Springing forward

I hate losing an hour's sleep, I get little enough of it anyway, but I suppose it's a price worth paying for knowing that another winter has been left at the backdoor.

Yesterday I did the Bass Rock trip, so I was up really early having hardly slept in case I slept-in and literally missed the boat.

We took a boat out of Dunbar, and we were a motley crew, two prize winning photographers, plus our two pro judges, a bunch of volunteers going out to cut back the dreaded "tree mallow" (a huge thug of a plant that was introduced to the Bass Rock around the 17th century, when there were people living on Rock, some voluntarily and others not, and the plant was probably used to make medicinal poultices. Now it forms a mini forest that the puffins can't handle)and some Seabird Centre staff who were going out to fix one of the remote cameras and do a broadcast to media on the mainland in aid of the protest against more oil transportation up the Firth of Forth.

The sea was rough, due to the influences of current lunar activity the Forth is experiencing big tidal surges, but it was hoped that by approaching from the south we could run with them.

In the event we got out there, and even though the tide was falling the power in the water was causing 30 ft waves to smash round the corner of the Rock onto the landing station and it simply wasn't safe to land. So we turned to Plan B, which entailed feeding the gannets three boxes of fish, and photographing the feeding frenzy that ensued. This wasn't easy for me, as handholding a big camera, even with a stabilising lens is very tiring, especially due to my surgery, and you also had to allow for the huge rise and fall of the boat. Plus my camera is not the sort of sports job that has a high buffering action to write files across to the memory card while taking x shots per sec. Paparazzi I'm not! But it was still a huge thrill to see these amazing birds dive bomb into the sea 20/30 ft from the boat.

I'm a bit battered and bruised from wedging myself against the side of the boat, and I doubt I got anything remotely good as it's a type of photography I've little or no experience of, but it was certainly an adrenalin rush! As was landing back on the mainland as the tide was out and we had to land outside the harbour, on the harbour wall, and the boat was rising and falling 20ft! I was glad to get off as the fishermen had started cooking their breakfast in the cabin, and sliced sausage mixed with raw fish is not a smell that a stomach takes to when it's been on something akin to a big dipper ride.

I really enjoyed talking to Laurie Campbell, his knowledge of Scottish wildlife, and his gentle stories about the hours he spends capturing his shots - his latest being in a hide overnight for nights on end to catch snipe rising at dawn - were just spell-binding.

I've loads to edit, but this is a gannet about to slice the water.Click on it to see a bigger view. The highlights on the birds are not great,but the metering was really challenging due to the strong sunlight, reflections, contrasts etc, etc. I'm no wildlife photographer, that's for sure, but seeing how it's done was really interesting.

OK some good news, well great news really!!

First Gus' tumour was benign, it is some sort of strange cell mutation thing that is common on dogs' legs and it was confined to the skin, so complete excision should be an end to it. We're all so relieved as we really love the bumptious wee bugger.

Second good news is I picked up my prize tonight for winning the landscape section of this competition
And the best bit of my prize is that in March I'll get to spend two hours out on the Bass Rock with Laurie Campbell who is one of Scotland's leading wildlife photographers.

This is some info on the Bass Rock, which is a world renowned site of special scientific interest.

I really can't believe that I won, there were some amazing shots, but I'm just really pleased that someone local won, with a local landscape - my misty trees shot.

You can't believe how good it feels to have made this level of progress from picking up a point and click camera to take out with me as I worked to get fit again after chemo. I used to tell myself I had to get a least one worthwhile shot each day from a different part of the river walk near my home and every day I'd walk a bit further.

A certain slant of light

Well it's the shortest day today, so we're on our way back to the light, yay!
I've been running around doing things for Christmas and seeing people.
Had a fun night with the Writers' Group on Tuesday night, Judith read a great poem about how she gets this Christmas card every year from a couple she met on holiday twenty years ago.She only exchanged addresses with them to swap photos on her return. She binned their address after that, but they've faithfully sent a card every year since saying something like "Jean & Ted (Tenerife)".

Yesterday I had lunch with friends, including Judith. She's nicknamed us "The Coven", the cheeky bugger. I pointed out that quilters groups said they get together to bitch and stich, and asked what writers got together for? We settled on "Write and Snipe"

Been to the farm shop today and bought root veg etc for Christmas, got Brussels still on the stalk, and local tatties, a lovely glossy red cabbage just out the field, and parsnips and some big leeks, which will go into ham hock soup. Also got some locally smoked trout and some lovely salad potatoes and beetroot. Going to roast the beets and make a hot salad for dinner with potatoes, beets, pecans, rocket and the flaked trout. I like eating simply before Christmas.

After the farm shop I took the dog to my favourite beach, no-one on it except us and a few oyster-catchers. We had to walk through the woods to get there and the sun was already low and slanting through the trunks, one side of each tree was completly light up, while the other side was in deep shade. The red bark of the Scots Pines was simply glowing. I like to get away on my own for a bit, it's a good antidote to seeing so many people.

I've attached a picture of the beach, though it was taken in the summer,but it will give you the idea. The big lump of rock is the Bass Rock, volcanic plug and summer home to thousnads of gannets, when it looks like one of these giant snow shaker/ globe thingies.

We're lucky in that we have clear blue skies and no fog, though this cold front is contributing to the fog chaos at London Heathrow, so glad I'm not travelling far this Christmas.

So my 50th year is all but over. It's been a good one. I'm lucky to have good family and friends and I look forward to caring for some of them in the next few days with warmth, light and good food.

Wherever you may be I wish you peace and light. And if Christmas is tough for you, then just remember, "This too will pass".

Sunday 5 July

We got to land on the Bass Rock on Friday and it was wonderful to be so close to thousands of gannets and to be able to observe their behaviour. Although the pong, the poo and being dive-bombed by herring gulls wasn't all that pleasant........

Here is a shot of incoming gannets. The boat skipper chummed the water with fish as we approached the rock, and soon the sky was full of birds. My camera does not buffer well in RAW format at speed, so this was taken in JPEG.




I'm looking forward to hosting Rob MacKenzie The Opposite of Cabbage tour later in the month. I've been following his travels when I can and hope I can do justice to the earlier stop offs.

In fact there is so much to look forward to this summer, the Scottish Poetry Library's School of Poets Courtyard Readings, as our contribution the Edinburgh Festival; The Beechgrove Garden TV programme coming to help me with a project in my own garden; and our 30th wedding anniversary - which I feel deserves a telegram from the Queen at the very least! Getting to 100 years old is a scoosh these days, but staying married for 30 years is bloody hard work!

Poems and things

I have a couple of things that have just been published on-line.

Two poems here at the amazing la fovea. Read their manifesto, it is a really interesting new way of getting work out there. And big thank you to Holly Anderson for suggesting me.

And one here at Mungbeing


Yesterday I had a perfect autumn day with two fairly new friends. I showed them round my garden and was amazed that they were amazed at my gardening knowledge, which I tend to just accept as normal and everyday. I then took them to one of my favourite beaches, which is a sort of open secret here in East Lothian. It has a castle on a cliff, a tiny harbor hewn out of solid rock and the Bass Rock off shore. It's the sort of place you could imagine Enid Blyton basing a Famous Five book on.

I'm also quietly developing my obsession with huts with the aid of this site, Shedworking, which it devoted to all things small and temporary. Sometimes I think I missed my calling in life........

Bi-Product

I've decided that life is too short in the summer for long posts so I'll skip through with diary -type entries for the next wee while:

A lovely bi-product of co-editing qarrtsiluni's economy edition has been receiving Pam Hart's book of poems in the post. The Fifth Voice by toadlily press includes Pam's chapbook The End of the Body, and this beautifully observed title poem would be worth the purchase alone. She has the gift of freeze framing tiny time slices and crafting them into good strong poems.

And the beauty of toadlily's quartet series is that you get the work of three other poets too!

Friday I go out to the Bass Rock with Laurie Campbell the wildlife photographer, as part of my prize for winning the Environmental Impact part of a competition back in January. The forecast isn't great, so here's hoping...........

Last night I saw Harvey's Last Chance, with Dustin Hoffman and Emma Thompson, both largely playing themselves. It is a sweet escapist film, in the style of Four Wedding etc. But Thompson does have one good line about the British losing their stiff upper lip since Princess Di. I'm I alone in wishing we could find a bit of it again? Or is the genie too far out of the bottle?

Still editing Harris pictures, this is of Callanish in Lewis. The name makes me want to rewrite the Queen song ........

Bass Rock

One more picture. Still editing, most of the shots are heading for the bin, as you need to shoot hundreds in that environment to get a few decent ones -but this is not too bad.

Feeling crabbit!!

Do you ever feel you just won't get out the bit???

I'm feeling like that, trying hard to feel the glass is half full, but since January I've dealt with my son's eye injury, which needed surgery, my dog having a benign tumour, my roof being damaged by a storm, a friend dying and now my MIL is in hospital with mental health problems that could have organic causes - not dementia but maybe a mini stroke or some such thing.
The crisis with her has been coming for a while, but I must admit I'm struggling with it as she has always been a difficult person, particularly to me, who had the temerity to marry her son.

Not sure how it's all going to pan out, but I'm trying hard just to take it a bit at a time, and to support my husband through it.

Only good thing on the horizon is that,weather permitting, I'll be going out to the Bass Rock on Saturday morning to take photographs, as part of my prize grom the landscape competition.

So I'm cleaning my kit and charging batteries etc. I just hope this mood lifts as I want to be in the right frame of mind for going out there.

crabbit: Scots for grumpy, ill-tempered

Wet Weekend

Pretty damp and horrible here. I tidied up a bit in the garden, ditched the courgettes as they're all but over, and cut my one pumpkin of the stalk and put it up high to ripen a bit more. Still got tons of plums, must stone and freeze some more.

Taking the dogs off to Seacliffe, my favourite beach, it has Tantallon castle on the cliffs, the Bass Rock off shore, and the most amazing wee harbour cut out of a huge chunk of red sandstone. I like it at the back end of the year when no-one is around.

I heard all the fuss on the news about the Armed Forces unoffical website, so I took a look at it here.
What struck me was how well organised it is, and the sponsorship that they've got.


It's almost a hundred years since WW1, I wonder what the War Poets like Sassoon and Owen would have made of this. I'm not sure which is worse, not knowing what a loved one is going through, or having minute by minute updates on how awful it is and how badly equipped they are.

I like their acronymn, it's "arrse", no accident I'm sure. Funny how these things are out there and yet you never think of looking for them until they're drawn to your attention.