Behold the duck

The colour of the sky for the last three days has been an amazing clean pale blue, with not a cloud in sight. Today I was at the park with Tina and some pupils who were walking with full rucksacks to prepare for their imminent Duke of Edinburgh expedition. Two ducks approached us on the path, hoping for a feed. The male had bold, bright colours; his head and neck a metallic blue-green, a narrow white stripe like a collar dividing it from his dark purple breast, with grey feathers on his body with flashes of blue green at the tips of his wings. The female had brown and white feathers, each feather had different shades of brown and cream which was just as lovely in a more subtle way than the male. I think that it was the clear quality of the light that made them look so beautiful. We saw some swans down at the water's edge, sleeping with their heads under their wings. The water had small ripples on the surface, and was disturbed only by the trails left by birds as they swam along, or as they landed on the water with a gentle splash. How amazing nature is.
I was talking to Jamie on the phone last night, he has some relationship worries and we had a long chat. I have been missing him so much in the run up to his exams and I hope he comes home soon for a visit. I know we keep in close touch by text and phone but it's not the same as seeing him. Meanwhile everyone is talking about tomorrow's Royal wedding when Prince William will marry Kate. Hard to believe it's thirty years since Charles and Diana's wedding. I will be watching this one too! 

Ally and I get unexpected treats

Yesterday we took Grandma for a run in the car up the Clyde Valley, with the idea of going for a walk round Lanark Loch and then perhaps lunch in a garden centre; James and I have been going on variations of this time-honoured Lanarkshire outing for thirty years! The only hitch to our plans was that Friday's glorious weather had been replaced by rain, not heavy but a steady drizzle. So we went to New Lanark instead and went to the visitors' centre. This turned out well, it has been updated in recent years so there were new things for us to see including a roof top garden, and Grandma seemed to enjoy the day. It was not an unpleasant way to spend a rainy afternoon, and we also went to a garden centre and got some herbs for my herb barrels to replace the ones which died in the cold winter. Davie came with us and he was cheery company, meanwhile Alasdair was at home doing Latin. In the evening James surpassed himself, he wanted go to the cinema and when he looked up the listings he suggested a French film called Les Aventures extraordinaires d'Adèle Blanc-Sec directed by Luc Besson. I love French cinema, both when it's very good and even when it's very bad, and I always try to get to the French Film Festival. James has watched his fair share of French films over the years (to support me) but isn't usually very impressed by them and says so! So I was amazed and delighted that he actually suggested it. There were only a select dozen in the cinema to see it, even though it was Saturday night, and as soon as it started two people got up and left hurriedly. I wonder if they had come into the wrong cinema by mistake or whether they were put off by the fact that it was in French! Anyway Adèle Blanc-Sec was a lovely film. It was a film adaptation based on a French cartoon by Jacques Tardi and it was really well done; funny, fast-paced and so French. The actress who played the title role was excellent; Louise Bourgoin. I loved it! When I asked James what he thought of it he said it was quite good but gave a quizzical look. It was really nice of him to take me to it. Today James and Davie went walking at Lochgoilhead, while Ally and I stayed at home for him to study and me to write my multi-disciplinary essay. However a pleasant surprise was in store for him when Dougie came to the door to offer Ally his ticket for the Old Firm game. Ally was so excited that he was literally dancing in the hall. I drove him over there and picked him up later, and he had a fine old time, the score was 0-0 but Celtic had missed a penalty near the end which pleased him. James and David arrived home at tea-time tired but happy, and I had made a good start on my essay. So a good day was had by all. 

Reading in the garden

Today I found myself sitting on a bench in the garden in the sunshine. This is a rare occurrence because it is not often that good weather coincides with me having some quiet time to sit outside in it. Usually our time outside work is quite busy; we either have useful things that need to be done like housework, cooking or shopping, or we are taking Ally and Davie to various activities and outings, helping them with schoolwork, or we go for a long or short walk at James' suggestion. This is no bad thing, it's nice to have lots to do and I certainly need to take more exercise. On the other hand it was really nice to sit outside and read my current book (Fingersmith), with Jack cat sleeping on a cushion beside me on the bench. I am enjoying Fingersmith, the second Sarah Waters book I have read since I saw her at Aye Write in March, and recommended to me by Heather and Ewan. I am about a third of the way through and the plot has just taken a pleasing twist that I wasn't expecting. I read quite a few books on holiday, the most recent being "The Hand That First Held Mine" by Maggie O'Farrell (quite good I thought), "The Crying Tree" by Naseem Rakha (a good read) and "A Cotswold Killing" by Rebecca Tope (truly awful). I am toying with whether to read "Ulysses" by James Joyce. I was talking to Andrew about it on holiday and it sounds daunting, but it is such a famous book that I think I might have a go at it to see why it is such a highly regarded example of modernist literature. I once read exactly half of "War and Peace" and then stopped which has always annoyed me because I can remember precisely nothing about it now, so if I ever decide to read it I will have to start all over again. Jamie phoned later to say hello, I am so relieved for him that his exams are over. It will be several weeks if he knows if he has been successful, I know that he worked very hard and deserves to get through. He now has a week off and is planning to go away for a few days with friends to relax. I can't wait for his next visit home, it has been weeks since I've seen him because of his exam revision and I miss him a lot. On the subject of revision, Alasdair is working well, hopefully he is getting into his stride. He is also being very pleasant and chatty to me, and doesn't seem so infuriated by me as usual, we have been having some nice chats and have watched a couple of episodes of The Paperchase together which has been a good laugh. Now I'm going to read more Fingersmith. 

Spring has sprung

This week Spring has definitely sprung. When we went to Barra three weeks ago there were buds on the cherry tree in the front garden and when we came back last Saturday there were still only tiny sprigs of pink blossom on it. But this week the blossom has burst forth in profusion, the tulips at the front doorstep have flowered, the grass has needed cut, and there is a warmth in the air. There are lovely smells like newly cut grass (by James) and the smell of raindrops on warm pavement when I came out of the theatre on Tuesday evening. I have always enjoyed this time of year; new life and the promise of summer ahead. However there is a bittersweet feel to this Spring, my first without Mum. Last year was really hard, I can't write about it yet, in fact even thinking about it makes me feel agitated. But now I feel guilty when I am enjoying the Spring because it feels as if I am enjoying not having the worries I had last year, and of course I would gladly have the worries if it meant I could have Mum too. I miss her and she will always be part of my life. In fact "Spring has sprung" was one of her sayings. I find myself saying so many things that she said. Now I have got myself all unsettled so I'm going to go and read to distract myself - another Mum tradition! Some day I will write about her properly. 

Lord of the Isles

Two weeks ago Davie and I arrived on Barra on the M.V. Clansman and I am writing this blog on the M.V. Lord of the Isles as we head home. It has been a wonderful holiday. Because we are leaving on a Saturday there is no ship out of Castlebay so we crossed to Eriskay and then drove to Lochboisdale, in two journeys so we could take all our passengers and luggage. I didn't recognise Lochboisdale at all from our previous visit twelve years ago, and I thought it was rather strung out along the road - not the most attractive village. However when we arrived at the Lochboisdale Hotel I recognised the large white-painted building immediately. We must have stopped there on our last trip, I even remembered the boys climbing around on the rocks beside the flagpole. We had a light lunch there until it was time to go onto the ferry. The journey has passed swiftly in a mixture of reading, sleeping, chatting over our meal and now blogging. Now we are about ten minutes from Oban so I will say yo ho ho and goodbye from the ship. 

Cafe Kisimul Curry

Yesterday was our last day in Barra and it was a good one. Not as sunny as the day before but dry, James, Ewan, Heather and David climbed Beinn Heabhal in the morning. David described it as an "epic" climb and they walked up from Halaman Bay. David thought he heard a pheasant but James told him that it was a digger lifting metal, Davie was then delighted when they saw that it really was a pheasant! David also stepped in a really deep puddle beside a gate but took it in good part. Meanwhile Andrew and Alasdair were studying while Jennifer and I went into Castlebay where we did a small amount of shopping and had coffee and a chat, my lovely god-daughter is very pleasant company. I collected our hill walkers from Castlebay and we all had lunch in our cottage. The highlight of the afternoon for me was a great walk with Heather from the cottages to Northbay, which is five miles. We saw the well known (in Barra!) rock formation which resembles Queen Victoria's nose! It was really good fun and James and Ewan came and collected us by car at five o'clock. This left plenty of time for a luxurious bath before tea. We went to the Cafe Kisimul for an Indian meal. It was a lovely curry, we enjoyed the scallop pakora that we had for starters. A fitting celebration for the end of a great holiday, I have enjoyed the mixture of exercise and relaxation and the company has been excellent.

Eriskay Heights

The weather was absolutely beautiful again today and we all set off by ferry at 11.10 across the Sound of Barra to Eriskay. Lovely views of many islands on the 40 minute crossing, it was warm enough to stand on deck and look at all the different blues of the sea, with violet patches where there are seaweed covered rocks beneath. The ferryman was so friendly that when I asked him if there was a coffee machine for Ally he went and made him a coffee! On our arrival we went for a drink to Am Politician Pub and Ewan and James were allowed to see and hold two bottles of the original whisky from the wreck in 1941 that inspired Compton Mackenzie to write Whisky Galore. Then we crossed the causeway to South Uist where we had a delicious lunch at the Polochar Inn. I had Barra hand dived scallops for my main course - yummy. Back to Eriskay and all eight of us climbed Beinn Sciathan. My tummy was very full and I burped scallopy burps all the way up! At 600 feet I found it challenging but feasible, I was delighted to get to the summit at about the same time as everyone else. I wonder if my fitness has improved a little after this active holiday - if so I want to keep it up. I have been having some chats about fitness with Heather and she has given me some good advice. The "jungens" - Ewan told us that is the German for young people, because I feel that at 17 and 15 it doesn't seem quite right to call them children - were great, all of them so fit and very happy to be out walking. It's really nice that they get on so well. After our descent and a quick visit to St Michael's Church with its lovely ship's prow altar, it was back to Am Politician for another drink before heading back to Barra on the 6.30 ferry. I think we were all tired from the walk and all the sunshine and fresh air. We popped round to the Isle of Barra hotel for a very nice meal then back to Heather and Ewan's cottage for a pleasant chat, we were listening to Heather's iphone music on James' speaker. When we went to bed we were virtuously exhausted after our great day.