Fueled by apple cider, I spent the afternoon reacquainting myself with my most beloved street: The Scores. It winds from the Old Course all the way to East Sands, from hotels and academic bastions to rugged sea coast, past the castle, through a village of homes, to a bustling fisherman’s port. I like it because it has everything. Even dry, pungent leaves. I shamelessly admit to shuffling through them to wake up their scent.
![DSC_4227 DSC_4227](https://media.walkandalie.com/images/9e083099500187fba21c0213d6bce363/DSC_4227-900x900.jpg)
John Ruskin (I have just read) claimed that when you draw, something good happens to you: the ‘I like this’ becomes ‘I like this because . . .’ You start to notice why you like what you like.
Poetry and photography are my drawing. Looking and capturing makes me examine what I find beautiful and why it is beautiful to me. I like thinking about why I like. And, although you despised photography, Mr. Ruskin, it's my way of noticing. I write this post in your honor, pleased that you at least found writing an acceptable medium.
I like walking past the flowers that can never contain their curiosity. They tell me they hear lots of metaphysics and moral philosophy; who knew?!
![DSC_4064 DSC_4064](https://media.walkandalie.com/images/328cf641da6db9423925548d002207ab/DSC_4064-900x900.jpg)
The land may not be as lauded as the sea, but it is the hues of the land that set the sea up for accolades. I like you, cliffs and thistles, for your modest colors, for your patience with the sea who adores you and then changes its mind so often.
![DSC_4130 DSC_4130](https://media.walkandalie.com/images/6261da531a3ea60f38d2b68428bdf21d/DSC_4130-900x900.jpg)
![DSC_4090 DSC_4090](https://media.walkandalie.com/images/14ffb995a27fc245af39b1588ef3703a/DSC_4090-900x900.jpg)
![DSC_4162 DSC_4162](https://media.walkandalie.com/images/64b9d6d0dc7b15a5537be30410c7ba28/DSC_4162-900x900.jpg)
I love all of this, but the sight of these buildings positively makes my mittened hands tingle. How I liked you, Castle House and Kennedy Hall, because you let me gaze at the sea while I pondered tone and audience and semi-colons. I’m so very glad to see you, again---you and your soothing view.
![DSC_4225 DSC_4225](https://media.walkandalie.com/images/85a3812a872ec7468f9ad8e9a6c49241/DSC_4225-900x900.jpg)
![DSC_4078 DSC_4078](https://media.walkandalie.com/images/486d26a3a8b525230a00991efca8df4a/DSC_4078-900x900.jpg)
And you, too, pip-squeak! I actually can’t believe you’re still here and I got to see you today. Even if you distracted me from poetry many an hour, I like you because you brave intense winds and somehow are always, always in the mood to twerp. You rock.
![DSC_4223 DSC_4223](https://media.walkandalie.com/images/0964fa7cad04f422db82349ac2ba998f/DSC_4223-900x900.jpg)
![DSC_4131 DSC_4131](https://media.walkandalie.com/images/4fabbf5cce52bcaa2e8035f0785d0c55/DSC_4131-900x900.jpg)
There are stones piled everywhere along this road, and some have stuck together almost a thousand years. I like the strength from random order.
![DSC_4213 DSC_4213](https://media.walkandalie.com/images/f6a7a91bbdafc7f007f1f40cc73ab751/DSC_4213-900x900.jpg)
You knew this was coming eventually . . .
![DSC_4202 DSC_4202](https://media.walkandalie.com/images/7e8300a78be3d4cfb3142ec69af766e7/DSC_42021-900x900.jpg)
At the end of the road hides a small port. The canal is filled with fishing boats, and then a bridge arches from the earthy coast into a still, small world of swans and quietness.
![DSC_4168 DSC_4168](https://media.walkandalie.com/images/4d615ffe172cc72cd771b248e19bdf39/DSC_4168-900x900.jpg)
![DSC_4173 DSC_4173](https://media.walkandalie.com/images/9a606c7087d3dc5852cc5336b5020595/DSC_4173-900x900.jpg)
![DSC_4169 DSC_4169](https://media.walkandalie.com/images/b2572687353c267e86b541381f6aa89f/DSC_4169-900x900.jpg)
![DSC_4184 DSC_4184](https://media.walkandalie.com/images/5387a990c5232cfa8214d3c8ff6d6ba5/DSC_4184-900x900.jpg)
And I like you, oft-trekked path,
![DSC_4220 DSC_4220](https://media.walkandalie.com/images/17632525588ebf7aa6a9a8365daa95e5/DSC_4220-900x900.jpg)
for always leading past surprises (hello, spring!) . . .
![DSC_4235 DSC_4235](https://media.walkandalie.com/images/a40ea72379ca4a8725dd0ca02e313a55/DSC_4235-900x900.jpg)
and then back home.
![DSC_4033 DSC_4033](https://media.walkandalie.com/images/a7a4e1e55cfe9abe8869b34a233d455b/DSC_4033-900x900.jpg)