Opus 1 Wind strums the sinewsplucking nerves – discordant chordsStretching skin taughtbeating – staccato rhythmStriking the ribsexpelling air – bass sibilanceResonating vibratingpulsing – elemental beatMan and wind contrapuntal soloistsbefore the storm’s crescendo
Janus Pater, firstborn of Roman deities, presides over all transitions and beginnings, the door keeper, guardian of the new year, and custodian of the calendar, from whom January takes its name. In deference to Janus I am ambivalent about January – the lengthening days tell me to look forward as spring is coming, but the
Now that the vapours of the Hogmanay have cleared we can start celebrating again for 2013 is the Year of Natural Scotland. If you ask anyone about Scotland somewhere in the mix of tartan, bagpipes, whisky and haggis there will be golden eagles, red deer stags, otters, mountains, lochs, glens and heather. There is of
I always dreamed of having a winter garden – delicate snowdrops and aconites in perfect drifts beneath the tracery of the bare branches of elegant Japanese acers and the ghostly stems of birches. A contrasting backdrop of glossy green Mahonia and air laden with the delicate scent of winter jasmine, Osmanthus and Daphne. The reality is a cottage garden
