My Sacred Place

The majority of these pictures were taken between the 2^nd & 3^rd of September when, alone, I visited Cobleland Camping site: a small space close to Aberfoyle. It’s a site where I used to take the boys camping and it holds great memories for me.

Lemahamish Pool is my Sacred Place; the place where – for some reason I can’t quite fathom – I feel whole, delivered, and at peace with myself.

It’s a place where nature seems to know me; almost as though it recognises and welcomes me, silently, as a fellow spirit.

For these reasons – and, I believe, many others – Lemahamish Pool is my favourite place, my special retreat.

If my family follow my last wishes, then my ashes will be added to the quiet waters of the pool. And what remains of my presence on this earth will fold into the currents of the stream and become – once again – part of nature.

Getting close up

 Getting close up to a few of my garden flowers.

Hermand Birch Wood

   Looking for something to keep me occupied closer to home following a few months which have seen me travelling both home and abroad, I was pleased to accept an invitation from one of the Photography Groups - of which I'm a member - to join them on a quest to capture images of wild mushrooms.

  And so we gathered at Hermand Birch Woods Nr. West Calder, on a bright and mild Sunday Morning.

  The weather had been a tad soggy over the last few days, but the temperature had remained mild - even as we headed into Autumn; perfect 'mushroom' weather as it turned out. We didn't have to search for our Mycelial subjects as they were sprouting everywhere through the leaf litter.

  These are a few of my own captures. I hope you enjoy them.

Borders Tour

 

It was my great pleasure, last week, to join the PPG group for an organised wander around the Scottish Borders.

Armed with our instruments of choice (I was packing my trusty old Canon 5D Mk iv) we set off from West Lothian to make the journey South at 7am on a Sunday morning.

The weather wasn’t looking great: the BBC weather app suggested a slight threat of rain for much of the day, though, in the end, we were only troubled with keeping the equipment dry on a couple of occasions as rain clouds drifted quickly through the places we’d stopped; on one of those occasions – at Scotts view - we could plainly see the clouds casting their burden over the Eildon Hills.

Our first port of call was Kelso. There we stopped for breakfast before taking a stroll through the quiet, cobbled streets before walking on to the magnificent Abbey.

Next town on our tour was Jedburgh, along with its own Abbey.

With our cards filling up, we journeyed on to the spectacular Leaderfoot Viaduct. This is a remarkable piece of Victorian engineering and offers ample forage for the myopic eyes of our cameras.

It was then on to Scott’s View. This is where I earlier mentioned watching the rain clouds unburden themselves as they passed through the valleys of the Eildon Hills.

From thence, we tucked away our gear until we reached the busy streets of Melrose. While there, we visited the Harmony Garden, with many of its cultivated gardens in full bloom. Again, wonderful images to capture – and we captured plenty.

Leaving Melrose behind, we sped off to The Haining Estate in Selkirk in order to peruse the 18^th Century Palladian Mansion House which stands in glory before Loch Haining. We also enjoyed a short woodland walk which took us down to the Lochside itself.

We ended our day at St. Mary’s Loch, settling just beside the Glen Café – though we’d arrived too late in the evening to find it still open.

Corolla’s fish and chip shop in Galashiels was still open though, and a few of the group partook of their wares before we finally packed the gear away and headed back to Livingston.

All in all though, it was a great trip, and I have since processed just a few of the near 200 images I took on the day.

I hope you enjoy them.

Boston's Chinatown.

 

Here, June is standing below the Paifang at the entrance to Boston’s Chinatown district; cultural heart of the Chinese community.

Positioned at each side of June, resting Lions guard the entrance; these are placed at the base of the Paifang and signify protection. Internationally, key elements of these constructions such as red pillars (symbolising good fortune, but not employed on this one) and tiled roofs (often green or gold – representing prosperity) are found in many of the Paifang we’ve seen on our travels and, while they may seem fairly similar, they are all uniquely decorated with artworks deeply symbolic to the Chinese diaspora around the world. The four gold inscriptions on the arch above this entrance on Boston’s Beach Street read: Propriety, Justice, Integrity and Honour.

Hanging above the Paifang are the ‘Stars & Stripes’ of America and, alongside ‘Old Glory’, hangs the National Flag of the Republic of China (Taiwan), not to be confused with the Peoples Republic of China (Beijing). This version of the flag also has an element of the American Flag added – the short ‘Stars and Stripes’ at the foot. It’s hung in honour of the Taiwanese Government who gifted the gate to Boston in 1982.

Forfar Loch in Gold.

A few photo’s I captured during a very enjoyable walk around Forfar’s beautiful Loch.

It was later in the evening when we passed by a few lads enjoying their paddle-boards on the very calm waters f the Loch. By the time we got to the most distant part of our walk and then started on the path back to the caravan site, the Sun was very low and we were bathed in a perfectly warm, Golden Hour hue.

These are a few of the shots I managed to snap as an aide-memoire of a beautiful evening.