07/02/2010 by admin.

We have another remarkable coincidence to report where life is imitating events in our novel.  On 7 February 1823, Charles Lamb’s journal records ‘a magnificant deep white snow’ to fall that helps demonstrate the true majesty of Yggdrasil (pages 374-378) and the diversity of life - represented by the difference between each and every snowflake, the 12 snow angels and the 3 hearts to appear in the snow at the points of an equilateral triangle.

On the same date, we look across the Atlantic and find the East coast of America has experienced ‘Smowmaggedon’ through the heaviest snowfall in some 100 years! Unsurprisingly the East coast was home to a couple of the Blakesware Set - Ralph Emerson and Henry Thoreau. Most poignant! We’d better take better care of our planet.

 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YitaEluvmaM

Posted in Q68 Does the Earth have a spirit?, Haymakers: Watch Wonders, Q53 Do you prefer to keep warm?, Q35 Do you trust your instincts?, Q21 Have you ever hugged a tree?, Q12 Is our Earth enchanted? | No Comments »

14/09/2009 by admin.

A Red Panda has escaped from London Zoo to hide up a tree in Regent’s Park. The rare animal was spotted at 03:00am by a local cameraman Martin Ellerbeck.  Zoo-keepers were unable to coax the creature down so resorted to using a tranquilizer.  An inquiry will be held into how the animal escaped.

Our take on this is simple: RED ALERT for action to preserve Mother Nature! Where’s our evidence? Its another example of an escaped animal to feature on our Watch; the creature was first seen at three - a number key to our project; and he escaped to Regent’s Park - our novel includes several mentions of the antics of the Prince Regent. To cap everything, the Panda’s name was Peter - in our novel we have a cameo appearance from Sir Peter Scott - founder of the WWF and designer of the orginal WWF panda logo. Do the panda’s antics amount to a life imitating art moment?

The Red Panda is also known as a FireFox so here’s a suitable emergency response…

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mGDq1aXRwls&feature=related

Posted in Q56 Do you believe rules are there to be broken?, Q76 Are you going to take action now to save our world?, Haymakers: Watch Wonders, Q51 Have you ever taken part in a protest?, Q34 Have you ever restored something?, Q12 Is our Earth enchanted?, Q17 Can you speak another language?, Q21 Have you ever hugged a tree?, Q.8 Do you crave a better life? | No Comments »

16/04/2009 by admin.

Our readers will know all about the mystical ‘Tree of Life’ at the heart of our story and recorded in Charles Lamb’s journal.  Yggdrasil is an evergreen or fir tree and represents the essential role of trees in the continued survival of humanity on this planet. Trees are often said to be the ‘Lungs of the Earth’ so at a time when deforestation threatens the beauty of the Amazon rainforest isn’t it strange that a small fir tree has been found within the lungs of a man?

Reports claim that Artyom Sidorkin from Russia inhaled a seed which then sprouted inside him. After he complained of severe chest pains, doctors were convinced he had cancer after an X-Ray revealed what appeared to be a tumour. 

However when he operated, Dr Kamashev, thought he was hallucinating for growing inside Mr Sidorkin’s lungs was a 2 inch spruce!  He blinked three times as he was sure he was seeing things!

The presence of the tree is a real mystery as biologists say it is absolutely impossible for a green plant to grow from a seed inside a mans body; claiming that they need certain conditions -light, water and certain temperatures.  So, we have a person from Russia - home of the Samoyed tribe - operated on by a doctor whose names (Artyom and Kamashev) include the word HAYMAKERS!  It’s magic!

Celebrate for all we need is the ‘Air that We Breathe’….

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KMSAnZR2Q8Q

Posted in Q52 Do you believe in miracles?, Q54 Do you enjoy a bit of a mystery?, Q79 Have you ever looked into the shadows?, Haymakers: Watch Wonders, Q43 Do you believe in happy endings?, Q41 Do you like surprises?, Q15 Do you sometimes fear the worst?, Q20 Have your eyes ever deceived you?, Q21 Have you ever hugged a tree?, Q12 Is our Earth enchanted? | No Comments »

16/03/2009 by admin.

HRH Prince Charles, our revered ambassador for the preservation of the Amazon rainforest has journeyed to the region to witness the dramatic impact of deforestation and seek solutions for preserving it.  The Prince of Wales made clear that he was visiting to ‘listen and learn’ and not present solutions to local people and politicians. 

Charles’ joy at seeing the beauty and sheer size of the forest first hand was tinged with sadness that some 15% of the Brazilian Amazon had been subject to deforestation with illegal logging gangs a growing problem.  An area the size of London has been lost in the last 3 months. Maybe the demise somehow led the Prince to a spontaneous waltz with some local tribes people.

 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NPN-L2KfNN4

Was he unwittingly replicating the scene in our story where Mother Nature uses dance - Julia and Ben in a hypnotic Waltz - to illustrate the plight of our natural world? We’ll let you be the judge of that - but remember Malachi our messenger refered to the Prince of Wales’ feathers and the words ‘Ich Dien’ German for ‘I serve’.

A lesson for us all? Did not the Prince recently warn that the world has less than 100 months to save the planet from irreversible damage? The clock is ticking!

Posted in Q36 Should a good life cost the Earth?, Q68 Does the Earth have a spirit?, Q34 Have you ever restored something?, Q22 Do you love our Earth?, Q21 Have you ever hugged a tree?, Q.4 Have you ever wanted to stop the clock? | No Comments »

23/01/2009 by admin.

Barrack Obama has been sworn in as President of America for the second time in as many days because one word - faithfully - was spoken out of place during Tuesday’s inauguration ceremony.  The Chief Justice at the US Supreme Courts, Jonathan Roberts, administered the oath at the White House. 

The decision to repeat the oath was taken out of caution, but President Obama joked, “We decided it was such fun.”  Given the new President’s Green credentials, maybe the erroneous first oath was somehow meant to be.

Meanwhile, hundreds of tonnes of wood are beginning to wash ashore off the coast of Kent and Sussex in England. 

The load fell from the Sinegorsk cargo ship in the English Channel on Monday. The vessel is now berched at Southampton.   The incident follows a similar event last year when the Ice Prince shed at 2,000 tonne-load off the Sussex coast.  We see this as another timely reminder of the tragic deforestation taking place across the globe and the extent to which much of it is wasted needlessly.

Finally, we return to Mayfair, recent host of the Rose Cloud experience. 

On this occassion we report on a £22m property which has been taken over by a group of young ‘posh-squat artists’.  The group are occupying a house in Clargy’s Mews is owned by TimeKeeper Ltd who discovered the occupation last month when they spotted a Christmas tree inside.  As the group face immediate eviction they have been holding open days under the theme of an ‘Open School of Thought’.   Our curiosity is the link between the May Fair which featured at the beginning of Charles Lamb’s journal; Art, a central theme in our project; and TimeKeeper.  As the artists suggest, it makes you think!

http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=QWKdokcvM7A

Posted in Q56 Do you believe rules are there to be broken?, Q58 Do things happen for a reason?, Q60 Have you ever experienced deja vu?, Q37 Do you know how to have fun?, Q21 Have you ever hugged a tree?, Q.2 Are you an art lover?, Q.7 Have you dreamed of being a champion?, Q.1 Does your life have a purpose? | No Comments »

31/12/2008 by admin.

A runaway beaver is on the loose in Devon, felling trees and leaving a trail of destruction covering 20 miles.  The beaver was one of three to escape last October from Upcott Grange Farm in Lifton.  Conservationist, Derek Gow, who keeps 24 beavers under licence from Natural England, is perplexed as to how they may have escaped since the perimeter fence of their managed enclosure was undamaged. 

Two beavers were quickly caught but one has evaded capture and has been busy felling trees 20 miles away from the farm on the banks of the river Tamar.  The beaver is the only one of his kind at large in the wild in Britain; beavers became extinct in the UK after the 16^th century after hunters trapped them for their fur.   Our interest is that Charles Lamb’s journal describes how Captain Richard Lewin returned from his travels in the New World with a fur hat made from beaver fur and wore it for his comic performance of ‘Yankee Doodle’ to admiring onlookers (page 253).  

Posted in Q34 Have you ever restored something?, Q21 Have you ever hugged a tree?, Q.8 Do you crave a better life? | No Comments »

30/05/2008 by admin.

Paddington Bear is celebrating his 50th anniversary today.  Here’s a picture of the famed stowaway bear from Peru discovered by the Brown’s at a railway station in West London.  They found him craving a better life at platform 8 and had the good heart to take him in and ‘look after the bear’.

As you can discover from the video below, Paddington emigrated on the advice of his dear old Aunt Lucy!

 http://www.truveo.com/Paddington-Bear-Please-look-after-this-bear/id/1035976138

As our story explains, Malachi was pleased he wasn’t called Paddington as he felt he’d have to wear Wellingon boots, but he secretly has much love for the mischevious bear!

How curious then that the Brazilian national Indian Foundation today released amazing picture of an uncontacted tribe on its border with Peru.  The Brazilian government says it wants to help protect the tribe’s land from illegal logging.  They are designed to prove those who doubted the tribe’s existence wrong.  More than half the world’s uncontacted 100 tribes live in Brazil and Peru.  Take a look at these warriors reacting to the plane… didn’t cupid draw back his bow in our story? Does this mean humanity should live in better harmony with nature?

Let’s ask Amy Winehouse. Does she think that’s right? Here’s a video aired on BBC Three

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ymcPoYo8S20

Oh… an anagram of AMY WINEHOUSE is  HAY IN ME HOUSE.  In April, Amy won 5 Grammy awards at the biggest night in the rock and pop calendar.  The star celebrated by visiting her husband, Blake Civil-Fielder, in Pentonville Prison.  She dedicated her awards to her imprisoned husband and London’s blaze hit Camden Market, expressing sadness as the fire destroyed her favourite pub amongst other buildings.

Posted in Q31 Are you a charitable neighbour?, Q43 Do you believe in happy endings?, Q75 Have you ever put on a show?, Q22 Do you love our Earth?, Q21 Have you ever hugged a tree?, Q11 Do you believe in justice?, Q18 Do you let your heart rule your head?, Q.8 Do you crave a better life? | No Comments »

15/05/2008 by admin.

Levels of carbon dioxide (CO2) in the atmosphere have hit record levels. 

Scientists in Hawaii say levels of the climate change gas had hit 387 parts per million (ppm), the highest level for 650,000 years.  Levels of CO2 have been rising since 1958 and the rate of growth is increasing, rising by more than 2 ppm most years since 2000.  The level is just a few years away from what many regard as the tipping point of 400 ppm, when experts say the world will start heating up dangerously. 

Timely then that Madonna should release her new song, ‘Four Minutes to Save the World’, especially as her work, ‘Hey You’  was captured early in our Watch.  Here’s the video link:

 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k5-BJY00nHI

More curious though is her YouTube message - what was it Malachi said to the world about humans obsession with cleanliness! Take a look (video contains a swear word)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kCkwYuoqnyo&feature=related

Meanwhile, HRH Prince Charles has spoken of an urgent need to stop deforestation of the tropical rainforests.  The Prince asks for us to make the connection between felling of the Amazon, and the poverty of the local people.  He suggests investment in the local people is a like an insurance policy for the world; preventing climate chaos from escalating.  Acting against deforestation is a dramatic way to take action that will have an immediate impact, whilst other solutions are explored.  Listen:

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk/7402104.stm

Posted in Q76 Are you going to take action now to save our world?, Haymakers: Watch Wonders, Q75 Have you ever put on a show?, Q39 Do you believe in magic?, Q21 Have you ever hugged a tree?, Q28 Have you ever lived in poverty?, Q.4 Have you ever wanted to stop the clock? | No Comments »

06/05/2008 by admin.

As the number of casualties from the Burma cyclone continues to grow, it seems the destruction of the countries mangrove forests left coastal areas exposed to the devastating force of the storm.   The combination of more people living in coastal areas and the loss of mangroves had exacerbated the tragedy. A leading Asian politician, Surin Pitsuwan, said, “Encroachment into mangrove forests, which used to serve as a buffer between the rising tide, between big waves and storms and residential areas; all those lands have been destroyed.”

The UN has launched an appeal to raise funds to help the victims of the disaster.

On a much lighter note, a pair of rare pure albino ‘blackbirds’ have been caught on camera in Gosport, Hampshire. It’s another in a string of albino animals seen recently, which is curious given Lucy’s suggestion that we should celebrate diversity as illustrated by the spectrum of colour hidden within the colour white in Nature.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk/7385714.stm

A closely related condition to albinism is leucism - which involves reduced pigmentation in animals.

Posted in Q34 Have you ever restored something?, Q31 Are you a charitable neighbour?, Q21 Have you ever hugged a tree?, Q20 Have your eyes ever deceived you? | No Comments »

09/04/2008 by admin.

The influential artist David Hockney has donated his largest work, Bigger Trees near Warter to Tate Britain, home of Stubbs’  Haymakers painting.  The landscape - 12 metres long and 5 metres tall - was first exhibited last year at the Royal Academy.

It was painted in situ on 50 individual canvases that fit together like a jigsaw.  Trees especially have caught his imagination - we know the feeling! Oh an anagram of DAVID HOCKNEY is C KIND HAY DOVE!

Proposals to protect honey bees in England and Wales have been announced, with the Government seeking advice of 44,000 bee keepers. Numbers have fallen by 30 percent in the past 50 years. One of the main causes has been an invasion of foreign bacterial diseases which have been thriving thanks to higher temperatures in recent decades.  The Farming Minister, Lord Rucker to the House of Lords has said the English honey bee population could be wiped out within 10 years.  Sir David Attenborough recently said, “If bees and butterflies disappeared, you wouldn’t have any food on your table.”

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=niEZaD_G6PM

What do you think of it so far? Rubbish! Well plastic rubbish. The quantity of rubbish on British beaches has increased by over 100% over the past decade, and most of it is due to plastic. Not only is the rubbish ugly, its also a threat to wildlife. As Emma says, “its like living in the dark ages.”

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/sci/tech/7339737.stm

Posted in Q78 Do you want to be part of the picture?, Q79 Have you ever looked into the shadows?, Q74 Do you like puzzles?, Q31 Are you a charitable neighbour?, Q21 Have you ever hugged a tree?, Q.2 Are you an art lover? | No Comments »