It started sadly with news of the sudden death of my friend Carol in France. She was in the habit of hiking alone in the hills of the Haute Savoie region and must have lost her footing in a tricky place. It is thought that the fall killed her instantly. I hope so because the worst of the ten days when she was missing and being searched for was the worry that she was injured and unable to make contact with anyone for help. Her family will remember her with love and pride. RIP, Carol.
November ended sadly too with the police helicopter crash onto the roof of a busy pub in Glasgow. After the initial shock of the news and the feelings of sorrow and anxiety for anyone involved, and their nearest and dearest, what stunned me most about this news was that the band that was playing in the pub at the time apparently just thought that a speaker had blown when they heard the crash. My immediate thought on reading that in a news report was to wonder just how incredibly loud the music must have been to disguise the noise of such a crash. Such noise is out of my ken. I was shocked.
Then I felt pride in humanity as I read of people's efforts to help, and I got the feeling from the news reports that a great sense of community pervaded Glasgow that weekend. We hear so much about the horribleness of our species that it is heartening to hear, and to feel, something positive out of tragic events.
Between these, my Kintyre friend fell very ill with bronchitis and the flu virus the day after I had met her for lunch at Inverary. She had mentioned a bit of a lurgy that day but was not really ill until the following day when it hit her with a hard wham. As I write, six days later, she is still very poorly. I can only hope the meds kick in effectively very soon and she is back to being her bright self before very much longer.
That same week our archery friend, Mossypocket, tripped over a dislodged paving stone in Dumbarton and broke his nose in the fall as well as spraining both wrists. Healing vibes to you too, Mossy! And thank you again for fixing our mega-crack in the outhouse ceiling with new plasterboard and plaster, and for replacing the plasterboard that had to be removed from the stairwell (for plumbing work to be done) during our first week here seven and a half years ago. I had covered the hole with a quilt and forgotten all about it until there was talk of plasterboard recently! I thought I had taken a photo of the hole but I seem to have lost it. Here is one from before the repair and one from after. I suppose we'll get around to repainting sometime. Don't hold your breath though.
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| With quilt |
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| without quilt |
Between times the natural world around me has provided my best entertainment as usual. this morning's sunrise did not look too hopeful at eight o'clock but it improved and then, when the rain came, I enjoyed the dispersed sideways light through the rain. Since then the sun has shone, it has rained and rainbowed, sprinkled the hills with snow and practised shades of grey. It is December after all.
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| Sunlight appearing further round to the south than south-east now |
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| A rainy sunlight to the north-east across the loch |
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| Rainlight |
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| Winter yarrow heads |
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Ash log fungi
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| Tiny winter rushes |
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