Where to begin when writing a blog post about peaceful scenes and the beauty of nature when faced with the trauma in our world at the moment. The brutality and horrifying inhumanity of the war in Ukraine. Watching hundreds of thousands of (primarily) women and children leave the security of the lives they’ve known; their homes, their jobs, their families; their husbands, partners, fathers, brothers, sons; leaving behind their identities, for a displaced life as refugees. As I’m writing this, there are two million people, refugees, who have left Ukraine. It’s unthinkable.
And then there’s the devastating floods in eastern Australia, described as a ‘once in-a-1000-year flood’ that’s a frightening and graphic sign of our changing climate. Yet another sign of climate change. Where to begin?
And I don’t know where to begin, to be honest, so I’m simply here, sharing moments from our lives, feeling very thankful that our moments look like this. With everything that we’re absorbing through the news and social channels, and everything that we’re thinking and worrying about for the days and weeks and months ahead (and being old enough to remember listening to news reports about the threat of nuclear weapons when I was a child, never imagining that I’d hear those words and conversations again in any context), I’m especially grateful to have these places. These walks. These open views and big skies. This peace.
Yellowcraig, East Lothian, February 2022.
