Today I was reminded of a moment from July 1971
…
As a 10-year-old along with my parents, I was thoroughly enjoying my first visit to the North West Highlands of Scotland, a beautiful location which over the following years created many great and lasting memories for me.
The “moment” which surfaced this afternoon while out locally for a wander, it was a memory of our first drive from the highland village of Gairloch to Poolewe in Wester Ross. While driving over the brow of a hill, we were suddenly met by the magnificent and stunning view of Loch Maree. I remember my dad pulling over and stopping the car, then both of us getting out to admire the picture-perfect vista in front of us. While standing there, he said to me ~ “listen” ~ after a brief bewildered instant I said ~ “listen to what, I can’t hear anything” ~ he replied ~ “yes you can, it's called the sound of silence …” At that moment perhaps for the first time in my life, I heard the total and absolute sound of silence which was beautiful, unique and special.
Late this afternoon, I decided to go for a wander to the slightly overcast LaHave Islands. With an extremely low tide and a light mist, the beautiful sound of complete tranquil silence, instantly reminded me of that special moment shared with my dad from far too many years ago ~ I know that he would have loved it today.
Below are two photos of Loch Maree, the first
one was taken by me during September 2019. The second photo in black and white
was probably from the early to mid-1940’s. I found this one in my dad’s Army Photo
Album, which he compiled during his service in Malaya. The handwritten caption for the
photo says, “Ginger’s home in Gairloch”.
The photos below are from today’s visit to the Lahave Islands, can you hear ~ The Sound of Silence …?
I'd been meaning to comment on the previous post, full of great images. But, you know, busy retired life and my own photos... We once rented a small house at the end of Crescent beach (the second, smaller beach at the far end). It was lovely and quiet, perfect for a recovery vacation. I'd rent it again, but I'm told it's been sold and the new owner doesn't rent it out. The only downside to it was having to keep track of the tides; you couldn't get out of the driveway at high tide. I'm trying to flange up an autumn colours trip this year, but scheduling is complicated and that was just me and my buddy, and now friends and family from here want to come along.
ReplyDeleteAnd I hit the publish button too soon. The last time I heard completely natural silence was on a boat tour of Doubtful Sound in New Zealand. At one point they go into a little fjord, turn off the boat motor and all the other equipment, and ask people to turn off their cell phones, and just listen to the silence. One woman nearly had a breakdown, saying she had never in her life not heard man made noise.
ReplyDeleteKeith, I understand about the woman almost having a "breakdown", it is extremely rare to have that "beautiful, unique and special" ~ Sound of Silence.
ReplyDeleteFor many years New Zealand has been high on my bucket list, but now I am not sure if that box will ever get a tick mark.