Hogmanay Memory Lane (Part 2)

Eerie landscape

I have made a gallery of the most evocative photographs of 2013 for me.  It was Pup’s year and so he features quite a bit.  I had a life changing experience over the summer – represented by two images not previously shared here – the misty morning view of Kirrie Hill was taken the morning I launched the Steps Tay Health walks; I shared that picture with a special person.  The following week I saw this strange start to a rainbow which went on to be a rare double rainbow; I did not find out for a few days but that was the day that special person died – totally unexpectedly.  Three days later there was what I can only describe as a Rainbow storm (15 rainbows in 3 hours many of them double and/or supernumerary).  Finally organising the Christmas Market is represented by the tree and finishing with my boys curled up with the Cairn over the Christmas break.

It has been quite a year all in all.  I am still not in work so financially life remains tough; including having to fight to keep my home and the bank complaint is still not resolved.  The boys have been fantastic company and I wouldn’t have found it as easy to keep going without them both.

I started some studies using Massive Open Online Courses (MOOCs) and have met people worldwide which has been both amazing and scary.  One of those people was that special person.  I am sad that he has gone but happy that in a few short months we had a friendship filled with sharing, laughter and open communication – we both knew that we chatted because we each wanted to and there were no taboo topics of conversation.  I finally succeeded in not placing any conditions on another person and I have never missed someone so greatly when we were not actually chatting.

After he died some friends seem to have faded away – not sure whether they cannot cope with my feelings or they don’t know how to respond.  I always miss friends when this happens but I am not chasing after them so if they are choosing to walk a different path I wish them well and hope they will be happy.

Overall I have  a lot to be thankful for and this song has really stuck out for me these past few days …

There are two people I would love to share this with … but one of them I no longer can and the other, having shared the journey through life and grief for  a few weeks has now struck out on his own path … I will let my thankful heart sing out the song in the hope that he might hear it and know it is from me.

“Thankful”

Somedays we forget
To look around us
Somedays we can’t see
The joy that surrounds us
So caught up inside ourselves
We take when we should give.

So for tonight we pray for
What we know can be.
And on this day we hope for
What we still can’t see.
It’s up to us to be the change
And even though we all can still do more
There’s so much to be thankful for.

Look beyond ourselves
There’s so much sorrow
It’s way too late to say
I’ll cry tomorrow
Each of us must find our truth
It’s so long overdue

So for tonight we pray for 
What we know can be
And every day we hope for
What we still can’t see
It’s up to us to be the change
And even though we all can still do more
There’s so much to be thankful for.

Even with our differences 
There is a place we’re all connected
Each of us can find each other’s light

So for tonight we pray for
What we know can be
And on this day we hope for 
What we still can’t see
It’s up to us to be the change
And even though this world needs so much more

There’s so much to be thankful for

Part of the reason I am able to be thankful despite the struggles is because I set out to find and learn from Serenity.  It has helped immensely and I have  aboard on Pinterest to keep reminding me of this.  For 2014 my OLW is “Successful” and I already have a board to represent this.  My dreams and plans of starting the hostel are still there but so are the challenges to overcome in getting started – including someone else considering purchasing the building.  I have to focus on getting some income and then hope I can still proceed with the hostel but if that building goes I can at least adapt my plan to another community, although that will feel sad after I have fought so hard to stay in this community.

So farewell 2013 … and bring it on 2014.  And to each of you (as they say hereabout) Lang may your lum reek …

Seasonal Cutbacks …

… with a Ho Ho Ho here and a Ho Ho Ho there … as we approach the end of 2013 my financial situation is what might be termed static and so I am resorting to e-Cards and messages on my Social Media to spread my seasonal good wishes to all.  However the e-Card is still a bespoke handmade one featuring a wire wrapped seaglass ornament.  I have only made one gift this year and it is a set of five different seaglass Christmas trees – so I made it do twice the work and featured it for my card too.

 

However breaking news tells me that I am not the only one making cutbacks … in a shock revelation it turns out that Santa has had to make the reindeer redundant.  A spokesperson at the North Pole attributed the cutbacks to the appallingly wet and windy weather and the ice storms which are causing a global transport slow down for Christmas.  Fortunately some replacements have been found.  

We caught up with these compact reindeer imposters as they rested before their global mission and as we can see they are hopeful of being rewarded with socks full of biscuits!

To all my friends wishing you the warmest Christmas filled with the love of friends and family and peace for our battered world.

Cathy x

Drifting …

… is a dual purpose title.  I feel like I am adrift but also the snow is DRIFTING all over the place.  It has been  a horrid weather day with a strong Easterly wind driving the sleet snow right in the back door every time the dogs pop out to pee.  That makes the quarry tiles slippy so both the dogs have drifted as they cam back in a time or two today!

I was woken early this morning by Dog throwing up some bile complete with bits of leather he had chewed from the rug in the lounge.  He was so unconcerned he hadn’t even stood up in his bed! Pup then thought they should go out so I was in the garden in my pjs and slippers collecting poos.  When I did get them back in Pup did a little retrieving practice with the socks waiting in my boot tops for me to get up for real.  Got them settled and then got another hours sleep so we didn’t go for our usual walk this morning.

The Proof is in the Pudding …

I was taking pictures of the roof with those lovely patterns form the snow on the tiles (not as proper slate roof that one!) and every time I clicked the shutter a small bird was either flying past or joined the flock on the roof – so I was prompted to frame this little sweetie sitting on its own in the rising sun.

Our day started off fairly normally – with the exception of Pup taking a wee tumble in the snow – he is in touch with his sensitive side … in other words he makes a huge fuss when he hurts – he hobbled around holding his leg up and squeaking so I was thinking we would be off to the vet!  Amazingly as soon as I felt down both back legs together gently and told him it seemed okay he stopped the fuss and ran off.  He seems slightly bruised as the day has gone on so we will see how he is tomorrow.

Then after breakfast and preparing for my visit to the Job Centre I did some housework and tidying for out guest … not helped by Pup who decided he wasn’t sleepy today and kept arriving to help.  Mid morning he needed to pop outside so off we went and got a wonderful surprise – a large bird flapped across in front of us chased by a crow …

Memory Lane – or a Visit to My Remote Hard Drive

Whilst thinking about memory I forgot to tell you an amusing little anecdote yesterday … you will recall how excited I was to see the Anstruther Lifeboat Launch a few months ago? so I saw an item in the online local paper about it being launched recently and was curious about the rescue, only to find when I read on that they had in fact rescued the civic Christmas Tree which had toppled into the sea.

So today has been lazy and slow – Pup has got over the excitement of his red tissue paper parcel and things have been much quieter.  The weather has been quiet too.  I was reading some blogs and then looking at photographs on deviantArt and several of them drew a response from me that I would look for some pictures of my daughter as a child – most of which are still on negative and scan them to respond to the item I had seen.

I have a remote hard drive and most of my photographs are stored on there once they are e-versions.  Due to the limitations of my PC I am not able to keep them on the PC too and I really need to get another medium for a second store  – but I am also loading some to cloud based storage on some of the sites I use regularly.  So I set off to look for something and as often happens found myself wandering around in my photo store reliving fond memories – so I thought I would share some with you all.

First up – when Dog met the last Pup (Otto) who you can see has attitude even at the same age that Pup is now.

All Change …

… it hasn’t rained at all … but having started cloudy it cleared up and we had freezing fog.  The temperature has noticeably dropped … brrrr … and tonight the sky is completely clear and starlit.

The other very noticeable change is there have been no buses all day … the drivers do get a day off for Christmas and another for New Year (and most of the rest of the holiday period it is either a Saturday, Sunday or a limited service) … but it is noticeable to me because I am tuned into hearing the engines those that whisper past and those that squeal which means I can not only tell the buses from other traffic, I can sometimes tell which member of the fleet it is and even sometimes which driver it is by the engine noise!  I miss them when they aren’t there.

So how did our Christmas Day go? well it was Pup’s first and he doesn’t really get the wrapping up bit which was funny.

Dog and Pup feature in their own Christmas Card!

Dog got the job of explaining to Pup that the Postie (mail delivery person) does not come down the Lum (chimney) … the visitor was Santie Claws who brings treats to Pups if they are on the Nice bit of the List!

 

If I zoom in you can see them better in the background having their conversation with the ‘postie’ Santie Claws is left dangling in theLum

 

From Dog and Pup to all their readers

Merry Christmas 

… and a Child Laughs …

So … have you stopped laughing yet?  I haven’t and I have helped other people with a dose of medicine (laughter) by recounting my muddy escapade … meanwhile my Fitflops have just come out of the tumble dryer as good as new and beautifully beige again!

Today I played it safe and I did go to Barnhill after an uneventful mooch with Dog.  I didn’t have breakfast (because I burnt the toast whilst reading an online forum and then realised I wasn’t fussed enough to start toasting fresh).  The tide was in – infact I thought it had just turned and was on its way out again – but it was still a good metre down the beach from the eventual high tide.