Tag Archives: Scotland

We’re All Changing⤴

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Mugdock June and October
Mugdock June and October flickr photo by NomadWarMachine shared under a Creative Commons (CC BY-NC-SA 4.0) license

Today’s TDC says

One hemisphere is entering Fall from Summer the other entering Spring from Winter… show us in a photo something that is changing (not necessarily nature).

Yesterday afernoon we found a gap in the rain clouds and walked around Mugdock Loch – a place we visit regularly, noticing as we walked around how many leaves had dropped since the last time we visited. Without knowing what the challenge would be today I stood and took a photo through the trees. So here’s Mugdock Loch in June and October – beautiful in all seasons.

We also saw a red squirrel while we were there, but didn’t get a photo.

Pavement Talk⤴

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Pavement chalk
Pavement chalk flickr photo by NomadWarMachine shared under a Creative Commons (CC BY-NC-SA 4.0) license

Today’s TDC says

Imagine your sidewalk could talk — what would it say, in the form of a small poem or prose?

I wrote a poem about my pavement. We live on a busy road with a school over the road, so there are a lot of people walking up an down throughout the day.

Who’s that walking overhead?
Who’s that walking on my head?
Pounding, stamping on my head
Oh how I wish that you would stop

I took the photo at the top of this post a couple of months ago as I walked up the road to the bust stop.

If The River Could Speak⤴

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UofG Tower from the bridge over the Kelvin
UofG Tower from the bridge over the Kelvin flickr photo by NomadWarMachine shared under a Creative Commons (CC BY-NC-SA 4.0) license

Today’s TDC says

One of the options on the Write Out 2026 Choice Board is a prompt to consider the voice of a river. You can learn more about the prompt — including a walk through an urban block by Amanda Eke of The Poet Speaks and Puerto Rican poet and educator Mario José Pagán Morales here. 

Think of a waterway near you or one that have visited. What would it say if it could speak? What memories might it hold? What wishes?

I chose the River Kelvin, and this is the poem she dictated to me:

The River Kelvin

I meander south
Then wander west
My sisters join me as I flow
Then, hearing a familiar voice
I rush south, as fast as I can
Down past an ancient seat of learning
(Though not as ancient as I!)
And join my mother Clyde to journey on together

Six Word Story⤴

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Rain
Rain flickr photo by NomadWarMachine shared under a Creative Commons (BY-NC-SA 2.0) license

Today’s TDC says

Where do YOU stand? Share a six-word story about your place or location (and maybe we can even guess where it is?!) Feel free to add art or be creative with your six word story.

I wrote one about the city I call home:

Rain always near: dear green place

The image at the top is taken through my study window looking out at my garden on a typical Glasgow morning

Harebells⤴

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Harebells
Harebells flickr photo by NomadWarMachine shared under a Creative Commons (BY-NC-SA 2.0) license

Today’s TDC says

I don’t know if you have ever read the old versions of fairy tales or not, but some of these familiar stories are pretty gruesome. Walt Disney became famous for taking these very old tales and sanitizing them for modern youngsters. One of my favorite examples comes from the tale of Cinderella when the prince comes looking for the owner of the lost slipper and a stepsister tries it on.

…The eldest went first into the room where the slipper was, and wanted to try it on, and the mother stood by. But her big toe could not go into it, and the shoe was altogether much too small for her. Then the mother said, “Never mind, cut it off. When you are queen you will not care about toes; you will not want to go on foot.” So the silly girl cut her big toe off, and squeezed the shoe on, and went to the king’s son…

For today’s Daily Create, find a suitable fairy tale (Project Gutenberg has loads of fairy tale books) and create something depicting a scene from the story. It can be a drawing, a photograph, a sound recording, whatever suits your fancy. Also, it is ok to go a little dark with this so long as you keep within the bounds of good taste and safe-for-workedness. Of course, you can also go with the modern-sanitized approach as well. And they lived happily ever after.

As I read about the story of Rapunzel I realised that Rapunzel was actually a plant

When Rapunzel’s mother is pregnant with her, she has the worst pregnancy cravings ever for the green for which the little girl will eventually be named — which, as luck would have it, grows bountifully in the garden of the witch next door. She convinces her husband to steal some for her; however, the witch catches him. She says he can have all the rapunzel he wants if he’ll give her the baby when it’s born. He agrees to the trade.

So I searched for pictures of rapunzel and noticed how similar the flowers are to Scottish bluebells (which I knew as harebells when I lived in the north of England). I love these little flowers when I see them peeking through grass or growing between rocks. At the top of the page is a photo I took on Mull 10 years ago. Below is one I took in Findhorn last year.

Harebells
Harebells flickr photo by NomadWarMachine shared under a Creative Commons (CC BY-NC-SA 4.0) license