Namaste! Most of you probably recognise the word, some of you use it in yoga classes and some may even know what it means. Pronounced num–ah-steh it is the commonest greeting across the Hindu world, usually with palms pressed together, and serves as both hello and goodbye. It’s been part of my vocabulary from childhood […]
One of my great hopes for this year as Writer in Residence at the Cairngorms National Park was to dedicate more time to my poetry. What time? What poetry? Maybe I was the only person surprised to discover that the role (and writing about it in this blog and other publications) has kept me so […]
Staff away days can be notorious for press-ganging resistant folk through ‘team-building’ exercises like tying Betty from accounts to intern Joey’s back and asking them to leap-frog across the Director in a muddy ditch. Or, just when they’re all filthy and furious, getting them to role-play conflict resolution while onlookers keep score. You might have […]
Of all the bird books and field guides lying around my house, the one that is most precious is not an heirloom, or expensive, or even the most comprehensive. It’s the one that was given to me by my friend, the wildlife guide and passionate birder, Mark Denman. The book is dotted with his notes […]
It is the beginning of April and, here in the Cairngorms, the beginning of lambing. Everyone up here knows about the notorious ‘lambing snows’: that no matter how lovely the weather before-hand, the moment the next generation of sheep start to emerge, skinny and vulnerable, the snow will return. In my research for my second […]
When I arrive at Speyside High School the welcome from Lesley Williamson, Head of English is warm, though a little surprised. She confesses with a giggle that they’d somehow got me down as Mervyn and were expecting a man. And a beard. I apologise for any disappointment and acknowledge I have an unusual name and […]
Atop the cnoc, the moon is new
And scooping swifts adorn
The inky blue.
Catriona
Driving to the first workshop of the year-long Shared Stories: A Year in the Cairngorms Project I was feeling bleak. It shouldn’t be that way and normally it isn’t. Normally, I’m excited about a new event or workshop series; maybe a little nervous about who will come and how they will respond, but as I’ve […]
This week’s post is not pretty. It doesn’t feature wildlife guides, dignified gentlemen in evening light or gorgeous children. Sorry to disappoint, but there are no photos of sweeping mountain views or snowy glens, either, and categorically no waxing lyrical about the scenery. In fact, the whole thing, from start to finish, is shit. Pardon […]
“Can I throw her stick?” cries my godson J, careering down the path ahead of me with our golden retriever, Sileas, who got her Gaelic name from her origin family on the Outer Hebridean island of Harris and her love of every living person from God knows where, but seemingly God himself. She certainly never […]