Jim and I managed a return trip to Gullane, (situated on the southern shore of the Firth of Forth in East Lothian on the east coast of Scotland), during our whirlwind annual visit to Edinburgh.
You may remember my posting around the same time last year, we try to return to plant something new on Jim's parents grave.
Walking along the beach, particularly at this time of year always feels very special.
Love feeling the wind through my hair, inhaling sea air and returning to a place where Jim spent some of his childhood....building sand castles on the beach.
More than ever before, I am in awe of time.
Especially in this place, where, if you could wind back the 'film', you would see Jim as a child playing with his brother...his parents keeping the boys safe....enjoying a paddle!
Playing with his cousins.....uncle Andrew keeping an eye on them all....
Around the age of 7, (when I was born!), James also came to Gullane on a school trip.....all children were brought here from miles around.......still arrive by the coach load apparently!
His Mum had also attended the same school......a young Mary Hargadon also expressed her excitement on Gullane Bents.
She and James even had the same teacher!!!
All this history.............. fascinates me.
We came, (my first jaunt), with Mary and Pat and the girls, Lauren and Em when they were children.
It was chilly then, early in the year, I remember we were all wrapped up against the wind.
And now.......it's the second year of our return since Mary's passing.
We come to reflect and blow the cobwebs away.
I always love to collect shells.....I have never before seen the huge ones I find at Gullane......
"Were you here before, all those years ago, when the little boy James played in the sand?....were you lying next to him buried deep?".
This year we discovered Lynne McCallum Barr's fabulous little bag shop,
"Black House".
A wonderful find, full of her very own designs using Handwoven Harris Tweed.
I can honestly say.....I have never experienced walking in to a bag shop and being so excited in all my life!
Spoilt for choice I managed to spend my little savings on a small shoulder bag, the "Cuillin" and "Glenfinnan" a bag for my laptop!
Incidentally, the bags are all named after places Lynne loves!
The reason I am so over the moon with these bags.........
where do I begin?!!!
Stylish, beautifully designed using the best materials, combined with Lynne's passion and eye for what works and is......just right.
I love the shoulder bag which I wear across my body.....it sits in the right place, on my hip and moves with me, it doesn't fly around!
It is the perfect size in my opinion.
I stopped using bags sometime ago as they are either too big and you loose everything or too small to pull out the necessary, quickly.
The compartment at the back has a beautiful, solid brass popper, I can easily slip my passport and other travel documents inside...ID, Driving License etc..
No compartments inside which suits me fine and room enough for purse keys and lipstick, even a small bottle of water if you so wish!
It is so perfect in every way that I shall never use anything else unless, of course, I am carrying my laptop, leads and 'dinosaur' as I call it.......carrying all my thousands of photographs,(can't remember it's proper name but then that's me...a language of my own!!!).
On top of that, you can wipe them out with a damp cloth if necessary and they are waterproof!
Then......well there is the whole wonderful Harris Tweed story, which I will leave you to discover, but it is the only cloth in the world governed and protected by an Act of Parliament, the Harris Tweed Act of 1993, and only genuine Harris Tweed bears the Orb symbol.
We enjoyed ourselves so much, when we finally emerged and walked along the beach, Jim stopped me for a minute and asked if I realised the time, as I wished dog walkers a "good morning".....it was after 2 in the afternoon!!!!
We just couldn't tear ourselves away from lovely Lynne who was so passionate about her bags, friendly and welcoming as well as incredibly interesting partly as she comes from Lewis and her uncle actually weaves Harris Tweed!
Please have a look at her website www.blackhousebags.com (.............and there is a story about black houses!)
Jim and I will definitely be back......such a wonderful and unexpected liaison!
Did I forget anything?!
In the evening we stumbled across Loch Fyne in Edinburgh just as the sun was going down.........fish and chips a great way to finish our wonderful day!
Love those tiles!!!
And just before leaving beautiful Edinburgh the following day, we found a big pot of Hellebores to plant at Mary and Pat's grave......significant as they grow rampantly through our woodland at this time of year....here in Italy.
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