The Happy Lands

This is a true film using very few professional actors, using mainly local Fife folk to tell a story of struggle, poverty and the use of power by the authorities to over through the working man's struggle for a reasonable living.
Its all set in 1926 starting just prior to the national strike of that year going onto the struggle of miners in the UK fighting for a decent wage and working conditions.
During this film I laughed, I cried and once again I saw the powers that be trying to keep the working class where they could control them and profit from their labours.
It might be a film about 1926 but it could so easily translate into the present day!
I highly recommend it to anyone with even a passing interest in social history or the plight of the common man.

What keeps me calm

Bird Watching and enjoying nature are one of the best ways to relax for me. There are others of course chatting with my best friend being number 1 of course.

This is probably the best pic of a mallard I've ever taken. My pics tend to be a wee bit shaky due to my health but I'm quite chuffed with this pic though.

One of the greatest sight in nature is the 1st flush of flower in the spring when there are so few leaves and you get the flowers on bare branches.

Sunsets are always great to sit and look at and when like here that is combined with bird watching.

I know it ain't to clear but there is a swan near the middle of this pic and it is laying on a gravel bank in the water looking so layed back and relaxed its was awesome to see.

Believe it or not there are 3 birds in this pic. 1 just floating along and 2 having a wee dance together. Still so relaxing if a little dark.

 This is the same scene as above just with my phone lifted a little to take the it and show the gorgeous sky

Finally a truly calm scene over the loch which I find so relaxing as well

Well these scenes are 1 of my favourite ways to relax and calm recently I've been spending a lot of time here to calm down and prevent my mood from becoming to down and aggressive. So if they can calm me down the way I been feeling recently they must be awesome! 

Chanting makes the world happy

I'm now using the ChantBuddy application on my ST23i http://www.chantbuddy.com This message composed by ChantBuddy.

When I'm down and angry I chant and let the peace of the mystic law calm me down. It brings peace to my mind and openness to my heart

Bird watching this morning

This morning I got up at 5.30 and went to the nature reserve attached to Lochore Meadows country park in Fife Scotland.

This is the view from the bird hide at the nature reserve looking north toward Kinross. It looks so calming and it was but the noise of bird song this early in the morning was just mind blowing. 

Such a relaxing start to the day and the bird count wasn't to shabby either. Perhaps not the rarest specimens but such a great start to the day.

I saw the following at the reserve

12 Pink Footed Geese

14 Mallard

14 Tufted Ducks

There was 1 bird I'm unsure of but I took loads of field notes and will try and ID this later tpday

These I spotted on the way to and from the reserve

4 Wood Pigeon

3 Magpies

3 Ring Necked Doves

5 Blackbirds

I did hear many more smaller birds but think I need to improve my observation skills or be quiter when I'm moving around the site.

 Again a view from the same position looking slightly eastward but generally north. It shows how even a slight change of angle can change the amount of daylight available. So remember when trying to ID birds this can change the appearance of colour such a lot.

Spring is arriving even if it is slower than normal. Here is the fresh flush of Hawthorn foliage that is so bright in the shade looks like its been shown in a spotlight.

The weer running from the nature reserve into Lochore Meadows proper

Finally the view from the weer north toward the nature reserve!

I hope you enjoy these pictures!

This morning has proven to me that I need to get a camera with a much better zoom capability as even from the hide I couldn't zoom in close enough to get any good pics of the birds I saw. The ones I've uploaded here are from my iPhone I will get the ones from my camera up later and hope they will be better quality,

 Today I had an appointment at the hospital in Kircaldy and had been kind of wound up about it. It was about a clinical trial for a new tablet. Then once I'd been and they told me I was to healthy to take part in the trial ( me being healthy is just so so funny ). I decided to drive down to the prom and sit listen to the waves crashing, See if it could chill me out a bit. Well it must have done. I fell asleep in the car with the window down. When I woke up about an hour later this is the fantastic sight that greeted me. That made me smile so much it was just great waking up and hearing that wonderful noise.

Hope you like the pics of the scene that greeted me when I woke!

The sunset from my front door last week

Got these last week when I was feeding the birds and they made me smile so much hop you like them.

Hope these make anyone who looks at them smile as well :-)