Where am I?
Hello again! It has been nearly forever since I last posted here. But two events have inspired me to write again! Number 1: Roughly 1 year ago this week we "landed" in Lumsden, Scotland.
Before I go on, I would like to start with a video dedicated to Chloe Windsor (Gemma, you too, but this really stuck with Chloe). It is from a pod cast that is popular amongst our American friends who like this sort of thing and I HIGHLY recommend that any of you with a sense of humor listen to all the Superego pod casts available.
And, based on one of Chloe's favorite parts, we took this photo just for you in Edinburgh last Dec:
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| "You will play Bert, and I, of course, will be Mary. Let me get the costumes. Here is your chimney sweep and your cartoon penguin" |
The fact is...my last posting here was from early Nov 2011 but we did not leave Scotland till Dec 15! That's right! I have a batch of pictures I never shared with you! Oh, it was in my planner on many a Cape Cod winter's day. (Trust me, I just flipped back to Jan, Feb, March in my planner and at least twice a week I see "update Nov/Dec UK blog"). Yet I never did it. Why? Not sure! Now, 1 year later, after unpacking everything that has been in storage since returning I think know why I avoided it. I did not want to think about how we were not there anymore. It's not that I put the whole UK experience out of my mind once we left; quite the contrary: hardly a day goes by that something does not spark a thought about that time. Its just that now I know how meaningful that time was. I think I knew that all along and I feared it would make me too sad to do a blog post about Scotland having so recently departed to that in-between-time that was our stint on Cape Cod. But here I am in Manchester, NH (a whole other blog coming soon on that) by myself unpacking so many mementos and I knew it was time. People say all the time "Wow, I can't believe that was a year ago!!" Well take that feeling and multiply it by 5. That is how we feel about Scotland. I can recall the tiniest details like it was last week, I think its because we were there for so long that this past year has become very compressed in our minds and if feels like such recent past.
So, I unpacked one of the last boxes yesterday and found the "British Owls" tea towel that "accidentally" ended up in our last load laundry at SSW and then "accidentally" made its way back to the US with us (Hey Emily, and Christine: did you even know it was gone till this moment!? I'm sorry I took it! I just wanted it for the forthcoming reason!). It had been rolled up in a box of Scotland stuff that has been in the Cape Cod basement since January. I pulled it out and smelled it and it still smells so strongly of the detergent we used there! ( I think I often used too much because I was not accustomed to the small, high efficiency washers!)
You know how they say smell is one of the strongest memories? So true! The second that smell hit my brain, I was back in the bothy/studio/resident house at SSW. It was the detergent we all used. It reminded me of Christine rotating the laundry (she is the office manager at SSW and was like a surrogate Scottish mum for us and she would fold our laundry if she needed the machine to do kitchen wash). And that, paired with the 1 year anniversary of our arrival -technically the 15th- is what finally spurred me to make my final post.
There is a batch of pictures to see, and I have tried to label them as thoroughly and humorously as my former posts. (Scotland friends: please fill in where I am lacking facts,or with your own memories!). The link is at the end.
There are 3 factors that gave that time so much value for us. As in, so much value that if somebody said "Hey Annie and Ben, would you like to come to the UK for a year or so and make art/music/teach in some capacity?" My/our answer would be "Absolutely!"...Too bad that none of the art schools in both Edinburgh and Glasgow have ceramics programs or facilities...
These three factors are:
-The fact that Art and Music brought us there.
-The people we met/friends we made.
-The landscape and history of the whole UK but Scotland in particular.
-And a side tangent: my first far-away residency WITH Ben. Lord knows I've had plenty with out him and the negativity of being apart always detracts and distracts from my over-all experience. Thank you so much to Emily (and Nuno I guess?...) for not only allowing him to come but openly welcoming him as if he were an artist in residence himself.
I don't even know what order these things go in! If you asked me on a particular day there, I would have given a different answer as to which was the most important.
Since I have done posts about the art I made, and the the tour and the landscape, this one is for our friends over there. This batch of pictures turned out to be more people oriented so it just makes sense. Plus you all were such a huge part of the reason why Scotland now holds such a special place in our hearts (and this will continue to be so, though you will see Ben & The Hot Seats much sooner than I since the band is coming next July). I do not know when I will be returning, but I WILL return! Its' just that we have reached a place where I cannot spend money on an overseas ticket unless it serves some purpose in advancing my career. We're down to the wire here folks. No more fooling around! ...Not that I have been, but anyway...
Everyone we met there and spent more than a few hours with was part of what made our time there so special. Given the opportunity I would be so happy to see any of the following people again: (in NO particular order)
Leonie, Vanda, Roweena, Michael, Steven, Douglas, Jane Ann, Nicholas Oddy, Dave the Driver, Gerry the Driver, Loudon, Emily, Gemma, Chloe,Christine, Kate Hobby, Craig, Rocca, Jules, Eden, Petra, Darren, Bridget, Rosie, Frazier, Ken, and Emma!! And if I forgot anybody I'm so so sorry, it's not personal, its because its Friday and I've had wine! I cannot believe that in just 4 short months I met THAT many people that were so memorable that I could just name them off the top of my head a year later. You are all amazing in your own ways! (..even if those ways mainly consist of generously vulgar swears and put-downs! -Gerry- He probably won't see this)
Regardless of the financial, travel, personal, artistic, etc... frustrations we experienced there... I can safely say I woke up every day with the happy thought "I live in Scotland!" in my mind and that the awesomeness of this reoccurred to me ( and Ben too) multiple times a day. I know that I am romanticising things a bit just because we were in a country that was not our own...but many of our Scottish and English friends have had extended stays in America and have expressed very fond feelings for this country. I'm sure they understand the feeling. Anyway, what follows is a random list of those little (or big) things that would happen to make us have those moments of wide-view appreciation for our situation.
-Passing a castle on the way the way to the grocery store.
-Seeing signs of human presence in castles : like stair cases that in some ruined places lead to nowhere,or on the contrary, that have been inhabited for hundreds of years by the same family, who's stone steps are worn smooth and indented by centuries of foot steps.
-The way the modern and the ancient blend in Edinburgh on so many levels.
-Walking out of our house in Lumsden and with-in minutes being in the hills with those shaggy cows or those skittish sheep.
-How those stupid pheasants sounded different on the top of the hill behind Lumsden then at ground level.
-How the bus driver on Skye came out to the last point on his route during the off season that he normally skips because he knew we were out there.
- The moment during the Mega Yurt Event when I thought..."I am tending bar, in a yurt, in Scotland..."
- The fresh seafood truck that came through our little, middle-of-no-where town beeping his horn and the old folks that would come out and meet him.
-Dancing to the bag pipes in the Halloween parade, in a completely non-tourist oriented event ad the dance after.
....I could just go on and on...
I'll end with saying that we are so greatful to have had this expeicence, Ben is so greatful that he gets to continue to have it in some capacity, and thank you to all of you that made this experience what it was!
See all the pictures from Nov-Dec 15 Here. Reminder: I believe you can see the pics and their captions at the same time if you use slide show mode.
