Northern Lights
This has been a week of endings and new challenges and music has saved me.
I have a small but special collection of records, and each record is memory of good times and laughter.
I have a new record player, it was a present to myself for surviving the summer in a busy café filled with eclectic souls, it has been a journey, and I will take good from the experience.
I have also become the custodian of furniture from my friend and her husband who are moving on to a slower pace with two pet sheep and five dogs. The Scottish Borders will be quieter, and St Marys Loch will have lost its guardian.
I met her when I was searching for the Northern Lights with my friend and we were sitting drinking tea on a log at St Marys Loch in the dark waiting for nature to perform. She sort of sneaked up on us and I for one was very glad she was not a serial killer. We then followed up the Megget Reservoir and into the boat house, we got the tour and then I spent time lying on the slipway watching the stars while we talked.
I have loved this woman since the moment she appeared out of the darkness waving a torch and asking, ‘What are you doing?’ in her northern twang, there is laughter in that twang. I am reminded of that meeting when listening to Kirsten Adamson, Landing Place, the mellow tones and honesty evoke new friendship and adventures.
The Music of the Ballet LP that I have also been listening to has me longing for an evening at the theatre watching the Bolshoi Ballet perform The Nutcracker and going for a poke of chips after the show. I love the theatre and rarely get to go these days. I love the politeness as we are squeezed into seats and the story telling keeps us spell bound. The mandatory, ‘How much?’, moment when buying an ice cream or some pastels, the luxury of a cocktail and the excited chatter in the bar.
It is almost as good as visiting the National Library of Scotland and running your fingers along the spines of the books or making a map that brings tears of joy to your tired eyes.
Until next week.
I will leave you with the culprit that made me cry, the Shetland Islands in A3. Its in the Spirit of the Land catalogue.
