Status Updates From The Sky Beneath Us

"What does the future hold? There's only one way to find out. My stride is strong and my footing sure as I take the first steps."

"And what will our legacy be? How will we heal ourselves and the world? We don't have all the answers yet. But we do have the will. Because, like the tiny blue poppy the colour of the sky, discovered by Violet all those years ago, humankind is a beautiful, fragile, surprisingly resilient thing. It holds all kinds of untapped potential. And surely that's worth protecting."

"The world has changed so much since the first time I stood here, but there's still so much beauty in it. Each of us is here to protect it for only a short time. These stones are a reminder of that, of the duty we have to care for it and pass it on to future generations."

"We live in a place that's both brutal and fragile. But those very characteristics have made us resilient, like the plants that grow here."

"Surely they will have the wisdom to learn the lessons of history from our mistakes and make this world a better place? Surely they will keep alive the traditions that matter but be brave enough to make changes too?"

"The pandemic has been a lesson- a reminder that we need to practise building our tenacity every day so that when the time comes for it to be tested, we are ready to meet the challenges with the same qualities by which the Sherpa people live their lives: a fierce compassion; a gentle, good- natured strength; and a kind- hearted determination.'

"And so, as lockdown fenced us in and restricted our movements, we expanded our horizons in different ways, escaping by helping others. Instead of the pandemic constraining us, it gave us the time and space to find new meaning in our lives, reminding us of both our fragility and our resilience, of what it really is to be human."

"When the first photos arrived from Kathmandu of tiny green shoots pushing their way determinedly into the light, we whooped and cheered. And then Martin sent pictures from the Glasshouses in Edinburgh of the same thing happening, and we rejoiced again, knowing Violet's legacy had survived, against all the odds, and her name would live on for all time."

"Thanks to her foresight, she may have saved some of the rarest species of Himalayan plants for generations to come."

"As I walk on, I stop here and there to peer more closely at the labels beneath the rhododendrons lining the paths. In some cases, the name of the plant hunter who discovered the specimen is acknowledged: Frank Kingdon Ward, George Forrest and George Sherriff feature. But, I mutter beneath my breath, where are the women? Where is Violet?"

"When I'm lonely, dear white heart, Black the night or wild the sea, By love's light my foot finds The old pathway to thee."

"I wonder at the possibility of a new future as I gaze out at the sky beneath us."

"it all made me realise how important it is to say things before it's too late."

"Funny, isn't it, how we both still call Aultbea home? Even though neither of us has lived there for years.' 'Home's where family is,' he replies with a shrug. 'Always has been, always will be. The pandemic's made me see that."

"She looks like someone I'd like to get to know better. She looks like me."

"I turn the red string bracelet around my wrist. It's faded a bit now and the ends are beginning to fray, but it's still there as a reminder that I've walked the way of the warrior. I've done things I never thought I could. I've stepped into the unknown, fought some inner battles, and emerged on the other side. And I've begun to create something new. Or, rather, someone new: the person I want to be."

"life is not about finding yourself- it's about creating the person you want to be."

"'Don't only be sad, Daisy Didi. Be happy too. Make space for all those feelings, and know you have the space in that beautiful, broken heart of yours to contain them all."

"'But it's what we're all doing in this life- coming and going, loving and losing, living and dying. In the end, we're all just walking each other home, aren't we? Finding our way along the paths of life, sometimes alone, sometimes in the company of others, until we find a way to let go. This is what our faith is for. Because this is where all paths eventually lead.'"

"'Ah, Daisy, your heart isn't breaking in a bad way. This time it's breaking wide open, like a seed. And when that happens, there's the possibility of a transformation, the birth of something new.'"

"I point through the window to the snow- capped mountains across the valley. 'I think love is like Khumbila over there. It may be weathered and scoured, it may experience terrible avalanches and devastating rockfalls. But it only does so because it dares to be there in the first place. Our lives would be like trudging across a flat, featureless plain if we didn't have the courage to climb the mountains.'"

"But past history has taught us how progress comes at a cost- a price paid all too often by the natural world around us."

"'Third kind most pure and undisturbed: mind like water. Thoughts never can be written there, just flow through. Mind like water best. Let thoughts pass through. Doesn't mean don't be thinking them, just not holding on to them.'"