most serene

This day in 301 AD marks the traditional founding of the state sometimes referred to as the Titanic Republic due to the location of its first church at the summit of Monte Titano built by stonemason Marinus of Rab and his compatriot Leo who fled Emperor Diocletian’s persecution of Christians after helping to rebuild the city walls of neighbouring Rimini after a raid by pirates, and the national day of San Marino (Serenissima Repubblica di San Marino, previously here, here, here and here), the world‘s fifth smallest country and an enclave of Italy, is a good invitation to reflect on the nature of res publica and governance.
Looking at San Marino’s constitution, stability, solvency plus its longevity, one has to question whether we’re even understanding the subject. Prior to 1243, San Marino had no true head of state with only the Pope was nominal ruler and affairs of the city were governed by a oligarchy of the great families called the Argengo. Genoese Innocent IV, fearing that the families were growing too powerful, intervened to check their authority by investing democratic processes in the Grand and General Councils. From this elected body—sixty representatives, members elevate two Captains Regent to govern for a term of six-months. Like the Argengo’s roots in the patrician senate, the policy of nominating a pair of leaders (the co-rulers being from opposing political parties), short incumbency periods and frequent elections date back to the Roman Republic’s consulship, the city state being formed as the Empire began its decline. San Marino has had more female heads of state than any other country.  At the expiration of their half-a-year term, there’s a three day evaluation period during which the public can levy complaints against ex-leaders (consecutive terms are not allowed) and initiate legal proceedings if warranted. I think we owe a great debt to the Sammarinese for this civics lesson alone.

la célèbre maison

Hiking along the seashore from Plougrescant (Plougouskant) on a trail that wound around Porz Hir (the undertaking a bit more ambitious than we expected, and we drove the last part of the stretch later) past la Point du Château—a tall outcropping with the silhouette of a manor house—we came to le Gouffre, the tip of the peninsula with a pretty rugged and wild landscape reminiscent of Road Runner and Wile E. Coyote, made even more famous with its house wedged between two giant boulders. 

Castel Meur, also known as La Maison du Gouffre, was built in 1861, defiantly with its back towards the unforgiving sea and seeking a measure of shelter from the native terrain, has been maintained by the descendants of the original builder who currently reside their and whose privacy (along with their neighbours) ought to be honoured and the cottage admired from a respectable distance.

An earlier incident for the granddaughter of the first occupant that involved some rather invasive tourists put up boundaries for all of us. As much virtue there is in deviating from the prescribed, there are certain norms to be upheld, especially for visitors and guests.

fire and i.c.e.

Though ultimately denied her alibi to skip out on a visit with Trump’s viceroy but not because liberal-Green prime minister Katrín Jakobsdóttir changed her itinerary and rather the US mission did shift their schedule from today to tomorrow rather than perpetuate another diplomatic gaffe, the Reykjavík Grapevine reports, Pence coming to Iceland following additional investment does yet put the country in an awkward position, the understudy being rather antithetical to everything that Iceland has come to embrace and stands for and steals the spotlight and upstages Trump himself regarding some issues. There’s sure to be protests whether the US is successful in making vassals out of Europe’s fringes or not, so stay tuned.

little matron

Via Nag on the Lake, we are treated to a playful stop-motion short from award-winning Dutch-Canadian filmmaker Jacobus Willem “Co” Hoedeman. “Matrioska” (1970) was one of his first commissions for the National Film Board of Canada—having immigrated there in 1965 on the hope that the esteemed institution might hire him on. After producing several films including a treasury of Inuit folktales, Hoedeman went to Czechoslovakia to study puppetry and currently serves as an advisory member of the board and animation consultant. Explore more of his works at the link above.

Matrioska, Co Hoedeman, provided by the National Film Board of Canada

l’abbaye de beauport

Hidden away in the woods outside the commune of Paimpol in the village of Kérity, the former abbey founded in 1202 and invested with papal privilege from its inception represents the introduction of Celtic monastic living to Bretagne.
Fallen into neglect and disrepair already by 1790, the ruins (Abati Boporzh in Breton) were purchased by an Irish fisherman named Louis Morand living in Paimpol who began conservation work, which was eventually taken over by the French government (first as a Monument historique then under the auspices of le Conservatoire du littoral, an agency charged with protecting the character of the coast) in 1862.
Renowned French historian and archaeologist Arcisse de Caumont (*1801 – †1873) based his influential and authoritative rudiments (an Abécédaire) of religious architecture from studies on the abbey ruins, offering the structure as prototypical of the period, the layout of the arcade and the transept being of special interest. Noteworthy also is the chronology of styles preserved as the compound was expanded over the centuries, whilst preserving its original core ensemble. 
Although presently restored extensively as lush and picturesque gardens in 1992, one can still imagine the practical elements and daily routine of the monks’ lives with areas marked off by their former use, cells, common areas and even a rather ingenious salt-pan installation to reclaim minerals from sea water by evaporation.

intersectionality

Via Kottke’s Quick Links, we are invited to explore how one’s content-curators (previously) are driven by the geometry dispensed in Euclid’s Elements, lending a spatial and a quite non-figurative sense to the notion of architecture of choice and the concept of taste divergence.
This illustration of data-modelling and prediction is also a very safe and non-judgmental forum to reacquaint oneself with the maths that we never expected to use again only to find that they’ve been exploiting us through some practical assignments, which are quite assailable despite the fact that they start out like those terribly fraught word problems about trains passing at speed.

cap d’erquy

The region of Bretagne and its Côtes-d’Armor (ar mor meaning ‘the sea’ in Breton and also recalling somewhat recursively the Roman name for the province, Armorica, Latin for ‘along the coast’) department is abundant with spectacular headlands, rocky sandstone and granite cliffs tumbling into the sea and secret sandy coves, and we had the chance to explore many of them.
One of the first we explored this time around was breath-taking for its dramatic vistas but also fort the introduction to the diverse and unique natural landscapes and proof that given time and determination that re-wilding can occur.  Click on the images to enlarge and for more detail.
The misty coastal path (in parts elevated on wooden planks) that wound through this point was once farmland but has been rehabilitated as a protected reserve and again hosts uninterrupted hectares of moorland, peatbogs and pinewoods with a thick blanket of gorse (Stechginster, les Ulex) and heather (Weide, la Callune) that gradually changes colour with the seasons.