Experiments From the Mists of Time

Gayle at Glacier Park: St. Mary's Lake...I was so happy then, at three. We'd just moved to Conrad from Glendive. It was 1957. Incredibly (or not) I remember this trip. I loved these mountains. Still do.

My yard with fluffy white autumn clouds.

Punk-ass snowboy built by Jeremiah, Crystal, and friend Ryaan after our Christmas snow. There was a buxom snow-lass too but I didn't get a good picture of her. Her hair looked like a birdnest.

Testing the new lens.

Just some random stuff--not very good either. I still have dust on my sensor and don't want to get it off myself because I did break the old lens and I'd probably break the camera itself if I stuck my finger inside it too. There are no photography shops anywhere near this cultural and shopping backwater, so until I find a place, I won't be doing much picture-taking.

Lights, Camera

Bedroom

Mirror Image

Fabric of Light

Cowgirl Watch

Here are some of various kinds of light, taken without a flash.

Tree dreams

Some rather interesting pictures of the hybrid poplar tree plantations outside of Boardman, Oregon. I took these from the car going at 70 mph and the motion of the fence and grasses as we whizzed by is rather intriguing...They reminded me of your tree paintings, Melis.

These plantations cover ground that was previously completely bare of anything but grass and sagebrush. They receive water and nitrients through drip-irrigation, and are harvested when mature to provide material for moulding trim and paper pulp. They harbor a variety of wildlife, including cougars. I'd hate to get lost in one in the dark! Or even daylight. There are no points of reference once inside. Alex should shoot a film in there.

It's still strange to see these vast artificial forests in the middle of the desert of Eastern Oregon...

 Lake McDonald Lodge

Trees at Lake McDonald

Just a couple of photos for a bit of a change. I've been slamming at work and have meetings every night this week, wishing I could retire someday because I'm old and I'm tired. (can you tell it's near the end of the school year?) I'm sharing a bunch of random thoughts through a haze of exhaustion so forgive me for not being my usual self, whoever that is.

We are now plotting our trajectory into the state of Montana for a week this summer. I think we'll be staying in Coram, provided we aren't too late making reservations. Just wanna be home, where there's peace and silence and mountains. It was necessity, not choice that brought me to Oregon all those years ago. I like my life, but it's not the same sky that the moon sails through.

The Scottish Gaels have a name for this kind of feeling: cianalas. longing, homesickness....

We may visit my son in the Bozone, and my sister in Butte, and perhaps my other sister on the ranch near Willsall between the Bridgers and the Crazies. Or we may do what I want and that's nothing at all, except to follow our hood ornament and go. I'll be doing research for my story (357 pages now).

In other news, we went out to a sheep ranch in the boonies the other evening for a lamb dinner and party. The couple who own the ranch are from Montana. They have about a gazillion sheep, and a cattle ranch near Big Timber. Of course the boonies in Oregon are much different than the boonies in Montana. Here in Oregon nothing's that far away from anything else, except maybe in the south-eastern part of the state in Malheur County. It was enjoyable, the food was good, prepared in foil under hot rocks and a huge pile of dirt by a crew of Peruvian sheepherders that work on the ranch. The company was excellent and we were entertained by some Irish songs (and one Scottish one!) provided by a group called the Irish Singers. A friend of ours sings and plays guitar in this outfit, although the fiddle player was sadly missing that evening: Danny Emmert, a National Fiddle Champion from Pendleton.

The stars when we left the sheep ranch were a bit like the ones in Montana, but not the same. Never the same. Nothing is the same, not the silence, not the sun, not even the air.

I have reverse-altitude sickness. There is such a thing, actually. I grew up at around 3800 feet, so a Montana fix is in the offing. I can't wait to go home. I'd just as soon stay there forever.

My Runrig Story

RUNRIG GU BRATH!

This is going to be a long story...

So this is how it all transpired, my brush with Runrig, my favorite band on the planet forever...I discovered Runrig, as best as I can recall, sometime in 2009, early it was in the year, when I was searching around the web for the sounds of Gaidhlig. The first Runrig song I heard was Alba on You-tube--very bad production quality and typically cheesy 80s video, but a stunning song. From there it snowballed, until I purchased my first CD set: The Gaelic Collection. By that July we were planning our Scotland trip, by August I had signed up to take Gaidhlig classes through Slighe nan Gaidheal in Seattle, and was on my way to learning this beautiful tongue that I had begun some twenty-eight years before!

I got more music, most of it in Gaelic, and listened to it constantly, to the annoyance of my students. (Captive audience!) Then I got the ones in English, which I was uncertain about initially, but fell in love with the poetry and the tunes and the music and Rory Macdonald's and Bruce Guthro's voices.

I went to the Seattle Feis in the summer of 2010, where I met Alec Macdonald, one of the language presenters, and brother of Robert Macdonald, the accordionist who played on Runrig's Play Gaelic album from 1978. He'd brought a couple of Runrig posters from Scotland to donate to the silent auction. Being obsessed with the band, I put in my bid and won two of them. Happily, I shared this news with Alec, and he offered to get the posters signed by the band and back to me. (You cannot imagine my ecstasy!)

Meanwhile, my family and I went to Scotland and had a wonderful time despite the hectic pace and funny turns we had about the place.

It took awhile to get the posters--the band members live in different places (Bruce in Canada), and they tour extensively in Europe during the summer, but at last I received them signed, along with a letter from Calum Macdonald, the guy who writes the poetry. Thank you Alec!!! (See more about Runrig on their website.)

I love this band. They made me love music again, and words, both Gaelic and English; they inspire me when I'm ready to despair of learning Gaelic because the old mind isn't as snappy as it once was and learning a new language is harder; they make me feel better when I'm down, and remind me of what it means to be a human with a Montana heart and a Scottish soul.

Recently I purchased CDs for my two thirty-something kids, who like the band (!), and a book called Runrig Reflections, which has the most stunning photos combined with selected Runrig lyrics, in both Gaelic and English. And I'm planning for more music as soon as I can, (old stuff from when Donnie Munro was lead singer), and a visit to hear them live as soon as they come back from their year-off. They've been making music for nearly 40 years. They are awesome.

Some examples...

"arise soul

soar abvove the singing river 

go lying down

into the ground

quuckened by the stream

when all is said and done

the race moves on"

From Running to the Light on the Stamping Ground

Oran Ailein

Teine oidhche geamhradh
'Nar sheasamh air an lar
Sheinn sinn oran Ailein
Seist is rann
'S an treana ruith cho taibhseil
Mar cuimhne tron ghleann
'S iomadh loit nach tig slan

Alan's Song, The Stamping Ground

The lads... L-R: Bruce Guthro, Iain Bayne, Rory Macdonald, Calum Macdonald, Malcolm Jones, Brian Hurren

Dealbhan bho Alba, Samhradh 2010

Caisteal Eilean Donan

Taigh aig Aird a' Bhasair, an t-Eilean Sgitheanach

Baigh aig Hearadh

Cnocan agus cheò air Leòdhais

More photographs from Scotland, Highlands and Islands. An Gaidhealtachd. I took over 2600 pictures on that turas..still haven't done much with them. None of these have been enhanced or adjusted in any way. I love my camera, and my new lens will probably be here next week!

People who are fluent in Gaidhlig, please forgive any misspellings or gramar dona.

Tha beagan Gaidhlig agam.

Calanais, Leodhais, Eileanan Siar, Alba

Beanntainn, an t-Eilean Sgitheanach, Alba

Cuilthionn, an t-Eilean Sgitheanach, Alba

Feur le uisge, Hearadh, Eileanan Siar, Alba

Solus air an traigh, an t-Eilean Sgitheanach, Alba

Okay, so here's the plan: Study, study, study, study. Finish the three-year Slighe nan Gaidheal program, go to the Feis in 2012, take Skype class, study, study, study, go to Nova Scotia, or.....Scotland, study at Sabhal Mor Ostaig, Skye, become fluent, sing songs, read, speak. Learn. Tha mi ag ionnsachadh Gaidhlig. Tha mi ag iarraidh seo.