Jan 31 Stone

Today my friend slept too much and too long.  He will not wake again. It came, as an asteroid hits the earth, not unexpected but no less destructive for our anticipation.  I shall miss the companionship of an uncritical, trustworthy and trusting presence in my life.  He could keep secrets and never tell.  Always welcoming when we met again, he never showed resentment at shortcomings.  Unconditional affection was his to give in abundance and he loved us all.  My old friend, my dog died today.

Last stone of the month of the river:-
Reading so many wonderful stones each day in the last month has been a privilege for which I am very grateful. I have admired the writing, laughed at some things, shared sad or worried feelings at others. Thanks to everyone. Especially to everyone who has organised. Thank you for letting me be part of this experience. H

Jan 30 Stone (A fistful of pebbles)

 

 In the sea loch, look at the mud, smooth, dark and shining from the outgoing tide.  It is an attraction to the feeding golden eye, the curlew and a heron.  Seagulls and terns check it out for prey.  And, fortunate one day, I watched an otter continue through the river as it flowed its way from shore, through banks of mud far out to the furthest edge of the turning tide itself.  With humped back, he galumphed the squelchy mire and disturbed the birds, who raucous, punctuated his every move with their scolding.



Seeing what is not there and hearing what no longer has sound,  s(he) played patience.  There inside the patterns of the numbers, suites and the cards, (s)he could find structure and control close enough to  grasp; could remember as (s)he wished and not be troubled for a response.  The sound of the cards gave all the appearance of activity that satisfied all watchers.



On a rock in the midst of a blue frozen river an otter surprised a sea eagle. The eagle might have made it a meal but the otter ducked back beneath the ice and swam for his life to the next breathing hole.


Forests, deserts, gardens and plains can all be seen in miniature colourful amongst  the lichen and mosses that populate a rock.



(Jan 30 stone)
 Clouds in lines blow bubbles in the east of this cold afternoon.  In the south west the sun  is pulling the cloud-curtain across the daylight. A bright night will soon be here and we shall have the glint of stars to pattern a black blanket sky.  On a glittering carpet we shall step with care, as frost sparkles and crunches beneath our feet.  There may be snow tomorrow.

Jan 29 Stone

Jan 29 Stone
From their green sheath the flowers  emerge.
On the broad lower petal-lip lie yellow tongues,
Shaded by fragile forked  canopies.
The iris blooms;  royal blue.

Jan28 Stone

A dreich day wraps damp fingers
Around me.
Bird-like  I seek a  dry  hedge
To surround me.
Dry at home I the feel  warmth
All around me.
Now will  rest from all probing
Surround me.

Jan 27 Stone

Sunshine makes for friendly gestures
when rain dark day may not.
Cold but bright may make
for conversations- light -
where head-down battling
the gale to surly silence tends.
A perfect cloud, atop a burnished hill
And sunset gold subsides
As new moon climbs.

Jan 26 Stone

Jan 26 Stone
The twin comforts of:
The start of the day
The coming of the night.
Dawn  urges us to wake
If we let it.
Night rise relaxes us
Calms us for rest.
Yet we pay them little heed.

Jan 25 Stone

The wind that stopped the ferry's arrival
and churns the lochs into whirlpools
and the waves into breakers and rollers,
Is the same wind that  gently riffles
the water lying on the path into patterns
Is the same wind that raises the stream
till it flows back up stream from the cliff edge.

Jan 24 Stone

On trying to learn part of a piano piece:-
A Mozart concerto is an interweaving of some unexpected intervals
A Marvellous theme and melody: but the structure of the whole is
A Miracle of architectural and engineered support.
And I'll probably never master it.

Jan 23 Stone(s)

Tidying and downsizing
Too much kept from the past
Can be clutter in the present
Will I need in the future?
Time may take away memories
So what are these triggers worth
And should I really care?

Early morning meeting
Slugs surface at night
Sliding into damp tiled outhouses
Silvering floors with their slime.

3 Stones in the River

Jan 20 Stone
In the cold of the north and the warmth of the west, the gulf stream allows palm trees to flourish in summer.  At this time of year their dead skirts of leaves droop decorously downwards, listless dun-coloured and tattered. 
Yet, look up:  the palm crowns battle darkly green against the South Westerly and protect a few lighter green leaves that peer, almost shly, from deep within the tree top.  A warm winter results in signs of early spring.
Look down:  the shoots of daffodils are cutting, lance-like, through the grass.


Jan 21 Stone
Watercolour wash blends seamlessly, unbidden with whatever comes next;  just like  this one moment blends into the next hour into the next day.  Painting in the specifics  turns a background into a picture, just  as memory writes the remembered detailed portrait of today.


Jan 22 Stone

A rabbit  with reddish fur at the back of its head, a white feather in the wing of a blackbird and a robin, too fluffy and pale breasted to be fully grown - each of these make me curious for answers I may never find, make me consider the value of the usual and the unusual and most of all make me aware of how even the most ordinary of environments is full of ever changing detail.
And those Questions:
Wild grey, a rabbit met an escaped pet
She was seduced by his russet fur?
The boy blackbird bullied in the nest?
Or was the white feather a badge of status?
A warm winter and a fledgling robin
Connected?
Early nesting is possible
But this early?
Any answers or more questions could all be enlightening.

Jan19 Stone (incl.Jan18 Stone)

Jan 18 Stone & Jan 19 Stone
(18th)
again a day when the stone failed to crystallise! but looking back on it I did notice:-
As a friend put on a fleece cardigan, the warm heather blue and light claret patterning lifted his whole appearance.  The colours banished the cold grey pallor the weather had injected to his skin. We perceive warmth with more than one of senses.
(today 19th)
tackling the new and unfamiliar is scary, frustrating and fun

Jan 17 Stone(s)

Jan 17 Stone(s)

Yesterday (16th) wrote quite a few...

boulders ,grains of sand, even pebbles but could not manage a stone!

But 2 for today:

Walking beside a stream moving towards its source hear the sound of labouring effort - uphill. Returning the other way the trickle, splash and flow over obstacles is smoother. The sound is faster, even rushed - a downhill noise.

Even leafless trees make very good umbrellas in a drizzle!

A sort of PS

Also wanted to add another stone for today:-
many grains of gratitude
for the pleasure
from all the other stones
in the river

January 15 Stone

  Creating stories is a way of explaining experience.  It starts before we can speak.

Jan14 Stone

Madagascar's orb web spider's golden web silk has been used to create an astounding piece of golden cloth. This has been displayed in New York and is now in London.  The whole thing is astonishing and very beautiful but most amazing is that we live in a world where spiders produce golden silk and where such stunning things can happen.

[To see some pictures (6) of this + some information (copy & paste) go to:-
http://news.bbc.co.uk/today/hi/today/newsid_9674000/9674949.stm
But I should warn you -  if you don't like spiders 2 out of the 4 pictures do show the spiders]

Jan 13 Stone

White grey clouds sport dark,
Dark pinkish-red underskirts
Just at final sunset.

The clouds are heavy with snow.
It may not fall tonight.

These clouds themselves
Have warmed the bright cold
Of the day's clear light.                                                               




The photo is just to give an idea of the colour underpinning the clouds.

Jan 12 Stone

Today

Black-headed gulls were flying in the thermals and breezes at the cliff edge.   

Ravens joined in.  

Were they exhibiting their skills to each other?

Jan11 Stone

using drawing paper with oil pastels:
The flaws in the drawing board suddenly take shape as patterns -an unexpected picture appears. 
A bit like brass rubbing but unintentional!

Jan 10th Stone

Feather

A black raven feather glistens with raindrops. 

A feather can be re-formed even if the fronds are unhooked.

A feathered is engineered; it is designed to fulfill its task.

Its blackness if no absence of colour, for the feather shines,

Bright, with the darkness of every hue imaginable hue.

Jan 9 Stone

Polka dots of rain decorate a concrete wall, while the mist in the glen briefly returns winter-dead heather to it's flowering purple haze once more.

Jan 8 Stone

Trying to take photo of the same thing in different lights, against different backgrounds.
Also saw artist David Hockney talking about colour and really looking at things.
I realised with excitement and delight something that is probably glaringly obvious to most other people:-

Light does not just illuminate;
It's absence does not just create shadow.
Light or the lack of it
Creates and alters colour.

Jan 7 stone

Our hands hold our history.
From the baby's full tiny fist
Through the growing strength
Of youth and competency of
Adulthood, we use up our hands
Into the leaner, gnarled, revealing
Ones we exhibit as we age.

2nd Jan Stone

This one seems to have got lost along the way somewhere but here it is anyway.
 

Jan 2^nd

Snow scatter on the hill top momentarily attracts white clouds and sunlight, before the dark rain thunder heads return.

Jan 3-6 Stones

Jan 3^rd

Encounter

A sudden reminder of how strong, how vulnerable each human is.

To survive we cannot afford to dwell on our fragility.

Yet the beauty, complexity of each human life is worthy of awe and wonder.

Jan 4^th

A grey cloud touches on

the lower heights of the hill,

sheds its burden of rain

rises, now white, to curl

comforting, scarf-like,

hugging the peak.

Jan 5^th

Sunshine highlighted the iridescence of starling feathers

Jan 6^th

Raindrops race each other down the windowpane just because they can.

1 Jan 2012

An eagle held the air watching first-footers on his hill today.  The sunset early and hastened their departure.  Gliding serene, the watcher rode a thermal to roost high up, upon a crag.