Hello dear friends! I was tidying up some philatelic files and came across this beautiful booklet of ten (10) postage stamps depicting Scottish archeological sites, issued by Great Britain, for exclusive sale by Historic Scotland. I don’t remember at which property I bought same as there are over 300 properties in the care of Historic Scotland and I have visited … Continue reading →
. A Work for Poets To have carved on the days of our vanity A sun A ship A star A cornstalk Also a few marks From an ancient forgotten time A child may read That not far from the stone A well might open for wayfarers Here is a work for poets- Carve the runes Then be … Continue reading →
Dear readers, I’m very happy to be back on the keyboard to share with you new pictures, new stories, new books about our beloved Scotland. Time flies. January is already ending though, in the south west of France, we’re still waiting for the arrival of winter. The skye is as blue today as in a summer day and I … Continue reading →
Novel Orkney Book Scheme Marks a 60th Anniversary Back in 1954 began a service of distributing books to avid readers in some of Orkney’s most far-flung islands by ways of library vans boarding and unboarding ferries. “…it is thought that it was the very first example of this type of service anywhere in the world” …” says Orkney library and … Continue reading →
A light that has once shone is never quenched. Can a diamond wither? (George Mackay Brown – Magnus) Hi everybody ! How the martyrdom of earl Magnus and the miracles who followed his death led to the building of St Magnus cathedral in Kirkwall, that is what we’re going to learn today in the last seven paintings of … Continue reading →
Hi everybody, Did you read my last post about St Magnus Cathedral? This beautiful pink and white sandstone church is situated in the heart of Kirkwall, the capital city of Orkney. Look! The door is open… let’s go inside, for the cathedral has a very interesting story to tell. Many old churches have their little secrets but if … Continue reading →
Hi everybody, Hi Janice 😉 Many thanks for writing so interesting and funny pages… I’m always looking forward to reading them. What unforgettable moments you’re evoking… I would like so much to be in Scotland again! We were in Orkney last September for a 4-day trip. The MV Hamnavoe landed in Stromness on Thursday 13 just before noon. The … Continue reading →
Almost before you are aware of it the summer is over, we are in September, the autumn equinox is hard upon us, and we go wheeling down into the storms, the snow, the darkness of winter. It was all over too soon, the season of peaches (I never ate so many – this summer they were delicious), herrings, new potatoes, … Continue reading →
… I went on between hawthorn hedges until I came to an arched bridge over the little stream of Sark. At the far end of the bridge was a metal post which held a yellow disc bearing, most dramatically, one word – ‘Scotland’. I paused there. How happy I was to stand once again on the hospitable doorstep of … Continue reading →
Herman Melville came North to Canada on his honeymoon trip, when he was twenty-nine years old. In Montreal, he met Captain Coffin, about to leave on a whaling expedition up the norh Coast to Labrador. Maybe that was when the idea of the White Whale started germinating. A few months back, at Stromness, a little port in the … Continue reading →
