The weather was a wee bit disappointing for the middle of May. Algy sat glumly in his tree, riding the branches in the wind, and wondering whether it would ever get a chance to warm up before the autumn and winter closed in again.
Algy’s tree had at last got a beautiful new coat of spring green, so despite the fact that it was dripping wet in the persistent Scotch mist, he couldn’t resist spending the afternoon on its cushion of soft new needles. He hoped that if he spread his wings out far enough, he could keep the water off his book. In the distance, another of the recently arrived summer visitors was calling to him …
Listen to the sounds Algy heard as he was reading in his tree.
As Algy sat in his tree in the Scotch mist, trying to read his book, he could hear another of the newly arrived summer visitors calling to him in the distance, above the sound of the wind and the drizzling rain.
{This audio was recorded at a low level in rather difficult conditions! Algy suggests you increase the volume and listen through headphones or speakers for the best effect.}
The rain was persistent, and the ground was getting rather too soggy for sitting in comfort, so Algy flew up into a tall tree. Far below him, the loch shimmered in the diffuse silvery light, while the hills on the other side were shrouded in Scotch mist.
Algy blows kisses in the rain to all his friends, and to everyone who is feeling sad or discouraged.
Algy was feeling very damp but happy, sitting in his tree surrounded by the constant drip, drip, dripping of the Scotch mist. The robin singing in the rain above his head seemed happy too. But Algy knew that some of his friends were not feeling so cheerful at all. Some were struggling to cope with sadness or difficult challenges in their lives. So he blew kisses to all of his friends, young and old, near and far, happy and sad, and hoped that they would smile despite their problems.
Does the road wind up-hill all the way?
Yes, to the very end.
Will the day’s journey take the whole long day?
From morn to night, my friend.
But is there for the night a resting-place?
A roof for when the slow dark hours begin.
May not the darkness hide it from my face?
You cannot miss that inn.
[From the poem Up-Hill by Christina Rossetti.]
Algy was feeling rather glum. His oldest friends had suffered a sad loss, and they had gone away for a while. The wind felt melancholy too, and blew the mist back in from the sea.
He was reminded of the poem Lassitude by Mathilde Blind, although his own sea was greenish-grey…
A fisher-boy, in level line,
Cast stone by stone into the brine:
Methought I too might do as he,
And cast my sorrows on the sea.
Whiles all the night, through fog-smoke white,
Glimmered the white Moon-shine.
Tired of the endless mist, Algy fell asleep in the tree, and dreamed …
In mist or cloud, on mast or shroud,
It perched for vespers nine …
With the sea lost again in the dense Scotch mist, Algy spent a gloomy day in the larch tree, practising his recitation of The Rime of the Ancient Mariner, that cautionary tale which every young albatross is required to learn by heart.
The Adventures of Algy is an original work in mixed media by artist Jenny Chapman.
Algy, otherwise known as Algernon, was blown inland one dark and stormy night, on the back of a Hebridean gale. Weary of the effort and monotony of life on the wing, he decided to settle for a while in this remote corner of the wild West Highlands of Scotland, a land of wind and water in every form.
Provided with a comfortable rock or tree, he reflects upon life, the universe and the sea, recites poetry, rehearses operatic arias, and tells tall tales of strange adventures, past, present and future, some of which may actually have happened ... some of which perhaps may happen yet.
Algy is happy for you to reblog and share his adventures. Check Algy's Copyright Info page for complete copyright information.
Algy's adventures are suitable for everyone, from the very young to the very old. Please remember that this may not be true of other tumblr blogs which reblog Algy's adventures or comment on them. Algy has no influence over the content of other blogs. Where links appear inside Algy's adventures, the destinations have been checked as suitable for all ages on the dates they were posted.
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Although some of Algy's tales may be fanciful, the land of his adventures is real. Discover more about life in this beautiful and remote area of Scotland in:
Kilchoan – Diary of a Scottish Village
A diary of daily life in a West Highland community.
The Adventures of Algy by Jenny Chapman, MacAvon Media Productions is copyright material licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 3.0 Unported License. Please read Algy's Copyright Info page for full details.
