July means Raft Race time !!
The sceptics laughed and said my raft wouldn't float...
it did float but was a bit unstable and unfortunately
overturned at the start line
and one of our team was rescued by the safety boat;
thank you Willie, Murdo, Phil and team
for looking after us.
This next photograph is far from flattering !
Our makeup is running
But undeterred,
after turning the raft upright again the remaining team,
now renamed as "Daft, Insensitive and Unstable"
carried on regardless
still smiling and laughing
we reached our destination at the Aultbea Hotel,
well done us girls, the only all girl team !
Our final paddling mantras were
"Pint,Pint,Pint,Pint" or "Red wine,Red wine,Red wine"
or "Burger, Burger, Burger, Burger"
taking us towards the waiting, welcoming crowd
who cheered every raft at the finish.
Thank you all for your support.
Thank you to Davide and Valerie,
the new owners of Aultbea Hotel,
sorry about the wet patches on the floor from our wetsuits
This is the winning raft, it just flew past all the other rafts!
Streamlined and light, with young fit crew members,
a winning combination,
this design may well be copied by many next year.
Rafts came in all shapes and sizes
and all made with fun in mind
(this photo courtesy of Stan Miller)
(this photo courtesy of Stan Miller)
Wester Ross Photography Group
Stan Miller and Lorna Williamson McDonald
run regular photographic groups in Aultbea,
everyone is welcome, no matter your level or ability,
a very friendly crowd.
Have a look at their website for information and
the latest updates for the 2018 / 2019 meeting schedule :
www.wrpg.co.uk
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Aultbea also hosted it's annual Fun Day too
and as part of the entertainment our Zumba dance group
gave an outside demonstration to some fast beat music
we like loud !
we like fast !
we like fun !
Thank you Janis and Anji
for keeping us all fit and happy every week !
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
3 Lochs Cinema
Another great evening in Aultbea this month was
the first film to be shown by our very own cinema
"3 Lochs Cinema" in Aultbea Hall
showing the 1949 black and white film "Whisky Galore".
With rows of seats and tables and chairs for those taking their own refreshments the atmosphere was fantastic!
Everyone cheered as the film began and again at the end !
A film will be shown every month
and it's looking like these evenings will be film showings
with a difference !
...sing-a-long films, optional "dress as the film characters",
who knows what's in store
but they will certainly be great community get-togethers.
Thank you Stan Miller and your amazing team
for making all this happen.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Animal antics on the croft....
Wilma thinks that all this stretching and warming up
before exercising is rather boring and would prefer to sleep
or hang out with Tilly
and play-fight
Tilly on the other hand prefers to help out
have the odd drink
or generally go looking for something to hunt
Zara continues to do what she does best,
eat!
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
In the polytunnel....
after a late start everything is bursting forth
It's great when you lift up a leaf and find a sweet,
tender cucumber
lettuce growing nicely under the shade of ripening tomatoes
dwarf sunflowers and marigolds
courgettes,
haven't tried deep fried courgette flowers yet,
they seem too beautiful to do that to
heavenly sweet peas
Wilma likes to think that she is helping out
but in fact just does some more snoozing
In the vegetable patch carrots are coming along,
perhaps they like the smell of the whisky barrels
that they are in, should taste good.
Wester Ross Photography Group
Stan Miller and Lorna Williamson McDonald
run regular photographic groups in Aultbea,
everyone is welcome, no matter your level or ability,
a very friendly crowd.
Have a look at their website for information and
the latest updates for the 2018 / 2019 meeting schedule :
www.wrpg.co.uk
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Aultbea also hosted it's annual Fun Day too
and as part of the entertainment our Zumba dance group
gave an outside demonstration to some fast beat music
we like loud !
we like fast !
we like fun !
Thank you Janis and Anji
for keeping us all fit and happy every week !
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
3 Lochs Cinema
Another great evening in Aultbea this month was
the first film to be shown by our very own cinema
"3 Lochs Cinema" in Aultbea Hall
showing the 1949 black and white film "Whisky Galore".
With rows of seats and tables and chairs for those taking their own refreshments the atmosphere was fantastic!
Everyone cheered as the film began and again at the end !
A film will be shown every month
and it's looking like these evenings will be film showings
with a difference !
...sing-a-long films, optional "dress as the film characters",
who knows what's in store
but they will certainly be great community get-togethers.
Thank you Stan Miller and your amazing team
for making all this happen.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Animal antics on the croft....
Wilma thinks that all this stretching and warming up
before exercising is rather boring and would prefer to sleep
or hang out with Tilly
and play-fight
Tilly on the other hand prefers to help out
have the odd drink
or generally go looking for something to hunt
Zara continues to do what she does best,
eat!
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
In the polytunnel....
after a late start everything is bursting forth
It's great when you lift up a leaf and find a sweet,
tender cucumber
lettuce growing nicely under the shade of ripening tomatoes
dwarf sunflowers and marigolds
courgettes,
haven't tried deep fried courgette flowers yet,
they seem too beautiful to do that to
heavenly sweet peas
Wilma likes to think that she is helping out
but in fact just does some more snoozing
In the vegetable patch carrots are coming along,
perhaps they like the smell of the whisky barrels
that they are in, should taste good.
Onions, kale, cabbages doing well
I never would have thought that I'd be so excited
about growing cabbages and lettuces !
but I love it.
The companion plants of nasturtiums, lavender
and magical borage are all working well
to deter the bad guys and encourage the good guys
just love borage
Malcolm with his newly built stack of wood
to keep the home fires burning
Animal visitors to the croft...
doing a wonderful job
At a whopping 10cm long this is the largest caterpillar
I have ever seen,
it is the caterpillar of the Fox moth,
we left him hanging out on the willow
There are quite a few pure white rabbits running around,
don't mind them as long as they are not in amongst the veg
breakfast time for the sparrows
starlings sheltering from the wind and rain
sparrows posing for the camera
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
croft meadow flowers
On the shore..
with the warmer weather in come the jelly fish,
these lion mane jellies best avoided at all costs
a smiley face rock ?
the fab colours and shapes of seaweed ...
close up on seaweed
more jellies,
lots of them but these moon jellies are harmless, no sting
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
A friend and neighbour rescued five lambs last year
and they now have beautiful fleeces to be sheared.
I happened to mention that I have a few new ideas
of doing stuff with fleeces and then as if by magic
a huge bag of freshly sheared fleeces
appeared by our gate!
Thank ewe so much Wendy and The Girls:
Clara, Bella, Eva, Laura and Tilly
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
An aerial photograph of our croft,
very kindly taken by our new neighbour
thank you very much Chris
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Visitors to the croft this month
Andries and Emma on their travels from Belgium
to do some hiking in the Highlands and Islands
Wilma was keen to show Andries and Emma
some of our lovely beaches
Malcolm thought it was an opportunity to show
that he could still do a head stand
and keep up with his much younger friend !
(There were no ill effects after this exercise!)
Great to see you both,
thanks for being such interesting company
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Quote of the Month
"Take time every day to do what makes your soul smile"
(found on Pinterest)
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Book / website of the Month
Haven't had much time for reading this month,
so instead this is one of our favourite websites
that you might like to dip into :
www.lowimpact.org
this is a non-profit organisation created to provide
information, training, products and services
to help people live more sustainably,
lots to offer, hope you like it.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Pamper time for Zara,
with Wilma and Tilly waiting for their turn,
a nice quiet time on the croft
We're looking forward to some family members coming
in August to enjoy some swimming, kayaking, games,
ceildh dancing and eating with us !
(only 4 more sleeps Charlotte)
Wishing you all a warm, happy and fun-filled August
from all of us on the croft
until next month
June and Malcolm
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