Spices and barbarism

We have received a very welcome package from a friend who lives in St Lucia; a range of Caribbean spices. The contents included these nutmegs with their outer covering of mace still attached - two spices for the price of one! Lots of rice puddings to come I think. The nutmegs are sitting in a copper ash-tray made by Talpa when he was about 12 years old. Those were the days when we received a broad education, from Latin to metal working. Hard to imagine though that a school should have thought that an ash-tray was a suitable project. Thankfully, some things have improved.

More bad news this morning from the ancient city of Palmyra in Syria. Islamic State fighters have destroyed the Temple of Bel, arguably the most important temple on the site.  Bel was a Semitic god and was worshipped at Palmyra in triad with the lunar god Aglibol and the sun god Yarhibol,The "extra" shows a small detail of what we have now lost for ever. Meanwhile, the flow of suffering refugees continues unabated. What an utter catastrophe.