Spring on Arthur's Seat

 We've seen signs of Spring over the past few weeks, but this week it has really felt like Spring at last. We had a lovely walk round Arthur's Seat today. Early on, the air was slightly misty, which made for atmospheric views.

Later the sun came full out 

The gorse is beautiful at the moment. We looked down onto Duddingston Loch with our binoculars,looking for nesting Grey Herons, but we could only see three nests, compared to the twenty or so there used to be years ago. It's still a lovely view down to the Loch though. 

The Jackdaws are still around in good numbers though. 

We looked for frogspawn in Dunsapie Loch, but didn't find any, perhaps we're too early

Fire Ready by Jane Rogers

Jane Rogers' Fire Ready is another excellent short story collection recently published by Comma Press (read my recent review of Gaia Holmes' 'He Used to Do Dangerous Things' here). 

The stories in Fire Ready share some preoccupations with those in He Used to Do Dangerous Things, including climate change, social action and family relationships. Beyond that I'm not intending to compare the two books, they're both equally well worth your time. 

Set in Australia, the title story Fire Ready is a moving and increasingly relevant tale of trying to prepare for the coming wildfires, in which Kayla finds adversity bringing her closer to her neoghbours. 

Orbiting a future, lifeless earth, Hope shows Hope and her partner discussing whether to let their fellow crew members know that they've noticed signs of life returning to the planet. 

The Quick Child is a little contrived but somehow works beautifully. Three characters are separately each surprised by seeing a young boy climbing through a hedge. This shared experience helps the three come closer and rethink their relationship to each other. 

In Weeping Beech, Angus (82), who used to work for the council's parks and cemeteries department chains himself to a weeping Beech tree to protest its proposed removal. 'He thinks of all the trees he's planted and looked after. This is the first he's had to bodily defend'. But can he save it?

Primrose follows Rose on her birthday. She starts out annoyed by her husband buying flowers that she's told him she doesn't want and her cat bringing her a dead mouse. However, by the end of the day, an encounter with an enthusiastic young couple has helped her to reassess things and to even see the dead mouse as her cat's attempt to give her a birthday gift.

In The Night Before, Szandra, a reluctant eco-activist lies in bed thinking about the ethical pros and cons of a high profile action against private jets that she's to be involved with the next day. The story raises the question of how far should be go to protest the ecological damage that we see all around us and presents us with an interesting version of the Trolley Problem. 

Wilf had cared for his wife Ruth in her final months. Now, in Letting Things Go, he's coping with life after her death and finding himself rediscovering a childlife sense of wonder and sensitivity to the world. 'The image of his grandson, sitting on the blue plastic gym mat, not yelling, but beaming at the world which is all part of himself and has not harmed him, pleases Wilf mightily. One baby is as big as the world:  this seems to contain many truths'.

The real stand out story for me is Murmuration. Two spaceships have returned from their explorations, one having been significantly delayed. Their findings, when put together form a portrayal of human hubris and a powerful argument for the need for proper ecological understanding. Anyone who cares about the future of nature can't fail to be moved by this story.

This is an excellent collection of socially engaged fiction, that is readable, moving and entertaining.

Fire Ready by Jane Rogers, published (2024) by Comma Press. 

Disclaimer: I was sent a free copy of this book in return for an honest review.

Linlithgow Loch

 We had a lovely weekend visit to Linlithgow, just a short train ride away from Edinburgh. Linlithgow is famous for the Palace, which was the birthplace of Mary, Queen of Scots. It's also famous for the Loch, which is a great place for birdlife and offers a lovely circular walk, which is what we did on Saturday. 

One of the first birds we saw on the Loch was this male Tufted Duck, looking very smart in full breeding plumage. There were lots of Tufted Ducks on the Loch in fact.

Several Cormorants were hanging around the edges of the Loch, here are just two of them

 They were much closer to shore than is often the case. Usually when we visit the Cormorants are all found on one of the islands in the loch.

The birds we were really hoping to see were the Great Crested Grebes, which breed on the loch. This is the time of year when they start their impressive courtship dances, and in fact someone stopped us on our walk to say that the grebes were in fact dancing. Sadly, we missed their dance, though we were lucky enough to see about six of them. No decent photos of these wonderful birds, unfortunately. 

The Palace seems to have been half covered in scaffolding for several years now, but it's still an impressive sight

The Blackthorn is out in bloom, which is lovely to see

 

My Next Craft Project

 I've been bored with this t-shirt for a while now

 but today I was given some lace ribbon which will work perfectly in brightening it up and giving it a new look

I should of course, first finish customising the jacket I'm working on. This is the jacket as it was originally, when all I'd done was replace a couple of buttons.

It now looks significantly different, but I've not quite finished it yet. So I should get round to doing the fiddly finishing touches.

I'll share photos of both items of clothing once I've finished customising them.  

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It's Seachdain na Gaidhlig (International Scottish Gaelic Week)! The Highland Countryside Rangers shared an excellent post on their Nature Unveiled Substack blog about the connections between the Scottish Gaelic language and nature and landscape. You can read it here. 

A Memoir by Charlotte Mitchell

 

On Wednesday 12 February, I went along to the launch of Charlotte Mitchell's Memoir that has been produced with the support of CAPS Independent Advocacy, which provides collective and individual advocacy fur users of mental health services in Edinburgh, East Lothian and Midlothian. You can read about the launch event in this Facebook post from CAPS Advocacy. 

Charlotte comes along to one of my writing groups and, along with several members of the group I was keen to support her at this event. 

I've now read this short book too. It outlines Charlotte's life, starting with her early love of nature:

"I still vividly remember the walks we took up Ben Lomond with its gurgling stream and waterfall. There were traces of hedgehogs though I did not call them hedgehogs but Mrs Tiggy-Winkle after Beatrix Potter's book"

The account then follows her to her studies in Switzerland through to her struggles with her mental health. Life may have been difficult for Charlotte but she has always committed to helping other people. She has been active in the self advocacy movement  since 2006 and recently completed a Professional Development Award - Mental Health and Peer Work. She has also been a craft teacher for disabled children and a political and environmental activist. An example of her activism is when "the incinerator at Powderhall was spewing out particles which were landing on parked cars in the neighbourhood. We wrote to the council asking them to deal with this."

This memoir is an inspiring example of how someone can cope with mental health issues and use their experience to help others. 

Free copies of this memoir are available from CAPS Advocacy by emailing:

contact@capsadvocacy.org or phoning 0131 273 5116

 

Crocuses in Full Bloom

Crocuses are a lovely sign of Spring and are currently in full bloom in Edinburgh. These photos are from one of the city's most famous crocus displays in The Meadows. 

Haiku for Peace

waiting for peace -
a storm of petals
in the garden

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originally published on Shadow Pond Journal here.