Well a couple of photos from many years ago. Wayland Smithy Long Barrow, you have to walk a mile or so to find it but one magical year I managed to capture it in Autumn. The copper coloured leaves lay thickly on the ground and my dog Moss sits in a quiet silence willing me to move and start throwing the ball.
I also walked along here a couple of years later at a scattering of someone's ashes, with my friends and my son. I had made him come along with me because I wanted to show him how I wanted my death to be, quiet and happy. I remember it rained as we all sat under the trees. We were a group of megalithic stone lovers, seems strange now but I have chased these old stones put up so long ago by people I can hardly imagine but perhaps best of all they filled my life with stories.
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| Wayland Smithy long barrow |
And some music. Peter Maxwell Davies Scottish music always reminds me of the seas around Scotland. Farewell to Stromness with its slow gentle tone is so different to Mendelson Fingal's Cave apparently Mendelson was terribly sick on the boat as they came up to the cave but the first bars of his music came to him and when he had landed back on shore demanded a piano to play it. Another small fact. J.M.W. Turner painted Fingal's Cave which was then sold to an American. Who complained!! that it was indistinct. Turner replied "Indistinctness is my forte" ;)
"I had made him come along with me because I wanted to show him how I wanted my death to be, quiet and happy". Who were you instructing - your son or Moss? Can we rely on others to follow our instructions post death?
ReplyDeleteWhen my beloved mother passed away, one of her relatives stole all of mum's treasures and the will could never be followed :( My mother would have been heartbroken.
"I had made him come along with me because I wanted to show him how I wanted my death to be, quiet and happy". Who were you instructing - your son or Moss? Can we rely on others to follow our instructions post death?"
DeleteThat made me smile Hels, because dogs are not really aware of death as we see it. No it was my son, sitting glumly there in the rain thinking to himself 'God what is she on about now'.
Inheritance is always a problem, it is successional in Switzerland which is probably the best way. On the other hand, wicked relatives are always there to grab.
The light in the photos is so nice. In spite of the rain and the solemn occasion, I can see smiles.
ReplyDeleteThe deceased's nickname was 'Treaclechops' she was a policewoman and her ashes were scattered down at Avebury as well. I think there was a bit of a pub crawl as well. It is good to remember such times even though on the surface they may be sad.
DeleteSorry, that was by Hels,
ReplyDeleteArt and Architecture, mainly
Were those large stones moved there somehow or did they happen to be there?
ReplyDeleteThat looks like a nice, calm celebration of life. I don't want a fuss when I die. My children know my wishes but I guess I will never know what they decide to do and it really won't matter to me anymore...
Well I have told my daughter where my ashes should be scattered (but not in the dustbin!) Ellen. Many of the old stones are moved from places several miles away but the controversy over the Stonehenge bluestones coming down from Wales still goes on, as is the Orkney type Scottish Altar stone. Were they moved or did glacial events force the stones from their place of origin?
DeleteExtremely restful music.
ReplyDeleteGlad you enjoyed it Tasker.
DeleteImagine coming across those stones if you didn't know they were there - perhaps in foggy weather - would be a bit of a shock.
ReplyDeleteLoved the piece of music
A lot of fiction has been written around the stones Sue and some people say they feel vibrations from them. Though that could be radon.
DeleteThat funeral reminds me of the poem: 'don't you imagine the leaves dream now how comfortable it will be to touch the earth...' (Mary Oliver)
ReplyDeleteI like Mary Oliver's poetry Debby, though she can be a tad gloomy.
DeleteThanks for "Farewell to Stromness..." and
ReplyDeleteThanks for your beautiful photos. Places to relax and feel love.
Hello, it is a peaceful piece of music and calms the day down. I see you are a quilter, try 'The Last Homely House' Kate Jackson she does a lot of quilting on You tube.
ReplyDeleteThey do say that if you leave your horse tethered at Wayland's Smithy overnight it will be re-shod by the morning. I wonder if that works with car tyres too?
ReplyDeleteSadly not Tom, our Anglo-Saxon smithy only shod horses.
ReplyDelete