Category: Outtakes

Homesick on Holiday

Hiding unobserved within.
Snug, unknown, silent.
Only to pounce unexpected in a moment of quiet beauty.
How is homesickness even a thing?
But there it was.

After all this time of longing to be away, to go on adventure, to experience else but the homely walks through rolling fields. I think lock-down has a lot to answer for. Perception of space, movement, away-ness, thereness, here-ness, place and space have changed. Home (if you were lucky. There are other stories as well.) became saver evermore and the outside stranger, disorientating. Adventures too much movement.

and yet …

Door Step Adventures

Sunday Thoughts

It’s a grey rainy day here in Scotland and mood was a bit on the low. This is the time of year where we are out almost each weekend: wild camping, kayaking, hiking, mountain biking. And I was not looking forward to another weekend without adventures. We got onto the mountain bikes anyway and took a route that used to be blocked off but now has an access path. I never knew we had proper wetlands just on the outskirts of town, with a field of cotton grass, a birch wood covered in blueberry shrubs! I will go back and share some proper photos with you. It was as if we accidentally stumbled into another dimension. From our urban surroundings into a wild, wild wood. Magical! So how many micro-adventures do you have on your door step? Areas you don’t know about or–like the alpha boy–haven’t been there in 40 years? Amazed how huge that tree you remember from childhood has become. Little hidden gems of magic.

What if?

What if being you
is good enough?

What if you are actually that
smart
funny
caring
creative
organised
warm?

What if you permit yourself
to be enough?

What if you are even more than enough?

What if you belief you are actually worth it?

What could you achieve if you would believe all of this?

Outer Hebrides: Zombie 2

Dolphins, eagles, seals, and the zombie
A holiday interrupted
By Nothingness

Outer Hebrides: Alone

Everybody is alone onto themselves
That’s the dichotomy of being
We are social but nobody truly knows the other
All we negotiate is a common story

Outer Hebrides: weather warning

Reflection on stormy days

A howl so ancient it sits at the beginning of fire and light
I want to run
Hunt
Sail
Dance
And howl at the moon, hidden.

What is ‘yellow warning rain’ anyway?
Something we never knew about.

Outer Hebrides

The last two weeks were spend camping in the Outer Hebrides in Scotland. Whilst kayaking and walking there were many moments for reflections and insights, I am going to share in poetry and blog form. I am also really excited to share some of my experiments with you. Working with the environment we were in, I created a ‘Washed Away’ mini-series around themes that follow abuse, such as shame, and fear. And another one focusing on taking a closer look. Anyhow, I hope you enjoy the images and sounds, and laugh, cry and think with me as usual.

view from my kayak

Stories–a poem

A poem lingers in the back of my throat; scratching my vocal cords like an angry cat.

When I close my eyes words dart across my lids like alarmed starlings from the cherry tree.

The rhythm of words pulsates through my veins, like the bass from a subwoofer.

I hear the echoes of stories wanting told, wanting an audience, needing out–into the open.

Every cell of my body wants to tell stories; for in stories we live, we learn, we join the past with the future.

The library is too huge, large, enormous, endless, eternal, ethereal, intangible to crasp but the stories must be lived.

Are you in the right book?
What story have you chosen?

What future holds

You won’t know
What the future holds

How hopes and dreams
And fears unfold

Be brave take small steps
Or leap with bravado

Whichever way you go
This will be the right way for you

There is no wrong path
No expected timeline

All that matters
Is that you keep moving

Climate Change

Spring
Springs
Sprang
Sprung
Unexpectedly
In the midst of February
In the midst of winter

Joy
Spreads
Spread
Spread
Fully
Burst into colours
Bathed in sunshine

Panic
Begins
Began
Begun
At the realisation

Of what man
Had done