Before the day breaks

Between night and day

As I walk to uni of a morning, I cut through one of the many parks in Edinburgh. When I first started, it was daylight, but now it's dark and as I walk, the city wakes up.

While I head through the park, I see people driving cars and riding bikes wheeling their way to work; runners getting their exercise before they start work; workmen (not being sexist, not seen any women yet!) taking deliveries of building materials. All as I walk to uni.

The thing I like most about walking through the park are the sights and sounds. The car engines, the bike chains whizzing and whirring. And, in among this noise, as it's still early and there isn't many people around, the sound of the swans and geese and crows and blackbirds all getting ready for the day. Getting ready to live day by day, to have enough to get by on and worry about tomorrow when tomorrow comes. To live like that, now that would be liberating. For if the birds are provided for, how much more are we?

Star dust

As I was walking through Holyrood Park this morning, it was still dark o'clock. As it was a clear morning, in the sky I saw the stars rising above Arthur's Seat and thought wow.

Around 4.5 billion years ago, a star began forming from a cloud of dust, which had been formed from the death of another star. As the star formed, and gravity started to act, the dust cloud swirled around this new star, condensed and formed the planets around that star, bringing our solar system into being. So I and all people are made from star dust. Now, that's pretty cool.

Been away

So, regular readers will have noticed I've gone a little quiet over the last couple of weeks. Never fear, nothing's up, just been away gallivanting with Spot. And our tent.

It was great to get away. Okay, so it was different holiday from the last few years for me, what with being "unemployed", but it was still a change of routine and an opportunity to spend some quality time with Spot (I'm just waiting for the comment to that...).

Our initial plan was to stay at Blair Atholl for a few days, but when we arrived, they were full. Well, it was a Saturday and we hadn't booked. So, never defeated, we headed north and stayed in Boat of Garten for 5 nights.

It's a lovely area to visit and walks a plenty. The Speyside way runs through and we did do a stretch of it (regularly back and forward to the local hostelry!!!). It would be one of our perfect places to live, though it does have the feeling of being primarily holidaymakers (like we were, I know, I know) or people who have retired to the area. Pity.

On the Sunday, we worshiped at the local church. The people were warm and friendly. It was such a shame there were no children or young people. From the comments the person leading worship made (it's a recently vacant charge), this is the norm. But, if the people living in the area are mainly retirees or on  holiday...

Of course, being in Boat of Garten warranted a visit to the Osprey centre (again!).We walked there via Loch Mallachie and Loch Garten and, once off the main path the the centre, didn't see anyone else. It was so peaceful, yet filled with all the activity of birds feeding their young, wood ants maintaining their nests and all the other things which go on on a forest.

Odin the Osprey

 All through our stay in Boat of Garten, we wandered to the bridge over the Spey to spot otter. We never managed it, but watched swift, house martin and found a badger sett. Waiting here, with this view wasn't a hardship, though.

View from Boat of Garten Bridge

Being a bridge, we just had to play Poohsticks. On that occasion, Spot won.

We did get to Blair Atholl in the second of our two week holiday. This is such a great area to walk and watch wildlife. We spotted Golden Eagle, deer, and were within 20 metres of a buzzard feeding. That was amazing. And in an area which some think of as being quite busy. It can be, but head half a mile away from the castle or the house of Bruar and there's no one around.

The walk up Glen Tilt was brilliant. A beautiful day, in beautiful scenery. Scotland really is the best country in the world

Yet, even in this seemingly natural landscape, it is very definitely shaped by man. There should be more trees and, as walking up the Glen, we came across abandoned crofts, such as this one. Nature is taking it back, though slowly, as this was abandoned in the 1850s.

Abandoned Glen Tilt Croft

It reminded me, though this is a beautiful landscape, for the average person living here, it was a hard, inhospitable existence. Yet, this was their home until cleared to make way for sheep...

Getting back to Blair Atholl from that walk, we looked back up the Glen and, well, a picture tells a thousand words.

View up Glen Tilt

Of course, no visit to this area is complete without a visit to Bruar Falls. It's a pity it's been fairly dry so far this year (believe it or not), as the falls weren't as full as normal, but still worth the walk.

Lower Bruar Fall

Today, it was back to normal, what ever normal is. Worship at our home church. Fellowship with my church family. But over the last couple of weeks, I have wondered again and again at God's great creation.

Finding beauty close to home

Since finishing paid employment (for now), I have taken to going for a walk up the hill near my house. It's not very high, especially as I am definitely not starting from sea level, but it's a pleasant walk and, on a clear day, the views are well worth the effort.

It's 8 years since I moved to the town I live in. I have been up the hill a only couple of times (quite literally) since then. I don't think I'd really appreciated the area around the hill until yesterday. At the bottom of the hill is a local nature reserve and site of special scientific interest (SSSI). It's a former quarry, which has flooded and nature has taken back.

Trees reflected in disused quarry

And hasn't mother nature done a great job? There's reeds, brambles, wild raspberries, birch, sycamore, swans, heron and coots that I have seen during my walks. I've also heard blue tits, robins, blackbird and the occasional buzzard. There must also be toads, too. Yesterday the heron had caught one - a big one at that. Apparently, early in the morning roe deer can sometimes be spotted. All in all, not bad for a disused quarry next to a former mining town.

I haven't noticed this before as I hadn't opened my eyes to what was there, right in front of them. I hadn't walked by there. I'm glad I do now. I could sit in this little oasis of calm for hours, just listening to the birdsong and watching the goings on of the various animals which inhabit the area.

It also makes me think how often do we not visit areas, as we do not expect to see beauty in them? Or, we go somewhere else to experience beauty, calm and peace, rather than finding it close to home. Finding it with and in God. God who in in nature and in each and every one of us. God, who sent Jesus to die for us, so we may have life in all its fullness. Just as life has burst forth in this disused quarry.

Indulging my passions

Over the weekend, Spot and I were away in the Abernethy Forest area for our anniversary. Okay, our anniversary was last month, but that's neither here nor there! I love visiting this area. There's so much to see and do - if you're patient and have an eye and ear open to nature.

The trigger for heading up this weekend was us wanting to go to the Caper-watch at the RSPB osprey centre at Loch Garten. It did involve a very early start (getting up at 5am!), but it was well worth it to see these beautiful, yet illusive birds. While there, we saw at least 3 male Capercailles and 4 females. The females are exceedingly well camouflaged, but once seen, they are absolutely beautiful birds.

While we were there, we also saw the male and female ospreys change over incubating the egg (only one had been lain while we were there).

Osprey change over Loch Garten

 The photo isn't amazing, but those are big birds, only far away! This creature, though, is small, nearby and very fast.

Vernon the vole

Vernon (or could it be Victoria) is a bank vole who nips out to take seed dropped by the small birds from the feeders next to the osprey hide. I couldn't believe (actually, I could!) how excited I was seeing him. I think it took me back to my 11 year old self, but that's a story for another time.

Being the Abernethy Forrest, there's one thing I have to point to.

Red Squirrel

SQUIRREL! (If you've seen Up!, you'll understand the significance. If you haven't, really, watch it. It's a beautiful film.).

There was also loads of other small birds about and I could have watched them all for hours. Actually, come to think about it, I did!

So, the title of this post was indulging my passions. So, we watched wildlife, particular birds, walked in the beautiful landscape which is Abernethy and the Cairngorms. We even saw a pair of male ptarmigans at the car park for the funicular railway on Cairngorm. They were too far away to even think about getting a photo. If fact, they were easier to hear than see, but in my experience, that's usually the was with wildlife.

Another of our passions indulged was steam trains. After walking from Boat of Garten to Aviemore, then bumping into Spot's Mum's next door neighbours (it's a small world), we took the Strathspey Railway back to Boat of Garten. It was a lovely trip through beautiful countryside, though we prefer to see the working end.

Strathspey steam train leaving Aviemore

Yesterday, we took a trip up to Aberlour, where we enjoyed worshiping with Rev Shuna's congregation. They are so welcoming and very good at recommending somewhere to see/do in the area. Yesterday, the suggestion was a walk to the Linn Falls, just up from the Aberlour distillery. It was a lovely walk and well worth seeing the falls.

Linn Falls Aberlour

I wonder what the falls are like when at their normal level? All the waterways in the area were quite low as there has been a dry spell. Even with quite low water levels, they were pretty falls. The smell walking past the distillery was lovely too!

Unfortunately, we had to head home. Spot has work and I have university classes. We will be back soon enough, though. These areas are definitely ones in which Spot and I could live. Just need to wait and see where God leads us, though.

The beauty of the earth

You never have a camera on you when you need one, do you? Yesterday, Spot called me into the garden. We had a toad. We've haven't got a large garden, but I didn't want to miss watching this while I fetched a camera.

We stood back to see what the toad was going to do (we don't have a pond - the nearest one is at a neighbours a couple of doors down). It headed under the car for some shade. Eventually, we watched it squeeze itself under the back tyre of the car. Slightly damp and definitely shaded.

I looked out this morning to see if it's there. No sign. I hope a local cat hasn't had a go, though I suspect the cat would have fared worse.

Today, it's a beautiful spring day. I'll keep my eyes open for the small things, the amazing moments, of God's creation, even in my front garden.