dusty paths -
a butterfly flies
alongside me
***
Definitely high summer along the John Muir walkway at Musselburgh today. Lots of butterflies about.
When I got to the bird reserve on the old ash lagoons, I was delighted to see my first ever ruff. I had read that it was there, but had worried that with it not being in breeding plumage, I might not recognise it. Never fear, even without the magnificent breeding feathers, it's still a fine looking bird.
As ever, red text contains hyperlinks that take you to other webpages where you can find out more.
Wednesday, 7 August 2013
Tuesday, 6 August 2013
Quiet Forest 2
The next photo shows three poets' work:
Katherine MacMahon's book Recipe for a Universe combines poetry, recipes, photos and physics.
Alexander 'Twig' Champion wrote poetry on fallen branches and other found natural items and planted them in the plant pots round the cafe.
Stephanie Arskosa's audio piece 'When I was Wee...' asked the audience to respons creatively to the statement 'when i was wee I believed.....' (see photo below)
Quiet Forest is a one day event - the Forest Cafe is open until 10pm tonight, so if you're in Edinburgh, why not pop along and have a look. The cafe serves good veggie food too (we had burritos followed by carrot cake).
Quiet Forest
Edinburgh's Forest Cafe has become a poetry installation for the day! Organised by Inky Fingers, Quiet Forest is an exhibition of poetry installations, poetry activities and interactive poetry.
I'm delighted to have some poetry windchimes / hanging mobiles as part of the exhibition:
All my mobiles are made using reclaimed materials and poetry fragments inspired by the materials.
**
The whole cafe is now full of poetry from:
Marc Malone, Rebecca Green, Rita Bradd, Alexander Champion, Steven Fraser, JA Sutherland, Stewart Hogg, Stephanie Arsoska (and me).
Here's it being set up this morning, which gives you an idea of how part of the space looks:
So if you're in Edinburgh, why not pop along and enjoy the poetry! And have some of the Forest Cafe's delcious vegan food while you're there.
Quiet Forest is at The Forest Cafe until 10pm tonight.
Crafty Green Boyfriend and I will be there later and I'm hoping to get some good photos of the other artist's works and post them here tomorrow.
I'm delighted to have some poetry windchimes / hanging mobiles as part of the exhibition:
a wrought
iron fence – spotted with rust and ladybirds
I locked
my secret
in my
heart -
told
no-one but my dog
who ran
away.
summer
shower -
raindrops
sparkle
on roses
the last
birdsong of summer -
the first
falling leaves
**All my mobiles are made using reclaimed materials and poetry fragments inspired by the materials.
**
The whole cafe is now full of poetry from:
Marc Malone, Rebecca Green, Rita Bradd, Alexander Champion, Steven Fraser, JA Sutherland, Stewart Hogg, Stephanie Arsoska (and me).
Here's it being set up this morning, which gives you an idea of how part of the space looks:
Crafty Green Boyfriend and I will be there later and I'm hoping to get some good photos of the other artist's works and post them here tomorrow.
Monday, 5 August 2013
A Walk in the Woods by Bill Bryson
This is the tale of how Bryson and an old school aquaintaince, Katz, hike the Appalachian trail, the longest continuous footpath in the world. They don't actually hike the whole thing, but they do cover an impressive amount of it and they have quite an adventure on the way. Bryson's observations on the people they meet along the way is a little cruel sometimes (I'm sure Mary Ellen was difficult to spend a few days with and Katz dousn't sound like the easiest person either, but does this need to be so expanded on? I guess the answer is that is one of the things that sells books).
Bryson weaves into his narrative lots of information about the US National parks system, tree diseases, the history of hiking in the USA (and specifically the Appalachian Way itself), the fact that US towns are designed for motorists and no-one really walks anywhere any more, the complexities of buying hiking equipment, the deprivations of wilderness hiking and how to deter bear attacks. This was the most enjoyable element of the book for me.
I was slightly disappointed that Bryson wasn't more fascinated by the natural history of the forests they passed through. I know that scale of hiking is exhausting and leaves little energy for looking around and taking in your surroundings, but I had hoped for more birding and botanising observations along the way.
Something that amused me was that while Bryson comes across in his writing as an American, his comments about hiking in the Lake District (meaning the English Lake District) make it clear he's writing from a British perspective for a British audience. I wonder if these elements are changed in the US version of the book?
A lot has probably changed since this book was written in 1997 but it's still a fascinating read.
A Walk in the Woods by Bill Bryson published by Doubleday
Bryson weaves into his narrative lots of information about the US National parks system, tree diseases, the history of hiking in the USA (and specifically the Appalachian Way itself), the fact that US towns are designed for motorists and no-one really walks anywhere any more, the complexities of buying hiking equipment, the deprivations of wilderness hiking and how to deter bear attacks. This was the most enjoyable element of the book for me.
I was slightly disappointed that Bryson wasn't more fascinated by the natural history of the forests they passed through. I know that scale of hiking is exhausting and leaves little energy for looking around and taking in your surroundings, but I had hoped for more birding and botanising observations along the way.
Something that amused me was that while Bryson comes across in his writing as an American, his comments about hiking in the Lake District (meaning the English Lake District) make it clear he's writing from a British perspective for a British audience. I wonder if these elements are changed in the US version of the book?
A lot has probably changed since this book was written in 1997 but it's still a fascinating read.
A Walk in the Woods by Bill Bryson published by Doubleday
Saturday, 3 August 2013
Palms and Birds
We went to Edinburgh Botanic Gardens today. To get there we walked through Inverleith Park, where we found outselves surrounded by low flying house martins and sand martins, a lovely experience! The sand martins were quite unexpected here, as they are birds very closely connected with water and though there are ponds and the Water of Leith not far from where we saw them, they seem to have strayed quite far from the actual water!
There's an excellent exhibition on at the Botanics at the moment. The World of Palms looks at the biology, ecology and cultural significance of palm trees. Lots of artifacts are on display, including a large Malawian mat, very similar to several I had in my house when I lived over there! The exhibition also explores the negative ecological and social impacts of oil palm plantations.
This is a touring exhibition from the Botanical Museum Berlin-Dahlem in collaboration with the Royal Botanic Gardens Kew and the information boards are all in German as well as English.
Alongside this is a small and informative exhibition about ash dieback, the killer diesease that currently threatens ash trees in the UK.it includes clear photos on how to recognise the signs of this disease so that the general public can hopefully help to prevent its spread.
The World of Palms is on until 20 October.
Moving Forward from Ash Dieback is on until 31 August.
Both in the John Hope Gateway of the Edinburgh Royal Botanic Gardens.
As ever, red text contains hyperlinks that take you to other webpages where you can find out more.
There's an excellent exhibition on at the Botanics at the moment. The World of Palms looks at the biology, ecology and cultural significance of palm trees. Lots of artifacts are on display, including a large Malawian mat, very similar to several I had in my house when I lived over there! The exhibition also explores the negative ecological and social impacts of oil palm plantations.
This is a touring exhibition from the Botanical Museum Berlin-Dahlem in collaboration with the Royal Botanic Gardens Kew and the information boards are all in German as well as English.
Alongside this is a small and informative exhibition about ash dieback, the killer diesease that currently threatens ash trees in the UK.it includes clear photos on how to recognise the signs of this disease so that the general public can hopefully help to prevent its spread.
The World of Palms is on until 20 October.
Moving Forward from Ash Dieback is on until 31 August.
Both in the John Hope Gateway of the Edinburgh Royal Botanic Gardens.
As ever, red text contains hyperlinks that take you to other webpages where you can find out more.
Friday, 2 August 2013
Tanka and fireworks
we know
the fireworks damage
the buildings -
yet every year, again
the festival fireworks
***
Last night it was the fireworks to celebrate the official beginning of the Edinburgh festival season. After 11pm on a midweek night. A few years ago there were incidents with falling masonry (including someone who died because masonry fell on her) in the centre of Edinburgh. The masonry was shown to be weakened by all the fireworks that go on in the city during the festival season (there's a small display every night during the festival and then the large and lavish display at the end, as well as the medium display at the beginning.)
So we have evidence that the fireworks are weakening our buildings, putting at risk our architectural heritage and people's lives. Rabbits and birds are also sometimes injured or killed by the fireworks. So what do we do? We carry on with the fireworks displays, year on year, just making them slightly quieter.
This feels like a metaphor for something bigger....
*****
Meanwhile, to co-incide with the Big Butterfly Count, I've put together a Butterfly themed treasury on Etsy. If you're in the UK, the count is running until 11 August, so before then try to make time to get out and count the butterflies! The lovely summer weather we've (mostly) been having has meant a bumper year for many butterfly species, which are bouncing back somewhat after many years of decline.
******
and finally, I'm delighted to have some poetry windchimes in this exhibition at the Forest Cafe in Edinburgh.
As ever, red text contains hyperlinks that take you to other webpages where you can find out more
the fireworks damage
the buildings -
yet every year, again
the festival fireworks
***
Last night it was the fireworks to celebrate the official beginning of the Edinburgh festival season. After 11pm on a midweek night. A few years ago there were incidents with falling masonry (including someone who died because masonry fell on her) in the centre of Edinburgh. The masonry was shown to be weakened by all the fireworks that go on in the city during the festival season (there's a small display every night during the festival and then the large and lavish display at the end, as well as the medium display at the beginning.)
So we have evidence that the fireworks are weakening our buildings, putting at risk our architectural heritage and people's lives. Rabbits and birds are also sometimes injured or killed by the fireworks. So what do we do? We carry on with the fireworks displays, year on year, just making them slightly quieter.
This feels like a metaphor for something bigger....
*****
Meanwhile, to co-incide with the Big Butterfly Count, I've put together a Butterfly themed treasury on Etsy. If you're in the UK, the count is running until 11 August, so before then try to make time to get out and count the butterflies! The lovely summer weather we've (mostly) been having has meant a bumper year for many butterfly species, which are bouncing back somewhat after many years of decline.
******
and finally, I'm delighted to have some poetry windchimes in this exhibition at the Forest Cafe in Edinburgh.
As ever, red text contains hyperlinks that take you to other webpages where you can find out more
Thursday, 1 August 2013
Blackfish
Blackfish is a documentary exposing the reality behind Seaworld and other marine entertainment parks. The film focusses on a large male orca that killed two trainers. Former Seaworld trainers talk about how they became disillusioned with the work, discussing issues relating to health and safety at work, lack of transparency and animal rights. There's also a lot of footage of the fatal accidents caused when orcas went bad and killed trainers at marine parks (in fact sometimes it felt like "When Killer Whales Attack!" rather than an animal rights expose.)
Most of the interviews emphasise the problems of working with animals that can be dangerous, rather than trying to explore in depth why these animals do in fact become dangerous. Orcas don't attack humans in the wild, so why do they do it in captivity? The footage speaks for itself in making the point that intelligent creatures such as orcas shouldn't be confined to small metal swimming pools nor should family groups be split up (watching and hearing mother orcas screaming when their babies are taken away is very distressing). Treating them in such ways, is it any surprise that they turn on their keepers to vent their frustrations?
This is a very powerful film, making the clear point that if we mistreat wild animals, then we can't be surprised when they turn round and take revenge. Orcas should live wild in the oceans with their family groups, not be caged in small pools and expected to jump when we tell them to.
If you are concerned about this issue, you can pledge not to visit marine parks that use animals for entertainment.
Good news: India recently banned commercial dolphin entertainment.
Blackfish is showing at Edinburgh Filmhouse today only.
As ever, red text contains hyperlinks that take you to other webpages where you can find out more.
Most of the interviews emphasise the problems of working with animals that can be dangerous, rather than trying to explore in depth why these animals do in fact become dangerous. Orcas don't attack humans in the wild, so why do they do it in captivity? The footage speaks for itself in making the point that intelligent creatures such as orcas shouldn't be confined to small metal swimming pools nor should family groups be split up (watching and hearing mother orcas screaming when their babies are taken away is very distressing). Treating them in such ways, is it any surprise that they turn on their keepers to vent their frustrations?
This is a very powerful film, making the clear point that if we mistreat wild animals, then we can't be surprised when they turn round and take revenge. Orcas should live wild in the oceans with their family groups, not be caged in small pools and expected to jump when we tell them to.
If you are concerned about this issue, you can pledge not to visit marine parks that use animals for entertainment.
Good news: India recently banned commercial dolphin entertainment.
Blackfish is showing at Edinburgh Filmhouse today only.
As ever, red text contains hyperlinks that take you to other webpages where you can find out more.
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