Moominvalley and Flame Trees of Thika

A couple of old favorites this week.

Moominvalley in November is one of my favorite Tove Jannson Moomintroll novels. When my children were young we discovered the Moomintrolls and I still enjoy reading them. In this one Fillyjonk (one of my favorite characters in these books) hears something in a wardrobe and thinks there are bugs, freaks out, and goes into a frenzy of cleaning. I definitely relate!

Another old favorite: The British TV series The Flame Trees of Thika, based on Elspeth Huxley's books about living as a young girl in Africa. We had the series on videocassette and I foolishly donated it to the thrift store years back, then realized it wasn't to be found online. Fortunately it came out on DVD in the past year or so and I ordered it. There's nothing like it and we're enjoying it again this week.

The books are wonderful too!

Otherwise, the weekend has been productive. The vegetable garden is about 1/3 in, I have a good number of saplings cut to prep and begin my fencing project (something akin to a wattle fence), and I've seeded some bare areas in the barnyard and front field.

That's 3 out of about 267 things but I celebrate their doing nonetheless!

Happy Easter! Spring is definitely here.

crazy first week of spring

One of those weeks that feels a little bit like a roller coaster. The death of an old friend brought sadness and many good memories over the weekend, then Monday morning Keil Bay had his beloved chiro as did Redford (not his favorite thing but he was brave).

More than the usual number of medical/dental appointments this week (usual = zero) and another old friend's retirement party.

Waiting on the final university decision (out of 3 she applied to, 2 acceptances thus far) with my daughter and helping son plan travel for his summer REU in physics at UCLA. (still reeling over both these things - how did 18 and 21 years pass so quickly?)

Four cats with spring fever and the cat haven front porch enclosure plus tunnel from porch up and around the side of the house to connect to the back yard cannot come soon enough. (construction scheduled in about 10 days)

Busy with writing projects even as I wait for several others to bloom where they've been planted.

It's that time of year.

TGIF! with donka boys and the little man.

Tilikum is dying, Sea World finally announces end to breeding of orcas

This morning I received an email from the Humane Society with the above image. After years of keeping and breeding orcas in captivity for its own profit, Sea World has announced it will cease their breeding program and will house no orcas in new facilities.

It's interesting that this announcement comes on the tail of one a week ago in which Sea World announced that Tilikum, their most prolific breeding orca, is dying of a treatment-resistant lung infection.

Tilikum was captured and taken from his mother's side at the age of 2. He is now 35. All of his years in captivity have been spent in small cement tanks. In early years at Sea Land in British Columbia he was brutalized by two female orcas and spent most of his time in a tiny tank in fear. When Sea World purchased him for their breeding program (knowing at that time that he had been involved in the deaths of two people) he was moved to Florida. Since then his sperm has been manually collected many times and he has fathered many orcas for Sea World's profit.

You can read the entire tragic story of his life here: http://www.seaworldofhurt.com/features/30-years-three-deaths-tilikums-tragic-story/

Since he killed his trainer in 2010 he has been kept in isolation with very little interaction with other whales or with people. Visitors over these six years report that he is depressed and has little interest in food during feeding times. They say there are no toys in his tank. He hangs vertically in the water of his small pool, staring at the gate that leads to the other areas of the park.

I send Tilikum light and hope that his death is not painful. For at least six years petitions and groups have asked that he be moved into a sea tank to live out his life, or released. This has never been done. His plight has inspired books and a movie, Blackfish. And hopefully, the end of an era at Sea World. 

If you'd like to sign the Humane Society's pledge of support for ending orcas in captivity, go here:

http://action.humanesociety.org/site/MessageViewer?em_id=111436.0&dlv_id=115663

Michael Pollan's "Cooked" series on Netflix Originals

It's a rare thing for me to recommend a TV series here but this 4-episode delight produced and narrated by Michael Pollan popped up in my Netflix recommended list recently and last night we watched the first and second episodes: Fire and Water.

Imagine my surprise when the Fire episode featured eastern NC barbecue, a local pit master, Left Bank Butchery, (we shop there especially at holidays!) and Cane Creek Farm, one of our favorite local farms. There was also a cameo with James Taylor.

The water episode was equally good.

It's all about cooking - not so much recipes but the act of cooking and what it means to humans, the only species who does it.

It's beautifully filmed and fascinating. 

I highly recommend.