Mad Angel Goes to Scotland
First Entry: 17 August 2006
I was privileged to be among a group of Textile Artists for a visit to the Scottish Isles this past summer, and thought I would try to document the experience for myself, and for anyone else who might be interested. It was the trip of a lifetime for me, and I hope to be able to remember, and share, many of my impressions from this journey. The Isles are Magickal, and this feeling intensifies the further North and away from civilization one goes. Or so I found. Now back at home and beginning to ponder my Pandora's Box of memories, I have a yearning to revisit the land. My heart and soul will always thirst for it. I hope you'll enjoy rambling through these pages with me.
This is not the first picture from the journey: not by a long shot. It was actually taken on Wednesday morning, 12 July, as I posed in front of a standing stone in the Ring of Brodgar. I'm still a little surprised at my resemblance to Terry Gilliam as “Patsy” the “horse” in Monty Python and the Holy Grail. I think it's the Hood and the cleft in my chin. Too funny!
The sweater came from the woollen mill on North Ronaldsay, and I know what you're thinking. “Doesn't she have enough sweaters to sink a Viking Longboat?”
Answer: “Yes, indeed, and all but one are at home, and the one I brought with me does not have a hood.”
The Orkney and Shetland Isles are places where a hood is most welcome. There is often a stiff wind blowing, and if there's not, then probably a light mist is falling. In either case, there's a nip in the air, and I learned that whatever the weather, I really don't want to be without a hood.
Oh, and yes, the sweater is made of yarn spun from the rare North Ronaldsay seaweed-eating sheep that roam the island. You'll be walking along the beach minding your own business, and suddenly…
…one or a bunch of them will just stroll by. They are semi-feral, though, and skittish when it comes to people. If you try to get close to them, they run off pretty fast.
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