Pikinini SipSip

Whoever said that New Zealand is the land of Sheep obviously had never been to Scotland. I mean New Zealand has a ton of sheep, but I dare say Scotland has them beat. You can't go anywhere without seeing a sheep. And they just stare too. Anywhere you go you are guaranteed that there is a sheep somewhere watching you, not even exaggerating (Ok maybe a little). But seriously it’s quite disturbing at times, like the beginning of some sort of a really terrible horror film.

Sometimes you can come across a cute lamb and maybe even a cute sheep, but mostly there is just something a bit alarming about them. You never quite know what they are going to do. They just stare at you and start breathing heavily and immediately I fear that in confusion and general stupidity they will charge straight at me instead of fleeing in the opposite direction. However, I am happy to report that I have not been trampled by a panicked sheep (...yet).

We get a few sheep that come down and graze around Camas(Although Tawhai the dog tends to chase the poor stupid creatures away. Which also unfortunately means that the grass is ridiculously long as our ultimate organic lawnmowers aren’t around much anymore.) and you can most defiantly be sure that there is always a sheep on one of the surrounding hills perpetually looking down on you. We do get a bit of entertainment when sheep manages to get themselves stuck on the tidal islands in the bay. Oh the small things in life! Click HERE for a video of one of these unlucky fluffs. 

I must admit that I've taken quite a few pictures of 'sipsip'  and 'pikinini sipsip' (Sorry ,just throwing in a bit of Solomon Islands Pijin in there, I miss it! I have to admit that I find myself saying a few phrases here and there in Pijin and the funny thing is that no one ever seems to realize that I'm not really speaking English… I figured though that's just because it sounds way more like English than most of what comes out of the Scots mouths.) and here are some of them.

 Field of some local Isle of Iona sheep

This sheep is effectively demonstrating the "we're always watching you" pose.

 And these two are demonstrating the shocked and confused look. I also kind of think that the one on the left looks a bit like a lion...maybe that's just me though

 A little 'pikinini sipsip' bum

Flocks of sheep on the pastures of a nearby castle

 It's nice to see that people value their sheep as much as their children here.

Camas: A History

Last week we had a group of adults at Camas (new members to the Iona Community to be exact), an eccentric, but lovely group of individuals. During our first reflection (where we introduce this place and a bit) one of the older fellows said something that I think describes Camas perfectly; "It's a very old place, but it's not a museum."

Inside the Chapel of the nets (where many of our reflections take place)

And it's so true. Camas has been around for quite a while (thousands of years I suppose I if you want to get all technical with the geology stuff, rock formations, volcanoes erupting, dinosaurs hanging around and all that jazz) and there is so much rich history here, but it's a very much alive history. It's the opposite of a museum. 

The story of this place really got started in about  the 1830s when the Stevenson family (Yes, THAT Stevenson family, Robert Louis Stevenson being the most famous member)  decided to use the lovely pink granite from Camas Bay to build a lighthouse out on Skerryvore reef.

The construction of the lighthouse took about 10 years and thus the quarrymen and their families had to first build housing for everyone to live in during those years. And the buildings they built 180 years ago stood the test of time are the very same buildings I am living in right now. (Which is pretty exciting for a girl from western Canada where if a building is over 50 years old it's considered ancient)

After the lighthouse was built the quarrymen left and fishermen and their families moved in.  And there was fishing going on at Camas for about 150 years. (that’s like about the 1840s to 1990s if you're a dates kind of person).

The Iona Community switched things up a bit in the 1940/50s when George MacLeod acquired Camas and starting bringing up young men from the rough areas of Glasgow. His intent was to get these guys out of difficult situations back at home, during a time where jobs were scarce and teach them the practical and useful skill of fishing.

Leaving a mark on the rafters

This meant you had these young tough lads living alongside fishermen and their families, ahh those would have been interesting times!  (I've heard stories of the fishermen sitting downstairs in their quarters and looking up only to see trails of urine trickling down their walls from the boys upstairs who figured the walls of their rooms made great toilets.) 

So, eventually when the Salmon stocks ran dangerously low due to overfishing  Camas stopped operating as a fishing station and became more or less what it is today, an activity centre. And the focus still aims to bring out youth from central Glasgow and bring them out to this wild place and introduce them to a different way of life. We do this now through kayaking, abseiling , hiking and camping rather than fishing, but it still serves the same purpose. And it's truly amazing to see how much this place changes people, even in just a weeks time.

Like I said, this place has a rich history. A history that's growing and alive. And I can't even express how honored I feel to be a part of it.

Risk

I've been reminded again of how fragile life is and how unexpectedly short it can be.  To paraphrase John 10:10, we have been given the gift of life so that we may live it to the full. There is such beauty in a life that has been lived to its fullest, where every moment has been taken advantage of.  It's rewarding not only the individual but to all those who are in turn truly blessed by that life.

Here is one of my favourite poems that conveys this idea well; It's inspired me over the last number of years and in the last few weeks I've been able to share it with  some of the youth when I've led reflections.

To laugh is too risk appearing the fool

To weep is to risk appearing sentimental

To reach out for another is to risk involvement

To expose feelings is to risk exposing ones true self

To love is to risk not being loved in return

To place your ideas, your dreams before the crowd is to risk loss

To try is to risk failure

To hope is to risk despair

To live is to risk dying

But risk we must because the greatest hazard in life is to risk nothing

The person who risks nothing, has nothing, is nothing 

-Author Unknown

 

Céilidh

Céilidh [ceilidh]/(pronounced Kay-lee): a traditional Gealic social gathering, which usually involves playing Gaelic folk music and dancing.

I've now officially been to one of these things they call a "céilidh." I now feel like my Scottish experience is near complete.

So I found myself on an Scottish isle (Iona), off the coast of another Scottish isle (Mull), sitting in a community center filled with locals listening to a pipe band. Yes, I said a PIPE BAND, as in a group of bag pipers all playing together in kilts. So fantastic! And then after the pipe band a few people got up and sang some lovely folk songs about having high cholesterol and loving their homeland.

And if this wasn't Scottish enough afterwards they cleared the chairs and we danced. And dance we did. It's very similar to a hoe down (except for the fact that there is no caller and I had no idea what was going on for most of the time...actually, that's no different than when I've been square dancing either.) and because kids tend to learn these Scottish dances while they are in school, it is generally assumed that one knows what they are doing. (and if you are one of those who didn't learn the steps in school and thus are really really confused you are expected just to catch on- or stumble around and entertain/get in the way of those that DO know what is going on.)

 

After we all stripped the willow, circled the room 'till you nearly get thrown to the ground, randomly clap and do a little jig for your partner and whatever other sorts of nutty square-dancingesque type dancing you can think of one of the most surreal moment in my life occurred.

Seeing as many of the pipeband members and a bunch of the people there were from Mull and the last ferry between Iona and Mull there was a midnight shuttle boat arranged to get everyone back to their homes. So as a farewell to our beloved pipeband everyone in the hall followed them in a pipeband led procession down to the docks.

I'm going to repeat this for you. I strode alongside a bunch of Scottish people in a PIPEBAND LED PROCESSION on a tiny little isle down to the docks under a beautiful starry night sky. And THEN all of us who were staying back waited on docks to wave them goodbye as they sailed away in the moonlight with their sound of their bagpipes slowly faded away. It was magical, pretty near brought tears to my eyes!

 

 

Treasured Islands

You may have heard of this guy called Robert Louis Stevenson. He  was a Scottish bloke who liked to write, and he was pretty darn good at it.  He spent some time around the very island I'm currently living on. (Which is the Isle of Mull in case you're wondering. Sidenote: I learned the hard way that I've been pronouncing "Mull"  wrong for a long while. I was wondering why when I told people when I was traveling around Scotland where I was living for the summer they would look slightly confused and then about 2 minutes later would ask me if I had heard of Mull; and then I would be confused and slightly affronted. I was later informed by my Camas friends that indeed I have been pronouncing "Mull" like "Maaall" instead of "mUUUll" - or "mauw" as some Glaswegians have recently informed me.  I'm still pretty sure I'm not pronouncing it entirely correctly, but at least now I am aware of my "confusing" accent. BAH! That’s a joke. MY accent is confusing. Seriously? Man, I take back what I said earlier about understanding 40% of what Glaswegians say to me; it's more like 20% actual comprehension, 15% assumption and 75% nothing. Sidenote to the sidenote: I don't mean to specifically pick on the Glaswegians- who are by the way folk from Glasgow-  because this could apply to many a Scotsman, but the Glasgow people are just a notch above the rest. But I digress.) So, Mull has been an inspiration inevitably for his stories. "Kidnapped" in particular as the hero of the story is washed up on Erraid. (which is a tidal island off Mull) And being here it is obvious why Stevenson was inspired to write adventure stories. Everything about this place just screams adventure. It's fantastic!

The other day for our evening reflection I read a chapter out of Kidnapped as bedtime story to the group. It was a great chapter where the hero is shipwrecked on Erraid and spends a few miserable days stranded on the island before he learns that Erraid is merely a tidal island and thus could be escaped from when the tide was low.

"A sea-bred boy would not have stayed a day on Earraid; which is only what they call a tidal islet, and except in the bottom of the neaps, can be entered and left twice in every twenty-four hours, either dry-shod, or at the most by wading. Even I, who had the tide going out and in before me in the bay, and even watched for the ebbs, the better to get my shellfish—even I (I say) if I had sat down to think, instead of raging at my fate, must have soon guessed the secret, and got free. It was no wonder the fishers had not understood me. The wonder was rather that they had ever guessed my pitiful illusion, and taken the trouble to come back. I had starved with cold and hunger on that island for close upon one hundred hours. But for the fishers, I might have left my bones there, in pure folly. And even as it was, I had paid for it pretty dear, not only in past sufferings, but in my present case; being clothed like a beggar-man, scarce able to walk, and in great pain of my sore throat."

 Great stuff that book!

The Flow

We are now into "real Camas." What I mean by that is now we steadily getting in groups of youth from central Glasgow (and a couple from central Edinburgh). This means that things are getting a tad interesting around here! (It also means that I can understand about 40% of things that are said to me -even after asking people to repeat things at least once- and then afterwards if I still don't understand and just resort to either the "smile and nod" or the "guess what was said and say a vague response that hopefully makes at least a bit of sense." These methods work about 50% of the time- or so I think- I'm basing these statistics on the reaction I get to my chosen response. If I don't get a blank stare I count that as a win. So basically verbal communication is a bit of a struggle a large majority of the time.)

I must say that my vocabulary is expanding. (Not only with words like "courgettes" or "jumper" - which by the way sound stupid when said in a Canadian accent- but also with other sorts of words that I'm not going to repeat on here. Partially because I can barely understand the words enough to know how to pronounce them let alone spell them and partially because they are a tad "colourful.")

Despite the challenges that come with these groups, it is fantastic. Nothing like a little dose of crazy to keep life exciting!

Speaking of words and such I'd like to share this poem that was written about Camas. It's a gooder. Gives you a taste of what its like to be here. 

The Flow

It's the way you've survived over and again

It's the way you float up, through your pain

Still smiling, under water, your soft beluga grin,

Opening your arms, to let the raven fly in.

It's the way you try to shower yourself, in full

It's the answer to the deeper pull

It's walking through the bog cotton

In the evening light, last night

The friends in front of us, vanished like the snow,

Hand  in hand with the flow

- Debbie Hal

PS: you know the sunset photo above here? It was taken on Canada day night; I thought I'd be missing some fireworks and good times, but this was a pretty darn good alternative. I was content.

Nessie and such

Yes, this week has been a bit of an adventure with the Ma and Gma. We've done and seen quite a lot in only a short bit of time!

We've rented a car and seen quite a bit of northern Scotland and the Highlands. (The Mom drove; stick shift, left-aka "wrong"-side of the road, crazy curvy and narrow roads. Good job Mom.)

Seen some good views along the way.

We've certainly seen (and most defiantly heard) our fair share of bagpipers and their bagpipes.

 

 

 

We've seen the Loch Ness. 

AND we even saw Nessie!! (Just kidding. It's a hoax. Fooled you though didn't I? I thought so.)

Seen a few castles as well.

(We even experienced some classic British weather. Kinda ruined the view though....)

And we just had some overall good times.