On the far side of the dark hills there are a number of windswept trees that shield my cottage from the adjoining lane<\/p>\n
I was glad of the privacy afforded to me<\/p>\n
Although isolated my cottage is large<\/p>\n
It has five rooms and was once owned by a hill-farming family<\/p>\n
On the wall above my writing desk there is a painting of an Artic Tern and apart from the Kestrel\u2019s in the fields beyond the trees<\/p>\n
This are the only bird I see<\/p>\n
I have grown quite friendly with this diving bird and often speak to it when working<\/p>\n
The heavenly drift clouds were hiding the sun but its warmth had raised the morning flowers both ordinary and strange <\/i><\/p>\n
During the first week of November the Kestrels visit my cottage settling on its grey slate roof<\/p>\n
The reason that they visit me is to observe the clouds and the colours of the sunsets<\/p>\n
The roof of my cottage provides an uninterrupted view of the wide wide sky and the valley below<\/p>\n
We never speak as Kestrels can only sing<\/p>\n
At times there are up to twenty birds on my roof<\/p>\n
Bring me the rag-rag-robin and I will give to you my lords-and-ladies a dancing<\/i><\/p>\n
Was a popular song<\/p>\n
I hear it often<\/p>\n
Although the days were much shorter the cloud formations witnessed during the final two months of the year were memorable<\/p>\n
It seemed to me that all the spectacular sunsets both orange red and pink were reserved for these late year days<\/p>\n
I never worked using an artificial source of light and by doing this I was able to enjoy the many sunsets<\/p>\n
The Kestrel\u2019s on the roof would commence their sunset songs and when the moment was right I would walk through the trees towards the old wooden gate which crossed the lane<\/p>\n
From this gate I could see the full majesty of the sky<\/p>\n
One evening a mouse from St Kilda joined me<\/p>\n
These clouds are full of angels you know <\/i><\/p>\n
How can you tell?<\/i><\/p>\n
What so you see?<\/i><\/p>\n
I can see a large grey cloud perhaps bearing snow heading across the valley towards us<\/i><\/p>\n
\u00a0Its edge is a snow white and hides the rays of a dying sun <\/i><\/p>\n
The light you see does not come from the sun but is the glow of many angels <\/i><\/p>\n
A late Kestrel flew by and I covered the tiny creature with my hand<\/p>\n
Do not worry I will come to no harm as I am only visible to you<\/i><\/p>\n
Why do you say that? <\/i><\/p>\n
Do you think that all angels have wings and wear silken robes? <\/i><\/p>\n
No they are all around you <\/i><\/p>\n
Are you saying that you are an angel?<\/i><\/p>\n
Yes and I have been so for a great number of years <\/i><\/p>\n
Why do you visit me?<\/i><\/p>\n
There is no reason for my visit <\/i><\/p>\n
Perhaps I wanted to meet the writer who hides in the cottage on the dark hill <\/i><\/p>\n
I often read your work but if there is a reason for my visit then maybe it is to say to you that your confinement should end <\/i><\/p>\n
You should travel and record your thoughts sharing them with others <\/i><\/p>\n
Only return to your cottage when you are tired <\/i><\/p>\n
The clouds will still be here and the view from this old gate will not change <\/i><\/p>\n
The Kestrels will still visit the roof of your cottage to witness the passing clouds <\/i><\/p>\n
A few weeks later I caught a train to a large city many hours away<\/p>\n
The mouse had asked if I would write an account of its life<\/p>\n
It had belonged to the hill-farming family who had owned the cottage before me <\/i><\/p>\n
It had lived with them for many years <\/i><\/p>\n
Then one day in church the mouse was taken gravely ill <\/i><\/p>\n
During its confinement it produced two pale blue eggs <\/i><\/p>\n
Which were wrapped in velvet to keep them warm<\/i><\/p>\n
The mouse lingered on for a another two days and then returned to St Kilda<\/i><\/p>\n
The eggs never hatched and were buried near to the line of trees that shielded the cottage from the lane <\/i><\/p>\n
The following year sweet celandine grew and covered the burial spot and has remained there ever since <\/i><\/p>\n
The train drew into the city with its magnificent cathedral<\/p>\n
Above its towers was an enormous cloud that almost touched them<\/p>\n
It was totally white with the paths of angels clearly defined against the deep blue day sky<\/p>\n
Astonishingly nobody took much notice of the spectacular which I found rather sad<\/p>\n
Then a beggar dressed in rags handed me a note<\/p>\n
In the clouds that are full of angels
\nYou will find a scattered dust
\nThe bells are always busy
\nIgnore them if you must <\/i><\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0<\/i><\/p>\n
\u00a0\u00a0<\/i><\/p>\n
\u00a0\u00a0<\/i>\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0<\/i><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
On the far side of the dark hills there are a number of windswept trees that shield my cottage from the adjoining lane I was glad of the privacy afforded to me Although isolated my cottage is large It has five rooms and was once owned by a hill-farming family On the wall above my […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/stuartmillerosborne.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1822"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/stuartmillerosborne.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/stuartmillerosborne.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stuartmillerosborne.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stuartmillerosborne.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1822"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/stuartmillerosborne.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1822\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/stuartmillerosborne.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1822"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stuartmillerosborne.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1822"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stuartmillerosborne.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1822"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}