Aquatic Appleby….. The Clue Is In The Title…‘Leaf Magic’……..
by Bernie Bell - 08:10 on 14 June 2023
Aquatic Appleby…..
“President’s Sea Swim Blog # 4
12 June 2023
Friday 12th May. The crickets were rasping their legs together to make that luxurious sound. If they were to kick-harder, it would be even more exotic!
Sunday 14th May. Getting too lazy to swim anywhere else! Mind you, if we were to, I’d have to be with other folk and I’d hate to embarrass them. Little brown butterflies circled over the pool this morning. It was quite lovely to watch. Then wee blue ones like petals in a breeze pirouetted by. They reminded me of Morocco when I swam there. Maybe I will see a dragon fly soon like I did in Agadir?
Tuesday 16th May. Magpies flopped about from the trees to the grassy meadow. A cook cuckooed for ages. Small birds twittered from the branches. Ideal swimming conditions for someone so young as me.
Wednesday 17th May. The reason why I try to do my swims in multiples of eleven, is because I feel that number is neglected. I want to cheer it up. Also, it is just over 10% more achieved! This brings my total ever nearer. I am still told it’s too cold for swimming just now, and I should wait… I don’t have time to wait! JRS has time to achieve and little time to wait. Things must progress with all due speed, that is why we push to get our Road to The Arctic in place.
Saturday 20th May. Everyone says it is far too cold to swim. Trop froide. It was 19 degrees, which I regard as hot! I swam under a wee spout running from the lips of Atlas. It was a proper spout, not a dribble, slobber or spit. Most refreshing indeed.
22nd May, back in Puycalvel, I managed 555 strokes. I fully realise now that I was the first to plunge into this pool. Gilles, a keen swimmer, had spent months making it and getting it finally ready for our visit, working to the last minute for me to casually enter. I saw him take his first dip just before our Albi trip.
23rd May. Sigrid’s birthday. 444 strokes. A visit to Chateaux Caix, but missed the Danish Queen so I couldn’t ask her for a donation to our Road to The Arctic. But got the great news that The Birsay Energy Trust are sending us £10k! A great end to a day.
24th May. Sigrid’s unbirthday. Puycalvel 222 strokes. Hot sun, hot, hot, hot. Other folk are just beginning to put toes in the water.
25th May. Penultimate day. Puycalvel 222 strokes. Still hot! Can’t wait for the cool of Orkney and proper sea.
26th May. Ultimate day. Even HOTTER! Sun hats, cool drink.
1st June! Back to my beloved Orkney Ocean at Aikerness. The dunters were wating for me, an Arctic tern greeted me with a screech and flypast and in the grey sea, a grey seal looking at me. Wading into the cold on the rippled sands, my bare feet feeling the natural textures was bliss. At waist depth, launching myself into the cold salty waters was bliss. All the built-up stresses vanish as the skin tingles.
Yes… It was cold. That great cold that surrounds and engulfs one, changing one’s comfort zone into another where you feel your whole body responding to the briny. As the chill penetrated and my ribs registered the temperature, I counted my strokes. Not being acclimatized back to the Orkney cool. I decided on 55 strokes before hypothermia began its course. It was enough. I’m much prepared for more later.
I called in at the Eviedale Bakery for a croissant to share. It was too early. The six a.m. News was on and all was deep in the ovens. I came home and am drinking a cup of hot Marmite…
– President of The John Rae Society, Andrew Appleby
********************************************************************
The Clue Is In The Title…
https://archaeologyorkney.com/2023/06/12/the-cairns-day-one/
*******
The Cairns – Sleeps
Our Dancing Floor is covered
The Well of Wishes – sealed.
Our place, so long neglected
Is starting to be Healed.
We’ll sleep – in Dreamtime
The winter weather through.
Next year – Sometime –
They will return.
*****
And then, we’ll wake
Our place will wake
To youth and light.
Red hair, dark hair
Gleam of light on bronze,
Beads, and benediction of burnished bowl.
We’ll dance again
Weave new life
For the land.
*****
They are Us
And We are They.
*****
Namaste
By Bernie Bell
The Cairns – Awakes!
******************************************************************
‘Leaf Magic’……..
Leaf magic from Hugh Warwick
“My poor rescue dog, Ogli - this is the worst sort of weather for him. Thick black coat and a complete terror of thunder.
Obviously it is not just our pets who suffer - right now, despite occasional downpours, the ground is hard and the invertebrates on which our beloved hedgehogs rely are all hidden deep.
I am often asked when it is most important to put food out in our gardens (if we are lucky enough to have them) for hedgehogs (if we are lucky enough to have them!) It is an interesting question. You could argue that it is when they emerge from hibernation that they are most vulnerable, having just used up so much of their fat reserves over winter.
Or as autumn draws to a close we have those youngsters who have not put on enough weight to give them the best chance of making it through to the spring. These hogs will benefit from a bit of extra love and care with bonus bundles of grub popped into feeding stations.
But now, early summer, this should be the time of plenty - bugs are (supposed to be) massing, just waiting to be gobbled up … only, as many people are noticing, the bugs are not massing. The dry patch has not helped, but the reality there has been a many decades long assault on nature, and the invertebrates are disappearing.
Repeated surveys have revealed that the bugs are vanishing, for example this, from last year.
Now - I know that hogs are not leaping up to catch flying insects, but those animals lay eggs on the ground, or on plants, and these then hatch into larvae - which become hedgehog food.
So - we do need to help our wildlife - and our hedgehogs can really benefit from some dried kitten kibble and water - please don’t forget in the dry times - put out water in a hedgehog accessible dish!
Though it would be even better if we did not need to do these things ... if our gardens and parks were filled with bugs and had wildlife ponds in place ...
Okay - some more positive things - events that are coming up.
If you want to know more about bugs (and who doesn’t!) the amazing Vicki Hird is talking about her necessary new book, Rebugging the Planet - in Oxford at Hogacre Common.
If you would like to enjoy the best company of the most brilliant writers, artists and poets with a deep love of nature, please consider coming along to New Networks for Nature, taking place in Norwich in November.
And finally - I am getting a chance to grill Tom Moorhouse - who has written the seriously entertaining book, Ghosts in the Hedgerow - at Blackwells in Oxford.
Finally finally - Helen Ahpornsiri - what an artist! I spotted one of her pictures on twitter and then I looked at her other work - please - give yourself a moment of delight with a dive into her website - her delicate work with leaves, flowers and seaweed is extraordinary.
Really finally this time … I am still trying to earn a living here … throwing change into the hat is good - or pop over to the amazing folk at WildSounds and see what they have of mine! Some very good prices … “
UK's flying insects have declined by 60% in 20 years
********************************************************************
Here’s one I made earlier…. https://theorkneynews.scot/2021/06/11/thinking-foxy-thoughts/
Add your comment
