Horticultural stuff and The Idea today (Number 183) is Mimesis

Home plants sprayed too.

I have picked 2 tomatoes from about 20 plants and a couple of people have mentioned to me that Tomato Blight is a danger at this time of the year - apparently it is caused by the same fungus, Phytophthora infestans, that causes late blight of potatoes and a possible cure is the spraying with Bordeaux Mixture - I did this yesterday (the copper in the mixture gives a nice blue haze to the plants).

Early Tom 2013

I bought the  Bordeaux Mixture at the Osterley garden centre and mixed with water and sprayed - it seems pricey (about £5) but there's enough for quite a few plants/years (I hope). At the same time as getting the tomato treatment we looked at wheelbarrows (a possible birthday present for me) as I think it might be useful to have one, favourite so far is the Boxer at Homebase.

Big Idea 183 is Mimesis

Mimesis is a word I'd not encountered before but is a word to which to those who practice in the arts is central.
Mimesis is the basic theoretical principle in the creation of art. The word is from the Greek language meaning “imitation” in the sense of “re-presentation” rather than “copying”.
Plato and Aristotle mentioned mimesis as the re-presentation of nature.  Plato reckoned that all artistic creation is a form of imitation: that which really exists (in the “world of ideas”) is a type created by God; the concrete things man perceives in his existence are shadowy representations of this ideal type.

Crofton points out that art is one of many  lenses which we use to see life through, it can help us see things more clearly.