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I was looking at this photograph of the sunset over Arran,
recently submitted by David Kiltie. The caption
reads more or less that it was a fitting tribute to the end
of the first day of the British Open at Turnberry and
indeed it was. However, I'm quite sure that
pictures convey different thoughts and emotions to different
people. For example, when I look at this lovely
photograph I see the end of a day's toil for many people, I
also see a little boat heading for it's home port and a
small bird winging it's way home. The foreground
of the picture shows the trees in almost dusk and if you
listen closely you can hear the wee birds twittering and
getting ready to settle down for the night. In
the background is the lovely island of Arran taking on it's
evening coat of blue and if you look closely you can just
make out the outline of Holy Isle.
When I was a boy at
Seaview my grandfather would dispatch me with a burlap
bag to the Croy shore to collect chuckie stones, these were
little white stones, to decorate the name Seaview, which he
had sculpted into the grass in front of the cottage.
I always got the stones but was not always too diligent ,
time wise, in getting them back to grandfather.
Quite often I had other things on my mind, like sitting on
the rocks quite a ways to the north on Croy shore and
looking directly across the water to Holy Isle and Arran and
wondering what went on over there. On a very
clear day and these were fairly limited on the Firth of
Clyde, I often thought that I could have swum across the
channel as it didn't seem very far. All this is
to say what a lovely part of the Scottish country I hailed
from and that it can compare very favourably with other
parts of the country which seem to garner much more
attention.
Jim McAlpine
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Jim McAlpine with
Skye. Jim is now living in Ontario, Canada.
More
of Jim's stories below
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I've just been
thinking of all the beautiful pictures
that I have seen of Maybole and the
surrounding area and as an expatriate
who has enjoyed all of them, I think
that it is only fair that visitors to
the Maybole website should be able to
appreciate the scenery of my adopted
country, specifically, Ontario, Canada.
This particular view is taken from the
cottage of my son-in law's sister,
Robin. The cottage is situated on an
island not too far from the town of
Parry Sound, the home of Bobby Orr, who
was an outstanding hockey player with
the National Hockey League.
The cottage overlooks
the main shipping channel from Parry
Sound to the Georgian Bay, which is an
adjunct to Lake Huron, one of the Great
Lakes. I have spent many wonderful times
over the years at the cottage with
family and friends. It is very nice to
share the reminiscences of Mnniebolers,
it is also nice to let visitors to the
web site see how some of the folks who
have left that fair town, are now
faring.
Kind regards,
Jim McAlpine.
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