Life has been quiet in the studio. We have had some blazing days and yet today we remain shrouded in mist with rain dripping from the sky. It's a nice change, the soft grey colours are quiet and gentle, and a couple of times today we have remarked it feels like Scotland.
Recently I read an article called In the Eye of the Hagstone. It is from a journal called Elementum which I get delivered to the cottage - beautiful writing about nature with gorgeous illustrations. The article is not about our neck of the woods, but it does describe hagstones which I only learned about on our last visit.
There seems to be one beach near us - Sandside at Reay - on which it is possible to find hagstones.
Ragstones are stones that have a hole run right through hem, and they have all sorts of histories and myths around them.
Barry and I often wander beaches looking for beautiful stones, and I was amazed when he found a stone with a hole right thru it! Some link to hagstones appeared in one of my feeds and I was hooked. And of course, went back to the beach to look for more but came away empty handed.
My Dad arrived for a visit and on one of our forays we stopped at Sandside again and went looking once more. I was absolutely chuffed when he found one as well!! Amazing. And then just as we left, I found one too, so that made three and we each had one.
It felt very special and the three stones stay at the cottage.
Amazing.
At the cottage I also collect door stones - a wee gathering of stones to welcome your at our door. On one side I have the heart stones,
and on the other side I have the 'the world is a circle" stones.
I love the circles on these stones and how they remind me of being linked and connected, no matter where I am.
And one of my favourite beaches in the Highlands - Ardmair just north of Ullapool. Such beautiful, beautiful stones.
It's a grey day here and it feels like home.
Recently I read an article called In the Eye of the Hagstone. It is from a journal called Elementum which I get delivered to the cottage - beautiful writing about nature with gorgeous illustrations. The article is not about our neck of the woods, but it does describe hagstones which I only learned about on our last visit.
There seems to be one beach near us - Sandside at Reay - on which it is possible to find hagstones.
Ragstones are stones that have a hole run right through hem, and they have all sorts of histories and myths around them.
Barry and I often wander beaches looking for beautiful stones, and I was amazed when he found a stone with a hole right thru it! Some link to hagstones appeared in one of my feeds and I was hooked. And of course, went back to the beach to look for more but came away empty handed.
My Dad arrived for a visit and on one of our forays we stopped at Sandside again and went looking once more. I was absolutely chuffed when he found one as well!! Amazing. And then just as we left, I found one too, so that made three and we each had one.
It felt very special and the three stones stay at the cottage.
Amazing.
At the cottage I also collect door stones - a wee gathering of stones to welcome your at our door. On one side I have the heart stones,
and on the other side I have the 'the world is a circle" stones.
I love the circles on these stones and how they remind me of being linked and connected, no matter where I am.
And one of my favourite beaches in the Highlands - Ardmair just north of Ullapool. Such beautiful, beautiful stones.
It's a grey day here and it feels like home.
I have a thing about rocks. Love the ones you have found
ReplyDeleteMe too Penny - they are quite the fascination. They feel good in the hand and have such lovely energy...go well.
DeleteOh my goodness ... on a beach such as that I would surely come away with pockets absolutely loaded each and every time!
ReplyDeleteWe were there for a very long time Liz - each and every pebbles deserved serious consideration. We came away with quite a few; and it is so so lovely!
Deletelove seeing your hagstones and misty mountain!
ReplyDeleteMagic hagstones Mo; and a marvellously misty mountain again today - so soft and gentle. I always think the sprites are at play on days like today! Go well.
DeleteAll so very lovely. Is the magazine available in Oz?
ReplyDeleteThanks trace. I am pretty sure it would be hard to find in Oz - one of the specialist magazine shops might stock it? I subscribed on line (the link to the article is on their site) so you might see what postage to Oz would cost? I like reading it in Scotland and it gives me something more to look forward to each time. Go well.
DeleteAnd as I return for another look, I see a heart in the second hagstone!
ReplyDeleteIndeed Liz! As B went thru the post he saw the same heart as well - so special don't you think? Go well.
DeleteAs a child we loved hagstones and pretended they were cameras. Look through the hole and take a picture with an imaginary click of a button. It would be nice to do that now with a real camera through the hole. I can't remember the myth - was it witches catching your soul in the hole? Beautiful beach photos Fiona, beautiful pebbles.
ReplyDeleteThis is a lovely, evocative post. That grey granite is so typical of the whole of northern Scotland - our cottage is built of it. Reading your post has taken me right there with such pleasure.
ReplyDeleteYour stones are all beautiful. But the word hagstone is new to me. We go so often to Aberdeen and walk on the beach when we visit but beach stones in that part of Scotland are hard to find. Maybe that's why I've never heard the word - though I've seen them on beaches without realising their significance.
Thank you for the pleasure of a mental journey to a much-loved place - and for a new piece of vocabulary!