Soqotra - Land of the Dragon’s Blood Tree

This major new exhibition at the Royal Botanic Gardens in Edinburgh explores Soqotra, one of the world’s most biologically diverse, yet least-known island chains, off the coast of Yemen. It is a stunning exhibition with video, photos, installations and plants, showing some of the incredible biological wealth of this little known place.

From 1 July 2006 to 29 October 2006 Exhibition 10am - 5pm Exhibition Hall, Botanic Gardens, Inverleith, Edinburgh. Free.

For more information on the Royal Botanic Gardens in Scotland visit: www.rbge.org.uk/

Haiku - Ritual

This week's haiku prompt on One Deep Breath is ritual or ceremony. We were asked to think about a ritual or ceremony from our own life, but what came to me first was this haiku below, which is based on a poem I posted earlier here:

Air burial
vultures take body, heart, soul,
Heavenwards


I have always been of the view that haiku in English do not need to strictly follow the 5-7-5 syllable rule, after all English is not a syllabic language in the same way that Japanese is. The point to me of a haiku is to capture a moment....

Regeneration

A historic community centre ‘no longer needed’
is redeveloped into executive flats.

Builders move in with constant noise and dust
uproot the cherry trees and lawn.

Yet sometimes behind the machinery’s din
if you listen carefully, you can hear

the cheerful warble of a blackcap.

Customised clothing - beading

I always have wonderful ideas for customising whole new outfits out of jumble sale finds but this is as far as I ever get! This (second hand) dress was nice to start with, the beads (taken from the same old skirt as for the satin purse long-standing readers may remember me posting a while back) add a touch of colour round the neckline.

Haiku - Journey

This week's challenge on One Deep Breath is to write a haiku about journeys. This is mine, a little ahead of time in a sense:

swifts so soon arrived

leaving for abroad again

constantly flying

In the Dark

a poem for Anya, our rabbit

She hides in dark places,
remembers what she needs to:
scents, the food stores,

tries to explore things
just out of reach,
steals electric wiring,

plays with boxes,
folds and refolds
a moth-eaten pillow-case.

When no-one’s watching
she dances
joyful.

Rabbit links

If, like us, you have a rabbit, here are some useful links:

House Rabbit Society
Friends of Rabbits
Carrot Cafe
Your nearest Rabbit rehoming centre (UK)
Bunny Haven (East Lothian)