Changes

My journey stone is about our life here in Torness, Stratherrick.

We moved here 40 years ago to an isolated wooden lined croft house surrounded by a wild landscape where we would see hen harriers and peesies (lapwings). Forty years on the harriers have gone. replaced by the red kites - the local birds reflecting changes in land use, attitudes and even climate change. We still see the peesies and hear their evocative call, but there are far fewer than there were.

Our lives have changed too, our family has flown its nest and, in Stratherrick, there are more houses, commuters and traffic but we still have a great sense of community. Everything on the tapestry has meaning, from the tiny saltires surrounding it representing all the years I've lived in Scotland, to the Scots Pine representing my husband and his life working in forestry and the line of the hills representing my life as a landscape artist. The wee house is "mo dhachaigh", my home, and there are Gaelic, Scots and English words on the tapestry as we speak all three languages in our house. The tapestry is a snapshot of our lives and the changes we've seen.