#St. Ninians Isle

[calochortus]

St. Ninian's Isle by Peter Stenzel

#Meer #Schottland #Shetland #St. Ninians Isle #darktable #Samsung NX #flickr

[thesilicontribesman]

St. Ninian's Isle Hoard Pennanular Brooch Selection, 8th Century CE, The National Museum of Scotland, Edinburgh

#silver #gilt #archaeology #metalworking #metalwork #Pennanular Brooch #brooch #St. Ninian's Isle #status #ancient living #ancient craft #ancient cultures #ancient design #Scotland #Edinburgh

[scotianostra]

Isle of Whithorn “Cairn”

From a visit to Dumfries & Galloway in  May 2016. The remains of an old Lifeboat station near to St Ninian’s Chapel has become a huge cairn of stones, many of them bearing heartfelt messages,  remembering a loved one, be it human or a cherished pet  now departed.

#Scotland #scottish #ruins #cairn #loved ones #remembrance #archive pics #my pics #Isle of whithorn

[natures-moments]

St. Ninian's Isle, Scotland

[supersapphical]

Post canon Billiewena :)

OH billiewena, one of my favorite pairings!!!! Not gonna lie, keeping this one short was a challenge because post canon billiewena makes me want to write a whole fix it fic BUT I hope I did them justice in this short fic.

Billie and Rowena share a moment together at the end of the world. Read on AO3 or under the cut.

The reshaping of a universe without Chuck would take time, is taking time, did take time and also took no time at all. Time had to be reinvented during the reshaping of the cosmos and it took centuries and it took milliseconds and it is still taking place and has been taking place since before Chuck came into existence.

Billie, as a being of the cosmos, can feel all the other cosmic beings reworking their way through the strings of creation and she can also feel one cosmic being who is uncharacteristically still among the frantic busyness of a universe being remade.

Rowena, ruler of Hell, is sitting along the coastline of St. Ninian’s Isle, sipping a carefully brewed cup of tea. She’s in a rocking chair on a porch looking out towards the coastline off in the distance. (The entire residence will be undone in the remaking of the new world; in fact, it has already been undone.) It’s overcast but not currently raining, with enough of a chill in the air that a human might be bothered by it.

“You’re having a cup of tea at the end of the world?” Billie asks her, appearing by her side.

“There’s nothing a nice wee cup of tea can’t fix,” the queen of hell responds, calmly taking a sip. “It’s Scottish blend, the finest. Do you think it will taste different after all of this is done?”

“To us, yes,” Billie replies. “To the humans, probably not.”

Rowena sighs, “Another lovely thing lost to the passage of time.”

“More like the restructuring of time,” Billie says.

“Would you care to stay and watch for a while?” Rowena asks her.

Billie moves to stand beside Rowena in her rocking chair, looking off into the distance in the same direction Rowena does.

“I don’t suppose you’d care for some?” Rowena asks, indicating the mug in her hands.

“Human creature comforts aren’t really…my thing,” Billie says, raising an eyebrow.

“They used to be my thing,” Rowena sighs. “All I ever wanted was…”

“To be unkillable and to have every comfort in the world,” Billie finishes for her.

“That’s not too much to ask, is it?” Rowena asks primly, taking another sip of tea.

“What’s troubling you, Rowena?” Billie asks. She can feel Rowena’s energy, so still among a universe of movement. The only stagnant area in the whole of existence right now is this quiet moment Rowena has manufactured.

“Every particle in the universe is changing and most people won’t even notice the difference,” Rowena says softly.

“You’ve seen a lot—for a human,” Billie says.

“I’m not a human any longer,” Rowena sighs.

“Do you wish you still were?” Billie’s never been human but she knows how sentimental they can be, she can feel all living things deeply through their connection to death. “You’re more powerful now than you ever were before.”

“No amount of power can make you happy. I learned that over the years,” Rowena says. “And my son…he sacrificed himself rather than stay in the role I currently have.”

“That doesn’t really answer my question,” Billie says.

“No one can stay a human forever,” Rowena replies, eyes distant as she looks towards the coastline. “Not even in this new, hopefully better world. I suppose my post human life is better than others.”

Billie refrains from pointing out that that answer is still a non-answer and instead she says, “This is different to the creation of the world and yet—still so similar.”

“You’ve seen a lot—for a reaper,” Rowena says.

“I’m not a reaper anymore,” Billie says.

“Do you wish you still were?” Rowena asks, taking another sip of her tea.

“Being Death is…different,” Billie shrugs. “Sometimes there’s no better or worse. Things just are the way they are.”

“Like my becoming queen of hell,” Rowena says, the tea cup in her right hand gently clinking as it hits the saucer in her left hand. “Though I suppose the transition was easier for you.”

“Perhaps not,” Billie says.

“It wasn’t easier for you?” Rowena asks. “Aren’t reapers and Death made of the same…stuff? You feel similar to your reapers.”

“I suppose it's true we were made from the same cosmic powers,” Billie says. “We are connected but we are not…one. And being Death it’s…the grand scheme of things is clearer. I’m no longer a reaper working as a single cog in the mechanism of fate. Now I’m…”

“The engineer sent to fix the mechanism of fate?” Rowena suggests.

“Hm, I suppose that’s an apt enough metaphor,” Billie says.

“And that’s hard for you? Hard enough that you think this change was easier for me?”

“Human beings…they’re in a constant state of flux,” Billie muses. "For a human to become something that is no longer human is just another change for you in your ever changing lives.”

“You thought you’d be a reaper forever,” Rowena says sympathetically.

“I’ve been a reaper since before this world was born, I always thought I’d be a reaper when it ended,” Billie says quietly.

Rowena sets her teacup down and stands up. Moving close to her, she gently places her hand on Billie’s face, her thumb stroking Billie’s cheekbone. Billie can feel her energy reaching out and Billie sighs a bit and allows Rowena in. Rowena had been one of the most powerful humans Billie had ever met but she had still been human. Now, as ruler of hell, she’s made of something more celestial. Rowena’s energy washes over her. Her steadfast resolve is something that Billie has always admired. Rowena has been knocked down many times and she has never failed to get back up again. It’s so very human of her and something that comforts Billie in this moment, when everything around her is changing. Rowena’s energy flows through her, an energy that knows how to meet adversity and bend but not break. Billie remembers when she comforted Rowena with words when she was a witch. Words were the only thing her human brain would have understood. Now Rowena is able to soothe her with a cosmic exchange of energies a human would never understand.

They stand there together while the reshaping of the world goes on around them, for a single moment and for many moments and for every moment that ever existed and ever will exist. They stand there while time stretches on and wraps around them and skips ahead and reverses and repeats, swirling frantically around this one moment held still by Rowena’s powers.

“It’s the end of the world as we know it,” Rowena gives Billie a sly smile. “And how are we feeling?”

“I feel fine,” Billie’s mouth twitches but she doesn’t allow herself to smile at Rowena’s joke.

“Will we still have that song in this brand new world order?” Rowena asks.

“In some iteration or another,” Billie says.

“I suppose I’ve been idle long enough,” Rowena sighs, letting her hand fall and stepping away. “Time to dive back into the chaos, then?"

“Well, it wouldn't be much of a universe without either of us," Billie says.

Rowena gives her a small, satisfied smile.

Billie dematerializes first, her consciousness moving away from the frozen moment she shared with Rowena and out towards the magnificent chaos of a whole universe being reorientated. Rowena soon follows, chasing after her into a swirling mass of primordial atoms that were to become and have become and are the brand new universe.

#thank you so much for sending in this prompt!!!! two of my favorite characters so i had a lot of fun with this one #billierowena #sapphicnatural #sapphebruary #super stuff

[thesilversun]

Most of my stuff on here tends to fandom or baking, with the occasional bit of walking.

I work in an office these days (for a lots of years tbh at this point)

But I used to study & then work in archaeology once.

So here are a few photos of Shetland. Stanydale (1st pic) Mousa

(Some of us students on the Mousa ferry, St Ninians Isle, camping on St Ninians &sunset passing Fair Isle (I’m the one white jumper with blue fleece in front row)

I don’t have load of pics of back then - it was pre-digital camera/smart phones back in 2000

I’d love to go back there again one day.

#irl stuff #shetland #Mousa broch #photos #how is this 22 years ago? #originally posted to Twitter #formatting is a bit off #photos look like that as they are taken from actual printed photos from 2000

[ukge]

Shetland - an archipelago on the edge

Allen Fraser (UK) Shetland is a spectacular group of islands with a varied geology, a wonderful landscape and a special flora and fauna, peopled by a culture distinct within the British Isles. Shetland remains one of Britain’s natural treasures.” (J. Laughton Johnston) Fig. 1. St Ninian’s Isle. The islands Shetland sits on the edge of the European continental shelf and is sinking. Since the…

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[safereturndoubtful]

On St Ninian’s Beach

26th June 2023

I had booked the most basic accommodation on the overnight boat from Kirkwall to Lerwick, a reclining seat. But I had hoped not to use it, preferring the illegal option of staying in my van bed. I had researched on the internet and read that it was something truckers did do. An article from an incident in January of 2006 was easily found, when in stormy conditions three trucks had toppled over during the crossing. On arrival in Lerwick it was found 6 drivers had stayed in their cabs, one stuck there until he was rescued.

Northlink stresses how dangerous it is, yet they are quite happy to let my dog stay there.. do they value his life any less than mine? By circumstance rather than choice, I boarded last, and had to reverse on with the studious attention of all the boarding crew. At the appropriate moment I disappeared behind the curtain. They either didn’t see, or weren’t bothered. Before the boat sailed I was in bed, waking at 7:15 am as drivers returned to their vehicles. The coach driver next to me gave me a knowing nod. It was clear he had done the same.

By 8 am I was at St Ninian’s Beach, about a half hour drive away, in heavy rain and just 9C. Roja and I had breakfast, and I read while Roja dozed and the rain eased, and by mid-morning the cloud cleared and the sun emerged.

This is my second visit of the year to the Wild Atlantic coast, the first being the Costa del Morte in Galicia in February, equally impressive.

The first photo is of the ruin of St Ninians’s Chapel, which dates back to the 12th Century. Before that it was an Iron Age Burial Ground. It’s other claim to fame is that in 1958 a local schoolboy found a wooden box on the site, which contained 28 silver objects of Pictish treasure.

St Ninian’s Isle is quite a spectacular sight from the car park, with its jagged rock cliffs, strikingly green pasture, and it’s shell-sand tombolo, the finest example of one in Western Europe. It is occasionally breached, in storms and at high tide, but today it was at its best, a superb wander though Roja chose not to use it and swim alongside for most of the way.

The perimeter of the Isle is about four and a half miles, but most who walk as far as the island, then choose shortcuts. As with most of the ocean facing coasts here, the south and west headlands are the wildest and most spectacular. There were a few other visitors. I met the couple in the other campervan at the carpark, from Durham, and prior to that at Dentdale, and we chatted for a while.

We were back at the van for 2 pm, and spent the afternoon with the dramatic backdrop trying to concentrate enough to attend to a few business matters.

Last week here was the Shetland Noir Book Festival, attended by writers such as Martin Edwards, Val McDermid, Ann Cleeves and Elly Griffiths. They even had a session here at St Ninian’s Beach. Cleeves write the Shetland series, that has now been adapted for television. It strikes me that the literary body count here on the tranquil Shetland Islands is bigger than most places, with the possible exception of Midsomer.

These rocky outcrops put me in mind of Chris Cameron, who is currently mid-way through his 60 day record attempt for the longest stay on a remote uninhabited North Atlantic rock, on Rockall, 200 miles west of St Kilda, and 300 miles from the mainland. It says a lot about the teaching profession that a guy has to go to such lengths to get a peaceful break. Maybe he won’t return to his post, and stay on Rockall.

Roja seems unbothered by the various dive-bomb attacks from the sea birds he receives. They concern themselves with him rather than me thankfully. With my untrained eye, those who bombed him include, the Fulmar which comes off the cliffs and hovers in the wind, the territorial Curlew with its recognisable squeal and curved beak from the scrub land, and the much rarer Arctic Tern from its slumber in the grass.

And a ‘spot-the-van’ pic..

[xanthiagoddess]

Yesterday was a lot of waiting. Sad day to lose a rider but sidecars and superstock went on #iomtt (at St. Ninian's Church, Douglas, Isle of Man) https://www.instagram.com/p/Cef48MlIq4f/?igshid=NGJjMDIxMWI=

#iomtt

[on-misty-mountains]

St Ninian’s Isle, Shetland

This island can be reached via a 'tombolo’, which forms this interesting X-shape. (A ‘tombolo’ is a strip of land, often created through deposited material over time, which attaches an island to the mainland, creating a ‘tied island’.) There you find the remains of a 12th Century chapel, dedicated to St Ninian. On the 4th of July 1958 a local schoolboy by the name of Douglas Coutts discovered treasure under a slab marked with a cross on the chapel site. It turned out to be 28 pieces of Pictish silver artefacts, many of them jewellery, and the jawbone of a porpoise. This treasure was likely hidden during a Viking raid around 800 AD. The original items can be seen in the National Museum of Scotland.  

Video footage here. 

#st ninians isle #shetland #visitshetland #scotland #island #nature #sea #beach #waves #tombolo #chapel #medieval #history #archaeology #treasure #hoard #pictish #picts #artefacts #photography #nature photography #travel photography #photographers on tumblr

[dramoor]

“When we take communion with Christ we drink at the very spring of life.”

~Ernesto Cardenal

(Photo © dramoor 2018 St. Ninian’s ancient spring, Kilninian, Isle of Mull, Scotland)

#St. Ninian #Lord Jesus Christ #spring of life #communion #photography #photographers on tumblr #travel #Scotland #Isle of Mull #Hebrides #Kilninian Church and Monastery #pilgrimage #icons #Orthodox Christian #living water #ferns #green

[thesilicontribesman]

St. Ninian's Isle Hoard, The National Museum of Scotland, Edinburgh

#St Ninians #saint ninian's isle #hoard #ancient craft #ancient living #ancient cultures #archaeology #metalworking #metalwork #design #treasure #Scotland #symbols #Edinburgh

[this-wandering-mind]

26/5/19

We wandered around the picturesque harbour town at the Isle of Whithorn, where the ruins of St Ninian’s chapel stand.

#St Ninian's chapel #Isle of Whithorn #whithorn #scotland #harbour #coastline #Journal #Bucket List #bucketlist #sea #travel #britain #galloway

[scotianostra]

19 St Ninian's Isle - Explored :-) by Nicole Via Flickr: St Ninian's Isle is a small tied island connected by the largest tombolo in the UK to the south-western coast of the Mainland, Shetland, in Scotland. The tombolo, known locally as an ayre from the Old Norse for "gravel bank"is 500 metres long. During the summer the tombolo is above sea level and accessible to walkers. During winter, stronger wave action removes sand from the beach so that it is usually covered at high tide, and occasionally throughout the tidal cycle, until the sand is returned the following spring. Depending on the definition used, St. Ninian's is thus either an island, or a peninsula; it has an area of about 72 hectares. .

#St Ninians Isle #beach #Shetland #Shetland Isles #tombolo #isles #islands #peninsula #sky #sea #sand #white #boat #NSJWphotos

[kiteknots]

St Ninians Isle // Shetland

#kiteknots #photography #photographyblog #nature photography #landscape photography #nikon #nikonnofilter #nikon photography #unedited #shetland #shetland islands #scotland #scottish #scottish islands #autumn #beach #ocean #sea #seascape #north sea #atlantic sea #pirate #shanty #coast #coastline

[ukdamo]

Today’s Flickr photo with the most hits - this shot of a silver gilt bowl; part of the the 8th CE hoard discovered in the ruined chapel of St Ninian, on St Ninian’s Isle, Shetland. 

#st ninian's isle #shetland #chapel #buried treasure #hoard