News, rubbish and beauty

Wednesday 23rd December, 2020

So the news brings new things daily! Another strain of the virus, this time from South Africa. More tier 4 for England and in Scotland we too head for more stringent rules on Boxing Day. Thus I was not surprised when driving to Dundee after Mass to find a lot of foot fall. I popped over to see my guru and to talk and meditate in a cafe. Soon the cafes will be shut and I will not see him for at least three weeks.

I had been given some pheasants and handed him and his wife one as a Christmas gift. They had never eaten pheasant so went off intrigued and even excited. I continued on to see my allotment friend. I gave her a pheasant also and we went to dig leeks and harvest greens and herbs. So lovely to be out in the cold fresh dry air. On our way back we looked in to the allotment skip and discovered a whole lot of discarded apples. They will be very useful and one feels so delighted at the treasure trove.

I then walked the Tay and watched the sun set. It was stunning with the beams coming right across the water from the hills of Fife.

I did not have my trusty litter grabber and was infuriated to notice so much detritus just abandoned. So I found a plastic bag and began to collect the litter. Much harder without the picker but still satisfying. Yet I do feel irritated by the litter bugs...so much of it dropped within easy distances of litter bins!

Now back home, the evening has come in. I have some lovely cards and letters awaiting me and a pheasant to cook. Plans for Christmas are forming and we will legally have a household of four with a night stay.

Lastly I listened this morning to the BBC radio 3 programme of St John' College, Cambridge and the Advent Carol service. It was truly a divine moment or two as the heart was lifted beyond the realm of the mundane to a sheer rarely touched and impossible to describe. Beauty does divinise one. Indeed the sunset was similar in its effect this time through the eyes not the ears but still beautiful.