Stonehenge-like stone circle

Ipomoea nil, known as morning glory, like to grow in warmer summers and in the warmer more sheltered parts of the UK. If you see them blooming, it means summer.

This plant normally blooms continuously from early summer to early fall and there are many kinds of colours in the world. However, St Nicholas Fields, located in the green heart of York, has only the white-colour morning glories on its 24-acre site. 

In the Middle Ages, St Nicholas Fields was open fields and the monks from St. Nicholas Hospital used it to graze the cattle.

Later it was once York's rubbish tip but now it is home to a wide range of species, such as birds, butterflies, apples, and developing habitats including meadows and woodland. 

The most interesting part of St Nicholas Fields is a mysterious corner which looks like Stonehenge-like stone circles. I still remember by the time I visited Stonehenge, a lot of tourists queued to see them up close, and my friends were so busy taking photos for each other so that I did not really focus on the sacred moment of meeting with the magnificent stones. Nevertheless, this morning, a bit raining, when I was alone with this Stonehenge-like stone circle, an unexplainable mystery surrounds me. 

My 2016 Stonehenge trip 

Actually, there are more than 1,300 lesser-known stone circles in the UK that are waiting to be explored. Check here to know more. 

photoed at St Nicholas Fields

photoed at St Nicholas Fields

像Stonehenge 的石陣

Ipomoea nil很多人稱為牽牛花，喜歡在溫暖的夏天和英國氣候較為溫暖的地區生長。如果看到它們盛開，就是意味著夏天到了。該植物通常從初夏到初秋連續開花，在世界上有許多種顏色。但是，位於約克綠色心臟的聖尼古拉斯田野（St Nicholas Fields）在其24英畝的土地上只有白色的牽牛花。

在中世紀，聖尼古拉斯田野是片空地，聖尼古拉斯醫院的僧侶用它來放牧牛群。後來它曾經是約克的垃圾場，但現在它已成為各種各樣物種的家園，包括鳥,蝴蝶,蘋果並發展了包括草地和林地在內的棲息地。

聖尼古拉斯田野最有趣的部分是一個神秘的角落，看起來像巨石陣般的石圈。我仍然記得上一次我訪問巨石陣時，很多遊客排著長隊近距離看他們，而我的朋友們忙於彼此拍照，以至於我並沒有真正專注於和宏偉壯觀的石頭相會時的神聖時刻。然而，今天早晨，下著小雨，當我一個人待在這個像巨石陣的石圈裡時，一個無法解釋的神秘圍繞著我。

實際上，英國有1300多個鮮為人知的石圈正在等待大家去探索。點這裡進去查看:

Post-Pandemic Era

‘Less is more’ is derived from the architect and furniture designer Ludwig Mies Van Der Rohe (1886-1969). (What a long name!😂😆)

From 13 June, the UK government has set out its plan to return life to as near normal as we can after the lockdown imposed on the evening of 23 March; and most stores has reopened since 15 June 2020. However, COVID19 has changed many people’s lifestyles due to the unemployment and the change of consumption behaviours.

What have you been changed by the COVID-19 pandemic?

I am always a movie fan, and I have been watching more movies online, a bit different approach, though; I have been cooking more and trying some new recipes, at home;

I have been doing more Yoga, indoor…probably will do that outdoor in the coming summer; Also, I have been reducing purchasing clothes, shoes and cosmetics since I don’t need to go out so often.

According to the 2020 Happiness Report, Finland is the happiest country in the world, as usual, with Denmark, Switzerland, Iceland and Norway holding the next top positions. This report is the 8^th survey of the state of global happiness that ranks 156 countries by how happy their citizens perceive themselves to be. Naoyuki Honda noticed that and in 2013 he published a book ‘Less is more’ by gathering information from interviewing some people living in the happiness countries and his own observations.

Happiness survey, how about your country (click in to check)? 

If you take a look at his profile, he is an efficient expert in financial management, reading and transnational life with the spirit of ‘do more with less’. In his interesting book, he claimed that ‘if you hold an old value to live in the present, it is impossible to have happiness.’ He examined why people living in Hawaii and the Nordic countries enjoy more happiness than Japanese. He found that Japan seems to have a similar consumption culture as the United States, which means people tend to enlarge their shopping desires; therefore, their happiness tends to be greatly dominated by material only.

Take the US for example, the American people expand 20% of their living space every ten year. More clothes, toys and bigger cars (Gerzema, 2010: Spend Shift: How the Post-Crisis Values Revolution Is Changing the Way We Buy, Sell, and Live). As a result, they accumulate more debts and have to pay the bill by instalments. However, when economic downturn happens, it is very likely to put themselves into an economic crisis. Instead, the Nordic people they normally have to pay a lot of taxes, up to 40%-60%, from personal monthly salary; since less cash to use, they learn how to enjoy nature resources rather than material satisfaction. By focusing on spiritual happiness, you are able to ‘gain more with less’.

This observation could be a good advice because the COVID19 did cause some people lose their job, and in turn have financial problems. Maybe it is a turning point to rethink our lifestyle after Post-COVID19 era, which happened after the global financial crisis of 2007–2008. We don’t know what the next crisis would be, and how worse it is.

Meanwhile, our nature mother has been partly recovered from air pollution generated by human being. Balance is the key to survival. Whether to live a ‘less is more’ lifestyle? Finally, as Naoyuki Honda indicated, it depends on a personal willpower and creative ability.

Have you read these two books?

少即是多-COVID19後的生活方式

“少即是多”是來自建築師和家具設計師Ludwig Mies Van Der Rohe(1886-1969）的話。 （好長的名字！）

自6月13日起，英國政府已頒定計劃，在3月23日晚實施封鎖之後，使生活盡可能恢復正常。從2020年6月15日起，大多數商店都重新開業。但是，由於失業和消費行為的改變，COVID19改變了許多人的生活方式。

COVID-19給您帶來了什麼改變？

我一直是電影迷，所以我在網上看了更多電影，雖然方法有所不同。

我在家更常做飯了，嘗試一些新食譜。

我在室內做更多的瑜伽……可能在即將到來的夏天做戶外瑜伽。

另外，由於我不需要經常出門，所以我已一直在減少買衣服，鞋子和化妝品。

根據2020年幸福報告（https://worldhappiness.report/），芬蘭是世界上最幸福的國家，與往常一樣，丹麥，瑞士，冰島和挪威排名第二。該報告是對全球幸福狀況的第八次調查，針對156個國家/地區的公民對其自己的幸福感進行了排名。本田直之（Naoyuki Honda）注意到了，在2013年，他透過採訪生活在幸福國家中的一些人以及他自己的觀察來收集資料，出版了一本書“少就是多”。

如果您看一下他的個人資料，他本著“事半功倍”的精神，成為財務管理，閱讀和跨國生活方面的高效專家。他在他那本有趣的書中聲稱，“如果您舊的價值在當下生活，就不可能得到幸福。”他研究了為什麼生活在夏威夷和北歐國家的人們比日本人享有更多的幸福感。他發現日本似乎具有與美國相似的消費文化，這意味著人們傾向於擴大購物慾望。因此，他們的幸福往往很容易受物質支配。

以美國為例，美國人每十年擴大20％他們的的居住空間。更多的衣服，玩具和更大的汽車（Gerzema，2010年：支出轉移：危機後價值革命如何改變了我們的購買，出售和生活方式）。結果，他們積累了更多的債務，不得不分期付款。 但是，當經濟下滑發生時，很有可能陷入經濟危機。 相反，北歐人通常必須從個人月薪中繳納高達40％-60％的稅款； 由於使用的現金較少，他們學會如何享受自然資源，而不是物質滿足。 通過專注於精神上的幸福，您可以“用少得到多”。

這種觀察可能是一個很好的建議，因為COVID19確實導致了一些人失業，進而導致財務問題。也許這是重新思考後COVID19時代之後的生活方式的轉折點，這次在2007-2008年全球金融危機之後發生的。我們不知道下一次危機將是什麼，情況有多嚴重。

同時，我們的地球已部分地從人類產生的空氣污染中恢復過來。平衡是生存的關鍵。最後, 是否過著“少即是多”的生活方式？正如本田直之指出那樣，這取決於個人的意志力和創造能力。

你讀過這兩本書嗎？