Welcome to our blog posting for May 2021, hope you enjoy the photos.

On and around the croft

The strawberries are everywhere, some for us, some for the birds and some for the geese and chickens !

they won't be long now

lots of colour everywhere

and the delicate flowers of the wild garlic are stunning

the greenhouse peaches are coming on a treat

one of my favourite spots on the croft, in the greenhouse

Although I like to grow food "gardening" is not really my thing, this is my sort of gardening !

and non-clipped edges, perhaps I'm just lazy.

meanwhile the furry creatures soak up the sunshine

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Quote of the month

" Our perfect companions

 never have fewer than four feet."

Sidonie-Gabrielle Colette, 

French author  1873 - 1954

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A friend has just given us these seeds, never heard of them before but sound interesting, so we'll give them a go.

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Not being able to find a secondhand drum carder I finally decided to buy one, it's brilliant.

On the left hand side you feed in washed sheep fleece, turn the handle and out comes beautifully soft, fibre-aligned "batts" ready to be spun into yarn, or felted into almost anything, or peg-loomed into mats, rugs,wall hangings, whatever fires you up.

A budding cottage industry ? We'll see.

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colour along the shore

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Books of the month

We had a brilliant short break away in Orkney this month and stayed at probably one of the very best B&Bs in Orkney, run by Richard and Bev Clubley.

Richard is also an author and there is little that he does not know about Scottish islands !

These are two of his books, delightful reading and he has a third book coming out on 21st June.

The address of the b&b is Carlin Skerry, Orphir Orkney KW17 2RB

01856-811470

thank you Richard & Bev

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Pause for thought

                                   photo by Chase Andrew

from the Tao and Zen Facebook page

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and finally

( from Scottish Women's Institute Facebook Page )

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wishing you all a sunny, relaxed month of June

from Malcolm and June

on a Highland croft

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April 2021

Welcome to our April 2021 blog post, hope you enjoy the photos.  

 This month gave us another bout of snow, Zara pony was not impressed !

Did it stop us from swimming ? of course not !

but we had to make a couple of snowmen first

they decided to stay a little longer than us

and just in case we feel like being really daft we can take inspiration from the Kneehigh Theatre Company and wear alternative swimming hats !

see their web page:

www.kneehigh.co.uk

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I walk along the shore every day with Wilma and love to touch the sea every day ( a slight obsession)

and love noticing the colours and textures on the shore,  always changing

I even found a small lizard running back to his hideaway by the rocks (bottom right)

but best of all I love sitting on a nice flat rock looking out to sea with little Wilma, can't beat it !

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On and around the croft

Tilly enjoying her duvet-day

With Wilma supervising from under the kitchen table I started making my first rug on the peg loom that Malc made for me,

even before it was finished it seemed to get the seal of approval from Wilma and Tilly.

Talking of fleeces .....

(from Scottish Women's Institute F/B page)

The chickens have worked out that the wild birds drop a lot of their food from the bird table, nothing's wasted.

This is a wonderful time of year, I just look on in wonder at new life emerging from the soil

with the prospect of a bountiful harvest later in the year.

The pink blossoms of the peach tree have now made way for the forthcoming peaches in the greenhouse.

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Kitchen table experiment

Take some willow branches, strip off the bark and place it in a small tin

place the tin in the fire overnight and in the morning you have a tin of charcoal,

all we need to do now is become an artist.

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( from Scottish Women's Institute F?B page)

Books of the month

Two new books with some great ideas to try with  some fleeces coming my way.

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and my "fleece laundry" is all set up ready

I knew that old bath would come in handy one day.

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Just for a laugh ...

(quote found on pinterest)

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Until next month enjoy the sunshine, enjoy yourselves, be happy

Malcolm & June 

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