Anne Skyvington
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Anne Skyvington

The Craft of Writing

  • Writing
    • A Change of Blog Title
    • An Article in Quadrant Magazine
    • A Guest Post by Ian Wells
    • An Aussie bloke remembers: Guest post by Ian (Harry) Wells
    • a father’s tale … by Ian (Harry) Wells
    • “Snakey” by Roger Britton
    • A Guest Poem: “First Loves” by Roger Britton
    • At the Swimming Pool
    • A Modern True Story
    • A Story of a Special Child
    • What I learnt from writing a novel…
  • Mythos
    • A FAIRY STORY
    • Anthropos Rising
    • A Grain of Folly
    • The Myth of Persephone and Demeter
    • Candidly Yours…
    • A Story of a Genteel Ghost told by Roger Britton
  • Travel
    • Adriatic Romance … Rijeka to Titograd
    • 5 or 6 Things About Valencia
    • A Bird’s Eye View
    • 7 ancient artefacts in the British Museum
    • A Tuscan Village Holiday
  • Australia
    • A Country College Residence
    • Alone not lonely in Apartheid South Africa
    • A Young Adult Novel: My French Barrette
    • A Sydney Icon or Two
    • 5 things about Coogee
  • Nature
    • Black Swans Surfing
    • Blackbird Mythology: Crows and Magpies of Australia
    • A Kit Home Goes Up in Vacy
  • Poetry
    • a funny thing happened …
    • An ancient mystic: Rumi
    • A Window into Poetry
    • A Love Sonnet by Ian Harry Wells
  • Memoir
    • Always something there to remind me…
    • A Well-Loved Pet
    • Ancient Stories from Childhood
    • Voices From the Past
  • Publishing
    • A Useful Site for Readers and Indie Authors: Books 2 Read
    • Highs and Lows of Self Publishing
    • How I Created My Debut Novel
    • 5 Further Publishing Facts
    • 5 Facts I Learnt About Self/Publishing
  • Contact Us
Category

Nature

ein-gedi-park-israel
NaturePoetry

Visiting Ein Gedi

I was drawn to the exotic name Ein Gedi, when coming across it in my brother’s first novel set partly in Israel. Then in a friend’s writing based on a poem by Ted Hughes from “Folktale”, part of  Hughes’ collection entitled Capriccio.  Hughes refers obliquely to the last of the leopards of Ein Gedi in the following excerpt, which suggests via exotic imagery that he is enslaved by dangerous passions. Hughes is writing here about his fraught relationship with Assia Wevill, a flamboyant European who settled in Israel for a time after the War. 

What he wanted
Was the gold, black-lettered pelt
Of the leopard of Ein Gedi.
She wanted only the runaway slave.
(From Folktale by Ted Hughes)

 

There are still doubts as to whether any of the leopards from the original aristocratic dynasty of leopards that roamed the area still exist. And even whether any leopards at all still roam the wilderness areas of Ein Gedi. I discovered that Hariton the leopard entered kibbutz Ein Gedi twice in earlier years, and was once spotted carrying off in his fangs a house cat, which he later devoured. Apparently at this time there were two leopards left in the Judea Desert, Hariton and a female.

According to a study from Tel Aviv University, altogether there were only eight leopards left in the entire country up until a few years ago. The study, conducted by Inbar Perez in 2006 as part of her degree in zoology, was intended to provide the Nature and Parks Authority with information to help preserve the leopards, which have been in danger of extinction for years.  Fewer than 100 leopards are estimated to be left in the Arabian Peninsula (Yemen, Saudi Arabia and Oman) and in the rest of the region, including Israel, fewer than 50.

Ein Gedi is an oasis on the western shore of the Dead Sea and one of the most important archaeological sites in the Judean Desert.

The name means Kid Spring: a compound of two Hebrew words: ein meaning spring, and gdi meaning young goat. Ein-Gedi is actually the name of a spring which flows from a height of 656 feet above the Dead Sea. In the Bible, the wasteland near the spring where David sought refuge from Saul is called “the wilderness of Ein-Gedi” and the enclosed camps at the top of the mountains, the “strongholds of Ein Gedi.” Ein Gedi is mentioned for the first time in the Old Testament (Joshua 15, 61) among the list of the six desert-cities in the domain of the tribe of Judas (Yehudah). Wikipedia

Nubian ibex in Ein Gedi Reserve, Israel

Nubian ibex in Ein Gedi Reserve, Israel

Some pictures and photos of Ein Gedi are reminiscent of images I gleaned from biblical references of the Garden of Eden as a child.

waterfall in Ein Gedii oasis in the Judaean Desert

Waterfall in Ein Gedi

Related articles
  • Ein Gedi – A Testimony to God’s Grace and Provision
  • Ein Gedi National Park
  • Photographing Wildlife at Ein Gedi
  • Uncommon Response
  • Doonreagan: Ted Hughes and Assia Wevill’s escape to Ireland
  • Ted Hughes: a life thrown into turmoil

 

Visiting Ein Gedi was last modified: September 8th, 2017 by Anne Skyvington
September 10, 2016 8 comments
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hunter-valley-rose-grdn
AustraliaNatureWriting

The Passion of Grandparenting … and of Writing

Like for most things, you can only understand the strong emotions grandparents feel  towards their grandchildren once you’ve experienced it.

Some live only for their children and grandchildren. I cannot imagine this. I feel so lucky and priviliged to have my twin passions, my family AND my writing.

I’ve reconnected recently with people from my past, one who told me that he is bored with his life.  What about the joys of learning new things, of travel, exploring different places, cultures and scenery? How can anyone be bored when there is so much to do and to see, even in one’s own country, not to mention other places on planet earth?

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The Passion of Grandparenting … and of Writing was last modified: August 23rd, 2017 by Anne Skyvington
September 9, 2016 6 comments
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fibonacci-sequence
Nature

The Golden Ratio in Nature

I was never interested in mathematics at school,  because of the way it was taught; it was seen as a subject for boys in the 50s. Perhaps today, things have changed a bit.  In any case,  from early on, I was on the creative spectrum, rather than the logical/rational one. Was this a result of nature or nurture? Perhaps a little of both.plant-geometryToday, however, I’m fascinated by the idea of The Golden Ratio, and its links with mathematics, nature and art. In fact, it also has links with science, architecture, music, and many other areas besides.  The golden ratio essentially states that a + b is to a, as a is to b.

golden-ratio-math

The Golden ratio is a special number (1.618), found by dividing a line into two parts, so that the longer part divided by the smaller part is also equal to the whole length divided by the longer part. It is often symbolized using phi, after the 21st letter of the Greek alphabet. In an equation form, it looks like this:    a/b = (a+b)/a = 1.6180339887498948420

Around 1200, mathematician Leonardo Fibonacci discovered the unique properties of the Fibonacci Sequence. This sequence ties directly into the Golden ratio: if you take any two successive Fibonacci numbers, their ratio is very close to the Golden ratio. As the numbers get higher, the ratio becomes even closer to 1.618. For example, the ratio of 3 to 5 is 1.666. But the ratio of 13 to 21 is 1.625. Getting even higher, the ratio of 144 to 233 is 1.618. These numbers are all successive numbers in the Fibonacci sequence.

Here is a visual representation of a Fibonacci spiral which approximates the golden spiral, using Fibonacci sequence square sizes up to 34. Notice how the lengths get smaller in a spiral pattern.

fibonacci-spiral

This spiral pattern is used throughout nature. Many shells, including snail shells and nautilus shells, are perfect examples of the Golden spiral.shell-nautilus

fibonacci-sunflower-centreThe seeds of a sunflower, which start in the centre  and  radiate outwards to fill the space, repeated endlessly, are a perfect example of the Golden Ratio in nature. There are no gaps from beginning to end. Some spiders form their webs in spirals that suggest the repetitive pattern of the golden spiral. And the beautiful designs on the wings of moths and butterflies approximate the golden mean. Similarly, hurricanes often portray the golden spiral. Other examples are roses, spiral galaxies, such as The Milky Way, dolphins, starfish, sea urchins, ants, cauliflowers and honeybees, which all exhibit the fibonacci proportion.

The symbol that has come to represent this ratio is the 21st letter of the Greek alphabet phi.

butterfly-beauty

 FibonacciLeonardo of Pisa, also known as Leonardo Pisano or Fibonacci, was an Italian mathematician, born in Pisa about 1175 AD.

Fibonacci popularized the Hindu-Arabic numeral system in the Western World through his Book of Calculation in 1202. In the same publication, he introduced the sequence of Fibonacci numbers to Europe.

Scientists today, have moved away from thinking  about such considerations, as they are deemed to belong to an ancient time. Darwinian evolutionary theories, and findings from archaeological diggings are more likely to be of interest to the modern mind, because they are evidence-based.

It still amazes me to see how much order, beauty and patterning exist in the natural world around us. I wonder at the time it took, and the processes at work, to create all of this amazing diversity surrounding us, and of which we are a part.red-rose-spiral-pattern

Photographs on this post have been renewed and resized to fit the new format and theme of my blog. The content remains the same.
The Golden Ratio in Nature was last modified: January 21st, 2020 by Anne Skyvington
August 24, 2016 11 comments
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the-last-supper-da-vinci
ArtNature

More About The Golden Ratio

The Vitruvian Man is a drawing created by Leonardo da Vinci circa 1490. It is accompanied by notes based on the work of the architect Vitruvius. The drawing, which is in pen and ink on paper, depicts a male figure in two superimposed positions with his arms and legs apart and simultaneously inscribed in a circle and square. The drawing and text are sometimes called the Canon of Proportions or, less often, Proportions of Man (Wikipedia).

vitruvian-man

Golden Ratio and Art  This drawing is based on the correlations of ideal human proportions with geometry described by the ancient Roman architect Vitruvius in Book III of his treatise De Architectura. Vitruvius described the human figure as being the principal source of proportion among the Classical orders of architecture. Vitruvius determined that the ideal body should be eight heads high. Leonardo’s drawing is traditionally named in honor of the architect.  (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vitruvian_Man (Wikipedia)

The human body:  The measurement of the human navel to the floor and the top of the head to the navel represents the Golden ratio.

In a previous post, “The Golden Ratio In Nature“  I pointed out how this ratio appears in many forms of nature and of science.

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More About The Golden Ratio was last modified: May 31st, 2017 by Anne Skyvington
August 23, 2016 5 comments
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seurat-bathers-at-asnieres
ArtNature

The Golden Ratio in Art and Architecture

Many buildings and artworks reflect the Golden Ratio: the Parthenon in Greece, and many other classical buildings in Europe. But it is not really known if it was designed that way. Some artists and architects believe the Golden Ratio makes the most pleasing and beautiful shapes.

There is a mathematical ratio commonly found in nature—the ratio of 1 to 1.618—that has many names. Most often we call it the Golden Section, Golden Ratio, or Golden Mean, but it’s also occasionally referred to as the Golden Number, Divine Proportion, Golden Proportion, Fibonacci Number, and Phi. Now, a Duke University engineer has found the Golden Ratio to be a compelling springboard to unify vision, thought and movement under a single law of nature’s design.

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The Golden Ratio in Art and Architecture was last modified: July 8th, 2018 by Anne Skyvington
August 22, 2016 0 comment
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About Me

About Me

Anne Skyvington

Anne Skyvington is a writer based in Sydney who has been practising and teaching creative writing skills for many years. You can learn here about structuring a short story and how to go about creating a longer work, such as a novel or a memoir. Subscribe to this blog and receive a monthly newsletter on creative writing topics and events.

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