The Secret Life of Dust by Hannah Holmes

 

This book explores all aspects of all types of dust, from the cosmic dust that formed the origins of the universe, through desert dust, fungal spores and smoke from forest fires to pollution and household dust. The more I read, the more I became aware of the risks posed by all these types of dust. It's a sobering read. I'll just share some interesting facts here.

Astonishing amounts of dust are produced from dried out lakes, for example the Aral Sea, which has been massively reduced in size due to overextraction of water for irrigation, produces an estimated 150 million tons a year of dust, heavily laden with toxic pesticides. Up to "half the desert dust in the air today may rise from land damaged by human use." 

Natural dusts from different places have unique mineral signatures and combined with the differing sources of pollution in different areass mean that rain varies around the world in terms of the chemicals and particles contained in raindrops. 

The dusts produced from industrial processes have long been associated with illnesses, particularly asbestosis. I was surprised to read here how long humans have been using asbestos, two thousand years ago, Romans were including asbestos in funeral shrouds and even back then the risks were recognised by the Roman naturalist Pliny the Elder, who noticed that "the unfortunates who mined and wove asbestos were a sickly lot." Yet even now, asbestos creates problems. It can take us a long time to really address problems...

Asthma of course is another ongoing health problem strongly associated with dusts, some of them natural. The last chapter of the book looks at household dusts, and how these are affected by the appliances we use and our approach to household cleanliness.  

This book is very US-centric but is a fascinating read, wherever you live and may make you more aware of all the dust around you. 

The Secret Life of Dust by Hannah Holmes, published (2001) by Wiley.  

 

nightskies haiku

overcast skies -
the meteor shower
unseen

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I first posted this haiku a few years ago, but am reposting it, as last night, we had hoped to go to a meteor watching party but the skies clouded over and the party was cancelled....

Also a few years ago, Dosankodebbie made a beautiful artwork incorporating this haiku, you can see it here. 

Easter Craiglockart Hill

 

 Yesterday we enjoyed the autumn colours on Edinburgh's Easter Craiglockart Hill. The hill also offers lovely views across the golf course

There weren't as many fungi as we would hope to see at this time of year, but there was a reasonably good selection, including Candlesnuff

these Inkcaps (which I think are Glistening Inkcaps)  

and these very young Scarlet Elfcaps 

We then continued our walk to Craiglockart Pond  

and then home via the Union Canal, which inexplicably, we didn't take any photos of! 

 

Spineless by Juli Berwald

Subtitled "The Science of Jellyfish and the Art of Growing a Backbone", this is a fascinating look at jellyfish. 

Many people have negative images of jellyfish, as they are well known to cause problems, if their numbers get out of balance, for example, clogging up waterways so that boats can't get through, to causing power outages when they clog up cooling systems. They can also have a negative impact on the catch for many fishing operations, though some species of jellyfish are now becoming desirable catches themselves.  

However, jellyfish are central to many marine ecosystems, and can be entire ecosystems in themselves, offering surfaces for other creatures, such as shrimps to live on and shelter for small fish, who may struggle to find shelter. 

This book takes us on a tour through jellyfish, from ancient times (I was astonished to read that there are jellyfish in the fossil record!) to the current day. Here are details of jellyfish locomotion, bioluminescence and their roles in ecosystems. 

The book later broadens out to look at more general topics around ocean conservation and offers ideas of how individuals can help conserve marine life. 

Blending memoir and science, this is an excellent read for anyone interested in our oceans. 

Spineless by Juli Berwald, published (2018) by Penguin Random House. 

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I've just had a tiny poem published on the Smols website, you can read it here.  

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This week's post on my Crafty Green Poet Substack is all about the sharing economy, you can read it here.  

 

Linlithgow Loch

 Yesterday we had a lovely trip to Linlithgow in West Lothian, a short train away from Edinburgh. Of course, when we visit the town our main focus is to walk round the loch (though we also had a morning coffee in a nice cafe and later lunch in a pub). The weather was beautiful, a light mist lifting to sunshine later, but it was worryingly warm, it's certainly not supposed to be that warm in November in Scotland! 

The autumn colours were beautiful 

 

and we were delighted to see plenty of wildlife, including this very friendly Robin 

this Cormorant drying our its wings 

and this Great Crested Grebe in winter plumage

 We were also happy to find this lovely arrangement of lichens 

Linlithgow Palace (the birthplace of Mary Queen of Scots) sits by the shores of the loch and you get lots of great views as you walk around the lochside path  

 

Autumn Colours in the Meadows

 After tutoring my Friday morning creative writing class, I usually walk through the Meadows, and today the cherry trees were as beautiful as they are, more famously, in Spring. 

 

The Sycamores are surrounded by their beautiful fallen leaves too

 

The Importance of Not by Dorothy Baird

 

Dorothy Baird is an Edinburgh based writer, who comes along to one of the writing groups I facilitate. She has published two collections of poetry and this newly published pamphlet was a winner in the 2024 Poetry Space Pamphlet competition. 

It's a beautiful wee selection of poetry about things that are missing, fading memories, lost loved ones, the empty nest and the Sycamore Gap, the last of which is reflected in the cover design by Hanni Shinton. Nature is essential in this collection, from the "squirrel that could clearly run the country / with its problem solving" (You Can't Stand in the Same River Twice) to the "blackbird in his widower's weeds" (Therapy of Vowels), the "otter, the seals and the sleek wheel of a porpoise turning in the blue" (A Small Life Against the Timeline of Everything) and skylarks singing in many poems. 

I was taken right back to my own childhood by "Memories are Lonely things to carry alone" with it's description of a child's den under a rhododendron bush, my childhood den was under a sycamore tree, that has since been removed from the garden I grew up in, just as the poet's rhododendron bush is no longer there. 

 There are moving poems here about her father's dementia and his difficulties coping with the social distancing imposed by COVID-19 lockdowns 

"On the way out, she opens the door
with her sleeve covered hand and smiles
across the distance he wants to close
and she has to maintain, pushing back
against thousands of years of evolution
and the magnetism of family"

Social Distancing 

But in all the grief and sadness, there is always solace and the comfort of nature, and "snowdrops / spread among the stones like small bulbs of hope" in the cemetery (Carpe Diem). 

This is a closely observed, acutely felt and beautifully written pamphlet.   

The Importance of Not by Dorothy Baird published (2025) by Poetry Space. 

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My latest Substack post 'Art and Activism', went up yesterday, you can read it here.