Life on the Island
This week has been so full and incredible that I don't even know where to begin...here's trying.
Last Saturday we boarded Sir George (the bus) at 6:45 to start our journey to Erraid. It was a long ride, rainy, cold and cramped. We drove through the Highlands, had two ferry crossings and eventually made it to the crossing point from Mull to Erraid around 12:30. At low tide, you can walk to Erraid, it's a tidal island. We walked across the narrows, our luggage being pulled by Heather in the tractor, and made it just in time for a lovely simple lunch. Most if not all of our lunches there were soup, bread and salad.
I lived in House 6. Most people lived with a community member, but our house did not have a resident living in it. It was me, Email Vail, Hannah and Ina. Later Leaf joined our house because of allergy problems in his own. I shared a room with Emily. The house smelled like the Thetford House, probably the age of the building plus the smell of wood fires.
Everything on Erraid is heated by wood stoves, including the water. To take a hot shower, we needed to run the wood stove for something like 2 hours to heat up the water. We didn't have too many problems there as far as I know. I didn't have any problems at least...We also did not have indoor toilets. The toilets are all composting outhouses. It's a pain to have to go outside to use the bathroom, but now being back at the park, I feel guilty flushing so much clean water down the toilet. It was a chilly experience, but I actually really enjoyed it.
After we arrived, I spent the rest of the day settling in. I went and explored the island on Sunday with one of the community members and a bunch of the guests for the week. I took a ton of pictures, which even though I know I'm behind on posting, I promise to try to get to soon. They're still on my camera, but soon my friends, soon. On the walk we went to an old blacksmith's cottage, the wishing stone at the high point of the island, Seal Bay to watch the seals and Balfour Bay where we went swimming and approached some of the sheep and cows that inhabit the island.
(I recognize this is a sort of a brief summary of the week, I will answer questions and give more details if asked....)
Monday we worked in the community in the morning and had the afternoon for FCS things. I worked in the garden, which actually meant sitting in the dining room peeling and cutting apples to be stored for winter. It was lovely. I had a stuffy nose so jumped on a job that would leave me inside. I felt much better after a day inside and had a really fun time peeling and cutting. And that night, we had apple crumble for dessert (or afters as they seem to call it here sometimes).
Tuesday we also worked. Garden in the morning, clearing beds for winter covering. In the afternoon I worked in the candle studio cleaning molds and polishing candles to be sent to market. It was another nice, warm afternoon with Paul Simon playing in the background.
Wednesday we had a special treat. It was supposed to be our day off to go to Iona, a sacred isle right across the water, but John, the shepard decided that it was a good day to herd the sheep to send to market and vaccinate them. We created a line across the island(it's a small island, shows up as part of Mull on google maps), and basically gathered the sheep and held them at Balfour Bay and then walked them back to the settlement. I have some good pictures from the experience. It was a beautiful day to walk outside for 3 hours. We had the afternoon off.
Thursday we were supposed to go to Iona but there was a storm and Heather wasn't comfortable taking the boat out, so I sat at home, watched Gandhi in 8(the community room) and knit and read for the rest of the day. Despite no Iona, it was a wonderful day.
Friday we did homecare, and some people walked to the ferry to spend the day on Iona. I decided that I will find another time to go to Iona, whether it's this trip or another. Maybe we'll stop there during the travel weekend in November? Who knows. After homecare, we watched Fern Gully, which I hadn't seen in years. I believe it was the first film I ever saw in theatres and is just as terrifying and incredible as I remember it to be. Friday night we played an awesome game of Salad bowl (charades meets taboo for those of you who don't know).
Saturday we drove home. It was a beautiful day and we could see the highlands much clearer. There were a lot of rainbows and I was struck over and over again by the beauty of the landscape. Only 5,000 people live in Scotland and along the drive there were so many places where I couldn't see a single house, just the lonely one track road we were on. It was stunning and powerful.
While we were on Erraid, I found myself going to meditation fairly often. I had some powerful meditations about my future, the path I'm on, and auras. I don't want to go into them in detail here, but let me tell you that they were some of the most powerful meditations I've ever had.
The other important thing of note is that the food, at least most of the veg was from the garden approximately 30 feet from the kitchen. My kind of living.
And so now I'm back at the Park. Back to school work, KP and Long Meadow. Another place I thoroughly enjoy.
MORE...
Posted by: Abbi Westwood on Oct 12, 08 | 10:50 pm
[0]
comments (632 views)
