So, Storm Babet was interesting. Having grown up in a house yards frm the beach and then lived much of my life on the top of a cliff, I am used to the mercurial and magnificent nature of the waters of the Bristol Channel. What I am not used to is the North Sea.
I am used to the direct relationship between the sea and the land and the weather. It is windy on land, the sea is rough. Here, like now, the air is still but the waves are huge. Certainly, Storm Babet provided some entertainment and a fair bit of seaweed in the garden. A couple of cormorants were hanging around the garage for a while and I watched seagulls picking over an octopus on the beach. It was impressive but I have been advised that this was smallfry. YIkes.
More entertainment was provided by the SWI – the Scotttish Women’s Institute – with a night of Egyptian dancing led by the remarkable Morag. I had met Morag at the Gala hoe down in the summer and was keen to see her in action. Belly dancing is a lot more difficult than it looks and exercises muscles that haven’t seen any action for years. It has also been years since I danced so much that my feet hurt and padded home carrying my shoes. What a laugh!
Art class at Brora took me past fields of geese feeding on the stubbled farmland between the mountains and the sea. They fly over morning and evening in some numbers now and could be heard talking to each other, keeping the flock together, over the roar of the storm. The joy of the sun on their backs and full tummies when the calm came must make their journeying worthwhile.
Right. Time to take the dog out for a drag. Sturm und drag.
#Heleninthehighlands
Valerie Chicken 