seaside crofting: October 2018

It's amazing just how many people you can find
on a wild, wet and blustery Sunday morning that actually want to get cold and buffeted about in the sea !

But we love it !!

The snow is back on the mountains
but does this stop us from swimming ? of course not !

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For our annual week away this year we decided to go to the Isle of Coll in the Inner Hebrides, just north of Tiree

and sample the delights of their wild beaches.

For a small island of 5 miles by 3 miles, population of about 220 they have an incredible community hall,
welcoming and extremely well designed

with an impressive carved reception counter

and the current art exhibition
was a colourful felted project
made by the local school children

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Unfortunately we cut short our holiday as it was virtually impossible to sleep on the 4' bed with a decades-old, sagging mattress ...

supported by a rusty 56lb weight !!

so we came back to the mainland and as we toured around, slowly making our way back, we came across some delightful places that were new to us and some old favourites .....

Portsoy, an intriguing village with it's 17th century harbour

where they have an annual boat and folk music festival
in May

Lossiemouth with it's long sandy beaches

a fantastic alpaca farm near Elgin

thank you Carole, John and Bill
for making us so welcome,
good luck with your new weaving courses and
alpaca -inspired jewellery.

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Gill is one of our Sunday morning swimmers and has seriously impressed us all by completing the
10k River Dart swim !!

Well done Gill !!

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Visitors to the croft this month

Malcolm's sister, Barb, came to visit us this month
from her home in Madeira
and was pleased to see their Mum looking happy and well

A very enjoyable afternoon was spent at the GALE Centre
in Gairloch
with a lovely lady, Margaret, teaching us to use a spinning wheel and also a drop-spindle, a forerunner of the wheel,

all I need now is some time and some patience.

Something that she showed us that made me smile
was how to make a pair of cosy slippers;
just knit a square, use your foot for the sizing,
fold in half,
sew up the sides of the square, for the front and back,
sew along the top and leave space to get your foot in !
add a pompom for good measure.

Keep warm and cosy.

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On a similar thread, on a walk through Dingwall,
we came across some "yarn bombing",
which is the art of covering street items in yarn
(check out yarn bombing on-line
if you haven't come across it before)

Malcolm found a bright colourful bench to sit on

The yarn bombing was just a very small part of
Dingwall's October Arts Festival (it's 4th year)
with lots of great stuff going on

Keep a date in the diary for next year.

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Film of the Month

shown in Aultbea Hall

Looks like we all had a fun night !

A new visitor to Aultbea at the film showing asked why
some of us (4 in this photo) regularly swam in the sea even in the winter,
we replied " it's good for our mental health " !!!

You might not agree.

Malcolm as you have never seen him before and Gill,
seen earlier having swam the River dart

No one really minds what you wear in the Highlands

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Book of the Month

thank you Janet for recommending this one

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Poem of the Month

this poem was read by Chris Evans on his breakfast show recently and it struck a chord with me.

The Dash

by Linda Ellis

I read of a man who stood to speak at the funeral

of a friend.

He referred to the dates on the tombstone

from the beginning ... to the end.

He noted that first came the date of birth

and spoke of the following date with tears,

but he said what mattered most of all

was the dash between those years.

For that dash

represents all the time that they spent alive on earth.

And now only those who loved them know what that

little line is worth.

For it matters not, how much we own, the cars...

the house... the cash.

What matters is how we live and

how we spend our

dash.

So think about this long and hard.

Are there things you'd like to change?

For you never know how much time is left

that can still be rearranged.

If we could just slow down enough to consider

what's true and real

and always try to understand the way other people feel.

And be less quick to anger and show appreciation more

and love the people in our lives

like we've never loved before.

If we treat each other with respect and

more often wear a smile,

remembering that this special dash

might only last a little while.

So, when your eulogy is being read,

with your life's actions to rehash...

would you be proud of the things they say

about how you spent YOUR dash ?

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Amazing Idea of the Month

have a look at this website for an amazing solution to the world's waste plastic

www.preciousplastic.com

check out the video, it's only two and a half minutes

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Out on the croft

The geese are doing well marching around the croft

but the chickens are going down in numbers,
we have lost 7 hens and 1 cockerel,
possibly to a pine marten, otter or fox but there are no trace of them.