November 9th

pockets of forest

cavern pools and ocean depths

survivors linger

Sir David Attenborough picked 10 animals to save on his “Ark” as part of a new programme celebrating his incredible 60 years in (BBC) broadcasting. I admire him greatly.

From the scaly Pangolin, to Darwin’s Frog where the male gives “birth” to the young and the wonderful Sumatran Rhino to name just three, he passionately delivers a case for each animal under threat. Bit of a mean premise for the show though, asking him to choose, as I’m sure he would prepare a defence to save the many thousands of species who are at severe threat of extinction due to eco-system destruction or hunting. It’s a wonderful programme though, as it always is when Sir David is involved.

Photo from the BBC website.

September 15th

 

scarlet seamstress works

from the beating heart outward

hare formed from fine twine

It was the last weekend of Animals Inside Out at the Natural History Museum. I popped down early on Saturday to check it out.

I’d previously been to see Gunther von Hagens' Body Worlds exhibition many years ago when it first toured London. I have a both an admiration, yet a certain ambivalence to his work. I guess, and preposterous as it sounds, despite my love and support of science, there is still some deep seated superstition within me which makes me uneasy around death. Especially when the corpses (plastinised or not) are playing flippin’ tennis or something equally mundane.

Luckily, there wasn’t a giant squid playing tennis against a bull in this exhibition. It was educational, with a real art aesthetic that made you gasp and look deeply. The animals all had died of natural causes, but it still made me sad to see such magnificent animals displayed in this way. The elephant seemed especially haunting somehow. Not because von Hagens had done anything wrong, it just seems sad that so many animals are at threat of extinction and soon our knowledge of them will be driven from travelling sideshows such as these.

The pedestals with the small animals, such as the Hare below were beautiful. Every capillary captured. The tiny tracks of where blood once flowed.

Pic from the Sun

I also popped next door, to the Science Museum, where they had an Alan Turing exhibition. This is Alan Turing year, it would have been his 100th birthday. What a genius. What a sad story.

August 23rd

among beasts and fowl

I feel the happy rising

of love in my breast

A simple Haiku which tries to capture the feeling of joy I get from just being around animals, we went to Stratford-upon-Avon and did the Shakespeare trail. My favourite part was Mary Arden’s Farm. So many gorgeous farm animals, such fun just watching them. The goats were my favourite. I’m pleased to announce that I didn’t shove the children out of the way so I could cuddle a guinea pig, even though I wanted to.

May 15th

 

Run, wind whipped beast flayed

the cold weight of rain burdens

Feral teeth laid bare

It was bloody cold playing football, I was soaked. My hands were shaking. This sounds really whingey I’m sure, but it shows heavy rain chills the bones more than cold air. I’ve played in the winter, but it didn’t rain. Just goes to show, you have to keep moving, keep your core temperature up! Don’t stop!

And we lost. I actually played better when I got cold though, cold also focuses the mind, made me more impulsive in my decision making, brings out the primitive part of the brain when the body feels threatened (and made me less lazy).

I’m an animal. haha.