Reforestation Experiment

As this reforesting thing is an ongoing experiment, we make changes if something does not develop as we expected. Not too long ago this area had a spralling beach Naupaka plant that was not looking that good so we decided to make some changes. The kukui nut tree to the rear had started to produce seedlings around its base so we removed the Naupaka and replaced it with one of the Kukui sprouts. Lets see how this works out!

Goodbye Blossom Dearie

Aftermath

Aftermath ,day two. I spent today doing more post pig clean up . This will probably take one more morning to finish. That is unless they show up tonight and make things worse. Stay tuned!

Insulting

Living in a rural setting has its interesting moments, and here is the the aftermath of one of them.This section of our property used to have a straight edge along the street. Last night some wild boars altered it slightly. The grass extends about a foot beyond the edge of the pavement so should be edged anyway. It somehow seems insulting that it took a group of pigs to remind
me to do it.

Favorite View

This is one of my favorite views of our place.Taken at the back of the 400 foot lot, it is especially pleasing because I planted almost all of the small tress in the photo six years ago . It has been rewarding, as well as a lot of work but worth every sweaty moment!

Great stuff

flashback

Pub Mats Continued

Loose Ends

A few loose ends for Dorian Gray.As is the case in many of the classic books this work is readable on different levels. In this case there a four themes.

#1) The Purpose of Art.
Oscar Wild believed Art had no purpose. This contradicts the Victorian view that art could be used for social education and enlightenment.Being in the Aestheticism movement he tried to free art from those standards.This work tries to jolt the middle class, attempting to convince them that art had no purpose other than being beautiful.

#2 The Supremacy of Youth And Beauty.
Although Youth and beauty are present throughout the entire story line, a main point is, there is a price to pay,mainly Dorain's Soul

#3The Superficial Nature of Society
I is important to most of the the characters of the book that a man is handsome . As Dorian descends into moral depravity he is never rejected because of his pure face.

#4 The Negative Consequences of Influence
The Painting , the character of Lord Henery (and the yellow book he suggests ) have an enormous influence on Dorian eventually leading to his downfall and death.

I will leave the motifs for another time as all of this is making me tired!

I just finished reading The Picture of Dorian Gray. It is a Gothic moral novel written by Oscar Wild in 1891.
The main Character, Dorian Gray is the subject of a portrait painted by his friend Basil Hallward . Dorian is a beautiful young man at the time when he is introduced by Basil to Lord Henry Wotton. Influenced by Lord Wotton Dorian, descends into a life of vice. He begins by praying to have the portrait absorb his sins if he can retain his astonishing youthful appearance. Through out the novel the portrait becomes more hideous(as a result of Dorian's sins) but he remains youthful and handsome . As he descends into darkness he eventually Kills his friend Basil and in the end attempts to destroy the painting only to kill himself instead. After Dorian's death his likeness in the portrait returns to its original condition.
This would have made a great Twilight Zone story.

One can never hear too much Coltrane