Distracttions and temptations

It is difficult to imagine distractions and temptations on such a remote place.  I am on an island that requires two ferries and a bus to reach this destination.  The physician visits the island on Thursdays.  The bank visits the island on Wednesdays.  The children who finish primary school will leave the island each Monday to attend secondary school in Oban.  They will return home on Friday’s, and continue that process throughout the school year.  I have been here three weeks.  I know most of the full time residents on sight.  I know most of the cats and dogs by name.  But there are distractions and temptations.

For such a small place, there is an enormous selection of books.  Each house, the Mac and Cul Shuna has books in their common rooms.  The vollie gathering area, the McNeil Library, is a library.  There is an excellent library in the Abbey.  There are 120 people who live on the island year round and they have a public library.  How cool is that the bank is on wheels and rolls into the village once a week, but the library is a fixed structure.  Every retail establishment sells books, including the grocer, and there is even a dedicated book store on the island.  I find this very distracting!  Everywhere I go there is a book that I feel compelled to at least pick up and at most begin to read.  So far it has been just a distraction; I have not succumbed to the temptation to purchase any books.  So far. 

However the temptation that vexes me the most are the stones and shells.  I pick up stones.  Random stones.  They call to me.  Typically I pick up one stone from each place I visit.  I have done this for a number of years, from all over the world.  I heap them in a basket on the entry way table of my home.  And here I am on an island, covered with rocks and shells.  I have this overwhelming temptation to pick up each stone.  My mantra has become, “you will pay for each kilo over 23 kilograms” (50 pounds for those not doing metric).  So literally I will pay for my rock collecting that gets out of control.  I have managed to maintain one rock from each beach, but I have visited only two of the six beaches.  And everyone says you must pick up rocks at Columba’s Bay. 

Maybe I am avoiding that thin place.