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September 2021 Broadcast, Martina Nicolls


 


MARTINA NICOLLS - SEPTEMBER 2021 NEWS AND UPDATES


TO THE LIGHT OF SEPTEMBER - by W.S. MERWIN

When you are already here 
you appear to be only 
a name that tells of you 
whether you are present or not 
and for now it seems as though 
you are still summer 
still the high familiar 
endless summer 
yet with a glint 
of bronze in the chill mornings 
and the late yellow petals 
of the mullein fluttering 
on the stalks that lean 
over their broken 
shadows across the cracked ground 
but they all know 
that you have come 
the seed heads of the sage 
the whispering birds 
with nowhere to hide you 
to keep you for later 
you 
who fly with them 
you who are neither 
before nor after 
you who arrive 
with blue plums 
that have fallen through the night 
perfect in the dew

(from September 2003 Poetry Foundation)

GOLDEN MANTELLA FROG

The Golden Mantella Frog (Mantella aurantiaca) is a small poisonous amphibian in the Mantellidae family. Native to Madagascar, it grows up to 2-3 centimetres (1 inch) long. It is dormant (inactive) in winter. It emerges when the rains arrive. READ MORE about the frog (with photographs). MANTELLA MERCHANDISE. Photographer: Martina Nicolls

ANIMAL Website: Similar but Different in the Animal Kingdom.


WEST WITH GIRAFFES BY LYNDA RUTLEDGE: BOOK REVIEW

West with Giraffes (2021), inspired by a true story, is set in the San Diego Zoo from September 1938. Two East African giraffes, the first giraffes consigned to the zoo, survive a shipwreck and travel across land from New York to California in a unique road trip. READ MORE of the book review. ROTHSCHILD'S GIRAFFE MERCHANDISE. Photographer: Martina Nicolls

FLAMINGO FLOCK

"Just because the flock are flying, it doesn't mean it's winter" - I took the photograph in 2019 at Lake Naivasha in Kenya. FLAMINGO MERCHANDISE. Photographer: Martina Nicolls

SEPTEMBER IN PARIS: FROM VINE TO WINE

In September in Paris, the Botanical Garden (Jardin des Plantes) is celebrating the domestication of the grape vine – more than 5,000 years ago. In September, grapes begin to mature, depending on the region and variety, and the harvest can take place between August and October. At the Botanical Garden, vines can be found in the Ecological Garden. They include the Hamburg muscat, the Fontainebleau chasselas, and American hybrids such as noah and baco, whose winemaking was banned in France since the 1930s! Also, in the Vellum Collection of the National Museum of Natural History (in the same grounds as the Botanical Garden) is a historical source for the study of vines. Almost all of the thirty or more representations of grape varieties are painted with an anonymous hand, dating from the end of the 18th century.


RUE DU QUATRE SEPTEMBRE, PARIS

The rue du Quatre Septembre - Street of the 4th of September - is in the 2nd arrondissement In Paris. Both a street and a Metro station commemorate this date in 1870. It brought about the end of the second empire (today, France is under the fifth empire). 

THE PARIS RESIDENCES OF JAMES JOYCE 

My latest book, The Paris Residences of James Joyce, was released on 1 May 2020. In March 2021, the book was a finalist in the 2021 Book Excellence Awards in the Biography category. READ MORE ABOUT THE BOOK

PARIS BLOGS ON MY WEBSITE: THE PARIS RESIDENCES OF JAMES JOYCE 

The blogs on my website The Paris Residences of James Joyce are under the category Opal Hush, connecting the past to the present, and discovering people and places in Paris. Opal Hush is mentioned in James Joyce's 1922 novel Ulysses. It's a drink - a quarter of glass of claret topped with lemonade from a soda siphon. Opals are my favourite gemstone, and hush ... well, it's just a whisper! OPAL BLUSH BLOGS.

READ BLOG: What is an Éclair?

NEW WEBSITE: A FLOWER EXPECTED EVERYWHERE

In May 2021, I launched a new website called A FLOWER EXPECTED EVERYWHERE. View the website HERE


A SIGN OF THE TIMES

Rue du Quatre Septembre, 7 June 2020

A VISIT TO THE AUSTRALIAN EMBASSY


MORE PHOTOGRAPHS AND MERCHANDISE


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MARTINA NICOLLS
http://www.martinanicolls.net
http://martinasblogs.blogspot.com
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