Out Of The Darkness...

It's that time of year again when we whirl the hands of our clocks round an hour, and believe that summer has arrived. Altering the dial on our man-made time-measuring devices doesn't actually change anything else of course, but it makes us feel differently, when our clocks tell us it is seven o'clock in the evening and the sun is still high. On a personal level - it would be nice if we could tweak the weather in the same way, and dial-up a few weeks of mild, dry days so I can get the allotment in order before the dark days of lockdown are lightened.

If the vaccine and virus control measures are judged by our government to have been effective, it will only be a matter of a couple of weeks before UK-based travellers begin to flock back to Skye. There is no doubt that numerous small businesses here will welcome the new influx of visitors with wide open arms, but I know that with some sadness I will immediately miss the silence and peace that has flooded the island for much of the past year. I have to admit, though, that even I will be pleased to see our long-empty cottages once again occupied by excited explorers.

But is this not short-sighted gratification? Are we really coming out of the darkness? Very few parts of the world have had effective vaccination programmes, and by far the majority of the world population remains vulnerable to the virus. Unless international travel is totally banned - which is surely not going to happen - I can only see a future where new strains of the virus develop and re-infect the population of parts of the planet where we had felt we had won the battle.

I suspect the much talked about 'new normal' will have to become our way of life for the foreseeable future. The need for frequent booster vaccinations is already on the cards. Will we for-ever be wearing face masks in crowded public places? Will I ever again feel comfortable to queue for a drink in a busy bar, or sit in a packed cinema for a couple of hours to watch a film? 'New normal' is going to take some getting used to.

But enough of today's pessimism and woe. Look! The rain showers are passing, sun is shining, and spring flowers are blooming. There is a expression of hope on smiling faces we see on the TV news. People are booking holidays. I myself have made arrangements to soon travel south again to see much-missed family and friends. The days ahead are surely looking brighter.

THREE SCORE AND TEN ... AND FOUR DAYS!

Richard celebrated a very BIG birthday recently - so some celebrations were in order.
Owing to his BMW requiring some essential maintenance in Inverness 

and some jobs needing to be done at our holiday cottage in Strathpeffer

we popped over to 'The Old Bakery' just before the Big Day.

Whilst there we took advantage of the amazing weather and had a few 'walkies' !

Above Richard and Cupar taking a breather en route to Knockfarrell near Strathpeffer.

The photo below is taken from the top - with those amazing far reaching views!!

Other 'walkies' included a stroll along a deserted beach in Ardersier 

and ambling through woodland around Black Rock Gorge....

Above a solitary sailor out at sea on another glorious day.... we were SO lucky with the weather!

The woodland at Black Rock Gorge showing the torrent below!

This place was amazingly beautiful - like being in a wildlife 'cathedral'

with intermittant birdsong and Mother Nature wearing her Spring gowns 

- pierced by rays of sunshine through the tall magnificent trees 

at regular intervals... At times it was quite breathtaking.....

Richard 'taking a moment' by the river.

Sunlight dapples the forest - intensifying the colours plus the variety of plantlife 

and trees.

Richard and Cupar pause for a moment taking in the 

experience of this 'floodlit' landscape.

We could not have wished for a better day.....

for Richard's 'Three Score and Ten' .

A super shot above of my 'lovely family'.....!

Finally, a friendly neighbour at Strathpeffer had previously offered Richard 

the ends and wood for the bench shown above.  

The opportunity was gladly received by both of us as we had fully intended 

putting seating up on the paved area of The Old Bakery's wee garden anyway.   

It didn't take long for Richard to put it together and then for both of us to be sitting up there 

enjoying a well earned break with a coffee afterwards!   

HAPPY 'BIG BIRTHDAY' DEAREST RICHARD 

MAY THERE BE MANY MANY MORE!!!

Threescore And Ten

 I recall asking my wonderful mother when I was a small child, how long would I live? Her answer has always stayed with me. She told me no-one can ever tell how long we will live, and then, although she was not a regular church-goer or reader of the Bible, she quoted from Psalm 90, verse 10, which starts: 'The days of our years are threescore years and ten; and if by reason of strength they be fourscore years'.

Today is my 70th birthday - so I've successfully reached the first target. Hopefully I have the strength to continue to the second, and maybe further still....? 

So, is this a time for reflection, or for looking forward? Perhaps a bit of both. 

Seventy years is a long stretch to look back on. Inevitably, within my life, there have been some sensationally good times as well as a few times that were woefully bad. Without doubt - the good outnumber the bad, but with the benefit of age and experience, I do recall some events in my life that I should have managed better. I don't doubt that every reader of this blog could say the same about their own lives. However, overall, I don't feel I have made too bad-a job of the gift of life I was given. I would like to think that I have lived-up to the expectations my father had of me when I was born, and I would like to hope that he would be proud of me now.

A teeny regret could be that I haven't really made any mark on the world. I am not an especially ambitious person. Maybe I could have done more. However, there will be a few dusty Art GCSE and A-level certificates in the back of files around the country, where the owner might recall 'Mr Dorrell helped me to get that', and I know that my work over the years with numerous special needs pupils and their parents was appreciated at the time - but from my work life, I have left no legacy.

I gain pleasure from taking photographs and from writing. Currently I have some 11,000 photographs published on the Geographical/Historical website, Geograph, and I continue to add more quite frequently - find me here

Also - I have written down my life story, which I have published as a website. It was a most cathartic exercise to write, and finding and electronically saving so many old family photographs was extraordinarily satisfying. Just occasionally as the years pass, I plan to add a paragraph or two by way of updates, though on the whole, this blog tells the tale of my life since we have lived on Skye. My life story website is here.

As to the future? Who can say? Who would ever have guessed, almost exactly one year ago, that a world-wide pandemic was about to affect us all so dramatically? All we can do for our future is care for our planet and for the people around us, look after our own health and well-being, and do our best to make the most of the ever-shortening time we have.

I promise I'll write another birthday post, and refer back to this one, when I reach fourscore years!

With my Wonderful Mum, June 1951

Something For The Future

The seeds for the 2021 allotment have arrived by post at Roskhill.  I will for ever marvel at the magic of nature than turns the tiny contents of these packets into huge, strong plants, providing us with healthy fresh vegetables for months on end. (I also have seed potatoes and onion sets, but they are too shy to be included in this photo...)

I will endeavour to post updates on the progress of these seeds in future posts.