The destinations are London (briefly), Yorkshire, Scotland and the Shetland Islands.
All are familiar and beloved destinations, except for the last one.
You: Why the Shetland Islands?
Me: I don't know. I guess because it's there.
(Ruined croft, Yell, Shetland Islands, via here)
Some friends and I have booked berths on a ferryboat (it's a 14 hour trip) from the Scottish town of Aberdeen to a teeny island called Yell. It's been inhabited since Neolithic times and it has a population of 957. Ever since I found out the name, I have been slightly obsessed with a particular vision. I want us all to climb a grassy hill, face the North Sea, and as the wind whips through our hair, I want us to...well, yell. Kind of a pagan shout-out to life, to the life-affirming spirit of the universe and to the awareness of living in the moment. Luca is insistent we roll down the hill afterwards, which sounds like an excellent idea. Other than that, the game plan is open.
Back soon.
*****
As an aside, I would like to mention how grateful I am to all of you who read this blog and also those of you who leave comments. I have a connection with all of you. Your tales, insights, tips, and witty observations never fail to inspire me, make me laugh and move me deeply. It is a joy to wake up and see what messages the night has ferried in from around the world.
Blogs are two-way streets and you are the heart and soul of this site as much as I am. If not for you, the pleasures would be greatly, greatly lessened.
xx/lisa
49 comments:
Thank you so much for thanking us:). Your vacation sounds wonderful, especially in the blue middle of a California summer.
Oh lovely, lovely... We visited Scotland for the first time in May, and my husband and I fell unexpectedly in love with a little area right near the Isle of Skye. Within hours of arriving we knew we could live there if we ever got the chance, though we still can't quite figure out why.
Have a wonderful trip and a great yell on Yell!
Bon Voyage! I love the contrasts of your 2 island holidays... from pareos to parkas you always seem to seek the rain, whether it be in a tropical thunderstorm in Hawaii or drizzling mists on the moors. Thanks to you for sharing your musings, it's such fun to read about your adventures.
PS- what novels have you chosen for the plane ride?
Have a wonderful trip- I once visited the isle of Aran. The sea was green, and there were wonderful ancient castle ruins.
Beware of the Wicker Man!!
Ooooh, my favorite places! I can't wait to hear about your amazing-sounding holiday. And it is us who should thank you! Your beautiful blog is inspiring and joyful and I look forward to every post. Have a wonderful trip.
I can't tell you how insanely jealous I am that you are escaping LA yet again. My gypsy soul is not happy with being grounded.
Oh, how wonderful!...making more memories. I was trying to remember a delightful book I read years ago about a lady who retires to the Hebrides islands in Scotland. I believe it is 'The Loud Hallo' or something like. It was the first in a trilogy and was about learning to live on the island with the locals. I am going on a search in my library for it. You would so enjoy it on your trip.
We just returned from London and Gleneagles, Scotland. I bought a lovely little watercolor box at Green and Stone on Kings Road in Chelsea to try my hand at trying to capture the green in Scotland.
Have a great time!
I look forward to hearing about your visiting Yell, and Yelling there. My dh and I visited England and Wales but not Scotland. Let us know how your travels go.
Bon voyage, my love. What a lovely time you will have. xx
Lily: Oh, the books, the books...that's harder than packing, even...as I'm sure YOU can understand...
So far, it's Trollope's "Framley Parsonage", book 4 of the Barsetshire Chronicles; "Old Herbaceous" by Reginald Askell; "Moments of Being" by Virginia Woolf, but I need some quickie reads that will make the 14 hour ferry ride pass... will stop at Waterstones or Hatchard's upon arrival on Sunday.
Ivarene Farmer: I miss you and your red hair. Let's have a night when I return. xxx
Amy: Thank you so much.
Julie Anne Rhodes: Next time you're coming with me.
xx
Julie: I just looked it up...it's called "The Big Halo" and hopefully I'll find it in the UK -- it sounds PERFECT. Thank you!
Terra: I'll yell for all of us.
So Lovely: Next time YOU should come along as well...!
I want to come along to Yell just for the yell of it.
I love your son's suggestion of rolling down the hill. I have fond memories of doing that with my mother in Ireland as a child.
You will be in our hearts as you meander through the heather in your kilt and wellies!!
Oh how wonderful! I am loving Luca's hill-tumbling suggestion. Rolling down hills was one of my favourite adrenaline rushes as a child, and I've tried it again as an adult (after too many champagnes on a picnic!). Sadly certain anatomical ammendments in the intervening years had me rolling in circles!
Bon Voyage. Thank you for bringing such wonders to an armchair traveller bound to the desk by the commitments of study (dammit!)
PS that book suggested by Julie sounds marvelous!
well, we read it because you do such a wonderful job of making it interesting, inspiring, thoughtful and easy on the eyes! thanks to you!
I suppose you'll be going to Gargunnock during your Scottish leg. Sadly, I'm not going to be at my nearby retreat in Perthshire until much later in the year - in October, I think. After Venice. Have a great holiday, and enjoy yelling on Yell.
Thank you for sharing your adventurous life with all of us! It is a pleasure to read your words. They are a gift and so poetic. Have a wonderful trip! I can't wait to hear all about the yell:)
Have fun, my husband and I just got back from our honeymoon in the Hebrides and we are planning on doing the Shetlands before winter!
Looking forward to seeing your pictures and hearing your stories :)
My dear, how exciting! Do look forward to seeing you. I've never been to Shetland islands but it's so beautiful, I heard.
Have a wonderful time - pack wellies for The Shetlands ;-)
Ali x
How you embrace life....it is inspiring....we are here for the experiences. Wishing you fair winds and following seas.
I do hope you will have a chance to meet up with blogger "Ronda" from "All the Best" in Scotland. I think you too would fashionably wether any sort of weather. She has a son too, and a blog and great passion for life's little luxuries.
pve
Sounds perfect, can't wait to see the pics.
Hubby says Glasgow is the only place outside of London that he could countenance living, and I could live in the highlands anytime (with the aid of Amazon).
Here's a link to my daughter's blog - she's 13 and it's a homework project for the summer. I'm sending it because it's about her visit to Charleston and Alfriston, and I know you heart those places.
http://somethingsummery.wordpress.com/
Have a great trip.
Here you are, off on an adventure and you are thanking us. Thanking us? You are so gracious and a breath of fresh air here in blogland. Enjoy your Yell and time across the pond!
I'm in London right now (in Brugge previously) and the weather is perfect. Off to Oxford tomorrow to attend the Oxford Experience (taking the English Country Homes class).
And, per your advice, I toured Highgate Cemetery and stopped by Persephone and purchased 6 books--thank heaven for shipping...
I am French, I live in Chantilly near Paris and I am a great fan of your blog. It is so well written and so well documented. I also love English classical litterature.
A Scottish friend of mine told me on Tuesday that the weather was fantastic in Aberdeen, take some t.shirts too! And enjoy your trip.
Your trip sounds so wonderful, it immediately sent me searching for my Tamasin Day-Lewis cookbook!
We've had such grey, Hounds of the Baskervilles weather here in Santa Barbara this summer. More than once have I pulled out the plaid blankets and wellies and treated myself to a Guinness or two.
Happy rolling and yelling :)
I can't wait to see your photos
xx
Slim
I would really like to escape the heat here to somewhere cool and rugged like the shetland islands. An extra yell from me. And thankyou to you for your fantastic blog.
hmmm, i wonder if you are a cancer, or some other water sign..from your sensitive musings...
thank you for your beautiful blog. it is pure loveliness.
The Shetland Isles?
Could I BE any more jealous???
Wishing you a marvelous time. Yell my name for me!
Thank *you* Lisa...for sharing your incredible life with us and for enlightening our hearts & minds with trips into the past, present, and around this glorious world.
Scotland is a breathtaking place and you're going to see it in such an adventurous way...Luca is going to love it! Maybe you'll even see some of Nessie's siblings!
Safe journey,
xo J~
Have a safe and wonderous trip! I can't wait to read and see all about it. Maybe you will stumble upon Brigadoon...
Have a wonderful time on your vacation. My husband and I just had a trip to London, York and Edinburg this last June. It was our first time to the UK. I loved York and the people. Sadly, we did not have any rainy weather. They were having a heat wave while we were there!
Have you read Belinda Rathbone's "The Guynd," about her husband's inherited Scottish pile? I think you'd love it. Also, a Liza Campbell book about growing up in Macbeth's castle.
ANNA
I don't even know how i got here - but so glad i did..
Sounds like a fabulous trip!
I'm looking forward to reading about your travels. Have a great trip.
I just find your blog randomly...and I am glad...really nice...My english is not very good but I will try to follow you...I am a spanish architec...now London, exploring, living new experiences, travelling...
Enjoy your summer!
I have never been to Scotland but always wanted to travel there. I hope you'll take lots of pictures and share them here.
I'm with Luca. I love rolling down a good hill! Have a wonderful holiday!
It's so clear, through your words and point of view, that you have a celtic soul. Those misty, moody skies and soft green lands call out to you. Indeed, Yell back!
Have a fabulous time. We are leavinng for London next week - it will be our first time there and I thought of you, as we are staying in the Bloomsbury area. :)
have a wonderful time
I can't wait to hear and see all the adventures upon your return
x
That looks like a magical place. Having traveled to Ireland, wandering in and out of wonderful little hamlets, I can certainly see the appeal of Yell. Enjoy yourselves!
Sounds like an enchanting place!
Fourteen hours on a ferry! You are very, very brave. The Staten Island is about all I can do. . . just heard about the Chatsworth Attic Sale and immediately thought of you!
A friend sent me here and I have spent the last 3 days reading EVERYTHING! All I can say is "thank you, thank you, thank you for sharing your wonderful life with us". It's better than a novel.I can't wait for your return and the tales that you will bring. Do hurry home!
Lisa -
I never find it ironic that when I get to your blog I quite often read...
exactly what I need
I pray you have a wonderfully safe journey and return home soon!!
follow the moon
I miss Bloomsbury Life. Will you ever return? Probably just in time for me to leave for cool, magical Maine. dana
Miss you. Love how you manifest adventure!
Really enjoying your blog....being an anglophile myself, my mother in law lives in Dorset near Beaminster and does llamma trekking, spins their fur and hand dyes it. The life I would love to lead. So bummed could not make your show as I live not far from your neck of the woods. Are you going to exhibit again soon?
Cheers!
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