Hello everyone!! I am in Scotland...on Iona, to be specific.
I absolutely love it here...I am ALREADY dreading my return in August! But let's not go there...besides, knowing all of YOU will be there brings me GREAT comfort. (sniff sniff)
I don't even miss my DOGS! (please don't tell them)
So, where to begin....this is an island, so there are beaches everywhere. I've already walked to the north shore and sat on "Traigh Ban am Manach" (Gaelic for "White strand of the Monks"). On the west coast is the "Machair..." a great, beautiful expanse of meadow...yesterday we walked to the SOUTH shore to "Columba's Bay." (where St. Columba is said to have landed when he was exiled from Ireland.) THIS "beach" if you want to call it that, was made up of nothing but rocks....rocks and rocks and rocks....barely any sand....just rocks. (did I mention there were a lot of rocks?) They are very beautiful...we each picked up about 8 pounds worth! We are staying on the East shore in a little cottage called, "Traighmoor." Sheep graze right outside the front door!
It stays light until well after 10 pm, which suits me JUST FINE - I love night. So the days are INCREDIBLY long which allows for LOTS of exploring and fun AND a nap!!! What more could I ask for? The cottage is a good half hour walk outside of town, so some very careful planning has to happen...especially since all the shops close up around 5.
Once all the day visitors to the island leave it is so very quiet and peaceful. I've not begun my volunteering yet...that starts on the 14th. So in the meantime, I am actually on vacation!!! Amazing! Me! Not working!!!
I'm posting this from the Columba Hotel which, THANKS BE TO GOD, has internet!!! The Iona community does NOT have access!!! It's costing me 50p (around $1) for 15 minutes, so I'll need to type fast! Anyway, once I begin my volunteering I'm not sure how often I'll get to this, but I promise I'll try to do it daily....since I will be very close to the hotel then.
It hasn't rained ONCE since we've arrived, which is UNHEARD of for this time of year. The temperatures have been perfect...I even got sunburned!
So, Iona: beaches, sheep, green-green-green, ocean surf, beautiful old ruins and lots of HILLS! I will have legs of steel by the time I return!!
I see that my time is nearing an hour, so I'd better sign off. Cheers! mary out.
4 comments:
Miss Mary.
Methinks I took it all in, and it is certainly good to hear that you've landed safe and sound.
My only question thus far pertains to you each pickin' up about, "8 pounds worth of rocks". Now, us land-lubbing, red-neck, provicials back here in the States were all ready for you to start using funny words when you got over there. And, furthermore, my Scottish to English dictionary says that "pounds" is something called a "monetary reference". I think that means that the monopoly money they use over in them parts is called pounds, not dollars.
So, what I need from you, I guess, is a little clarification.
On your walk, were you engaging in power-lifting, (a topic I know something about, though I sometimes call "pounds", "beans")? Or did some funny red-haird guy in a skirt talk you into buying rocks?, (In which case you got bigger problems than having to spend a dollar to update this website or walk half an hour to work.)
Jusk checking....
Or perhaps it would be better to speak of 'stones' instead of rocks, when describing mass? It seems then that the aformentioned profitable afternoon of rock collecting (a highly respectable past-time), then resulted in the collection of only 0.5714285876257993 actual 'stones'... (1 stone = ~14 lbs 'merican)
Rock on! :-)
sounds like you are rocking out, mary mary! miss you lots !!! now you could have a pet rock if you ever start missing those puppies of yours.
Traighmoor, If I remember my Gaelic correctly, means "Home of rock thieves!" ... rusty
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