SUMMER SOLSTICE: TREE PLANTING, BIRDS AND BEES

Tree planting at Balloch Castle Park.  Loch Lomond can be seen in the distance. Chivas Whisky put up money to have trees planted here.  Employees were given a day off with pay to do this and other projects in the park. We who are regular volunteers were there to help them along... great fun... nice people!  60 trees went in!

This means rowan tree.

 I have been following several osprey nest sites where webcams have been installed.  This nest is in Perthshire and the 3 chicks are surviving so far.

* * * * * * * * * * * THE GARDEN * * * * * * * * * * 

PLATINUM JUBILEE ACTIVITIES (20 - TEA PARTY, STREET PARTY AND PIPES PLAYING

The Platinum Jubilee 4 day holiday was great fun.  From the Thursday to the Sunday we enjoyed friends coming to us as well as all of us going out into the park behind our house for the Street Party in the park.

Val's photo of us in the garden.

Iain got the bunting off the boat and rigged up a flagpole onto which he ran 2 long ropes of flags (courtesy and signal), pennants and a couple of Club event flags thrown in to the mix.

Here are the photos, starting with some preparation in the sewing room.

We had great fun with hoisting the British Columbia flag on the flagpole.  As it happens it is by far the biggest flag of the bunch.  Folk just couldn't figure out its identity.  The irony is that people in Scotland don't think much about the British monarchy or the Union Jack but for people from the Colonies (as I was) there is... well, there used to be... much interest!

Be that as it may it engendered much discussion e.g. where does the sun set? 

Iain played the pipes (not shown here) .. "There's no show without Punch"  as they say!

That flag on the left is the old red duster from the boat.  It is torn from flapping in all weathers but somehow I never threw it out.  And the same goes for the (even older) Union Jack above which still has its toggle and cord intact. I think it came from Iain's parents' belongings 40 years ago.

PLATINUM JUBLIEE ACTIVITIES (1) EVERYTHING STOPS FOR TEA

It is holiday time: 4 days have been allocated as celebration time for the Queen's Platinum Jubilee (70 years on the throne).  Plans are afoot for a street party, some baking with the children and meeting up with some people not seen due to lockdown.  We plan to get the bunting off the boat (presently in Inverness having come down from Orkney) and tune up the pipes (by popular request)!

You have to start somewhere .... so....

Morning coffee with fresh scones in the garden today.  No photos (except for these left overs)..... due to catching up with Nancy, Val and her mum Rose, Mairi.   

* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *  RIVER LEVEN * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * 

Out and about with clean-up and tree planting groups respectively:

cleaning up the river banks and pulling stuff out of the water

* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *  BALLOCH PARK * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * 

Spent the time planting wild flower plugs and labelling/documenting young trees on the grounds of the estate (park).

A busy week, all in all.  The last of the beech trees are now green so the lovely, vibrant lime green is everywhere. There's a wonderful fresh spring colour to the countryside, parks and streets.

Lilacs from our garden.

Liberton Golf Club in Edinburgh where we gathered for a post-funeral tea.  Anne B who is from Northern Ireland says that this particular post-funeral repast is called a 'bun worry in that part of the world.  I wonder if the expression 'bun fight' comes from a similar source?  In Scotland sausage rolls are always served. At this event I noticed they were 'vegetarian'.

I was impressed to see the Scottish Saltire sitting a half mast at the entrance to the Club building (a grand house of last century).

Litter picking at the mouth of the River Leven where it flows into the Clyde (top right in photo). Interesting history, e.g. Denny's shipyard was here and there is still evidence of huge industrial bits and pieces about the place (iron rods, chain links the size of your arm). I thought they were industrial junk until I tried to lift them - solidly fixed.

I was shocked to see how high the tide could come in, say, High Springs and/or in a storm.  Clearly stuff (flotsam) from the Clyde was left in a field which was many feet above the present height of the River Leven.

* * * * * * * * * * * 

FROM THE ASHES: My Story of Being Métis, Homeless and Finding My Way, 

by Jesse Thistle

It was the top-selling Canadian book in 2020. Blurb says "debut memoir, Jesse Thistle—once a high school dropout and now a rising Indigenous scholar—chronicles his life on the streets and how he overcame trauma and addiction to discover the truth about who he is."

I have only just started it and it is not sitting right with me.  I am of the same mind as Thomas of GoodReads who gives a long explanation why, as a Metis, he found it a less than satisfying read.  Here are a relevant few sentences from his excellent contribution:

"From the Ashes communicates Thistle’s experiences without necessarily offering a lot of reflection on them beyond how horrific and wrong they were. It is a book full of anecdote, but any argument it makes must come from its reader rather than Thistle himself. It feels like confession more than memoir.

My gut tells me that a lot of the fault here can be placed at the feet of the publisher. I think they saw how sharp/brutal Thistle’s writing and personal history were (I notice some of the writing from the book used to be a on a personal blog) and wanted as many pages of shocking prose as they could get.  

....Simon & Schuster’s decision to market this book as a distinctly indigenous story feels like a calculated one, as a way to pitch the book in a topical way and to add an interesting angle to the popular 'addiction memoir'.....  "