This month…
I’ve recently undertaken the task of clearing out my late parents’ house. It’s been an emotional and cathartic experience. Like many of their generation, my parents threw little away. There were so many family treasures, worthless to anyone else but of huge sentimental value to me. This includes some school exercise books from my kindergarten days. My mother had kept them in a box with other ‘handcrafted’ bits and bobs. As I flicked through the yellowing pages, one story stood out, about a golden eagle we had spotted during a holiday. It was a vivid and poignant reminder of the happy times my brother and I spent with our parents in Scotland. My father always encouraged us to observe our natural surroundings. I recall him pointing out ospreys, capercaillies, red…