The Art Of Memory

It is just a matter of time until I type a post and someone will leave me a comment and say, "You know, you did a post saying this exact thing on ...(whatever date).   What I mean is...I can't remember things and I have had this problem even as a child.  Of course, now that I am...ahem, getting on in years shall we say, I think that the memory thing is getting even worse. 
For example, in the photos above, have I shown you the lighthouse at Beachy Head?  I took this photo on one of those days in June and it was a very cool rainy day and as you can see, there wasn't one other person around.  Leaving Richard in the Beachy Head Pub with his friends, I told him that I simply had to go outside and take some photos.  The nice chaplains were looking at me very carefully but when they saw me hook my arm around the railing before I snapped these photos, I think that made them breathe easier and know that this was one gal who was planning on sticking around!  I don't mean to make light of it, Beachy Head is one of the top suicide spots in the country.  There are also numbers posted for suicide prevention.  It is a sad fact that this is a place where people end their lives.

There, can you see the pier in the distance? We could walk down there from here, but we will wait for better weather, don't you think?

 

All my life I have relied on little rhymes and songs to help me remember things and I know that this is called a mnemonic device.  I prefer to think of this as "the art of memory".

 

You may read about it here. It's a bit too complicated for me.   Just give me something that rhymes, and it will be in my brain forever, that's all I know.

 

 

Thirty days hath September,

April, June, and November.

All the rest have thirty-one,

Excepting February alone,

And that has twenty-eight days clear,

And twenty-nine in each leap year.

Of course, everyone knows that rhyme. (And if you know a child who does NOT know it, then what are you waiting for, teach it to him! And there are some adults that could learn it too.)
Here is the interesting thing to me, that rhyme is from the 15th century! And that version is like this...

 

Thirtey days has November,

Aprile, June, and September:

Of twyecescore-eightt is but eine,

And all the remnante be thrycescore-eine.

O´course Leap yare comes an´pynes,

Ev'rie foure yares, gote it ryghth.

An´twyecescore-eight is but twyecescore-nyne.

The literal translation of this medieval version would be:

Thirty days has November,

April, June, and September:

Of twenty-eight is but one,

And all the remnant is thirty-one.

Of course Leap year comes and stays,

Every four years got it right,

And twenty-eight is but twenty-nine.

Earthbound is a song by Rodney Crowell that is several years old now but I think it fits this post quite nicely.