Islay My friend Dave and I recently celebrated our joint 50th birthdays by spending a long weekend on Islay. Where's Islay, some of you may ask? Here's Islay: Map courtesy of islayinfo.com And it's pronounced "eye-lah". Not "eye-lay", "iz-lay", or "ill-ay". Eye-lah. It's famous - properly world-famous - for its whisky, particularly smoky, peated, single … Continue reading Islay: Whisky, Place and Magic
If there’s been less of a gap since Kathleen Jamie’s last prose collection Surfacing (2019) than between her previous (Sightlines, 2012 and Findings, 2006), maybe it’s because there’s a greater sense of urgency. The pieces in her superb new book Cairn are short – some just a couple of paragraphs – but there’s no sense … Continue reading Kathleen Jamie: “Cairn” (2024)
Childhood is weird, isn't it? Weird in a good way: weird in that the world is more full of wonder than at any other time in our life. As we age, depending on our cast of mind, we view this openness as something silly, and rightly confined to the past, or else envy young children … Continue reading First Frights: Ghosts, ghosts, and ghosts
Into the Gyre 