No More cruelty, no more lies, every four seconds an animal dies

This is flowering gorse overlooking the Atlantic Ocean at the Dizzard on the North Corwall Coast a few miles from Michael House between Crackington Haven and Bude; wild and lovely!

I went to an anti-vivisection rally in London yesterday with an old friend from way back, his partner and some other folk from Devon and Cornwall.

An exhausting day, but well worthwhile.

We grouped in the spring sunshine at Hyde Park, it was an intense atmosphere but peaceful, the police were relaxed and we had no hecklers.

The main chant was: "no more cruelty no more lies, every four seconds an animal dies" there were drums, whistles, banners and flags as well as megaphones.

I wouldnt call myself an animal liberationist, I just respect animals as all folk.

You cannot put an animal in a lab. environment without causing suffering sometimes unbearable and often fatal. No balanced human being would inflict this on another human being, to me that means it should not be inflicted on animals and never should have been.

I have just as much compassion for my fellow humans as I have for animals. The cruelty of the system is that those poor individuals who through sickness and accident have to use the medical service and pharmacutical industry are told that their is no choice, animals have to be sacrificed for it to be possible to provide cures and relief. That is a cruel lie!

The human race are the most innovative beings to walk the planet, if we can reach the levels of science and technology we have today, we are quite capable of creating a world where all necessary testing for whatever purpose is not done on animals.

If enough people got up and said this loudly enough to drown out the highly intelligent and well resourced special interest groups who back vivisection, it would stop, now.

It was an exausting day but well worth it, I only wish more people would have come, perhaps they will next year.

Trees around Treknow

I managed to grab a little time with my camera today and took a few photos. The left hand picture is a wind sculptured beech and the other tree is an oak.

In my previous blog I talked about winter weather in Cornwall. Today was a fine example, dry and bright with a high approaching 10 degrees C.

DP, quite unprompted conceded that there was an early spring feeling. While only a few hundred miles away blizzards are raging!

I love snow but not in Cornwall

The snow has gone around here, which is a relief really. The fresh snow is beautiful and exciting, full of possibilities of getting very thick, us being cut off etc etc. But in Cornwall snowfall invariably turns to a revolting grey mush very quickly, the ground becomes sodden and the roads are a nightmare!

This is all because Cornwall is surrounded by a warm sea and any visitations of cold continental air are usually fleeting, long enough to cause quite heavy falls of wet snow which causes chaos because nobody is expecting it and no one has any real experience of dealing with snow. Result? The whole county grinds to halt.

I find that cold often damp air between about 0 degrees C and 9 degrees C which is what we get a lot of in Cornwall is far more unpleasant to work in as I get damp and miserable than when it is really cold at around -4 to -8 degrees C. If it is dry then once I have warmed up in my winter clothes I am snug and comfortable.

For me, winter weather in Cornwall is best with a temperature of about 10 degrees C. If it is wet I dont get horribly chilled and the sheets of winter rain have an exciting charm and atmosphere. If it is dry it can be very pleasant with a lovely early spring feeling.

I spent my childhood in the south east and can remember some wonderful snow. Very cold and dry with a siege like atmosphere. Indoors very cosy with candles and warm drinks and toasted sandwiches to keep warm. Wonderful winter scenery with icicles everywhere. One memory is of the musical tinkle of a thousand icicles hanging from tree branches being played by the wind.

So I am glad the snow is gone here and I look forward to some real cold snow one day in the right place!

Penguin

Poor Vanessa has been suffering lately with a "dodgy hip" she is fine and then ow! her leg hurts horribly.

One side affect has been a "penguin style" walking gate and this I am afraid has prompted my new nickname for her "My darling Penguin" abreviated to "DP".

She now manages to avoid slipping into a "penguin style" walking gate but the name will stick!

Happy New Year

2009 already!





My big event last year was the big 50!





My main birthday gift was a camera and my hope is to use it to photograph all aspects of trees.

This is a picture of fallen leaves from a small leaved lime wood taken in Worcestershire in November 2008 while on a "tree hunt".

Tree hunts are fun, all you need is details of the trees you want to find, a map and a camera.
Hopefully resulting in a greater knowlege of the countryside and the trees growing in it and a collection of beautiful and fascinating photographs.

From a tiny acorn......

........a mighty oak tree can grow!

When Simon has time that is! After a lovely but busy Christmas and new year helping with the guest house and spending some time with family and friends, time was taken up with gearing up for the new year. This has meant tidying my study/office leading on to giving my rather humble filing system a total overhaul leading on to sorting out all last years accounts, and then having to prepare a risk assessment for some of my work I hope to do this year credit crunch permitting!

The next possible blogging time was then taken up by a trip to a plant nursery in West Cornwall to spend a generous gift from my godmother Clare. We opted to spend the money on some outdoor ferns, three phormium plants, a gunnera and a tamarisk shrub. This lead on to the next possible blogging time being taken up by planting!

I also have to admit to watching various films on Television and reading.

I am currently reading a wonderful book called "Wildwood, a Journey through Trees" by Roger Deakin. My darling Vanessa gave it to me a while ago and I had no idea the extradorninary affect it would have on me. Roger, sadly now passed on, was a remarkable man with a true respect and love of simple natural things such as trees and wood. His admiration and respect for the one hundred and one plus ways trees affect our lives is boundless in a way I find truely humbling. I have been moved nearly to tears several times by his simple reflections on a subject he so plainly cherishes. He was a founder member of Friends of the Earth and what a true friend to the earth he was, may his passions live on and inspire many other souls to follow his ways in exploring and admiring so many aspects of those truly awsome life forms known as trees!

So here we are in the middle of January! The birds are singing now looking forward to the new season while the hard frost of recent weeks has given way to wind and rain! Simon has already been soaked in his work and no doubt will be again....

The new year feels good though, with lots of positive possibilities about to emerge as realities!

What about that tree hunt?

A happy new year to all!