Alan Skeoch

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  • EPISODE 507 CAPABILITY BROWN (1715 – 1783)


    note:  This was a difficult Episode…an important episode…so why did I use

    first person dialogue?  Because it seemed the most efficient way to cover

    a difficult subject.  If, at the end, you are intrigued by Capability Brown then
    I have succeeded.



    EPISODE 507   CAPABLITY BROWN


    alan skeoch
    Jan. 7 2022


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  • PRELUDE TO EPISODE 519: A MYSTERIOUS GRAPH … LOOKS LIKE INCIDENCE OF PLAGUE OR PANDEMIC

    PRELUDE TO  EPISODE  510:   CAPABILITY BROWN…triggers a new disease called G———G

    JUST in case you need some relief from all the frightening media mentions

    of the pandemic…” growing and growing”…scaring the pants of people…

    Just in case you need relief, I came across this graph which
    should provide relief for shattered nerves.

    What is it?

    Someone did  a search for the word GARDENING as mentioned in 18th century textbooks.
    In 1700 the word is hardly mentioned.  By 1800 the word is heading into the stratosphere.
    Was Capability Brown responsible for the new disease called GARDENING?


         Figure 1 Appearance of the term gardening in British texts during the 18th Century

     

  • Fwd: EPISODE 500 THE PERIL OF SELF-IDOLATRY


    NOTE:  I just had to respond to Marjorie’s news clippings sent to the Castlefield Institute in Toronto

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    EPISODE  500:  THE PERIL OF SELF-IDOLATRY


    SMASH A WINE BOTTLE — GOOD SPEAKERS PROP

    (A comment re: newspaper articles sent by Marjorie)

    Well,  I will now be disliked…too many articles and pics about me.  Quite a

    shock to see them today..  Marjorie is hard to control. 

    Two years ago….Feb. 29,2020, I was about to make  speech on the
    terrible condition of the Great Lakes at the Stonehooker Brewery
    in Port Credit.  A fancy affair.  $100 a plate fund raiser.  Marjorie wanted
    to introduce me.   She became the speaker…took 21 minutes
    in the introduction, the feature of which was when she dropped an empty 
    wine bottle from lectern to cement floor.  It exploded with shards of
    glass going all over.  She did not even pause.  Kept on speaking while
    Shaymus was gathering up glass fragments at her feet.

    Of course she became the feature of the evening.  I shortened my
    speech from 40 minutes to 10 minutes much to the relief of
    all since I did not have an empty wine bottle to smash for attention.

    The wine bottle had a label quoting Albert Einstein saying “an open
    mind means a person is capable of listening to new ideas.” (My words, Einstein’s idea)

    Actual Einstein words “The mind that is open to new ideas will never return
    to the same size”

    I had the good sense to shut up.  

    alan

    ps.  Please do not think I sent those newspaper articles as an
    act of self-idolatry.

    pps. Start reading wine bottle labels.  


  • EPISODE 509 IRELAND — FACES OF PEOPLE I MET IN 1960 AND 1965 — WARM THE SOUL

    EPISODE 509    IRELAND — FACES OF PEOPLE THAT WARM THE SOUL  1960 AND 1965

    Kevin Behan and his daughters…They made a stronger like me welcome…and directed me to go see THE QUIET MAN which was
    playing continuously at a Dublin Movie house.   Could Ireland be such a happy place?  For me in 1960 when I was 21 years old that
    is what Ireland became.  A happy place.   Named one of our sons after Kevin.



    alan skeoch
    Jan. 9, 2022

    So here we are in Ireland once again.  A random collection of pictures I took in 1960 snd 1965.   Professor Aidan Coffey
    has shown so much interest in my Irish experience that I put together this random collection for him.  Then when I looked
    at them I concluded that the readers of my blog might be warned up by these pictures of the past.

    For those who have never seen my stories of Ireland in 1960 I suggest you search through my blog   alan skeoch.ca

    In 1960 I was sent to Bunmahon by a Canadian mining company to see if the ancient copper mines of
    county Waterford merit reopening.  Our survey raised the hopes of many local Irish people only to be dashed
    when it was included that there was too much faulting and too little prospect of profit.  We did, however, have
    a wonderful summer of 1960….not just me, all of us involved including those who met regularly at Kirwin’s
    pub and the Kennedy family of Bunmahon who did not attend the pub but made our life enjoyable.

    I spent a big slice of my earnings on 35mm film.  Glad I did so.   Now converted by a lab into digital form

    pictures I found…






    .



    This is our son Andrew on one of our many tours of Ireland…picture taken inland from Cliffs of Moher.   When we were robbed in Canada
    we decided to put the insurance money, around $6,000 into a tour with both boys…Kevin and Andrew.  Where?  Ireland of course.
    Once we landed we looked for a pub with Guiness on draft.  Marjorie said “well I hope this is not going to be a habit on our trip”
    I still remember how the boys looked at me after she spoke.





    Picture taken on our last visit to ireland around 2005 when daughter in law and granddaughters took us there…
    all other pics are from 1960 or 1965



    Have several pics of this fellow…and his horse…not all pictures have been found


    This is Kevin Behan with his daughters.  He looked after me in Dublin for 13 days and made such an impact that we named
    our first son after him….Kevin Angus Skeoch

    Ruin on road between Bunmahon and Tramore…where the panel van rented from Mrs. Kennedy stopped dead…had to cramk and crank
    to get it going.  







    Marjorie snd curator of the Irish Folk Museum


    Bunmahon farmer gathering sea weed for fertilizer or kelp for market if sun a market existed.


    Cute little lady that ran this dry goods store…perhaps in Dungarvin but not sure


    Alan Skeoch with Turam geophysical console searching for magnetic sources underground.
    In distance is man with the other vertical copper coil.  The farmer who owned this wheat field
    demanded compensation and rightly so but I am not sure how damages were covered.







    These boys were playing the haunting music titled Cliffs of Moher…or so i remember



    This crew was clearing Gorse from roadside…a few years later this was done mechanically with a tractor and cutter bar.  Not nearly
    as pretty.












    Now here is an interestng fellow…reading his thoughts not too difficult






    When the Tinker set up camp near Bunhamon many people kept a close eye on their portable possessions.


    Pictures from Irish folk museum east of County Waterford.  We are planning to build a cart like this
    for movie prop.



    Sometimes our job was rather nasty…and dangerous should a boar or sow not like our trespassing their homes.

  • EPISODE 509 FOUR IRISH CHILDREN AND THEIR DONKEY, CIRCA 1960

    EPISODE 509    FOUR IRISH CHILDREN AND THEIR DONKEY, CIRCA 1960


    alan skeoch
    Jan. 9, 2022


    I can’t believe I took this picture but seems I did as there are several supporting pictures.  So very Irish.

    So very innocent and charming    Our geophysical work in the County Waterford, Ireland, in 1960 attracted a lot of
    attention from locals and even the Waterford newspaper did a big speed on the front page which I have
    tried to get but have failed.  This picture is a lot nicer anyway.

    alan