The Domestic Soundscape

I don’t know if it’s Spring or what, but it seems like all the blogs I subscribe to have recently been full of delicious gems that I feel I must pass on. In the style of Susie’s amazing Probably Something You Would Like posts, here are my round-ups of what I’m enjoying at the moment around the Internet.

Sound Links

The London Sound Survey have some beautiful April recordings of all the seasonal bird doings. I was especially excited about a recording made in Lewisham; it’s quite near to where I grew up and the suburban sound of great tits and blackbirds – although ubiquitous at the moment – is one I never tire of hearing. Check out that recording and many more, here.

Speechification, a journey South. Alice sent me this link and after getting hooked on the first few moments, I am saving up the whole recording for tonight’s bedtime story. I will also probably spend some time perusing the delicious archives of the Touch Radio Blog, which looks to be full of beautifully crafted podcasts by Chris Watson and Co.

Ace.

It was also great to find this recording of Florida Palm Trees over on Margaret Noble’s Sound is Art blog. ‘Swaying Palms’ is one of the Gentle Fire sounds which I developed by processing the sound of Mark’s chainsaw; it is amazing to hear how real palm trees really sound and this recording is lovely. I think it was made by Michael Raphael whose blog is one of the best.

I was also excited to read this article about the renaissance of the cassette tape; this time last year was spent knee-deep in cassettenalia while I prepared TAPE; one of the podcasts for The Domestic Soundscape Cut and Splice series and I enjoyed this article, refreshing the interest in tape for 2010.

Animal Links

Lately there has been a spree of amazing animal posts around the Internet.

I loved this post on Devon Fine Fibres about a Bowmont Braf Wether called Cuthbert. All my favourite shepherding blogs are full of bittersweet joyous/sad lambing news at the moment and I love reading about all the news from the fiber farms, but there is something especially funny and moving about this post in particular.

I do like it when people write about the bond they experience with their animals and I was reminded while reading about Cuthbert of a lovely post a few months ago on Barbara Parry’s blog, about her Llama, Crackerjack.

I also very much enjoyed Deb Robson’s discussion of different kinds of fibres and the importance of preserving rare breed fibre animals, over on The Independent Stitch.

Relatedly, I was very sad to read recently that Mudchute Farm have lost some of their sponsorship, which has made it hard for them to continue the work they do there with rarebreed animals. I think Mudchute is one of the most important projects happening in London today and I am considering sponsoring a sheep or making a regular donation if I can work out the fundage. City farms are incredible; they help to bridge gaps in knowledge about where food comes from, they provide a very necessary oasis away from the madness, they keep urban spaces green, and they provide vital education.

Mudchute farm; Llamas, Oxford Down sheep and Whitefaced Woodland sheep.

In related sheep news, I was delighted to read this article about a head teacher being reinstated, after having earlier resigned from her position following death threats and abuse. The reason Andrea Charman received such abuse was that she allowed the school’s lamb to be slaughtered, and the resultant chops to be auctioned off so that the school could buy more farm animals. The article explains the whole situation really well; I was just glad that Charman is back in her job and that people are recognising how valuable it is for us to actually explore where our meat comes from.

In other ovine news I was excited (whilst researching the ultimate Nordic knitting voyage of my dreams) to discover the existence of a historic document entitled The Sheep Letter, which was a document drawn up in the Faroe Islands in 1298. The sheep letter concerns the importance of sheep and rules for sheep breeding in the Faroe Islands.

My final favourite animal link is the wonderful Mousehunt detailed over on Rattling On, a wonderful Blog I’ve recently found via Colleen.

Appreciating the Everyday links

Mundane Appreciation are working on a supermarket/food project at the moment which looks very exciting; I love this Mundane Appreciation video concerning Supermarket shopping habits and enjoyed reading through their Food questionnaire.

I Go To The Supermarket from Mundane Appreciation on Vimeo.

On a slightly different note, I enjoyed very much the celebratory nature of The Knitting Goddess’ Printer Ink yarn colourway. The Cyan, Magenta and Process Yellow that make up printer ink rarely get to shine and I really liked the idea for using something so everyday and office/domestic as the basis for a colourway.

Colleen also alerted me to Oliver Burkeman’s amazing article on To-Do lists; this was especially pertinent when I read it a few days ago, but we always need further information on To-Do lists and I did enjoy reading this immensely.

That wraps up the linkage for today, numbers and knitting next week.

This weekend Mark and I set off to explore another 30-mile section of the Walk 2012 project, this time exploring various trails between Putney Bridge and Guildford. I am sure Mark will write in more detail about the route on his blog, but in the meantime I thought I’d share with you a selection of creatures (real, imaginery and metaphorical) that we spotted this weekend.

Horses – or evidence of horses; spotted near Putney Bridge, by Beverley Brook.

Laughing/Green woodpecker – this is my favourite bird as I absolutely love its giggly sound. Please forgive the detestably pixelated qualities of the digital zoom and the failure of the photograph to convey the woodpecker’s lovely, undulating flight path; it was very magical to see this bird on Richmond Common…

…where we also saw these fine Red Deer.

Much later on in the proceedings, Mark found a Feasel with its very own road-sign…

…and then we slept in a Holiday Inn, which was situated at the end of Felix Lane in Shepperton.

The next morning, striding out into the fresh sunshine and readying ourselves for a 16 mile or so tramp along the Thames and then the River Wey, we found a stern-looking Swan…

…and some sort of Goose-Yoga convention.

Beside the start of the Wey Navigations, I found a Bear with a map.

It is rumoured that a monkey accompanied us on our travels also…

…and we were greeted at lunchtime by a very friendly Badger, whose regal visage always occurs in the same place as good, Hall & Woodhouse Ales.

Joy of all joys, we spotted an enterprising Barn Owl out hunting early in the afternoon as we neared Guildford; Mark got a better picture of it than I did but you can just about make it out in this shot.

When we got home I found a lovely fox on Kate’s blog, and went in search of Liz’s post about the Barn Owl that I remembered. The title of Liz’s blog post is ‘Magical’ and that’s how it feels to see the real creatures we saw.

In my mind, even made-up-animals like feasels and bears become magical totems when you go on a journey; they make for good story-telling when you’re cold or your feet hurt, and they are a good reminder of all the living things that share the places where we go.

I stayed in Sussex last week with Julia and spent the days mostly marching around on the South Downs and in the Romney Marshes. This activity has given me some much needed high quality sleep, plenty of fresh air and a lovely sense of vitality that has been somewhat missing from previous, less active weeks. I love the ache of tired leg muscles and the thudding of my heart in my chest as I make the last few stretches along a steep ascent. The views around Ditchling Beacon are amazing, especially in the early morning light, and the crunch of the frosty grass underfoot is very pleasing.

Impressive beasts roam on the hilltops around Ditchling. I am nearly always suspicious of cows and suspect them of hatching evil, genius plans (especially ones that involve me getting crushed under their large hooves.) But I met with another walker when at this stage of the walk and he showed such fearlessness in the presence of the mighty bovines that I was inspired to walk amongst them without my normal sense of mild panic. I have been learning, actually, from Joey the cat, that animals dislike the Direct Stare. Joey has been much happier with me since I have begun regarding him peripherally and the cows I met whilst out walking seemed less bothered by my nonchalent sideways glances than they have been in the past by my scrutinising stare (is it going to charge at me?)

Walking between Icklesham and Winchelsea around Rye, I spotted some beautiful trees though I fear the apples on the second photo have been ruined by the frosts.

The Romney Marshes offer spectactularly bleak and atmospheric walking.

Camber sands is still my favourite beach in the world, especially in Winter when most traces of civilisation are shut and the place feels wild and abandoned.

I took my recorder with me on all the walks but found that mostly what I got to hear was peace and quiet, which is difficult to record.