Thank you to my (somewhat brilliant and patient) cousin M who wrote down a step by step guide to adding photos to blogs. I’m sure I could have eventually figured it out but having almost uploaded my whole photo album on several occasions I was losing patience with myself. M has a far better understanding of these things than I do and the patience and willingness to share her expertise.
Some of you who follow me on Twitter will have seen this image before and several other North Berwick images and I make no apology for the fact that I may well use some again as the basis for a deeper blog.
When I began this blogging journey I was intent on writing every day which I achieved for about 150 days. I guess I ran out of steam a little and was concerned that it was becoming a case of quantity over quality. I have been asked where I find the poems and they are all mine. While I know some are pretty ropey, I decided that ending on a poem would be my signature calling card as it were. The poems don’t always relate to the content of the blog but allow me to express myself in a different way, much in the same way that posting photos of my morning walk on Twitter allows me to fulfil my desire to share my thoughts, opinions, occasional feelings in a snapshot. I hope this all brings a smile to faces and perhaps an occasional pause for thought.
When I first arrived in North Berwick 11 years ago I knew I had found my forever place to live. Being so close to the sea and surrounded by big sky allows my often chaotic and muddled mind to settle and calm. I actively access my surroundings by walking, cycling, running and most times I see something new that I want to share.
Emma encouraged me to look at the smaller details in life that help to make up the bigger picture. She also asked me to share talking pictures with her from my day when she could no longer see. Perhaps her greatest gift to me, apart from her abundance of unconditional love, was to prompt me to share my thoughts and observations to a wider audience.
As I progress through life and through my leadership pathway I am increasingly aware of the need to pay attention to the smaller and sometimes finer things in life, such as the thoughtfulness of a teacher in preparing her week so that we could all sign a card, with hand prints, and present this card and small present to a pupil who has made a successful transition to his mainstream school. Had this not happened I would have been scurrying around, laying down whatever hat I was wearing at that moment: site manger, interior designer, administrator, cleaner and rushing out to get something. So thank you Ms M for your incredible attention to detail, patience and recognition that it is the little things in life that make a difference.
Over the next few weeks I will be sharing valuable time with very good friends, the incorrigible L+T, Mum and my dearest J. We will talk till we can’t talk any more; I hope we can squeeze in a few walks with and without Jack. There will inevitably be a bit of drinking, but I hope not too much as I want to remember the good times that we will share. I plan to cook for my loved ones, sing as badly as ever, dance in my own inimitable way and share the love that flows so naturally between us all.
On Sharing – my opinions (for N)
A gentle touch as you pass stops me in my tracks
and your eyes twinkle in anticipation –
You’re single? and I return your gaze
Should I be thrilled or concerned –
that you asked?
Its modern life so I send you a text
and am surprised that you do not respond.
Battery dead, you later reply, can I pick you up at 8?
Our boxes are ticked we’ve met the one
who fulfils our deepest desires.
We continue to share precious days as
we reveal a little bit more of who and where we are from.
We take it, hold it and nurture our gifts
and remember that first gentle touch.
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