Recovered

Well feeling better. I did a three mile hike on Tuesday with all my gear, including a heavy tripod, as I was taking shots of wild snowdrops. I really enjoyed it at the time, but was exhausted afterward. The chemo I got for the first 4 cycles can affect the heart and I had half of a life time dose, and I think it has had an effect, I just don't have the stamina that I used to have, plus I can only use one shoulder to lug stuff as the other arm swells up if I put too much weight on it. It is not old age! ;)

Anyway it was worth it to be out in the wilds with only the birds for company, there were pheasants in the woods, it's a shoot, and swans and geese on the loch. The biggest fright I got was from a woodpecker drilling directly over my head, he made such a noise I thought that the branch was going to come down and scone me.

I'm really enjoying the Idlewild track on the freebie CD I mentioned, it's called The Weight of Years and it comes from a collaboration with the poet Edwin Morgan. It is part of the Ballads and the Book project that has combined Scots musicians and writers. For more info see here

The thing I like most about it is that young musicians are working with older writers, that something you don't hear or see too often these days.

Here's what on the album:

Mike Heron & John Burnside - 'Song For Irena'
De Rosa & Michel Faber - 'Steam Comes Off Our House'
James Yorkston & Bill Duncan - 'A Calvinist Narrowly Avoids Pleasure'
Foxface & Rody Gorman - 'Dreamcatcher'
Lord Cut-Glass & Alasdair Gray - 'A Sentimental Song'
Aidan Moffat And The Best Ofs & Ian Rankin - 'The Sixth Stone'
Norman Blake & John Burnside - 'Girl'
Karine Polwart & Edwin Morgan - 'The Good Years'
Sons And Daughters & A L Kennedy - 'The War On Love Song'
Alasdair Roberts & Robin Robertson - 'The Leaving'
Strike The Colours & Rody Gorman - 'Message In A Bottle'
Aereogramme & Hal Duncan - 'If You Love Me You'd Destroy Me'
Malcolm Middleton & Alan Bissett - 'The Rebel On His Own Tonight'
Trashcan Sinatras & Ali Smith - 'Half An Apple'
Vashti Bunyan & Rodge Glass - 'The Fire'
King Creosote & Laura Hird - 'Where And When'
Emma Pollock & Louise Welsh - 'Jesus On The Cross'
Idlewild & Edwin Morgan - 'The Weight Of Years'

I've been busy with photographs, but I wrote this very short wee poem to say something about how I felt about my son's accident.

Sylvia Plath

Child

"Your clear eye is the one absolutely beautiful thing.
I want to fill it with color and ducks,
The zoo of the new"

Clear Eye

I filled that one absolutely beautiful thing
with ducks and shells,penguins and panto.
I kept you whole, intact, all of a piece.

Your clear eye was my pride and my joy.
But look what happens, look what you do,
just when I hand you over to you!