Taexalia http://taexalia.me wild.life Sun, 05 Sep 2010 22:00:00 +0000 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.9.2 en hourly 1 http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/3.0/ Twitterings http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/Taexalia/~3/ttdFzWIBkHc/ http://taexalia.me/2010/09/05/twitterings-39/#comments Sun, 05 Sep 2010 22:00:00 +0000 Taexalia http://taexalia.me/2010/09/05/twitterings-39/

  • Morning! I'm being stalked by a greyhound. #
  • Red tape blamed over free fruit http://bit.ly/b3nc9q (via @scotsmannews) < what do you think of this? #
  • @josordoni he is gorgeous and lovely and gaining in confidence, always cheeky ;) in reply to josordoni #
  • This morning we heard the Curlews on the back field and it seems they have moved inland again. The season is turning. #
  • @josordoni My Mum is coming to stay :) between her and @ Logan probably won't notice I'm gone ;) in reply to josordoni #
  • @josordoni I am easy to feed and not fussy :) and strangely looking forward to returning now! ;o) in reply to josordoni #
  • This morning we heard the Curlews on the back field and it seems they have moved inland again. The season is turning. #wildlife #birds #
  • Dance of the Red Fox http://bit.ly/dyWLef #wildlife #nature #blogging #
  • I am working with the idea that I am only allowed one case in the hold. I am also channeling the ritual mix of panic and excitement #packing #
  • The Goddess Mo Money rules. I just found $100 bill in my $ purse that I didn't know was there! #
  • .@je72 I got dumped with WP e-commerce - a bug ridden piece of crap. If, like me, you are a WP novice, don't go there. #
  • The #wildlife Daily is out - read this Twitter newspaper on http://paper.li/tag/wildlife (129 contributions today) #
  • @PowersFlowers they look like sawfly larvae in reply to PowersFlowers #
  • they look like sawfly larvae (@FlorMcCarthy)http://yfrog.com/3dvzeaj #
  • @FlorMcCarthy you're welcome :) in reply to FlorMcCarthy #
  • the waking dream - a message from a tree http://bit.ly/9dGzGU #
  • Make a wildlife haven in your garden using tree and shrub prunings. A mini wood pile can be home to hundreds of fascinating beasties! #
  • Messages in nature... http://bit.ly/9dGzGU #blog #walking #trees #
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Twitterings originally appeared on Taexalia on September 5, 2010.

]]> http://taexalia.me/2010/09/05/twitterings-39/feed/ 0 http://taexalia.me/2010/09/05/twitterings-39/ Lone Pine Standing http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/Taexalia/~3/XlPsjODszus/ http://taexalia.me/2010/08/31/lone-pine-standing/#comments Tue, 31 Aug 2010 08:19:22 +0000 Taexalia http://taexalia.me/?p=2252

This Lone Scots Pine stands overlooking the Firth of Forth near to where I live. I see it every day, a constant and consistent marker on the journey. Some days I don't really see it, or even acknowledge it's presence and other days, like today, I pause to look at it and take in it's stature. I wonder how this tree came to be growing here. It is the only Scots Pine in an area sprinkled with pockets and swathes of mixed deciduous woodland.

I have been thinking about community, of being with one's pack, of recognising the ones who support you from the ones to make pleasantries with whilst maintaining healthy boundaries.

Perhaps it is part of the journey of settling in a new place, being an "incomer." Perhaps it is just the energy of the end of a cycle, and the anticipation of being amongst friends for an annual gathering.

I feel an affinity with this tree today,  standing alone and resolute in its difference. It does not become a Beech tree because all the other tall trees nearby are Beech trees. It does not change colour with the seasons, or drop it's leaves in Winter just because that is what all the local trees do. It carries on being a Scots Pine, regardless.

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Lone Pine Standing originally appeared on Taexalia on August 31, 2010.

]]> http://taexalia.me/2010/08/31/lone-pine-standing/feed/ 1 http://taexalia.me/2010/08/31/lone-pine-standing/ Dance of the Red Fox http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/Taexalia/~3/fdsl8hu57oI/ http://taexalia.me/2010/08/30/dance-of-the-red-fox/#comments Mon, 30 Aug 2010 09:00:25 +0000 Taexalia http://taexalia.me/?p=2238

Red Fox ~ Vulpes vulpes leaping

We went for a walk yesterday morning and one of the differences between the greyhound and the humans was highlighted as we climbed the steps to the high field. His nose engaged and his body language hinted at the traces of something interesting that happened earlier, he sees first with his nose, then his eyes. With us, our eyes engaged first with him and then with the changes in the landscape we noticed... a small area of flattened grasses suggesting something, perhaps a deer, had sheltered there overnight... then feathers and blood and traces of a bird which told of a kill to sustain a life.

I have no idea what killed the bird, but foxes have been on my mind recently and I remembered the day I watched a red fox kill a bird... back in the days when fox sightings were easier - and they practically wrote this blog for me.

These days I see signs of foxes - droppings, leftovers of kills, holes leading off into the undergrowth too big for a rabbit. I see the patch of grass in the field that grows stronger and greener than the grass around it. The fertile patch marks the place where the landowner's henchmen outed the fox with a bright light at night and then shot it dead - not thirty paces from a row of houses - and left it to decompose. In their eyes a warning to other foxes, in mine a symbol of their disconnection from the Circle.

I've seen other foxes a couple of times, but I've seen plastic leftovers of shotgun cartridges littering the path near where they were living - and I wonder at their fate.

Farmers and landowners claim to be the stewards of the coutryside, to know it better than those of us in towns and cities - but they are often the destroyers and litterlouts themselves, motivated only by money.

We returned home and I thought about all of these things as I read a post by Dr Clarissa Pinkola Estés on her Facebook page, the part that spoke to me most was this:

"Some think all we tribal people made up our dances from scratch. Not so, we were taught by the animals. If you've ever wondered what your far back people's dances looked like, all you need do is know the animals of the land they lived on."

I know how foxes dance because they shared their secret lives with me once, but can I learn their dance? I wonder... and if I learn their dance, will I call in sightings of more than their deaths and their leftover prey?

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Dance of the Red Fox originally appeared on Taexalia on August 30, 2010.

]]> http://taexalia.me/2010/08/30/dance-of-the-red-fox/feed/ 0 http://taexalia.me/2010/08/30/dance-of-the-red-fox/ Twitterings http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/Taexalia/~3/pK9EiNF6d2c/ http://taexalia.me/2010/08/29/twitterings-43/#comments Sun, 29 Aug 2010 22:00:00 +0000 Taexalia http://taexalia.me/2010/08/29/twitterings-43/

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Twitterings originally appeared on Taexalia on August 29, 2010.

]]> http://taexalia.me/2010/08/29/twitterings-43/feed/ 0 http://taexalia.me/2010/08/29/twitterings-43/ Swimming With Bluebeard http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/Taexalia/~3/z7pH9jpEW1U/ http://taexalia.me/2010/08/29/swimming-with-bluebeard/#comments Sun, 29 Aug 2010 14:24:17 +0000 Taexalia http://taexalia.me/?p=2240

"To restrain the natural predator of the psyche it is necessary for women to remain in possession of all their instinctual powers. Some of these are insight, intuition, endurance, tenacious loving, keen sensing, far vision, acute hearing, singing over the dead, intuitive healing, and tending to their own creative fires."

~ Women Who Run With The Wolves by Dr Clarissa Pinkola Estés

Navigating Sharks ~ SoulCollage Card

Sometimes I come to the page thinking I have nothing to say, thinking I have nothing to say that is good enough. Bluebeard stalks my soul with put-downs, and perhaps I will always be learning to hear him/her and take the key and find the clarity, instead of taking the beating.

Last week I swam twenty lengths. This week I yearned the feeling of weightlessness and the invisibility found in the distortion of the water. You can believe that no-one is judging your body when it's shape is camouflaged by waves. You can believe you are as sleek as a seal as your arms and legs propel you through the water.

But I went swimming with Bluebeard. I even made the arrangement to meet Bluebeard myself. She introduced me to her friend - they go running together and they are fit and they are also thin. I am also fit, although not as fit as them - but I am also Not Thin.

The friend of the-one-whose-beard-is-really-blue was friendly and he asked if, now that She had got me into the pool (when I had thought I walked there all by myself) would she also get me to go out running. I got no chance to respond because the laughter that erupted from her rang out, shrill, like glass breaking. The words that followed are garbled in my mind, but they jibed at my size and the size of my breasts and they also suggested that if I did not laugh along I would look bad.

Even after this, I still swam twenty lengths and I think Bluebeard was surprised. I think she cannot see me, the real me, through her ego judgement.

But Bluebeard is not only the rude, judgemental, socially inept people on the outside. Bluebeard is not the insensitivity or acting out of others. No, the real power of Bluebeard comes when we internalise those moments and grow them and replay them and believe that their truths are our truths.

I did not swim this week because each time I thought about it, the sound of her laughter weighted me down. A paralysis of shame. And each time that I did not pack my towel and walk to the pool all by myself, I gave my power to Bluebeard.

When Bluebeard's young wife takes the smallest key down to the basement and unlocks the cellar, she sees the bloody truth about her predatory and murderous husband. She gains a clarity that she can not ignore or else her unique self will be reduced to a pile of bloodied flesh and thrown into the cellar, indistinct from the wives who went before.

I hold a key in my hand and I search for the clarity of the situation, the truth that I can grow with. I don't know if I have unlocked the cellar and found the clarity of this latest dance, or swim, with Bluebeard - but I am reminded about the importance of choosing supportive and empowering companions on journeys. Whether they are creative endeavours, soul work or working with that most delicate of realms - body image and health, it is important to choose your companions wisely.

I will go swimming alone next time - I can conjure Bluebeard quite well by myself, without the help of others.

Has Bluebeard given you a key of clarity this week?

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Swimming With Bluebeard originally appeared on Taexalia on August 29, 2010.

]]> http://taexalia.me/2010/08/29/swimming-with-bluebeard/feed/ 2 http://taexalia.me/2010/08/29/swimming-with-bluebeard/ Wasp Architecture http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/Taexalia/~3/DV-A9mr-0SA/ http://taexalia.me/2010/08/27/wasp-architecture/#comments Fri, 27 Aug 2010 10:19:27 +0000 Taexalia http://taexalia.me/?p=2228

Wasp Bike

We found this beauty as we took a walk out towards the Crow Tree. We have not taken this path much this summer, and the hound and I forgive ourselves as we would have been walking within two feet of this wasp haven.

It is empty and I taken the opportunity for a closer look - I have never seen a wasp's nest at close range before. I wonder at the two gaping holes - were they part of the design, or did some other creature burst in? Has this nest been abandoned as part of the natural cycle, or were they victimised as the evil pests most people choose to see.

I marvel at the craft that went into making this, the beautiful colouring in the paper they made and the geometric shapes of the honeycomb inside. I think of all the things that wasps dine on - ants, caterpillars, aphids and beetles and I see them as natural pest control and far more worthy than a bottle of Bayer neonictinoid pesticide - a product now increasingly linked to bee decline.

Wasps, like bees, are pollinators - we need them too.

Wasp Bike Honeycomb

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Wasp Architecture originally appeared on Taexalia on August 27, 2010.

]]> http://taexalia.me/2010/08/27/wasp-architecture/feed/ 0 http://taexalia.me/2010/08/27/wasp-architecture/ Mary Bale ~ How To Be A Victim http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/Taexalia/~3/CJil8F0znnI/ http://taexalia.me/2010/08/26/mary-bale-how-to-be-a-victim/#comments Thu, 26 Aug 2010 14:00:30 +0000 Taexalia http://taexalia.me/?p=2230

I don't think I need to host a video of the animal cruelty story of the week ~ Mary Bale the RBS employee who was caught on CCTV dumping a cat in a wheelie bin. Her actions resulted in the cat, Lola, being trapped for nearly 16 hours before her owners discovered the cat terrified in her own mess.

Britain, the most CCTV-ed nation in the world, soon gave birth to a new internet sensation that wasn't quite as heart-warming as the Susan Boyle lovefest. Before she knew it, Mary Bale was a YouTube and Facebook star ~ her disgusting and unforgivable act doing the viral faster than it takes a status update to publish.

Sadly, the keyboard heroes of the world expressed their vitriol in threats of violence and even death threats. They not only lowered themselves to her level, they succeeded in making her a victim.

Instead of West Midlands Police investigating her behaviour, they spent tax-payers money giving her Police protection. Whilst they claimed the muscles outside her home were not actually Police Officers but Community Support Officers, one could accuse them of splitting hairs somewhat ~ someone pays for the protective presence, don't they?

Of course, in the face of the Facebook fanatics, what choice did they have but to protect her? Whatever my personal anger towards perpetrators of animal cruelty, I don't think we need to go the route of vigilantism and violent retribution when there is a legal system in place to deal with it. It does not matter whether the threats were made with the intention of follow through or not, they have been made with the intention of intimidating someone and how is that behaviour any better than what happened to the cat?

Sadly, that legal system seems to be somewhat remiss when West Midlands Police suggest they are working with the RSPCA but suggested that no crime has been committed. I'm no expert on the laws of England & Wales ~ but if this is true then surely something needs to change, doesn't it?

I hope the RSPCA do prosecute Mary Bale for animal cruelty and that she is found guilty. I also hope that her actions are not minimised by the abusive hordes who, in making her a victim, give her the space to shirk responsibility for her behaviour.

But I wonder ~ why did the cat's owners go to the internet first, rather than the Police?

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Mary Bale ~ How To Be A Victim originally appeared on Taexalia on August 26, 2010.

]]> http://taexalia.me/2010/08/26/mary-bale-how-to-be-a-victim/feed/ 4 http://taexalia.me/2010/08/26/mary-bale-how-to-be-a-victim/ Late Summer Findings http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/Taexalia/~3/dGFJwDWGs88/ http://taexalia.me/2010/08/25/late-summer-findings/#comments Wed, 25 Aug 2010 16:28:15 +0000 Taexalia http://taexalia.me/?p=2226

I'm calling this post Late Summer Findings because I do not have the heart to name Autumn just yet.

The trees on the hill behind my house are still green but there is a hint of rust and I wonder - can trees rust too in so much rain?

Ah, rain, we have had a lot of rain this summer. So much rain that on dry days, like today, my eyes have to make adjustments as they view the landscape without the water curtain. Some of the potatoes show signs of blight - I hear it's almost unavoidable in a cool and damp growing season. I cut the haulks off and add them to the fire basket. The courgette plants, well they seem to love the rain - perhaps I only need one courgette plant after all.

The meadows are coloured by the many shades of thistledown and the grasses have faded and gone brittle. Some species of Dock have already turned to russet and give the first hint of the coming colours, yet other docks still sport bright green seed stalks - holding onto summer, or the idea of summer, like me.

Hawthorn trees drip with their red berry bounty and their magical partner, Blackthorn, carry purpling Sloes...

At their feet, the Brambles begin to make up for their prickly defenses as the rich black berries colour up.

The sun is poking out between white fluffy clouds and I think "maybe this is really just the second day of summer" and I take the rare chance to walk barefoot in the garden...

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Late Summer Findings originally appeared on Taexalia on August 25, 2010.

]]> http://taexalia.me/2010/08/25/late-summer-findings/feed/ 0 http://taexalia.me/2010/08/25/late-summer-findings/ Twitterings http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/Taexalia/~3/3BoZJQwmUFY/ http://taexalia.me/2010/08/22/twitterings-42/#comments Sun, 22 Aug 2010 22:00:00 +0000 Taexalia http://taexalia.me/2010/08/22/twitterings-42/

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Twitterings originally appeared on Taexalia on August 22, 2010.

]]> http://taexalia.me/2010/08/22/twitterings-42/feed/ 0 http://taexalia.me/2010/08/22/twitterings-42/ Charity Pollution and Littering http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/Taexalia/~3/wP-IR_GnoZs/ http://taexalia.me/2010/08/20/charity-pollution-and-littering/#comments Fri, 20 Aug 2010 16:08:16 +0000 Taexalia http://taexalia.me/?p=2217

Last week my personal equilibrium was assaulted by an idiot from Scottish Hydro. This was later followed up by a pointless email from their customer service department who suggested I go and buy a sticker and decorate my door with it and their sales reps *may* adhere to the reques but, since the sticker is not legally binding, then again they may not.

This week my personal space, and indeed my personal equilibrium, has been assaulted by a charity no less.

Plastic bags are banned from my home. People who bring them in, even my mother-in-law, are given them back as they leave. Plastic bags are a scourge to the environment, whether they have a supermarket logo on them, or indeed a charity logo. As a person who sees the impact of plastic rubbish on wildlife, I detest them.

Since we moved here I have become increasingly appalled at the sheer volume of plastic sacks that are shoved through my letterbox by various charities (and companies trying to appear as charities). Some weeks I find myself with five different plastic bags begging for my old clothes. No-one, not even me, has enough clutter to fill these sacks. Each time one appears I have to take responsibility for the plastic piece of rubbish that it becomes because there is no-one to hand them back to.

Today, as I wandered to the kitchen for a coffee, I noticed that some idiot had left one of these sacks in my garden. Rather than walk four feet further and climb a thigh killing three steps to my front door and letterbox, they decided to simply dump their piece of DiabetesUK plastic waste in my garden. When I had collected the rubbish from my garden, I placed a call to the number on the sack to complain. You could say I reached the tipping point.

It seems that it is not even DiabetesUK who left the sack there, but a company they pay to deliver them. This means that the hard earned money that people donate to their charity is actually being used to pay non charity litter louts.

Having made the call, I then noticed that it wasn't just my garden that had been treated with such disrespect - the property next door also had a baggy dumped - this time on top of the wheelie bin at the top of the stairs. This property is empty and no-one will be there to collect the litter. When the wind picks up, I wonder what will happen to that piece of plastic waste?

Have you heard of the Great Pacific Garbage Patch? Or the plastic islands in the Atlantic Ocean's Sargasso Sea?

Charity status should not mean these organisations are free to litter and pollute our world.

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Charity Pollution and Littering originally appeared on Taexalia on August 20, 2010.

]]> http://taexalia.me/2010/08/20/charity-pollution-and-littering/feed/ 0 http://taexalia.me/2010/08/20/charity-pollution-and-littering/