Saving cherished moments

If I tie them too tight........

Welcome to my wee corner of Substack. I am a seasonal artist living on the Isle of Arran, off the west coast of Scotland. I am the custodian of approximately two acres of land that includes a woodland, a meadow and my wee garden. I offer a seasonal book arts project for paid subscribers if you are interested and you can read more about that HERE. Grab a cuppa and lets delve into our relationship with the shifting seasons…..

I have never really been one to use a scrapbook but as a significant birthday looms I have found myself thinking that this is exactly what I need. I have long accepted that life is a series of moments tied together with fragile thread. Pull too hard and all the moments crash to the ground. Pull just right and they suspend in the air all around us making us feel whole.

My take on seasons is deeply transitional and many of my most cherished moments have come from my interaction with this constantly shifting dynamic. Connecting deeply with the seasonal narrative offers us the chance to employ all our senses, all of the time. Thus, a woodland walk is more than what we can see and hear. It is more about what we feel for me and this comes from tuning into the woodland space that is completely unique every time you wander through it. No two experiences are the same and nor should they be. Just like no two moments are the same.

If we subscribe to life being a string of moments it is instantly infinite and, thus, it has taught me to cherish them all, good and bad. In the past few years I have lost more close friends than is probably fair and I miss them all deeply. However, I still have the moments. These moments serve me with memories that I hope never fade.

The problem with a scrapbook approach is what would I include and what would I leave out and how big would that scrapbook be? So, for now it is rumbling around in my brain as I seek out lost moments that I am charging my brain to find. Someone recently asked me what was the best moment of my life and I instantly responded that I don’t have one. To pick one over others seems impossible.

This time last year my patrons and I created our own scrapbooks to remind us of our first year together.

It was only when we looked back that we realised just how far we had come. I think we felt a communal sense of blessing that we had stumbled across each other’s creative pathways and decided to wander along together for a while. The journey has deepened the connection between my creativity and the seasons and I will always be grateful.

In this example a scrapbook worked really well as it was a controlled period of time and a particular context. Now, as I imagine my life as a scrapbook it is beginning to work for me. Strong images of precious moments are having the brightest lights shone on them. The lights cluster around my family that I treasure above all and that is to be expected. The surprises are the moments I thought I had long since forgotten about. What is interesting about this wee cluster is that I am not at the centre of them. They are all moments where I witnessed something beautiful and magical in the natural world. I remember watching tadpoles for the first time and asking my mother why we weren’t tadpoles. I also remember being disappointed in her answer! I remember seeing a Golden Eagle for the first time. I am blessed to have seen this majestic bird many times but the first time was the best. I remember the moment when I noticed a rainbow for the first time and set off across the field to get to the end of it, much to the horror of my parents. I remember watching my son’s face the first time he saw snow falling. And I could go on and on.

Whatever this next decade brings as I enter the autumn of my own life I hope I will keep searching out those beautiful, but almost forgotten, precious moments when I understood why the world keeps turning.

Until next time xx