SWEET EDINBURGH

Love Crumbs cafe - flower cake and a cup of fragrant tea.

POETICAL

adj. /pō-ĕt′ĭ-kəl/

1. fancifully depicted
2. idealised


Every so often, I feel overwhelmed by the sheer wonder of the world. Not by some extraordinary event, mind you, but perhaps when I am driving in my car, I see the sun and reflect on the miraculous nourishing energy it feeds the earth with, and then I cannot stop grinning. 

A lot of people who know me would tell you that I am a nostalgic idealist. And they are one-hundred percent correct. But, I am also a realist, because no person who realised that the amazing fact that we can breath, see, experience, love and even suffer, no person who realised this in the core of their being could tell you that life is generally crap. It is a miracle that we are alive, that any of this exists. Each tiny cell, each atom is a marvel. So why should I not grin like an idiot with happiness over something as trivial as a windy day, an old book, or a ripe pumpkin???

Combine my innate idealism with the everlastingly poetical city of Edinburgh, and you have the recipe for a perfect storm of positive energy.


THE ELEMENTS OF A PERFECT STORM
OF POSITIVE ENERGY

 

Puffy cumulus clouds reflected in church windows.
Dead autumn leaves on the sidewalk, perfect for crunching underfoot.
The ever-changing weather, always a surprise. I love when it really pours.
A proper cup of tea, at LoveCrumbs, my most favouritest tea-shop in all the world. The small sachets of tea are pierced with a stick, hung on the mismatched china, and served alongside a huge thermos of extra water, to make sure you have enough tea while you finish a chapter in your book. Also, they have cake.
Window boxes brimming with jewel-coloured petunias.
Crowing ravens in the kirkyard.
A bounty of small pink tinged apples on a tree by the road. Of course I waded through the thistles to go pick one; it was very tart, but refreshing!
The turning of the wheel, as the days get more brisk, and the leaves seem to become golden overnight.
A beautifully ripe pumpkin, all gloriously dashed and mottled. Also, pumpkin soup!
Those rare antique bookshops that provide seating, allowing you to sit and peruse the wisdom of the ancients for indeterminate amounts of time.
The smoking chimneys near my university, and the way the smoke seemed to meld with the fogs that hung about.
Sunday walks along the riverbanks.
The view of the roofs from the top floor of the library, at dusk.
 
Clouds and flowers at the window in Edinburgh.
Arched window with many panes of glass, reflecting the clouds.
Stone flowers at the Kirkyard, Edinburgh.
Pumpkins in green and yellow and orange - Love Crumbs window display.
Autumn leaf on the stone pavement in Edinburgh
Armchair Books - bookshop in Edinburgh.
Stacked books seen through a window.
Cuckoo's Bakery Edinburgh - best cupcakes!
Small stone house in the village of Duddingston, Edinburgh.
Blue skies and brick houses and red creeping vines in autumn. Edinburgh.
Apples in a tree.
Small Scottish house with a red door in autumn.
Autumn leaves - green, yellow and red.
Edinburgh skyline from the University Library, at dusk.

DUDDINGSTON

Duddingston cottage among trees.

VILLAGE LIFE

If I could live anywhere, it would be in a tiny village. One with a small communal area: a village square maybe, or even a fire pit would do; a place where the other villagers would come to chat, and to hold celebrations and play the guitar.

It would be a village on the verge of the wild, where paddocks adjoin with forest and fen, and the blackberries grow wild. 

There will be a small pub, or an inn, where they brew the best beer in the region in large mismatched glasses. 

There will be spring days, and laughing children, and running through meadows, and there will be cold winters spent indoors reading books by an open fire, and of course there will be the huge communal garden where I can go and smell the tomato plants. 

But most of all, I look forward to the company. I take great joy in learning from the people around me, hearing their stories and their wisdom. There is nothing like a tiny community of people, sharing the strange and awesome moments of life.  


Squirrel in a dark green tree, on the branch.
Blackberries and purple daisies in Duddingston Village, Edinburgh.
Flowers over a fence in the small village of Duddingston, Edinburgh.
Young girl standing on tiptoe at the Sheep Hied Inn, Edinburgh.
Duddingston Loch - lake in autumn.
Duddingston Village houses - little stone houses in Scottish style.

DR. NEIL'S GARDEN

Pond at Dr. Neil's Garden in Edinburgh.

HAVEN

noun /ˈhāvən/

1. a safe or peaceful place

2. a place of refuge for animals


If one was to walk through the sleepy village of Duddingston on the outskirts of Edinburgh, through a small parking lot, to the back of the church where it borders on the loch, they would find an iron gate with a latch in the shape of a duck. 

Behind this is a secret garden.


A HAVEN FOR ANIMALS

There are many animals in Dr. Neil's Garden. Birds of all kinds: doves, swans, waders. There are oftentimes frogs in the pond, butterflies above the flowers, and rabbits by the stone wall. And of course, each plant, each tree is home to thousands of smaller life forms, insects and the like.

All of these animals can find peace in the garden.

A HAVEN FOR ME TOO

Whenever I need a moment of silence, I leave the house to walk. It so happens that my feet know the way, and they will never fail to lead me to a space of greenery. 

Some unknown force runs through such spaces as gardens, this force is instantly calming. Almost soothing. In a garden I can straighten out my tangled thoughts and find some peace.

Gardens act as a refuge to all kinds of life forms, giving them a space that exists outside the everyday worries and bothers of the world.

Dr. Neil's Garden - pathways in a secret garden, Edinburgh.
Butterfly on a stone wall, in the secret garden of Dr. Neil.
Pigeon in a tree in Dr. Neil's Garden.
Bench by the lake in Dr. Neil's secret garden in Edinburgh.