I extended my walk along the Water of Leith today to Balgreen where I have heard there have been waxwings in the past few days. I didn't see any. However I did see a nice large flock of redwings, a lovely mixed flock of finches and tits including a lot of bullfinches (so nice to see this bright finch in good numbers, it had declined quite drastically but more recently has recovered). Also separate flocks of long tailed tits in three places along the river. Some of them came really close to me and I could see the markings on their heads. Long tailed tits are one of my favourite birds, and are found in great number in many places in Edinburgh at this time of year, so I thought I'd use that as an excuse to repost the haiku and tanka below:
willow tree -
long tailed tits leap
branch to branch
********************
at the piano
I struggle to bring to life
the notes on the stave -
outside, long tailed tits flutter
in the bare branches
Monday, 8 November 2010
Sunday, 7 November 2010
One More Generation
I have been asked to share the history of this inspiring organisation!
Carter (age 9.5) and his sister Olivia (age 8) are so passionate about wanting to make a difference that they started their own organization called One More Generation (OMG).
The two students had been adopting cheetah's in South Africa for years and started asking why some animals needed adopting. When they heard that unless someone stepped in to help, there might not be any cheetahs left in the wild by the time they had their own kids, they sprang into action.
Since starting OMG, Carter and Olivia have been involved in initiatives both locally and globally including:
They have delivered badly needed Animal Rescue Supplies to the Marine Mammal & Sea Turtle Rescue Center in New Orleans.
They were guest speakers at the Kids Are Heroes day in Fredrick, Maryland last month where they were recognized for all their hard work.
They aim to raise $50,000.00 for a Cheetah Rescue program run by the Ann Van Dyke Cheetah Centre in South Africa. They recently held a silent auction of paintings kids in the community did of their favorite endangered species.
One More Generation has an educational program that presents to visitors of Atlanta Zoo, Fernbank Museum in Atlanta, Georgia Aquarium, Atlanta Botanical Garden, and the Cochran Mill Nature Center.
They are in talks with The Art Miles Mural Project an international organization that raises awareness of various initiatives through art. They are excited at the prospect of organising an art event for endangered species.
Carter and Olivia will be guest speakers at the Caring for Creation 2011 Conference at Lake Junaluska, North Carolina.
They recently hosted a “Water Event” at Fernbank Museum where they discussed the importance of water for all living things and partnered with Ryan’s Well Foundation that helps build water wells in poor villages around the world to ensure everyone has access to clean drinking water.
You can read more about this inspiring organisation and see videos of their work on their website.
Carter and Olivia's main messages are "Anybody can make a difference... If we can you can too", and "We need everyone to start paying attention to what we are doing to the planet and all its creatures. We are supposed to be the stewards of this planet, we need to start acting like one."
Carter (age 9.5) and his sister Olivia (age 8) are so passionate about wanting to make a difference that they started their own organization called One More Generation (OMG).
The two students had been adopting cheetah's in South Africa for years and started asking why some animals needed adopting. When they heard that unless someone stepped in to help, there might not be any cheetahs left in the wild by the time they had their own kids, they sprang into action.
Since starting OMG, Carter and Olivia have been involved in initiatives both locally and globally including:
They have delivered badly needed Animal Rescue Supplies to the Marine Mammal & Sea Turtle Rescue Center in New Orleans.
They were guest speakers at the Kids Are Heroes day in Fredrick, Maryland last month where they were recognized for all their hard work.
They aim to raise $50,000.00 for a Cheetah Rescue program run by the Ann Van Dyke Cheetah Centre in South Africa. They recently held a silent auction of paintings kids in the community did of their favorite endangered species.
One More Generation has an educational program that presents to visitors of Atlanta Zoo, Fernbank Museum in Atlanta, Georgia Aquarium, Atlanta Botanical Garden, and the Cochran Mill Nature Center.
They are in talks with The Art Miles Mural Project an international organization that raises awareness of various initiatives through art. They are excited at the prospect of organising an art event for endangered species.
Carter and Olivia will be guest speakers at the Caring for Creation 2011 Conference at Lake Junaluska, North Carolina.
They recently hosted a “Water Event” at Fernbank Museum where they discussed the importance of water for all living things and partnered with Ryan’s Well Foundation that helps build water wells in poor villages around the world to ensure everyone has access to clean drinking water.
You can read more about this inspiring organisation and see videos of their work on their website.
Carter and Olivia's main messages are "Anybody can make a difference... If we can you can too", and "We need everyone to start paying attention to what we are doing to the planet and all its creatures. We are supposed to be the stewards of this planet, we need to start acting like one."
Saturday, 6 November 2010
Corstorphine Hill
We had a wonderful walk round Corstorphine Hill today. The autumn colours are glorious, there are loads of fungi around and lots of birds. We saw lots of blue tits, great tits, a couple of treecreepers and a couple of goldcrests, which came very close to us, which is relatively unusual for this species. We also had a very good view of a female kestrel being chased by a crow. We had come back to the hill after we had heard there were waxwings there, and we had briefly walked round the hill yesterday lunchtime, without seeing waxwings, though we had seen bullfinches and had been caught in the middle of a flock of long tailed tits, which is a lovely experience. No waxwings today either, which is sad as there are a lot of them in Edinburgh at the moment and they are wonderful birds to see. I have been lucky seeing them in recent years when they've come to Edinburgh, but so far not this year. I guess they should be around for a few weeks longer, so fingers crossed. And in the meantime here are some photos from a very autumnal Corstorphine Hill. The Tower in the first photo is Corstorphine Tower, a memorial to Walter Scott.
(text in red contains hyperlinks that take you to a page giving more information)
(text in red contains hyperlinks that take you to a page giving more information)
Friday, 5 November 2010
The Green Books Campaign
On 10 November, 200 bloggers will simultaneously post reviews of 200 books printed on environmentally-friendly paper. By focussing on books printed using greener methods, Eco-Libris aims to raise awareness of the environmental aspects of buying books. This year’s participation of both bloggers and books has doubled from the event’s inception last year. I'll be writing a review of part of this campaign, which you will be able to read here and on my Goodreads page.
"Although there’s so much hype around e-books, books printed on paper still dominate the book market, and we want them to be as environmentally sound as possible,” explains Raz Godelnik, co-founder and CEO of Eco-Libris. “Their share is still relatively small, but you can find a growing number of books printed responsibly and we hope this initiative will bring more exposure to such books. Through this campaign we want to encourage publishers to increase their green printing options and readers to take the environment into consideration when purchasing books.”
Learn more about the Green Books Campaign and find a list of all participants here.
Eco-Libris works to green up the book industry by promoting the adoption of green practices in the industry, balancing out books by planting trees, and supporting green books. To achieve these goals Eco-Libris works with book readers, publishers, authors, bookstores and others in the book industry worldwide. So far Eco-Libris has balanced out more than 150,000 books, resulting in more than 165,000 new trees planted with its planting partners in developing countries.
"Although there’s so much hype around e-books, books printed on paper still dominate the book market, and we want them to be as environmentally sound as possible,” explains Raz Godelnik, co-founder and CEO of Eco-Libris. “Their share is still relatively small, but you can find a growing number of books printed responsibly and we hope this initiative will bring more exposure to such books. Through this campaign we want to encourage publishers to increase their green printing options and readers to take the environment into consideration when purchasing books.”
Learn more about the Green Books Campaign and find a list of all participants here.
Eco-Libris works to green up the book industry by promoting the adoption of green practices in the industry, balancing out books by planting trees, and supporting green books. To achieve these goals Eco-Libris works with book readers, publishers, authors, bookstores and others in the book industry worldwide. So far Eco-Libris has balanced out more than 150,000 books, resulting in more than 165,000 new trees planted with its planting partners in developing countries.
Thursday, 4 November 2010
The Golden Hour Book 2
I posted recently (here!) about Edinburgh's Forest cafe being threatened with closure. The cafe is much more than a rather chaotic vegetarian cafe, it is also a creative hub, one part of which is Forest Publications. Forest Publications hold the monthly Golden Hour event, which is a wonderful mix of music, short stories, poetry and cartoons. I recently won a copy of the Golden Hour Book 2 on Twitter. It is the second compilation of words from Golden Hour evenings so far, including pieces from Kona McPhee, Robert Alan Jamieson, Claire Askew and Ryan van Winkle. It also includes a CD of music, which in my case doesn't play, which is a shame, particularly as it includes a track from the brilliant Billy Liar.
If you're a regular at Golden Hour then this book and CD is a wonderful reminder of some of the best writing and sounds from the event, if you've never been to Golden Hour then the book offers a taste of what it's like! Either way it is an excellent read.
Two extracts, biased as ever on this blog to environmental and nature themes, which aren't typical of the publication in general:
from Fen Train by Kona MacPhee:
a flock of swans, unshepherded
grazes the chocolate soil,
their poise recalling long drained meres
from The Birds Like (a very short story about bullying) by Phil Harrison
It was starlings. There was one, two and then they came, hundreds of them, I swear, hundreds, and they were moving like there were threads between them, like they were tied together. They dropped, sudden, a dive, then they rose again, glidin, like they weren't even trying and it was beautiful.
The Golden Hour Book 2 published by Forest Publications. £8 including CD
If you're a regular at Golden Hour then this book and CD is a wonderful reminder of some of the best writing and sounds from the event, if you've never been to Golden Hour then the book offers a taste of what it's like! Either way it is an excellent read.
Two extracts, biased as ever on this blog to environmental and nature themes, which aren't typical of the publication in general:
from Fen Train by Kona MacPhee:
a flock of swans, unshepherded
grazes the chocolate soil,
their poise recalling long drained meres
from The Birds Like (a very short story about bullying) by Phil Harrison
It was starlings. There was one, two and then they came, hundreds of them, I swear, hundreds, and they were moving like there were threads between them, like they were tied together. They dropped, sudden, a dive, then they rose again, glidin, like they weren't even trying and it was beautiful.
The Golden Hour Book 2 published by Forest Publications. £8 including CD
Tuesday, 2 November 2010
Seasonal Foods
I blogged recently about it being apple season (you can read that post here). We're eating a lot of apple crumbles at the moment! This got me thinking about the seasonality of food. These days, if you buy food from a supermarket or a large grocer you are likely not to notice that there is such a thing as seasonal food (except for pumpkins at Hallowe'en and Brussels sprouts at Christmas). Fruit and vegetables are imported from across the globe so that we can eat what we want when we want. The planes and ships that transport the food produce a lot of greenhouse gases, which cause climate change. Produce that travels halfway across the world has lost quality and taste by the time it reaches our plates.
Also I think we've forgotten some of the enjoyment of food being seasonal. Strawberries are much more special if you can only eat them for a few weeks of the year and the local grown ones taste so much better.
When I lived in Malawi, the seasonality of food was much more obvious, largely because there were no large supermarkets. There were no pineapples for most of the year and then for two weeks (in November I seem to remember?) there seemed to be nothing but pineapples, which we bought and hoarded in our kitchen. A month later there were no more pineapples and we had to wait 11 months for the next one.
Seasonal food helps to reconnect us with, well, the seasons and the natural cycles that we are a part of, much though most of us try to deny it.
Eat the Seasons is an online resource about seasonal food in the UK. It acknowledges that certain foods are now part of our eating experience even though they don't grow in the UK. So it advises eating Spanish oranges in season, rather than those imported from further away but suggests that importing from overseas is unnecessary when the food is grown in the UK.
Also I think we've forgotten some of the enjoyment of food being seasonal. Strawberries are much more special if you can only eat them for a few weeks of the year and the local grown ones taste so much better.
When I lived in Malawi, the seasonality of food was much more obvious, largely because there were no large supermarkets. There were no pineapples for most of the year and then for two weeks (in November I seem to remember?) there seemed to be nothing but pineapples, which we bought and hoarded in our kitchen. A month later there were no more pineapples and we had to wait 11 months for the next one.
Seasonal food helps to reconnect us with, well, the seasons and the natural cycles that we are a part of, much though most of us try to deny it.
Eat the Seasons is an online resource about seasonal food in the UK. It acknowledges that certain foods are now part of our eating experience even though they don't grow in the UK. So it advises eating Spanish oranges in season, rather than those imported from further away but suggests that importing from overseas is unnecessary when the food is grown in the UK.
Monday, 1 November 2010
Poetry in Motion Festival
Edinburgh Filmnouse is showing a season of poetic films. There are some films that I would have included in there that you won't get a chance to see (including Slam the wonderful film about a prison writer in residence who totally changes a prisoner's life and Pandeamonium about the life of Samuel Taylor Coleridge).
However I'm delighted to see that the excellent documentary on the Russian poet Boris Ryzhy will be showing. Ryzhy is sometimes referred to as the last Soviet poet, and tragically committed suicide at the age of 26 in 2001. The documentary (called simply Boris Ryzhy) is beautifully made, with beautiful meditative scenes of industrial cityscapes covered in snow interwoven with birch woodland and archive footage of Ryzhy reading and smoking. One of the best features of the film was that Ryzhny's poetry was read over large sections of it. You can find out more about Ryzhy and the film and read some of his poetry on his website. I saw this film at last year's Edinburgh International Film Festival and I may well go back to see it again.
Boris Ryzhy will be showing at the Filmhouse 15.45, Saturday 13 November
However I'm delighted to see that the excellent documentary on the Russian poet Boris Ryzhy will be showing. Ryzhy is sometimes referred to as the last Soviet poet, and tragically committed suicide at the age of 26 in 2001. The documentary (called simply Boris Ryzhy) is beautifully made, with beautiful meditative scenes of industrial cityscapes covered in snow interwoven with birch woodland and archive footage of Ryzhy reading and smoking. One of the best features of the film was that Ryzhny's poetry was read over large sections of it. You can find out more about Ryzhy and the film and read some of his poetry on his website. I saw this film at last year's Edinburgh International Film Festival and I may well go back to see it again.
Boris Ryzhy will be showing at the Filmhouse 15.45, Saturday 13 November
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