This whole adventure started when a friend contacted me and said that there were some harp students on Lewis that could use some extra help. "Wouldn't it be fun to go out there for a few months and help out?" she suggested. Normally this would not have been an option for me, as I have so many engagements and volunteer job duties, but in the past year I had been feeling severely overworked and under-inspired, and had chosen to step down from all of my volunteer jobs and seriously curtail my schedule in order to give myself a recovery break. Having this opportunity fall at the only possible time seemed to make it obvious that I should go. Besides, Lewis is one of my favourite places in the world, and I hadn't yet seen it in winter, so taking the clear spot on my schedule (January through early March) seemed the thing to do. I'm calling it a sabbatical, since I am not officially working, but I'm regrouping to see what new inspiration strikes me, and also helping some harp students along the way.
Preparing for the trip was much more overwhelming than I'd anticipated. Not only was there taking care of household things at home for three months time, but there was cleaning up the house because we would have others living there and harp students coming in for lessons. Plus there was planning what to pack for so long. I didn't do a good job, and although I came prepared for many things, I managed to forget a number of others, including the UK cash I already had on hand, one of my credit cards I'd planned to use, and a way to convert music files to something others could read and print. I also seem to have packed way too much clothing, at least I don't go through it as quickly as I'd feared and so I could have gotten by with less.
Luckily for me, my husband Wayne was able to accompany me for the first part of my journey. This assisted me greatly in dealing with everything from hauling luggage and language issues (Germany) to all-too-vital moral support. We departed for Glasgow on December 29th, arriving on the 30th. We dropped off a bag with friends in Edinburgh so we wouldn't be encumbered with my laptop and many harp-teaching related things while in Germany. Then we went down to friend and fabulous harper Wendy Stewart's house for Hogmany.
Hogmany is the Scottish version of New Years. They shoot off fireworks and have major parties. They have a tradition of "first-footing" where they visit each other just after midnight and try to be the first to arrive in the new year. It's all very friendly and neighbourly, not like many of the big, impersonal events we tend to have in the U.S.
Wendy's Hogmany party was a small affair, with under 15 people. We had a fabulous meal prepared by Wendy's other half -- Alan, a totally gourmet Indian buffet. Before some of the guests arrived, Wendy and I played a number of tunes together on her two almost-identical harps from the harp-building class I was headed to in Germany. Wayne joined in for some tunes on shuttle pipe as well. After dinner, we played more tunes, sang some songs together, and near midnight went outside and built a bonfire to bring in the new year. It was quite cold, but we stuck around the bonfire watching the fireworks in the distance and singing traditional tunes from all areas, from Scots favorites (like my favorite version of Auld Lang Syne) to old madrigals such as Gaudete.
It was totally wonderful, and Wayne and I didn't want to give up and go to bed, even though we had to get up early the next morning to go back to Edinburgh and catch the flight to Germany for the harp-building course.