July 2018

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

(this photograph courtesy of Stan Miller)








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.

(this photo courtesy of Stan Miller)



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 photo courtesy of Stan Miller)







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





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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 !

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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.









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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!

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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

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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

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 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 






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An aerial photograph of our croft,
 very kindly taken by our new neighbour

thank you very much Chris






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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






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Quote of the Month





 

"Take time every day to do what makes your soul smile"







(found on Pinterest)





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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.






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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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