We’ve peaked. We’re sliding towards bare branches, denuded winter trees, skeletal frames that you’ll soon believe will never have leaves again. Yes, the intensity of autumn’s colour blast looks like it’s been run through too hot a wash; its vibrancy has been siphoned off, insipid now, like an 18thCentury patient drooping from bloodletting. I walked … Continue reading Trees Please
There are so many causes worthy of one’s support. Most of us will have at least one cause or charity we hold dear. If you are from a seaside town it might be the lifeboat. If you lost a loved one to a disease for which there is no cure, it might be medical research … Continue reading Tread Lightly
I am of the generation where we ‘backed’ our books at the start of each new school year. Dog-eared and a bit tattered from use the year before (in fact, use over multiple years), a growing pile would be distributed by the teacher in September, leaning like the Tower of Pisa, in preparation for ten … Continue reading Change
Last Wednesday was a wet one in Edinburgh. The five o’clock downpour came just in time to drench people coming home from work. I’d been inside all day and was itching to get out - time for a mental health walk. By eight o’clock, the rain was diffident, apologetic, like that rare embarrassed drunk who knows … Continue reading All Creatures Great and Small
Was it only me, or did you feel as though July delivered about three months worth of life packed tightly into just thirty one days? Was it the early dawns and late sunsets? Was it the heat? Was it the pin-balling news: wildfires, world cup, Thai boys’ rescue, summits, protests, elections in Pakistan and Zimbabwe, … Continue reading Lughnasa
The way through the forest to get to the cottage on Crosby Lake is definitely not a road, but it’s not quite a dirt track either. Whatever you might call it, it has ‘gateway to wilderness’ written all over it in the form of chipmunks scurrying across the path, the hindquarters of deer disappearing into … Continue reading Gratitude
Back in Edinburgh, I know someone who is partial to a little sculptural clipping in his garden. You know the sort of thing: clipping the privet into gently undulating waves, softening the usual straight lines and sharp angles of hedges and herbaceous borders. When I lived in York, in the North of England, the university … Continue reading Mother Earth
We’ve woken up to rain: short, sharp, and torrential. It won't stay for long, but it’s so lovely to hear. How quickly one changes one’s tune! How is it that Scottish rain on a dreich February day doesn't carry this musical and welcome sound? Because there is every possibility that it won’t cease until March or … Continue reading Rain, Heron, Loon
Because I can, I am starting a sentence with because. Some might grimace at my syntaxical audacity, but there you go, I’ve done it. Because it’s June. It’s the longest day of the year, and I’m giving you - and myself - licence to do what we want. Go light a big bonfire on a hill … Continue reading Because It’s June
I had agreed to it, and happily so. It sounded like a great idea. Right up until 7am on Tuesday morning when I thought: the water is about 12 degrees and this bed is really warm and cosy. I knew swimming outdoors would either boost my energy for the day, or finish me off and … Continue reading Messing About In The River
