The Courier & Advertiser (Angus and Dundee)
The Posy Ring
Pride of place
“I was fascinated to see the photograph of Sir J M Barrie receiving the Freedom of Kirriemuir in your column on Thursday, sent in by Jim Howie,” emails Norman Atkinson of Kingsmuir, Forfar.
“Shortly before I retired from Angus Council’s cultural services in 2013, the casket, complete with its scroll, came up for sale at an auction in the south of England. With financial assistance from the National Acquisitions Fund, I was able to purchase it for Kirriemuir’s Town House Museum, and there it is displayed in pride of place alongside some related Barrie items.
“Kirriemuir Town Council had also loaned some Barrie material to the National Trust for Scotland when they opened Barrie’s Birthplace, but this was long before Kirriemuir got its own museum in 2000. They were still on display when I last visited, but were not attributed to the old town council.
“Incidentally, it may not be generally known that the great man lived in Forfar’s Canmore Street for a number of years during the 1870s, attending Forfar Academy and the East Free Church. I’ve attached a photograph of him with his classmates and two teachers when he was at Forfar Academy. He is pictured first on the left in the front row.”
Despatched across the river
“While appreciating someone’s efforts at sculpture on the beach at Kingoodie (Craigie, March 10), my memories of the hamlet go back a bit further,” emails John Crichton of Forfar.
“Pictured is the pier as it is today. In
1540, stone from the nearby quarry was despatched across the River Tay to Lindores, and from there to Falkland Palace to help construct the real tennis court where Mary, Queen of Scots, is reputed to have played.
“Perhaps this explains the curiously named street, Kings Mason, just behind the nearer red-roofed houses.
“It was about 1950, when playing close to
the quarry, now thankfully filled in, that I came across local artist, Mackintosh Patrick, busy on a watercolour.”
Pet-safe planting
With spring within touching distance, many of our pets will be spending more time outdoors. As spring plants bloom, it’s important to know which to steer clear of if you have pets. So what shrubs and flowers will give you a colourful and pet-friendly garden?
PDSA vet nurse Nina Downing says: “Outdoor exercise and playtime is vital for pets. Many pets enjoy exploring new scents and sounds as part of their natural behaviour.
“While any plant can cause tummy upsets if chewed or eaten, some are especially dangerous for pets so owners do need to think carefully about what flowers and plants they have in their gardens.”
African daisies and marigolds look exotic, will brighten up your garden, and are fairly resilient to knocks. Crocuses are a good alternative to daffodils for early spring colour. Just make sure to avoid buying autumn crocuses (also known as Colchium) as these can be toxic to animals.
Safe plants for dogs include camellias and African violets. For cats, choose sunflowers
and snapdragons. Owners should always check whether plants could be poisonous to pets before buying, with advice from garden centres. The Horticultural Trade Association has a code of practice that most garden centres adhere to. The code labels plants A – poisonous, B – Toxic if eaten and C – Harmful if eaten. Plants in any of these categories are best avoided for a pet-friendly garden.
Nina adds: “A little bit of research can prevent problems for your pet, worry for you and an unexpected vet bill.”
More information about plant and garden safety can be found on PDSA’S website: pdsa. org.uk/safergardens
Weighty matters
The Rev Gordon Campbell of Kingoodie emails: “On December 5 1855, this newspaper recorded that a ‘decent body’ brought in some butter to sell in Brechin. The shopkeeper weighed the butter, and then declared that it was too light.
“The prospective seller explained that, as she had lost her pound weight, she had used one of the shop’s ‘pounds o’ sugar to weigh my butter’ – so if the butter was underweight, the sugar must have been also. Sadly, the report from all those years ago leaves us wondering what happened next!”
Here, at Keill, Daisy sees the ruins of an older church, a shell only, with more tombstones round about: a mouthful of grey teeth, yellow with crotal. It’s a peaceful place, but sad too.
She’ll come back here again. Where is Lilias buried, she wonders? On the islet maybe? But there are other ancient graveyards on Garve.
She has left Hector tied up to the gate and he is delighted to see her all over again. For now, it’s time to find somewhere to get a cup of tea and then she’d better drive down to Carraig and see what has been happening to Cal.
She parks the car outside the swing gate and holds it open to let Hector through. He disappears round the side of the house, delirious with delight at being home again.
Chorus of birdsong
The world would be a nicer place if people could be as open to joy as most dogs. She hears a couple of barks of recognition and then silence, except for the usual chorus of birdsong and the sound of sea on shore.
She ventures round the house more slowly. The back door is standing open, but there’s no sign of Cal. She becomes aware of a distant banging, like somebody hammering nails. It stops and starts again. Perhaps he’s working on something. She pokes her head in at the cottage door and is alarmed to see smashed porcelain on the floor but it’s only a broken mug.
Hector rushes in, laps at the coffee, sneezes and rushes out again. She follows him as he trots into the lean-to at the side of the house. She hasn’t been in here before, but it’s more spacious than she realised: a room tagged on to the house, where Cal and his sister had once slept during their island visits.
Now, there’s a long bench, tools, the usual clutter of a working craftsman. Cal is sitting on a high stool, leaning on the bench. There’s a heap of wooden drawers, large and small, in front of him. He’s been working on them, or trying to, but he’s not working now. He’s sitting there, staring into space. Hector jumps up and paws at him, but he pushes the dog away, not violently but more brusquely than usual.
To her considerable alarm, Daisy sees that Cal is holding a hammer. He seems to have been bouncing it, rhythmically and persistently, against the hard wooden bench, making little dents all along the edge of it. As she watches him, he starts up again.
“Cal!” she says, but he doesn’t seem to hear her. She’s unwilling to go any closer. It strikes her that she doesn’t know him well at all, and they are surrounded by potentially dangerous implements: knives, files, chisels, saws and hammers. “Cal,” she says again, more loudly.
Absolute fury
He stops hammering, gives himself a shake and looks at her. “Daisy!” he says, dully. “What are you doing here?”
He looks absolutely furious. Not with her, but furious all the same. His dark brows are gathered together in a frown.
“Just visiting. I’ve been to Keill. To the charity shop and the cemetery.” She finds herself trying to distract him. “I took some flowers to Viola’s grave. We passed your road end on the way back. I thought you might like to see Hector. Maybe not, though.”
He follows her gaze, looks at the hammer in his hand, says, “Oh, sorry. What am I thinking?” and sets it down, carefully.
“Are you OK?” she asks, although clear that he’s far from OK.
He runs his hand through his hair, shakes himself again, like Hector. “Not really,” he says, but he’s smiling at her and looking more like himself. “But all the better for seeing you.”
“Come inside. I’ll make tea or something.” He gets off the stool and heads for the back door. She wonders how long he’s been sitting there, hammering at his bench.
“Be careful where you walk. I broke a mug.”
They pick up the pieces and put them in the bin. She mops up the spilled coffee with some kitchen towel.
“My father was here.”
“Cal, I was in the hotel. I saw him there. Elspeth Cameron was worried about you.” “Did she send you down to rescue me?” “I was going to come anyway. But did you not know he was coming?”
“He never says. Just turns up and expects everyone to fit in with his plans. Which they usually do.”
He goes over to a cupboard and fetches out a bottle of Eilean Garbh malt and two it’s glasses. He pours himself a large measure and holds up the bottle to her.
She shakes her head. “I’m driving.” “You could stay again.”
“OK. Just a small one.” She could stay for a while, drive later.
Trembling with rage
The spirit is extraordinarily peaty with a definite tang of iodine. It catches in her throat but she can feel the wonderful warmth of it spreading through her. She could get used to it. He downs his own drink in one and pours himself another. “That’s better.”
“What’s happened, Cal? something wrong in Glasgow?”
“The only thing that’s wrong in Glasgow is my f ****** father.”
The raw viciousness of this alarms her all over again, but she waits quietly for him to calm down and explain. He’s practically trembling with rage. Vibrating with it.
He sighs, shakes his head. “He wants to put this place on the market.” He drinks again, gazes at the floor. “A holiday cottage by the sea with potential for development. It’ll sell in no time at all.”
“This place?” She looks around. This is only her second visit but even she can see how much Cal treasures it. What a sanctuary it seems to be for him. “Why would he do that? Do they need the money?”
Cal bursts out laughing but it’s obviously not very funny. “No. Of course he doesn’t need the f ****** money, hen. He’s rolling in it. You should see his personal VAT bill, the one for his art sales. And that’s nothing to do with the shop. A separate business altogether.”
“Then I don’t understand. Doesn’t he know how you feel about it? How much you love it?”
“Of course he knows. That’s one of his reasons for doing it. He likes to be in control and this is just another way of making sure everyone including me is under his thumb.”
Is there
The raw viciousness of this alarms her all over again, but she waits quietly for him to calm down and explain
The Posy Ring, first in the series The Annals of Flowerfield, is written by Catherine Czerkawska and published by Saraband. It is priced at £8.99.