Monday 10 October 2011

The sea, the sky





Several things to share this week. Some have already been on facebook but I know some of you don't go there...

Firstly... the photos above... a young seal we saw on the beach last week (a grey seal, we think). We kept our dog on the lead and at a distance... Apparently it's normal for the young seals to hang about on the beach like this at this time of year.

Secondly a slideshow of local sights from our trip to the same nearby beach yesterday (tide a bit further in this time). At the end of our North America trip someone, Dana, suggested we did a slideshow of our home town to complement all the travel slideshows (that were over there). So we got to it finally Dana - sorry about the delay! The skies here can be just amazing and this week there has been every kind of cloud on show (I wrote a wee poem about Montrose skies ages ago - back here). The skies still amaze me and whilst these photos might seem a bit repetitive... they're not really. Take a look.







And then a few links...

The Cerys Matthews show on BBC 6 Music this week featured a poem by Sue Boyle called "A leisure centre is also a temple of learning". Cerys found the poem in an anthology called "Poems of the Decade" (and you can too - here). The radio show is here and the poetry slot comes in at about 1hr 24mins.

Want to find out more about how the "Occupy Wall Street" protest is spreading around the world? Try here. Day of protests coming up on 15th October, it seems.

Another radio show about a very good author and a regular protestor... Arundhati Roy on BBC Radio 4 is here.

So that was kind of a messy post but it was packed full of good things. And it's school holidays here too... no time for concentration! Look where the yoga mat ended up...


except of course that isn't mine. Mine's stuffed behind a bookshelf right now (where else would it be..?).

x

15 comments:

The Weaver of Grass said...

Lovely nostalgic photographs Rachel. Sounds like your yoga mat has ended up in the same place as my exercise mat.

Rachel Fox said...

Interesting choice of word, Weaver - "nostalgic". Are you saying I'm living in the past..?

As for exercise... mainly dog walking for me but I have been on my bike a bit recently... and I've been trying some other crazy stuff (daughter has one of those dance games... harder work than you'd think!).
x

Rachel Fenton said...

I have to "plug-in" to see the pics - will be back for that later - but there's a mass of stuff to keep me busy in this post - thanks for all the links, esp Roy's...was the seal practicing yoga, then?

Rachel Fenton said...

Ah, only would've needed plug-in on firefox, have got slideshow on t'other browser - phewsh!

Oh cool - I can use my cloudspotter's guide!

Rachel Fox said...

I really enjoyed some of what Roy says in the radio programme. I especially like that she refuses to be sucked in to putting out loads more novels - just because she had one big literary success. "I am not a fiction factory" was the line I think.

Yes, many clouds. Beautiful... but I'm really bad at remembering the "proper" names for them. And I have a guide too!

Do seals need yoga..? I remember one yoga teacher once saying "people only come to yoga when they need it when really they should come before they need it..." I'm more on the wii Just Dance 2 vibe right now. Most amusing.
x

hope said...

I think that seal has a bit of Mae West in that pose, "Come up and see me sometime." :)

Lovey sky photos. Our clouds today dropped actual rain. Haven't seen that in a while so I had to look twice.

The Bug said...

You do live in such a lovely place - thanks for the slide show!

Oh & thanks for the bit of red hair in the one pic :)

Dominic Rivron said...

Rachel F kind of beat me to it... I imagined a caption for the seal photo. "Oi! Have yer seen me yoga mat?"

It's hard to imagine seals doing yoga as they haven't got much to contort. Perhaps they're doing yoga all the time.

Rachel Fox said...

It is a lovely pose and expression in the seal photo. We were worried it was hurt but it seems it was just fine.

As for 'red'... can't resist sneaking a bit of her shininess in somewhere!
x

Anonymous said...

Great photos. I really like the beach ones. The seal is adorable. Awwww. I didn't know Cerys Matthews did a show (always out of the loop in Oz.) I'll see if I can get it on iTunes.

Rachel Fox said...

The radio show is on one of the smaller BBC radio stations.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/6music/

x

Titus said...

Love that seal! Do they not get lonely?

What's a yoga mat?

Rachel Fox said...

I have no idea re the loneliness of seals! I'm not even 100% sure we got the type of seal right...

There was a pink yoga mat in a charity shop yesterday (we were drag shopping with a friend...). It came with 'yoga blocks' (I have no idea what they are for...). Could nip back and get it for you..?

x

Marion McCready said...

Those sky pictures are gorgeous.

Rachel Fox said...

We did another different walk today and saw a much bigger seal resting on the riverbank. We've lived here for years but never seen so many seals out and about! Saw salmon jumping too I think (from the seals perhaps...).
x