Hi Everyone!
I have not had time to blog for a while - have been busy with work; needs must when the Devil drives!

I don't know about you, but I cannot get over the weather we have had thus far this winter. It has, for the most part, been more like Spring. I know we have had a couple of cold spells, but I have not had to use a heater yet this winter and have not filled the gas bottle for it.

I read, yesterday, that we might be heading for a drought though, because of the weak El Niño that is expected, leastways, I thnk it was El Niño and not La Niña - more on that just now. The more you look into weather patterns and how they drive our lives, the more interesting it is. Not so long ago being a weatherman was considered a boring job for the most part by those of us not directly involved, but I do feel that for anyone who is interested in the whole climate change thing, this tune might have changed somewhat.

El Niño and La Niña are different aspects of the weather systems we have on this planet. El Niño being the WARMING of the sea surface temperatures in the equatorial Pacific Ocean, whilst La Niña is the COOLING of the sea surface temperatures in the same area. These two systems affect much of the weather on our planet, through introducing cycles of wet and dry. Take a look on the South African Weather site http://www.weathersa.co.za/ for more detailed information. Fascinating stuff, as are most of the geological and atmospheric happenings to do with our world and the cosmos.

The SA Weather site has an almost interactive weather forecasting system online now, and lots of interesting 'stuff'. Take a look, why don't you?

As ever, stay safe out there in the world - it is a live place, full of surprises.

A few weeks ago at our regular monthly meeting of the writers circle we had an interesting exercise where we were given a piece of paper on which we had to write various things, such as a colour etc. We then had to pass this to the person on the left, were given a few lines of writing and had to write something using these, incorporating the things listed on the piece of paper from the person on our right. I got some weird stuff like fig leaves - rotting, the colour orange, and the lines given to me had the name of someone with words like Goth and kif in. This is my short story created from those words and sentences. I called it Donovans Head:

"Donovan’s home was in his head. At least, that was where he truly felt at home.

The fact that it was autumn and this was 10 am on a Sunday morning, as he sat amongst the fragrant fig leaves piled up underneath the old fig tree in the corner of his parents garden, registered only fractionally on the edge of his awareness. As he became more engrossed in his latest purchase, a book by Stephanie Meyer about a vampire commune in Seattle, the strident cawing of a crow in the woods nearby only added to the feeling that he was a part of the story, of the commune. This was real, this was cool. In this world he could be who he wanted to be. If you were a vampire you could dress like a Goth and no one laughed or stared; no one looked at you as if you were weird or on drugs. You didn’t have to worry about the ‘ou toppies’ not lending you the car or letting you go clubbing. You could fly. Never mind about the video shop and the stupid ‘mommies’ looking at him; here, in this story, in his head, he belonged.

To look at Donovan, slumped amongst the leaves with the orange covered book clutched tightly in his hands, you might have been forgiven for thinking that he was a part of the story come to life. He was a study in Goth, with his carelessly arranged lanky legs, his black clothes and boots, and his hair dyed jet black to enhance the widows’ peak and the carefully arranged ‘kif’ hairstyle that he sported. His blunt fingernails were painted black and his long right incisor showed clearly as it protruded over his bottom lip in concentration.

Donovan had always lived in his head, in his imagination. His parents and sister had always found him rather strange with his vivid imagination, his interest in gothic stories and clothes. For Donovan this was not a fad; this was how he felt. He felt out of time and out of place. He hated the bright sun, and he always looked pale by comparison to the people around him. In the heat of the afternoon after school, and as he got older, if he was not working in the video store he was usually to be been found in his bedroom with the curtains drawn. His room was dark and cool, the walls covered in pictures of stylised vampires.

***
As he sank further into the heap of burred leaves and the story, the real Donovan floated free and became one with the theme of the story. The world inhabited by his corporeal body faded and he felt himself rising from the rustling leaves that had fallen into his coffin through the long ages he had slept. All around him others were rising as the dusk descended upon the region called Seattle. Few ordinary people had ever seen this part of Seattle, off Highway 406 and well hidden, and even fewer had returned to tell of it. This was an ancient and long unused town and cemetery, and now a vampire commune. Long years before this had been a small Western town, with buildings built from stone, many  buttressed into the rocks of the small massif that sheltered it from the world. The Indians had kept clear of the area. They spoke of bad spirits when settlers came, but the settlers who finally built the small town had ignored them, leaning to the view that the Indians were superstitious savages.

The bad spirits had proved to be real enough and gradually the people of the town succumbed to the wasting sickness, as they thought of it. The vampires, having thus increased in numbers, found the stone dwellings and cellars that abutted their previous catacombs useful, and infused with fresh, modern blood they moved into the New World. They lived, if one could use that term, feasting on the occasional lost hiker, but in the main drinking from animals in the surrounding country. Not many people realised that vampires did not have to drink human blood. In fact in this day and age with so many people sick from eating a modern diet the commune had mostly come to prefer blood from the wild creatures. It was rich, fresh and generally not badly tainted.

This vampire commune lived a more modern life than their ancestors, visiting towns, and Seattle city itself, during the hours between dusk and dawn to socialise and enjoy the night life. They had no need of human forms of transport but did, on occasion, borrow cars to drive around the city seeing the sites from a human perspective. What Donovan liked best about this, in the furthest corner of his mind now, was the fact that he was free from the restrictions place by having parents, having to work in a mundane job with lack of money, and, of course, not having transport. Dressed as Goths and Romantics the members of the commune enjoyed the cinema, eating out at restaurants, dining on Steak Tartar, blue steaks and the like - another thing not known about modern vampires. In particular they enjoyed clubbing since most clubs were dimly lit, full of young people dressed in all sorts of outfits. They did not look out of place here, and it was here that they could also recruit.

Donovan spotted the girl gyrating to the music on her own and appeared in front of her with just a thought. She had dark hair and was dressed as a Goth. She also appeared to be alone as he had seen no one interacting with her. She did not seem perturbed that he had appeared suddenly there in front of her matching her gyrations. Truth to tell Donovan’s vampire instincts had proved unerring. She was not unlike how he had been, lost and out of place in the modern world, as she danced allowing her imagination to take her away. Like Donovan laying amongst the fig leaves her body had been abandoned to allow her mind to roam free.

Donovan took her elbow and guided her to a dark corner where she finally raised her eyes to his. There was instant reaction in hers. Slightly shocked as she realised what was standing in front of her, then relaxing as her mind told her this was her imagination, and yet strangely drawn as if to kin. As Donovan introduced himself and she started talking he knew that this girl was on the same wavelength as him. He felt himself powerfully drawn to her and not just to be able to taste her coppery blood. She could be his, he felt this instinctively; she would come to him willingly.

Mostly vampires did not pair for eternity, but it was not unknown and was not frowned on. Because of their longevity and the fact that in the past they had not reproduced sexually, it just did not seem to be such an imperative. Donovan’s thoughts appeared to have shown on his face, and with no words spoken, a tacit agreement to leave the club seemed to have formed. They moved together towards the exit.

***
With a jerk Donovan came to, rustling the leaves he was laying in. Something had pulled him back; then he realised that it was dusk, and standing over him was a girl with dark hair, dressed as a Goth.

She was holding her hand out to him."

I saw an article earlier today, on women24, about the lending of books, and reading the article set me thinking - what is it about borrowing people's stuff that then, seemingly, causes the borrowers to treat the borrowed item as if it is theirs to do as they wish with?

I refuse to lend out ANYTHING these days, and books, magazines, DVDs, Videos and records fall into that category. I have been bitten once too often. My books are not all pristine because I reread them, I love revisiting books I have enjoyed, but the people who always say, Oh, but I promise..., are, more often than not the ones who do not return them, return them damaged and then deny all knowledge of that or, when you ask about it, admit they have not yet read/watched whatever they took.

My mother used to have a little book that people had to sign in with the date when they borrowed but in the end she also stopped lending. It was the friends who could afford to buy said item who were the worst too!

I find the attitude of the borrowers is als. o so often churlish when you ask for the return of said item. I have even had it said to me, Oh, please, it was only a paperback, you can always buy another one! Excuse me!? No offer to replace it either. Worse still are those who say, Oh, my friend wanted to read it so I lent it to them and they haven't given it back yet / don't know where it is.

My partner was particularly prone to lending stuff of his out and never seemed to learn, but was extremely hurt when the stuff was not returned, and he knew my views on the subject, yet, whilst I was overseas, a friend wanted to borrow some of  MY books and videos and he lent them to the bloke. When I returned and pointed out that my stuff was missing, all he said was, well, he was really insistent that he would return them!

Needless to say, said items had been borrowed months before, and I insisted that he get them back right away and not to lend my stuff out again, but one video did not come back - surprise, surprise - it had never been borrowed apparently!!

I have, in the past, lost tools, a saddle, books, videos, party lights and various other things. Some things were borrowed and broken, returned that way with a comment like, well, it was not new anyway and so on, again, with no offer to replace or assist in the replacement. As I have said elsewhere here, very often the people who did the 'borrowing' had the money to buy these things anyway, but were not the slightest bit interested or caring in the fact that I could often not afford to replace the item they had so carelessly borrowed / used/ broken / lost /re-lent, but, try borrowing anything from them...! No ways, Jose!

People borrow, often with good intentions, but people are unreliable and it never ceases to amaze me to be honest.

So, as the saying goes, neither a lender or a borrower be...! Let me stop there...

Salamander may help amputees
2009-06-18 13:22

"Mexico City - Scientists are genetically modifying a bizarre looking Mexican salamander, which according to ancient mythology is a transformed Aztec god, in the hope its ability to regenerate body parts will one day help human amputees.

The 15-cm-long axolotl is nearly extinct in its only remaining habitat: It is a darling of researchers since it can regrow injured limbs, jaws, skin, organs and parts of its brain and spinal chord."

Rightho, this was interesting for me to read since we actually had one in a tank in our science lab at school. Guess when that was? No, knuckle head, not around the time of the Ark! It was a while ago though, but I can see the newish science classrooms and the tank overlooking, of all things, the kitchens! Not sure what the poor lonely axolotl thought of that but I remember being fascinated when our science teacher, whose name I cannot recall right now [she also bred budgies for show and was trying to breed a red one; thought you might be interested in that little gem!], told us about the regeneration abilities of this member of the salamander family. This would have been circa 1960, 49 or so years ago, and she said at the time that scientists were interested in them because of their regeneration abilities and the fact that this knowledge might help humans to regrow lost limbs in the future.

She knew that then, it is now 49 years later, and I find an article about this fascinating creature. But, I ask myself how it is that in 50 years, with all the things we have discovered and learnt to do during that time, scientists have not managed to use this knowledge to our benefit?

I would be interested in a reply from a scientist actually. I would also be interested too, to know why it has to be 'modified'? Really?

Despite the weatherman threatening inclement weather, Saturday June 6th turned out fine and eight members of the Friends of the Blaauwberg Conservation Area joined five nature conservation staff in a tree planting session in the Blaauwberg Conservation area. Armed with implements and a bakkie load of Milkwood trees the group trouped off in convoy to the main reserve to plant as many trees as possible.

100 trees were planted in total, and the planting was deemed a great success. The trees were planted three meters apart along the verge of an area which had previously been formed by off road drivers together with erosion. 

The previous damp weather helped the work and planting the trees now will hopefully allow them to start putting down roots during the winter rainfall months. Yohann Rouillard, Environmental Education Officer for the Blaauwberg Conservation Area, explained that there will be no irrigation of the trees. The trees planted were propagated with seeds collected from a Milkwood tree in the area, hopefully also giving the trees a better chance. 

Friends who attended were encouraged to adopt a tree, and a plaque with their name and date will be planted by each BCA Friend's tree at the next Friends of the BCA outing.

For those readers who do not know the Blaauwberg Conservation area is situated about 20km north of Cape Town. The historic Blouberg (Blue Mountain) is part of the conservation area, which extends from the Atlantic Ocean between Bloubergstrand and Melkbosstrand eastwards over the Blouberg down to the plains east of the hill. The area is quite diverse and also has a historical site. Hiking and cycling trails are being developed and a small café on the mountain, close to the Second World War emplacement, is currently being completed with views out over the bay.

Friends of the BCA organises outings and events for members, interested persons and groups throughout the year and has a number of activities and meetings planned for the coming year. As a non profit organisation they depend on membership fees and donations. Members of all ages are always looked for, and if you are young and thinking of a career in the conservation field what better way to start than to become involved? The Friends of the BCA would particularly like to invite local schools [one school currently contributes in the form of hands on assistance for alien clearing] and businesses to give their support, and donations are always welcome.

Visit http://www.bca.org.za/friends.html for more information on the BCA and the FoBCA. A membership form can be found on the website. To find out more about the reserve contact Yohann Rouillard, Environmental Education Officer for the area on 021 554 0957

Visit http://www.onelovesouthernafrica.org/ - they have a competition: 

"Poems about what love and respect mean to our readers have begun streaming in.

We are showcasing some of the poems on the front page of the web site, so you can access them easily and enjoy them.

Also note that the OneLove Poetry competition will continue to run until the end of July, when we will reassess to see if reader interest still warrants it.

We will also declare monthly winners, rather than weekly winners as we initially planned. So post your love on the OneLove Poetry Competitition Page , or email your poems to admin@onelovesouthernafrica.org

And starting our showcase is Corinna Turner, with her poem, To Love Is To Trust"

To love is to trust;
Sad, but it’s true
That trust against lust
Can cause you to rue
The day that you met -
Your love.

To trust is to respect
That love will do too,
And without that respect
Trust against lust
Will never stand true -
To your love.