Daemons

Since rather quiet on the family blogs, apart that is from Maya - delightfully, I have decided to write about one of those strange coincidences that regularly occur. First though I will have another sip of this evening’s choice whisky … single Jura, not unpleasant.

I have been reading, as no doubt you all have, about the film version of His Dark Materials by Pullman ... a wee bit disappointed. The ‘daemon’ in the story fascinated me as I knew nothing about them. Simultaenously, I have been reading the much hyped The Gift by Lewis Hyde (presently Creative Writing professor in Ohio). It requires a lot of attention … not recommended reading in bed just before intended sleep! He looks at age-old myths surrounding ‘gifts’ and sees creativity as a ‘gift’ too. He is in to the idea that ‘gifts’ are for reciprocation and their value lies in their passage, back and forward between individuals and around groups. In today’s world these ‘gifts’ have been commercialised and we have capitalism; where the ‘gift’ has been given a monetary value and where it is kept it become capital. You’ll have to read the book to get nearer his truth!

However, last night, on page 54, I came on the section on the ‘gift’ of creativity … literary, artistic etc. First, it rang a few bells as it seemed to echo something I have always felt … that we must use (not a good word here in this context, sorry can’t think of a better at the moment) our own personal ‘gifts’ to the full … otherwise we are denying our intrinsic selves, never mind anyone else.

Now we come to daemons! Quote from book … ‘The task of setting free one’s gifts was a recognized labor [he’s American remember] in the ancient world. The Romans called a person’s tutelar [guardian if you have to look it up like me] spirit his genius. In Greece it was called a daemon. Ancient authors tell us that Socrates, for example, had a daemon who would speak up when he was about to do something that did not accord with his true nature. …. The daemon comes to us at birth. It carries with it the fullness of our undeveloped powers. These it offers to us as we grow and we choose whether or not to accept to labor in its service … the spirit [daemon] who brings us our gifts finds its eventual freedom only through our sacrifice [to realise the gift], and those who do not reciprocate the gifts of their daemon will leave it in bondage when they die."

It is no longer often, in fact it is pretty rare, that I come across something that makes me sit up (and fail to go to sleep later) and think ‘now there’s a view of life that I feel that’s familiar and friendly, and needs thinking about’.

Now I am wondering about the shape of my daemon. However, I do know who must have a cat as a daemon!

Need to go and fill up my glass …

Storm!

There was a forecast of bad weather for today. At 9am it was not too bad, but bad enough not to try and take the ash out the door! So I decided we would not go to Lerwick for lunch with the Gibsons as usual. A good decision! By lunchtime there was a force 10 plus storm (100 mph recorded in Orkney and a little less here) blowing from the north. My wee gate/fence between the gardens was beginning to blow up in the air so I went out to weigh it down and quickly realised that it was in fact dangerous to be out there. I could hardly stand up and had to wrestle with the gate out of the garden.

I tried to take some photos through the window but the visibility was not too good! I can see where the phrase 'wave after wave' ... of attack, comes from. Looking out now, the half mile or so that I can see, are line after line of breaking waves with their tops sheared by the wind. The skerries are covered in white foam and the wind is whistling around the house, and somewhere the poor sheep are huddling behind a wall.

Surprisingly, the extension feels rock solid. The only problem is that the wind is creating a vacuum in the loft space and sucking up the hatch. Even with it left open several inches every now and again it lifts and begins battering away. I will need to fix a brick to its upper side!

Now, at 2pm, with the Orkney schools all shut and no ferries running, the forecasters say it will decrease to a severe force 9! Luckily, the tide seems to be at the bottom of the ebb at the moment so that the big waves are not at the top of the beach. By early evening when the tide is up, if the waves are still coming in as they are there may be damage to the Little Bousta track across the beach. It was in this sort of weather that I remember taking Sorley and Beth across the beach to get the school taxi, holding their hands to make sure they didn't get blown away!! Ah ... how boring this would have been in Forneth!

Poetry

I don't know if this will work but here are 3 poems just published in the Autumn edition of Northwords.

The St Kilda poem is basically the one I put in the NTS book. Bousta to Papa was the infamous boat trip just before Jamie was born; and Nightshift Offshore I wrote when working on the rigs. Hope you can read them!

Home and Away

Have to start with the get-together ... thanks Helen.

Can't believe it is 4 weeks since you were all here. I've printed this picture so that Mum can take it with her to Wastview. It was wonderful having you all here but the departures were a bit painful! Of course, since you have been we seem to have had a run of quiet, mild weather ... even good enough for walks up the road.

We had a busy week away, seeing Sorley, Wendy and Ben for a couple of nights; Stewart and Maggie, Nigel and Moira (and Louisa and Andy and Amy and Rowena, a very grown up 6 year old John and a bright and cheeky wee Lexie [had to look that up!]). Also went and saw Jim and our old friend Jean in the Borders. Took a few days to get back to normal and not sure that we will go south again soon.

At long last Victorians 60 Degrees North came out. As it was published by the Shetland Times there were embassassingly large fliers in the paper!

This was about half a page!

We also went up to Unst last week to get a photo taken with David Edmondston (last of the ...)

Anyway it is now out (I've sent copies to Craigievar, NZ and the US, and Paris[!]). I think the ST have done a very good job with it ... layout, print, pictures and paper.

And Maggie's cover has been commented on by many.

The signing yesterday went well ... about 60 signed for folk that didn't want to come and meet the author (maybe they had met me before!) and another 20 or so in the shop ... that's a start. Learned also that A Dream of Silver was still selling well (it's all relative, I keep telling myself David). Mum enjoyed herself too beside me.

I'll be doing an interview for Radio Shetland this week and will let you know when it it to be broadcast.

Our only other excitement this week was the absence of our neighbours who should have been back from a trip to the Mainland. Other mutual friends phoned us up to ask where they were and I emailed John to ask if everything was okay. Turned out that they were enjoying themselves so much touring around Scotland in the Indian summer that they decide to stay away for another week!

Final thoughts ... thank goodness England didn't win the World Rugby Cup!

The baby's lullaby

I spoke to May Fraser this morning ... Thomas Fraser's daughter who is heard crying on the Lullaby Yodel track. The crying is so well balanced on the track it sounds as if it was dubbed afterwards. I asked her this and she said no, just 'something I got right'. It was recorded when they were staying with a friend and he had nowhere else to record. She told me that they are still finding new recordings of his and hope another CD will be out next year! May works in the Peerie Shop and is a singer herself. She was delighted to hear that the Johnston / Durham / Armstrong family were keen fans.

Right now, we have a big hole in the track where Archie is putting in a cattle grid. Once that is done (in a couple of days) and I get a fence up there will be no more getting out of the car to open the gate in a cold, wet wind, and no more tiptoing around sheep shit. We'll be very happy and so will Cass the Post! I'm hoping some 'visitors' will soon help put up the fence!

Yesterday I collected a bagful of rowan berries from a neighbour's garden ... the owner's uncle had uprooted the tree when it was a sapling from a holm in a loch, so it is a native. I have given the Amenity Trust most of the berries but kept some for myself to try and germinate for the Bousta Forest.

Dykes and Dreams

We have had enough good days since Sorley left to get on with the terrace and walling. Now finished the corner of the wall and link to house (apart from a gate), built up the face of the terrace and sown grass (for the moment). You won't be able to see them but there is a set of (very uneven and ethnic) steps in the corner by the wall to access the grass bit. Outside the wall I have smoothed off the slope and sown grass there too. As you can see I (with Sorley's help when he was here) have been able to get rid of all the big rocks and debris. Once the grass has grown it will be fine. Going to concentrate now on the other retaining wall of the terrace which Sorley built. The rest of the garden wall is going to have to wait until I have finished the inside. In the meantime I have up a fence to keep out the sheep.

We had Rosa (of Lea Gardens at Tresta) and her partner, James (tree man) here on Sunday morning filling my head with ideas. In this climate I find it hard to visualise the results of their enthusiasm! James was here to give me advice on planting trees in the walled yard (where Sorley's 'chalet' will be) and mentioned that we might be in line for a Forestry Commission grant, so I am looking into that ... it will mean planting in the spring, which is a relief as there is so much to do!

Having crossed one Rubicon two weeks ago in getting a homehelp I am now on the shores of another ... one I have seen on the map but chosen to ignore until now that my feet are getting wet again! Rosa and James have persuaded me that if I am going to have a garden, vegetables etc., we must have a cat to keep out the rabbits! Apparently toms (neutered) are very good ... they have 7 (!), but then they have a couple of acres of garden, and hardly see the toms in the summer. So, next spring (see I am still putting it off) maybe we'll get a couple of (neutered) tom cats! Sorry Helen, maybe I should have warned you not to read that!

One of the great ideas that Rosa and James came up with is to turn one of the two ruined buildings into a plastic tunnel, simply (hardly) roofing it with polycarbonate. Maybe the other I can put a net over and grow soft fruit ... such is this vision of abundance. By then I (and my muscles ... I thought I was looking pretty muscular until I saw some close-ups of the Scottish rugby team) will probably have had enough of wall building, there won't be any stones left anyway at the rate I am going!

I knew there was a connection

Shetland's caribbean coffee!

Just a quickie while waiting for Mum's bus. Thought I would share this little joke. It's from a very special bean that likes cool, damp, windy climates. They have to be picked with pliers because of their tenacious grip otherwise they would all end up in the sea. How the Caribbean aroma is added I don't know, but it works.

On Sunday we have our gardening and woodland (another joke) friends, Rosa and James, coming over to advise on the new garden and yard ... planting of shrubs may take place this autumn but the rest will be next year. Fun to be at this stage, now I have only to finish the wall (!), which topic will be the subject of the next blog.

Yesterday was a historic one for us ... we had the house cleaned while we were out! Seems to work, now we just want someone to wash and iron the linen bed sheets every day.

By the way, the new owners of 24 Grant Street moved in this week, no more visits there. We are reminded here daily of Betty with a couple of pictures on the wall and particularly, the large Victorian settee which is even more comfortable than I remember ... I think I was on the edge of it most visits to Cullen.