Taexalia
wild.life
Edinburgh People and Dog Shit
I have come to the conclusion that people in Edinburgh should not be allowed to own a dog. I am indeed tarring every single one of them with the same dirty brush. I am sick of having to watch where I am walking because sick people cannot clean up after themselves. Edinburgh City Council, that useless organisation I pay for, claim that people who let their dogs shit on public areas will be fined. It isn't working, is it? Because the streets are still paved with shit. Today it is not just ... read more
Changeling and other films
Tonight we went to the cinema in what has become a weekly ritual, although today, I am pleased to say, we were not driven there out of necessity - we simply decided an early evening movie is quite a nice thing to do. Even when you are still as sickeningly (to other people) madly (goes with the territory I'm afraid) truly (truly) and deeply (censored) in love with the person you fell instantly in love with at first sight more than six years ago, sometimes it still takes an elephant in hobnail ... read more
Every Bean Counts
[caption id="attachment_457" align="alignnone" width="300" caption="Taexalia's Magic Beans"][/caption] Crunching and bean counting being big news just now, I have decided to join in - and today the great bean sprouting experiment got under way. I have found a lot of advice out there but no singular method, and so this should prove interesting as I am still clueless... First I soaked my teeny tiny little beans in filtered water for eight hours... [caption id="attachment_458" ... read more
The Politics of Democracy
When I think about the concept of democracy, I think about a system where every vote counts and where each voter is represented equally. These days I find myself looking at governments and wondering why that idea is being swept under the carpet and leaving many people disenfranchised. I have been watching the rhetoric from the US for months and have frankly been amazed at the way people have been treating each other based on political outlook and a sense of *I'm right you are wrong*. I have ... read more
Japanese Whaling Commences
Yes they are at it again - sending a fleet of boats out into the high seas with a goal of slaughtering 935 Minke Whales and 50 Fin Whales. I imagine they will be even more fired up to complete all that killing following last year's failure to reach their quota - they were only able to kill around half the number of whales allocated thanks to the combined efforts of Greenpeace and the Sea Shepherd Conservation Society. This year Greenpeace have decided to remain on dry land and so the Sea ... read more
Dig Our Fox
[kaltura-widget wid="vohid1a5gg" width="410" height="364" addpermission="3" editpermission="3" /] Mister Fox was very intent on digging around under Skeleton Tree and I'm not sure what he was doing - finding food? making a den? or just exploring...? They seemed to be having fun ... read more
Tap On Again
Today is the 9th day of NaNoWriMo and I have racked up a few words and only missed writing on two days (yesterday and Friday), and I'm still ahead of schedule. It feels good. I am giving myself kudos. I am questioning nothing. I have been feeling constricted for months, unable to show up here on my blog because I've been feeling scrutinised in a not very pleasant way and I've felt blocked and un-creative. Then NaNoWriMo reared its head again and I though What The Hell I will do it. I don't ... read more
Teenage Mutant Idiot Syndrome
I am sitting here pondering the prompt for this week's Sunday Scribblings and a particular memory dances from the shadows and presents itself to me. Since my reaction is to stuff it back into the realms of secrecy and find something else to write about, I am guessing it meets the requirements of scandalous... It was somewhere in the realms of early to mid teenagehood and it was the time of the end of year school disco. Now we were all in the middle of Thatcher induced teacher's strikes and ... read more
You have to laugh at Alex Salmond
Just the other day he announced his latest triumph - his comfort with obliterating planning protocol, his cavalier ignorance of the ethics and responsibilities of his office and his wish to un-protect the legally protected SSSI's of Scotland. He is quite happy to have his ego massaged and soak up the accolades that he is an "amazing man" and sell Scotland out to a bully boy who wants to use Scotland to line his pockets. Yes Alex Salmond has personally overseen, though not officially of ... read more
Destroying Scotland SNP Style
SNP Government approves Donald Trump's plans to annihilate SSSI dunes at Menie Links I am thus far speechless despite having suspected for a long time that Alex Salmond would sell out to the high bidder. I fear for what this means to all the other SSSI's and how other "developers" will be able to wrangle their way to planning permission in sensitive ... read more
Election Thoughts
Despite the fact that the BBC (which I pay for with my TV Tax called a license fee) seem to have completely forgotten that there is a bi-election in Glenrothes, Fife on Thursday and are instead spending lots of pounds sending reporters all over America following the sorry division that is the race for the White House... Despite the fact that I find myself switching away from any BBC "news" programme because they consider a couple of power hungry men arguing over which one of them is better ... read more
Ignoring Vasilisa
You may or may not know that one of my favourite tomes is Women Who Run with the Wolves and you may or may not know that one of the stories analysed within the book is the story of Vasilisa. The basic gist of the story is a hero cycle about a girl who meets a number of challenges with the help of the doll in her pocket who whispers sage advice every so often. It is a wonderful story in itself and it is also a wonderful way of describing intuition. Intuition is the voice that tells you ... read more
NaNoWriMo is here again
And I have taken up the challenge and already have 1766 words down - which is over the daily target of 1667 :) I've got my wee word count widget over there >>>> but today it seems that First Day Glitches are making its appearance a little erratic... but at least I've been able to access the site to record my first set of numbers. I think this is the perfect challenge to kick me out of the rut I have allowed myself to fall into and maybe even find away to channel depression, ... read more
Samhuinn Trio