lovedale

transformation and an album...

...yeah, I have to say I really do like the facade of Senior School. Well done! 

Sure, you know my soapbox by now: I'd love to see 'Ol Henry back in his spot...but that move (for me) does not detract from a great overall renovation. Even if said renovation took down my favorite jacaranda tree - something I will leaf well alone. Actually, but for the tree and Henry's bust, this is pretty much the way I remember the front of Senior School when I joined...and before The Finger went up in all its enormous red glory. Even when almost blinded by the blue sky, I can still see the roof looks great...the windows are a nice touch...

I've uploaded this, and several Founders 2008 pictures, into an album. You've seen many of them before - during the event. I wanted to pull these pictures together and will be adding to this album..

When you are done viewing them, please also visit Indra's excellent collection of Lovedale pictures.

ruggedly yours...

...well, someone from Aravali House had better get in on this, because I am about to have a cheerful shot at interpreting their motto. This post was sparked by a reader's comment asking what the house's motto really meant? Let's see...unlike the directly stated mottoes of the other three houses, we're looking at:

Aravali in Actions

Hmmmm....I notice three house mottoes describe qualities an individual might possess. Aravali's by contrast, refers to a range of mineral-laden hills, so here are a few possible terrain-appropriate explanations.

• Rugged by nature
• Rugged defenders     (I like this one, somehow)
• Ruggedly good looking    (Almost dropped this one)
• We don't fold at all     (With a nod to our geography teacher - Mrs. Atlas - for teaching us about old fold mountains)
• Rock Solid
• Rock Stars
• We are sheltering by nature
• Stone Temple Pilots  (Okay - that's obscure. Even for me)

What do you think Aravali in Actions means? Send in your suggestions using the comments link.  Keep 'em clean, please, and in good spirit!

i'd like to buy a consonant...

...an eagle-eyed reader pointed out that the Aravalli house flag is missing an 'L'

He is right - we've always spelled it with two letter L's; one seems to have been made redundant. Are both versions correct? Wikipedia chooses the diplomatic route and uses both; Encyclopedia Britannica drops one L.

I wonder when the change happened? Would welcome any more information. As one of my English teachers might say: As long as it is pronounced correctly, dear...

And as long as dropping an 'L' is not indicative of a general trend. ;-)  Otherwise, we could be looking at:

• Prep Schoo_
• Girls Schoo_
• Junior...you get the idea...
• The _ibrary
• Thomas Hal_
• _unch hour
• The hospita_
• and perhaps the final indignity: _awrence Schoo_, _ovedale

Yes, I am prone to bursts of sadly juvenile humor. Sue me.

Disclosure: I actually like the Aravali house flag, with or without the additional letter. Something about that sunny, optimistic, yellow. Or gold - if you want to be all proper about it.

hang me a banner...

...four more pictures from Peter that I find interesting. House banners.

Sure, we had House flags when I was in school - but then we also had more houses than there are today. Girl's School had three: Pankaj, Champak and Deodhar. I was in Pankaj, which is, of course, the reason I mention it first. Naturally. We always won everything.

These houses have gone the way of ones like Ganga, Jamuna, Kailash...and from further back: Murray Hammick, Padfield...I'm sure I am missing a few.

They've fallen prey to a consolidation worthy of the corporate world. There are now just four houses throughout school:

• Aravalli
• Nilgiri
• Vindhya
• Sumeru

I instinctively recognize the need for simplification, but somewhere deep inside, I miss the sheer diversity and lyricism of multiple names.

And then I see these splendid banners. Set against them, our flags fade into simplicity. They were just text on a colored background! Plus, we had no motto. None that I can remember, anyway. I feel oddly deprived. I'd like a motto, please. It's becoming a minor obsession.

   

 

 

bring henry home...

...I've been thinking about the moving of Henry Lawrence's statue to Prep School - away from his prime spot in front of Senior School.

{{{sigh}}} I know what I said about the moving of the statues, but y'know, this is one bust I would really like to see back home - in his original location. Henry's been an iconic image of Lawrence School for decades.

He looks oddly forlorn in front of a jungle gym at Prep School - and it bothers me each time I look at that picture...so I'm asking...can we bring Henry home?

caught on camera...

...NDTV's cameras, anyway! Out on the airwaves today, a (very!) brief spot on 150 years at Lovedale. with an equally concise accompanying article.

can't resist that moustache...

...I have so many terrific pictures of Founders 2008 and am expecting more in the days to come. Feels like they deserve an album all their own that can be accessed at leisure...and I will get to it over the next couple of weeks.

In the meantime, this picture made me grin. If you've been following along, you know that the statue of Sir Henry Lawrence has been moved from its former, primo, location outside Senior School. Peter took  a picture of HL's new location - at night, near the swings/slides at Prep School. I set it side-by-side with an older picture - taken in front of Senior School.

Now, personally, I think moving the statues is a good thing since it means you can see Senior School in all its glory - without any statues/planes cluttering the view...but ,,,

What do you think of Henry's expression? Doesn't he look just a bit miffed at the move?

You know, you put in all that time in front of a grand ol' building...only to be moved to guard a set of playground equipment. Promotion's tough these days...

youtube-itis...

...it feels like a good point to add a quick note about the videos on here - and a cheerfully healthy disclaimer.

I pulled these together and uploaded them to YouTube; while this is a great way to share information, I notice that at the end of each video - YouTube pretty much randomly links you to other videos. Keywords such as Lawrence School, Lovedale have something to do with it...but not always! There are a few videos out there of the drummer's tattoo from 2006; I can't claim credit for those videos :-)  They were developed/uploaded by another OL.

As with websites one links to, please note I am not responsible for links to, or the the contents of, videos that may pop up at the end of any of my own videos. That is a charming YouTube generated feature I sadly have no control over! The randomness messes with QC, but that may be my own inner control freak speaking.

</disclaimer and minor, polite, rant>

Now back to regularly scheduled programming :-)

beating the retreat...

...what a treat to get Peter's pictures! Do drop him a note through the Yahoo group thanking him for taking the time to stop and get to a computer so we can all share in the excitement of Founders.

Here are a few images from Beating the Retreat on May 02 - with my notes...

 

The ceremony begins...

 

...Imponderables...Who is the man in the blue shirt? :-) He was there in the morning as well..

 

The Girl's band. The look smart! I wonder if...

 

....the 'piper in the very right of the front row knows that that used to be my spot? :-) As a member of the very first Girl's band at school, I get to make such astute and completely pointless observations. I do like the banners on their bagpipes - we used to have long blue and red ribbons. I also notice...

 

...that unless I've counted the legs wrong...there are now four rows of musicians. We used to have three. More girls playing the bagpipes :-) I love it! 

 

The drums and bugles band steps forward...

 

Massed bands...a really cool sight...

 

Drummer's tattoo. One of my favorite parts of this ceremony.

 

...and it looks like the girls are a part of it too! Terrific!

   

A word with Col. C T O A Wright (OL '35) before...

 

...Completion! The bands start to march out. What are the odds she is going to catch her mace? I wouldn't bet against her... :-)

in step and with precision...

...trying the pictures from May 02 as a video once again; it is fairly simple in format - enjoy the pictures and music!

The music on this, and the previous video, btw, was recorded by Noel Phillips- an OL with great talent. I've loaded four of his other tunes in the right-hand column of this blog.