursday evening, he did not recognize me. When the sedative wore off on Friday, it was as though a fog had lifted. They moved him to a rehabilitation hospital where he is getting physical, occupational, and speech (swallow) therapy. He is expected to fully recover. God answers prayers.

We had a really bad day yesterday, we took Taffie to the Vets and he didn’t come home with us. Taff was just over 15 years old and was really starting to slow down, he had trouble with his back legs getting weaker, I think this is a thing with Springers, recently he got worse and I had to help him to stand, we still went for walks and he was eating and drinking normally. He was losing weight but we thought maybe it was just muscle loss, I think before we got to the vets me and Annie knew in our hearts that it was time to let Taff go,after speaking with the vet we both agreed this was the right thing to do. The vet and the vetinary nurse were both brilliant. They gave us time alone to say goodbye, the vet then gave Taff a sedative, he drifted off to sleep all the while me and Annie were with him, the Vet then put in a canular and administered the drug that would put him to sleep, we stayed with him, both of us crying but at the same time comforted because he just drifted off no struggles......

We left Taff with the Vet certain that they would take care of him, when Annie turned on the car the radio came on and the song that was playing was Eric Claptons Tears in Heaven, this really got to both off us and as we drove home the sky was ablaze with the most beautiful sunset.......we both looked at each other and knew that it was Taff sending us a message saying dont worry Im OK now......... dont think I can write anymore now, but will be putting some photos and some stories On about the Best Dog Ever.....Mr T.

Macela or Marcela Anthemis nobilis aka Chamaemelum nobile commonly known as Roman chamomile, at the Farmer's Market in Funchal.

 

Marcela is a false chamomile, very similar to the genuine Matricaria chamomilla / Matricaria recutita with similar medicinal properties: antiseptic, antibiotic, disinfectant, bactericidal and vermifuge.

 

Fresh or dried, the heads of the flower are traditionally used as a herbal infusion, very popular for boosting the immune system, anti‐spasmodic cough treatment, fever and cold remedy, digestive stimulant, stomach ache relief, a calming agent to help sleep as well as being used to soothe skin rashes.

 

Cotton roses, deep red leaves

daylight falling is falling asleep

 

Silent creatures in my heart

Candle light halls

 

It's turning cold

 

Your shallow breathing

works like a sedative for my screaming soul

 

Blue girl is dancing, is dancing again

Blue girl is dancing in sorrow

 

Thirteen eyes frozen as she turns the nightlights on

It looks like this has happened more then once before

 

Peaceful spoken words secure me from harm

She's here with me but already long long gone

 

Blue girl is dancing, is dancing again

Blue girl is dancing in sorrow

 

Gloomy state of being has put a cover over day

I may have been gone while you intended me to stay

 

All I know is for sure, this is where I am

So here I am, I'm coming to close what's been opened before

Those perfect moments, those perfect moments are gone

 

Blue girl is dancing on her snake leather high heel shoes

taking what’s coming closer as she creates her nightly rules

More and more begins to believe that’s all that she adores

It seems all has been taken deep down below

 

Blue girl is dancing I sorrow

 

Blue girl by Dez Mona

Fly agarics resp. fly amanitas (Amanita muscaria) in a forest near the village of Mosbach, Franconia (Bavaria)

 

Some background information:

 

Amanita muscaria, commonly known as the fly agaric or fly amanita, is a mushroom and psychoactive basidiomycete fungus, one of many in the genus Amanita. Native throughout the temperate and boreal regions of the Northern Hemisphere, Amanita muscaria has been unintentionally introduced to many countries in the Southern Hemisphere, generally as a symbiont with pine and birch plantations, and is now a true cosmopolitan species. It associates with various deciduous and coniferous trees.

 

Arguably the most iconic toadstool species, the fly agaric is a large white-gilled, white-spotted, usually red mushroom, and is one of the most recognisable and widely encountered in popular culture. Several subspecies with differing cap colour have been recognised, including the brown regalis (often considered a separate species), the yellow-orange flavivolvata, guessowii, formosa, and the pinkish persicina. Genetic studies published in 2006 and 2008 show several sharply delineated clades that may represent separate species.

 

Although classified as poisonous, reports of human deaths resulting from its ingestion are extremely rare. After parboiling—which weakens its toxicity and breaks down the mushroom's psychoactive substances—it is eaten in parts of Europe, Asia, and North America. Amanita muscaria is noted for its hallucinogenic properties, with its main psychoactive constituent being the compound muscimol. The mushroom was used as an intoxicant and entheogen by the peoples of Siberia, and has a religious significance in these cultures. There has been much speculation on possible traditional use of this mushroom as an intoxicant in other places such as the Middle East, Eurasia, North America, and Scandinavia.

 

A large, conspicuous mushroom, amanita muscaria is generally common and numerous where it grows, and is often found in groups with basidiocarps in all stages of development. Fly agaric fruiting bodies emerge from the soil looking like white eggs. After emerging from the ground, the cap is covered with numerous small white to yellow pyramid-shaped warts. These are remnants of the universal veil, a membrane that encloses the entire mushroom when it is still very young. Dissecting the mushroom at this stage will reveal a characteristic yellowish layer of skin under the veil; this is helpful in identification. As the fungus grows, the red colour appears through the broken veil and the warts become less prominent; they do not change in size, but are reduced relative to the expanding skin area. The cap changes from globose to hemispherical, and finally to plate-like and flat in mature specimens. Fully grown, the bright red cap is usually around 8 to 20 cm in diameter (3 to 8 in), although larger specimens have been found. The red colour may fade after rain and in older mushrooms.

 

The free gills are white, as is the spore print. The stipe is white too, 5 to 20 cm high (2.0 to 7.9 in) by 1 to 2 cm wide (0.5 to 1 in), and has the slightly brittle, fibrous texture typical of many large mushrooms. At the base is a bulb that bears universal veil remnants in the form of two to four distinct rings or ruffs. Between the basal universal veil remnants and gills are remnants of the partial veil (which covers the gills during development) in the form of a white ring. It can be quite wide and flaccid with age. There is generally no associated smell other than a mild earthiness.

 

Amanita muscaria is a cosmopolitan mushroom, native to conifer and deciduous woodlands throughout the temperate and boreal regions of the Northern Hemisphere,[26] including higher elevations of warmer latitudes in regions such as Hindu Kush, the Mediterranean and also Central America. Fruiting occurs in summer and autumn across Europe and most of North America. This species is often found in similar locations to Boletus edulis, and may appear in fairy rings. Conveyed with pine seedlings, it has been widely transported into the southern hemisphere, including Australia, New Zealand, South Africa and South America.

 

Amanita muscaria poisoning has occurred in young children and in people who ingested the mushrooms for a hallucinogenic experience. Amanita muscaria contains several biologically active agents, at least one of which, muscimol, is known to be psychoactive. Ibotenic acid, a neurotoxin, serves as a prodrug to muscimol, with approximately 10–20% converting to muscimol after ingestion. An active dose in adults is approximately 6 mg muscimol or 30 to 60 mg ibotenic acid. This is typically about the amount found in one cap of Amanita muscaria. The amount and ratio of chemical compounds per mushroom varies widely from region to region and season to season, which can further confuse the issue. Spring and summer mushrooms have been reported to contain up to 10 times more ibotenic acid and muscimol than autumn fruitings.

 

A fatal dose has been calculated as 15 caps. Deaths from this fungus Amanita muscaria have been reported in historical journal articles and newspaper reports, but with modern medical treatment, fatal poisoning from ingesting this mushroom is extremely rare. Many older books list Amanita muscaria as "deadly", but this is an error that implies the mushroom is more toxic than it is. The vast majority (90% or more) of mushroom poisoning deaths are from eating the greenish to yellowish "death cap", or perhaps even one of the three white Amanita species which are known as destroying angels, Amanita virosa, Amanita bisporigera and Amanita ocreata.

 

Fly agarics are known for the unpredictability of their effects. Depending on habitat and the amount ingested per body weight, effects can range from nausea and twitching to drowsiness, cholinergic crisis-like effects (low blood pressure, sweating and salivation), auditory and visual distortions, mood changes, euphoria, relaxation, ataxia, and loss of equilibrium.

 

In cases of serious poisoning the mushroom causes delirium, somewhat similar in effect to anticholinergic poisoning, characterised by bouts of marked agitation with confusion, hallucinations, and irritability followed by periods of central nervous system depression. Seizures and coma may also occur in severe poisonings. Symptoms typically appear after around 30 to 90 minutes and peak within three hours, but certain effects can last for several days. In the majority of cases recovery is complete within 12 to 24 hours. The effect is highly variable between individuals, with similar doses potentially causing quite different reactions. Some people suffering intoxication have exhibited headaches up to ten hours afterwards. Retrograde amnesia and somnolence can result following recovery.

 

The wide range of psychoactive effects can be variously described as depressant, sedative-hypnotic, psychedelic, dissociative, and deliriant. Paradoxical effects such as stimulation may occur however. Perceptual phenomena such as synesthesia, macropsia, and micropsia may occur. Some users report lucid dreaming under the influence of its hypnotic effects. Unlike Psilocybe cubensis, Amanita muscaria cannot be commercially cultivated, due to its mycorrhizal relationship with the roots of pine trees.

German postcard by Kunst und Bild, Berlin, no. A 372. Photo: Paramount Pictures. Photo: Alan Ladd in Red Mountain (William Dieterle, 1951).

 

Alan Ladd (1913-1964) had his big break as a killer in the film noir This Gun For Hire (1942). Throughout the 1940s, his tough-guy roles packed audiences, but he is best known for his title role in the classic Western Shane (1953).

 

Alan Walbridge Ladd was born in Hot Springs, Arkansas, USA in 1913. His mother, Ina Raleigh. had emigrated from England at age 19, and his accountant father, Alan Ladd, died when his son was only four. At age five, Alan burned his apartment playing with matches, and his mother moved them to Oklahoma City, where she married Jim Beavers, a housepainter. Alan was malnourished, undersized and nicknamed 'Tiny', and the family moved to California. Alan picked fruit, delivered papers, and swept stores. In high school he discovered track and swimming. By 1931 he was training for the 1932 Olympics, but an injury put an end to those plans. He opened a hamburger stand called Tiny's Patio, and later worked as a studio carpenter (as did his stepfather) at Warner Brothers Pictures. He married his friend Midge in 1936, but couldn't afford her, so they lived apart. In 1937, they shared a friend's apartment. They had a son, Alan Ladd Jr., and his destitute alcoholic mother moved in with them, her agonizing suicide from ant poison witnessed a few months later by her son. For a short time, Ladd was part of the Universal Pictures studio school for actors. His size and blond hair were regarded by Universal as not right for movies, so he worked hard at radio. There talent scout and former actress Sue Carol discovered him early in 1939. He appeared in a string of bit parts in B-pictures - and an unbilled part as a newspaper reporter in Orson Welles' classic Citizen Kane (1941). Late in 1941, he got his big break when he tested for This Gun for Hire (Frank Tuttle, 1942) based on the novel by Graham Greene. His fourth-billed role as psychotic hitman Raven made him a star.

 

Alan Ladd and his co-star in This Gun for Hire, Veronica Lake, made seven films together. These included The Glass Key (Stuart Heisler, 1942), The Blue Dahlia (George Marshall 1946), and Saigon (Leslie Fenton, 1948). Ladd was drafted in January 1943 and discharged in November with an ulcer and double hernia. His cool, unsmiling tough-guys proved popular with wartime audiences, and he was one of the top box office stars of the decade. In an adaptation of Scott Fitzgerald's The Great Gatsby (Elliott Nugent, 1949), Ladd had the featured role of Jay Gatsby. Four years later he appeared in what many regard as his greatest role, Shane (George Stevens, 1953). The film was nominated for five Academy Awards, including Best Picture. From then on he was performing in lucrative but unrewarding films . By the end of the 1950s liquor and a string of so-so films had taken their toll. In November 1962 he was found unconscious lying in a pool of blood with a bullet wound near his heart. In 1963 Ladd's career looked set to make a comeback when he filmed a supporting role in The Carpetbaggers (Edward Dmytryk, 1964), which became one of the most popular films of the year. He would not live to see its release. In January 1964 Alan Ladd was found dead, apparently due to an accidental combination of alcohol and sedatives. Ladd was only 50. He was married twice. After his divorce from Marjorie Jane Harrold in 1941, he married former film actress Sue Carol in 1942. Carol was also his agent and manager. The couple had two children, Alana Ladd and David Ladd. He was the grandfather of Jordan Ladd.

 

Sources: Ed Stephan (IMDb), Wikipedia and IMDb.

 

And, please check out our blog European Film Star Postcards.

Rupert is still coming down from his sedative and keeps dozing off on his feet until he blinks awake to be fed more turkey.

Major started bloating again on the way to the emergency vet hospital, and then again while there. I already knew that his heart could not withstand much more sedation, and definitely not surgery. He was very nervous there since he wasn't familiar with them (and they wouldn't let me go in the back with him - I also wasn't impressed with their handling skills, of animals or people - my poor baby was terrified). So I decided he wasn't spending his last hours in that cold hospital. I made them get him comfortable and I called my vet. She said she'd wait on me after the clinic closed and help me say goodbye to Major in a way that would give him the dignity he deserved, and allow him to go peacefully. We walked into the room they prepared for him and they had a soft bed made and dimmed the lights. He laid down on it, gave me a few kisses, and I hugged him for a while. Then the vet came in and we talked for a bit until the time was right. Major was already starting to bloat again. So she gave him a heavy sedative and he drifted off to sleep, and then I held him and kissed his head as he crossed over the Rainbow Bridge. Then I had a few minutes alone with him and I told him how much I loved him and how special he was to me. He was with me almost 2 years and I've never had a connection with one of my dogs quite like I had with Major. I will never forget him...

 

Thank you all for following his story, and for sharing his life over the past 2 years with me. Thank you Gloria for taking such great care of him before I adopted him and for being there for me at all hrs of the night. And thank you Kim from Wishaven Rescue, who watched "Major" (she called him "Justice," for what she hoped would be served upon his abusers) for 342 days before she could get him. A quote from Kim (http://www.flickr.com/photos/59664252@N00/) - "I will never forget the day I saw his predecessor dead where this dog would come to stand - day, after day, after day. He has taught me so much, about when to play by the rules and when not to, about how to stay out of jail and still do the things I need to do, about how the kindness and cruelty in our society knows no social or economic boundaries. Major was the 257th dog to come into my care, and is by far one of the finest examples the strength found in our animal companions. He is a lucky, lucky boy, and I am most fortunate for having the opportunity to have known him. He is one that simply gets stuck in the "top part" of your heart, and whose face never recedes in your memory."

 

I feel fortunate to have had the time I did with him and I am so happy I could give him the life he deserved even if it weren't nearly long enough.

This is the till in the Pharmacy under the Eagle, Krakow. It was run by a Tadeusz Pankiewicz, a Polish citizen.When the ghetto was built, he was offered a chance to leave, but decided to stay. It became a place for the jews within the ghetto to get medical help, and a location to meet and hide. He would also pass messages to those outside. He provided sedatives for the children to keep them quiet when the soldiers did their searches. Also hair dye for the older residents to look younger, thus escaping the death camps. After the war ended he continued to work at the pharmacy until 1953. He died in 1993. A truly remarkable and extremely brave man.

Folkloric

· Unripe fruit used for dysentery.

· Ripe fruit is antiscorbutic.

· Seeds and green fruit are astringent.

· Flowers are antispasmodic.

· Infusion of leaves used as sudorific, antispasmodic and emetic.

· In some cultures, the fruits and leaves are used for tranquilizing and sedative properties.

· Juice of ripe fruit used as diuretic and for hematuria and urethritis.

· Flesh of soursop used as poultice to draw out chiggers.

·Decoction of leaves used of head lice and bedbugs.

· Pulverized seeds and seed oil effective for head lice.

· Fruit used as a bait in fish traps.

· Decoction of leaves used as compresses for inflammation and swollen feet.

· Poultice of mashed leaves and sap of young leaves used for eczema and skin eruptions.

· Flowers used to alleviate catarrh.

· Used as tonic by Chinese and Malays.

· In Mexico used as pectoral, antiscorbutic and febrifuge; seeds and green fruit used as astringent and for dysentery.

· In Yucatan juice of the fruit is used for dysentery.

· In Cameroon, leaves used for diabetes.

· In Antiles and Reunion, infusion of leaves used as sudorific.

· In the Peruvian Andes, leaf tea is used for catarrh and crushed seeds for parasitism.

· In the Peruvian Amazon, bark, roots and leaves used for diabetes, as sedative and as antispasmodic.

· In the Brazilian Amazon, the oil of leaves and unripe fruit is mixed with olive oil and used externally for neuralgic, rheumatism and arthritis pains.

 

source: stuart xchange

Aviation Week and Space Technology magazine says that it will not be long before four-engine transports are phased out of long haul service.

 

Let's admire this pioneering aircraft, the 747, while it is still around. I've seen the Airbus A380, and for some reason it doesn't have the sense of scale and the presence of the old Jumbo Jet.

 

As for the 11-abreast seating, there should be sedatives.

 

Seen at SFO.

A poppy is any of a number of showy flowers, typically with one per stem, belonging to the poppy family. They include a number of attractive wildflower species with showy flowers found growing singularly or in large groups.Those that are grown in gardens include large plants used in a mixed herbaceous border and small plants that are grown in rock or alpine gardens.

Papaver rhoeas is a species of flowering plant in the family Papaveraceae. It has a variety of common names, including the Corn Poppy, Field Poppy, Flanders Poppy, or Red Poppy, one of the many species and genera named poppy. The four petals are vivid red, most commonly with a black spot at their base. It is a variable annual plant, forming a long-lived soil seed bank that can germinate when the soil is disturbed. In the northern hemisphere it generally flowers in late spring, but if the weather is warm enough other flowers frequently appear at the beginning of autumn. Like many other species of its genus, it exudes a white latex when the tissues are broken.

 

Papavero è il nome comune di un genere (Papaver) di piante erbacee della famiglia delle Papaveraceae. Al genere appartengono 125 specie circa.Il papavero è considerato una pianta infestante. Papavero è il nome comune della specie Papaver rhoeas, comunissimo nei campi all'inizio dell'estate.

Il Papaver rhoeas, o comunemente papavero o rosolaccio, è una pianta erbacea annuale appartenente al genere Papaver. La specie, largamente diffusa in Italia, cresce normalmente in campi e sui bordi di strade e ferrovie ed è considerata una pianta infestante. Petali e semi possiedono leggere proprietà sedative.

È alta fino a 80 - 90 cm. Il fiore è rosso dai petali delicati e caduchi. Spesso macchiato di nero alla base in corrispondenza degli stami di colore nero. Il fusto è eretto, coperto di peli rigidi. Tagliato emette un liquido bianco. Foglie pennato partite sparse lungo il fusto. Il frutto è una capsula che contiene numerosi semi piccoli, reniformi e reticolati. Fuoriescono da un foro sotto lo stimma.I boccioli sono verdi a forma di oliva e penduli. Fiorisce in primavera da aprile fino a metà luglio.

 

Font : Wikipedia

The genus Pulsatilla contains about 33 species of herbaceous perennials native to meadows and prairies of North America, Europe, and Asia. Common names include pasque flower (or pasqueflower), wind flower, prairie crocus, Easter flower, and meadow anemone. Several species are valued ornamentals because of their finely-dissected leaves, solitary bell-shaped flowers, and plumed seed heads. The showy part of the flower consists of sepals, not petals.

The flower blooms early in spring, which leads to the common name Pasque flower, since Pasque refers to Easter (Passover). In South Dakota in the center of North America, the flower sprouts from late March through early June.

 

Pulsatilla is highly toxic, and produces cardiogenic toxins and oxytoxins which slow the heart in humans. Excess use can lead to diarrhea, vomiting and convulsions, hypotension and coma. It has been used as a medicine by Native Americans for centuries. Blackfoot Indians used it to induce abortions and childbirth. Pulsatilla should not be taken during pregnancy nor during lactation.

 

Extracts of Pulsatilla have been used to treat reproductive problems such as premenstrual syndrome and epididymitis. Additional applications of plant extracts include uses as a sedative and for treating coughs. It is also used as an initial ingredient in homeopathic remedies

(From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia)

that's a sure sign spring has arrived: Bloodroot ,Sanguinaria canadensis (L)

 

81/365

 

Excerpts from "Peterson Field Guides, Eastern/Central Medicinal Plants:"

 

"The blood-red fresh root was used in minute doses as an appetite stimulant; in larger doses as an arterial sedative. Formerly, the root was used as an ingredient in cough medicines. American Indians used root tea for rheumatism, asthma, bronchitis, lung ailments, laryngitis, fevers; also as an emetic. Root use applied to warts, also used as a dye and as a decorative skin stain....

...Experimentally, the alkaloid sanguinarine has shown antiseptic, anesthetic, and anticancer activity. It is used commercially as a plaque-inhibiting agent in toothpaste, mouthwashes and rinses.

Warning: Toxic. Do not ingest."

12) Jonathan Cransley / Harriet Oz Ghul: "The Harvester"

 

Jonathan Cransley was one of the Many "Wangliang"s deciples cult members that "Norman Oz Ghul" re-invented in the modern age, all for the soul purpose to protect the Lazerious Pit. Jonathan was an Escape Convict from Arkham-Croft, who saught enlightenment from It's Leader (Norman), "The Goblin King".

 

Jonathan would however began to disagree with how soft The Cult's actions were - offering more extremists attempts to spread it's word out. Jonathan began an Uproar as it's New Cult Leader "The Harvester" and the Cult itself turned in on eachother with Norman Abandoning it, and hiding the Lazerious Away from the pack.

 

Harriet Oz Ghul was the Daughter of both Norman and Pamela Octavius, but due to her birth AFTER Norman's Dip in the Lazerious Pit - she was proned to sickness and Health issues. Her Father would keep her on Lazerious Sedatives, not wanting to share the lazerious's effects - either out of Selfishness or Protection for his daughter. Jonathan met Harriet and decided to brainwash her into his own cult, hoping she will help him find the Lazerious Pit that Norman Hid away from him.

The Postcard

 

A postally unused postcard that was published by Charles Skilton & Fry Ltd. The card, which has a divided back, was printed in Great Britain. The photography was by Lord Lichfield, courtesy of Weidenfeld Publishers Ltd.

 

Princess Margaret, Countess of Snowdon

 

Princess Margaret, Countess of Snowdon, was born on the 21st. August 1930. She was the younger daughter of King George VI and Queen Elizabeth, and the younger sister and only sibling of Queen Elizabeth II.

 

Margaret spent much of her childhood with her parents and sister. Her life changed at the age of six when King Edward VIII, her paternal uncle, abdicated to marry divorcée Wallis Simpson. Margaret's father became king, and her sister became heir presumptive, with Margaret second in line to the throne.

 

Margaret's position in the line of succession diminished over the following decades as Elizabeth's children and grandchildren were born. During the Second World War, the two sisters stayed at Windsor Castle despite suggestions that they should be evacuated to Canada. During the war years, Margaret was too young to perform official duties and continued her education, being nine years old when the war broke out and turning 15 just after hostilities ended.

 

From the 1950's onwards, Margaret became one of the world's most celebrated socialites, famed for her glamorous lifestyle and reputed romances. Most famously, she fell in love in the early 1950's with Peter Townsend, a married RAF officer in the royal household.

 

In 1952, Margaret's father died, her sister became queen, and Townsend divorced his wife. He proposed to Margaret early in the following year. Many in the government believed that he would be an unsuitable husband for the Queen's 22-year-old sister, and the Archbishop of Canterbury refused to countenance her marriage to a divorced man.

 

Margaret abandoned her plans with Townsend and married Antony Armstrong-Jones in 1960; the Queen created him Earl of Snowdon. The couple had two children, David and Sarah, and divorced in 1978. Margaret did not remarry.

 

Margaret was a controversial member of the British royal family. Her divorce received much negative publicity, and her private life was for many years the subject of speculation by the media and royal watchers. Her health deteriorated in the last 20 years of her life. She was a heavy smoker for most of her adult life, and had a lung operation in 1985, a bout of pneumonia in 1993 as well as three strokes between 1998 and 2001.

 

Annus Horribilis

 

Margaret died in London at the age of 71 on the 9th. February 2002, following a fourth stroke. Margaret's death contributed to the Queen's 'Annus Horribilis' to which she referred in a speech at the London Guildhall on the 24th. November 1992.

 

Other events contributing to the Queen's awful year of 1992 included:

 

-- The publication of photographs of Diana sitting alone on a bench at the Taj Mahal when she was on a trip to India with Charles on the 11th. February 1992.

 

-- In March Andrew and Sarah announced their separation.

 

-- In April, Princess Anne and Mark Phillips divorced.

 

-- In June, Andrew Morton's biography of Diana was published. The book was controversial as it detailed Diana's suicidal unhappiness within her marriage, and her struggles with depression. At the time of publication, Buckingham Palace denied any cooperation between the princess and Morton, but it was later revealed that Diana was the main source behind the book's content.

 

-- In August, there were scandals in the tabloids relating to both Sarah and Diana.

 

-- In November, there was an enormously destructive fire at Windsor Castle which prompted controversy over who should pay for the restoration.

 

After the Queen's Guildhall speech, the Annus Horribilis continued unabated -- on the 9th. December, Charles and Diana announced their separation.

 

Princess Margaret - The Early Years

 

Princess Margaret was born at 9:22 p.m. on the 21st. August 1930 at Glamis Castle in Scotland, her mother's ancestral home, and was affectionately known as Margot within the royal family. She was the first member of the royal family in direct line of succession to be born in Scotland since the 1600's.

 

She was delivered by Sir Henry Simson, the royal obstetrician. The Home Secretary, J. R. Clynes, was present to verify the birth. The registration of her birth was delayed for several days to avoid her being numbered 13 in the parish register. Margaret was baptised in the private chapel of Buckingham Palace on the 30th. October 1930 by Cosmo Lang, the Archbishop of Canterbury.

 

At the time of her birth, Margaret was fourth in the line of succession to the British throne. Her father was the Duke of York (later King George VI), the second son of King George V and Queen Mary. Her mother was the Duchess of York (later Queen Elizabeth The Queen Mother), the youngest daughter of the 14th. Earl and the Countess of Strathmore and Kinghorne.

 

The Duchess of York originally wanted to name her second daughter Ann Margaret, as she explained to Queen Mary in a letter:

 

"I am very anxious to call her Ann

Margaret, as I think Ann of York

sounds pretty, & Elizabeth and Ann

go so well together."

 

King George V disliked the name Ann but approved of the alternative, Margaret Rose.

 

Margaret's early life was spent primarily at the Yorks' residences at 145 Piccadilly (their town house in London) and Royal Lodge in Windsor. The Yorks were perceived by the public as an ideal family: father, mother and children, but unfounded rumours that Margaret was deaf and mute were not completely dispelled until her first main public appearance at her uncle Prince George's wedding in 1934.

 

Margaret was educated alongside her sister, Elizabeth, by their Scottish governess, Marion Crawford. Margaret's education was mainly supervised by her mother, who in the words of Randolph Churchill "never aimed at bringing her daughters up to be more than nicely behaved young ladies".

 

When Queen Mary insisted upon the importance of education, the Duchess of York commented:

 

"I don't know what she meant.

After all, I and my sisters only

had governesses, and we all

married well — one of us very

well".

 

Margaret resented her limited education, especially in later years, and criticised at her mother. However, Margaret's mother told a friend that she "regretted" that her daughters did not go to school like other children, and the employment of a governess rather than sending the girls to school may have been done only at the insistence of King George V.

 

J. M. Barrie, author of Peter Pan, read stories to the sisters as children.

 

Margaret's grandfather, George V, died when she was five, and her uncle acceded as King Edward VIII. Less than a year later, on 11 December 1936, in the abdication crisis, he left the throne to marry Wallis Simpson, a twice-divorced American, whom neither the Church of England nor the Dominion governments would accept as queen. The Church would not recognise the marriage of a divorced woman with a living ex-husband as valid.

 

Edward's abdication made a reluctant Duke of York the new king, and Margaret became second in line to the throne with the title The Princess Margaret to indicate her status as a child of the sovereign. The family moved into Buckingham Palace; Margaret's room overlooked The Mall.

 

Margaret was a Brownie in the 1st. Buckingham Palace Brownie Pack, formed in 1937. She was also a Girl Guide and later a Sea Ranger. She served as President of Girlguiding UK from 1965 until her death in 2002.

 

At the outbreak of World War II, Margaret and her sister were at Birkhall, on the Balmoral Castle estate, where they stayed until Christmas 1939, enduring nights so cold that drinking water in carafes by their bedside froze. They spent Christmas at Sandringham House before moving to Windsor Castle for much of the remainder of the war.

 

Viscount Hailsham wrote to Prime Minister Winston Churchill to advise the evacuation of the princesses to the greater safety of Canada, to which their mother famously replied:

 

"The children won't go without me.

I won't leave without the King.

And the King will never leave."

 

At Windsor, the princesses staged pantomimes at Christmas in aid of the Queen's Wool Fund, which bought yarn to knit into military garments. In 1940, Margaret sat next to Elizabeth during their radio broadcast for the BBC's Children's Hour, addressing other children who had been evacuated from cities. Margaret spoke at the end by wishing all the children goodnight.

 

Unlike other members of the royal family, Margaret was not expected to undertake any public or official duties during the war. She developed her skills at singing and playing the piano, often tunes from stage musicals. Her contemporaries thought she was spoiled by her parents, especially her father, who allowed her to take liberties not usually permissible, such as being allowed to stay up to dinner at the age of 13.

 

Crawford despaired at the attention Margaret was getting, writing to friends:

 

"Could you this year only ask

Princess Elizabeth to your party?

Princess Margaret does draw all

the attention, and Princess

Elizabeth lets her do that."

 

Elizabeth, however, did not mind this, and commented:

 

"Oh, it's so much easier when

Margaret's there — everybody

laughs at what Margaret says".

 

King George described Elizabeth as his pride and Margaret as his joy.

 

Princess Margaret and the Post-War Years

 

At the end of the war in 1945, Margaret appeared on the balcony at Buckingham Palace with her family and Prime Minister Winston Churchill. Afterwards, both Elizabeth and Margaret joined the crowds outside the palace, incognito, chanting:

 

"We want the King, we want the Queen!"

 

On the 15th. April 1946, Margaret was confirmed into the Church of England. On the 1st. February 1947, she, Elizabeth and their parents embarked on a state tour of Southern Africa. The three-month-long visit was Margaret's first visit abroad, and she later claimed that she remembered "every minute of it".

 

Margaret's chaperone was Peter Townsend, the King's equerry, and very firm toward Margaret, whom he apparently considered an indulged child. Later that year, Margaret was a bridesmaid at Elizabeth's wedding. In the next three years, Elizabeth had two children, Charles and Anne, whose births moved Margaret further down the line of succession.

 

In 1950, the former royal governess, Marion Crawford, published an unauthorized biography of Elizabeth's and Margaret's childhood years, titled The Little Princesses, in which she described Margaret's "light-hearted fun and frolics" and her "amusing and outrageous antics".

 

The Margaret Set

 

Around the time of Princess Elizabeth's wedding in November 1947, the press started to follow the social life of "unconventional" Margaret and her reputation for vivacity and wit. As a beautiful young woman, with an 18-inch waist and "vivid blue eyes", Margaret enjoyed socialising with high society and young aristocrats, including Sharman Douglas, the daughter of the American ambassador, Lewis Williams Douglas.

 

A celebrated beauty known for her glamour and fashion sense, Margaret was often featured in the press at balls, parties, and nightclubs with friends who became known as the "Margaret Set". The number of her official engagements increased, and she joined a growing number of charitable organisations as president or patron.

 

Favoured haunts of the Margaret Set were The 400 Club, the Café de Paris and the Mirabelle restaurant. Anticipation of an engagement or romance between Margaret and a member of her set were often reported. In 1948, international news grew that her engagement to "Sunny", the Marquess of Blandford, would be announced on her 18th. birthday.

 

Similar speculation moved to the Hon. Peter Ward, then Billy Wallace and others. The set also mixed with celebrities, including Danny Kaye, whom she met after watching him perform at the London Palladium in February 1948. He was soon accepted by the royal social circle.

 

In July 1949, at a fancy dress ball at the American Ambassador's residence, Margaret performed the can-can on stage, accompanied by Douglas and ten other costumed girls. A press commotion ensued, with Kaye denying he had taught Margaret the dance. Press interest could be intrusive. During a private visit to Paris in 1951, Margaret and Prince Nicholas of Yugoslavia were followed into a nightclub by a paparazzo who took photographs of them until British detectives physically removed him from the club.

 

In 1952, although Margaret attended parties and debutante balls with friends such as Douglas and Mark Bonham Carter, the set were seen infrequently together. They regrouped in time for Coronation season social functions. In May 1953, Margaret met singer Eddie Fisher when he performed at the Red, White and Blue Ball.

 

She asked him to her table and he was "invited to all sorts of parties". Margaret fell out with him in 1957, but years later, Fisher still claimed the night he was introduced to her was the greatest thrill of his lifetime. In June 1954, the Set performed the Edgar Wallace play 'The Frog' at the Scala Theatre. It was organized by Margaret's by now best girlfriend Judy Montagu with Margaret as Assistant Director.

 

The play drew praise for raising £10,500 for charity, but was also criticised for incompetent performances. By the mid 1950's, although still seen at fashionable nightspots and theatre premieres, the set was depleted by its members getting married. As Margaret reached her late twenties unmarried, the press increasingly turned from predicting whom she might marry to suspecting she would remain a spinster.

 

'Romances' and the Press (1947–1959)

 

The press avidly discussed "the world's most eligible bachelor-girl" and her alleged romances with more than 30 bachelors, including David Mountbatten and Michael I of Romania, Dominic Elliot, Colin Tennant (later Baron Glenconner), Prince Henry of Hesse-Kassel, and future Prime Minister of Canada John Turner.

 

Most had titles and almost all were wealthy. Blandford and Lord Dalkeith, both wealthy sons of dukes, were the likeliest potential husbands. Her family reportedly hoped that Margaret would marry Dalkeith, but, unlike him, the princess was uninterested in the outdoors. Billy Wallace, sole heir to a £2.8 million (£78 million today) fortune and an old friend, was reportedly Margaret's favourite date during the mid-1950's.

 

During her 21st. birthday party at Balmoral in August 1951, the press was disappointed to only photograph Margaret with Townsend, always in the background of pictures of royal appearances, and to her parents a safe companion as Elizabeth's duties increased.

 

The following month her father underwent surgery for lung cancer, and Margaret was appointed one of the Counsellors of State who undertook the King's official duties while he was incapacitated. Her father died five months later, on the 6th. February 1952, and her sister became Queen.

 

Romance with Peter Townsend

 

-- The Early Relationship

 

During the war, the King suggested choosing palace aides who were highly qualified men from the military, instead of only aristocrats. Told that a handsome war hero had arrived, the princesses met Townsend, the new equerry, on his first day at Buckingham Palace in 1944; Elizabeth reportedly told her sister, 13 years old, "Bad luck, he's married".

 

A temporary assignment of three months from the RAF became permanent. George VI and the Queen Mother were fond of Townsend; the king reportedly saw the calm and efficient combat veteran as the son he never had. He may have been aware of his daughter's infatuation with the non-titled and non-wealthy Townsend, reportedly seeing the courtier reluctantly obey the princess's order to carry her up palace stairs after a party.

 

Townsend was so often near Margaret that gossip columnists overlooked him as a suitor for the princess. When their relationship began is unclear. The princess told friends she fell in love with the equerry during the 1947 South Africa tour, where they often went riding together. Her biographer Craig Brown stated that, according to a National Trust curator, Townsend requested the bedroom next to hers during a trip to Belfast in October 1947.

 

In November 1948, they attended the inauguration of Queen Juliana of the Netherlands. In later life, Townsend admitted at this point there was an attraction between them, but neither of them ever acknowledged it to one another. Not long after he discovered his wife Rosemary was involved in an extramarital affair, which ended.

 

Contemporary anecdotes about their closeness then dissipated until late 1950, when friendship seems to have rekindled, coinciding with Townsend's appointment as Deputy Master of the Household and the breakdown of his marriage.

 

From the spring of 1951 came several testimonies of a growing romantic attraction. A footman told how the King diverted the pair's picnic plans, adding that whatever the King and Queen knew about the developing relationship, few royal staff failed to notice as it was obvious to them.

 

Townsend said that his love for Margaret began in Balmoral in 1951, and recalled an incident there in August when the princess woke him from a nap after a picnic lunch while the King watched, to suggest the King knew. Townsend and his wife separated in 1951, which was noticed by the press by July.

 

Margaret was grief-stricken by her father's death and was prescribed sedatives to help her sleep. Of her father she wrote:

 

"He was such a wonderful person,

the very heart and centre of our

happy family."

 

Margaret was consoled by her deeply-held Christian beliefs, sometimes attending church twice daily. She re-emerged attending events with her family in April, and returned to public duties and the social scene when official mourning ended in June.

 

American newspapers noted her increasing vitality and speculated that she must be in love. With the widowed Queen Mother, Margaret moved out of Buckingham Palace and into Clarence House in May 1953, while her older sister, now Queen, and her family moved out of Clarence House and into Buckingham Palace. After the king's death, Townsend was appointed Comptroller of Margaret's mother's restructured household.

 

In June 1952, the estranged Townsends hosted Queen Elizabeth II, Prince Philip and Princess Margaret at a cocktail party at their home. A month later, Rosemary Townsend and her new partner John de László attended judging at the Royal Windsor Horse Show. It is thought that the romance between Margaret and Townsend began around this time.

 

The first reports that Townsend and Margaret wished to marry began in August 1952, but these remained uncommon. The Townsend divorce in November was mentioned little in Britain and in greater detail abroad. After the divorce was finalized in December 1952, however, rumours spread about him and Margaret; the divorce, and shared grief over the death of the king in February 1952, likely helped them come together within the privacy of Clarence House, where the princess had her own apartment.

 

-- The Marriage Proposal

 

Private Secretary to the Queen Sir Alan Lascelles wrote that Townsend came to tell him that he had asked Margaret to marry him shortly before Christmas 1952. Other sources claim it occurred in April 1953. He was 15 years her senior, and had two children from his previous marriage. Margaret accepted and informed her sister, the Queen, whose consent was required by the Royal Marriages Act 1772.

 

During the abdication crisis, the Church of England refused to countenance the remarriage of the divorced.

 

Queen Mary had recently died, and, after the coronation of Elizabeth II, the new queen planned to tour the Commonwealth for six months. She told her sister:

 

"Under the circumstances, it isn't

unreasonable for me to ask you

to wait a year."

 

Although foreign media speculated on Margaret and Townsend's relationship, the British press did not. After reporters saw her plucking fluff from his coat during the coronation on the 2nd. June 1953. Townsend later said:

 

"I never thought a thing about it,

and neither did Margaret. After

that the storm broke."

 

The People first mentioned the relationship in Britain on the 14th. June 1953. With the headline "They Must Deny it NOW", the front-page article warned that "scandalous rumours about Princess Margaret are racing around the world", which the newspaper stated were "of course, utterly untrue".

 

The foreign press believed that the Regency Act 1953—which made Prince Philip, the Queen's husband, regent instead of Margaret on the Queen's death—was enacted to allow the princess to marry Townsend, but as late as the 23rd. July most other British newspapers except the Daily Mirror did not discuss the rumours. Acting Prime Minister Rab Butler asked that "deplorable speculation" end, without mentioning Margaret or Townsend.

 

The constitutional crisis that the proposed marriage caused was public. The Queen was advised by Lascelles to post Townsend abroad, but she refused, and instead transferred him from the Queen Mother's household to her own, although Townsend did not accompany Margaret as planned on a tour of Southern Rhodesia.

 

Prime Minister Churchill personally approved of "a lovely young royal lady married to a gallant young airman" but his wife reminded Churchill that he had made the same mistake during the abdication crisis. His cabinet refused to approve the marriage, and Geoffrey Fisher, Archbishop of Canterbury, did not approve of Margaret marrying a divorced man; opponents said that the marriage would threaten the monarchy as Edward VIII's had.

 

The Church of England Newspaper said that:

 

"Margaret is a dutiful churchwoman

who knows what strong views leaders

of the church hold in this matter."

 

However the Sunday Express—which had supported Edward and Wallis—asked:

 

"IF THEY WANT TO MARRY,

WHY SHOULDN'T THEY?"

 

Churchill discussed the marriage at the 1953 Commonwealth Prime Ministers' Conference held with the coronation; the Statute of Westminster 1931 requires Dominion parliaments to also approve any Bill of Renunciation changing the line of succession.

 

The Canadian government stated that altering the line twice in 25 years would harm the monarchy. Churchill informed the Queen that both his cabinet and Dominion prime ministers were against the marriage, and that Parliament would not approve a marriage that would be unrecognized by the Church of England unless Margaret renounced her rights to the throne.

 

Prince Philip was reportedly the most opposed to Townsend in the royal family, while Margaret's mother and sister wanted her to be happy, but could not approve of the marriage. Besides Townsend's divorce, two major problems were financial and constitutional.

 

Margaret did not possess her sister's large fortune, and would need the £6,000 annual civil list allowance and £15,000 additional allowance Parliament had provided for her upon a suitable marriage. She did not object to being removed from the line of succession to the throne, as the Queen and all her children dying was unlikely, but receiving parliamentary approval for the marriage would be difficult and uncertain.

 

At the age of 25 Margaret would not need Elizabeth's permission under the 1772 Act; she could, after notifying the Privy Council of the United Kingdom, marry in one year if Parliament did not prevent her. If Churchill told the Queen, however, one could easily leave the line of succession, another could easily enter the line, dangerous for a hereditary monarchy.

 

The Queen told the couple to wait until 1955, when Margaret would be 25, avoiding the Queen having to publicly disapprove of her sister's marriage. Lascelles—who compared Townsend to Theudas "boasting himself to be somebody"—hoped that separating him and Margaret would end their romance.

 

Churchill arranged for Townsend's assignment as air attaché at the British Embassy in Brussels; he was sent on the 15th. July 1953, before Margaret's return from Rhodesia on the 30th. July. The assignment was so sudden that the British ambassador learned about it from a newspaper. Although the princess and Townsend knew about his new job, they had reportedly been promised a few days together before his departure.

 

-- Press Coverage

 

For two years, press speculation continued. In Brussels, Townsend only said that "The word must come from somebody else". He avoided parties and being seen with women. With few duties (the sinecure was abolished after him), Townsend improved his French and horsemanship. He joined a Belgian show jumping club and rode in races around Europe.

 

Margaret was told by the Church that she would be unable to receive communion if she married a divorced man. Three quarters of Sunday Express readers opposed the relationship, and Mass-Observation recorded criticism of the "silly little fool" as a poor example for young women who emulated her. Other newspaper polls showed popular support for Margaret's personal choice, regardless of Church teaching or government.

 

97% of Daily Mirror readers supported marriage, and a Daily Express editorial stated that even if the Archbishop of Canterbury was displeased:

 

"She would best please the vast

majority of ordinary folk by finding

happiness for herself".

 

The couple were not restricted on communicating by mail and telephone. Margaret worked with friends on charity productions of Lord and Lady Algy and The Frog, and publicly dated men such as Tennant and Wallace. In January 1955, she made the first of many trips to the Caribbean, perhaps to distract, and as a reward for being apart, from Townsend.

 

The attaché secretly travelled to Britain; while the palace was aware of one visit, he reportedly made other trips for nights and weekends with the princess at Clarence House—her apartment had its own front door—and friends' homes.

 

That spring Townsend for the first time spoke to the press:

 

"I am sick of being made to hide in

my apartment like a thief, but whether

I can marry involves more people than

myself".

 

He reportedly believed that his exile from Margaret would soon end, their love was strong, and that the British people would support marrying. Townsend received a bodyguard and police guard around his apartment after the Belgian government received threats on his life, but the British government still said nothing.

 

Stating that people were more interested in the couple than the recent 1955 United Kingdom general election, on the 29th. May the Daily Express published an editorial demanding that Buckingham Palace confirm or deny the rumours.

 

The press described Margaret's 25th. birthday, the 21st. August 1955, as the day she was free to marry, and expected an announcement about Townsend soon. Three hundred journalists waited outside Balmoral, four times as many as those later following Diana, Princess of Wales. "COME ON MARGARET!", the Daily Mirror's front page said two days earlier, asking her to "Please Make up Your Mind!".

 

On the 12th. October Townsend returned from Brussels as Margaret's suitor. The royal family devised a system in which it did not host Townsend, but he and Margaret formally courted each other at dinner parties hosted by friends such as Mark Bonham Carter. A Gallup poll found that 59% of Britons approved of their marrying, with 17% opposed.

 

Women in the East End of London shouted "Go on, Marg, do what you want" at the princess. Although the couple were never seen together in public during this time, the general consensus was that they would marry. Crowds waited outside Clarence House, and a global audience read daily updates and rumours on newspaper front pages.

 

The Manchester Guardian said on the 15th. October:

 

"Nothing much else than Princess

Margaret's affairs is being talked

of in this country, Now the Nation

Waits."

 

Observers interpreted Buckingham Palace's request to the press to respect Margaret's privacy—the first time the palace discussed the princess's recent personal life—as evidence of an imminent betrothal announcement,

 

As no announcement occurred—the Daily Mirror on the 17th. October showed a photograph of Margaret's left hand with the headline "NO RING YET!"—the press wondered why. The News Chronicle wrote:

 

"Parliamentarians are frankly puzzled

by the way the affair has been handled.

If a marriage is on, why not announce it

quickly?

If there is to be no marriage, why allow

the couple to continue to meet without

a clear denial of the rumours?"

 

Why a betrothal did not occur is still unclear. Margaret may have been uncertain of her desire, having written to Prime Minister Anthony Eden in August that:

 

"It is only by seeing him in this way

that I feel I can properly decide

whether I can marry him or not".

 

Margaret may have told Townsend as early as the 12th. October that governmental and familial opposition to their marriage had not changed; it is possible that neither they nor the Queen fully understood until that year how difficult the 1772 Act made a royal marriage without the monarch's permission.

 

An influential 26th. October editorial in The Times stating that "The Queen's sister married to a divorced man (even though the innocent party) would be irrevocably disqualified from playing her part in the essential royal function" represented The Establishment's view of what it considered a possibly dangerous crisis.

 

It convinced many, who had believed that the media were exaggerating, that the princess really might defy the Church and royal standards. Leslie Weatherhead, President of the Methodist Conference, now criticized the proposed marriage.

 

Townsend recalled that:

 

"We felt mute and numbed at

the centre of this maelstrom."

 

The Queen also wanted the media circus to end. Townsend only had his RAF income and, other than a talent for writing, had no experience in other work. He wrote in his autobiography that:

 

"The princess could have married

me only if she had been prepared

to give up everything -- her position,

her prestige, her privy purse.

I simply hadn't the weight, I knew it,

to counterbalance all she would have

lost"

 

Kenneth Rose described Margaret's potential marriage as "life in a cottage on a Group Captain's salary".

 

Royal historian Hugo Vickers wrote that:

 

"Lascelles's separation plan

had worked, and the love

between them had died".

 

Margaret's authorized biographer Christopher Warwick said that:

 

"Having spent two years apart, they

were no longer as in love as they had

been. Townsend was not the love of

her life – the love of her life was her

father, King George VI, whom she

adored".

 

More than 100 journalists waited at Balmoral when Eden arrived to discuss the marriage with the Queen and Margaret on the 1st. October 1955. Lord Kilmuir, the Lord Chancellor, that month prepared a secret government document on the proposed marriage.

 

According to a 1958 biography of Townsend by Norman Barrymaine and other accounts, Eden said that his government would oppose in Parliament Margaret retaining her royal status. Parliament might pass resolutions opposing the marriage, which the people would see as a disagreement between government and monarchy; Lord Salisbury, a High Anglican, might resign from the government rather than help pass a Bill of Renunciation.

 

While the government could not prevent the marriage when Margaret become a private individual after a Bill of Renunciation, she would no longer be a Counsellor of State, and would lose her civil list allowance; otherwise, taxpayers would subsidise a divorced man and the princess's new stepsons. The Church would consider any children from the marriage to be illegitimate. Eden recommended that, like Edward VIII and Wallis, Margaret and Townsend leave Great Britain for several years.

 

Papers released in 2004 to the National Archives disagree. They show that the Queen and Eden (who had been divorced and remarried himself) planned to amend the 1772 Act. Margaret would have been able to marry Townsend by removing her and any children from the marriage from the line of succession, and thus the Queen's permission would no longer be necessary. Margaret would be allowed to keep her royal title and her allowance, stay in the country, and even continue with her public duties.

 

Eden described the Queen's attitude in a letter on the subject to the Commonwealth prime ministers as:

 

"Her Majesty would not wish to stand

in the way of her sister's happiness".

 

Eden himself was sympathetic. He wrote:

 

"Exclusion from the Succession would

not entail any other change in Princess

Margaret's position as a member of the

Royal Family."

 

In the 28th. October 1955 final draft of the plan, Margaret would announce that she would marry Townsend and leave the line of succession. As prearranged by Eden, the Queen would consult with the British and Commonwealth governments, and then ask them to amend the 1772 Act. Eden would have told Parliament that it was "out of harmony with modern conditions"; Kilmuir estimated that 75% of Britons would approve of allowing the marriage.

 

He advised Eden that the 1772 Act was flawed, and might not apply to Margaret anyway. The decision not to marry was made on the 24th. October, and for the following week, Margaret was in disputes about the release and wording of her statement, which was released on the 31st.

 

It is unverified what or when she was told about proposals, drafted on the 28th., four days after the decision was made. By the early 1980's she was still protesting to biographers that the couple had been given false hope that marriage was possible, and she would have ended the relationship sooner had she been informed otherwise.

 

The Daily Mirror on the 28th. October discussed The Times's editorial with the headline "THIS CRUEL PLAN MUST BE EXPOSED". Although Margaret and Townsend had read the editorial the newspaper denounced as from "a dusty world and a forgotten age", they had earlier made their decision and written an announcement.

 

-- The End of the Relationship

 

On the 31st. October 1955, Margaret issued a statement:

 

"I would like it to be known that I have decided

not to marry Group Captain Peter Townsend.

I have been aware that, subject to my renouncing

my rights of succession, it might have been possible

for me to contract a civil marriage.

But mindful of the Church's teachings that Christian

marriage is indissoluble, and conscious of my duty

to the Commonwealth, I have resolved to put these

considerations before others.

I have reached this decision entirely alone, and in

doing so I have been strengthened by the unfailing

support and devotion of Group Captain Townsend."

 

"Thoroughly drained, thoroughly demoralized", Margaret later said, she and Townsend wrote the statement together. She refused when Oliver Dawnay, the Queen Mother's private secretary, asked to remove the word "devotion". The written statement, signed "Margaret", was the first official confirmation of the relationship.

 

Some Britons were disbelieving or angry while others, including clergy, were proud of the princess for choosing duty and faith; newspapers were evenly divided on the decision. Mass-Observation recorded indifference or criticism of the couple among men, but great interest among women, whether for or against.

 

Kenneth Tynan, John Minton, Ronald Searle, and others signed an open letter from "the younger generation". Published in the Daily Express on 4 November, the letter said that the end of the relationship had exposed The Establishment and "our national hypocrisy".

 

Townsend recalled that:

 

"We had reached the end of the road, our

feelings for one another were unchanged,

but they had incurred for us a burden so

great that we decided together to lay it

down".

 

The Associated Press said:

 

"Margaret's statement is almost a

rededication of her life to the duties

of royalty, making unlikely any

marriage for her in the near future,"

 

The princess may have expected to never marry after the long relationship ended, because most of her eligible male friends were no longer bachelors.

 

Barrymaine agreed that Margaret intended the statement to mean that she would never marry, but wrote that Townsend probably did not accept any such vow to him by the princess, and his subsequent departure from Britain for two years was to not interfere with her life.

 

Townsend said:

 

"We both had a feeling of unimaginable

relief. We were liberated at last from this

monstrous problem."

 

After resigning from the RAF and travelling around the world for 18 months, Townsend returned in March 1958; he and Margaret met several times, but could not avoid the press ("TOGETHER AGAIN") or royal disapproval. Townsend again left Britain to write a book about his trip; Barrymaine concluded in 1958 that:

 

"None of the fundamental obstacles to

their marriage has been overcome – or

shows any prospects of being overcome".

 

Townsend said during a 1970 book tour that he and Margaret did not correspond, and they had not seen each other since a "friendly" 1958 meeting:

 

"Just like I think a lot of people

never see their old girl friends".

 

Their love letters are in the Royal Archives, and will not be available to the public until 100 years after Margaret's birth, February 2030. These are unlikely to include Margaret's letters. In 1959, she wrote to Townsend in response to him informing her of his remarriage plans, accusing him of betraying their vow not to marry anyone else, and requesting her love letters to him be destroyed.

 

He claimed he had complied with her wishes, but kept this letter and an envelope of burned shards of the vow she had sent, eventually destroying these also. He was apparently unaware Margaret had already broken the pact by her engagement to Billy Wallace, as it wasn't revealed until many years later.

 

In October 1993, a friend of Margaret revealed she had met Townsend for what turned out to be the last time before his death in 1995. She hadn't wanted to attend the reunion they'd both been invited to, in 1992, for fear it might be picked up by the press, so she asked to see him privately instead.

 

Margaret said that he looked "exactly the same, except he had grey hair". Guests said he hadn't really changed, and that they just sat chatting like old friends. They also found him disgruntled and had convinced himself that in agreeing to part, he and Margaret had set a noble example which seemed to have been in vain.

 

Marriage to Antony Armstrong-Jones

 

Billy Wallace later said that:

 

"The thing with Townsend was a girlish

nonsense that got out of hand. It was

never the big thing on her part that

people claim".

 

Margaret accepted one of Wallace's many proposals to marry in 1956, but the engagement ended before an official announcement when he admitted to a romance in the Bahamas; "I had my chance and blew it with my big mouth", Wallace said.

 

Margaret did not reveal this publicly until an interview and subsequent biography with Nigel Dempster in 1977.

 

Margaret met the photographer Antony Armstrong-Jones at a supper party in 1958. They became engaged in October 1959. Armstrong-Jones proposed to Margaret with a ruby engagement ring surrounded by diamonds in the shape of a rosebud. She reportedly accepted his proposal a day after learning from Townsend that he intended to marry a young Belgian woman, Marie-Luce Jamagne, who was half his age and greatly resembled Margaret.

 

Margaret's announcement of her engagement, on the 26th. February 1960, surprised the press, as she had concealed the romance from reporters.

 

Margaret married Armstrong-Jones at Westminster Abbey on the 6th. May 1960. The ceremony was the first royal wedding to be broadcast on television, and it attracted viewing figures of 300 million worldwide. 2,000 guests were invited for the wedding ceremony.

 

Margaret's wedding dress was designed by Norman Hartnell and worn with the Poltimore tiara. She had eight young bridesmaids, led by her niece, Princess Anne. The Duke of Edinburgh escorted the bride, and the best man was Dr. Roger Gilliatt. The Archbishop of Canterbury Geoffrey Fisher conducted the marriage service.

 

Following the ceremony, the couple made the traditional appearance on the balcony of Buckingham Palace. The honeymoon was a six-week Caribbean cruise aboard the royal yacht Britannia. As a wedding present, Colin Tennant gave her a plot of land on his private Caribbean island, Mustique. The newlyweds moved into rooms in Kensington Palace.

 

In 1961, Margaret's husband was created the Earl of Snowdon. The couple had two children (both born by Caesarean section at Margaret's request): David, born 3rd. November 1961, and Sarah, born 1st. May 1964.

 

The marriage widened Margaret's social circle beyond the Court and aristocracy to include show business celebrities and bohemians. At the time, it was thought to reflect the breaking down of British class barriers. The Snowdons experimented with the styles and fashions of the 1960's.

 

Separation and Divorce

 

Both parties in the marriage regularly committed adultery. Antony had a series of affairs, including with long-term mistress, Ann Hills, and Lady Jacqueline Rufus-Isaacs, daughter of the 3rd Marquess of Reading. Anne De Courcy’s 2008 biography summarises the situation with a quote from a close friend: "If it moves, he'll have it."

 

Reportedly, Margaret had her first extramarital affair in 1966, with her daughter's godfather Anthony Barton, a Bordeaux wine producer. A year later she had a one-month liaison with Robin Douglas-Home, a nephew of former British Prime Minister Alec Douglas-Home.

 

Margaret claimed that her relationship with Douglas-Home was platonic, but her letters to him (which were later sold) were intimate. Douglas-Home, who suffered from depression, died by suicide 18 months after the split with Margaret.

 

Claims that she was romantically involved with musician Mick Jagger, actor Peter Sellers, and Australian cricketer Keith Miller are unproven. According to biographer Charlotte Breese, entertainer Leslie Hutchinson had a "brief liaison" with Margaret in 1955.

 

A 2009 biography of actor David Niven included assertions, based on information from Niven's widow and a good friend of Niven's, that he had had an affair with the princess, who was 20 years his junior. In 1975, the Princess was listed among women with whom actor Warren Beatty had had romantic relationships.

 

John Bindon, an actor from Fulham, who had spent time in prison, sold his story to the Daily Mirror, boasting of a close relationship with Margaret.

 

Beyond adultery, the marriage was accompanied by drugs, alcohol, and bizarre behaviour by both parties, such as his leaving lists of "things I hate about you" for the princess to find between the pages of books she read.

 

According to biographer Sarah Bradford, one note read:

 

"You look like a Jewish

manicurist and I hate you".

 

By the early 1970's, the Snowdons had drifted apart. In September 1973, Colin Tennant introduced Margaret to Roddy Llewellyn. Llewellyn was 17 years her junior. In 1974, she invited him as a guest to Les Jolies Eaux, the holiday home she had built on Mustique. It was the first of several visits.

 

Margaret described their relationship as "a loving friendship". Once, when Llewellyn left on an impulsive trip to Turkey, Margaret became emotionally distraught and took an overdose of sleeping tablets. She later said:

 

"I was so exhausted because

of everything that all I wanted

to do was sleep".

 

As she recovered, her ladies-in-waiting kept Lord Snowdon away from her, afraid that seeing him would distress her further.

 

In February 1976, a picture of Margaret and Llewellyn in swimsuits on Mustique was published on the front page of the News of the World. The press portrayed Margaret as a predatory older woman and Llewellyn as her toyboy lover. On the 19th. March 1976, the Snowdons publicly acknowledged that their marriage had irretrievably broken down and had decided to separate.

 

Some politicians suggested removing Margaret from the civil list. Labour MPs denounced her as "a royal parasite" and a "floozie". On the 24th. May 1978, the decree nisi for their divorce was granted. In the same month, Margaret was taken ill, and diagnosed as suffering from gastroenteritis and alcoholic hepatitis, although Warwick denied that she was ever an alcoholic.

 

On the 11th. July 1978, the Snowdons' divorce was finalized. It was the first divorce of a senior member of the British royal family since Princess Victoria Melita of Edinburgh's in 1901. On the 15th. December 1978, Snowdon married Lucy Lindsay-Hogg, but he and Margaret remained close friends.

 

In 1981, Llewellyn married Tatiana Soskin, whom he had known for 10 years. Margaret remained close friends with them both.

 

Princess Margaret's Public Life

 

Among Margaret's first official engagements was launching the ocean liner Edinburgh Castle in Belfast in 1947. Subsequently, Margaret went on multiple tours of various places; in her first major tour she joined her parents and sister for a tour of South Africa in 1947. Her tour aboard Britannia to the British colonies in the Caribbean in 1955 created a sensation throughout the West Indies, and calypsos were dedicated to her.

 

As colonies of the British Commonwealth of Nations sought nationhood, Princess Margaret represented the Crown at independence ceremonies in Jamaica in 1962 and Tuvalu and Dominica in 1978. Her visit to Tuvalu was cut short by an illness, which may have been viral pneumonia, and she was flown to Australia to recuperate.

 

Other overseas tours included East Africa and Mauritius in 1956, the United States in 1965, Japan in 1969 and 1979, the United States and Canada in 1974, Australia in 1975, the Philippines in 1980, Swaziland in 1981, and China in 1987.

 

In August 1979, Louis Mountbatten, 1st. Earl Mountbatten of Burma, and members of his family were killed by a bomb planted by the Provisional Irish Republican Army. That October, while on a fundraising tour of the United States on behalf of the Royal Opera House, Margaret was seated at a dinner reception in Chicago with columnist Abra Anderson and Mayor Jane Byrne.

 

Margaret told them that the royal family had been moved by the many letters of condolence from Ireland. The following day, Anderson's rival Irv Kupcinet published a claim that Margaret had referred to the Irish as "pigs". Margaret, Anderson and Byrne all issued immediate denials, but the damage was already done. The rest of the tour drew demonstrations, and Margaret's security was doubled in the face of physical threats.

 

Princess Margaret's Charity Work

 

Margaret's main interests were welfare charities, music and ballet. She was president of the National Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Children (NSPCC) and of the Royal Scottish Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Children (Children 1st.) and Invalid Children's Aid Nationwide (also called 'I CAN').

 

She was Grand President of the St. John Ambulance Brigade and Colonel-in-Chief of Queen Alexandra's Royal Army Nursing Corps. She was also the president or patron of numerous organisations, such as the West Indies Olympic Association, the Girl Guides, Northern Ballet Theatre, Birmingham Royal Ballet, Scottish Ballet, Tenovus Cancer Care, the Royal College of Nursing, and the London Lighthouse (an AIDS charity that has since merged with the Terrence Higgins Trust).

 

In her capacity as president of the Royal Ballet, she played a key role in launching a fund for Dame Margot Fonteyn, who was experiencing financial troubles. With the help of the Children's Royal Variety Performance, she also organized yearly fundraisers for NSPCC.

 

Princess Margaret's Illness and Death

 

Margaret's later life was marred by illness and disability. She began smoking cigarettes in her early teens, and had continued to smoke heavily for many years thereafter. In the 1970s, she suffered a nervous breakdown and was treated for depression by Mark Collins, a psychiatrist from the Priory Clinic. Later on, she suffered from migraines, laryngitis, and bronchitis. On the 5th. January 1985, she had part of her left lung removed; the operation drew parallels with that of her father 34 years earlier. In 1991, she gave up smoking, though she continued to drink heavily.

 

In January 1993, Margaret was admitted to hospital for pneumonia. She experienced a mild stroke on the 23rd. February 1998 at her holiday home in Mustique. Early the following year, she suffered severe scalds to her feet in a bathroom accident, which affected her mobility in that she required support when walking and sometimes used a wheelchair.

 

Margaret was hospitalized on the 10th. January 2001, due to loss of appetite and swallowing problems after a further stroke. By March 2001, strokes had left her with partial vision and paralysis on the left side. Margaret's last public appearances were at the 101st. birthday celebrations of her mother in August 2001, and the 100th. birthday celebration of her aunt Princess Alice, Duchess of Gloucester, that December.

 

Princess Margaret died in the King Edward VII's Hospital, London, at 06:30 (GMT) on the 9th. February 2002, at the age of 71, one day after having suffered another stroke that was followed by cardiac problems, and three days after the 50th. anniversary of her father's death.

 

Her sister's eldest son, Charles, then Prince of Wales, paid tribute to his aunt in a television broadcast. UK politicians and foreign leaders sent their condolences as well. Following her death, private memorial services were held at St. Mary Magdalene Church and Glamis Castle.

 

Margaret's coffin, draped in her personal standard, was taken from Kensington Palace to St. James's Palace before her funeral. The funeral was held on the 15th. February 2002, the 50th anniversary of her father's funeral. In line with her wishes, the ceremony was a private service at St. George's Chapel, Windsor Castle, for family and friends.

 

Unlike most other members of the royal family, Princess Margaret was cremated, at Slough Crematorium. Her ashes were placed in the Royal Vault in St. George's Chapel before being transferred to the tomb of her parents, King George VI and Queen Elizabeth The Queen Mother (who died seven weeks after Margaret), in the King George VI Memorial Chapel two months later.

 

A state memorial service was held at Westminster Abbey on the 19th. April 2002. Another memorial service to mark the 10th. anniversary of Margaret and the Queen Mother's death was held on the 30th. March 2012 at St George's Chapel, Windsor Castle, which was attended by the Queen and other members of the royal family.

 

The Legacy of Princess Margaret

 

Observers often characterized Margaret as a spoiled snob capable of cutting remarks and hauteur. Critics claimed that she even looked down on her grandmother Queen Mary because Mary was born a princess with the lower "Serene Highness" style, whereas Margaret was a "Royal Highness" by birth. Their letters, however, provide no indication of friction between them.

 

Margaret could also be charming and informal. People who came into contact with her could be perplexed by her swings between frivolity and formality. Former governess Marion Crawford wrote in her memoir:

 

"Impulsive and bright remarks she

made became headlines and, taken

out of their context, began to produce

in the public eye an oddly distorted

personality that bore little resemblance

to the Margaret we knew."

 

Margaret's acquaintance Gore Vidal, the American writer, wrote: "She was far too intelligent for her station in life". He recalled a conversation with Margaret in which, discussing her public notoriety, she said:

 

"It was inevitable, when there are

two sisters and one is the Queen,

who must be the source of honour

and all that is good, while the other

must be the focus of the most

creative malice, the evil sister".

 

As a child, Margaret enjoyed pony shows, but unlike other family members she did not express interest in hunting, shooting, and fishing in adulthood. She became interested in ballet from a very young age, and enjoyed participating in amateur plays. She directed one such play, titled The Frogs, with her aristocratic friends as cast members.

 

Actors and movie stars were among the regular visitors to her residence at Kensington Palace. In January 1981, she was the castaway in an episode of BBC Radio 4's Desert Island Discs. There she chose Tchaikovsky’s Swan Lake as her favourite piece of music. In 1984, she appeared as herself in an episode of the radio drama The Archers, becoming the first member of the royal family to take part in a BBC drama.

 

Princess Margaret's private life was for many years the subject of intense speculation by media and royalty watchers. Her house on Mustique, designed by her husband's uncle Oliver Messel, a stage designer, was her favourite holiday destination. Allegations of wild parties and drug taking also surfaced in the media.

 

Following Margaret's death, her lady-in-waiting, Lady Glenconner, said that Margaret was devoted to the Queen and tremendously supportive of her. Margaret was described by her cousin Lady Elizabeth Shakerley as:

 

"Somebody who had a wonderful

capacity for giving a lot of people

pleasure, and she was making a

very, very, very good and loyal

friend".

 

Another cousin, Lord Lichfield, said that:

 

"Margaret was pretty sad towards

the end of her life because it was

a life unfulfilled".

 

The Independent wrote in Townsend's 1995 obituary that:

 

"The immense display of popular sentiment and interest

in the relationship can now be seen to have constituted

a watershed in the nation's attitude towards divorce".

 

The Archbishop of Canterbury and the Church received much of the popular anger toward the end of the relationship. Randolph Churchill believed that rumours that Fisher had intervened to prevent the Princess from marrying Townsend has done incalculable harm to the Church of England.

 

A Gallup poll found that 28% agreed, and 59% disagreed, with the Church's refusal to remarry a divorced person while the other spouse was alive. Biographer Warwick suggests that Margaret's most enduring legacy is an accidental one. Perhaps unwittingly, Margaret paved the way for public acceptance of royal divorce. Her life, if not her actions, made the decisions and choices of her sister's children, three of whom divorced, easier than they otherwise would have been.

 

Eden reportedly told the Queen in Balmoral when discussing Margaret and Townsend that, regardless of outcome, the monarchy would be damaged. Harold Brooks-Baker said

 

"In my opinion, this was the turning point to

disaster for the royal family. After Princess

Margaret was denied marriage, it backfired

and more or less ruined Margaret's life.

The Queen decided that from then on,

anyone that someone in her family wanted

to marry would be more or less acceptable.

The royal family and the public now feel

that they've gone too far in the other direction".

 

Princess Margaret's Fashion and Style

 

During her lifetime, Princess Margaret was considered a fashion icon. Her fashion earned the nickname 'The Margaret Look'. The princess, dubbed a 'royal rebel' styled herself in contrast to her sister's prim and timeless style, adopting trendy mod accessories, such as brightly coloured headscarves and glamorous sunglasses.

 

Margaret developed a close relationship with atelier Christian Dior, wearing his designs throughout her life and becoming one of his most prominent customers. In 1950, he designed a cream gown worn for her 21st. birthday, which has been cited as an iconic part of fashion history. Throughout the decade, the princess was known for wearing floral-print dresses, bold-hued ballgowns and luxurious fabrics, accessorising with diamonds, pearls, and fur stoles.

 

British Vogue wrote that Margaret's style 'hit her stride' in the mid-60's, where she was photographed alongside celebrities like The Beatles, Frank Sinatra and Sophia Loren. Princess Margaret was also known for her "magnificent" hats and headdresses, including a canary feather hat worn on a 1962 Jamaica visit and a peacock feather pillbox hat to the 1973 Royal Ascot.

 

Marie Claire stated that the princess "refused to compromise" on her style later in life, continuing with trends of big sleeves and strapless evening gowns.

 

In April 2007, an exhibition titled Princess Line – The Fashion Legacy of Princess Margaret opened at Kensington Palace, showcasing contemporary fashion from British designers such as Vivienne Westwood inspired by Princess Margaret's legacy of style. Christopher Bailey's Spring 2006 collection for Burberry was inspired by Margaret's look from the 1960's.

 

Princess Margaret's Finances

 

In her lifetime, Margaret's fortune was estimated to be around £20 million, with most of it being inherited from her father. She also inherited pieces of art and antiques from Queen Mary, and Dame Margaret Greville left her £20,000 in 1943.

 

In 1999, her son, Lord Linley, sold his mother's Caribbean residence Les Jolies Eaux for a reported £2.4 million. At the time of her death Margaret received £219,000 from the Civil List. Following her death, she left a £7.6 million estate to her two children, which was cut down to £4.5 million after inheritance tax.

 

In June 2006, much of Margaret's estate was auctioned by Christie's to meet the tax and, in her son's words, "normal family requirements such as educating her grandchildren", though some of the items were sold in aid of charities such as the Stroke Association.

 

Reportedly, the Queen had made it clear that the proceeds from any item that was given to her sister in an official capacity must be donated to charities.

 

A world record price of £1.24 million was set by a Fabergé clock. The Poltimore Tiara (shown in the above photograph), which Margaret wore for her wedding in 1960, sold for £926,400. The sale of her effects totalled £13,658,000.

 

The Poltimore Tiara

 

You know the photograph: Princess Margaret lying in a bath and wearing nothing but a tiara on her head. The photograph which was taken by her husband, famed photographer Antony Armstrong-Jones, was not released to the public until 2006, four years after Margaret's death.

 

As flirtatious as it is shameless, the photograph consolidated her status as the eternal rebel of the British Royal House. Margaret once said about herself:

 

"Disobedience is my fun."

 

Eleven years later, the portrait was withdrawn from the public eye, but the image remains ingrained in the minds of the world, to such an extent that The Crown included a scene about it in the third season. In fact the image is still readily accessible on the Internet.

 

Despite the fact that much of what was so shocking about the image had to do with the fact that it was taken in a bath, it acquired iconic status due to the presence of the tiara: grand, resplendent and downright stunning.

 

The tiara has a lot of history. Known as the Poltimore tiara, it originally belonged to Lady Poltimore, the wife of the 2nd. Baron Poltimore. Made in 1870 by London's House of Garrard, it is the epitome of Victorian-era jewellery style: diamond scrolls evoking flora and nature.

 

Lady Poltimore wore this fantastic creation, whose support is made up of gold and silver, at the coronation of King George V in 1911.

 

The 4th. baron put it up for auction in January 1959, and it was then that Princess Margaret acquired it for £5,500.

 

It was purchased for Princess Margaret on the advice of Lord Patrick Plunkett, Deputy Master of the Household, prior to the official announcement of her engagement to Antony Armstrong-Jones.

 

Despite having access to the crown jewels (the Duchess of Cambridge, for example, wore tiaras borrowed from the Queen), the then-29-year-old princess wanted something she could call uniquely hers.

 

Sara Prentice, Creative Director of the House of Garrard, says:

 

“It's very modern. It is becoming more and

more common for women to buy for themselves,

but looking back to 1959, the truth is that she

chose it for herself. She had to charm him to

do it."

 

A year and a half later, on the 6th. May 1960, Princess Margaret wore her tiara on the most important of occasions: her wedding to Antony Armstrong-Jones at Westminster Abbey. The tiara has been part of history ever since. It is the tiara most associated with Princess Margaret.

 

Margaret's wedding was the tiara's most high-profile outing. In 1977 she wore it again for the Shah of Iran's state visit to the United Kingdom.

 

While no tiara can be considered functional, the design of the Poltimore tiara allowed for multiple uses. It could be transformed into a necklace (which Margaret did in 1960) or, if she wanted to, into 11 different brooches.

 

The tiara appears to be practically floating when worn. This is because the bracket is entwined with a brown ribbon that matched Margaret 's hair color. Thus, only the ribbon-covered portion sank into her hair, while her spectacular jewellery remained fully in view.

 

Prentice estimates that such a piece would take around six months to make.

 

The Poltimore tiara was sold in 2006 at Christie's by Margaret's children Viscount Linley and Lady Sarah Chatto in order to raise funds to cover unexpectedly high inheritance taxes. The tiara went to an Asian buyer for £926,400.

 

Since the Christie's sale of the Poltimore, the tiara's current whereabouts are unknown. A number of observers felt that the royal family should have taken the opportunity to buy the historic piece, but they didn't.

Centrranthus ruber

Famiglia: Valerianaceae

Sinonimi: Valeriana rubra

Nome comune: Camarezza comune, Valeriana rossa

Distribuzione:

La specie è originaria dei paesi del bacino del Mediterraneo (Europa meridionale, Nord Africa e Asia minore.

In Italia è comune nel centro-sud e nelle isole. Anticamente era usata come pianta ornamentale, ciò ha contribuito alla conservazione della specie e alla sua diffusione in tutte le parti del mondo.

Le foglie giovani vengono utilizzate nelle insalate, mente in medicina è apprezzata per le sue proprietà sedative, antispasmodiche e antinevralgiche, a volte come sostituto della valeriana. Gli imbalsamatori la utilizzavano nel loro lavoro.

Bibliografia: La flora della Sardegna

Centrranthus ruber

 

Family: Valerianaceae

 

Synonyms: Valeriana rubra

 

Common name: Camarezza common, Red Valerian

 

distribution:The species is native to the countries of the Mediterranean basin (southern Europe, North Africa and Asia Minor.

 

In Italy it is common in the center-south and the islands. In ancient times it was used as an ornamental plant, which has contributed to the conservation of the species and its spread in all parts of the world.

 

The young leaves are used in salads, mind in medicine is valued for its sedative, antispasmodic and antinevralgiche, sometimes as a substitute of valerian. Embalmers used it in their work.

Bibliography: The flora of Sardinia

 

Centrranthus ruber

 

Familia: Valerianaceae

 

Sinónimos: Valeriana rubra

 

Nombre común: Camarezza común,Valeriana roja

 

Distribución: La especie es originaria de los países de la cuenca mediterránea (sur de Europa, norte de África y Asia Menor.

 

En Italia es común en el centro-sur y las islas. En la antigüedad se utilizaba como planta ornamental, lo que ha contribuido a la conservación de la especie y su difusión en todas las partes del mundo.

 

Las hojas jóvenes se utilizan en ensaladas, mientras que en medicina se valora por su propriedad sedante, antiespasmódico y antinevralgiche, a veces como un sustituto de la valeriana. Los embalsamadores utilizaban en su trabajo.

Bibliografía: La flora de Cerdeña

 

It certainly isn't a wildflower. I took this picture in northern California, but I remember the flower from my days in New England which bloomed and dried just around Halloween, and was used as ornaments in vases. Also know as the Japanese Lantern, and in Japan, its seeds are used as part of the Bon Festival as offerings to guide the souls of the deceased. Also, an annual market is dedicated to the flower called hōzuki-ichi, which occurs in Asakusa around Sensō-ji every year on July 9 and 10.

 

The dried fruit of P. alkekengi is called the golden flower in the Unani system of medicine, and used as a diuretic, antiseptic, liver corrective, and sedative.

 

It took five weeks to get this shot. Locally, it's the flower of a tall tree or bush, and you have to crane your neck (and camera) to get just the right shot. I never got an image of the dried orange seed pod, but if you go to a local nursery, it's almost certain you will see and recognize them. I never thought of doing that, and I was fairly pleased with this shot and moved on to bird and dogs and butterflies.

A graviola (Annona muricata) é uma planta originária das Antilhas, onde se encontra em estado silvestre.

 

Nos Andes do Peru, a folha é tradicionalmente usada como chá no tratamento de catarro excessivo. As sementes tem ação anti parasitaria, as raízes e as folhas eram utilizadas para diabetes; no Brasil, tornou-se subespontânea na Amazônia. Prefere climas úmidos e baixa altitude.

 

A gravioleira é uma árvore de pequeno porte (atinge de 4 a 6 metros de altura) e encontrada em quase todas as florestas tropicais, com folhas verdes brilhantes e flores amareladas, grandes e isoladas, que nascem no tronco e nos ramos. Os frutos têm forma ovalada, casca verde-pálida, são grandes, chegando a pesar entre 750 gramas a 8 quilogramas e dando o ano todo.

 

Contém muitas espinhas, vermelhas, envolvidas por uma polpa branca, de sabor agridoce, muito delicado e considerados por muitos que o comeram semelhante ao fruto abóbora (ou jerimum, no nordeste do Brasil). Estão a realizar-se estudos para saber se a graviola cura ou não o cancro (ou câncer, em português do Brasil).

 

O óleo de graviola oferece muitas propriedades na qual inclui bactericida, adstringentes, hipotensor e sedativo para citar alguns. Seus usos tradicionais são para tratar a asma, calafrios, febre, conduto, pressão alta, insônia, nervosismo, reumatismo e doenças de pele. Usá-lo em cremes, loções e bálsamos para aliviar a coceira de pele seca e para eczema e sintomas de psoríase. A semente tem alto valor de magnésio e potássio em relação a polpa da fruta.

 

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Soursop fruit (Annona muricata) is a plant native to the Antilles, where it is found in the wild.

 

In the Peruvian Andes, leaf is traditionally used as a tea in the treatment of excessive phlegm. The seeds have antiparasitic action, roots and leaves were used for diabetes; in Brazil, became subspontaneous in the Amazon. Prefers humid climates and low altitude.

 

The soursop is a small tree (reaches 4 to 6 meters high) and found in almost all tropical forests, with bright green leaves and yellowish flowers, large and isolated, that are born in the trunk and in the branches. The fruits are oval shaped, pale green bark, are large, reaching between 750 grams to 8 kilograms and giving the whole year.

 

It contains many red spines, surrounded by a white pulp, bittersweet in taste, very delicate and considered by many who ate it similar to the pumpkin fruit (or jerimum, in northeastern Brazil). Studies are being carried out to determine whether or not graviola cures cancer (or cancer, in Brazilian Portuguese).

 

Graviola oil offers many properties in which it includes bactericidal, astringent, hypotensive and sedative to name a few. Its traditional uses are to treat asthma, chills, fever, flue, high blood pressure, insomnia, nervousness, rheumatism and skin diseases. Use it on creams, lotions and balms to relieve itchy dry skin and for eczema and psoriasis symptoms. The seed has a high value of magnesium and potassium in relation to fruit pulp.

I am inconsolably sad to report that Scruffy has died. She grew ill quite suddenly and was found to be in kidney failure. She passed peacefully this morning at the animal hospital while I held and kissed and petted her. She was thought not to be in pain, just feeling very tired and sleepy and blah. She was purring through her final brushing until the sedative put her in a deep sleep. I am so lucky to have had her in my life. She was perfect and I cannot complain about getting to spend over two years with her. I will always love her and miss her.

The power of deep colors under the Sun ... power of light...

Poppies

are herbaceous annual, biennial or short-lived perennial plants. Some species are monocarpic, dying after flowering. Poppies can be over 4 feet tall with flowers up to six inches across. The flowers have 4 to 6 petals, many stamens forming a conspicuous whorl in the centre of the flower and an ovary consisting of from 2 to many fused carpels. The petals are showy, may be of almost any color and some have markings. The petals are crumpled in the bud and as blooming finishes, the petals often lie flat before falling away. Poppies are in full bloom late spring to early summer.[1] Most species secrete latex when injured. Bees use poppies as a pollen source. The pollen of the oriental poppy, Papaver orientale, is dark blue, that of the field or corn poppy (Papaver rhoeas) is grey to dark green. The opium poppy, Papaver somniferum, is mainly grown in eastern and southern Asia, and South Eastern Europe. It is believed that it originated in the Mediterranean region.

 

For more informations:

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Poppy

 

THE MEANING:

The Poppy is one of the most widely used symbolic flower around the world. Ancient Greek, Egyptian, and Roman societies linked it with sleep due the sedative effect of the plant’s sap. The Greeks in particular tied it to sleep because of Morpheus, the God of sleep. The Victorians gave the flower a variety of meanings based on the color, including consolation for loss, deep sleep, and extravagance. Chinese and Japanese flower experts recommend the Poppy for couples because it means a deep and passionate love between two people, but white Poppies are tied to death in those cultures too. Other colors represent success and beauty in Eastern cultures. The red Poppy is the traditional flower of remembrance for Europe and North America because of its ties to World War I and II. Some people simply think it is a cheery sign of summer because of its size and intense colors.

The Poppy Flower’s Message is…

Remember those who have passed away to protect you and all that you love. Develop your own sense of inner peace so you can rest at night and get all the sleep you need. Honor the dead and cultivate your imagination for a richer life.

 

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“It is an illusion that photos are made with the camera…

they are made with the eye, heart and head.”

[Henry Cartier Bresson]

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Please don't use any of my images on websites, blogs or other media without my explicit written permission.

© All rights reserved

[That's exactly how I see the world these days.]

[it's been taken while driving...]

Among blue's attributes: calm, peaceful, pacific. A room painted in dark blue can even have a sedative effect. But blue also displays a more dynamic side, one that promotes creativity and inspiration.

I met my alter ego in the mirror (again). This time he was wearing a long coat and dark glasses (in a bathroom...ahem, hello?!). He told me that I was living in a dreamworld and that he could rescue me. I immediately realized that this was a heavy drug-user. And indeed he offered me some pills of wich I chose a blue one. This was definately a sedative. I simply fell asleep and woke up this morning, not sure if I have dreamed up the whole thing. My feeling tells me, that this was not the last time we met....

I just told a friend that I call DJ Shorts strains "Hawaiian Morning Weed" because for me they are like waking up with Fruit, Sun and Happy times sans apparel on the black sands of the big island.

 

meds from crc in eagle rock -

Breeder D. j. Short

strain genetics: fem Blueberry Sativa x original Blueberry male

 

approx. 15% of the plants from this line will sport variegated growth patterns.

 

canna babblin notes::::

:

Another blue indi hybrid strain thats basically a sativa for my chemostry. To each their own. also would rather had more trichs amber. didnt find many.

  

took traditional joint dry hit: extremely lite ovaltine scent but closer to amaretto. cocoa very prevalent in exhale after lit. Very cocoaish in that burp of smoke you get way after exhale on big hits. that lil burp is very tasty as opposed to harsh smoke in many other strains. Great for wake n bakes and up to mid morning for my body chemistry. I go heavier as the day progresses but thats just me.

CK has no adverse cardio limitations so a lite workout or full worklday is not going to be an issue on the cocoa. Improvement in creative work flow and physical activitie. I tend to use DJ's varietals avail in socal during work or workouts, foggy headitis or as fore foreplay. you know whats up. strains bred for focused clarity, create n motivate, not too racy, are not sedative but functional and of course geared for extreme sensual palette pleasing flavors. All working in conjuction to enhance your mental state which enhances physical too. Canna Terps are amazing arent they?

  

Look at the back legs on this guy..:) His bags are pack but he wants more..:)

youtu.be/AM3Cf_eofpo

More Info.

The therapeutic virtues of the poppy, this beautiful plant that cheers fields and roads, are concentrated in the soft velvety petals: a sedative, hypnotic, antispasmodic and antitussive. It is ideal for people of all ages who suffer from insomnia from recurrent but not chronic.

 

Is also indicated in cases of nerve irritation, palpitation and mild anxiety. The petals of the poppies are included in mixed formulations to combat persistent and irritating cough. For its mucosal protective effect, the poppy is also recommended in case of gastritis and gastrointestinal spasms.

 

The best way to enjoy the benefits of drinking it in tea poppy is usually accompanied by other plants such as lemon balm, or valerian hawthorn, and liquid extract or syrup. The precautions that we should consider focusing on women who are pregnant or breastfeeding, the presence of alkaloids, and is not advisable to administer to children under three years.

Doll's Eyes (wildflower, buttercup family) - Shenandoah National Park, Virginia

 

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One of the perks of searching for wildlife to photograph is all the different wildflowers and fungi that I come across at various times of the year. Finding the uncommon and rare ones is really cool.

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White Baneberry, aka Doll's Eyes. Poisonous, especially the berries (see below info). A wildflower that can be found in eastern deciduous woodlands during the spring. Doll's Eyes has attractive foliage and striking white berries, which become mature during the late summer or early fall. These berries resemble the eyes of old-fashioned china dolls, hence the common name. Persisting for four to six weeks in late summer to early fall, the berries extend from the stem on thick, reddish stalks.

 

White Baneberry is toxic to humans. The berries are highly poisonous, but the entire plant is considered poisonous to humans. The berries contain cardiogenic toxins which can have an immediate sedative effect on human cardiac muscle tissue, and are the most poisonous part of the plant. Ingestion of the berries can lead to cardiac arrest and death. The berries are harmless to birds, the plant's primary seed dispersers.

 

Please help to ensure that wildflowers will be around for generations by leaving them unharmed. A flower that is picked can miss a chance to spread thousands of seeds. A plant that is dug up is gone forever, and the loss affects all things connected to it.

 

THANKS FOR VIEWING!

I make it to the medical bay that Jason stayed in whilst he was in his coma. The sheets are clean and perfectly folded as you’d expect from a man with military training. I’d spent the night in this bay after Tim brought me back to the cave after I first met the Crimson Knight, damn that was painful night. Not thanks to the warehouse coming down on me but thanks to Alfred’s healing methods. Credit where it’s due though they did the trick and I’m recovering faster than most people would from a broken arm. Alfred presses his thumb on the DNA scanner and the medicine storage chamber opens up with all of Alfred’s concoctions to help combat ailments, I doubt a good majority of this is legal but it gets the job done at the end of the day. I can see why my father never had him work in Wayne Pharmaceuticals.

 

Alfred has a quick rummage through the storage chamber and pulls out what I presume to be the vial that carried the Lazarus that revived Jason. As Alfred passes the vial to me I pull out my finger print kit to search for prints but Alfred speaks before I get a chance to properly look.

 

“The only finger prints on there are mine. I swabbed it as soon as I came across it.”

 

“Damn it. How could this have even been brought in here without us knowing?”

 

"I’m not sure Master Bruce, but how should we deal with this?”

 

“……I don’t know Alfred.”

 

It’s a difficult situation to figure out. Jason returned to active duty months ago so whoever it was that infiltrated the cave knows who I am and where my base of operations is, but oddly they’ve chosen to not act on that knowledge. Even more bizarre is that of all things they could do with that information they choose to bring Lazarus into my cave and revive one of my allies. Clearly someone’s trying to send me a message of some sorts. Perhaps it was intended as a warning that trouble is……was on it’s way. The Lazarus is probably intended as a hint towards the Crimson Knight. I hope it’s just towards the Crimson Knight anyways. Last thing I need is for it be the only other Lazarus user.

 

“I think we’ve got an ally of sorts.”

 

“How so?”

 

“Whoever broke into the cave revived Jason thus giving me another soldier. Clearly they felt I needed him which implies they knew something was coming.”

 

“You think someone was warning you about this Crimson Knight fellow?”

 

“I hope so Alfred. I really do.”

 

“What should we do about it then?”

 

“You’ve been looking into where the vial could have come from?”

 

“Naturally.”

 

“Any results?”

 

“Somewhat. I’ve found where the vial was made and where a palette of them were delivered.”

 

“And?”

 

“Nothing. Just an empty warehouse.”

 

“Damn.”

 

“I tried to follow up on this and get hold of any credit cards and bank account details but Gothcorp’s computer systems have had the details of all it’s customers deleted so there’s no other pieces of information to follow up on.”

 

“Whoever did this wants to keep a low profile. Clearly they don’t want to be found.”

 

“Indeed. It makes them themost interesting leads to pursue."

 

“It sure does Alfred.”

 

“You want me to keep following up on anything I can find for this Master Bruce?”

 

“Definitely. We’ve got a hidden ally somewhere Alfred and I’d like to know just who they are.”

 

“What about the fact that they breached the cave’s security?”

 

“We’ll have to up the security protocols to prevent anything like this from happening.”

 

“Level 4?”

 

“Indeed.”

 

Level 4 security is second only to level 5 security where the cave seals itself and can only be unlocked by my voice print. With level 4 security in place the only people who can enter the cave are those with their voice prints stored in the batcomputer. So basically only Alfred, Tim, Dick, Jason and I can access the cave. Anyone else gets a dart full of sedative fired at them rendering them unconscious. Speaking of Tim I hear the familiar noise of the batcopters rotors approaching the cave. I guess he and Jason found all they needed to in Carthage….

 

MY WESITE FOR 7TH HEAVEN HIKES IS LIVE! PLEASE CHECK IT OUT

www.7thheavenhikes.com to see the pics associated with this post ( they do not copy and paste )

 

@Puma Ghostwalker, Nature Expert, Medicine Man… and so much more…

 

I was super excited for this hike for a few reasons. I have known Puma for about 7-8 years, but we had never actually met in person. We became friends through the photography website Flickr and admired each other’s work. He posted about hiking the Appalachian trail, living off the grid right in New York City, and bee keeping. Such an amazing man, with an incredible body of work. I was so excited to finally meet him in person. I was also excited, because I knew this hike would be super informative and FUN, because he is just such an interesting quirky and caring man. Kristen and I both knew the day would be killer.

 

Upon arriving to his property, I jumped out of the car and gave him a great big hug. He was so happy for us to be there, and couldn’t wait to show us around. We went into his trailer and he showed us some amazing artifacts.

      

His table was covered in all kinds of interesting things, a deer skull, a jawbone from a coyote or some wild canine. A turtle shell, fossils, huge dried mushrooms, feathers, antlers…all wonderful gifts from Mother Nature that he collected on his travels. He showed us a cave pearl and a raw ruby. The cave pearl was amazing- perfectly round and just gorgeous. Kristen mentioned it had a really positve energy. The ruby was huge, and I can only imagine what he could get for it if he wanted to sell it. It was so neat to have him share his findings and then he blew us both away by gifting us with 2 amazing artifacts. One was a super cool deer antler and the other was a flint nodule from the Cretaceous Period. I really was so touched and amazed at his generosity. YOU ROCK PUMA!

        

Eventually we set out to the Pouch Boyscout Camp where we would begin the hike. Immediately entering the woods we came upon a bright orange mushroom, that I thought was chicken of the woods. It was a Berkley Polypore, similar to chicken of the woods, still edible, but I suppose not as delicious. We then came upon the sprouting of a very special medicinal plant- monotropa uniflora, or Indian Pipe, but also called “Ghost Plant” How fitting. He expalined that it was such a powerful sedative, that it was once considered to be a replacement for morphine, but that it was too hard to farm. These were just starting to pop out ofn the ground, and commented that he hoped we would get to see them in full bloom because they are so beautiful.

    

We wandered around the camp and learned all about the native mushrooms and plants. The three of us had a balst chatting. He even found a huge mushroom very similar to the porcini, the king bolete. We loved listening to Puma’s amazing adventures.

    

We wandered around the lake and and came across a veteran’s memorial park. Puma served our country in The United States Marine Corps. He suffered PTSD, and knows the healing power of nature. It’s his dream to help others with PTSD, as well as young kids with behaviorial problems, teaching them about nature how to believe in themselves.

    

We did end up seeing the fully opened Ghost Plant. Kris Posted a video of it on her blog and I posted live to Instagram as he was expalining it.

  

We took a lot of fun pictures and truly enjoyed every moment of the hike. We shared stories, laughed and got deep, it was just awesome.

   

I love this picture: Mushroom man!

  

This shot was taken in front of the Berlin Building in the Boy Scout Camp. It is named after Irving Berlin. Fun Fact: Anytime the song “God Bless America” is played publicly, the royalties are donated to the Boy Scouts of America.

  

The only pic we took of us 3, Next time I will have a selfie stick.

    

It was a thrilling and an honor to meet Puma. To hike with him and learn so much was such a blessing and a gift. I know we have made a life-long friend. I love you Puma! 💖

 

Puma will be joing us on our upcoming educational hikes and we will also be featuring some of his blogs, videos and other writings. YAY!

For the Cannabis Connoisseur aka Strain Slut - I usually dont post pictures that arent mine but it helps educate. This is a good guide on how to describe flavours of your weed and we use this and a variation which I'll post soon. Envious winesluts would kill to have the amount of varietals we mj strainsluts have.

  

Know your own stone by DJ Short (01 Sept, 1999)

An educated and descerning palate is a key requirement in breeding and appreciating cannabis.

 

An educated palate

 

The breeding and production of fine quality cannabis is more an art than a science. A creative mind and sense of imagination is necessary to achieve success in this field. The other requirement is a very discerning palate, including the ability to discern and appreciate subtle variations in taste, smell and mental experience.

 

Anatomically, the palate is located between the roof of the mouth and the nasal passages. The intricacies of taste and palate are complex and poorly understood. The taste buds in the tongue and mouth make up only a small fraction of the mechanisms used to interpret taste and smell.

 

Olfaction is the term used to describe the sense of smell. The olfactory bulb is the main sensor used to experience and interpret smells. This organ is located behind the nasal passages – up your nose. The sense of smell is one of the most complex we possess, and more of the brain is dedicated to processing smells than any other sense. Smell is closely related to memory, especially older memories. Anatomically, this region is located between the cortex and the occipital lobes, above and around the ears to the top of the head.

 

Research and experience suggest that some people have a greater natural ability to discern taste and smell than others. The palate can also be developed, educated and refined.

 

There are many similarities between the wine industry and the cannabis industry. One of these is that both use "expert palates" to identify and discern the various desirable traits of a product. However, unlike wine, cannabis has another added aspect to consider: the type of experience produced by the product. Alcohol's main experience is similar (and overconsumption can be fatal) while cannabis provides a wide range of effects and is non-toxic.

 

Some herb is strictly pleasing to the mental palate but is not so tasty, while other might taste great but have mild or unpleasant effects.

 

Spectrums of experience

 

The first spectrum to consider is the "up and down" experience. "Up" refers to the stimulating aspects of cannabis, while "down" refers to sedative qualities. Up pot tends to liven the disposition and stimulate the emotions, inspiring sociability and talkativeness. Down pot tends to produce sedative and depressant effects. Some people refer to stimulating pot as being a "head" high and sedative pot as being a "body" high, yet although partially true this is also misleading.

 

Body and head highs are the next spectrum of the cannabis experience. Generally speaking, head highs are stimulating and body highs are sedative, but not all are. Some body highs are stimulating and some head highs are depressing. I once sampled a terribly paranoia-inducing head pot that inspired great couch lock qualities. I called it Boo-Goo.

 

Early to late harvest will affect the head to body spectrum expressed by a certain plant, with the later harvest tending to produce more body and sedative effects. However, I believe that certain aspects of this spectrum to be genetically inherited.

 

Next to consider are aspects of duration. Some cannabis tends to be short-acting (15-30min) whereas other varieties last much longer (6-7 hours). Once again production, harvesting and curing techniques can influence aspects of this spectrum, but much of this effect is inherited.

 

For me, the most important aspect of the cannabis experience to consider is tolerance. This refers to the product's ability to provide the same experience via the same amount over time – the burnout factor. By "over time" I mean the long run: months, years, decades...

 

Most of the cannabis I see on the market today has a terrible tolerance factor – a quick burnout time with the product's novelty lasting less than a week. Luther Burbank's model of breeding needs to be employed here and no expression of tolerance to your product is to be tolerated. An example of where intolerance to tolerance is tolerated – enough already!

 

Another aspect of tolerance is "ceiling." This refers to how high (or far) one is capable of going with the variety. How many hits can you consume until more hits are unnoticeable? Most indicas have a low ceiling of less than 10 hits. For me that's usually around 5 hits in one smoking session. If I smoke more than 5 hits of a strong indica I will either not notice the post-ceiling hits, or I will fall asleep.

 

Some sativas have a very high ceiling, or seem to have none at all! This means that the more you consume, the higher and further you go. Oaxaca Highland Gold, Black Magic African, and Highland Thai were some of the herbs I've tried with very high or no ceiling.

 

The final aspect of mental effects to consider when sampling strains for breeding is the tendency to produce anxiety. Certain strains of cannabis increase anxiety while others decrease it. This is also true for other emotions, which some strains may suppress while others may augment their intensity. Generally stimulating and head varieties are the ones that can produce unwanted anxiety, but this is not always the case. Quickly cured buds or an over-early harvest are contributing factors to anxiety-increasing pot, but this trait is also genetic in nature.

  

Tastes and tasters

 

The physical palates of cannabis add another dimension to the equation. Taste is an important factor toward determining the desirability of most cannabis. The range of flavours expressed by the genus cannabis is extraordinary. No other plant on the planet can equal the cacophony of smells and tastes available from cannabis. This fact alone should interest researchers from several fields.

 

The range of possible smells and tastes a human can experience is large and complex. To date, no-one has created a fully usable olfaction chart, but Ann Noble developed a nifty "aroma wheel" for the wine industry, which inspired me to develop a cannabis olfaction chart. Like Ann's wheel, more basic aroma categories like "fruity", "floral", "spicy" and "pungent" go in the centre, and branch out into more specific aromas. So beneath "fruity" goes "berry" and "citrus", and beneath "citrus" is "lemon", "lime" and "orange".

 

The main cannabis aromas are: woody, spicy, fruity, earthen, pungent, chemical and vegetative – a wide range indeed. More specific aromas include pine and cedar under "woody", musty and dusty for "earthen", blueberry and mango under "fruity", and many others. Most aromas are possible through some combination of strains. Many of these strains were best expressed and acclimated when they were grown outdoors in their region-of-origin, or homeland.

 

Note that aroma and flavour vary between various stages of the plant. The aroma of a live bud on the plant, a dried and cured bud, and the smoke on the inhale and exhale, may all be different from each other. My number one goal when breeding cannabis is the quality of the perfectly matured, trimmed and cured bud and the experience it provides.

 

I strongly recommend the use of "tasters" to help analyze the qualities of a given smoke. I prefer highly educated, seasoned and critical elders as they tend to be the most helpful in their analysis and feedback. If there is the slightest drawback to the product, such as arrhythmia, tachycardia, paranoia, or what have you, the experienced elder taster will be the first to notice it. By the same token, if a product is exceptionally fine, the experienced elder taster will also likely be among the first to fully appreciate this. Besides, the elders always appreciate good medicine.

 

The best way to educate and train the palate is through experience. Unfortunately, there has been a great depletion of variance among the product available to the public. Most grow-ops focus on quantity over quality, and as a result a general blandness has developed. In future articles I will describe some of the great region-of-origin varieties that were available twenty years ago, describing their aroma, flavour, effects, and growth patterns.

My dearest Nayantara,

 

On 10 May 2014 at 11:05am, you left us. For the first time in our lives, we got to hold you in our arms. You were light, soft, barely warm and tiny. You looked exhausted, after days of antibiotics, stomach washes, oxygen bursts and sedatives. It seemed as though you've had enough, and it's time you went to a better place where you could play, sing and meet beautiful children just like you.

 

Your Baba and I always joked how you'd teach us to be more humane. In the 15 days we watched you struggle, prayed to God and counted on a miracle, we realized how much we loved you, what we wouldn't do to protect you, and how beautiful parenthood can be. We argued with the nurses so they would wear head masks, in case you got infected from a speck of germ in their hair; we argued with the doctors so they turn you around in your sleep, in case your body hurt from sleeping in the same position for hours; we argued with the world, in case they thought, even for a micro second, you wouldn't make it. We even got you tiny shoes, so your feet wouldn't get cold.

 

And before we knew it, you were gone. It was the most painful moment of our entire lives, and your tiny body, wrapped inside white cloth, was all we had of you.

 

You wouldn't believe how many micro memories you left us with. The way you'd kick inside the incubator, the way you'd blink when we peered through the glass, the touch of your tiny fingers, the shape of your feet, the sound of your heart beating, the way you'd look at us, the smell of your hair, the way you'd sleep with your mouth slightly open, your muffled cries... and so much more.

 

We wanted you to see the whole world with us. However, God chose otherwise, and we know you are in the safest place we could possibly imagine, in the blessings of God.

 

We wanted to read Roald Dahl and Thakurmar Jhuli to you, teach you to ride your first bicycle, take you to school, help you fight bullies, and so many other wonderful things. Instead, you taught us to be patient, to be kind, to be strong, to be brave. You taught us to love each other no matter what, to hold on, to find happiness in life's simplicity.

 

You are a blessing, and remember, wherever you are, your Baba and your Maa loves you so very much. You will always be our little angel, our daughter, our gift, our Nayantara.

 

May God keep you safe and bless you, my darling.

I miss you so much.

  

Love,

Maa

Spanish postcard by JOCABA, no. 3569. Photo: Paramount. Publicity still for Two Years Before the Mast (John Farrow, 1946).

 

Alan Ladd (1913-1964) had his big break as a killer in the film noir This Gun For Hire (1942). Throughout the 1940s, his tough-guy roles packed audiences, but he is best known for his title role in the classic Western Shane (1953)

 

Alan Walbridge Ladd was born in Hot Springs, Arkansas, USA in 1913. His mother, Ina Raleigh. had emigrated from England at age 19, and his accountant father, Alan Ladd, died when his son was only four. At age five, Alan burned his apartment playing with matches, and his mother moved them to Oklahoma City, where she married Jim Beavers, a housepainter. Alan was malnourished, undersized and nicknamed 'Tiny', and the family moved to California. Alan picked fruit, delivered papers, and swept stores. In high school he discovered track and swimming. By 1931 he was training for the 1932 Olympics, but an injury put an end to those plans. He opened a hamburger stand called Tiny's Patio, and later worked as a studio carpenter (as did his stepfather) at Warner Brothers Pictures. He married his friend Midge in 1936, but couldn't afford her, so they lived apart. In 1937, they shared a friend's apartment. They had a son, Alan Ladd Jr., and his destitute alcoholic mother moved in with them, her agonizing suicide from ant poison witnessed a few months later by her son. For a short time, Ladd was part of the Universal Pictures studio school for actors. His size and blond hair were regarded by Universal as not right for movies, so he worked hard at radio. There talent scout and former actress Sue Carol discovered him early in 1939. He appeared in a string of bit parts in B-pictures - and an unbilled part as a newspaper reporter in Orson Welles' classic Citizen Kane (1941). Late in 1941, he got his big break when he tested for This Gun for Hire (Frank Tuttle, 1942) based on the novel by Graham Greene. His fourth-billed role as psychotic hitman Raven made him a star.

 

Alan Ladd and his co-star in This Gun for Hire, Veronica Lake, made seven films together. These included The Glass Key (Stuart Heisler, 1942), The Blue Dahlia (George Marshall 1946), and Saigon (Leslie Fenton, 1948). Ladd was drafted in January 1943 and discharged in November with an ulcer and double hernia. His cool, unsmiling tough-guys proved popular with wartime audiences, and he was one of the top box office stars of the decade. In an adaptation of Scott Fitzgerald's The Great Gatsby (Elliott Nugent, 1949), Ladd had the featured role of Jay Gatsby. Four years later he appeared in what many regard as his greatest role, Shane (George Stevens, 1953). The film was nominated for five Academy Awards, including Best Picture. From then on he was performing in lucrative but unrewarding films . By the end of the 1950s liquor and a string of so-so films had taken their toll. In November 1962 he was found unconscious lying in a pool of blood with a bullet wound near his heart. In 1963 Ladd's career looked set to make a comeback when he filmed a supporting role in The Carpetbaggers (Edward Dmytryk, 1964), which became one of the most popular films of the year. He would not live to see its release. In January 1964 Alan Ladd was found dead, apparently due to an accidental combination of alcohol and sedatives. Ladd was only 50. He was married twice. After his divorce from Marjorie Jane Harrold in 1941, he married former film actress Sue Carol in 1942. Carol was also his agent and manager. The couple had two children, Alana Ladd and David Ladd. He was the grandfather of Jordan Ladd.

 

Sources: Ed Stephan (IMDb), Wikipedia and IMDb.

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ranunculus_acris

  

Ranunculus acris is a species of flowering plant in the family Ranunculaceae, and is one of the more common buttercups across Europe and temperate Eurasia. Common names include meadow buttercup,[1] tall buttercup,[2] common buttercup and giant buttercup.

  

Description

  

This species is variable in appearance across the world. It is a somewhat hairy plant that has ascending, ungrooved flowing stems bearing glossy yellow flowers about 25 mm across. There are five overlapping petals borne above five green sepals that soon turn yellow as the flower matures. It has numerous stamens inserted below the ovary. The leaves are compound, with three lobed leaflets. Unlike Ranunculus repens, the terminal leaflet is sessile. As with other members of the genus, the numerous seeds are borne as achenes. This and other buttercups contain ranunculin, which breaks down to the toxin protoanemonin, a chemical that can cause dermatitis and vomiting.

 

The rare autumn buttercup (R. aestivalis) is sometimes treated as a variety of this species.[3]

  

Distribution

  

The plant is an introduced species across much of the world. It is a naturalized species and often a weed in parts of North America,[4] but it is probably native in Alaska and Greenland.[5] In New Zealand it is a serious pasture weed costing the dairy industry hundreds of millions of dollars.[6] It has become one of the few pasture weeds that has developed a resistance to herbicides.[7]

 

In horticulture the species may be regarded as a troublesome weed, colonising lawns and paths. However, it may be a welcome feature of wildfower meadows. The double-flowered cultivar R. acris 'Flore Pleno' has gained the Royal Horticultural Society's Award of Garden Merit.[8]

  

Uses by Native Americans

  

The Abenaki smash the flowers and leaves and sniff them for headaches.[9] The Bella Coola apply a poultice of pounded roots to boils.[10] The Micmac use the leaves for headaches.[11] The Montagnais inhale the crushed leaves for headaches.[12]

 

The Cherokee use it as a poultice for abscesses, use an oral infusion for "thrash",[clarification needed] and use the juice as a sedative.[13] They also cook the leaves and eat them as greens.[13]

 

The Iroquois apply a poultice of the smashed plant to the chest for pains and for colds, take an infusion of the roots for diarrhea,[14] and apply a poultice of plant fragments with another plant to the skin for excess water in the blood.

Advertisement for a sedative marketed by Geigy, designed by Igildo Biesele, Basel 1955.

Many of them blooming now in the park. I love their smell :)

 

Viola odorata is a species of the genus Viola native to Europe and Asia, but has also been introduced to North America and Australasia. It is commonly known as Sweet Violet, English Violet, Common Violet, or Garden Violet.

The species can be found near the edges of forests or in clearings; it is also a common "uninvited guest" in shaded lawns or elsewhere in gardens. The flowers appear as early as February and last until the end of April.

Flowers and leaves of viola are made into a syrup used in alternative medicine mainly for respiratory ailments associated with congestion, coughing, and sore throat. Flowers are also edible and used as food additives for instance in salad, made into jelly, and candied for decoration. A decoction made from the root (dry herb) is used as a laxative. Tea made from the entire plant is used to treat digestive disorders and new research has detected the presence of a glycoside of salicylic acid (natural aspirin) which substantiates its use for centuries as a medicinal remedy for headache, body pains and as a sedative. As a bath additive the fresh crushed flowers are soothing to the skin and the aroma is very relaxing.

 

Polish name: fiołek wonny