Very old tonight

As a wee boy I was taken by my Granny to a theatre in Edinburgh to see a production of ‘Peter Pan’. Since then I have been fascinated with shadows.

This short film is based on three shadows of myself.

(1) Shadow one: 3.05 am, 2 June 2020, in the hall of Mossgrove, our house [the moon was full and my shadow was cast by moonlight coming through the skylight]

(2) Shadow two: 5.35 am, 7 June 2020, at the grave in Kilslyth churchyard of somebody unknown to me. The inscription had completely worn away but a more deeply carved cross survived and had aged beautifully. The sun had only just begun to rise. The tombstone had the same Mavisbank proportions as the ‘Ageing Stone’ [which is a sculpture that I made long ago and can still be found in our front garden]

(3) Shadow three: 28 January 2019, from memory taken sometime near lunchtime [I recall feeling hungry] in a cave below where Craighall castle once stood. This castle in Fife, and its beautiful den, was a favourite picnic spot in Victorian times. My great-great-great grandfather and his family used to picnic here. John Gordon,  my grandfather three-generations back,  was born in 1816 as a son of a Deeside whisky smuggler. In announcing his death in 1899 the Fife newspapers reported that he was “familar with every road in Scotland”.

Very old tonight:

To play this short film please click here or on the image above

Music credit: a cover by The Stars of ‘What Difference Does It Make’ by The Smiths [NP Music]

The wildflower meadow: currently flowering in the wee orchard at the foot of our garden: an example of Nature that has had a little help from a shadow.

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