Yes, it's that time of the week, fairly late on a Friday afternoon, and I'm kind of marooned at the office waiting for it to be time to head out to celebrate a friend's new flat and birthday. Should be a good party. I look forward to seeing some of my Colombia-connected friends after a spell away.
Mind you, I don't feel much like celebrating just now. Had to attend the final farewell ceremony of a long-time friend who died last Saturday, a month and two days shy of her 57th birthday.
Pia and I were close friends back in the seventies, when we spent many an evening together while our partners were off playing handball or hanging out in bars and she had to stay home to mind her second baby boy. Seems like yesterday.
We lost touch over the past few years, but I was recently aware of her being very ill with cancer and of no-one expecting her to live to the end of this year. Perhaps her husband of thirty-seven years and her sons and daughters-in-law were hoping that she would make her 57th birthday come December 19, but it was not to be.
Pia was a wonderful, energetic, life, sports and fun-loving woman. A great mother and wife and partner. A dedicated, enthusiastic teacher. A generous, warm-hearted friend. A gifted painter. A ...
I am quite sure that everyone in that church -- which was full to capacity this afternoon -- choked up at the sight of her last paintings, which were lined up in the choir where her coffin was not. Those colourful canvases are her legacy, and will remind us all of her lovely presence.
What an outrage that such a wonderful person had to go through so much suffering, and for so long (she received her cancer diagnosis in September 2004)!
But what a gift her life was to everyone who had the privilege of knowing her.
Thank you, Pia, for having touched so many lives. Let me dedicate this photo to you, which was taken just about when you were painting those very last pictures of yours...
As I have no images of Pia, I would like to post some visual memories of my short trip to Iona of just over a month ago. Here they come.
This lovely garden belongs to the Argyll Hotel on Iona. It is an organic treasure that reveals itself to visitors who walk up to the Abbey.A striking new feature that was barely under construction during my previous visit in April 2006, Iona's new fire station:
Just a few days before my visit, someone had run his car into the door, blocking the fire station and leaving the island unprotected in case of fire for a few hours (for details, see The Oban Times, Oct. 19, 2007, http://www.obantimes.co.uk)
No visit to Iona is complete without a tour of what's left of the Nunnery, founded in about 1200. Those beautiful granite walls are still impressive.
Although the day was quite dismal, grey and damp -- driech, in one word -- the sun did manage to burst through the cloud.And the sky was gorgeous as we boarded the ferry back to Mull:
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