Follow Where You Mind Takes You

I went out this morning for milk…… On the way I spotted a hunting hawk so abandoned my car in the middle of the road, grabbed my camera and followed it into a field. But as there was traffic on the road I had to go back and move the car…but it’s ok…they know me and would expect no less… I managed to follow the bird (by car) for a mile and was then distracted by a combine harvester heading up the lanes…so I followed… And then followed the line of my eye to a golden field of cut corn in the distance…and so went my day… My friend loves gates so I stopped regularly to take photos meeting a few interesting people with varied stories on the way…. One was a little upset his gate wasn’t old enough for me to photo and had even offered to close them for me! One was worried the bank had sent me to photo the house (turns out he was a struggling band member doing his best to pay his mortgage)….. I chatted with him for an hour about music, gigs, local history and local people and left him comfortable in the knowledge I was no danger to his lovingly restored old farm house… God help him!
Of all the gates I took I chose this one as I know my friend will like it………. It’s a closed gate…. It locks in a story that may never be told….. It locks in whatever your heart wants….. The thorns and nettles tell us that life has faded from here. The lock tells us that someone holds this place precious…. The granite pillars tell us it was once a place of substance… The missing doors tell their own story…… I wander these laneways looking for the answers…. And a locked gate is an open invitation to visualise those who lived their hard lives here……….with no kin left to carry on….. or maybe they live in heavenly splendour in mansions nearby….. I leave it to you to decide…………
“I long to see your smiling children
Standing by the door
The kettle boiling on the hearth
As I walk up the floor
And then to see a welcome free
For travellers one and all
For your hearts are like your mountains
In the homes of Donegal”

I did get my milk twelve hours after setting out for it…. I also enjoyed a wondrous day in a magical realm….. I say to myself each and every day I love my life…..