I've started a new site this week. It's just bare bones at the moment but it should eventually have more functionality than we can get here, so watch this space.

CIWF long distance transport campaign - Send a card, not a calf

CIWF long distance transport campaign - Send a card, not a calf

Whether carnivore or vegetarian, I'm sure you'll agree that inflicting stress and real physical suffering on any living being is cruel. Most thinking meat eaters would feel more comfortable knowing that the the animal that they are about to eat at least had a good life before being quickly dispatched with the minimum of pain.
Transporting live animals long distances is bad for them, bad for the environment and bad for business.
The drive for cheaper food has cheapened our lives.
If you've got to eat them, at least treat them well for their short lives.
Please use the link above to send a message to Margaret Beckett asking her to look for humane alternatives.
Thank You.

Snakeshead Fritillary

Fritillaria meleagris, for the Gothic gardener.
Solitary, with a preference for shade, you have to get close before it reveals it's unique character.
Photo taken this evening with the Fujifilm FinePix 4700 using manual focus.
Cropped a little but otherwise unaltered.
Checkout the wikipedia entry which seems to think it was originally called the Snakes's Head. A little dubious methinks.

Daffodils in Dyrham Park

Pandora - Create your own radio station

Pandora , from the Music Genome Project, is an interesting concept; type in a an artist or song you like and up comes an assortment of tunes that are mysteriously related. I put in Holy Modal Rounders , a favourite of mine, and I got some Woody Guthrie, Camper Van Beethoven (an excellent version of Pictures of Matchstick Men), a great acoustic guitar instrumental by Norman Blake (Jerusalem Ridge) and also the Rounders themselves (Cinch Mountain Backstep).
I think this element of surprise, introducing tracks I'd not heard before but somehow in the vein of my original request, is quite captivating. There seems to be a method of 'fine tuning' what comes next by flagging those that I particularly liked. There's certainly some good music out there that I may never have heard otherwise. Has anyone heard of Norman & Nancy Blake? Me neither but I'm glad I did. And now Train Tune from the wonderful John Renbourn.

R.I.P. Ivor Cutler (1923-2006)

Please go and visit The Works of Ivor Cutler , a fine little site dedicated to this unique individual.

Listening to John Peel in the late sixties brought me into intermittent contact with Ivor's unusual take on life. I always found him funny, entertaining and somehow meaningful (without knowing what it meant). He fitted in so naturally with the other inhabitents of John Peel Land eg Capt Beefheart, Pentangle, the Bonzos, Pink Floyd etc
There should be a statue raised in Glasgow in his honour.

Dub on a Dark Side

Dub Side Of The Moon
by The Easy Star All-Stars

How did I miss this? Released February 18th 2003, on the 30th Anniversary of the original, this is a fabulous reworking of the Pink Floyd classic

Track Listing
1a. Speak to me
1b. Breathe (in the Air) / Sluggy Ranks
2. On the Run
3. Time / Corey Harris & Ranking Joe
4. The Great Gig in the Sky / Kirsty Rock
5. Money / Gary 'Nesta' Pine & Dollarman
6. Us and Them / Frankie paul
7. Any Colour You Like
8. Brain Damage / Dr Israel
9. Eclipse / The Meditations

Bonus Tracks:
10. Time Version
11. Great Dub in the Sky
12. Step it Pon the Rastaman Scene
13. Any Dub You Like

Please Support Live8

I heard the news today (oh boy), that Chet Helms, Legendary music promoter, has died.

Foxgloves

Cookie's Christmas

Bichon-Frise (oil painting) by Maddy

Maddy and Cookie in 2002

Madeleine

May Bank Holiday, Foxgloves and Bees

"Prince", the Welsh mountain pony

Festival Express Film - The ill-fated Canadian train tour by Dead, Joplin, Band etc rumbles to life after decades in purgatory

A good review from the San Francisco Chronicle.
I just can't help being a deadhead at heart. I don't suppose it will make general release over here so I'm looking forward to the DVD. I just hope it's available in Region 2 as I don't have a multi region player. If it's only region 1 I may have to consider an upgrade!

Gavin Poolman remembers using the film cans containing the only existing work prints of "Festival Express" for hockey goals. His parents were divorced, and his father, who was the original producer of the film, moved often. Young Poolman never could understand why his father insisted on lugging around this stupid collection of heavy film canisters. At one point, he dragged the cans out of the garage and stacked them in the street to serve as goalposts.

But in the mid-'90s, after he grew up and went into the film business in London, Poolman was contacted by a film researcher from Canada who was trying to find the footage, and Poolman knew exactly where to look.

"He'd found the negatives to this stuff," Poolman said. "Apparently he'd been looking for it for years."

BBC NEWS | Education | Wild parrots settle in suburbs

BBC NEWS | Education | Wild parrots settle in suburbs: "
The number of wild parrots living in England is rising at 30% per year, says an Oxford University research project."

I haven't seen any parrots in Bristol yet, but we had a woodpecker in the garden this morning. He had a very bold red cap but unfortunately he had gone by the time I had found the camera.

Project Parakeet is an indepth study of the growth of the parrot population in the UK. There are some interesting pics in the section 'Identifying UK Parrots' e.g.

Abigail's view