History, winter and voting for the Royal Family

When we say "going back in history" I wonder what kind of date that means, can you tell me? All kinds of dates could be included in the idea of going back in history, many different eras and time periods. Like the Mediaeval period, or the Roman Empire. "Roman? Is that like where romance comes from?" Lets have a look. It says here the word romance comes from the French word for a story, called roman, which meant it was in a local everyday language, not in Latin. "Where there romances in the Mediaeval period?" It says they were more in the Renaissance, when it meant stories that were about passions, rather than intellectual topics. "Did they have any love poems or love letters in Latin? "Yes, we found some love poems by Catallus who was writing in Latin and was popular in the middle ages. He was inspired by Sappho in his writing. In my poem recently I was writing about what people used to wear in winter in different times. And about how the aristocracy in Europe used to wear special furs that no one else could wear, like Ermine. Though they probably didn't go and kill it themselves, but paid somebody not as rich as them to go and kill it. People couldn't vote for the Royal Family. Not like in the elections tomorrow. I'm not sure what thats about, so I'd better go look up what its all about. I hope there is someone to vote for who wants to save animals like the ermines and the ferrets, and the polar bears. I wish the Royal Family would save the ermines and set them free. As well as all the animals and different countries.

The Weather on Mother Earth By Emma Brodie It's not that icy but today is really cold in Sydney. It's more cold in the city, Not really but almost as cold as in Iceland, Not really but almost like Narnia in The Lion The Witch and The Wardrobe. There's lots of tall buildings that make wind tunnels; I walked from the bus stop where the spirit of the wind Is like crystals, like the cold shivers Of touching beautiful ice and fragile glass. Snow can look beautiful for weddings but only if you're wearing white fake animal furs; I'm all snuggled up in my poncho and my flower dress Warm tights and grey suede boots. I hate the cold weather and even the snow can hurt; I just love the fire with my heart, with its flames; Fires from wood and logs, romantic evenings. Or maybe fires for Christmases overseas, Or maybe the fire from volcanos, Like lava spreading up from the earth. "Fast flowing lavas over vast areas" As it says in my Rock and Minerals book. "What's wrong with taking furs from the wild, Anna? Is it only queens that can wear those things? "A long time ago, like hundreds of years ago -" "Like in Russia, in St Petersburg -" "Yes and in other cold places in Europe, royal families were the only ones allowed to wear certains kinds of furs, like ermine -" "What's ermine?" "Good question, I actually don't know what an ermine looks like. Let's look them up ... Oh my goodness, they are so cute ... Okay, so royalty used wear the real fur of these animals. In those days, they didn't worry about hunting animals for fur." "It's so sad. Those animals are so cute sometimes I don't understand of that." "Well now we have synthetics to make fur that looks real but isn't from the animals." "But that's not taxidermy?" "No, that's a different thing. We can however do fake fur." "No but I mentioned museums -" "That's right, they do have stuffed animals from past times in those museums but we usually don't have them made up now because we can take brilliant photos of the real animals and people are more aware of not making animals extinct." "What's extinct, is it like a skunk?" "Er no - what made you think of a skunk?" "Sorry, I just love the words 'skunk' - and 'ferret' -" "Yeah they are good words - but to get back to extinct -" "That's like bears, like the white ones, the very rare ones." "Yes." "What does that mean, 'rare'?'" "Rare means there are very few of them, not many left." "101 Dalmations & Cruella DeVille is not good for fashion." "That's a good point because that film was made to protest the killing of animals. We have to make laws change about cruelty to animals -" "And to fashion?" "Yes and no. Yes sometimes people do cruel and crazy things to fashion! And yes, fashion is cruel to people sometimes and fashion has rules. But the rules I'm talking about are laws, and they are much more important than rules because if people break laws they can be put into jail." "All the villains." "Yes, exactly. And I think we should get back to weather now." "Yes, let's talk about fire." Fire is beautiful, fire is warm Fire is burning love, like a good feeling inside, Like the flames on pictures about hearts and love. That is about how love makes you feel warm and protected, Like a mineral stone with spirit powers, For energy to give the animals to make them run away from the hunters, So they don't die for their fur. They are so lovely aren't they? Along with sea creatures of the ocean. They don't hunt sea creatures do they, Anna? Yes I'm afraid they do. Like animal testing do they? Yes, like whales being hunted. They don't hunt mermaids do they? No they don't. Possibly because mermaids are a myth. What's a myth? A story that's been told for hundreds of years over and over. Like the ones in the oracle cards? Yes. Like the mermaids in drawings there. Though in the ocean, Emma, they are not real. But they can be real in our minds? Yes. They can be real in our minds, in our spirits. Winter words like clouds, snow, umbrellas going past. Thinking about the North Pole and the South Pole, About the coldest places on earth. Friendly penguins, seals and seeing snow in the Blue Mountains. Can you tell me more about Iceland, Anna? Yes, on another day, maybe when the sun starts shining again. Emma, it's getting dark; how can we end this poem? A few last lines for a windy day? Okay, but my brain can't think of any. Let's look outside. What does the sky look like? What does it say to you? Okay, I know: At sunrise and when the sun goes down I sit by the fire looking out at the night sky To see the wishing star in space.