Quick Update 2 …

I'm off to see what happens on Wednesday … otherwise all things continue as usual … and I positively assume the medics and I will be on our way to a 'resolvement' …

Dressed to impress by the
seaside, in East Sussex

Here on the coast we haven't had the best Easter weather … cool, misty, foggy days … but it is a little warmer …

Way too many visitors ... 

Those Crumbling Cliffs are still very dangerous – so it's been decided to cancel all coaches with their passengers to the Beachy Head area … too worrying for the authorities with those cracking cliffs …

c/o Wiki - a hedgehog

Life is interesting in the country … we heard snuffling and bonking hedgehogs on the Beeb (BBC) … the presenter decided the male was making the bonking noise – only to be duly informed by a listener … that it was actually the female: Who Knew?!

That crack will plummet a huge
chunk of chalk onto the 'beach' below
(dangerous for those above and those below)
and definitely not for burrowing hedgehogs

My sister-in-law says she's got two of those mammals in their garden … and so is delighted … there are plenty of nooks and crannies for them to burrow into and hide away from the cat, the dog … giving them time to bonk away …

A Sussex Trug with Easter eggs
and tulips

Then there were plenty of Easter Eggs some filling Sussex Trugs – we had a salmon lunch a la famille and friends … tulips and daffodils are filling our shops …

SouthDown coaches - a commercial truck,
converted into an each local Sussex 'bus'

Now this morning, Easter Monday, the bells rang out signalling the death of Pope Francis … next, after the funeral, the Vatican convenes a Papal Conclave to select the next Pope …

Life in all ways goes on … wishing you a peaceful Spring or Autumn depending where you live …

Hilary Melton-Butcher

Positive Letters Inspirational Stories

Quick Update …

 

Just over three weeks' ago I had to call our NHS 111 helpline … and got taken into A & E … I wasn't seriously ill – no broken bones, the old insides of the engine weren't playing happily …

Zebra in the Kruger Park, north of Durban

I was lucky … the paramedics were youngsters … one of whom had just been to Durban for their honeymoon, along with six friends … oh yes with the husband! … he's a paramedic too, but not on the same shift … so we had a natter about the country and safaris on the way over to our local hospital – she was happy …

Nature Reserve in distance from
Rye town

I was admitted straight away, it was 8.00 am or so, and after some trial runs I was eventually dealt with, and then after lunch sent home – at least not admitted into a ward … which at one stage was on the cards.

Discovery Centre in Nature Reserve

I've been in limbo – I'm seeing the GP this week .. and so will know more. Life ticks along … it's just the wheels need to turn … and I'll find out what's been bugging me since Covid …

Discovery Centre near end of build -
showing stilts

Some friends and I went over to Rye – to the nature reserve there – I took it slowly, but they've got a brilliant new Discovery Centre … which has been built on stilts … to take into account the fluctuating tides …

Shingle Beach at Tide Mills, Newhaven

... the Reserve floods twice a day … while the history of the area is fascinating ...I'll come back to give you a better update on this area of shingle coastline – rare plants, booming Bitterns, tiny microcosms of life at the edge … needing the salt-water and spray.

Bittern in full flight

I've got a few things I want to post about … but it's A – Z month and that's pretty time-consuming … either for contributors and/or for commenters … so I'll go quiet and come alive after Easter …

A Bittern - standing tall

Thank goodness the weather's warming up – but we have a cold east wind, that being by the coast is pretty chilly … our newsagent said to me yesterday – that it was freezing this morning … I agreed!

All is well – in fact I'm feeling better … just need to get the 'old bod sorted out' … I'm fairly certain there's nothing serious ... just needed the 'shake- out' (so to speak) ... 

Hilary Melton-Butcher

Positive Letters Inspirational Stories

Bran Tub # 23 … wrap-ups general and recent sporting international events …

 

Bran Tub Catch-Up nearing the end of the hot summer – before the 'monthly programme/ course life' starts up again – just like school!

Hot British Summer 2022 The Downs

Lots to get done … but I'm almost on top of things – she says hopefully … the admin elements, making sure dinners work and speakers turn up … all good for the soul …

Hot 

It was, til last week, still hot here – but in the south east we've had very little rain … and life is in a hiatus (to put it politically mildly!!) … a description I have just read: We live in ominous times and this is a sort of a sanctuary from the deluge of horrors in the news.

I've been enjoying all the international sporting events that have been on … the Commonwealth Games; the European Athletics and sports held in Munich – the first major sporting event to be there since the 1972 Olympics – that I had the privilege to briefly visit …

Regatta Rowing and Canoe venue, Munich

International cricket – a family favourite as a child and my mother used to play; International Rowing – my father's sport at Oxford …

The European Aquatics Championships held in Rome … where the challenge for divers – is that the pool is outside surrounded by Roman stone pines – a quite beautiful setting …

… while the cerulean blue of the sky, the watery blue of the pool, the darker shade of blue in the shadows … 

... for those 10 metre board and springboard divers it was interesting to see … how they manage – who knows: not me … obviously.

Then there's the high dive – 27 metres up (88.5 feet) … there's a very short clip in this link you'll get the feel of Rome and its setting, as too diving from that height.

Apart from social events and more tennis down here in Eastbourne … I've been to a couple of films worth noting:

'Men Who Sing' … a nostalgic, soft, yet humorous portrait of a male voice choir; the documentary film maker, Dylan Williams, who lives in Sweden, went back to Wales to check in on his 90 year old father – then told the story about his father and the choir … delightful.

Also an adaption of Delia Owens' murder mystery 'Where the Crawdads Sing” - fascinating, beautifully acted in the marshy landscape … I loved it – but oddly it was the rolling of the credits that have captured my memory bank and all the art, included as the storyline progressed …

The paintings were by Alice Ravenel Huger Smith (1876 - 1958), now part of The Johnson Collection in Spartanburg … as well as …

… Taylor Swift's beautiful theme song 'Carolina' for the film …

I highly recommend the film 'When the Crawdads Sing' … One last thing … Delia Owens, the author … wrote an autobiographical book with her then husband about their time in the Kalahari Desert in Botswana in the mid 1970s. Delia Owens is also a zoologist and conservationist.

This book was a major introduction for me in the early days of my time in Southern Africa, before I had a chance to visit Botswana and Namibia as the years passed.

One of Smith's works at
The Johnson Collection

I guess that's rounded up some of the things I've been 'busy' doing or idling to enjoy – before 'the terms' of the various groups I work with start up again - and now I need to get my work-motivated hat on!

Thanks for reading …

Men Who Sing - film trailer from Dartmouth Films ... 

Official trailer of 'Where the Crawdads Sing' ...

Taylor Swift's theme song 'Carolina' for the film ... 

The art used in the film ... this links to The Johnson Collection, Spartanburg - here we see Alice Ravenel Huger Smith's ethereal art of the marshes; while the beautiful ones of the natural inhabitants (birds, seafoods, insects) where she uses richer colours - I sadly! could not find ... thus please see the film!

Hilary Melton-Butcher

Positive Letters Inspirational Stories

Spheniscidite … Penguins' Poop is a Mineral …

 

I thought 'Clunch' was interesting enough ... but now 'I hear' that there's a catalogue detailing the origins and diversity of every known mineral on earth …

Elephant Island - an ice-covered
mountainous island

… which is certainly helping scientists realise our planet's history of life, yet also perhaps predicting possible characteristics of future life …

… we do live in wonderful times – so interesting to learn these snippets, even though I don't really understand … I just love the learning curve.

Talk about a bleak place ... 

Nature has so so much to offer us … and we do not, most definitely do not, know how our life is made up … so so many components …

These mineral time capsules are made up from 57 “recipes” to create more than 10,500 “mineral kinds” - through crushing, zapping, boiling, baking and more …

Phyllites near Ben Lomond,
Scotland

Each mineral holds details about the Earth from when the rock was formed, allowing scientists to gain information about the emergence of life and the evolution of the planets.

The title of this post: Spheniscidite … is a phosphate mineral formed by reaction of penguin guano and the phyllitic soil of Elephant Island, Antartica …

A collage of Penguins

The poop of the penguins causes a little bit of magic to happen in the soil … to give us the mineral Spheniscidite (named from the Penguin order Sphenisciformes) a phosphate mineral.

Tomato plant possibly benefitting from
Spheniscidite ... 

Phosphate is one of the three main nutrients in fertilizers … it can be turned into phosphoric acid, which is used in everything from food and cosmetics to animal feed and electronics …

… what else can poop tell us about life? 

I thought you'd be pleased I haven't added an image of 'poo' ... ?!

BBC article - Science Environment ... making minerals

New Scientist - 'Reclassification of earth's minerals reveals 4,000 more than we thought' ... 

Hilary Melton-Butcher

Positive Letters Inspirational Stories

We are the World Blogfest - #WATWB Hmb#2 - Singapore – a green oasis of calm …

 

This appealed as Singapore is Singapore (believe it or not!) … I've never been – but would love to visit sometime …

Outline of Singapore with its surrounding
islands and waterways

They only became independent in 1965 … and as they were in the 20^th century realised protecting their resources were essential.

The article compares Hong Kong with Singapore … interesting variances as both countries developed … Hong Kong under British colonisation from 1840s …

… while Singapore in the same era as a British Crown Colony, believed after WW2, in the 1960s, that its future lay with Malaysia; ...

1825 Survey Map - showing the free-trade
port on the Singapore River

… but talks broke down, then Malaysia expelled Singapore, when it had no choice but to reluctantly become a newly independent country.

The charismatic prime minister, Lee Kuan Yew, is known as the founding father of the nation. He was described as the philosopher king … he also had a nickname “ Chief Gardener” …

Lee Kuan Yew (1923 - 2015)

… so the new government set out to transform the city into a tropical garden city … giving the citizens pride in their new freedom and ...

… it was realised that tiny Singapore needed to be self-sufficient within its own compact footprint … Malaysia was known to consider threatening to turn off the water …

Lee, chose the month of November, as it is when saplings need the least amount of water, to hold the first annual Tree Planting Day to beautify Singapore … in 1974 they had over 150,000 trees, by now they've planted over 1.5 million.

With this in mind as development continued … water cleansing and capturing were essential elements to be integrated into the cityscape …

Lee's first choice of tree
'Cratoxylum Formosum'

… water is captured in mini reservoirs, rooftops, parks, roadways and sidewalks … an elaborate system of channels, tunnels and pumps then moves the water to treatment plants …

Lee also realised that if citizens owned their own homes – they'd be more responsible with their properties. The Housing and Development Board built low-cost housing, which tenants could rent … ultimately purchasing with their pension funds. (Interesting idea, I thought).

The development continues … parks, rivers, ponds co-exist in the urban centres and high-rises … while authorities encourage developers to include plants with a higher leaf-area index.

Vernonia Elliptica - one of many
creepers promoted within the city
(curtain creeper)

There's more … I leave you to read … I found it fascinating … the city's newly planted trees and green walls will help cool buildings, provide shade, and reduce outdoor temperatures … encouraging more exercise – walk to work etc …

I loved the idea that floors and walkways were built with deep planting beds for drainage, absorbing water during times of tropical downpours. Encouraging growth of tropical plants to drape and over time cascade around the building/s …

The book, accompanying the article, 'Supertall: How the World's Tallest Buildings are Reshaping Our Cities and Our Lives' … sounds really interesting …

Stefan Al, one of the authors, is a TED Resident – this is an incubator group for breakthrough ideas … each resident has a talk … see more here … again I found this interesting, as I hadn't heard about this concept.

The article opened my mind to many aspects – about how architects, engineers, hydrologists, planners, designers, and data scientists are all influencing and working together to build more sustainable, resilient and equitable environments within our city scapes.

Panoramic view of the central business district -
the 'funny' skyscrapers - are linked 500 feet in
the air - available for joggers and walkers in a
green oases of calm

It's the sign of our times … as we need to remember planet earth … yes please to green oases within our urban landscapes …

Big Think - the present: SuperTall Singapore ... 

We are the World Blogfest

In Darkness, Be Light

Let's all encourage peace amongst

our human race ...

Hilary Melton-Butcher

Positive Letters Inspirational Stories

2020 – Rhythm of Life …

Happy New Year everyone … a new date, but we carry on … the rhythm of life … as Sammy Davis Jr sang in 1969 …

1905 chasing out ancient 1904
Cartoon by John T McCutcheon

 To feel the rhythm of life,

To feel the powerful beat,

To feel the tingle in your fingers,

To feel the tingle in your feet.

While these powerful feelings engulf us … remember there are others around …

and as Simon and Garfunkel in 1970 reminded us in ‘TheBoxer’ from 1970 – the words ring so true today … as the first verse tells us:

I am just a poor boy

Though my story’s seldom told

I have squandered my resistance

For a pocket full of mumbles, such are promises

All lies and jests

Still a man hears what he wants to hear

And disregards the rest …

Diversity of Plants

The rhythm of life goes on – the seasons will come and go, disasters will happen, love will come, one hopes war won’t come and that leaders can be judicious and thoughtful in their proclamations …

Animal diversity

Yet the truism from Orwell should make us think … we are very much part of nature; so what we do to nature we do to ourselves …

George Orwell – ‘The only creature that consumes without producing = the human”

A Libyan, a Nubian, a Syrian and an
Egyptian, drawing by an unknown
artist after a mural on the tomb of Seti 1

Let’s embrace diversity, becoming pilgrims on earth, not tourists … to bring about change, we must be the change we wish to see …

Happy New Year to one and all … take care and enjoy the life we are lucky enough to  live …

Hilary Melton-Butcher

Positive Letters Inspirational Stories

Salmon - for subsistence and ceremony ... and the one that stayed away ...

Native American cultures, especially the tribes of the Canadian Northwest and Columbia River, revere this fish as it continues to nourish humans and wildlife ...

Atlantic Salmon with 5 Pacific Ocean ones
c/o Pieter Folkens artwork

Who would have thought salmon could be so interesting - apart from good dinners!  The Atlantic salmon I'm used to in Britain (one commercial species) or the Pacific salmon (eight species found in the huge Pacific Ocean), which I now eat here on Vancouver Island ... that difference is obvious - yet the genera are distinct ... interestingly Atlantic salmon are more closely related to certain species of trout.

Salmon Burgers

Their life cycles are similar ... spending one to four years in the ocean before returning to spawn in the stream where they were born.  The young will stay in freshwater streams for up to three years.

Quill Creek in Kluane National Park

They are well named from the Latin verb salire: to leap - for their swimming strength and endurance ... slithering up fish ladders, scrabbling through beaver dams, swimming upstream to spawn ...

Life Cycle of Pacific Salmon
c/o Wiki

... which they've reached using their superb sense of smell - they sense the stream where they were born, ensuring their return to spawn. 

The larger Grizzly Bear

But ... Atlantic salmon are iteroparous, and may not die after spawning, though it is likely as the energies needed to reach their spawning grounds sap their strength ... some will survive.  Pacific salmon will die once they've spawned ... this term is semelparous.

Sockeye Salmon
jumping over beaver
dam

Another two terms ... anadromous fish, such as the salmon, striped bass, and sea lamprey: migrate from the sea up rivers  ... or catadromous fish like eels: go from fresh water to the oceans ... seean earlier post: slippery eels.

Two glaciers in Kluane National Park

The one that got away is the Kokanee: a unique fish ... it has become, over millennia, a landlocked species of the sockeye salmon - an ocean-running fish that has been trapped high in the Yukon mountains ... in the Kluane National Park and reserve ... blocked off from its ocean route by shifting glaciers and plate tectonics ... the native peoples believe their sacred fish will one day return to the ocean, which seems very likely ...

Kwagulth Salmon:
Art work by Tony Hunt at Alert Bay,
BC 1942 (seen in Victoria Art Gallery)

These Pacific Northwest salmon are revered by the indigenous peoples of the inland waterways and coastal areas - having been a significant part of the First Nations economies, religions and cultures - recorded orally, as well as in the living history of their totems and art endorsing this cultural and spiritual identity.

Spawning Salmon building redds on a riffle
see Wiki

Salmon are a key species ... meaning if they disappear, their ecosystems would disproportionately change.  Rotting salmon carcasses transfer valuable nutrients from the ocean to the land: scientists have traced these substances found in mosses, herbs, shrubs, trees, insects, song birds, bears and wolves ... makes you think doesn't it ... that cycle of life - and how we are such a miniscule part.

Black Bear Cub

That wonderful leaping silvery-pink salmon, which play such an important role in life, will return to spawn later in the year ... the bears, bald eagles, sport fisherman and the hungry human will be a-waiting.

Hilary Melton-Butcher

Positive Letters Inspirational Stories