Paws on Fair Isle: Skyelark’s Remote Island Ramble
🌍 Skyelark's Walkabouts
Travelling is Like Flirting with Life
🏝️ Arrivals and Departures
This island is about arrivals and departures. The curious come and go, and the resilient stay. Our extended stay continues and it remains a remarkable one—counting sheep, counting on friends and family and counting on God to see us through the weather, the winds and the day-to-day remains of the Summer.
🌟 Advancing Confidently
As we advance confidently in the direction of our dreams, we meet with a success unknown in common hours. Fair Isle remains to us other-worldly.
With all of our travels sailing around the world—I don't know why they call it planet Earth, because it is made up of lots more ocean.
🗺️ Echoes of Other Worlds
The geography reminds me of Alaska, Hawaii, The Arctic Circle (Nord Kap), Norway, Scotland and...who knows what's next, as we live the ecstatic life. The definition of ecstasy is that you are not doing your ordinary everyday routine—essentially stepping into an alternative reality. It can feel like that here.
💭 Travel Wisdom
All the pathos and irony of leaving one's youth behind is thus implicit in every joyous moment of travel: one knows that the first joy can never be recovered, and the wise traveler learns not to repeat successes but tries new places all the time.
Everyday, you have to go out of your mind in order to come to your senses. A fool, after all, who persists in his folly, becomes wise.
"When we get out of the glass bottle of our ego and when we escape like the squirrels in the cage of our personality and get into the forest again, we shall shiver with cold and fright. But things will happen to us so that we don't know ourselves. Cool, unlying life will rush in."
Stockholm: The Act of Rebirth
I stayed four months in Stockholm in 1995; with the obstacles, the fatigue, the ambiguity, and even the danger. In a very practical way, it was the act of rebirth. I dealt with completely new situations; the days passed more slowly, and most of the time, I didn't even understand the language the people spoke.
It actually made me more accessible to others, because they helped me out in difficult situations. Nobody remains quite what they are when they recognize themselves.
The idea occurred to me when I was there. At first it was only a vague idea, a question looming — what should I do? — with an answer taking shape: nothing.
⚠️ The Danger of Nothing
Doing nothing always carries with it the sense of violation, of sacrilege. It's evil, dangerous, and subversive, at least for we Americans.
⚡ The Power of Nothing
It's a poor workman who blames his tool, and doing nothing is a powerful one. The time I enjoyed wasting in Sweden wasn't wasted time.
🎯 The Ultimate Paradox
Nothing is the hardest thing to do
Infinite patience, however, brings immediate results.
🌟 The Walkabout Way
From Stockholm to Fair Isle, from doing everything to doing nothing, from seeking new places to finding ourselves. The walkabout continues, and with each step, we discover that travelling isn't just about the places we go—it's about the people we become.
We haven't been everywhere, but it is on our list. After all, when you come to a fork in the road, take it.