Back on Scottish soil

Sorry for the Absence

Well it just didn’t happen. I had hoped to blog some of my holiday experiences on the way round but the truth is I didn’t want to spend time indoors, away from the glorious Canadian sunshine, to write this blog.

Canadian dream – revisited

Glasgow, Scotland to Halifax, Nova Scotia in less than five and a half hours is pretty good going and the time difference is only four hours. I walked out of Halifax airport into a welcome 27C into a sunshine I hadn’t felt for years.
But even though Nova Scotia experienced an Indian Summer over the last few weeks, their tourist industry closed on September 2nd.

The highlights

Peggy’s Cove - This neat little fishing village, with its granite rock formations scattered around timber fishing houses, form the backdrop for some stunning photo opportunities. A tall lighthouse perched on massive rocks give the tourist something to aim for. Peggy’s Cove gave me my first encounter with a ‘Fifth Wheel’, a motor home the size of a Double Decker bus, strapped to a truck. These monsters are trundled back and forth across this vast country. Why do folks find the need to carry their entire homes with them?

Caledonia and The Kejimkujik National Park - On the map Caledonia looks to be a significant town, in reality it is one street with a supermarket, a hardware store, a junk shop and a diner. It does however have one great little bed and breakfast.

Aunt Nettie’s is run by Cindy and dominated by Abby, the mad Jack Russell terrier who ensures that the premises is kept squirrel free by terrorizing the garden tree. As soon as the front door opens Abby tears across the lawn to her tree yapping like a raging… Jack Russell.

A few miles up the road from Caledonia is the Kejimkujik National Park. The walks presented by the rangers vary through high forests of old hemlock to loch side rambles. I am sure the best way to see this park is by canoe, but being a land lover I opted to chance meeting a black bear on the trail.

After a hard day on the trail Colin and I ate at the nearby diner M & W’s. This busy dinner is run by the wily Marilyn who tempted me with the mouth watering pastry of her home made blueberry pie. She worked the diner, May through to October from 8.00 in the morning till 9.00 at night as well as looking out for customers to her store next door. But even after closing and leaving for home, if a hungry body turns up at her door she will feed them.

One such hungry body I met was a biologist who had trailed through the park. He was studying the decline of loons, the result of mercury in the water and their food. It seems that even in protected areas pollution still creeps in by way of rain fall. The poor guy had been eating trail food for five days; all he wanted was a plate full of grease and a big piece of pie.

Tip - make the most of everything

When I go on holiday I always try to leave the house clean and tidy. I don't go mad with the cleaning, just enough to make a difference.

When I arrived home yesterday it was wonderful to walk through the door into a sweet smelling, bright, shiny house.

I then proceeded to erupt my rucksack all over the floor and make a complete mess of the place, but that was OK.

Tip - make the most of everything

Stoning plums

Stoning plums is a messy business and time consuming. When I have an activity like this I choose a piece of fun music, none of yon intense thought provoking stuff, and I blast it out of my little kitchen CD player. Yesterday I choose 'Most Wanted Music 7'. A cheeky little compilation number I picked up while working in Denmark in 1998. This mix of Euro trash is perfect for floating off into mind numbing nostalgia, although it did make me wonder what did happen to B*witched, Hit'n'Hide and Aqua. Madonna's Immaculate Collection is another good bet for this job.

As soon as I finish stoning I clean up the mess (and have a wee boggy round the kitchen) before moving on to the next stage. The stones go into my compost bin, but I would imagine they will take a while to break down.


Artist Way

I am currently working my way through Julia Cameron's Artist's Way. A twelve week course to free an artist's blocked creativity. I have tired this programme before, years ago, but I failed to progress past week three, I am now on week four. I don't feel creatively blocked but I thought this would be a good opportunity to try some of the exercises while I am between novels one and two.

One of the tasks on week four, which I refuse to do, is the reading deprivation. No way can I abstain from reading. It's just plain cruel.

The main problem I have with the Artist's Way is the heavy reliance it places on accepting that creativity comes from God. That coincidence and synchronicity occurs because God has willed it. I find it vain to expect God to be sitting around feeding struggling artists little gem ideas when there is so much suffering to be dealt with.

I do accept that when writing there is a form of Divine intervention, things do just happen to me. However, I prefer to believe this power comes from my dead ancestors. I can just see them floating around somewhere wanting the best for one of their tribe. I suppose this view is similar to that of the Native Americans. I'll let God get on with the serious stuff.

I am off on holiday next week but plan to continue with the tasks and record some of the outcomes here.

On my previous excursion along this 'Way' I learned the benefits of morning pages. This is a routine whereby I write three A4 pages of muses as soon as I rise in the morning. The purpose is to force myself to turn up at the page every day, but it also allows me to voice any issues or worries I have. This is a practice I have now been observing for about four years; as a therapeutic and writing practice there is no better tool in my opinion. I am hooked.

Another of Artist's Way basics is the Artist's date. This allows me to take myself off somewhere, alone, and spend time with my creative self. It doesn't have to be far, it might even be sitting at home watching an old movie. The important thing about the artist's date is that it frees the mind of humdrum. An Artist's dates can be doing what Julia Cameron calls an artist activity, a physical activity that allow the artist to drift away from day to day problems and enter the realm of fantasy.

I think stoning plums is a perfect artist's activity.

Tips - make the most of everything

I am a list maker. I don't think I am a control freak but I know lists make my life easier. My working week, like the majority of us, is a series of routine task, but there are always extra uncompleted tasks, paltry and considerable, lurking in the corners of my life. They nibble away at me week in week out and because it is human nature to procrastinate, these jobs never get done, but their existence soured my contentment.

At the beginning of each week I make a list of a few pesky jobs and aim to complete them by the end of that week. The list should consist of mostly easy jobs and one major job. It is a common fault to be too ambitious with 'to do lists. To prevent this I write the list on a small Post-it note. I resist the temptation to start a new list until the first list has been scrubbed. I get great satisfaction from ticking off all the little tasks and crumbling and tossing the paper Post-it when the jobs are done.