‘Vermillion House’
…bright red flowers creeping up your walls,your stony exterior obscured by that which brightens the day like a smile….
Tag: Fife
Lighthouse On The Rock
‘Lighthouse On The Rock’
…during troubled, or even dangerous times, we are grateful for signifiers of hope and light, and those things that are certain and safe…
Beacon
‘Beacon’
East Neuk : Sun, Clouds & Shore
A break in the clouds as they sweep through.
The old houses by the shore gleam in the temporary sunlight.
The rocks below the seawall are the inscrutable guardians of these shifting scenes, waiting for the rising tide.
Warning: Do Not Touch The Lobsters
A worn but perfunctory warning on the side of a concrete lobster tank on a Fife harbourside.
In my mind’s eye I picture a time when the sign was freshly painted, and when the lobsters were more abundant than they, sadly, are today.
A tank full of delicious, thrashing, spiny crustaceans…
And then a young Gordon or Alistair, or somesuch, ignoring the warning, reaching in , almost losing a finger or two in the tank, and screaming pitifully for his ma….
Do.
Not.
Touch.
The.
Lobsters!
I’d Be Lost Without You
All my life I have had fascination with maps and cartography (the mapmaker’s art). I have a geography degree that hasn’t earned me a cent, but I don’t care.
As a child, I would pore over atlases and maps with their linear representations of different parts of the world – seas, mountains, rivers ,deserts, towns and cities.
I would get lost in those pages and charts, but a good lost, y’know ?
I took this photo of an old map on my recent travels in Scotland. It depicts Fife and its coastline. Heights in feet, depths in fathoms, as it was, but nothing out of the ordinary.
Look closer.
It’s really a guide to the lost and endangered, or maybe a series of warnings to prevent yourself getting in those predicaments in the first place.
Beacons, lights, storm signals and lifeboats(!) and their locations.
Because (and I say this from harsh experience),when you are truly lost (the bad lost), you need external direction and you must heed the signals that you receive from around you.
You might have a moral compass, but you ,alone, cannot be your own map…
Jesus Might, But The Sea Will
Heal you that is…
Graffiti on a stone wall by the sea in Fife’s East Neuk proclaims the possible healing powers of Christ.
As I have stated here before, I am no theologian, so cannot affirm the truth of the painted statement, or otherwise.
But I do know that the sea has magical healing effects.
Not just in the salt and minerals in the sea that assist with wounds (I once had cause to wash out a bleeding wound after been nastily bitten on the leg by a dog on a beach).
It is in the constant nature and rhythm of the ocean tides , the freshness of the salt air’s tang and the might and power of the waves.
For it has been my comforter as long as I can remember, the magnetic thing that draws me to itself without effort.
No day is worse for gazing upon a marine expanse, no mood so forlorn that it is not uplifted.
There is no logical explanation, so in that I sense am in the same proverbial boat as the Christians!
Reliance And Replenish
Name boards of old Fife fishing boats in a museum in Anstruther, from my recent Scottish travels.
It’s all in a name, as they say.
I love these two names.
Reliance.
Replenish.
Names that speak to virtues of dependability and sustainability.
Symbols of strength to call on when braving the often harsh maritime environment.
Symbols are really just things that remind us of what we are about.
Playing pretend now – if you had a boat or ship, what would you name it?
Taking that one step further, if your life was a symbol or virtue ,what would it be?
Beth, Dolly & MargaretJane
- MargaretJane
Three Scottish ladies up on the hard, and in varying states of fitness and beauty !
Ain’t No Saint
Portrait of a blogger – me, Andy L.
Almost a year into this blogging gig, and since I am always behind the lens for the pictures you see here, thought it time to move around the front and say hello.
This shot was taken last month on the harbour in the lovely Fife town of St. Andrews, with its famous ancient castle and abbey ruins, some of which can be seen in the background.
As the place is named for the patron saint of Scotland, my namesake, it seemed appropriate.
Not that I am any sort of saint, mind .This picture has a dark haloed effect, just in case you get the wrong idea….
Leo The Jolly Roger
Fishing boat docked in a Fife harbour.
It caught my eye because I’m a Leo, not a pirate – I would be pretty inept at that.
The naming of ships and boat is fascinating and very personal and I learned a bit about it when visiting a fishing museum in Anstruther a few days ago.
As for the flag , it reeks of maverick. I can see Captain Jack Sparrow at the helm, assuming of course that he had gone straight and taken up an honest life,lobster fishing …
Fife Rainy Day Window ( II )
Pittenweem…and still it teems…
Fife Rainy Day Window ( I )
Inclement weather was no impediment to savouring the view, over the chimney tops and down to the boats,in the harbour at Pittenweem a couple of days ago
Water everywhere,vertical and horizontal…
Ebb Then Flood 