Scrapbook

Recent Articles in Scrapbook

A miscellany of chit-chat, quizzes, and articles about the places we have visited

Xmas Lynx

by Jill Dickin Schinas • Published on the 12th of December 2009 in Scrapbook • No Comments

To celebrate the Christmas season and greet our friends and readers Roxanne has made a watercolour painting of an Iberian lynx padding through the snow. (more…)

Can We Save Our Sealife – or is it too late?

by Jill Dickin Schinas • Published on the 12th of December 2009 in Scrapbook • 2 Comments

Life on the Ocean Wave, by Jill Dickin Schinas (Oil, 55 x 46 cm)

Well, it’s that time of the year again – and we’re still little nearer than we were last Christmas to our Southern Ocean goal.
As you can no doubt imagine, we spend a lot of time dreaming of the journey ahead. The admiral’s latest painting brings this dream to life; it shows Mollymawk flying along amongst a flock of assorted seabirds, through a sea filled with fish and other animals. No, it isn’t really quite like this, out there on the ocean – we seldom find ourselves at the centre of a throng of birds; and certainly, one could never expect to see mollymawks and tropic birds on the same sea…! This picture is a intended as a synthesis of the life on the ocean wave.

When we think of the passage south through the tropics and into the Southern Ocean, we think of the dolphins which will come to visit us and the whales which we will glimpse; we think of the shearwaters and the tropic birds; of the turtles; of the fish; of the mollymawks, or albatross… But then a little pang strikes our hearts: will the “mollies” still be there when we finally make it down to their end of the world? (more…)

New-look website!

by Caesar • Published on the 10th of December 2009 in Scrapbook • 4 Comments

We’ve completely redesigned the Yacht Mollymawk website, improving its usability and accessibility, as well as adding a few new features. (more…)

Sea Dogs

by Jill Dickin Schinas • Published on the 1st of December 2009 in Scrapbook • No Comments

Twenty years ago one hardly ever came across a yacht which had livestock aboard, but now seadogs and ship’s cats are a common sight. Sailing chickens are still a rarity, as are toads and snakes, and we have yet to come across a parrot – although we did once meet a chap who had just lost his parrot overboard… (more…)

Molly is a Mawk – not a hawk

by Jill Dickin Schinas • Published on the 20th of October 2009 in Scrapbook • No Comments

“What does Mollymawk mean?”
We’re often asked the question, by people passing by.

To us it’s obvious. “Haven’t you noticed that ruddy great bird painted across the transom?” we reply.
“You mean the seagull?”
!
Worse, some of you have been spelling her name with an h, as if the old girl were a bird of prey…

So I guess it’s time we explained. (more…)

The Cruising Clan (or Why Can’t We All Just Be Nice To Each Other?)

by Jill Dickin Schinas • Published on the 29th of September 2009 in Scrapbook • No Comments

In which the Admiral muses on friendship, world peace, and on the wholesome nature of the drunken sailor. (more…)

Like a dog to water!

by Jill Dickin Schinas • Published on the 22nd of September 2009 in Scrapbook • 2 Comments

Our latest news will astound any of you who have ever met Poppy-Dog. (more…)

Melilla

by Jill Dickin Schinas • Published on the 13th of January 2009 in Scrapbook • 1 Comment

Marina in Melilla

Bearing in mind all the fuss that the Spanish make about the British occupation of Gibraltar it comes as a surprise to many people to learn that they have their own little enclave on the opposite shore, in Morocco. Indeed, Spain has not one but two tiny territories on African soil. The first, Ceuta, is almost the mirror image of Gib, being a similar but much more lowly rock, standing on the far side of the Straits. The second, Melilla, is an altogether different place. (more…)

Hot off the press!

by Jill Dickin Schinas • Published on the 4th of December 2008 in Nature Diary, Scrapbook • 1 Comment

We are thrilled to be able to announce the publication of two books, one by Jill and the other by Roxanne. (more…)

Spanish Water Works

by Jill Dickin Schinas • Published on the 18th of November 2008 in Scrapbook • 2 Comments

Whether through the fault of man or because of natural changes in the climate, the Spanish region of Murcia has for hundreds of years been an arid one. Some say that anciently this was a lush, forested place but that Bronze Age man felled the trees to make way for his own choice of vegetation. This led to a decrease in rainfall.

Regardless of whether he was to blame, having entered upon the scene and set up camp, man had to find a way to eke out a living in what had become a severely desiccated landscape. In order to survive he employed some of the most ingenious machines which have yet been devised by Homo sapiens; and all of them were clean, green, and positively beneficial to the environment. For at least one millennium – from the time of the Arab Moors, and possibly from long before – the people used these primitive but wonderfully effective technologies to transform a few precious corners of the drought stricken land and make them into fertile places, capable of supporting human life.

(more…)