Gulls

Gulls divebomb each other,
squabble over perching rights
on chimney pots,
throw back their heads
in raucous chorus,
rip rubbish sacks to shreds,
steal chicks from nests
and devour them on the roofs

then launch into the sky
to soar on thermals,
sharp white wings
against the blue.


Originally posted for Sunday Scribblings in 2008. 

I also reposted an old poem on my Shapeshifting Green blog, you can read it here.

Green Style

I have various styles of dress, depending on the occasion, but I always try to source my clothes in an environmentally responsible manner. I buy most of my clothes from second hand shops - Edinburgh has a great selection of stores selling used clothes to raise money for charity. This is a great way to recycle! Also charity shops in the UK are seeing an increase in custom during the current financial downturn as more people see second hand as a way of saving money (though admittedly some charity shops in Edinburgh are quite expensive when compared to discount retailers!). I always give my clothes back to second hand shops as well, unless they actually fall apart in which case I reuse the fabric to make a purse or something. I buy underwear from the Natural Catalogue, which sells nice organic cotton items. I buy shoes from the high street, good shoes that will last a while (though sometimes fashions mean that good shoes are hard to find!). My favourite pair of boots has lasted so far over five years (probably longer) and has been repaired three times. So whatever I'm wearing, whatever colour it is, it's sure to be green...

My Style for Sunday Scribblings
If you're here from Sunday Scribblings, why not browse the rest of my blog here?

A Family of Blackbirds

Father has one white eyebrow, sings beautifully.
Mother is the brown of polished chestnuts
with a beak as bright as her mate's.
Dutifully they collect food, wait
every morning for the feast of raisins
to carry to their brood
hidden in a garden tree.

Soon they will come to the lawn
with large-mouthed, speckled young
teach them to pull worms from grass
to recognise the footsteps
that promise raisins.

for my parents, who feed raisins to the blackbirds

Family for Sunday Scribblings

Ansel Adams: Celebration of Genius

Yesterday I went to the Ansel Adams exhibition at Edinburgh's City Art Centre. It was like stepping into a time machine, seeing so many photos of Yosemite in California, which I had visited on a family holiday, when I was very young.

The photos in this exhibition are all in black and white which adds to the sense of travelling back in time and also seems to add to the grandeur of the scenery. The landscapes are stunning,mostly from Yosemite but also from other areas of the USA. Adams seemed always to capture moments of wonderfully beautiful light or spectacular storms, the rising moon or the eclipsed sun. The rivers almost leap out of his photos. As well as landscapes there are a lot of almost abstract photos of trees, where the texture of the bark or the shape of the branches becomes the focus of the photo. Other photos feature parts of machinery or buildings. But it is the photos of landscapes and trees that are most magnificent and also demonstrate Adams' keen interest in the environment, for which he was a tireless campaigner.

Showing with this exhibition was a small exhibition of the black and white landscape photography of Lindsay Robertson, a Scottish photographer. His photos are stunning too. I really like how he had taken photos of some of the same areas in the USA as had Adams (showing the same view from different points in time). Sometimes his photos are in reply to Adams, for instance whereas Adams had taken a photo of the Golden Gate in San Francisco before the building of the famous bridge, Robertson had taken a photo of the Sound of Sleat before the Skye Road bridge had been built. In these cases, it is interesting to go back in time to see the landscape unspoiled by the bridges, though both bridges are themselves beautiful. It was interesting too how in Robertson's exhibition photos of the USA were displayed next to photos of Scotland. Our scenery may be on a much smaller scale, but its just as spectacular in its own way.

Ansel Adams: Celebration of Genius and The Landscape Photography of Lindsay Robertson
until 19 April at the City Art Centre, Edinburgh

Time Machine for Sunday Scribblings

Winter Walk

This morning we walked along the Water of Leith through Colinton Dell. The ground was covered in leaves (and very slippery in parts!) the trees were largely bare, the sky was blue and it was chilly but not too cold. The trees were full of birds, though many of them kept themselves hidden despite the lack of leaves on the trees. We heard blue tits, robins and jackdaws and saw coal tits, magpies, woodpigeons, mallards and carrion crows. When we crossed the footbridge over the river we caught sight of a heron. Then we walked further up and saw a second heron from the bridge near the weir (click on the photo to see it!).

We were able to watch this heron for a while as it wrestled with (and swallowed) a large fish then flew up river to drink and rest.

We then walked into Colinton, which is a village that has become part of Edinburgh but still retains its village feel. Just as we were about to get on the bus to come home, we saw several redwings in the trees near the bus stop. Redwings are one of the UK's winter thrushes, so it must really be winter now.

You can read about more of our weekend walks by following these links:

Arthur's Seat, November 2007

North Berwick, August 2007

Corstophine Hill, August 2007

Walk for Sunday Scribblings

Local Exchange Trading Systems (LETS) - an alternative to money

Local Exchange Trading Systems (LETS) are community based systems of skills exchange that allow people to share skills and equipment outside the monetary economy. The sharing is done in a systematic way with members of the scheme earning credit for everything they share and then spending this credit on services or equipment they want in return. For example one person may bake a cake for someone and then use the credit to borrow someone's lawn mower for an afternoon. Although LETS systems allow exhange without money, it isn't really likely that they would replace money, rather they offer an alternative method of trading. Part of the idea behind them is to empower people on lower incomes to access services that they would otherwise find difficult to access, though people of all income levels get involved. We tried to set up a LETS scheme at our workplace a couple of years ago, but it didn't get off the ground because too few people were interested to make it viable. I'd be interested to hear if anyone has any experience of LETS.

Money for Sunday Scribblings

Powerful

It's easy to feel that as individuals we're not powerful. That we don't matter in the face of the vested interests of governments and big businesses. That what we do can't make a difference. But it's not true, we can all do our bit, to reduce our impact on the environment, to improve our neighbourhoods, to stand up for injustice. More importantly though we can join together, by all doing our bit, by adding our voices to campaigns and protests, by blogging about what we care about. If we all make our voices heard, then together we are very powerful. If we all make a conscious attempt to live more environmentally friendly lives, then we are even more powerful.

Powerful for Sunday Scribblings

My Name is Sei Shonagon

This is a weird co-incidence, I've just finished reading My Name is Sei Shonagon, a wonderful first novel by Jan Blensdorf and then I popped over to Sunday Scribblings to find out what the topic is and its 'Hi, My Name is'. So, a book review.

Sei Shonagon was the tenth century author of The Pillow Book. She is also a modern woman of Japanese American parentage living in Tokyo trying to fit into a society she feels she doesn't really belong to after years in the USA. The modern Sei Shonagon constantly struggles to find beauty and worth in everything around her even when she faces stern and unwelcoming relatives or grave illness.

The novel is simply and beautifully written and reflects the contradictions in Japanese life, the ultra modern fast moving business world set against love of the natural world reflected through haiku poetry, cherry tree viewing and the careful crafting of incenses from natural material. Modern life is often compared to natural processes in a narrative that flows naturally and poetically.

I loved this book and was sad to get to the end. It offers an incredible amount of insight in relatively few pages and stays in the mind after reading.


Hi, My Name Is.... for Sunday Scribblings

End of life as We Know It?

Nothing ends - all transforms,
changes direction like a river bends.
Day becomes night, bodies decompose
to feed roses, freeing spirits to roam.
When the earth dies (whether
at our hands or after peaceful millenia
orbiting a dying star) atoms from
Amazonian rainforests will become
part of some magnificent
beings we cannot imagine
on a helium atmosphered planet so far
away it seems beyond
the end of space.


The End for Sunday Scribblings

This poem has been translated into Spanish by Nia andcan be read as part of her post on composting.

The Phenomenon of Climate Change

Climate Change has at last become a headline issue, not just something that idealistic environmentalists talk about. But has it become noticed soon enough for us to address the issues it throws up? I think the recent catastrophic flooding in England demonstrate that the issue is already really serious. Will people be prepared to make the lifestyle changes they need to make to prevent the worst case scenarios? Will we be able to reduce our consumption of oil, rather than expecting that we can find a technological fix to magically allow us to continue to live our current unsustainable lifestyles?

Some people think that there is still scientific debate over whether Climate Change is a natural phenomenon or whether it is due to human activities. According to reports I've read, there is actually a scientific consensus that it's mostly due to our activities (I think the historic evidence of natural climate change would certainly allow for an element of the natural in the current situation, but a minor element). In my opinion though, whether climate change is a natural phenomenon or human made, the reduction of the world's oil supplies, means we most certainly need to find ways to reduce our consumption, eg to fly less frequently, use less plastics, drive less, use less electricity.


Phenomenon for Sunday Scribblings

Wicked

Wicked is what we're doing to the earth. Destroying so much beauty, the haunting green forests and their worlds of colour, the deserts and their tough inhabitants that are so good at making something out of seemingly nothing. Destroying other creatures' homes and our own life support system. We are many and we need places to live, but why have we lost our understanding of our home, why can modern societies not live in harmony with the land and its other inhabitants? Progress is inevitable for a creature with a brain as big as ours and the ability to speak but why is progress so often destructive? Why have we lost the one-ness with nature that so many aboriginal cultures still retain? Why do we so misunderstand these aboriginal cultures so much that we call them primitive?


Wicked for Sunday Scribblings

I recently posted about the threat to flamingoes on Lake Natron here.

Green Hair

No I've not dyed my hair green! I like my hair the way it is, long and brown with a touch of auburn. No the green is environmentally friendly! Haircare is probably for a lot of women pretty environmentally damaging with all the chemicals in shampoos and conditioners, the electricity for the hairdryer. These things can be bad for the hair too.

I wash my hair when it needs it, if I washed it too much the ends would dry and break. I use Yaoh shampoo and conditioner, which are made from 99% pure natural ingredients and the couple of artificial ingredients in there don't include such baddies as parabens and sodium lauryl sulphate. I let my hair dry naturally, I haven't had a hairdryer for 20 years.

I cut my own hair and have never dyed it or had highlights. I would consider using henna when I go grey, but it would depend how I went grey, sometimes grey hair can look really beautiful. I will eventually wear my hair shorter, but that's several years in the future.


Hair for Sunday Scribblings

Town Mouse - Country Mouse

I love living in Edinburgh, it's a small city (though expanding steadily since the new Scottish Parliament was established). There are lots of local neighbourhoods, such as Stockbridge, Morningside, Marchmont, that have their own character and good numbers of small independent food stores and second hand shops. Also in the tradition of Scottish cities, people live in the city centre, we live a five minute walk from Princes Street, the main shopping street and only a minute away from Haymarket Railway Station. I love the cinemas (especially Filmhouse), theatres and galleries of Edinburgh which make it feel culturally a much bigger city than it is. There are lots of parks, such as the Meadows, Bruntsfield Links and Princes Street Gardens, so the city doesn't feel too built up. There are also wonderful walks to be had along the River Almond and The Water of Leith, it's not unusual to see kingfishers here, and herons, dippers, grey wagtails. Along the Firth of Forth, to the north of the city, there are areas where you can walk and see a variety of wading birds including oyster catchers and curlews. Within Edinburgh there are the wonderful open spaces of Corstorphine Hill and Arthur's Seat, with their wildlife and landscape. Then outside Edinburgh its not far to the Pentland Hills! So its an ideal place for someone like me who is both a town mouse and a bit of a country mouse at heart!

Town Mouse, Country Mouse for Sunday Scribblings

A Simple Post on Living More Simply

How can we make our lives more simple and in tune with nature? How much of the stuff we have do we really need? Simple living is not about living in poverty. Rather, it is about a life in which you have determined what is important for you and valuing these things, whilst cutting out those things that clutter up your life. Here are some links to start thinking about how to simplify our lifestyles:

Downsizer

Frugal Living in the UK

Wikipedia entry for Simple Living


Simple for Sunday Scribblings

Second chances

There are no second chances, not here
Technology is not waiting to fix
the future, and if it is, we may not
like what it gives us. Planets
elsewhere may support our grandchildren
but they are far away and uncertain.
Reincarnation or heaven give other
lives in different places,
there are no second chances here.


Rough notes on Second Chances for Sunday Scribblings.

Oceans

Ocean dark
to the horizon -
oil spill.

******************

penguin dives
into the icy sea -
plastic bags.

*****************

white foaming waves
break on jagged rocks -
abandoned oil drum.

***********************

I love the vast beauty of the sea. I am heartbroken to think of the devasation humans cause through oil spills, inappropriate fishing methods, dilapidated sewage treatment plants and pure carelessness.

The Marine Conservation Society (MCS) is a UK charity dedicated to caring for our seas, shores and wildlife. MCS campaigns for clean seas and beaches, sustainable fisheries, protection of marine life and habitats, and the sensitive use of our marine resources for future generations.

We can all play our part in helping to conserve our oceans:

Choose sustainable seafood - Visit www.fishonline.org for advice on sustainable seafood.
On holiday don't buy souvenirs made from sea creatures
When diving or snorkeling never stand on the reef, kick up sand or hang on to coral heads which can take over 100 years to grow.
When you're at the beach, put rubbish in a bin or take it home. Why not get involved in looking after a local beach? If you're in the UK you can find out more at: http://www.adoptabeach.org.uk/
Don't flush cotton bud sticks, sanitary waste or toxic products down the toilet - they will end up in the ocean.
Avoid over-packaged goods and reuse your plastic bags to help reduce the amount of plastic that finds its way into the oceans.

For more details on these and other ways to help conserve the seas and their wildlife, please visit this page.

The ocean for Sunday Scribblings.

You can read more of my recent posts about oceans here, here and here.

Wings

When I think of wings, I immediately think of birds. In a city like Edinburgh, the most obvious wildlife is the birdlife, whether in the city itself or in the woodlands, river walks and hills around the city. In the centre of Edinburgh, birds of prey are known to nest in what seem like unlikely places:

cathedral spire

rises into the blue sky -

hawk soars.

It was also near a church in the centre of town that a few years ago I saw the wonderful sight of large numbers of a bird that only rarely comes over to the UK from Scandanavia:

hundreds of waxwings
flutter red and yellow wings -
rowan berries.

But its not only birds. Last autumn I saw something that really surprised me, I didn't think that this insect ever came as far north as Edinburgh:

humming bird hawkmoth
hovers above the rose bush -
climate change.

Wings for Sunday Scribblings

Rooted

Dark storm winds blow
grass browns, shivers,
gorse yellow blooms barely,
gnarled tree leans.

Underground roots sustain.

*********************************************

One of the reasons I love Edinburgh and feel rooted here, is the large number of green spaces in and around the city. The scene above is part of Corstorphine Hill, which is only ten minutes by bus from the centre of the capital city of Scotland!

Secret Identity

Sunday Scribblings this week asks us to reveal our secret identity. Well, this is strictly speaking off topic for this blog, but yes I have a secret identity. I'm a multilingual writer of angst ridden poetry about lost love who wears a lot of black velvet and lace and hangs out in goth clubs (well not for much longer if they all keep moving to new, inaccessible venues). To read more about my Secret Identity please visit Alter Ego.

Mythago Wood by Robert Holdstock

I don't generally read fantasy fiction, despite the fact (or perhaps because?) my partner reads virtually nothing else. However I recently read Francis Spufford's memoir about his childhood reading and he had been a real fantasy fan. This book, Mythago Wood, was mentioned and sounded interesting. Lo and behold it was on my partner's bookshelves! So I read it - its good to read something entirely different to your usual reading once in a while! Mythago Wood is based on an interesting idea about a woodland that exists largely as the result of the collective imagination and is populated by mythagos - people, animals and even buildings that also come from the collective imagination. I found this fascinating, especially the persistance of ancient types in the human subconscious and the subtext that the wildwood is nature waiting to take over all human follies, such as the entire modern world itself. I enjoyed the adventure element of the story too, though it sometimes felt contrived.

In theory I like science fiction and fantasy because of the way they use invented worlds to comment on real life. Escapism with a serious point, if you like. In practice though I tend not to read genre fiction at all.

This just about fits belatedly with last week's Sunday Scribblings prompt of fantasy.