Day 227 - The focus of all that is bad.

Thursday 15th August

I have just turned round and another friend has been given the worst of news and his fight is underway.  But this time it is a very close friend and I am shattered by the news.  I now have so many people in my life struggling with cancer that it is becoming the focus of all that is bad in my mind.  I know that great strides are being made in the fight against cancer and that gives us all hope but it might not help in this context. 

There are few words at a time like this as we all now wait for news but I do find that I am talking to my dear friend in my mind and willing his body to do what it needs to do to fight back.  My morning was a bit of a wallow which, of course, helps no one so I took the boys off to the castle to take some shots for my moment of reflections project and it felt good to be working in a gentle but focused way.  

 

 

 

 

We also spent some time in the castle as the rain came on and it is always so lovely to hear the stories from the guides and trace them through the photographs.  Brodick Castle was bequeathed to the government in 1957 in lieu of death duties.  I have never really understood death duties and it saddened me to rediscover what was a family home that had been lost.  The National Trust of Scotland have done a lovely job preserving the histories but with a living relative still on the island you can't help but wonder what she made of it all. 

Now home and sorting through my images to decide which one has something to offer the project.  I was very taken by shape and pattern today and I am pleased with some of the outcomes.  Of course you find yourself taking lots of pictures and only liking one or two. 





This one sung out immediately as an image that is striking on first look but is also suggestive of deeper meanings. 

I will be posting this on the moments of reflections blog so if any of you are inspired by the image towards a piece of creative writing I would so welcome your contribution.  I have a little piece brewing in my mind that I will share in due course.  I will also be updating my Flickr Brodick Castle set with more images and will give you the new link in the next day or so. 

I have had a little flurry of emails about my walking with the land piece and the possibility of it becoming a novel and I am feeling a little tempted.  If I am honest I am not sure I have a choice in the matter as her cold bones are truly haunting me.  I was visited in the night by a new character who I only know as Tilda and I now know there is the darkest of secrets in this tale.  My question would be what is the darkest of secrets?  And then, who is holding onto that secret?  You might expect me to know all the answers and I am sure a more competent writer would know and have it all planned out with lots of coloured sticky paper.  I, however, do not have all the answers as I am trusting that the story will come to me.  I would appreciate it coming in a slightly more structured way than it is as it rather feels like I have finished a jigsaw puzzle and found that one piece is missing.  I am not putting any pressure on the process so it will be what it will be.  You will be the first to hear, I am sure.

So, a mixed day of emotions but the lesson must be to keep working and keep hoping.  There must always be hope....

Until tomorrow.  Xx