WALK 365 - GAMES LEGACY

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Anyone, who is a regular visitor to my online sites, will know that I love to get outdoors walking. Over the last year, my Celtic Reflections Facebook page has been my way of sharing photos from my walks when I am "out and about" enjoying the fresh air and getting exercise.

In Scotland, encouraging physical activity lies at the heart of the Government’s “Active Nation” programme for the London 2012 Olymics and Glasgow 2014 Commonwealth Games. The Government (quite rightly so) see a great opportunity to use the Games to help to create a fit and active Scotland with huge environmental, social and economic benefits. Walking is simple, low cost and fun!

What benefits for us all if we can just make some small changes in our routine to build in more walking to our daily lives. Small positive changes can reap BIG benefits for our health!

 

Walking on the sands in front of Berwick Law

I have always enjoyed walking in Scotland's "great outdoors" and hope you too will join me in my continuing posts as I aim to meet my own personal goal which is to get out there walking for the minimum of a brisk 30 minute walk every day.  And when I can, to achieve 10,000 steps daily as our good Scottish weather allows me too! For me, there seems no better pathway to good health than to "Walk 365"





Me, hill walking in the Highlands



A BRIDGE TO THE PAST

On the 9th of May I wrote my first "People of the Land" Blog. I explained then how so little was known about my father's family history yet, there seemed a connection to the land - when he and  mum got engaged they holidayed at a farm and enjoyed fishing at a nearby river. In addition, before dad's memories began to drift away, he talked of herding cows to a dairy and a photo showed him carrying milk. In the early stages of dementia, it is true that people can remember memories from childhood but as health decreases the door to the past can close, photos then the only key. 

Interviewed about People of the Land on the radio - afterwards, I took a drive and found myself heading to the only named place I knew. But, in such a large area? I had driven past here before but without any clues. This time, I drew up beside the pub and went in with the total sum of my information: 80+ years ago dad was photographed carrying milk. 60+ years ago him and mum had holidayed here. The staff were very friendly but asked for more information. I explained I knew nothing more, I just had photos of mum and dad fishing. "Ah ha!" was the reply and I was told that the river behind the pub had trout and another recalled hearing that milk was once got from some place outwith the village. Some farm tracks driven up, more conversations were had with folk I met on my way and then I came home to piece together the jigsaw.

                    

Yes, I had found the buildings that had once been the farm.

In addition to the farm discovery, I suddenly recalled

shadows which I had seen on the pool of a burn.

The 2011 shadows from a bridge

linking me to my dad's old photo of the 10th of August 1952





From 2011, I could now look back to 1952

- finally able to link the people in the photo to the specific place

"The 1952 Fishing Expedition"
L-R: Sonya, Minnie, Wullie, Jean (mum) and Nenny

With old photos, some detective work and the kind help of 'strangers' - a bridge to the past has been built. Eighty years ago, Hugh McMillan holidayed here as a boy. Year's later, he took his girlfriend here, Jean Thorburn. A year later they married and then, another ten plus years passed and I arrived. And by then the family holidays to the Sutherland had begun, (to Balnakeil farm, Durness and Kinlochbervie). Yet, looking down the East Lothian farm track to where my folks had fished all these years before - what a similarity between these places, not just in the look and feel of the land but in the friendliness and helpfulness of the people I met as a stranger.

As a child, regularly on holiday in Kinlochbervie, my beloved dog Corrie came from there. And I am left wondering, my dad's first dog - was this where he came from (the similarity I see of the farm building behind?). I'll never know for sure but sometimes I think, these small details don't matter so much as the importance of taking the journey, for me a journey from 2011 to 1952, 1930 and beyond.

My special thanks to all who gave me their time yesterday and now,

I very much look forward to going back there with my fiddle

to enjoy a tune in the pub and to meet new friends!

TRY, TRY AND TRY AGAIN

The more I have looked at sunsets, the more I have learnt to 'read them.' Each is unique in it's own way but still, something beautiful can come from even the most cloudy evening. As clouds drift across the sun, it might appear that the best of the day has gone but knowledge, patience and perseverence are worthy attributes to hold...

If at first you don't succeed, try, try and try again.

Some spectacular sunsets I have missed because I wasn't in the right place at the right time. But now in my life, when I see and am able to photograph so many beautiful sunsets - does that imply that my luck has changed? My mum used to say "what's for you won't go past you" but, as with all these sayings there's a lot more to understand. To create one's 'own luck' needs a combination of many things and not the least of these is effort, the motivation to keep trying. That thought came to me today, as I looked back through my photos from last night (what hard work goes in to creating your own good luck).

A PHOTO ESSAY: Changing light, fishing and 'goodluck'

I like to catch the light as clouds turn pink - we need some 'clouds across the sun' to show up the colourful parts of the sky at its best. When a day clouds over, if the sun sinks below the cloud line, it shines back up and the clouds turn pink. Seeing the banks of cloud build up yesterday, I knew if I waited then 'luck might be on my side'. Finding an area of the shore that would give me a good composition I prepared to wait (and wait and wait and wait). I must have been there for over an hour but I enjoyed watching the birds flying around. I've always wanted to photograph a tern diving for fish but they're so fast. All I could do was line up the shot and try to photograph the moment I saw them turn and dive. Did I get the shot? No I didn't. I was disappointed as I thought I might have got it 'just above' the water  (but all I caught was the before, the splash and then after). It's too difficult I thought... But what if the tern missed a fish and decided, no, it's too difficult? The tern will repeat, repeat and keep repeating until it is 'lucky'. And somehow, then the three photos I took seemed to tell a bigger story - a story about life and that "what's for you won't go past you" - as long as you try, try and try again. Goodluck rarely visits by chance (a tern knows that).



The small shape of the tern, on the right against the cloud,
beginning it's dive for a fish (click to enlarge photo)
Shona McMillan © All Rights Reserved



SPLASH! The tern enters the water
- but I missed the point I was trying to capture
Shona McMillan © All Rights Reserved

 

The tern emerges successful with a fish
- and I will try to capture the photograph I seek another time
Shona McMillan © All Rights Reserved

After my wait on the shore, I hadn't managed to capture the tern (just inches above the water) but, I did learn from my experience. On the first look at my photos I thought "ah, it's too hard" but from a second look I see I am nearly there and with all things we want in life, when the knock backs come we just have to dust ourselves off, get back up and try again. So, did I get the "pink sunset" that I had gone their to capture? Yes, "I was lucky" but then again, I've taken more photos of sunsets than terns. It's all the sunsets I missed which have pushed me on to keep trying to improve. NO FILTERS, NO PHOTOSHOP, NO TRICKS, every single photo in my Blog has been captured by me through the colours of natural light, trial and error.

A pale pink sunset over the Firth of Forth
Shona McMillan © All Rights Reserved

WATERBOYS/SHANNON: "SAINTS & ANGELS"

A blog about one of my all time most favourite songs which so beautifully expresses my thoughts on friendship. Hence, why I have combined with the Waterboys music, a selection of my photos from special places in Scotland which I greatly enjoy, places of happy memories for me, family and friends. Places in the future that'll know many happy times to come.

My video - my way of saying a thank you to all my friends.

In 1989, I got to know the music of the Waterboys through their album Fisherman's Blues. From a fishing family it was my mum who first told me "you have to hear this group and their song." She'd heard them on the radio "a band from Scotland and Ireland playing their own amazing combination of rock and traditional music" - her description reflected them well. A band whose music I loved the first time I heard them play and, over the years, their music and that of Sharon Shannon's has become somewhat of a musical soundtrack to my life. In 2010, twenty one years on from Fisherman's Blues, my year started with "Saints and Angels" - a most magical song played by them and Sharon Shannon. That song, so often in my mind since. Now in 2011, I have worked to produce a video which reflects for me the words of their song in a combination of special photos.

Growing up in Edinburgh, on its border with East Lothian, visiting family there and similarly in Sutherland - I really identify these 3 areas as my 'home' in Scotland. And special memories of a place are formed over time through the special people who we benefit from having in our lives - people who are always in our hearts so that, when we are apart from them, that bond of love still continues and never dies. This song expresses for me that bond, a sentiment we may not always even express out loud, the feelings we know for those we care for, that they be safe and well until we meet again: "May the Saints and Angels watch over you." There are songs which seem able to make the world a better place. Here, the music and the way it is played is beautiful but oh, what truly magical, powerful  lyrics.

My story behind Saints and Angels begins on 31st December 2009. At home in Scotland, I was telephoned by a DJ from Liveireland Radio and told that my People and Songs of the Sea project CD had won 2010 Compendium Album of the Year. Featured in Liveireland's radio programme, broadcast from Chicago and Dublin, I listened over the internet to the album's recording (the track of 100 fisher folk recorded in the Auld Kirk in Cockenzie and Port Seton with local people from Newhaven, East Lothian and Eyemouth).

Having been prompted to “celebrate the fishing community” by my mum in 2006, three years on, it was very emotional to hear that the album had won this award and to hear her name "Jean Thorburn" as they talked about the project’s music and 2009 exhibitions being visited by 12,000 people. In producing this album, a compilation of Celtic artists, local fisher folk and two songs from myself - my goal (with Greentrax Recordings) was to produce an archive collection of music reflecting the story of Scotland’s fishing. An industry which in the past, was also contributed to by Irish workers, both at sea and on the land. Irish fishermen sailed after the Herring (the silver darlings) and along the coast, teams of hardy fisher girls followed to gut the fish (a woman able to gut up to 1,000 fish in a day). Coming from Ireland, joining the Scots Herring girls here, these women worked from Scotland down to England as the huge catches of fish were landed. A multi-cultural workforce, Scots and Irish earning their living together, sharing culture, music and song.

Descended from a Scottish fishing family (which I think Irish fisher women married in to), I was motivated throughout the years of my project to see my work produce a legacy for the fishing community and industry, now so sadly in decline and surely undergoing the greatest period of change in its history. In addition as a singer and musician, who has learnt to play through musical sessions with many others, having enjoyed so much happiness through my music there's a desire in me to similarly 'give something back' through music. And on my personal musical journey, although many musicians have inspired, influenced and encouraged me - surely none more so than the music of the Waterboys and Sharon Shannon (who in 1989, all played together). Through the Waterboys I travelled to Ireland and through Sharon, a short visit to Galway became extended with me finally living there for many months. Such strong musical influences and memories of happy times weave a rich tapestry which intertwines with time so that finally, all these experiences become your life - a personal musical soundtrack to revisit and relive memories of many, many great and special times.

In January 2010, at the end of the Liveireland radio programme, still listening to the broadcast from America - as one programme went on in to the next, a wonderful song came on. I could not believe how beautifully the words and music reflected the emotions and sentiments that I so often feel for my many friends who are scattered around the world. In addition, 'may the Saints and Angels watch over you' - how well these words reflect the unspoken emotion I so often feel when I watch a boat put out to sea. And in stormy weather, that intense relief that fisher folk experience when they stand and watch a boat come safely back in to port...

I had never knowingly heard this song before, such well chosen lyrics and music. It wasn't the best connection to America and I strained to hear who the artist was - "the Waterboys and Sharon Shannon" And I smiled at the musical combination of talented friends playing a song I consider to be one of absolute 'perfection'.

Saints and Angels was written by Mike Scott and Steve Wickham and on this track they are joined again by Sharon Shannon. Such wonderful music it has greatly inspired and moved me with its sentiment. So, one year on, I have looked through the photos I have taken since 2006 and chosen from these the images those which best reflect what I see in my mind when I listen to this song. Photos from the Firth of Forth coast, from East Lothian, from Edinburgh to Eyemouth. And from my very special 'home' up north in Sutherland - photos from the North West Highland villages that I have frequented all my life with my family and my closest friends. Finally, I wish to say to all my friends, (past, present and future), the lyrics of this song say it all: "May the Saints and Angels watch over you."

For more great music from the Waterboys and Sharon Shannon, please visit their respective websites:

http://www.mikescottwaterboys.com/  http://www.sharonshannon.com/

To learn more about my People and Songs of the Sea project visit: http://www.shonamcmillan.co.uk/ other postings in this blog, also http://www.facebook.com/shonamcmillan.celticreflections and visit my Youtube Channel http://www.youtube.com/user/ShonaMcMillan

SAINTS AND ANGELS (Scott/Wickham)

It is a wide world we travel

and our paths rarely cross

and we do a whole lot of living in between

So come we'll share more than time

We'll put our cares far behind

while we sail the ship that never goes to sea (friendship)

It could be months, and it could be years

until we find one another once more standing here

until then my beautiful friend I have a wish for you

Many hearts to keep you warm

Many guides to speed you through the storm

and may the saints and angels watch over you

NOLLAIG SHONA 2010

Christmas greetings to all my friends, wishing everyone of you a very, very Happy Christmas and year ahead in 2011.

Nollaig Shona is actually an Irish Gaelic greeting 'Nollaig' meaning Chrismas and 'Shona' meaning Happy. It was friends from Dublin who first told me this, all of 21 years ago when I went to Ireland for the first time. That Christmas they took me to see the Christmas Lights and oh what laughter at 'my name' being up there. And, remember how milk used to be delivered to folks doors in glass bottles with silver foil tops? My pals sent me the festive ones adorned with 'Nollaig Shona'. The little things people do, gestures of friendship, much more important than monetary gifts - how much longer these memories last.

In this current cold spell, I've very much enjoyed taking photos to share with my friends - tho' sometimes, the weather has caught me out. Double coats, trousers and jumpers - I haven't been cold but have laughed at my 'Nanuk of the North' image. -20 Temperatures, snowed in for days in the middle of a city and today, the River Esk in Musselburgh with great lumps of ice floating down it before it froze over at sunset.

How beautiful the scene was, birds spinning around in front of an orange sky and away from the setting sun, delicately coloured clouds tinted pink.  Colours I had seen in previous sunsets but everyone is of course unique - a most special work of art.

When the birds settled down for the night - the sounds of the ice being moved by the slow flow of the river. So strange to hear the sounds of the ice from this river I know through a lifetime of visits across the seasons. Visiting to feed ducklings in the Summer, pleased to see and hear the migrating geese in the Autumn and now, feeding hungry gulls and swans trying to survive this frozen land.

The poor birds and animals, how hungry they are as week after week the snow continues. Normally our average temperature is around 3 degrees, such sudden changes in the climate make it very difficult for nature to adapt. Feeding the birds really can make a difference between their life and death but be aware that white bread can cause rickets in swans and other problems for all birds so please ensure you help by giving brown bread, bird seed and, in your garden, try to have out a small amount of unfrozen water for them to drink. Full details of what to feed them (and what not to) can be found on http://www.rspb.org.uk/

Recently, I've also been to Arthur Seat, feeding the birds at the frozen lochs in the centre of Edinburgh. The other day a flock of Greylag pink footed geese had flown in from fields all covered with snow. What a lovely sound they make. Given my first diary as a child of five, the first entry I ever wrote was about visiting the park, further round at Duddingston Loch, having fed the geese on an outing with my mum and dad. How fortunate to live in Edinburgh, near to the sea and with parks and lochs which bring the countryside in to the city, indeed, Duddingston Loch being part of a Scottish Wildlife Trust nature reserve.

There are three lochs at Arthur Seat and the views from the hill are stunning - well worth the effort to climb up through the snow to look down on the city and see the other six hills that Edinburgh is built on.

Walking along 'the Radical Road' in Edinburgh I looked down on the city, Holyrood Palace, the Parliament, Calton Hill and Edinburgh Castle. The sunshine was weak through the frozen atmosphere yet, how beautiful the sunset over the Pentlands was.

Over the snow covered Pentlands, the setting sun was more beautiful to me than the Christmas lights that we put up but of course, such decorations also have their place.

At Musselburgh, by the Esk, a tree has been decorated with white lights - beautiful to see its reflections in the river. The flowing water making the lights shimmer even more , a sea of shimmering light.

And how could I post photos of this Winter Wonderland without including a photo from the coast and a snowy Port Seton as the fishing boats come home to land their catch, home at Christmas.

Over the years we build up relationships with family and friends. As time passes, we establish connections with people outwith our area - surely everyone wants to 'go home' for Christmas but it's because we want to be with those important to us. Now today, I think it is great how through the internet, we can easily connect to all those who are important to us in far away places all over the world. 

To all my friends and family, wherever you are, I wish you a very Happy festive season. For 2011, I send you my greetings for the year ahead. And lastly, I'd just like to say, I hope you have enjoyed my http://www.facebook.com/shonamcmillan.celticreflections Celtic Reflections and recent winter photos that I have shared with you all from my small part of this big and beautiful world that we all live in.

HAPPY CHRISTMAS!

Best wishes everyone, Shona.

"NOLLAIG SHONA"

FAREWELL HIGHLAND FLOWER

The Yellow Iris is such a beautiful flower, when I see it I think of the Highlands where it can be seen to bloom in abundance on marshy land. I chose this flower today, as I share this personal entry, for a very dear friend whose courageous battle against cancer has come to an end.

Reflecting back on my friendship with Iris - I don't remember when I first met Iris Mather because, quite literally, I was just a 'babe in arms'. However, I do know that we met through my family, visiting Mather's shop in Sutherland. Back then, Durness was an even smaller Highland village than it is today. On the North West coast, over 260 miles from Edinburgh, crossing many miles of single-track road and before the building of the Kessock and Kylesku bridges, it was a very, very long trip to make and pulling our small caravan it took my family around 12 hours to reach there. With so few 'tourists' visiting at that time we were unusal in holidaying there but my family were  so welcomed in to the area that it became for us like a 'second home.'

In these early days the shop was owned by her dad, Jimmy Mather and oh, what a character he was, a really lovely man and Iris grew up to reflect his good qualities, his humour, compassion and kindness. At the heart of the community was Iris at Mather's shop and doing more than one job (as is the custom in small areas) you could meet her when she was driving a bus over to Cape Wrath and also, driving everyone to dances and other events all over Sutherland. In addition, Iris was always to be seen at the Durness Highland Games and, after her many years of involvement in their organisation, most fittingly, Iris was the 2010 Chieftain of the Games. As she had said to me in a phonecall in the lead up to that day, "if I have to get up from my sick bed to make the Games I will do it, this means so much to me". I am very pleased that it was a date that Iris kept!

On the cliff tops, where Durness Highland Games are held

For once the day was about Iris, tho' for me, my memories reflect all the other games, Iris ALWAYS running around, there to help, making sure everything was organised, going as it should and everyone having a great time. She was the sort of woman, as captured in this photo - in the middle of such a busy day, Aly Bain, that year was a Chieftain of the Games and having a drink, I had just been offered one but said "no, but Iris, have you any sandwiches?" and yes, she produced a plastic tub (peoples needs always well thought out so you could ask her and she'd always have a suggestion or a solution, always doing her best to help, with good grace and a warm smile).



2005 Durness Highland Games: Aly Bain, Iris and me

Over my entire lifetime I have called in to see Iris, at her shop or her house, on every trip to the North (it wouldn't have been a proper trip to Durness if I hadn't). On my last trip 'home to Durness' she was the last person I made special time to go and see and to hug goodbye to. And, it was that very special embrace you give a person when you have known them your entire life and... you know they are fighting cancer. Whether they are telling you the latest good or bad news about their condition, inside you quietly speak unspoken words - "please don't let this be our last goodbye". Yet, for us that was farewell and, after a long time blethering to her in her kitchen there she was, waving to me from her garden gate and me tooting the car horn as I set off to drive back to Edinburgh. That day when Iris hugged me she laughed, "ah the baby I held and the toddler I lifted on to the shop counter to choose which sweeties to give you" - "Aye well then, I quipped - it's all your fault I've had too many sweeties" and I gave her an even closer squeeze in my arms.

I feel fortunate to have known this woman, this special woman that you could call - the 'salt of the earth'. From her small shop in the North West Highlands, the relationships that she built up with locals and tourists alike have created many positive ripples out around the world so that Iris will be sadly missed by very many people. For me, like the sunshine Yellow Iris which flowers so brightly in the Highlands, my time spent with Iris Mather has brightened my life.

My thoughts go out to all her family and her many friends -

From her wee shop in the Highlands, Iris touched so many lives

FAREWELL IRIS

People and places, build up our world

These special friends, that shape us

Their warm smile, that lights our way

Laughter, love and words they say

So when it comes, their time to leave

Their special memories, still live on

And we reflect, how much they gave

For all of that, will keep us strong

Shona McMillan 10.11.10

R.I.P IRIS MATHER

SHONA'S STORY (1)

It's a cold, Autumnal day in Scotland and I've been preparing for winter. I had planned to be out painting my porch. Yet, other than it IS cold and I don't feel like climbing ladders today, for whatever reasons I've found myself reflecting and thinking -

"At what point do personal memories become of shared value? And I've found myself wondering - "At what point should you consider telling your own account eg: Shona's story?"

When my mum was in her seventies, I remember hearing about a local history project and suggesting she should take part “Och no” was her almost embarrassed, response, “what would I have to say that anyone would want to hear”. 

Yet ten years on, in the last chapter of her life, mum saw the full extent of the 'need' to create a community legacy to preserve people's stories for the future.

Realising the importance, the need to preserve a person's story of their life need not be about them but that their life is just another part in a bigger picture, the desire to create a record, a snap shot of life caught in time so future generations can look back to experiences of life from a time now forever gone.

Starting with my mum's fishing family stories, and continuing on to gather more stories and photos from the wider community (from Edinburgh, East Lothian to Eyemouth) – when all that mass of information was summarised and presented by me (with photos and subtitles in my free People and Songs of the Sea exhibitions), as many as 12,000 people came to see the 300+ photos and text. 

Measuring the reaction of those people who viewed my exhibitions, the numbers tell me unequivocally that personal stories (of ordinary people) no one person is 'ordinary' - everyone has a unique story to tell and shared stories are of a GREAT value to others.

Through today's media, you could think that unless a person is a CELEBRITY (for whatever reasons) then a person's story has no worth. BUT NO! I think that every single person's life is of value and, as my mum would say, "every family, every person has a story to tell". So, whether it is that we relate to the tales of other people because we see something in them that reflects in our own life, or that, their stories simply spark of personal memories, perhaps even hidden deeply within us and forgotten – stories have value.



We do not grow up in life or pass through this world alone. So too the memories stored in us can touch and influence others. BUT, at what point should we start to recollect? I find myself uncomfortable in asking that question to myself? Maybe with a blog there is no fixed ‘start point’ – maybe we just need to talk and the stories will arrive!

In the way I build my regular Celtic Reflections Photoblogs on Facebook, maybe I don’t need to plan everything out here with a beginning, middle and end – maybe I just need to start to talk and to share! To write down my recollections and illustrate my stories with the photos which come to mind. Sharing even small things that make me smile, like getting caught in the rain yesterday at sunset. And, even although I was drenched - telling others later of how wonderful it felt to be outdoors in the middle of such a scenic downpour!

Duddingston Loch, Edinburgh in a downpour at sunset
© Shona McMillan. All Rights Reserved

In my project work (People and Songs of the Sea) for over four years I have been completely focussed on gathering together the memories of other people. Indeed, I would feel quite horrified to think of myself as being old enough to share my life stories, my memories with others. I feel as young and full of life as I did when I was 18 but then, when my mum passed away at 80, that was one of the last things she said to me “strange to be nearing the end of my life when I still feel as young and full of life as I ever did”.

Stay young and full of life! :-D

I think it is great when people retain a positive outlook on life (being happy should be irrelevant to age). So, to use how we feel as an indication when to start, is to risk that appropriate day never arriving. So for me, it's today! 

In thinking to write out stories from my life, it is NOT about writing things down to say that 'my life is more remarkable than any other persons and so it should be shared' - I ABSOLUTELY DO NOT believe that. But, just as I have been interested in other peoples stories, maybe some day, people will be interested in mine. I grew up before mobile phones, computers, colour TV - WOW, even for me to think back on a world without all these norms seems unimaginable. Yet, I did experience life without these things. Therefore, my stories may one day touch those who never saw the world as it was then - just as happy a place and maybe sometimes even happier because it wasn't cluttered up with so many distractions from what is trully important in life which is simply to live, laugh and love.

Arthur Seat, Edinburgh
© Shona McMillan

For whatever reasons to write -

If I have prompted others to share their stories with me, maybe it is time I share some of my own.

My recollections would be formed around my life in Edinburgh, my connections to East Lothian and the coast, my love for the Highlands.

And of course, my equally strong feelings for Ireland and all the other lovely countries I've got to know on my travels: Canada, America, Italy - goodness, the list can go on and on...

In setting out to write any story, I want to look for a beginning, a middle and an end. Writing about myself there is an obvious problem – I am not looking back at a life which has been completed and therefore, one that has been all nicely organised into a natural story telling order. So, I need to come up with another way to organise these accounts. Accordingly, I think it easiest to pick topics and write about these. It would be good if they were ordered (my logical mind prefers that). However, people's recollections can and usually do just tend to spill out in a random fashion. In making this process as easy on myself as possible, it seems then my plan is to 'go with the flow’.

If you are sitting comfortably?

Then I will begin...

Over the coming weeks, months - the time ahead, I will look back and share stories on topics including: Family, Friends, School, Childhood, Holidays, Sayings, Music, Travel and so on. Chapters filled with daily events which build to form stories from a life.

Welcome to "Shona's story".



Bathed in sunshine, Yellow Craigs beach, East Lothian
All Text and Images © Shona McMillan. All Rights Reserved