Ballot paper

My ballot paper tonight, just before I put my pencil cross on it in the voting booth. Our son came with us to vote in his first UK parliamentary election. We explained to him beforehand that he would need to make sure he voted for the candidate he intended to, as some of the party names are very similar. The Scottish Labour Party, and the Socialist Labour Party. The Scottish Liberal Democrats and the Liberal Party in Scotland.
No, I'm not sitting up all night to watch the results. Tomorrow morning will be soon enough.

Consternation

It's a lifeline, an artery, and they closed it. Only for a couple of days in the end, while Scottish Water laid bright blue water pipes, but there was consternation on the Water of Leith walkway last week. Those of us who use it to commute to work or for pleasure were bereft. Once the routes of suburban railways, the pedestrian and cycle paths run from the hills down through the city to the Port of Leith, and from the city centre out to the village of Cramond on the shores of the Firth of Forth.
How did we all manage for two days? The lycra-clad cyclists, the fast-walking, office-bound suits, the yummy mummies running with black labradors panting along behind on a lead, the mums pushing prams, the pensioners walking wee dogs, the groups of school children, the ladies cutting ivy for their flower arrangements, the allotment-bound green wellies, the walkers 'doing' the whole route from hills to sea, the mounted police exercising horses. We're back now, hopefully appreciating what we have.

Collective effort

Unfortunately there weren't enough of us today. The score in the Six Nations rugby match at Murrayfield was Scotland 6, Wales 24.
When I passed this poster (is that the right word? it seems too big for a poster) yesterday morning, the comma was up at the top of the 'y' of 'play', like an apostrophe. When I passed by on my way home in the evening, it had shifted down to be a comma. I wonder whose concern for grammar got it sorted.

I can stretch my wings just like Mom and Dad!

This evening I made it back up to visit the Loons for the first time since the morning of July 19th. The chicks have grown quite a bit in that time! Their diving times have gone from lasting only 2 or 3 seconds to about 20 seconds. They also seem to be stretching their wings a bit more than a week ago. This is hands-down my favorite image of the evening!



Above: “They sure do grow fast!" - This Loon chick, just one day shy of being two weeks old, is already twice the size it was a week ago.


Above: "Sparkling Loon" - A Loon chick swims across the lake while the water sparkles all around it in the morning light.

Dancing with the clouds

Moonrise on January 9, . Had great fun last night watching the moon dip in and out of the clouds as they passed by. The first thing I thought of was "It looks like the moon is dancing with the clouds!". Voila! Another image title :-)


Last night as the moon was rising the light on the surrounding landscape was sublime. The moonlight, clouds, stars and snowy landscape made for quite a memorable scene! I know I've said this many times before, but I can't help myself by saying it again: "I LOVE living here!"

Cycling Project - the Kyle line

My daughter left today for two weeks of hillwalking on the West coast of Scotland. One of the unique features of my children's school is this two week period in May every year when the whole year group in S3, or the 14-15 year olds - all 230 of them - are split into small groups of about a dozen and go off into Scotland's wild places, with 3 or so teachers per group. No bookwork, no science-project-homework-on-the-side. Just physical endeavour, some of it pretty challenging. The prosaic name for this experience is 'S3 Projects'. It's based on the philosophy of the Scottish-born American environmentalist John Muir, who wrote "I only went out for a walk and finally concluded to stay out till sundown, for going out, I found, was really going in."
Because I want to stay as close to the progress of the seasons as possible, I'm not going to post her photos when she gets back - I'll do that at the same time next year. Instead, I've got a guest photographer for the next two weeks - my son, who kept a photo record of his Project 3 years ago. This involved cycling a 450 mile circuit from Inverness up the North West coast of Scotland, along the top, and then back down to Inverness. They camped for the most part, with the occasional luxury stay in a Youth Hostel.
So here is a nameless station, on the first day of cycling. It's on the railway line from Inverness to Kyle of Lochalsh, the mainland terminus for the Isle of Skye. My son can't remember what the station was called, and I can't quite read the sign in the photo below. It could be Achanalt. Anyway, the group hit one of the many quiet times on the line.
(edited to add: Day 1 - Inverness to Contin, 18 miles)

Those passengers waiting on the up line (or is it the down?) get a more robust waiting room.

What We Need

What we need is not new light, but new sight; Not new paths, but new strength to walk in the old ones;Not new duties but new wisdom from on high to fulfillThose that are plain before us.