Category Archives: Out and About

A Moment of Silence….

February 26, 2009 Mugo 3 Comments

Hungry rabbit teeth render many trees barkless and, eventually, dead.

We support tree life however sometimes it all gets a bit too much!

Michael (ace photographer) from near Edmonton, Alberta Canada left a comment to this posting. Spring (where is it) and lamantations on the sub-zero temperatures. It must be cold up at Fort McMurry the epicenter of the Athabasca Oil Sands mining operation. Read and weep!

Also see March 2009 National Geographic article, The Canadian Oil Boom, Scraping Bottom. Read and weep also.

Spare a thought.

Information, Out and About

Living For Trees

February 25, 2009 Mugo 3 Comments

At the top of the Wrekin in Shropshire. My walking companions are in the foreground.
Last Saturday as we walked and as we talked the lifestyle of one of the woman gradually emerged. And since she and her partner have their own website I thought I’d just pass you over to their place to take a look at what they are doing at Karuna in Shropshire. Not so far from the Wrekin as the crow flaps. Karuna, Compassion, is an apt name in terms of their work with trees and the land generally.

The establishment of a mixed wooded holding, demonstrating Permaculture principals with opportunities for community involvement is a positive development for the area. It continues a long history of Forest gardening in south Shropshire, where Robert Harts inspirational garden is set.
A.Grundy, Heartwoods c/o Green Wood Centre, Telford.

From the Karuna Guest Book.

We support tree life here in Northumberland. It is however an uphill struggle against the forces of nature, and rabbits! Forest gardening, which sounds like a great ideal, is far from possible.

Out and About

Long Walk, Long Day

February 22, 2009 Mugo 1 Comment

The Wrekin: steep climb great all around views.
It has been a long day stretching into the next morning. There have been many good conversations with friends in the sangha.

Out and About

Seriously – Perplexing?

February 14, 2009 Mugo 4 Comments

This afternoon while driving between Manchester and Telford (avoiding very slow moving traffic on the M6) I became lost on the Cheshire Plain – all the while listening to Gardeners Question Time on Radio 4. Could the panel suggest suitable plants for the handlebar basket of my electric bicycle? Really!? One is never completely lost with Radio 4 aboard, never bored either!

Signs for places, towns and villages flashed by, most were unfamiliar to me. A brown place-of-interest sign caught my eye. Secret Bunker. Hack Green Secret Nuclear Bunker. Below are excerpts from declassified files concerning England’s, somewhat worrying, preparations in case of a Nuclear Attack. Read, laugh and cry. There is more on the website.

Meat-on-the-Hoof.
The flesh of cattle, poultry, sheep, pigs ect will be safe to eat provided the animals are slaughtered before they become sick with radiation sickness.

Nuclear Handbook for Staff Officers (War Office 1963)

Potatoes.
For a meal consisting of meat & vegetables about 2cwt of potatoes would need to be peeled for 400 meals. (1 ton for 4000 meals) Allowing for wastage, which varies according to the type of potato and the season, this provides about a 6oz portion per person. It is estimated that the time taken for four people to peel 1 cwt of average quality potatoes is about 1 hour

.
Metropolitan District Emergency Feeding Plan 1985

Protective Measures.
Suitable clothing for use in a fallout area includes: Well clothed denim overalls. Gumboots or strong leather boots. Strong plastic or fabric gloves to prevent direct ingress of radioactive material into the body. “Scarf” or sweat rags around the neck to stop radioactive dust getting in. If no respirator is available a simple lint or “smog” face mask (a handkerchief over the nose & mouth could be used in an emergency) A closely fitting helmet or hat such as a beret, which will keep radioactive dust out of the hair, since the head is more difficult to de-contaminate than the rest of the body.

Civil Defence Instructors Book HMSO 1960

I’ll be at Telford Priory until the 21st February, then returning to Throssel where hopefully all the snow will have melted and spring will be in evidence.

Curiosities, Out and About

A Day To Remember

January 29, 2009 Mugo 1 Comment

Nine years ago to-day my father died. Here is an extract from a posting written in 2005 while I was travelling past the site of his death.

…now on my return journey to Cornwall in what is called the West Country, the train passes through Taunton in Somerset. It is a special place of remembrance since my father died on the platform just before he was due to meet me off a train in January 2000. At that time, as my trained pulled out of the station, I was silent witness to a touching scene. I observed from across several tracks the paramedics arrive and attempt to revive a gentleman, unknown to me at the time. Considering the odds of being present at the time of my father’s death I am always so grateful for what happened in Taunton since I was able to be there for him. Present at the time of his death, even though I didn’t realize it at the time! I was also conveniently placed to attend to all that follows the death, identifying the body followed by funeral arrangements.

Each time I pass through Taunton on the train, as I have just done, I remember my father with great gratitude. I also remember with a smile, at the circumstances of his death, he would have smiled too!

29th January is always a special day of rememberence for me and as it happened we had a rather memorable menu posted to day, all in French. A bit of fun, and wonderful food too.

Thanks and happy birthday to to-day’s cook.

Jade Mountains Buddha Hall