Paradise Found

“Paradise can take the form of anything! It can be a flower or it can be a word or it can just be a sincere smile!”
― Mehmet Murat ildan

Today is the sort of day that makes me realise that I'm living in paradise.  Today is one of those days when I want to do everything that I can with a sort of frenetic urgency.  Today the temperature has soared to the heady heights of 15℃ without the strong, cold, northeasterly wind which has plagued us for the last week.  Today the sun is shining and, by Lewis standards, Bayble Beach looked down on from the house is packed with families enjoying the rest that the Sabbath here gives them: no cutting peats nor supermarket shopping here on a Sunday.

For me today is a day inside catching up and admiring the sun from outwith its rays;  a day of writing emails and letters (using one of my many fountain pens); a day of rest from the 20 plus hours that I spent in the garden over the previous two days: hours which told my body when I rose this morning that as I start the year towards my seventieth birthday my body is not quite as supple as it was when I came to the Island in my 31st year.

Today I have played no music: I have listened to the sounds of the birds; the voices drifting up from the beach;  the water tumbling down the waterfall into the pond; and the silence.

Today I have done no work:  I have wielded my pen and typed on my keyboard;  I have looked at my garden and I have pondered on the beauty that surrounds me;  I have watched a bumble bee.

Today I have been in paradise.

A far-away Blackbird waken the neighbourhood with his heralding of the new day

Part of the garden lookng North

Looking down to the crowded beach

The strikingly beautiful and rare (only found in the Hebrides now) Bumblebee - Moss Carder - Bombus Muscorum

The Fish: An Update

Just under a year ago I introduced 5 goldfish to the pond in the garden and posted about it here.  I was asked in response to yesterday's post how they were getting on.  They are getting on splendidly thank you.  In fact three of them are about 5 or 6 inches (12 to 15 cm) long whilst the other two are about half that length.  One of the larger ones has turned almost white.  They seem very happy and when all the work was going on levelling the pool edge they didn't even bother going down to the bottom of the pond to hide.  

Thankful Thursday

I've been very remiss recently and have not posted my Thankful Thursdays (and precious few other posts either).  The reason is quite simply that since I arrived back in Scotland I have been up at the crack of dawn (well not actually 'cos sunrise today was 0425 and it would have been daylight long before that) and in bed after midnight and every waking moment has been filled with things I, generally speaking, wanted to do.  I sort of decided, well actually it just happened, that the much-neglected garden was going to get a good make-over this summer.  Since then I have taken every opportunity I  could to work in the garden.  Some days I have still been out there at 9pm.  That's reminiscent of the days when I created the garden from rough croft land over 10 years whilst working six and sometimes seven days a week.

I have enjoyed every minute of it despite the sometimes strong and bitingly cold wind. 

One morning's job was to make the Astilbe bed a very damp one because last years it dried out and I nearly lost most of the plants.  

So today I am very thankful for my garden and the good health to be able to do the manual labour needed to make it look good again.

Monday Miscellany

There are a number of little points which in themselves are not posts but when added together.

A friend who retired a couple of years ago and who now lives in Spain and Glasgow was recently asked what he did now that he's retired.  "Nothing" he responded.  "Then what do you do with your free time?"  he was asked again.  "I'm far too busy doing nothing to have any free time."  Isn't that the truth?

Why do people advertise "Fresh Eggs"?  Are they likely to sell stale ones?

For the umpteenth time today (like every day) I walked from one room to another only to get sidetracked or, even worse, end up standing in the place where I had arrived completely oblivious as to why had gone there.  Having read CJ's recent post Thank Heavens For Research which drew readers' attention to the idea that walking through a doorway triggers what's known as an ‘event boundary’ in the mind, separating one set of thoughts and memories from the next. Your brain files away the thoughts you had in the previous room and prepares a blank slate for the new locale.

There are five doors between my study and my bedroom.  I have no hope whatsoever of remembering what I went there for.

This one is for UK readers.  Where have all the £2 coins gone.  I have only seen one since I returned to Scotland.  Actually I've seen two because I was given my change today in £1 coins and when I remarked on the lack of £2 coins everyone scratched their heads and between the till and all the pockets only one could be found.

The RNLI lifeboat powered past the bay a few days ago.  Whenever that happens I wonder who is in peril and I am thankful for the fact that we have such wonderful rescue services.

Night night.