It seems appropriate to be talking about light at this time of year, especially since the clocks have been turned back and, well, it has often been pretty dark and stormy.
This summer I was able to fulfil a wish I’d had for a long time, to visit the Museum of Scottish Lighthouses in Fraserburgh with family and friends.
I’ve long been fascinated by lighthouses, possibly as far back as when I was in primary school. I remember reading the story of the three lighthouse keepers who disappeared mysteriously from the Flannan Isles Lighthouse in December 1900. Years later I discovered there had been a poem written about the incident by Wilfrid Wilson Gibson, Flannan Isle.
I realise I am not alone in loving this link between poetry and lighthouses, after all, the author and poet Robert Louis Stevenson was a member of the famous Stevenson family who designed many of the lighthouses around our coasts. (There is a super book about this by Bella Bathurst, ‘The Lighthouse Stevensons’.)
The museum is housed beside the Kinnaird Head Castle lighthouse. It’s built right through the middle of a castle that is more than 450 years old. What a fabulous example of finding a new use for a building!
While at the museum we couldn’t help noticing these wonderful knitted yarn bombs and I loved the Bell Rock Flags, hand-embroidered altar cloths made by Jane Stevenson in 1820.
For a very calming moment, here’s a lovely video of lighthouses at night, I promise you, you’ll end up watching it more than once.
This is Book Week Scotland – here’s a couple of quick fun things to do!
Add your choice of book to their Book Week Scotland Map.
Fill in the quick quiz to find out how adventurous you are before reading the wonderful stories about adventure in the Book Week Scotland book.
When the sun is shining and the light is filtering through the trees, it’s a joy to walk through a forest filled with the beauty of autumn’s stunning colours.
If you’re feeling the cold, here’s a link to a post I did on Winter Warmers!
Recommend: Stargazing by Peter Hill
I am reading:
The Shadow of the Wind by Carlos Ruiz Safon, it’s been on the tbr pile for a while!
DO/ HOPE/ Why you should never give up. Gail Muller
Switch the Kettle on, Love 