2/22 - 3/6
|
|
The next six days continued with the glorious weather, so I spent as much of
the time outside as I could. This included several days of walks around the
Tolstachaolais area, both repeating familiar territory and exploring new turf.
You can read further about those walks if interested here.
Walks around Tolstachaolais |
|
On Friday, I headed to Stornoway, since I had to teach lessons and run an
ensemble rehearsal there anyway, and spent some time walking on the Stornoway
castle grounds. This was quite rewarding, as there is a forest there, and I
got to see a lot of trees, which is one thing that Lewis is lacking in most
areas. Also, the birdlife there is very active, and I got to see a number
of types of birds I had not seen during the rest of my trip. It was good
that the walks were good, as this Friday was quite depressing when it came
to the teaching -- first my ensemble met, but only two people showed up.
Then, all three of my scheduled lessons fell through. One didn't even bother
to call to cancel. It was quite demoralizing and frustrating.
|
|
|
The depressing end to Friday had me missing Wayne quite badly, so I went back
to the Morrison homeplace on Saturday -- the northern tip of Lewis, where Dun
Eistein lies. The weather was stunningly beautiful. Sunday I spent the day
with Laura and Justin, walking in the Uig area, which was also gorgeous. You
can read more about those walks here if interested.
Final Weekend |
Wednesday morning was spent doing practicing and starting some packing/cleaning that had to be done before I leave. I also wrote accompaniment for my fourth tune, and wrote a fifth tune. That afternoon I met with Norma for a final weaving lesson and harp lesson, which was a great deal of fun, but sad because it was the end of these for some time. I hope to come back someday to work with her on a loom for a project, which I think would be great fun. Norma and Ian are really terrific people, and I hope I'll get to see them again before too long.
I spent part of the evening with my landlady and her mother playing some tunes for them. I played my first three new tunes, and also Banks of Lochiel, because I knew it had Gaelic lyrics, and Mairi's Wedding, on request. My landlady says the guy who wrote this song was born in Tolstachaolais. She gave me a beautiful gift -- a silver necklace with St. Clements on it! I was so touched and surprised.
|
Thursday was my last "free" day on Lewis, and I wanted to take advantage of
it. The weather forecast was for heavy rains and wind in the afternoon, so
I got up early and headed back to Uig sands to try one last time to take a
walk there. Although I got soaked doing it, I was successful, and had a
wonderful walk. I also got to see a large flock of lapwings, one of my
favorite birds, so I was thrilled. That evening I had a final meal and social
time with Laura and Justin. They fixed me a delicious meal and treated me
to great company, also giving me a stunning gift of a book of photographs of
the Hebrides. They also had me play my new tunes for them while they
recorded them. You can read more about Thursday here.
|
|
Friday was a heavily scheduled day, as I had agreed to go out to lunch with
my landlady, and I was then meeting Sascha and Angeles for tea, followed by
my final stint of teaching. I again went to Stornoway early to get in a short
walk on the castle grounds. Lunch was okay, but a bit awkward, with my
landlady. We ran out of things to talk about and ended up ending the lunch
rather abruptly. It didn't help for me that she was insisting that I not pay
for my phone bill, and I was quite uncomfortable both with the conversation
and the concept. My time with Sascha and Angeles was terrific, though. We
had a wonderful time and managed not to concentrate on the fact that I was
leaving too much. The lessons also went well, starting with my largest
ensemble ever -- seven students. After the last lesson, I dashed home to
start packing and cleaning. It took a long time, and I didn't get to bed
until after midnight, which was not my plan, as I had to get up at 5 am to
leave for the ferry.
|
|
I was met at the ferry by Laura and Justin, who were just coming off of an all night on-call night. I was thrilled and touched that they made the time to come see me off, and Laura stood on the bank and waved goodbye until I could no longer see her.
The crossing on the ferry seemed gentle and easy to me, but I heard a lady behind me on the bus telling someone it had been a "terrible" crossing, so I guess it's all in your perspective. There certainly weren't the sheets of water hitting the boat that we had experienced coming over. It was certainly beautiful when leaving Stornoway -- I could see much more than I had coming in, and it was fun to spot some of the locations I had walked or visited during my stay. When we arrived in Ullapool, the fog had rolled in thickly, and the mountains were obscured, but it cleared as we reached the dock, complete with rainbows.
The bus rides were nice enough. Winding through the Cairngorm Mountains, I was reminded of how beautiful the "mainland" of Scotland can be, and vowed to come back and spend some time in that area sometime, in the winter when I can enjoy the snow on the mountains. It was absolutely stunning!
After arriving in Glasgow, I went to meet Cheyenne for the evening. We met at the bus station, wandered through town taking in the RSAMD (Royal Scottish Academy of Music and Drama) where she is attending, and then went to her flat in town. We had a great time -- she fixed dinner for me and several of her flatmates, and a harp graduate of the RSAMD. Dinner was excellent (she's a good cook!) and time flew by. Before I knew it, it was quite late, and I had to head back to the hotel.
| The flight home was uneventful, with the exception of my layover in Iceland, where I took advantage of the offer to take a short van trip to the Blue Lagoon Geothermal Spa. The spa is about 20 minutes from the airport, and the drive gives you a good idea of the strange and beautiful scenery of Iceland. The rock is volcanic, and there is a green moss growing on much of it. The mountains are magnificient. We arrived at the spa and wandered through a path in the rock to a big bath house, where we showered and changed before entering the naturally hot water of the spa. The water was a beautiful pale blue/green colour, and there was a waterfall that served as a massage, a steam room, and many little nooks and crannies to escape from the crowd in the steaming water. It was beautiful and quite relaxing -- a wonderful way to spend a layover, and it kept me from worrying about my harp the whole time. (An interesting note -- I visited this spa on March 6th, and on my arrival home found the cover of the March 6th Washington Post Magazine had a photo of this very spa for the cover photo.) |
Arriving home after the long flight from Iceland to Baltimore, I waited impatiently for my luggage, worrying about the harp. Finally, the oversized luggage was delivered, and my harp was just fine, and carefully handled by the delivery person. What a huge relief. Customs was easy, and soon I found myself in Wayne's arms, home again.
It's been a hard transistion back to working -- I had to hit the ground running, as I had four church services and a concert to play all the weekend after I arrived. Thankfully, it all went well, and things are settling back to normal now. I miss the time to work on creative things, and I especially miss the wondeful walks and the terrific people I left behind, but I will treasure the memory of this soujourn forever.
If you want to read the individual reports, on to