PEOPLE OF THE LAND

Hugh McMillan - fetching the milk at the farm

When growing up, the past (even the recent past of your family) can seem something that's very far removed from the life you are living. But, the older you get - the more you realise that you and your generation are not 'unique' in the personal relationships that are built.

Life is like the land and the four seasons which shape our year, here in Scotland: Spring, Summer, Autumn and Winter. Like a life itself - the seasons reflect to us the chapters of our life. And if we look, we can see that old family photos can reveal so much to us about our here and now and the legacy that we have inherited from the generations who have lived before. Yet, "to look" is not always so easy because - to do so objectively - we must consider our changing world. And if we want to capture aspects of life for the future - we need to record these while we still can.



Dogs, horses, cows - my dad was always so relaxed around animals
and loved to take our family out in to the countryside
sharing with us his appreciation of nature



The first photo of my dad above used to sit near the piano in my family home. The picture showed my dad as a boy, an ordinary photo then of him walking with his dog, carrying back milk he had collected at the farm. As a young person, "I knew everything" about that photo that had been taken in Garvald. Yes, all the details of "my dad getting the milk with his dog at the farm" but no specific details in answer to the more searching questions I have today as an adult...

My Dad told me how very, very happy his childhood had been as a young boy. Working outdoors with his dad growing vegetables, his dear dog Sweep helping him to herd the cows to the milking at the dairy near to their home by Arthur Seat. 

How much as a boy my dad enjoyed living in this Edinburgh which was (back then) so very different from what it is today. Sheep grazed at Arthur Seat (back then called the King's Park) and from the McMillan home they had a clear view of the Fife coast and in Edinburgh, the fields sloping down to the sea at Seafield and Portobello.

By the time I grew up, houses had spread out in to the fields but at least a golf course (and the fertile volcanic slopes of Arthur Seat) still ensured a large area of green vegitation. The golf course, just above the beach,  "the sands at 'Porty' where my dad enjoyed family days out. Taken by his mum, the portrait above showing my dad in the middle, his father on the left and dad's sister Freda on the right (and of course Sweep the dog which went everywhere with them). Happy family day trips to the beach and then, as an older boy, dad also there with his friends to catch the horses exercised on the sands by troops from Piershill Barracks. (See Mike Kelly copyright notice).

17th Lancers exercising their horses at Portobello beach

After the exercises were finished, the horses would be left to relax on the sands and then, when ready to go - the young boys would help to catch the horses by their reins and for this the troops would give them pennies to spend on some sweets. Life was good! And also, as my dad's dad, was a well known and popular tram driver, my dad would go to see him at work and hitch free rides around the town.

Days seemed full of sunshine and in the evening's dad's mum would often sing and play the piano. Described as a gentle creature, Mary Hardie had actually grown up in the next street to Fred McMillan. They had met young, fallen in love and married but sadly, the life enjoyed took a severe change of direction when my dad was just ten.

Out of the blue my dad's father died of an anurism. One day he went out to work and then he was 'gone'. The shock and financial burden on his young wife was tremendous. Wanting to help, and now "feeling he had to be the man of the house" my father thought he must do something and so an approach to the RAF was made. At just 11 years old, my dad was accepted in to the service but immediately he was posted down south. My dad's experience was not a happy one. As a family, we heard of his childhood and then his life after meeting mum. And, what is not spoken about but left to go undiscussed - these memories can eventually fade away and maybe be lost forever.

It seemed to me that from the moment my mum was diagnosed with terminal cancer my dad began to 'drift' away. 65 days from that diagnosis to her being gone and, after more than 50 years of marriage, my dad was very lost. Increasingly he would ask me questions about the past. The project I started for mum "People of the Sea" - this was a great help because it would bring back memories but not of his life before mum. Painstakingly I searched for photos, read pencil scribbles on the back of them (thanks to Mary McMillan for writing things down!) and then on Father's Day I surprised him with the launch of his very own exhibition for ONE! His reaction was so dramatic, I was taken aback. "You've given me my life back! All my life, the memories before I met your mum that were slipping away, I remember it all, a flood of memories pouring in."

A window opened in my dad's mind as for more than two hours he spoke without stopping about everything. Details I knew that even mum had never heard - the eighty plus years of the jigsaw puzzle of his life coming together. His loving mum, so gentle, young and happy until he was ten. But sadly, how much the years had aged her when he travelled back up from England to see her again in Edinburgh for that short hello and very distressing long goodbye. How much this photo must have been treasured until - too painful to look at, it was safely put away and then the years passed it by (photos without their story).

The personal cost of economic hardship and the cruel realities of war.  Away for a couple of more years, my dad abroad then told his mum was critically ill and given compassionate leave. But rushing to see her, arriving at the hospital  "they were leaving her room" - his mum had passed away in that last ten minutes he'd been tried to reach her...

Hearing my dad's full story was pretty shocking - and the great irony was that I was preparing to launch "People of the Sea" (inspired by my mum and only now I was really learning about my dad). Yet suddenly, I understood SO MANY things that explained other parts of my own life. Without any family left around him, when my dad had married my mum from the fishing community, yes, I could see why his concentration had moved to talk only of her family and not want to discuss the extent of the personal loss he had known. Losses which had ultimately distanced him from the opportunities for him to discover details about his ancestors and "People of the Land".

L-R: Aunty Chrissie's friend, Aunt Chris Thorburn, Hugh and Jean McMillan,
Christine Telfer (cousin), Crissie and Billy Thorburn 

As a young dating couple, yes I knew my Mum and Dad went on their first ever holiday together to Garvald - but exactly why that had been a special place in dad's childhood I didn't know and don't today. Do I have family there? Who knows... Entering his 90th year, my dad 'technically' lives on but all stories once shared have faded away as the cruel clouds of vascular dementia have rolled in. Too late for new questions, only my own patchwork of gathered information remains to tell me that my dad's folk were once "People of the Land". Recent generations settled in Edinburgh, Musselburgh (East Lothian) and on the far side of the Firth of Forth, the McMillan's worked on farms in Fife, near Kinross and over to the west, perhaps in Stirlingshire. 

If the hills could talk, what stories would I learn but recently (looking at the colours in this photo), a memory came back to me. Sitting in my dad's car some years ago he was outside and had opened the door "Jean, where's my tin?" Mum, reached in to the glove compartment and passed him a travel sweets tin. I didn't pay much attention until I saw mum wink and affectionately say "Aye, Johnny Apple Seed".

When the door closed I asked her what she'd meant. She laughed at their secret "Have you never seen yer faither go one of his wee walks when he stops the car? - He gathers up seed pods from the brightest flowers and then pops them into his pocket. After drying them out at home he collects up all the seeds and they go in to the tin he's gone off with. He'll take a walk, disturb the soil and scatter the seeds in other places so he spreads the flowers around the land" "Really?" I said, absolutely amazed - "Oh yes, he's been doing his bit for nature for years". Quite bemused by this I thought it over and then asked "And so he goes back to see the flowers in bloom?" "Och no" said mum, in a knowing way "that's not the point, he's just trying to leave the world a better place than it was when he came in to it."

The Road Home?
In the distance, the farmland from where the McMillan's came from.

Just last week I went back to the area where 'I believe' some of my dad's people once worked the land. I looked at the colours of the fields and the brightly shining crop of yellow Rapeseed in the distance which more or less marks that spot. I thought of the flowers which plant themselves, the seeds that are scattered by the wind. But then I smiled as I also recalled the sunshine yellow and  orange poppies which mysteriously arrived in to my own garden (quietly dropped there along the border of my path by my dad). Such a small effort to spread some colour in to another person's life and yet, each year when I see yellow and orange poppies flower it makes me smile.

Likewise, it was both the McMillan and Thorburn  interest in photography which has given me photos I can appreciate and share - like this one taken by my dad of myself, then just a baby in my mum's arms. Looking back, it was on mum's 80th birthday (May 2006) that she asked that her present be a celebration of the People of the Sea. That promise was given by me in laughter without any vision of what would be achieved: exhibitions visited by 12,000 visitors, 2010 Compendium Album of the Year, Creative Project of the Decade 2000-2010 and in 2011, Culture Sparks social media award for Marketing Impact. And now this weekend, my Celtic Reflections blog has had it's 10,000th visitor... So much has come out of the last five years of this work but now, for me personally, a time to begin a new chapter in my life as I take up an exciting new longterm project (quite by chance: my new job beginning on my dad's birthday and from an office overlooking the farmland that my dad's folks came from).

Wishing a Happy Birthday in 2011 to my Dad, Hugh McMillan
"People of the Land is inspired by you"

Looking on the personal work I have been doing (before this new job) I realised that increasingly, I've seen myself taking photographs of those who work on the land. Indeed in 2010, I took the opportunity to specifically go and photograph various friends who were working the land in the Highlands (a second home where I have holidayed all my life). Very keen to take these photos, thinking at the time that the people's skills (such as Peat cutting) the 'know how' to do this was being passed on to less and less folk with each new generation.

In 2010 - 2011, I've been photographing people working the land in the Lothians and Scottish Borders. However, when over in Fife I had an experience last week which signalled to me it was time to start doing something with all these photos. Wanting to know more about my dad's past, I asked a farm labourer who I might speak. Away in the distance of the land behind me, he pointed to a farm saying "ah, you really need to go and speak to the old guy that lives on the hill up there". As I followed the directions and the farm grew nearer - I wondered what to say but we'll never know. Getting out my car I shouted to someone, "which house does the old guy stay in" and the person called back "oh I'm sorry, he has passed away"...

After that conversation, I sat by the field of Rapeseed that I had first seen from the distance. Watching the sun set over the crop, I felt philisophical about what had happened and decided. Yes, it may well be that I discover absolutely nothing more about my own roots but "no matter to that". I think, just as my dad planted seeds to flower for others to enjoy. Maybe then, my photos will plant positive seeds of thought with those who see them. My photos and stories, maybe nudging some faded memory back in to flower or even, just passing on a smile.  Whatever, I am never short of reasons to get out with my camera and enjoy a walk in Scotland's beautiful scenery. I love talking to folks I meet on these walks and also, now that I must surely know nearly every inch of the Edinburgh to Eyemouth coastline - well, I can now look forward to discovering so much more about the People of the Land on BOTH sides of the Firth of Forth, as this new chapter in my life will allow me to.  (Anyway, more about my new job in a future blog - as for now, I go to post photos to my Facebook page of this evening's very beautiful sunset - check out http://www.facebook.com/shonamcmillan.celticreflections.com in my May out and about album. The sunset by the Forth tonight, so 'perfect' this evening, it seemed almost to be a Celtic Reflection of the lovely day that I have enjoyed outdoors).

9.05.11: Me enjoying this evening's sunset by the Firth of Forth

HAPPY BIRTHDAY DAD!

- PEOPLE OF THE LAND (and Sea)

A New Chapter Begins

SCOTLAND - A NATION ARISES

Today’s election has shown a landslide swing to the Scottish National Party.

The political map in Scotland has changed overnight So, what does that mean for each of us on a personal, individual level?

A time to

begin again?

A time for

new beginnings?

EARTHQUAKE IN SCOTTISH POLITICS

http://www.scottishreview.net/KRoy118.shtml 

 

Here, I share with my readers some emails exchanged today. Quiet congratulations from an English woman, to a Scottish woman.

To put these emails in context - Lets face it, “us Scots” we are NOT perfect and I can feel ashamed of some of the things we can say and do. By this I refer to anti English, racial statements and equally unacceptable ignorance (by the minority) in the form of religious bigotry. Also, in the way that we live... too many Scots place too much emphasis on alcohol and our overall track record in health leaves a great deal of room for improvement. Scottish people we have our failings but I think also that we have our great strengths and most admirable characteristics too. Therefore, at the dawning of a new political landscape, here is a new opportunity for us (as individuals and as a nation) to work together for a better future. Let's not focus on the divides between our political parties or the differences between Scotland and other countries, let's focus more on the benefits of working together in partnership to initiate positive change for the future. In this election, Scotland's people have come together to speak with one voice. This is a proud day for Scotland!

In looking at the bigger picture of our nation's future, as individuals, lets also see the smaller picture - with that in mind, I share the emails exchanged between two women, one English, one Scottish.

Hi Shona, I am so pleased for the Scots! They have their lives back! England? We lost our nation years ago and have little identity left eg: not even allowed to put up our own flag up as when we do we are accused of racism! You Scots have it right! My daughter is half Scots, having a Scottish father (not clear which camp she will fall into now!)

Better to go with the Scots for a new chance and a fresh start!

Good luck to you all!!!

Hi, my thanks to you, that's a LOVELY email! Goodness tho', I feel quite WASHED OUT by all this good news - such elation and then some tears too that my mum can't be here to see this proud day.

A day Scotland has waited on for hundreds of years...

Yes Shona, my former partner (my daughter’s father) he wanted home rule too but he passed away some time ago and now, too late for him and all who have gone before to see this day. But, here is

the chance for the new generation to pick up the flag of their forefathers. The English today will be so wishing it was them!

My Scots ancestry is limited to the 12 century when we fought and lost - lost our land in Scotland and ended up in England and became English as our new generations followed, like the many who settled here from other countries. And others in my family they emigrated abroad. But, for the ones who stayed, today is a day when a new nation arises! Good luck to all of Scotland for her future and from everyone here down south we will be thinking the same (even if secretly!!!) The birth of a new brave nation arising from the old, it’s great!!! Have a good weekend, I have a bottle of champagne and I will toast to my daughter’s new independent country!!!

Thanks for reading my Blog and I leave you with one of the greatest songs written by Robert Burns, this version sung by Sheena Wellington at the opening of the Scottish Parliament on the 1st of July 1999. Today on the 6th of May it is the start of an equally proud new beginning. Now as we move forward – let us do so in partnership. Let everyone pull together for Scotland’s future, for Scotland’s people. This is a new beginning and a new nation arises.

 

TIME TO BEGIN AGAIN

Easter Sunday was a perfect day for me, from start to finish. A frosty sunrise, to a sunny, increasingly warm day with a hot afternoon before the evening clouded over again.  By then, I welcomed the drop in temperature. Nevertheless, at the hottest time of the day, how pleasant it was to have sat under trees by a loch watching butterfllies - such delicate creatures to have come through the last harsh winter. Easter seems to be the time, when all around us we can see Nature's hand in the creation of new life beginning again.

Yesterday, invited to visit an art exhibition in a church, at the venue there were bookmarks with the picture of a butterfly settled on some blossom and the statement "Easter, time to begin again" - an interesting selection of words open to many interpretations. Later, looking at butterfly photographs I had just taken, I thought again about the bookmark phrase in connection with words a best friend had read to me on Good Friday. Whilst on the phone, she accidently knocked items to the floor and stopping to pick these up, she read to me some words from where a book's page had opened - beginning with the sentence about time, that "There is a right time for everything: A time to be born and a time to die." And we had talked about this, myself remembering my mum saying "people fear death and yet, some die without ever having lived and that should be feared much more." How precious was our time, our share of life.

TIME: There is a right time for everything;

There is a right time for everything;
A time to be born, a time to die

A time to plant;

A time to harvest;

A time to kill;

A time to heal;

A time to destroy;

A time to rebuild;

A time to cry;

A time to laugh;

A time to grieve;

A time to dance;

A time for scattering stones;

A time for gathering stones;

A time to hug;

A time not to hug;

A time to find;

A time to lose;



Easter - Time to begin again?



A time for keeping;

A time for throwing away;

A time to tear;

A time to repair;

A time to be quiet;

A time to speak up;

A time for loving;

A time for waiting;

A time for war;

A time for peace.

All around nature is beginning again, flowers coming in to bloom, young animals being born, birds nesting on eggs soon to hatch. To do something 'again', some can focus on an action being repeated because it wasn't done correctly the first time around. Yet surely, it is more liberating to focus on the positive - that with wisdom from past experiences, a person can take a new opportunity to "begin again". So, here is to new beginnings at the start of a New Year, at Easter or indeed, whenever they are taken - "Life is to be lived!"  



The verse above about 'Time' is from the Bible, Ecclesiastes Chptr 3. And I think, whether a person is religious or not, The Bible can make interesting, thought provoking reading. In this chapter, the passage moves on to question "What does a person really get from hard work" and states "Everything is appropriate in its own time." We can not see from the beginning to the end of eternity but we can conclude "there is nothing better than to be happy and to enjoy oneself as long as possible - to eat, drink and enjoy the fruits of our labour."

With a smile, I could translate the above as knowing when it's the right time to go with the flow and when instead, it's the time to paddle as hard as you can! Yes, sometimes, it is best to drift down stream with the current but, at other times, you need to face the immediate situation - find the strength required to paddle your own boat against the flow, safely steering your own course (as best as you can) through whatever storm in life it is that you face.

Yet, after the storm, embracing the need to pull your boat safely up on to the shore, taking time out for a walk to relax and reflect. By a loch, on a beach or looking down from a hill at the beauty below. Anywhere scenic is always a great place to think and focus the thoughts so that calm and refreshed we are ready to "begin again".

Easter Sunday, my day perfect from start to finish. Some clouds at sunrise causing the sun to illuminate the sky with an orangey hue. Then the continuing sunshine warming up the earth so that dormont butterflies took to the air. Then in the evening, after a long, hot day, the temperature finally dropped and by then, high above East Lothian on the Duns Road, I watched the misty clouds roll over the Firth of Forth. Time, is as always moving on. Easter Sunday drawing to a close before the start of the post holiday working week and my Monday morning - a time to begin again.

EASTER - MORE OR LESS?

Easter, a time of the year which means all sorts of different things to people. From a period of religious celebration, to an opportunity to spend a weekend walking around superstore sales buying items for the house. For me, Easter is a time for getting outdoors and seeing new life beginning with flowers in bloom and spring lambs in the fields.

Constant visits to shops result in buying much more than we need and it seems to me - less is more!

When we are starting out in life, we can work so hard to gain skills and qualifications to get that better paid "more successful job" - but it's important to stop and consider, "what is success?". If we aim for a goal, what do we do when we achieve it? Do we continue to push on, set new goals or do we actually enjoy that we've accomplished what we set out to?

I have owned a couple of houses in my life, all bought because of the principle "location, location, location". Indeed, I always smile when I recall the absolute shock of my boss (back then) who, when visiting my house for the first time, blurted out in a horrified voice "This is it? What sort of statement does this house make, it's tiny?" I remember laughing and saying I didn't buy my house to make a statement but to live in!  Near enough to my work in Edinburgh but with beautiful views of the sea and with easy access to the city bypass and surrounding coutryside  (my boss and I were good friends but we were both people with very different values and priorities).

Nevertheless with my second house, again bought for the view, it was much larger. And when it came time to leave, and half packed boxes and chaos seemed all around me, I thought to myself  "time to downsize! But, where to begin?" Sitting on my bed to think that through, I moved my fiddle and camera (all placed there with my laptop for safety) and that was my 'Eureka moment' - did I really need much more than my fiddle, camera and laptop, to live and enjoy life?

Out for a drive yesterday evening a few miles from Edinburgh, no where particularly special, I was watching the sun sinking behind a hill and a 'field of coos.' Such simple things are worth appreciating. At this time of the year, all around us new life is beginning. Time is, as always, moving on but in ALL ways it is so very precious. Each day consisting of 24 hours in which a series of opportunities will pass by us each, chances that we can take (Carpe Diem) to make a day remarkable or, chances lost, so that the day of potential ends with the sun setting on time that has only served to come and go. Yet, our lives are built up from the chapters in which these individual days have been gathered - lives shaped by choices that have been made.

Watching wee lambs running around in the fields, stopping their antics to run up to their mums and watch me (as if saying - "Mum, why's that woman watching us?"). And the young calves too, like this curious little critter last night, fascinated, wanting to come over and investigate me and my camera but instead giving a nervous "Moo" to his mum. Such simple but such lovely things, just to take the time out to stand and watch nature on a still evening in the countryside, far away from the hustle, bustle and noises of the town.

Yes, the Easter weekend may be an opportunity to "go to the sales" or get that "DIY project in the house completed" but I hope that there is also enough time put aside just to "enjoy life". Time passes by us all so quickly and if we had a goal to live in a certain house, to buy certain nice things or own that special car we always wanted - when we have attained these goals, surely then, is it not time to take the foot of the accelerator through life, to slow down and enjoy the view. If you have read to here in my Blog, thank you - and now maybe, it's time to get outdoors? Taking more time to fully enjoy life. Is this Easter a time for the shops and buying more clutter for your house? (Possessions you probably don't all need.) Or, is less actually more? More time to really live and enjoy the beauty that is all around us, to find time to stop and smell the flowers!

Happy Easter and may you enjoy your dance through life!

Oh yes and, I nearly forgot about chocolate and bunnies!

May the magic Easter Bunny come in from the fields to visit you this Sunday morning with lots of Chocolate Easter eggs!

One of my favourite memories of Easter is from Feakle, Co. Clare in Ireland. Staying there, with this lovely family - I was  woken early on Easter Sunday morning by a great commotion! The door to the garden had been thrown open and the young children were tearing all round the garden at great speed looking for chocolate eggs that the Easter Bunny had hidden. (I never saw this 'tradition' celebrated in Scotland but it was wonderful to see such great excitement!).

Just think - If you run round your garden enough you can work off all the calories of the Chocolate Easter eggs you'll eat. And, think of 
the entertainment value you'll give your neighbours!!!  ;-D

LET THE LIGHT SHINE

You can think through many thoughts whilst watching a sunset. Here are some of mine from last night as I enjoyed one of the most beautiful sunsets I've seen over the Firth of Forth. Waves gently breaking on the shore, the welcome sound of Eider ducks calling to each other, a blackbird singing from a tree - a magical end to a beautiful day.

I love how the colours of the sky can change so quickly. For me, no one picture can ever truly capture a sunset. The whole sky, an ever changing work of art, the canvas on which Mother Nature works her magic. Illuminated by natural light, an ever constant creation. Subtle changes as we watch, as our eye scans the horizon to observe one part and then, when we cast our gaze back, the colours where we looked have changed. A unique work of art to end our day. Colours moving, changing, deepening and then - gone. Only the sparkle of stars in a clear night's sky, the potential promise of a sunrise to alight a fresh picture painted by nature's pallet of glowing colours.

Tonight, as the sun slipped far below the horizon, the deeping colours stilled me to sit a while and soak in the tranquility. And, as I watched, the sparkle of Fidra Lighthouse shone out across the waters. Fidra, the  island whose shape is said to have inspired Robert Louis Stevenson in his most famous book "Treasure Island." The lighthouse was actually built in 1885 by members of Stevenson's family - David and Thomas Stevenson. Indeed, around the coast of Scotland there are more than 200 lighthouses, the majority of these lighthouses built by the civil engineering genuises which were the Stevesons but - not Robert Louis Stevenson, he carved his own path.

Born in 1850, Robert was expected to follow in his family's footsteps but after three years as a civil engineer apprentice he changed to legal studies. Yet still, it was writing which was his passion.  Developing a debilitating respiratory illness, early in life he became determined to become a professional writer. Much of his work was written from his sick bed and finally, poor health encouraged him to travel away from the harsh Scottish climate. At 26 he met, fell in love with and went on to marry an American art student.  Finally, they settled on the island of Upolu in Samoan where locals called him "Tusitala" (teller of tales). He continued to write but in 1890, at 44, Stevenson died of a stroke - but what he had made of his short life!

A quote by him is posted on my kitchen wall: "Never underate the duty of being happy". Despite his illness, RLS became famous in his own lifetime and respect for his work has continued to grow through time. His first steps away from his family's path, his desire to be a writer was not encouraged. Yet, from history, he is probably now more famous than the civil enginners of his family who mariners owe so much gratitude too. For me, the story of RLS serves to indicate that everyone is different and that the world is all the better for that. Great civil engineers are much required but so too are the creative talents of those who make the world a better place through work which can be shared and enjoyed.

Sat on the hill above North Berwick, looking to Fidra and up along the Forth, I reflected on Robert Louis Stevenson's life. For a time he had tried to become a civil engineer but that was not for him... How fortunate for us all that he broke away from the path of conformity and followed his heart. Too often the cautious voice inside can be silenced by the "wise words of those who know better" (?). I think we are more likely to have a better understanding of our heart's desire than the view of an outsider looking in BUT it can be difficult to find the confidence required to go it alone. Just over five years ago "some friend" said to me I was wasting my time with photography, I would never be any good and it was boring to watch me try - what crushing words these were at that time. Yet, I was a fool to take them to heart. A more appropriate response would have been to have said "so what?" If we really love something then the happiness that comes from that creative pursuit should not be ignored. Thankfully, it was encouragement from my mum who got me to look again at photography as a hobby. I absolutely adore it so thank goodness she did! and tonight, standing up from the bench on my scenic view point, I decided to take this  photo to share with others here.

So, what were my Celtic Reflections tonight? What conclusions did I reach? As I looked out at the dark waters of the Firth of Forth I thought about the fishermen and sailors who need the light that shines from Fidra lighthouse. I thought too of Robert Louis Stevenson, the courage he found to carve out his own path, his literary work which still shines today. As he said, never under rate the duty to be happy and I would add to that - if you have a creative hobby which lights your soul then, don't neglect that either. At the end of the day, when you look back on life you can pretty much see that it doesn't matter what others think or simply - let there be light. 

Listen to your own heart and "Let Your Light Shine"

:-D SMILE and pass it on!

FAREWELL TO THE HAVEN

"Sing a Song for Davy Steele" - to mark the tenth anniversary of Davy's passing, his wife Patsy, family and friends are asking people to sing one of his many songs - to commemorate him and celebrate his amazing musical gift and the rich legacy he has left behind for us all.

 Sing a song of Davy’s on 11-4-11, in any way, in any place

 At your gig, at the pub, at home or at work, in the car or even in the bath - just sing!

 Afterwards, please visit the Davy Steele Website and let them know on the guestbook what you did. Words are also available from this site or from Patsy at patsy@patsyseddon.plus.com

Farewell to the Haven was chosen as the first track of the People and Songs of the Sea compilation album. I originally met Davy through the Edinburgh folk scene, a local man from Prestonpans, East Lothian. In Farewell to the Haven, Davy's song so perfectly captures the heartfelt sadness of those who must face the economic decision to leave the fishing for better paid work - a song written some years ago but even more relevant today as the rising cost of fuel often makes it more costly to take a boat out to sea than (even with harbours dues to be paid) than to leave it tied up. In these current, most difficult of times, many boats around Scotland's coast are being sold off.

Farewell to the Haven - is my blog and a Youtube video that I am currently working on in tribute to Davy Steele. When I have finished my blog and video clip, the final version will be posted here.

RIP Davy, your music and songs live on with us all, 11.04.11

The Girl Jean at Port Seton Harbour

FAREWELL TAE THE HAVEN by Davy Steele 

I’m leavin the fishin the life I have known

The battles wi nature that nobody’s won

The fish stocks are dwindling and the shoals hard tae find

I’m leaving the fishing I’ve made up my mind

Fareweel tae the Haven my hert it is sad

The drifters I’m leaving tae work on the land

My faither worked drifters and my grandfaither tae

My brother’s a skipper on the Elena Mae

I worked at the fishin just as soon as I could

So leaving’s no easy the sea’s in my blood

I’ll miss the wee boats though my thoughts are there yet

Wi the lads on the Jeannie haulin the net

We worked hard together and we laughed hard as well

Cursin the weather and riding the swell

I’ll work in the wire mill it’s a good job they say

I’ll start and I’ll finish the same time every day

The money is constant and my wife she seems pleased

Ah but I’ll miss the fishin and I’ll miss the sea

A sunset picture from 2006 - at the time I thought the vans 'spoilt' my photo.
They were waiting for fishing boats to come in, only a leisure boat was left.
Just as leisure boats have replaced the fishing boats of Fisherrow.
Other local harbours have seen fishing boat numbers decline.
Now in 2011 I look back, glad the vans were in my photo.

SUPPORTING PEACE IN IRELAND

Yesterday, in support of peace, it has been estimated that 10,000 people marched in Omagh, Northern Ireland. The march was organised following the murder on 2.04.2011 of a newly serving police officer, 33 year old Ronan Kerr. Many of those marching for peace carried pictures of Ronan with the slogan "NOT IN MY NAME" and I, like Ireland's majority, hope that the Irish peace process is not destroyed by recent re-emerging troubles.

The march for peace was organised, in just a few days, by 29 year Gareth McElduff - a person with a Facebook account who read of Ronan's murder and felt he had to 'do something". When one person makes a stand, others can come forward and show their support for the cause. I dearly love Ireland, it's culture, it's land and of course the people. I desperatly hope that the small minority trying to wreck Ireland's peace process achieve nothing. I remember Ireland's troubled times and no one should ever aim to return to these days.

Recently, the economy of the once strong "Celtic Tiger" has suffered greatly. The Irish are experiencing one of the nation's worst recessions and, as the economy struggles to make some ground, it needs all the support it can get eg: from tourism bringing money in to Ireland. Foreign visitors do not want to go to an area where there is trouble and those living there - they want to be able to get on with their lives without fear of violence. (Girl 5 stood beside car bomb, waving to fun runners). Whatever a person's religion, whatever their point of view - differences can be resolved through dialogue. As with those who marched for peace and in respect of Ronan Kerr, I hope that everyone (in Ireland and abroad) will support the peace process.