Wilma's Moonshadows: September 2009

Tuesday, September 29, 2009

Roaming in the gloming

Roaming in the gloming comes from an old popular Scottish romantic song however it summarizes my day. Scotlands weather has reverted to low cloud, drizzle and gloom. After coffee with my brother in law, who's health and hearing have sadly deteriorated since my last visit, and my neice Sarah she and I headed in the dreary weather to the new mall at Ocean Terminal. So there I was roamin in the gloomin wi' a lassie at my side as the song goes.

As much as I hate malls it was good to get out of the rain and lose ourselves in a little retail therapy. We found oursevles in Debenhams, I mesmerized by the strange fashions, leggins, little skirts, flowing jackets,and dainty shoes - I am definately not in Canmore anymore! I of course had to check out my purchases to make sure they would not lie languishing in my already crammed wardrobe. Reluctantly I replaced the little black dress with white and beige applique flowers on the rack. Happy that a size 10 fitted so well but then it wouldn't look that great hiking over Sunshine Meadows. Did I need another fleece? Here I do as the houses are so cold. After our efforts trying on clothes, we had to replenish our energy with tea and a huge peice of delicous gooey chocolate cake. That's right comfort food to combat the gloom outside. Maybe it is no surprise that the Scots seem fatter than they did when I grew up. Lets blame it all on the dreary weather. Still we did have fun, clutching our purchases and catching the bus to Sarah's place.

I decided to walk back through the drizzle to Theo's place to help work off the chocolate cake. What a different culture than that of the car culture of Canadian cities. Here people walk everywhere, regular buses services everywhere and not many cars in the main streets of the city. Edinburgh even in the rain is an attractive city, little closes and steps are designed for walkers. Everywhere the elegant building are framed with tall trees now tinged with orange and red.
Here I tackled some serious challenges in his kitchen then retreated to for come computer connection, blessing email, facebook and bloging. Computer addiction better than comfort food and hopefully will ensure that I fit size 10 dresses.

Tomorrow I hope to visit Little Sparta a garden created by a poet and writer. Then on thursday Clive and Chris are arriving.

Sunday, September 27, 2009

Grand-nephew Daniel

Ross, Amy Daniel on West Haven beach, Carnoustie

Rocks at Carnoustie where Clive grew up

I love bathtime

Daniel 13 months

Heathrow Airport

Here I am in Heathrow desperately looking around for the healthy jocks, the folks you know for sure are working out, eating healthy and studying NLP. You would think that those kind of folk that we see jogging or biking in Canmore are not travelling or hanging around Heathrow.
This computer has a web cam. What a shock to see myself looking as old as many of the people reading newspapers, drinking lattes and consuming cheesecake. OK with a little help from the hairdresser my hair is not grey but there is no denying those wrinkles and scrawny neck. Like I can see my collar bones! I don't feel much different than I did 30 years ago. In fact my body has more flexibility than it had thanks to the Yoga Lounge and their great teachers. Sad to say in spite of gazillions of downward dogs and trying to turn myself into a pretzel I am not looking any younger. Well my dear be a little easy on yourself you missed out on a whole night’s sleep and it is the equivalent of 6 am and you never wake up that early at home.

I, you, one could imagine that this airport was the tower of Babel. It is hard to hear any one speaking English. It is difficult to identify all the languages I hear. The English couple on my right are having intense discussions about the price of food. Then there are the women with all manner of unbecoming head coverings, although on a bad hair day I might be tempted! But never! why on earth would I want to cover my head like some nun, imagine I would not feel the breeze playing with my hair, the warm sun on my scalp or the interchange of universal forces. My life would be smaller, less, and restricted .
I imagine all the stories these rainbow people have locked inside, stories of adversity, struggle and courage. Stories of dreams, growth and inspiration. fascinating

Outside the plate glass windows the sky is dull gray. Unbelievable that 18 hours ago I was enjoying Betsy’s deck, garden and the rich company of my Canmore friends. There the sky was a dazzling blue, and the sun hot on my skin. It was thirty degrees when we arrived at the airport the last time I actually smelled real fresh air. Here I am surrounded by Boots Pharmacy beauty; The tin goose - great coffee, great food, great bar; Caffe nero the Italian coffee company, voted no 1 coffee house in the UK for 6th year running, next in line is the pink neon sign for HMV, neighboured by Dixons, HB Smith, world duty free so many consumer opportunities but I have forgotten I have a flight to catch at gate 8 - See you all later.

I found my way to gate 8 just thought I’d check the web cam again - no change - it is worse than a mirror and picks up all my imperfections, no air brush to hide my blemishes rather wrinkles! Still my body has that tingling feeling telling it me has not had enough sleep, my teeth feel fuzzy and my body sweaty. A cat nap on the flight would be good. So I have definitely left Shangri La and dropped into another world.