Sunday, August 30, 2026

Belonged.

Our excitement this morning is provided by a gull that has found a small washed up flounder in a pocket of water on the beach. The bird cannot believe its good fortune. It chortles with delight.

The colours of the world around us are changing. The sea whiter. The clouds darker. Scotland is settling into winter.


Out here a few weeks ago the village fields were a sea of green and gold waiting to be harvested. Now the colour has gone and the land is wind swept and stubbly and waiting to be ploughed. As recompense russet winter sunrises paint the morning air with an Arctic intensity. 

After a hectic Saturday night the potato harvest is in. Now all that remains is for the cabbages to be cut and packaged. There's still no sign of the replacement part for the farmers state of the art cabbage picking machine but he hopes to start again on Thursday. Next week his youngest son will be heading to Edinburgh with his elder brother so that each can buy a suitably conservative suit for college 'functions'. " The costs are endless " observes their father.


A memorial stone makes us stop and pause. 'JDG belonged here' etched into the paving . 'Belonged' is a powerful word. There's something intense about this use of language. Born here, taught here, studied here, lived here, married here would be expected but 'belonged' carries a different, deeper signifier. We're left wondering who JDG was, what made them feel they had such happy roots in this place, and what, if anything, happened to them. Why should you belong to one spot and not another ? The shortest epitaphs often hide the greatest mysteries.

9 comments:

Yamini MacLean said...

Hari OM
... has Angus decided Autumn will be a non-event this year, then? It's foggy and raining here in the west right now, but still 15'C, so am definitely not thinking of thermals yet. YAM xx

Lisa in France said...

I was also surprised that you are moving directly to winter! In any event, those first two photos today are wonderful - happy gull, wintry field (maybe that's why you feel that way today?). I made it most of the way through the piece on shopping malls and ugliness. I don't disagree, but I was struck by the author's praise of Tokyo's (nonexistent) zoning - perhaps he doesn't know that 7-eleven is Japanese?

Travel said...

You returned, where do you belong?

Stephanie said...

The first two photos are beautiful. Autumn's soon arrival is more apparent every day but thankfully winter isn't about to descend upon us.

10NISNE1 said...

Love the 2nd photo! Very Van Gogh-esque!

rottrover said...

The early morning pictures- especially the sunrise are stunning. Not sure I've seen that russet color in a sunrise before... I enjoyed the Canada/tarriff article. There is policy and then there is humanity.

The Bougalou Bear said...

Hints of Autumn in TO, but, thankfully, not of winter yet.
The Canada tariff piece did resonate with me. I am a Canadian-French dual citizen, born abroad, fluent in english but with an accent still, and with a cell phone full of "opinions" in both languages. No offence to american readers of this blog, and to Americans in general, but my own risk-assessment made me decide not to cross South under the current administration.
This is sad.

Fay said...

My Canadian family, similarly, has declined to come south during this administration.

The Life of Riley said...

John Geddy (also spelled Geddie or Geddes) mapped St Andrews in the 16th century.