James and the Seagulls and Turtles

My seagulls from boyhood on a day at the bay

Seagulls and turtles have been getting my attention lately for some reason.
I had recently scanned some of my old snaps I took of seagulls as a young boy.

Low tide at Cleveland Point

Not long after scanning these photos I saw this news story about seagulls -
2.5 million gulls needed to lift James's giant peach

" Physicists have thrown cold water on a key scene from

Roald Dahl's classic children's book, James and the Giant Peach, in which a flock of seagulls fly an over-sized piece of fruit and its occupants across the Atlantic.

In Dahl's tale, it took 501 gulls to haul the peach to New York from the mid-Atlantic, where it had drifted with five-year-old James and his six oversized insect friends onboard.
But students at Britain's University of Leicester say the real number of birds required would be close to 2.5 million.
In a tongue-in-cheek study in the Journal of Physics Special Topics, four students calculated the force lift required to pick up a peach of 1.025 tonnes and a radius of six metres.
"Although James could have successfully sailed his peach in the manner described by Roald Dahl, for a peach of the dimensions calculated, it would not be possible to fly such a heavy object with the assistance of such a diminutive number of birds,"

their paper said.
"He would have to harness 2,425,907 seagulls in order to fly to America."
The authors add a touch of scientific caution, though.
"Whether Silkworm and Mrs Spider could have managed this is unknown," they said, referring to the two companions who lure the gulls into lifting the peach."
Which reminded me of the DVD I had bought around Christmas time for myself of that movie.

I only purchased it because I had heard that Susan Sarandon voiced the role of the spider.
I had been looking into Susan's movies since reading this post at my friends Trish and Robs blog
Ornaments 
I've seen James and the Giant Peach years ago, but I still haven't played the DVD I bought recently, but I will do today as I have had a few more syncs involving Susan after watching a movie called
 Jeff, Who Lives at Home yesterday.

For instance, talking of spiders, read my comments at this blog post on the actress Jackie Weaver, who was in  
The Silver Linings Playbook.
Silver Linings Playbook – and a Radio Update

And the turtle signs have been getting my attention, too.

The Bird that Flew into the Window

I found the above picture while Googling for a turtle story I had just read about after cyclone Oswald had played havoc with Queensland's turtle population.

Galeforce winds and high tides have
destroyed turtle nests near Bundaberg

Cyclone takes heavy toll on turtle rookery

"Scientists say ex-Tropical Cyclone Oswald has killed thousands of turtle eggs and hatchlings at one of Queensland's biggest rookeries.

The Queensland Department of Environment and Heritage says gale-force winds and high tides have destroyed turtle nests at Mon Repos near Bundaberg.
An estimated 46,000 eggs have been destroyed.
Chief scientist Col Limpus says the weather came at the worst time for the young turtles.
"Galeforce winds coming in on very high tides and so it's eroded the nesting habitat for the turtles," he said.
"We had the maximum number of clutches for the year because not that many had hatched and the end result, we lost about 60 per cent of all of the clutches that were in the beach." "

Flipside of the Dartboard

Looking for the turtle story also brought me across these images top and bottom.

Sweet Bird of Paradox

The above photo is from this site -
Baby Red-Eared Turtle - Realistic Fishing Lure  
and is not a real turtle, which you would have found out by following the above link.

The interesting thing about stumbling across the above photo though, apart from my encounter with a sacred kingfisher that hit my window and started me blogging on this weird blog, was that on Fraser Island 
Dingo - The Trickster
the most well known resort is Kingfisher Bay Resort.

Kingfisher Bay Resort

Fraser Island is not far from the turtle rookery that was hit by cyclone Oswald.
About Mon Repos

ANIMAL DREAMING GUIDED
MEDITATIVE JOURNEYS

According to Scott Alexander King the turtle represents Mother Earth.
"Turtles have long been revered as symbols of the Earth Mother, longevity and protection."
He also says that Kingfishers represent Halcyon Days 

Alcyone

"Halcyon days", in the myth of Alcyone, the seven days in winter when storms never occur"

Coronation Crown Snowglobe

"Ovid and Hyginus both also make the metamorphosis the origin of the etymology for "halcyon days," the seven days in winter when storms never occur. 
They state that these were originally the 14 days each year  
(seven days on either side of the shortest day of the year) 
 during which Alcyone (as a kingfisher) laid her eggs and made her nest on the beach and during which her father Aeolus, god of the winds, restrained the winds and calmed the waves so she could do so in safety. 
The phrase has since become to refer to any peaceful time. 
Its proper meaning, however, is that of a lucky break, or a bright interval set in the midst of adversity; 
just as the days of calm and mild weather are set in the height of winter for the sake of the kingfishers' egg-laying.
The myth is also briefly referred to by Virgil, again without reference to Zeus's anger "

Halcyon Days

(Strawbs album)

The Man Who Called Himself Jesus?

 Interesting track listing on the Strawbs album.

 According to Scott the seagull represents correct behaviour.

 Interesting.
"Put simply, gull allows us to assess the lay of the land before artlessly blundering in."
The Bridge Across Forever to the One? 
"It coaches us in the subtle art of cues and signals so that we appear aware of the correct behaviour to display in any clique or situation."

 For Birds of Paradise, Scott says they represent temptation.
Animal Dreaming: The Symbolic and Spiritual Language of the Australasian Animals  
Hmm. 
"Creating your own personal Nirvana  by celebrating the dance of life and harnessing opportunity when it presents is what living a good healthy life is all about - 
so long as you don't have to dance with the devil to accomplish it."