THIRTY-TWO
Haggis flavored crisps are really good, though I am not sure how much I taste the spice and oatmeal of the traditional haggis. But I did taste and savor the flavor of Christmas and New Year.
St. Magnus Cathedral towers over the main town of Kirkwall.
On the eve, I went to a dance and sang carols with the Salvation Army. The streets were still bound with snow and ice as we walked to the awesome St. Magnus Cathedral for carols. We sat so close in the front of it all and the sound and history surrounded us and when the candles were all the light and the real bells rang…magic and peace and hope prevailed.
The inside of St. Magnus on Christmas Eve.
I prepared a feast of turkey and stuffing and cranberry sauce for a stranger who would have stayed alone. I felt connected more connected to this island as invitations had come to me for the Christmas day, so I offered a meal to he who has been so helpful to me. I so enjoyed the preparation of food and merriment, the evening before, that joy was so in the air that day and after.
Later, I joined a family with grandchildren and great-granny and snuggled with a cup of tea and biscuits looking over the tree, the gifts, the warmth of the coal fire and sang Happy Birthday to the nearly youngest grandchild born last Christmas.
On Boxing Day, I ate breakfast with new arrivals to Orkney who needed a sense of belonging. I had lunch overlooking the Scapa with delightful folks and their family, one of which is an important person here, well we shared a delightful meal of duck, beef with puff pastry and oh so much more. Dinner was with my dear newly betrothed friends and just filled me to the brim with taste of mouth and ear for later there was music and song from accordion and ukulele.
On New Year’s Eve, the Cathedral hosted a concert of fiddle and guitar which brought the folk of the place together. Joining friends later in a local pub, there was laughter, drink, fiddle, accordion and song from folks I have known since 2004.
This is the boys' BA, and the Uppies won it this year.
New Year’s Day, I had a feast with the family on the farm nearest. From prawn cocktail, soup and turkey to beef to kelties and trifle and ice cream I was filled with comfort and taste. For Christmas, they gave me my own box of dark chocolates AND a mug that says “I love Orkney.” Having the mug particularly chosen for me as it has become a joke that I wouldn’t be moving back to New York in spite of few discomforts I have encountered up here on my hill. And then it was time for the BA…
…huddles of men from up the town (uppies) and down(doonies) the town move in a slow steam raising mangle of muscle to pass a handmade ball, somewhat like a soccer ball, not by throwing but by some hidden under-it-all means. The onlooker gets cold and sees neighbors and relatives and if there is some movement, the crowd quickly starts to move so as not to get trapped into the throng of masculinity. This year just towards the end, there was a sudden smuggling of the ball and while half the group remained on the road, the other bunch ran off to the water, the doonies goal post. Suddenly with a cold wind and sleet upon us, men were into the icy water after the ball. Apparently, the ball hitting the water is a win for the doonies! 
It appears that I am a doonie by virtue of how I entered Orkney for the first time over 30 years ago, so I was cheering the victors on! Doonies have not won for year, so I am sure the local paper will have good coverage of this year’s event. Maybe “my” side winning portends well for “my” side of things to come in 2011.
THIRTY-THREE
I guess I am more grounded than when I first arrived for now I walk with a bit taller and stronger. But nothing prepares the face for the pelting of mini-snowballs. It was my first ball-bearing facial. Today, I had another experience. This was the icy wet facial brought on by winds against a wet face. I do believe there were sheets of ice on my face for it surely felt like it and the same such was brushed off from my jacket.
When the snow left, the birds returned to their chirping. I have to keep reminding myself that it is not spring and that the snow will return and the flowers will not start to sprout. But I suspect that the next few weeks will be quiet. The holidays seemed to go forever with stores and business closed through till the Wednesday after New Year. Sunday just kept being groundhog day for multiple days.
Guinness really sees his first sheep and they ALL see him!
The wind in the Guinness!
THIRTY-FOUR
In between visiting folks for the New Year, there were two nights of traditional dancing. It is amazing and athletic to spend two and more hours dancing to an accordion and drum. Everyone around has a smile and it is a genuine smile. I think that is why I go to dancing. It is simple, sweet, and everyone is just where they want to be for those hours. It is a group of folks who just enjoy the moment, the sweat, the challenge of it all. And there is laughter for the mistakes! There is no great desire to be the best or the better, it all just is as it is…it is all rather like the landscape I attempt to paint.
So this week, I have started going two nights in succession to dancing and maybe I will even include this Saturday. Last night, I nearly amazed myself to distraction for I found there were a number of dances that I could do very quickly and easily. And when it happens, it is bliss. The movement and the blending of moves and music is like those rare moments when one forgets and truly lets the water carry you. As soon as I realize or pretend to do it better, or even give one thought longer to what the step was I just took, I make a misstep. There is something to just letting go and trusting the movement of the music, the motion, the atmosphere.
This is why when I paint, I try not to belabor the act. I let the notion, the feeling, the idea, build inside of me in all sorts of ways. I think, I sketch, I think, I photograph, I draw…and then one day, I decide on the music that will match my effort and then….I just go for it! I can only hope that my joy and sense of color expresses a feeling for me that might affect another. Actually, I don’t hope any of that when I am working. I just let the color and the moment color itself.
The first panel of the large panorama I have embarked on. It will part of an installation piece. I will hope to finish it and then make it part of the reason to invite all the folks who have been so kind to me thus far. Otherwise, I am not sure just what to do with it, as it will be a very large piece of work.
I have begun the long and “don’t know how long it will turn out piece.” I have to wait for the section to dry enough to scroll it along before the next is free to go….this project will try my patience, my need for immediacy. Perhaps I need another snowstorm to bind me inside with my impatience!
HOME
BLOG
CONTACT
