scotlandmysweetloveforever

scotlandmysweetloveforever http://scotlandmysweetlove.nireblog.com Wed, 01 Jul 2009 16:23:50 +0100 scotlandmysweetloveforever http://static.nireblog.com/imagenes/logo.png http://scotlandmysweetlove.nireblog.com http://nireblog.com Immortality http://scotlandmysweetlove.nireblog.com/post/2009/06/21/immortality http://scotlandmysweetlove.nireblog.com/post/2009/06/21/immortality Foil'd by our fellow-men, depress'd, outworn,
We leave the brutal world to take its way,
And, Patience! in another life, we say
The world shall be thrust down, and we up-borne.

And will not, then, the immortal armies scorn
The world's poor, routed leavings? or will they,
Who fail'd under the heat of this life's day,
Support the fervours of the heavenly morn?

No, no! the energy of life may be
Kept on after the grave, but not begun;
And he who flagg'd not in the earthly strife,

From strength to strength advancing only he,
His soul well-knit, and all his battles won,
Mounts, and that hardly, to eternal life.

by Matthew Arnold

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]]> Sun, 21 Jun 2009 14:51:22 +0100 William Wallace http://scotlandmysweetlove.nireblog.com/post/2009/06/14/william-wallace http://scotlandmysweetlove.nireblog.com/post/2009/06/14/william-wallace Luchad, y puede que muráis. Huid y viviréis... un tiempo al menos. Y cuando estéis en vuestro lecho de muerte dentro de muchos años, ¿no cambiaréis todos los días desde aquí hasta entonces por una oportunidad, sólo una oportunidad, de volver aquí y decir a nuestros enemigos: Pueden quitarnos la vida, pero jamás nos quitarán... ¡¡¡la libertad!!!

]]> Sun, 14 Jun 2009 14:14:55 +0100 Beautiful Dreamer http://scotlandmysweetlove.nireblog.com/post/2009/05/31/beautiful-dreamer http://scotlandmysweetlove.nireblog.com/post/2009/05/31/beautiful-dreamer Beautiful dreamer, wake unto me,
Starlight and dewdrops are waiting for thee;
Sounds of the rude world heard in the day,
Lull'd by the moonlight have all pass'd away!

Beautiful dreamer, queen of my song,
List while I woo thee with soft melody;
Gone are the cares of life's busy throng.

Beautiful dreamer, awake unto me!
Beautiful dreamer, awake unto me!

Beautiful dreamer, out on the sea,
Mermaids are chaunting the wild lorelie;
Over the streamlet vapors are borne,
Waiting to fade at the bright coming morn.

Beautiful dreamer, beam on my heart,
E'en as the morn on the streamlet and sea;
Then will all clouds of sorrow depart,

Beautiful dreamer, awake unto me!
by Stephen Foster

]]> Sun, 31 May 2009 20:06:29 +0100 A Song from the Suds a poem http://scotlandmysweetlove.nireblog.com/post/2009/05/25/a-song-from-the-suds-a-poem http://scotlandmysweetlove.nireblog.com/post/2009/05/25/a-song-from-the-suds-a-poem A Song from the Suds

Queen of my tub, I merrily sing,
While the white foam raises high,
And sturdily wash, and rinse, and wring,
And fasten the clothes to dry;
Then out in the free fresh air they swing,
Under the sunny sky.

I wish we could wash from our hearts and our souls
The stains of the week away,
And let water and air by their magic make
Ourselves as pure as they;
Then on the earth there would be indeed
A glorious washing day!

Along the path of a useful life
Will heart's-ease ever bloom;
The busy mind has no time to think
Of sorrow, or care, or gloom;
And anxious thoughts may be swept away
As we busily wield a broom.

I am glad a task to me is given
To labor at day by day;
For it brings me health, and strength, and hope,
And I cheerfully learn to say-
"Head, you may think; heart, you may feel;
But hand, you shall work always!"

Louisa May Alcott

]]> Mon, 25 May 2009 13:48:22 +0100 Let Your Spirit Guide You http://scotlandmysweetlove.nireblog.com/post/2009/05/03/let-your-spirit-guide-you http://scotlandmysweetlove.nireblog.com/post/2009/05/03/let-your-spirit-guide-you There is no place you can go to hide from the thoughts
that you keep contemplating over and over inside your mind...

There is no place you can venture where your true emotions
will be concealed and the secrets of your heart will not show...

There is no place in this whole wide world you can travel
to where your spirit does not direct or guide you towards your destiny...

Life is the experience of being you;
no one can ever be someone other than who they are...

The beauty found in each and every person is the essence of life...
Simply ... you are who you are and for whatever time you have to be,

You must not try to shadow yourself,
but, rather, express yourself...

Author Unknown

]]> Sun, 03 May 2009 14:44:35 +0100 Firth of Forth http://scotlandmysweetlove.nireblog.com/post/2009/04/10/firth-of-forth http://scotlandmysweetlove.nireblog.com/post/2009/04/10/firth-of-forth La ceniza es una distancia de islas

y la espuma una lentitud de hueso;

en la desembocadura de los ojos

un enredijo de algas.

Impaciencia de gaviotas el atardecer.

Ecos del tiempo:

el cieno de la memoria

custodia rompientes, escamas, astros,

la sal de la bruma.

Trasiego de barcos el horizonte.

El despedazado velamen

ondea su voluntad de norte

y el oleaje agita el óxido, iza el ancla,

y la fría palpitación de la mar abierta

también arrastra las islas.

]]> Fri, 10 Apr 2009 14:31:13 +0100 Pentlands http://scotlandmysweetlove.nireblog.com/post/2009/04/08/pentlands http://scotlandmysweetlove.nireblog.com/post/2009/04/08/pentlands Por las rendijas de la tarde atisbo el cristal del otoño (reflejos que escarban las sombras) en colinas distantes que amarillean, en el viraje de los relieves de lava, en el labrado tiempo que es ceniza y es memoria, en la timidez de la hoja que desnuda la rama (aterida ninfa).
Sin el tumulto del viento, la indolencia del cielo, la perenne soledad de los luidos astros, en dejadez de nubes el parpadeo de la Luna y el sesgo de mis ojos en la geoda del frío (sombras que escarban los reflejos). Silencioso, el vaivén de la nostalgia (bruñido espejismo).

Juan Luis Campos

Comments

]]> Wed, 08 Apr 2009 14:04:05 +0100 Espejo de Edimburgo http://scotlandmysweetlove.nireblog.com/post/2009/03/26/espejo-de-edimburgo http://scotlandmysweetlove.nireblog.com/post/2009/03/26/espejo-de-edimburgo Despierta el frío del amanecer.

Empenumbrado,

me asomo al espejo del crepúsculo:

la reyerta del pálido Sol

con la paulatina niebla

abandonada por el insomne mar.

Duda la noche, duda la mañana.

Témpano de saltadas venas en destello,

la prístina cumbre del Arthur’s Seat aparece

al equívoco rayo de la aurora,

al desolado triunfo del día sobre las tinieblas

que impone el necio parpadeo

del íntimo vislumbre de mi silueta,

temblando, en el vaho de la ventana.

Juan Luis Campos

]]> Thu, 26 Mar 2009 20:02:37 +0100 Electric Brae http://scotlandmysweetlove.nireblog.com/post/2009/03/25/electric-brae http://scotlandmysweetlove.nireblog.com/post/2009/03/25/electric-brae The Electric Brae is a gravity hill in Ayrshire, Scotland where cars appear to be drawn uphill by some mysterious attraction. The Lowland Scots word brae means a hill-slope or brow (with which it is cognate), and the "electric" name was given when electricity was a new technology associated with strange forces.

There is more than one stretch of road known as Electric Brae, but the most famous is on the A719, south of Dunure, not far from Ayr, and heading east towards Maybole. Though the road appears to be running uphill, a suitably free-running vehicle will slowly move off from a standstill. Metal road signs which used to mark the place have tended to be taken by visitors, and have been replaced by a stone cairn which is inscribed with an explanation (conversions to metric not in the original):

"The ELECTRIC BRAE", known locally as CROY BRAE.
This runs the quarter mile [400 m] from the bend overlooking Croy railway viaduct in the west (286 feet [87 m] Above Ordnance Datum) to the wooded Craigencroy Glen (303 feet [92 m] A.O.D.) to the east.
Whilst there is this slope of 1 in 86 upwards from the bend at the Glen, the configuration of the land on either side of the road provides an optical illusion making it look as if the slope is going the other way.
Therefore, a stationary car on the road with the brakes off will appear to move slowly uphill.
The term 'Electric Brae' dates from a time when it was incorrectly thought to be a phenomenon caused by electric or magnetic attraction within the Brae.
During the Second World War, the brae was visited by many American personnel from the air-base at Prestwick, and General Dwight D Eisenhower who had a flat nearby at Culzean Castle brought visitors to see the phenomenon. In 1992, the name was brought wider fame by the novel Electric Brae by Andrew Greig. The name has also been applied to other slopes in Scotland: for example, on the Struie Road in Easter Ross, about ten miles (15 km) from Ardgay

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]]> Wed, 25 Mar 2009 14:57:52 +0100 THE GAME OF CHESS http://scotlandmysweetlove.nireblog.com/post/2009/03/18/the-game-of-chess http://scotlandmysweetlove.nireblog.com/post/2009/03/18/the-game-of-chess In their grave corner, the players
Deploy the slow pieces. And the chessboard
Detains them until dawn in its severe
Compass in which two colors hate each other.

Within it the shapes give off a magic
Strength: Homeric tower, and nimble
Horse, a fighting queen, a backward king,
A bishop on the bias, and aggressive pawns.

When the players have departed, and
When time has consumed them utterly,
The ritual will not have ended.

That war first flamed out in the east
Whose amphitheatre is now the world.
And like the other, this game is infinite.

II

Slight king, oblique bishop, and a queen
Blood-lusting; upright tower, crafty pawn--
Over the black and the white of their path
They foray and deliver armed battle.

They do not know it is the artful hand
Of the player that rules their fate
They do not know that an adamant rigor
Subdues their free will and their span.

But the player likewise is a prisoner
(The maxim is Omar's) on another board (1)
Of dead-black nights and of white days

God moves the player and he, the piece.
What god behind God originates the scheme

Of dust and time and dream and agony?

Jorge Luis Borges

]]> Wed, 18 Mar 2009 20:03:22 +0100 Scotland, the brave!!! http://scotlandmysweetlove.nireblog.com/post/2009/03/12/scotland-the-brave http://scotlandmysweetlove.nireblog.com/post/2009/03/12/scotland-the-brave

]]> Thu, 12 Mar 2009 19:06:34 +0100 Morning http://scotlandmysweetlove.nireblog.com/post/2009/03/12/morning http://scotlandmysweetlove.nireblog.com/post/2009/03/12/morning I love to wake to each new day,
And brush my dreams
Of night away,

And look out through
my window wide
To see what weather is outside,

And wonder what exciting thing
This shining, un-used day
Will bring.

]]> Thu, 12 Mar 2009 18:46:04 +0100 Today I Saw a Butterfly http://scotlandmysweetlove.nireblog.com/post/2009/03/03/today-i-saw-a-butterfly http://scotlandmysweetlove.nireblog.com/post/2009/03/03/today-i-saw-a-butterfly Today I saw a butterfly,
as it floated in the air;
Its wings were spread in splendor,
Unaware that I was there.
It was such a thing of beauty,
It was a sight to see;
It was the perfect masterpiece,
Full of grace and majesty.

I found myself thinking,
to what can this compare?
And then, of course, I thought of you,
And I wished that you were there.

God sure was extra careful,
When He formed and fashioned you;
You too, became a masterpiece,
Yet God is still not through.

He's daily making changes,
that other folks can't see;
You're already true perfection,
At least you are to me.

~ Author Unknown ~

]]> Tue, 03 Mar 2009 19:53:48 +0100 Morning http://scotlandmysweetlove.nireblog.com/post/2009/03/02/morning http://scotlandmysweetlove.nireblog.com/post/2009/03/02/morning I love to wake to each new day,
And brush my dreams
Of night away,

And look out through
my window wide
To see what weather is outside,

And wonder what exciting thing
This shining, un-used day
Will bring.

]]> Mon, 02 Mar 2009 12:56:51 +0100 Love is Like Magic http://scotlandmysweetlove.nireblog.com/post/2009/02/28/love-is-like-magic http://scotlandmysweetlove.nireblog.com/post/2009/02/28/love-is-like-magic
Love is like magic
and it always will be,
For love still remains
life's sweet mystery.

Love works in ways
that are wondrous and strange
And there's nothing in life
that love cannot change!

Love can transform
the most commonplace
Into beauty and splendor
and sweetness and grace.

Love is unselfish,
understanding and kind,
For it sees with its heart
and not with its mind.

Love is the answer
that everyone seeks...
Love is the language
that every heart speaks.

Love can't be bought,
it is priceless and free,
Love, like pure magic,
is life's sweet mystery!

Author Unknown

]]> Sat, 28 Feb 2009 13:13:02 +0100 Be a Friend http://scotlandmysweetlove.nireblog.com/post/2009/02/27/be-a-friend http://scotlandmysweetlove.nireblog.com/post/2009/02/27/be-a-friend
Be a friend. You don't need money;
Just a disposition sunny;
Just the wish to help another
Get along some way or other;
Just a kindly hand extended
Out to one who's unbefriended;
Just the will to give or lend,
This will make you someone's friend.

Be a friend. You don't need glory.
Friendship is a simple story.
Pass by trifling errors blindly,
Gaze on honest effort kindly,
Cheer the youth who's bravely trying,
Pity him who's sadly sighing;
Just a little labor spend
On the duties of a friend.

Be a friend. The pay is bigger
(Though not written by a figure)
Than is earned by people clever
In what's merely self-endeavor.
You'll have friends instead of neighbors
For the profits of your labors;
You'll be richer in the end
Than a prince, if you're a friend.

~ Edgar Guest ~

]]> Fri, 27 Feb 2009 19:20:47 +0100 Who Has Seen the Wind? http://scotlandmysweetlove.nireblog.com/post/2009/02/22/who-has-seen-the-wind http://scotlandmysweetlove.nireblog.com/post/2009/02/22/who-has-seen-the-wind Who has seen the wind?
Neither I nor you.
But when the leaves hang trembling,
The wind is passing through.
Who has seen the wind?
Neither you nor I.
But when the trees bow down their heads,
The wind is passing by.
Christina Georgina Rossetti

]]> Sun, 22 Feb 2009 19:30:12 +0100 What I Love About You http://scotlandmysweetlove.nireblog.com/post/2009/02/21/what-i-love-about-you http://scotlandmysweetlove.nireblog.com/post/2009/02/21/what-i-love-about-you I love the way you look at me,
Your eyes so bright and blue.
I love the way you kiss me,
Your lips so soft and smooth.

I love the way you make me so happy,
And the ways you show you care.
I love the way you say, "I Love You,"
And the way you're always there.

I love the way you touch me,
Always sending chills down my spine.
I love that you are with me,
And glad that you are mine.

- Crystal Jansen -

]]> Sat, 21 Feb 2009 12:46:08 +0100 A Special World http://scotlandmysweetlove.nireblog.com/post/2009/02/15/a-special-world http://scotlandmysweetlove.nireblog.com/post/2009/02/15/a-special-world A special world for you and me
A special bond one cannot see
It wraps us up in its cocoon
And holds us fiercely in its womb.

Its fingers spread like fine spun gold
Gently nestling us to the fold
Like silken thread it holds us fast
Bonds like this are meant to last.

And though at times a thread may break
A new one forms in its wake
To bind us closer and keep us strong
In a special world, where we belong.

- Sheelagh Lennon -

]]> Sun, 15 Feb 2009 21:26:07 +0100 France and Scotland look for a pick me up rugby victory http://scotlandmysweetlove.nireblog.com/post/2009/02/14/france-and-scotland-look-for-a-pick-me-up-rugby-victory http://scotlandmysweetlove.nireblog.com/post/2009/02/14/france-and-scotland-look-for-a-pick-me-up-rugby-victory PARIS (AFP) - France and Scotland go into their Six Nations clash here at the Stade de France on Saturday both seeking a welcome victory after bruising opening round defeats.

The French certainly played their part in a high quality and exciting 30-21 defeat to Ireland while the Scots went down 26-13 to Grand Slam holders Wales.

AFP/Paul Ellisview photo
However, both will be expecting a better result this time round with particular pressure on France coach Marc Lievremont, who has at least to guide the French to a better placing than last year's third this time round.

The former France international back row forward was downcast after the Irish defeat but he could have taken comfort from phases of play that suggested the French were rediscovering their flair-filled rugby which had gone missing last year.

"We needed to mend certain things this week in terms of discipline and also finishing off our scoring opportunities," commented Lievremont.

"They are clearly things that did not come together against Ireland and I am now looking to this match (against Scotland) to see an improvement on both fronts."

Lievremont had opted for just four changes to the starting XV but he had to bring in Benoit Baby after Florian Fritz was suspended for gouging - disrupting to a certain extent his selection of five Toulouse backs, though, Baby should fit in as he used to play for them as well.

However, it is more his continuing faith in captain and lock Lionel Nallet that has upset the pundits as Lievremont dropped cult hero Sebastien Chabal from the second row instead of him after they were both outclassed by their Irish counterparts.

"At no moment did I even consider the idea of taking the captaincy away from Nallet," said Lievremont.

"It's not always the case that the captain is the outstanding player in any game, although he should not be the worst.

"That was far from being the case on Saturday (against the Irish) and I was happy with the way he played."

While Lievremont steered away from saying that defeat would be a disaster, veteran No 8 Imanol Harinordoquy was more blunt.

"We have spent an intense week, we have spoken with each other a lot," said the 28-year-old 52-times capped Biarritz player.

"We posed a lot of questions but at the end of the day what has been sorted out will only come out on Saturday.

"In any case I do not want to even countenance another defeat. We are not in the French team to lose matches."

Scotland coach Frank Hadden has had to cope with a long line of injuries after the Welsh defeat but at least that has forced his arm in selecting both the Evans brothers, who many had clamoured to be selected in the starting XV against Wales.

The Evanses will become the 20th set of brothers to play together for Scotland, with Thom on the wing and Max - at outside centre - making his first Six Nations start.

Hadden, though, was at pains to insist that the team would put up a better performance than they did against Wales, although, he had not been helped with losing two of his few world class scrummagers Nathan Hines and Euan Murray to injury prior to the match.

"We know the supporters demand and deserve better than the performance against Wales and they are determined to do that against France," said the former school teacher.

YahooUK

]]> Sat, 14 Feb 2009 13:46:25 +0100