12.6.25

School started in September! Now the first semester is ending! I felt incredibly ambitious in thinking I would be able to maintain blog updates, write physical letters to people, craft, go to community events and make friends (inside and outside of school), keep up with text messages/phone calls/long distance comms, go on adventures around Edinburgh, feed and treat my body well and also keep up with schoolwork.

The reality has been that all of these things are possible, just not at the pace and consistency I had imagined.

School is demanding, but in really delightful ways. I love the program I'm in and can feel my brain stretching and learning and connecting so many things together. Feeling really energized, and at the same time very tired becuase of how much work it is on top of the numerous other things going on outside of school. Being in a new place requires such a tremendous amount of presence. I feel like I'm falling in love with the process of being present to what emerges within myself through being here. This photo of sunny rain in Glasgow really captures the feeling :')

I realized I haven't taken many photos, and most of the photos I do have are of the sky or the clouds or photos of library book codes and flyers or screenshots for events. But here are a series of photos from September to now:

Grapevine at Bridgend Farms, which has become a really special place to me

The reason Bridgend has become so special is largely in part to their woodworking sessions I've been going to. This is a progress shot of a spoon I carved! This was from right after axing a log into a spoon-like-shape. After this I've been using small knives to carve and shape it. Just finishing up some little touch ups and it'll be done

The clouds are really so great

Content Warning: photo of dead animal

This was from a weekend long event called a "Land Moot" hosted at GalGael again! Similarly around land and community there were lots of different workshops and discussions around how to actualize alternatives to being with each other and with the land. I went to a workshop around international land struggles and how to tangibly connect local-global struggles together, and another one on popular education. The popular education workshop involved a participatory/theatre of the oppressed type play that was absolutley incredible. Really simply and clearly broke down how private ownership changed our relationships to land and eroded common spaces/communal gathering. It was also so fun and engaging and just super relatable, the playwright is a genius I feel. I think about this play often and want to perform it again with other people sometime. There were skillshares like deer butchery, seed saving, canning + pickling and mushroom growing! Also got to dance with Annabel at the ceilidh (a Scottish dance/music gathering) they put together and that was really sweet. Met a lot of really great people that I'm excited to keep connecting with :)

I sadly got a stye and some gnarly bug bites after the Land Moot weekend :( but it's all ok now, different ailments replaced it soon after but those are also almost ok now :)

A chessboard where you have to listen to each piece! The chesspieces all have different weights and sounds, so you have to pick them up and shake them a bit to know which piece does what. And also sometimes do that for the opponents pieces so you know how you should move. Incredible concept, was soooo fun to play. This was part of a PhD studnet art showcase and this person re-created artist Takako Saito's sound chessboard as part of their project.

From my birthday! Went to the beach and saw dolphins!! Such a treat. Got to hang out with friends and be fed cake and gifted such sweet sweet things. Felt really grateful :)

This is what I look like also haha hiiiii

More ocean views, and a collection of treasures from a fieldtrip with one of my classes to the beach. Took my first dip in the cold sea this day

Emptied bean pods from a seed saving day at Lauriston Farm! Had been wanting to go to Lauriston forever and biked there in the rain with Phoebe after being tired from submitting a big assignment and it was so so wonderful. Haven't been back since but hopefully can soon

A gift from someone at Bridgend farms! We met during a woodworking session and he started and finished this spoon in a span of 2 hours! And then gifted it to me after I said how wonderful it was :') I haven't seen him since but want to ask if he's in need of a knife sheath so I could make a leather one as a return gift. But this moment reminded me of the wonder and magic of recieving a gift without any prior context

A personalized tour with Ruby and Gerard of Edinburgh Uni's geology collection! Our guide, whose name I forget, was sooo funny and is the type of person who makes you love whatever they are talking about

A book with wood as the covers! From another class field trip to the Granton Walled Garden, where there were a small collection of beautifully crafted books in the pack shed. Inspiring some ideas for future books

Really good bits of sky and clouds. Also the first snow!

A great haul from the Bridgend Farms Christmas market last weekend. To the people that know them--don't show Pearl and Iris this photo because these are gifts for them hehe

The cutest little squirrel outside the library on the day I stayed in the library for 21 hours, rip to my sleep. Grateful to all the buddies throughout the day, week, months that have been so supportive and encouraging, it's been so lovely to keep getting closer to you all :)