ME

ME

Thursday, May 21, 2009

Linked Reflections



The muse has been pestering me, a bit, recently. A new poem ON REFLECTION can be found on Mal's Factory and, a sequel A PALE REFLECTION on Archive Mined & Freshly Spun.


Wednesday, May 20, 2009

A Clever Breed


At first the observations are highly entertaining and, the object of the observations is a rather handsome brute. Before long he’s joined by some companions and, we continue to enjoy their antics; we’ve not usually had jackdaws visiting our garden and, after all, there’s sufficient food in the various trays for all the visitors, whether it be the ground feeders or the mounted ones.


Our most common visitors are quarrels of starlings, flocks of house sparrows, scurries of dunnocks and, this year especially, blackbirds. We also have not infrequent visits from blue and great tits, collar doves, wood pigeons and, at the top end of the garden, tree sparrows. We have a variety of hanging seed and fat ball feeders which once were the prerogative of the smaller avian species. Admittedly the starlings could make moderately short shrift of the fat balls but, up until now, they’ve not got the hang of the seed feeders.

To our surprise, the jackdaws are not only rapidly demolishing and devouring the contents of the fat ball feeders but, some of this species have developed the agility to manage even the trickiest of the hanging seed feeders. Their learning process has been at almost lightning speed; at least the seed feeders are a bit too fiddly for them to empty swiftly but, the fat balls are now going down at an alarming rate of eight fat balls per day.

This afternoon, I’ve tried filling a spherical peanut feeder with the fat balls; this will hopefully thwart the jackdaws’ ambition to eat for England!

Frivolously Serious

Tuesday, May 19, 2009

All Fall Down - what's to become of us?

I'm becoming increasingly concerned about goings on at the Palace of Westminster and, especially, the forthcoming proposals to rid the house of corrupt politicians. It's truly worrying when I think about it, getting rid of corrupt MP's.

After all, if we get rid of all the corrupt politicians there'll be nobody in the house who understands standard business and commercial practises!

Sunday, May 17, 2009

Saturday, May 16, 2009

Verse Autobiography

BIRTH OF AN ALIEN - A work in progress.

The three poems (or three parts of one poem), still in draft form, are of necessity laid out consecutively; ideally (though impossibly) they should be read concurrently as each covers much the same early period of the individuals life.

Autobiography is a new verse game for me but, I would appreciate any comments on the work so far.

The work in progress, BIRTH OF AN ALIEN, can be found on MAL's FACTORY

Wednesday, May 13, 2009

Stop The Bloodbath

Hi,

50,000 innocent civilians are caught in the deadly crossfire of Sri Lanka's civil war. This raging battle is the last phase of a 26 year fight for Tamil independence on the small Asian island to the east of India. Over 1000 people were killed in just 48 hours last weekend.

Sri Lanka's largest donor and major ally in the region, Japan, has the power to help put an end to this unfolding human catastrophe. That is why I've just written to Foreign Minister Nakasone urging Japan to insist that Sri Lanka's government and rebel groups ensure the safety of the civilians. Sending a message takes just a minute and can help to save lives. Please join me in clicking this link:

http://www.avaaz.org/en/stop_the_bloodbath/98.php?CLICK_TF_TRACK

------------

Here's the original email from Avaaz:

Dear friends,

A modern day bloodbath is unfolding on the small island of Sri Lanka, where a thousand civilians were reported killed over the weekend and tens of thousands of innocent people are literally at risk of being killed this week as government and rebel forces battle it out over the last small patch of rebel held territory.

Now that the US has begun to increase its pressure, the key to stopping this humanitarian disaster lies with Sri Lanka’s most significant donor and closest partner in the region -- Japan. It has powerful political and economic influence over the Sri Lankan government and a swing vote at the UN Security Council, which up until now has turned a blind eye to this mounting catastrophe.

Click here to send a message to the Japanese Foreign Minister, who is deciding his government's next steps. Japan cares about its international reputation and a flood of messages from abroad would encourage them to act. If Japan moves then the Sri Lankan government will be forced to immediately respond to protect civilians:

http://www.avaaz.org/en/stop_the_bloodbath/98.php?CLICK_TF_TRACK

As last weekend´s carnage testifies, every minute counts for the estimated 50,000 civilians still trapped inside the shrinking conflict zone and for those 200,000 more who are barely surviving in overcrowded camps. The International Committee of the Red Cross, which rarely makes public comment, called this conflict between the Sri Lankan government and the Tamil rebels, 'nothing short of catastrophic'.

Until now, the divided UN Security Council has abdicated their responsibility to protect Sri Lankans from war crimes and other atrocities. But in this conflict Japan cannot be ignored – its powerful voice could tip the balance and influence the conflict dynamics, saving lives in the short-term and promoting peace and development in the long run.

Asia's longest-running civil war is entering its final stage – the only question is how many will die before it ends. Let´s send a powerful message urging Japan´s Foreign Minister to act responsibly and lead international efforts to push the Tamil rebels to release the remaining civilians, stop the government bombing and bring sustainable peace to Sri Lanka. Japan's political and economic weight means that they cannot be ignored:

http://www.avaaz.org/en/stop_the_bloodbath/98.php?CLICK_TF_TRACK

As other donor nations increase the pressure behind the scenes this week, a truly global citizens' outcry can further turn the heat on the Japanese government to use its leverage and push for a robust and concerted international action that stops the bloodshed and protect the Sri Lankan civilian population at risk. Thank you for sending your message today.

With hope

Luis, Brett, Alice, Graziela, Pascal, Ben, Ricken, Paula, Iain, Paul, Raj and the rest of the Avaaz Team

Saturday, May 09, 2009

Wednesday, May 06, 2009

New Painting

A photograph of my most recently completed watercolour, SPRING BURST, can be found on MAL's PICTUREBOX (Paintings and snapshots by Malcolm Evison).