Friday 15 March 2024

Valentine's Disco

These are some photographs of people going to a Vaneltine's Disco at the Chrysalis Theatre in Camphill Milton Keynes.

A disco is an occasion at which typically people dance to amplified music records, usually compered by a disc jockey and featuring special lighting effects

Vaneltine's Day originated as a Christian feast day honoring a martyr named Valentine, and through later folk traditions it has also become a significant cultural, religious and commercial celebration of romance and love in many regions of the world.

Alex Fox

Friday 8 March 2024

2nd Camphill Milton Keynes Bake Off

On Sunday 11th February there was a Valentine's Bake-Off.
Each house in the community made its unique sweet treats, and the four-member committee had quite a difficult task judging all the cakes for appearance and taste. They awarded points to each, and in the end, it turned out that the cake and brownie surprise from Blackthorn scored the highest points!

Alex Fox

Friday 1 March 2024

Bread

Bread is a staple food prepared from a dough of flour (usually wheat) and water, usually by baking. Throughout recorded history and around the world, it has been an important part of many cultures' diet. It is one of the oldest human-made foods, having been of significance since the dawn of agriculture, and plays an essential role in both religious rituals and secular culture.
Bread may be leavened by naturally occurring microbes (e.g. sourdough), chemicals (e.g. baking soda), industrially produced yeast, or high-pressure aeration, which creates the gas bubbles that fluff up bread. In many countries, commercial bread often contains additives to improve flavor, texture, color, shelf life, nutrition, and ease of production.

Alex Fox

Friday 23 February 2024

Setsubun (Bean Throwing) Ceremony

On Saturday 4th February, there was Setsubun, the Bean Throwing Ceremony at the Buddhist Temple in Willen.
Setsubun is the day before the beginning of spring in Japan. The name means ‘seasonal’ division, but usually the term refers to the spring Setsubun, properly called ‘Risshun’ celebrated on February 4th as part of the Spring.
There were prayers for about an hour then there was a special ritual to cleanse away all the evil of the last year and drive away disease-bringing evil spirits for the year to come. We performed this ritual by throwing lots of beans into the air in a darkened room (also saying loudly 'Good spirits in, bad spirits out' to rid us of any evil spirits) and then picking them up afterwards and putting them into paper bags with some sweets that had also been thrown into the air.


Alex Fox

Friday 16 February 2024

My Neighbour Totoro

Hailed as “a tender and remarkably beautiful show” (Financial Times), My Neighbour Totoro is an enchanting coming-of-age story exploring the magical fantasy world of childhood and the transformative power of imagination, as it follows one extraordinary summer in the lives of sisters Satsuki and Mei.

In 1950s Japan, university professor Tatsuo Kusakabe and his daughters Satsuki and Mei (approximately ten and four years old, respectively) move into an old house close to the hospital where the girls' mother, Yasuko, is recovering from a long-term illness. The house is inhabited by small, dark, dust-like house spirits called susuwafari, that can be seen when moving from bright places to dark ones. The susuwatari leave to find another empty house. Mei discovers two small spirits that lead her into the hollow of a large camphor tree. She befriends a larger spirit, which identifies itself using a series of roars that she interprets as "Totoro". Mei thinks Totoro is the troll from her illustrated book Three Billy Goats Gruff. She falls asleep atop Totoro but when Satsuki finds her, she is on the ground. Despite many attempts, Mei cannot show her family Totoro's tree. Tatsuo comforts her, saying Totoro will reveal himself when he wants to.

https://www.barbican.org.uk/whats-on/2023/event/royal-shakespeare-company-my-neighbour-totoro

Alex Fox