I grew up in the Scottish Borders but haven't lived there since my early twenties. Since then my addresses have included Crete, Walsall, Stoke-on-Trent and Bury. It wasn't until I started going "home" to the Borders for holidays with my own family that I realised how much that landscape was in my bones. Leaving those familiar round hills behind as we headed south to the motor-way tugged at my innards. I was unable to pull my eyes from the horizon and often found my cheeks wet and chest beating with a deep nostalgia. The hills had been there and taken for granted by me as I grew up; I hadn't taken them with me emotionally as I moved on in the self-absorption of young adulthood; but I needed them now, maybe I had to surround my own children with that green love. An empty space on our kitchen wall now bears this metre square painting, The Eildons.
No comments:
Post a Comment
thank you for your comment