Beautiful Balloon Release...

Listening to Radio 4 about seabirds and plastic reminded me of this so I'm updating and re-posting.

Balloons are lovely aren't they. All shiny and floaty. Either being played with by children at a party or floating off into the wild blue after a wedding. Balloons are used for competitions too, whose will travel the farthest? And for sending prayers, or for memorials.  

Like everyone else I think the sight of hundreds of balloons soaring up into a blue sky is a beautiful thing, trailing tags with notes of love to heaven, what a gorgeous idea...

but balloons come down, and when they do they kill things, lots of things.

They fall into rivers, get snarled in trees, drift to the sea, and wildlife gets caught up or eats the burst 'skins' of the balloons (particularly turtles that naturally eat jellyfish drifting in the sea)

Click here to see the (distressing) photo gallery of balloon damage.

You wouldn't organise a mass litter. Please don't organise a balloon release.(Ditto 'sky lanterns')  Maybe you need more convincing, if so here are some links. I'd appreciate it if you spread the word.

 

Marine Conservation Society

Balloons Blow

But just telling people not to do something can be quite unhelpful, so I searched around for some celebration ideas. Here are some other things you could do that would not harm our planet.

I especially like this idea 

"Floating flowers- For a lot of people, the gently upward drifting of balloons gives them a sense of letting go, and at the same time thinking the balloon will eventually reach their loved one. Because remembering a loved one by potentially killing another life isn’t exactly the best feeling, there are many alternatives. Floating flowers or flower petals down a calm stream can give you the same sense of letting go. You will be able to be in nature and feel the energy of your loved one and all the life that surrounds you! Be sure to use non-poisonous flowers and not to let go an excessive amount."

We only have one chance, let's not screw it up - I want a beautiful planet for future generations. I hope you do too.

All Pictures Above Copyright (c) 123RF Stock Photos

We're gonna need a bigger boat...

So we went whale watching. Up at 5.30am for an early start, 8am at the dock. We took M who has lived here 27 years and never been because she was scared it would be horrible. I have been whale watching before, out of Boston, so I knew what to expect.

The morning was cool but clear and we set off on an 85foot boat. (Many shark jokes were made) The harbour was calm as a mill pond of course, but even past the harbour wall there was hardly any movement on the sea. We had all taken seasickness pills just in case anyway. So when we smelled Chef Paul start to cook bacon .. BACON. ,... We were straight into the galley! I had a BLT with Mayo and it was delicious, I washed it down with a cup of coffee (no lid on the cup, and I wandered the deck with no spills!) M had bacon and fried potato and a Bloody Mary! We watched the pelicans, and the sun sparkling on the water, it was beautiful.

Then we were joined by pods of common dolphins. They are so lovely with their attractive markings and the way they leap and play. They swam with the boat, sometimes leaping right out of the water, playing in the bow wave just because it was fun. No wonder fishermen imagine dolphins are the souls of dead seamen, it would be a fine place for your soul to reside.

 

We didn't see any whales on our three hour trip. (In news that cheered DD we didn't see any sharks either) But the bacon and the dolphins ensured it was a relaxing and fun trip. M was pleased she came, she thinks she might even do it again, earlier next year, and take her sister.

We came back and went for lunch at Taco Bell, then we chilled, lazed about Ms house, watched TV and later went out for pizza. Early night as we were tired from our early start.

Magpie Monday and Art (daaaaaaaaahlings!)

It seems I only have time to blog once a week at the moment! How lucky that I should choose a Monday to blog. This weekend there may have been trips to the rather fabulous Worthing Open Houses Art exhibitions (don't panic it's happening again next weekend and I strongly advise you to visit some of the houses if you can) and much admiration for some fantastic art. we especially enjoyed to modern take on art at Gallery26 (who you can also follow on twitter) , some delightful seaside paintings by Brenda Brooks and the amazing sculptures by Alan Tobias-Williams.


But it wasn't all culture, oh no, I did find time to buy a large, yet smart 'mummy bag' at a charity shop for the princely sum of £4.99. Perfect to fit a myriad of mummy goodies in yet still smart enough to use for business. The only downside was DD ensuring I sent at least 4 handbags I already own, to a charity shop in exchange. (I may have a handbag habit, don't judge me)

So here is the beauty

Posted as part of Magpie Monday - Hosted by the super MissieLizzie

Camping in the Spring or Summer

We had a chat on twitter (which rapidly got out of control as these things do!) about a few of us getting together for a camping trip. Maybe in the spring or the summer holidays for a weekend or even longer. As my daughter is at school it needs to be holiday time. I suggested The Camping and Caravanning Club site at Norman's Bay, Pevensey and this idea met with approval from the people I hoped it would. While the idea of a 'twentup' took off across twitter I held firm to my ideals of a few of us having a wee get together with kids, beer and wine, and maybe a sausage or two.

If you need more info contact me via my contact page. (Contactify Link here)  Would be nice to actually make this happen.

And if you can't come to this event but see folk near you on the '#twentup' tag - let them know you are keen and organise more camping trips, you can't have too many tenting trips!

 

National Camping & Caravanning Week (#NCCW)

May 30 to June 5 this year The Big Pitch!!

Meet up at Norman's Bay - anytime during this Big Pitch Week!!

Not a rant - a nice post about my holiday, sorry

I know you'd all prefer a rant but I honestly don't have one! well I do, I have lots but nothing that would take up a blog post, just lots of tweet sized (140 characters for those that don't tweet) ones that are over in a jiffy, so if I blogged them this would just be a repeat of the 'I am Grumpy' Meme that I did a while ago.......

So I shall share a few pics and a comment on my recent Holiday to Port Aventura in Salou, Spain, where I stayed in a lovely hotel, ate lovely food, drank too much beer, went on awesome rides and met the lovely Very Bored in Catalunya, who was not boring (and hopefully not bored by me!) she was in fact delightful, as was her tiny boy.

  Here we are! trying not to look like the same person!

So....

We (my DD and I)  stayed The Hotel Vil La Romana, a great hotel that I've now stayed in twice, I always enjoy the food and the staff are very helpful and it's only a 10 minute walk to the PortAventura theme park, which is pretty much why we are there at all!

One of the things they are good at is decorative food!

There was sea

There were cocktails

There were theme park rides

Including 8 loop roller coasters :-)

Really there was just WAY too much fun ;-)

and we can't wait to go back.