Why?

I suppose to many, if not most or even all, parents, that is the most annoying question our children ever ask.  Indeed, it seems at times that "Why?" is the only question they ask.  But even now, at the great age I have managed to notch up, I still ask that question.  Why?  By some convoluted thought process that even I don't understand, a post I read the other day had me searching my computer files.  Stephen Hayes, aka the Chubby Chatterbox, posted a copy of an early Daguerrotype and mused on the fact that this was possibly the first occasion on which somebody had his photograph taken.  It reminded me that I had in my computer files a copy of an early experiment in stereoscopic photography.

This picture (or should I say these pictures?) was taken by the Old Bat's great grandfather in the 1960s and show St Nicolas church, Brighton.  He was one of the foremost experimenters in stereo pictures in the country until he emigrated to Australia in about 1870.  Why Stephen's post brought this picture to mind is because of the single man.  But in this case, it leads me to ask, "Why?"  Why is he facing out of the picture?

Which leads me to a conversation I had recently with my daughter-in-law.  We agreed that we both want to ask, not "Who?" or "Where?" or "When?, but "Why?"  For example, somebody must have been the first to grind the seeds of a wild grass, mix the resulting powder with water to make a paste, and then cook the paste to make bread.  OK, so it is of passing interest to learn when this was first done, and where, but I find it more intriguing that somebody would actually be driven to undertake those three discrete activities in the first place.  Why?  What made them think that something good might possibly result?

And why on earth would anybody want to pick leaves from a bush, dry them, and then pour boiling water over them?  What made them think that "tea" would be the result?

I suppose I just have to accept that, like those questions from my children all those years ago, these are just more with no answer.

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The weather on Sunday was delightful and I was prodded into taking a panoramic picture of the view from the bedroom window that morning.  As always, you can enlarge by clicking the picture ( think).