Swimmer

Wild swimming seems to be the latest trendy thing to do presumably helped on by lockdown. I'm not a great lover of swimming in the sea here at the best of times. I'm not a strong swimmer and even in October when the gulf stream has warmed our water by a degree or even a degree and a half, it's still very cold. Swimming in the sea in New Zealand in the summer was far more bearable. Swimming in The Family's pool on a hot summer day was infinitely better.

On my way into town I go over an isthmus called The Braighe. I have blogged about it on several occasions. There are a hardened few who regularly swim its length on a Saturday morning. A few days ago I came across a lone swimmer. From where I was standing in 3ºC it was an ideal and very beautiful morning. However swimming in the sea would not have been my choice of a way to spend a couple of hours. 

A beautiful view of The Mainland

A swimmer

Sunrise

On a slightly less swimmer-friendly day

Snowflake

We've just come to the end of five days of gloriously sunny and very cold (by our Island standards) clear, icy weather. At one point we even had a few snowflakes. 

When the beautiful snowflakes briefly appeared I wondered how and why the term had been appropriated in the news and social media to describe people. Then it occurred to me that, apart from the fact that the people I know who use it seemed to be regarding it as a derogatory term, I hadn't a clue what it meant. Do you know?

I did some research.

According to Wikipedia the definition is a 2010s derogatory slang term for a person, implying that they have an inflated sense of uniqueness, an unwarranted sense of entitlement, OR are overly-emotional, easily offended, and unable to deal with opposing opinions.

  

However a little further research turned this up from The Independent (UK now online only newspaper): On Christmas Eve 2019 the Donald Trump campaign launched a website called snowflakevictory.com to give guidance to Trump’s supporters about how to deal with their “liberal relatives” over the holiday period. It featured 12 hot-button topics (immigration, impeachment, the environment) and witty comebacks to frequently-cited Democrat arguments.

For someone reading that the year before, it might have seemed odd to include a weather reference. But in the 12 months preceding the website, "snowflake" entered the general lexicon as the epitome of Trump’s opposition. Used to mean everything from weak and wet, to a synonym for the millennial age bracket, snowflake had become a political buzzword.

So it would appear that it can mean all things to all people with one common denominator - it's not a compliment.

I think it is sad that we use beauty to define ugliness.

I had a gift from across The Pond just before Christmas and it greeted all my visitors by hanging in the window of my front porch until this afternoon. It is a crocheted snowflake. In my house a snowflake represents beauty and, of course, uniqueness.

2021 - New Year's Day, First Walk of The Year

Yesterday was a beautiful day: almost windless, just above freezing and sunny. I decided on the spur of the moment in the morning to get back into my practice of walking in the Castle Grounds. So I drove into town and parked at The Woodlands Café as always and set off. The walk up into the woods and along to the River Creed was fairly quiet. There were not even many dog walkers about. Many of you will have seen pictures of the walk, or parts of it, before but I thought I'd publish some of the winter ones I took yesterday anyway. 

An icy stretch

The River Creed in full flow.

The River Creed just above the estuary

The estuary and slack water at low tide. Quietness after the noisy torrent. 

The estuary 

And again.

A good place for a summer picnic

In memory of someone or perhaps of the RAF. Fresh roses.

I have photographed this tree in almost every month of the year.

A gull, a cormorant and a heron sat on a rock......

The Lews Castle resplendent with it's rebuilt stone wall.

Welcome to 2021

I was working in the garden on Thursday afternoon and a sudden shower came through. I turned around and there was a rather splendid view:

I hope that this is a sign of better things to come.

I haven't celebrated The Bells actively since I stopped living in New Zealand. Before then, we use to have a magnificent firework display in Stornoway to welcome in the New Year but the funds dried up as austerity hit. Most of Stornoway and the environs went to that and, indeed, friends in the town always had a New Year dinner party before the fireworks which I loved. Since then I've celebrated the incoming year either very quietly or when I woke in the morning having been fast asleep at midnight.

This year we have little option anyway. Mixing in other people's houses is forbidden. 

I hope that you stay safe and continue writing and/or reading blogs in the year ahead.