scotland

 Burghead

 Roseisle

 Roseisle

 Burghead

 Findhorn

Findhorn Foundation

strangers

When our cousin Krysia died in 2009, my sister and I were trusted with the task of clearing out her home in Elgin. There were photographs in the loft, so I took it upon myself to sort, order and place them in albums. The photos documented Krysia's life and also that of her parents, Jessie (née Logan) and Andrew (Alfons) Dabrowski.

These photographs are Jessie's, my fathers sister, born 1913 near Elgin, Scotland. Jessie trained as a nurse and while nursing during WWII met her husband to be, Alfons, a badly wounded Polish soldier. Apparently, it was love at first sight.  

The stacks of photographs were sorted into two piles, one familiar people and places and another for strangers. Below are the only images I kept of strangers, something in their expressions, fashion, informal and formal poses fascinated me and I keep them in a large decorative glass that belonged to Jessie. Some have the handwriting of the sitter on the back, to Jessie or Jerry as she was known.

What became of these friends of my aunt, did they know her little brother, Robert? My Grandmother Alexina? Here they are now, gathered together and presented to you, an insight into Scotland in the 30s and 40s, their link - Jessie Dabrowska. 

1916

My dad was born on the 11th of March 1916. To commemorate this I traveled to Scotland, walked to the cottage he was born in and planted daffodils by the front door. Soft rain fell, garden birds chirruped in the hedgerows and squawked my approach from the treetops. Snowdrops in their prime lit the way, turning my thoughts towards hope and renewal. Standing in the garden of the derelict cottage I felt very at home, though my father left this home in his youth the place echoed him. A shed full of rusting nails, bare gnarly apple trees, a slab path running the length of the cottage. HE was palpable.

I knocked on the door and considered time, of my grandmother Alexina birthing her last born on this day 100 years before, of me peering in the windows, haunting ghosts. Crouching down to dig I found rich dark soil, the sword like spikes of the daffodils pleasingly green against this earth. I left a note written in green ink, knowing it would wash away as rain pattered down, spreading, erasing my heartfelt words. I think of these daffodils now, hoping they bloom brightly, a token of life lived now as I acknowledge my father, my roots.

 Elgin

 Plant associated with Clan Logan - Furze (Gorse)

 Road to Easter Calcots

 Joynters Cottages

 Falkland Islands penny

 Haunting the long dead and gone...

 Geese

Memorial

walk

A walk, there and back, along the disused railway from Elgin to Lossiemouth.

father

I've just returned from a fleeting visit to Elgin, Moray, a wonderful part of Scotland. Almost 6 years ago I met my cousin Shelia at my cousin Krysia's funeral in Elgin, and yesterday I visited Shelia's home and the hours flew as we chatted and discovered a shared interest in family history. Out came a tin of old photographs and amongst them were these of my father as a young man before WWII. I've seen the first one before, a dapper chap who earned his nickname 'the cock of the North' but the other two are new to me and it gladdened my heart to see my dad as a smiling teenager, tanned and strong, surrounded by friends and his brother Alexander, Shelia's father. 

These photos date from the 1930's and show the young people potato picking.

burghead

My grandfather, John Logan was born and raised in Burghead, Morayshire and my sister and I are renting a fisherman's cottage there for a week from tomorrow. It sounds impossibly romantic, but the online pictures of the cottage show swirling 70's carpets and dodgy decor - just how I like it! Not knowing my grandparents has bought the seeker and feeler out in me, piecing together stories with an intuitive mix of research and guesswork. What will I learn about John? What will I feel in the coming week? As much as I like questioning I enjoy the unknowing too, being comfortable with uncertainty.