GONE PICKING ROSE PETALS.

 

I don’t suppose I’m the only one who finds there are times when I just need to get away; a change of scene, just up sticks and go. I’d been promising myself just that for the past couple of months, and suddenly it seemed like summer might slip by yet again without me taking advantage of living in such a beautiful place. Tottie had been getting on my nerves more than usual, and so I packed food, bedding and art materials into the van, leaving a note on the front door, “Gone picking rose petals”. I had been due to fly down to London for the opening of my exhibition, but had chickened out finding the thought of London simply too terrifying. Exactly where, or for how long I was to be away was anyone’s guess, but that Saturday morning I had indeed been invited to help a friend pick wild rose petals to make jelly. Over on the west coast it started out dull and damp at Bragar, not ideal conditions for the plucking of petals, but by late morning it had already begun to brighten up. After the gathering I headed on up to the Port of Nis to see if I could make sense of its complexities in preparation for another of my piers ports and jetties. I was away for five days in total, and managed to get a mass of information on piers down the west coast of Lewis as well as the South Lochs or Pairc area, and on the final day I headed down to Scalpay. A night spent out beyond Aird Uig at Gallan Head was wonderful. Very few of the communications building remain, but I could well see why they chose such a place. It’s not the most westerly point of the Hebrides, but one certainly gets the feeling of being at the end of somewhere, yet another Finisterre or Penn ar bed.

I kept my phone switched off since I had no charger in the van and would need to conserve the energy for photos. By the end of the five days I had a head, sketchbook and phone full of information, and really did need to get back in order to sort it all out. That evening a friend called round to check I was OK, and it turned out several people had been worried since gone picking rose petals didn’t seem sufficient. Fortunately Tottie kept her cool and didn’t contact the police to report me as missing. Gone AWOL perhaps, but when the need takes me I go, and I might well do it again before the months out. I have to admit the first night was hell. I found a beautiful spot to camp, but the back seat of the van was decidedly uncomfortable. The following evening I added a self-inflating carry mat and that made all the difference. Next time I will take a little longer to prepare my departure and yes I will give a little more in the way of explanation as to where I going and for how long. The preview opening evening was set for Thursday the 7^th and they had done me proud with an excellent on line catalogue. I was delighted to discover they had also sold four pieces before the night.

Tottie. Tom had been impossible over the past fortnight, and when he simply up sticks without a word there was part of me that was quite relieved, even though the ridiculous message stuffed into the front door letter box saying he’d gone picking rose petals did make me wonder if he’d finally tipped over the edge. On the fifth day, without any sign of life, I have to admit I was beginning to get concerned. Just a short text would have sufficed, but during my trip to Western Australia Charley had told me, when Tom took the Landrover he could be gone for weeks before news would filter back from friends that he’d stayed a couple of nights and was now heading further east to Cape Arid. He would eventually return with stories of his adventures and sketchbooks full. And so, when he did eventually return to New Tolsta he was changed, for the better thankfully. He’s plunged back into his stitching, while I’ve had to try and get on top of the garden. The big gale left the veg patch rather flat, and some of the greens that had already suffered with the cabbage root fly, were now almost ripped out of the ground. The trees took a pounding, and the tops are now ragged with a lot less leaves, while a couple of the spruces lost their growing leader completely. However, now with all the fruit picked I have the freezer full, and we certainly won’t need to be buying any jam.