Italics Are A' Go - And An Another Annoyance

Hello all, sorry for my non existent posts. I've just been getting ready for my exhibition in June. I have to deliver my paintings to Exeter this coming Friday. They all now have D-rings attached to them and are all wrapped up - grease proof paper and bubble wrap - and are all ready to go, I hope I can fit them all in the car! It was very difficult to make a selection, as I had done so many, they want 12 - 14, I've narrowed it down to 16, as some are diptychs and other triptychs.

Something has been annoying me.

And I stress, like I do every year for all of you in the UK or those living in America to watch Springwatch which is starting tomorrow (28th) at 8pm on BBC2 - I'm not sure how BBC America works - if it starts here in the UK at 8pm, will it come to you at 1pm? Or later and not live? Or will you get it at all? If you don't then please visit the website as they have live webcams around the clocks, from barn owls to badgers to jackdaws to swallows, all live action.

This is what has been annoying me.

The Springwatch message boards - you may find me under my nickname 'Emyjane' (well, naturally) the same people have been sending messages on it now for 3 years and all know each other, I suppose I would be called an 'interloper' and am trying my hardest to join in with discussions and visit 'The Falling Weasel" a fictional pub. Ok, it sounds sad and it is pretty, but it's fun though, sharing an imaginary drink among keen wildlife enthusiasts. Thing is, I've been given the cold shoulder because I got involved in an argument over 'Magpies, love them or loathe them' - someone saying about the death and destruction they cause to songbirds nests. Well I put in that Magpies were bad but the Sparrowhawks were the real villains. I called them evil - well, they are to a certain degree as they take countless birds every day - and this is the reply I got:

'Emyjane - Sparrowhawks are merely feeding their own young. Ecosystems work in a balance, and top predators have their own place in that balance. Would you want to shoot songbirds for mercilessly slaughtering caterpillars for their young? Songbirds have large clutches, and often more than one clutch in order to make up for the young ones lost to predators etc.

Yes, none of us like to see a young bird taken by a predator, but would we like to see a day in which there were no more birds of prey swooping in our skies? They really are magnificent birds.

PS - Absolutely it is against the law to shoot them!'

And I replied:

'Wildwytch - Look there is no way on this earth that I'd ever harm any creature, sparrowhawk or no sparrowhawk - I was just merely pointing out that magpies are evil but shouldn't really get all the blame for desecration of the songbirds - hawks have a lot to answer for as well. And there was no need to be unkind and point out about birds eating caterpillars - I know it's a fact of life, the food chain, it's just a pity nothing eats the sparrowhawk!'

Followed by (I can't get out of Italics!):

'Emyjane - I was not being unkind. But you don't seem to have grasped how nature works. Magpies aren't evil - they are simply predators that need to eat. The same goes for sparrowhawks - you talk about them 'getting away with it', but if they never ate any songbirds then soon there would be no sparrowhawks left.

I'm sorry you seem to feel that I was being unkind, it was not intentional.'

And me:

'See you've done it again - of course I grasp how nature works Wildwytch it's just so unfair but then it's life I know. And magpies - either love them or hate them, that was the first thread, I was just giving my opinion - don't make out that I'm stupid please!'

And then someone else:

'But Emyjane, you're the one using emotive phrases like 'evil' and 'getting away with it'. You can't really use those phrases when talking about predators. Those are human constructs and they don't apply.'

And then me:

'Look stop ganging up on me - I was only offering an opinion - and here's another 'human construct' I think magpies are beautiful and Sparrowhawks handsome birds - anyone have a problem with those? ;-)'

And then Wildwytch:

'An animal is never evil, it is just an animal.'

And then some saviour of my plight:

'But humans are animals. So that would really only leave the word applying to mythical supernatural beings. '

You see - today has been cruel. These damn italics - how the hell do I get out of this?

But wouldn't you call humans 'evil' right now on the subject of Madeline? That's pissing me off right now too - the incompetence of the Portuguese police who set up these pointless press conferences only to tell us all nothing as it's against 'their' law and after three weeks to FINALLY release a suspect identification who looks similar already to their main suspect! And now the pope meeting the parents - where is this all going to lead? Are we ever going to see the end of this? And if so, I doubt it'll be happy - humans ARE evil, well, some of them.

Ok to end on a nice note - meet Rose, my new best friend! Plus more pictures to come over the following days:

My lovely 'White Rose' and myself!

At the moment 'my girls' or 'gals' - all 12 of them - are dripping wet as the rain hasn't stopped. Tomorrow hopefully we'll see the sun again and the Italics will be NO MORE!

Emy xxxxxxxxx