Tim Peake and his two astronaut colleagues were supposed to land in Kazakhstan today after their six months in space. Not many people know they actually landed near the north shore of the Isle of Lismore. I however, saw them arrive with their flask of tea and plastic box of ginger biscuits.
You can’t kid a scouser all of the time!
We arrived back last night to discover a dead day old duckling at the door. After a search for siblings in the nest a wee strong duckling emerged. It spent the night cuddled up to a teddy in the kitchen. This morning it is eating, drinking, tweeting for it’s mum occasionally, but still cuddling the teddy.
There is nothing like an experience of new life, new possibility, whether human or duck, for grabbing the heart strings of hope and joy.
In the political mêlée of this country just now perhaps we need to re-discover a way of being that moves beyond the negative rhetoric of scaremongering and greed and perceives what is essential for all human beings, wherever they come from across this beautiful planet.
With a deeper understanding of all we have in common perhaps hope and joy may yet be possible.
Spent most of the day weeding the lavender beds. Not nearly as heady a task as yesterday’s lavender bag filling.
Late afternoon we took the ferry across to Port Appin and strolled the limestone coast midst lilac rhododendrons and purple foxgloves before enjoying an amiable meal in The Pierhouse. The last time all three of us had eaten out together was in Queenstown, New Zealand. We celebrated that amazing journey as well as all this day has given.
We are so enjoying the wild flowers of ‘the big garden’ the meaning of the name ‘Lismore’.
Beyond the bright yellow of the flag iris a medieval tidal fish trap can be seen in the small bay to the south-east of Castle Coeffin. Among the many other flowers the pale lilac orchids are glorious in their simple beauty.
Walked up the hill behind our friend’s house to check her beehives were not damaged after the winds and decided to keep walking to one of the two ancient castles on Lismore, Castle Coeffin. It was delightful wending our way along the western cliff paths and on through fields of wild flowers.
As we returned along a track the shorn sheep shone a brilliant white against the ruined stone houses and the dark green grass.
It was wonderful walking in the wilds again.
We woke on Lismore to pouring rain and a very blustery wind whipping up white topped waves along Loch Linnhe.
After a long breakfast and a morning of catching up on administrative tasks we drove to Lismore’s Heritage Centre, a lively islander and visitor resource with its community run museum, library, gift shop and cafe.
Alongside the centre stands a rebuilt 19th century ‘cottar’s house’ which shows off the old island skills of building as well as the furnishings and goods necessary for day to day crofting two to three hundred years ago.
Today, it’s dark presence appeared in keeping with the stormy sky.
We arrived at Port Appin on the west coast of Scotland in time to down a drink before the ferry left for the Isle of Lismore.
The wind was teasing the water and shifting the shafts of sunlight to illuminate a cluster of white painted cottages one moment, then a strip of lime grass, and then the whole side of a mountain. Each glimpse a fresh world of glory.
This is why we come.
The Archbishop of Canterbury, Justin Welby, has said: “After Sunday’s attack in Orlando as Christians we must speak out in support of LGBTI people, who have become the latest group to be so brutally targeted…
We must pray, weep with those affected, support the bereaved, and love without qualification…
The obligation to object to these acts of persecution, and to support those LGBTI people …arises from the unshakeable certainty of the gracious love of God for every human being.”
About 330 million years ago, warm seas deposited marine sediments in layers which became compressed to form limestone rock and were subsequently eroded by ice and dissolved by rainwater.
Today, between heavy rain showers, we wandered the resulting shoreline limestone pavements. Further out into Morecambe Bay the mud flats and shallow water provide rich feeding for birds such as shelducks.
Our hearts and prayers go out to all those caught up in the shooting in Orlando; the families and friends of those dead or injured, the local LGBTI community who are the focus of this act of terror and hate, and the Muslim community who fear retaliation.
May love prevail at this time of deep sorrow.
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