Having visitors to Clacheranmor gives us great joy - it helps us get ourselves out and into the world we now live in. Lately, Mark (John's boss) & wife called in for coffee and home made cinnamon biscuits as they were staying locally on the Isle of Bute.It was great for John to catch up with him and talk a bit about work as well as our world here.
Then one of our vicars from Old Milverton, Sue, came for a couple of days. The Scottish weather delivered about as good as it could for mid May and we headed out to both Benmore gardens (for the spring colours) and Mount Stuart (for the opulent house and views across the Kyles). Both were 10 out of 10 and it was fantastic for us as a couple to have time out with such good company - relaxing, reflective times.
Mount Stewart is like no other house we've ever seen, except for Cardiff Castle, and that's because the two families were joined by marriage and someone clearly had an amazing and quirky vision for interior design. The house is full of incredible details, like the beautiful starry ceiling, the white marble chapel and the unique bedroom that opens onto a huge glass greenhouse on the first floor with balcony looking out over the sea.
As we have mentioned before, we do both have faith and it was quite beautiful that Sue had brought with her her 'home communion kit' and we shared that special time together. Although locally we attend church whenever we can, communion doesn't currently feature as a part of the regular services here. Sue chose a beautiful psalm, which was incredibly meaningful and brought with it some raw emotion in both of us. It is very comforting to be reminded that there is support there whether we seek it out or not.
As ever, life throws things at you and we managed to get Sue back on the road after she'd picked up a nail in a tyre somewhere towards the end of her long journey to us!
Psalm 121 - A song of ascents
1 I lift up my eyes to the mountains - where does my help come from?
2 My help comes from the Lord, the Maker of heaven and earth.
3 He will not let your foot slip - he who watches over you will not slumber;
4 indeed, he who watches over Israel will neither slumber nor sleep.
5 The Lord watches over you - the Lord is your shade at your right hand;
6 the sun will not harm you by day, nor the moon by night.
7 The Lord will keep you from all harm - he will watch over your life;
8 the Lord will watch over your coming and going both now and forevermore.
Jess, Liz's sister, caught the train up from Lincoln to come stay with us for a few days. We'd picked up some paint the week before and Liz and Jess set about the third bedroom where the paint work wasn't too good and such that we couldn't match it in order to touch up the marks. The following day we went to the beach for a lovely walk and sit in the sun, even though we were terrorised by something called long-horn beetles - perfectly harmless but buzzy, annoying things. Whilst she was here the AGA was off as the tiler was busy in the kitchen, which gave us a good excuse to get the outdoor fire pit out and do some lovely barbecuing. The weather has been fantastic.
We also had a little treat in return for our old sofa, we were offered the chance to pop down the road to Hosshin's (the resident Buddhist monk) for a sound healing session - which was actually very relaxing. We did this in the little chapel that was originally built for the owner of Glendaruel Hall and now is owned by a relatively local lady who uses it on the weekend. There's a few bits to the sound bath, from tuning forks that are at different frequencies held on each side of the head, through another tuning fork that is placed onto the head, third eye and thorax median and, most relaxing, sound bowls ranging from a deep resonance to higher chimes. The whole experience was most relaxing and if you ever get a chance I'd encourage you to embrace it!
We took Jess to the Oyster Catcher for dinner on her final night with us and had a very enjoyable meal of scallops, mussels and fish and chips. We miss her!
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