How often do we hear or read about 'achieving success' or 'being a success'? We live in a neurotic society seemingly obsessed with celebrity, becoming famous, desirable, rich, beautiful, exclusive and that most elusive of all-happy. Many who seem on the surface to 'have it all' are still not happy. Why is this so? Let me explain: most people on the planet seem to believe that in order to BE happy they must first DO certain things :ie 1. a demanding job in order to 2.HAVE the money to 3. buy the 'things' {house, car, holiday home, yacht, pony, stocks, shares etc} to BE 4. happy. It's called the Do, Have, Be paradigm and most folk don't seem to be very happy in it.
In addition to running my clinic, I am a drystane dyker {Known as a Drystone waller outside of Scotland}. I specialise in bespoke stone features for estates and gardens-follies, water features, stone seats, ornate steps, walls etc. Some of the foregoing will incorporate lime mortar but the above farm wall is stockproof and built entirely without cement, thus the term 'drystane'{drystone}. This craft goes back to the Iron age when ancient stone fortified houses known as 'Brochs' still stand today, testament to the efficiency of the techniques used back then.
A while back I decided to change my lifestyle. This was triggered by a visit to a dental hygienist who asked me if I would like to have my teeth ultra-sonically cleansed. Many years of smoking, eating road kill and washing it down with red wine had taken their toll so I said yes. After various fillings crumbled and fell out during the 'cleansing' I was informed that all that was holding my jaw together was stuff called 'plaque' so we agreed to get rid of that too. Unfortunately this process exposed some nerves which triggered a huge spasm, causing my large intestine to shoot up through my neck cavity and strangle my brain. However, my brain, long used to such attack, perceived this as a dentist's tactic to numb the human brain ahead of comprehending the cost of such transient nonsense. Anyway, me got clean teef now. 
I just had a thought. Stay with me as it doesn't happen often. I thought this picture was of too little interest or too dull to post when I had a sort of epiphany {sudden enlightenment, incontinence, psychotic episode, delusion}. How often do you see park benches in cemeteries directly beside 'recent' burial sites and headstones? By recent I mean from yesterday's internment going back say 100 years or so. Would you agree not many? Say you go to visit grandpa's grave 2 weeks after his burial and you find that, whilst there is no headstone in place yet, a bench has appeared since the funeral with two tourists enjoying ice cream whilst going over their digital photos of the cemetary 'cos it's so different from the ones in their own country!? Yet when the 'sacred and sacrosanct site' gets to a certain age {ie: Anyone who knew the deceased is LONG gone} then it's ok to place a bench or even picnic right on top of their grave-- As if the departed even cared, irrespective of calendar dates!!
This is Lunga {Italian for 'long'!} on emerging from a foam-flecked frolic in the Atlantic big wet thing. Being a wee long-haired dachshund she presents a wonderful sight as her head stays still whilst the rest of her goes into spin-dry mode! On completing the spin cycle, she switches to punk rock pup as she sassily struts her silky spikes up the beach past anything or anyone that will notice her-other dogs, toddlers, butterflies, wasps and bits of driftwood. She especially enjoys barking at bees and toads wherever she finds them. I do not know the reason for this phenomenon and when I quizz her about it, she yawns. She obviously knows something that I do not-like giving unconditional love to everyone she meets, having a ball just by being alive, never judging anyone, being eternally curious to learn and never worrying or holding a grudge or compaining about anything-'Oftentimes we entertain Angels unawares'.
I love this scene of mist hanging like a chiffon veil over a frosty stubble field! You can almost see your breath in the chilly air and feel the soil crunch satisfyingly under your feet. What I don't recall seeing though, when the photo was taken, is a strange spherical object with a dark centre a couple of yards to the right of the tall tree pictured centre. Can you see it? It looks kind of like an eyeball. I think I can just make out the shape of a house behind it but I'm not really 100% sure.
