Quotidian

Encountering labyrinths

At Lammastide 2015, I was lucky enough to secure a modest rent and a long lease on the field adjoining our house in south west Scotland. I set about planting trees, initially in circles and later, linking them together with mown paths.

One circle consisted of fairly closely planted hornbeams. My idea was to create a kind of screen, enclosing the space within. Soon after the trees went in (early 2017, I think it was) I filled up the space with daffodils, planting the bulbs into the meadow grass. The trees were patchy in their growth, and still are to an extent. The daffodils thrived immediately, an early variety that makes a great splash of colour, just when we need it most.

Then in summer 2020, and on a whim, my friend Artur, just before he returned to live in Poland, cut a pattern in the grass within the space. In August of that year, after the terrible fire in Beirut, I planted a small Cedar of Lebanon in the middle, as an homage to those affected.

Unschooled in the detail as we were, the creation was neither labyrinth nor maze. One path led to the centre, with concentric circles leading out from it.

Epiphanies and Robberies Chapter 7: Lament for Sarah

His grant application complete, Michael goes camping near Kirkcudbright and thinks he might have bumped into the art robbers. Andrew is facing the first anniversary of Sarah’s death and talks at length to Anne-Marie about the whole story. DC Harris has a disarming conversation with Machars Gordon that chimes with a mysterious camper van, left abandoned in a motorway service station. Michael tries a new tack with Esme. A huge crowd gathers in the Kirkgate graveyard as Andrew, with haunting music from Anne-Marie, pays tribute to his late wife.

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AUTHOR’S NOTE: In this story I mix up and blur chronologies, geographies and biographies. Any resemblance to a person living or dead is purely coincidental. The 12 chapters of the novel Epiphanies and Robberies appeared sequentially throughout 2023. They have now been re-drafted and are in search of a publisher.

The novel also has a playlist to enjoy, you can find it here: http://open.spotify.com/playlist/0XSzB1w8hfrRPUBzs4KFNF?si=JkkDbGmRQM2WeHjcOrFO

Epiphanies and Robberies Chapter 6: June Stolen Books

The month opens with news of a second robbery. This time it’s rare antiquarian books that have been stolen from a private collection in Galloway. Andrew’s interest is soon piqued, but he is unaware that the thieves are already goading the beleaguered DC Harris, who now has a another case on his hands, but little progress to show for it. Caitlin and Esme meet for coffee and a quizzical conversation, but Michael and Esme’s attempted resolution of their personal problems goes badly adrift. The June weather is superb and a far cry from the floods of January. Michael presses forward with a new research proposal, and Anne-Marie’s composition takes on shape and colour. As the month ends, there’s another twist of the knife for DC Harris.

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The novel also has a playlist to enjoy, you can find it here: http://open.spotify.com/playlist/0XSzB1w8hfrRPUBzs4KFNF?si=JkkDbGmRQM2WeHjcOrFO

Growing garlic

Over the years I have grown leeks, onions, shallots, alliums and chives but it is only recently that I have started to cultivate another member of that bulbous and pungent family. Like so many things, it started with Gardener’s World on the BBC and a demonstration of how to grow this nowadays ubiquitous kitchen necessity: garlic.

The method looked simple, so in October 2020 I decided to have a go myself. When no one was looking I filched a couple of healthy looking bulbs from the vegetable rack and divided them into separate cloves. In a nicely raked section at the end of a raised bed I planted two rows, placing the cloves about three inches down and covering them over. Quite simple.

Garden exotica

I readily admit that I am no plantsman. I’m simply an untutored gardener who frequently struggles to remember Latin names, or even many of the common ones. In general my approach to the garden is to create an emotional effect that stirs the spirit. I’m interested in the full symphony rather more than its constituent parts. More focussed on the overall look and atmosphere, than any specific plant within it.

But on a June weekend in 2021 it was a real pleasure to have a close encounter with two particular specimens, where I not only know the names, but which also have a distinctly exotic air that adds to the overall feel of the place. Examining them close up enhanced my appreciation of their beauty, but also piqued my interest in their particular botanical features. As it turned out, each of them has its own curious story of origins, associations and idiosyncrasies.

Both are forms of lily.

Epiphanies and Robberies Chapter 5: Spring Fling

Nithsdale is vibrant with Spring at its full height. Andrew keeps up his interest in the local art robbery, though the police investigation appears to have stalled. Anne-Marie and her band have huge success at an arts festival concert, but she upsets Caitlin and her own mother by making plans to spend a weekend with Michael, touring the open studios weekend. Meanwhile, if the trio have been mistaken in their suspicions about the locus of a second art robbery in the region, it doesn’t mean that one is not being planned.

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The novel also has a playlist to enjoy, you can find it here: http://open.spotify.com/playlist/0XSzB1w8hfrRPUBzs4KFNF?si=JkkDbGmRQM2WeHjcOrFO

Meconopsis magic

The Himalayan Blue Poppy, Meconopsis, has a special place in my gardening affections.

In years past I sometimes bought them at the garden centre. Alive, vigorous and ready to flower at the time of purchase, in the autumn they would disappear into the ground, never to return. In retrospect I think they were planted in thin soil and prone to dry out in summer.

The Infinity Pool

The pool sits high above the loch. Find the correct vantage point and the two waters merge into one. On the far side, pebbly beaches, scrubby woodland, and low hills. Above them, long wisps of white cirrus that streak the cobalt blue sky.

It’s a luminous May afternoon in Argyll and the holiday weekend is well underway. I stretch out after the journey here, easing my limbs in the warmth, shaking off the mental clutter.

Young children with parents and grandparents splash and play. Glasgow voices joke and chat. People in the sunshine, enjoying the moment, free to have fun.

The Camassia: from Pacific North West to Scottish South West

As a student of anthropology in the early 1970s, I still remember some classes we had on the phenomenon known as Potlatch. Part of the culture of the indigenous peoples of the Pacific North West, it relates to large gatherings in which alongside story telling and feasting, a special emphasis is placed on the conspicuous display of wealth and largesse, in some cases even the destruction of valuable possessions in order to demonstrate one’s high status in the community.

I have often thought of the parallels between these practices and the ‘conspicuous consumption’ so prevalent in Western culture. But until now I had no idea there was a link between the Potlatch and the world of horticulture, and in particular my own Dumfriesshire garden.

What’s in a place-name? An interview with Colin Mackenzie

This latest interview in my series about creative and inspiring people living in Dumfries and Galloway, is someone I have never met. Indeed, when I contacted him earlier this year, he informed me that he was about to leave his home region and relocate to Orkney. So I’m looking forward to meeting with him in person some day – in one or other of those places.

Colin is a primary school teacher, a linguist and an expert on place-names, a field of study known as toponymy. Using a variety of methods and new programs for studying maps he has built up a remarkable knowledge of the place-names and associated stories of Dumfries and Galloway.

He is highly trained in his area of study and holds a PhD, but his research is a labour of love that he works on alongside his ‘day job’ and he has eschewed any thought of a university career. He is the kind of person who makes the world a richer place, but seeks no particular reward or recognition in doing so. He has harnessed modern social media for the best of reasons – to share in detail what he has learned about the names of places that are all around us.