This is one of the reasons I enjoy being away in the motorhome. The other one is that the housework is done very quickly.
The pitch was right on the foreshore at Crail, in Fife, so not only could we see the wildlife, we could also hear the waves. Lulled to sleep at night (and in between) and gentled awake in the morning. Magical. Near high tide a whole flock of cormorants flew in to balance precariously on the rocks along with oyster catchers and curlews. Presumably the birds were lured by the prospect of plenty of fish as the rock pools filled up and then the fish were stranded as the tide receded. On our last day the usual gaggle were joined by two eider ducks.
On one of the days we visited St Andrews -there have obviously been many changes over the last 25 years or so since I was a student there. Every time I turned a corner I expected to meet people I knew, but of course they were all in my head. The town is still pretty, and looks as if it means business due to the schools, university buildings, Halls of Residence, golf courses and multitudinous eateries of every taste. The only difference was that the students all looked about 12 years old. A serendipitous phone call meant that we were able to meet up with Son #1 and entourage for lunch. After that – it felt like old times.
I had to hold onto HBTW in order to be safe navigating the streets – my vision makes it hazardous to be around traffic and uneven pavements. However, it is perfectly possible to indulge in retail therapy with double everything on view. in fact, I can feel a little shopping coming on soon. Being on the 2:5 regime has meant that I have gone down by three to four dress sizes – though I hardly wear dresses these days. Methinks I need to visit an actual shop to try on trousers for fit. It’s too complicated to order up and return multiple clothes from online vendors.
It’s funny – when I restarted my blog I thought I would be concentrating on the great and the good, or the worthy and the meaningful. The fact that I am tending to talk about sunrises and wildlife and housekeeping would suggest that in fact I lead a very little life. There is no longer the weekly struggle to make sense of a text for the pulpit – (I mean for a congregation . . . . . . ) – indeed to be honest I would find it hard to tackle today’s big issues. Things like immigration, asylum seekers, violence of any kind, politics, capitalism . . . . . . . and so it goes on and on. How on earth did I every manage? I suspect, not as well as might have hoped when I graduated from St Andrews. And yet I carry something of the ethos of that time, for which I am truly grateful.
Maybe I shall leave the big questions for another day.
Blessings from Dalamory.
I think the joy of wildlife and a sunset is the meaningful good. 🙂
Ever read _The Horizontal Epistles of Andromeda Veal_?
Years ago, Tim, but methinks I shall be getting the kindle out for the trilogy! I could do with a few more laughs.
If only we all did that….
I re-read it/them the other week – noticed how the political complaints repeated identically decades later…
The Yin and the Yang are all important along with less housekeeping.
I like the expression from Ghandi…Live simply so that others may simply live. I suspect you are focused on what matters in life. All this mad tearing about is for younger people. This is the time of life to sit and think or meditate, lately, I color when I can. If not now…..when?
Sometimes I sits,
Sometimes I thinks,
Sometimes I sits and thinks.
Oh you are so great and I am so small,
I tremble to think of you world at all.
And yet when I said my prayers today,
A voice inside me seemed to say,
Though the world is so great and you’re such a dot,
you can love and think, and the world cannot.
Read the last page of George Elliot’s ‘Middlemarch’ (Dorothea’s epitaph) which says it all……
i have a campervan, and I love it so much. Haven’t been to Scotland in it yet…that delight awaits me.
What a beautiful photograph!
I love the Ghandi quote, Dianne, and have found the last page of Middlemarch, thanks to the internet. Hmmmmm …………. am getting there but the only thing is that now I want to read it again. Thank you!
My own blog sabbatical was rather intermittent, with the odd post appearing now and then but now I’m back I feel that I would like to catch up with old friends again. That includes you.
The big questions of the day? Golly, is there anyone on this earth who can answer them? Or make sense of them?
Perhaps leading this (so-called) little life is all we can aim for; being kind and considerate and helping where we can is all we can hope to do. Looking at the myriad treasures around us, birds and animals and nature in general makes me feel good; they soothe the troubled spirit and help me realise that everything will come to an end, good as well as bad.
Happy shopping!
Thanks for the good advice, Friko – sometimes I let myself get far too bowed down with the worries of the world, but then to remember and to experience kindness and to look round at the beauties of nature is a kind of therapy.