June 2015

Hello everyone,

I'd like to show you some lovely sunny photos BUT

summer hasn't quite reached the Highlands

 yet this year except for a glorious day on 1st July,

we live in hope.

The month has still given me plenty of opportunity 

to take some photos, 

which I hope you enjoy.

We have two new additions to the flock,

courtesy of our neighbour's cockerel,

who rather likes having 23 ladies all to himself.

Mother hen keeping them safely

tucked up under her breast.

"Now just follow me chuck..."

a little lost in the undergrowth

The proud father.

Our hens give us a lot of pleasure and amusement,

just watching them, as well as the eggs...

just gossiping...

but being very free-range they have their own ideas 
on where they want to lay their eggs,

between lobster pots and floats....
 

under wheel barrows

and some we probably haven't found yet.

Mystery solved!

I now know who steals my gardening gloves

and drops them in the middle of the pond !

A young robin whose mum decided to build 

her nest in the workshop,

had to work and tread very carefully for a few days.

A young Northern Wheatear

in the long grass on the croft.

 

Our visitors this month 

were Malcolm and Helen

on their second visit from sunny Norfolk.

 

 

Beach-combing on Big Sands was a must

 along with several other beaches

While Helen gave us a lesson in felting

we sent her Malcolm out to saw some logs !

Thank you both, it was great to see you,

sorry the sun didn't shine quite as much

as we hoped it would for you.

Malcolm's new tap dancing shoes !
It all happens in Aultbea Hall you know !

Patterns, colours and textures on the sands...

Along the coastal path ...

 

The foundations for Malcolm's Mum's house have begun.

The house will be built in 5 months 

and then at 90 she will be starting a whole new life

in the Highlands, a bit of a change from Buckinghamshire !

 

Late afternoon sunshine and clouds 

on the edge of Loch Ewe

Evening sunshine and clouds 

on Loch Ewe.

At this time of year it barely gets dark at night,

you lose all sense of time,

which is rather lovely.

Aultbea at 11pm

In the next blog posting 
I hope to show some real summer,
in the meantime, to all of you down south,
enjoy your heatwave.

June x

May 2015

Hi everyone,

even though the sun has barely made an appearance 

this month there has still been some 

lovely people, places and animals to photograph,

hope you enjoy them too.

 Lambs have been appearing all month 

and have brought an air of excitement, fun

and new beginnings.

 Malcolm has been planting potatoes 

in the permaculture way

ie no dig, just plant through black plastic,

let nature do the rest and harvest them as usual

and in the meantime, no weeding either.

See the link for Permaculture, 

or google Permaculture, there's loads of information there.

 Wilma and Mr Goose gradually

getting used to each other.

 Mr Goose says "ok, I've had my fill,

 you can have what's left".

 Our neighbour's cockerel now spends most of his time

on our croft ......

and likes strutting around

but he is a real gentleman,

always makes sure that his ladies eat first....

 and then eats his share.

 and always makes sure that they get the best seat.

 Last summer we were given some forty or so fleeces,

that up until now have been hanging around

in the barn.

So have started to wash the fleeces..

and then dry them on a rack

and then ? 

probably go back in the barn until next year !

 We thought the geese needed a pond,

here is Mr Goose inspecting the hole

 and loving it !

 Two photos of Lulu

especially for my cat-mad sister-in-law, Elaine

 Not sure what this next photo is,

except that it is a close up of....

 this, that was on a piece of seaweed,

some sort of worm ?

 Seedlings in the greenhouse 

are growing and desperately need planting out,

just waiting for some sun and warmth

and no gales.

 The Hebridean Princess

moored in Loch Ewe yesterday evening at 9.25 pm,
the evening is still light.

Sun glimmering on Loch Maree,

just outside Poolewe.

 You know those garden centre ornaments

of Jack Russel terriers

with their bottoms in the air.......

 Wilma will find a friend even on a remote beach

and gaily wander off  with no hesitation

in pursuit of fun.

This is Breeze, Wilma's Sunday morning, 
beach-club friend,
looking very sophisticated.

This is the Boom Defense beach 
in  Mellon Charles , Loch Ewe.
Thank you to Janet, George and Bruce
for the guided walk.
Anyone interested in knowing more about the 
Russian Arctic Convoy
can visit their website :
www.runssianarcticconvoymuseum.co.uk

Coastal flowers along the way.

It has been a very sociable month..

 Well done George, 
thank you both for a wonderful evening,

it was a privilege to be a part of your celebrations.

 These three ladies happened to stop at our gate

to take photos of our statue,

(made by Paul Richardson in Middleton, Suffolk)

Two hours or so later and we were all still talking !

Good to see you ladies,

Julia, Petra and Jeanie,
and Jura the dog,of course,

hope you had a lovely holiday photographing 

the Highlands.

Jura made himself at home

and Wilma didn't mind a bit

 Thank you Hazel and Paul

for coming to see us again,

your second trip to the Highlands 

all the way from sunny Suffolk !

We went to the 2nd Wool Fest at Dingwall 

and while we were there met two wonderful ladies !

Joyce the 90 year old lady in the liquorice allsorts jumper,

who is still teaching people to knit,

and her friend Parsla from Latvia,

thank you for your company and inspiration.

At the end of this blog
is a  little video of a demonstration 

at the Wool Fest of "waulking".

The ladies are singing Scottish folk songs,

in Gaelic,

while waulking the cloth,
ie beating the cloth,

rhythmically against the table to soften it.

(Thank you James for the guidance
on how to put videos onto a blog!
You're the best nephew ever !)

The next few photographs are some close ups 

that I enjoy taking ..

Hopefully we will be getting some summer very soon now !
So, until next month, enjoy the month of June.

June x

This next video clip is of 
The Badenoch Waulking Group
Comhlan Luadh Bhaideanach.
If you are interested in their CD the title is
"Fo Sgaile Creag Dubh"
"Under the Shadow of the Black Rock"
The CD contains a variety of Gaelic songs,
traditional and original,
some dating back to 18th century Badenoch.