seaside crofting

31 August 2022

August 2022

Welcome everyone to our August blog posting of how we spend our time on a far away island.

Malcolm has been making great progress on the barn roof.

Roof trusses all different sizes as the building is not true in any direction.

Followed by the sarking boards, next stage will be the waterproof membrane, then the battening and the replacing those large stones.

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Thank you Eddie Barclay for this next photo that you kindly took of our house

Silhouette of Zara against the sunset

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This year's Sheep Festival was a fantastic success,

thank you to everyone involved to make it happen.

The volunteer stone dykers, who come from far and wide, made a wonderful job of rebuilding some of the walls around the island.

and as part of the sheep festival celebrations there has been two fabulous energetic dances;

Stripping the Willow, Old Duke of York, the Gay Gordons, Dashing White Sargeant, waltzes and more still going into the early hours,

flat shoes and comfortable clothing a must !

an islanders vs volunteers football match,

yes Malcolm was in the line up

a needle felting workshop,

thank you Helen for a great evening and no plasters needed !

great work Frank and thanks for the dancing !

and one of our colourful islanders with entertainment at the baa-b-que,

(well it was at the sheep festival !)

along with food tastings, nature walks, weaving workshop, landscape art, wool mill tours, lighthouse tours, quiz night and films -

something for everyone,

looking forward to next year's festival already.

There is plenty of information, photos and videos on the North Ronaldsay Sheep Festival on the internet if you want to know more.

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Lovely friends on a Saturday morning health walk, thank you Alex for taking us around Westness.

So, so good to have our friends Elaine and Gary come to visit us !!!

Loved every moment, thanks for joining in with everything and everybody !!

Historic stones and broch around the island

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Quote of the month

"What you do for yourself dies with you when you leave this world,

what you do for others lives on forever."

Sir Ken Robinson

1950 - 2020

author, speaker and international advisor on education

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Our Wilma always makes a point of making new friends wherever she goes

A bit of fun

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This next photo of

North Ronaldsay Lighthouse at dusk,

taken by Eddie Barclay

thank you Eddie

The lighthouse at sunset

This month Billy, the lighthouse keeper and myself have taken 58 people up to the top of the lighthouse

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Poem of the month

The Lighthouse

As the sun sets

and darkness slowly falls,

the lighthouse beams start to turn,

a rhythm all their own

and through the blackness burn.

Belonging to the night

she hides her slender form

and reveals her strength and beauty

with the arrival of the dawn.

To keep sailing ships from harm

She was built with skill and pride

to warn of the reefs and rocks below,

beware, sail wide !

She sends her light across the sea

for thirty miles around.

Standing tall and graceful,

she never makes a sound.

Should you ever see a lighthouse

don't just pass her by.

Stand and stare and marvel

and look her in the eye.

June Purvis

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Book of the month

Oh, such a beautiful book unexpectedly arrived from our lovely friend Janette, who knows exactly what we like.

with delightful illustrations

thank you fellow mermaid

(of almost 400 Sunday morning swims together)xx

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and a must read for me ...

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Pharology

is the study of lighthouses and signal lights, their construction and illumination

and

those who study or are enthused by lighthouses

are known as pharologists.

I couldn't find the collective noun for a group of pharologists but maybe it could be

a "beam" of pharologists ?

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Flowers, birds and animals spotted around the island this month

Heather and

grass of Parnassus or bog-stars

(think I prefer the first name)

grass kelp

seals

cormorants

plenty of sheep

wading bird prints

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This is a series of 20 mass gatherings taking place between April and September 2022 across Scotland, England, Wales and Northern Ireland to create large-scale outdoor artworks in some of our most beautiful landscapes -

and North Ronaldsay was one of them !!

It's worth having a look at their website for more info

It was a beautiful night for creating star constellations in the sand with friends, island visitors and the film crew,

thank you everyone.

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Pause for thought

and finally

( from Scottish Women's Institute Facebook page)

Go have some fun !

from June and Malcolm and Tilly cat

on a far away island in the north sea

💙💙💙💙💙

31 July 2022

July 2022

Welcome to our July blog, hope you enjoy the photographs.

The project for this month has been reroofing, starting with a shed as a practise piece.

and then with the help of some exceptional friends starting on the larger task of the outbuilding.

thanks Andries for going up first !

heavy lifting gear needed

Look at the size of these roofing stones !!!!!!!

and yes they will be going back up when the roof trusses are made

A bit of imagination needed here, this will be my "Junie space".

After a morning's exploring..

Tilly needs a bit of rest and relaxation in the sunshine with Wilma

and Wilma trying downward-facing-dog pose on the yoga mat

When the ferry is out of action and your Co-Op food order comes by plane instead, you learn that the place to pick it up is on the side of the runway, of course !

Our potato patch is coming on a treat, potatoes grown through black plastic sheeting, so no weeding, no watering and no earthing up, just harvesting when ready.

Andries gave us a demonstration on how to make fire, always something new to learn.

Orkney Art Club came over to the island to give a wonderful workshop for lino printing

thank you India and Magdalena

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Around the island....

the famous North Ronaldsay, seaweed-eating sheep

July is the month for the "punding", the rounding up of the sheep into the "punds" for the annual shearing, a community affair.

The sheep make a wonderful rumbling, echoing sound as they walk along the loose stones on the beach.

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Poem of the month

Rumble, rumble, rumble on the rocks

there go North Ronaldsay sheep.

Rumble, rumble, rumble on the rocks

every day of the week.

Rumble, rumble, running on the rocks

now they're gathering speed.

Rumble, rumble, running on the rocks

they're off to eat their seaweed.

Rumble, running, rumble, running

they know it's time for the punds.

Running, running, running, running,

they're gonna give them crofters some fun.

Rumble, running, rumble on the rocks,

jumping up and over those dykes.

But the crofters are cunning,

the sheep stop running

and settle down for the shears.

Rumble, rumble on the rocks,

there go North Ronaldsay sheep.

Baa, baa

June Purvis

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(photo Sue Mara)

The annual North Ronaldsay Sheep Festival this year runs from 1st to 12th August, the island will be full of volunteers and islanders rebuilding the famous sheep dyke that surrounds the island.

(photo Sue Mara)

The festival programme includes film showings, dances, wool mill tours, workshops for weaving, felting, landscape art and lino printing, nature walks, quiz night, umami demonstration and a visitors vs islanders football match (Malcolm will be there, he's in training !) A great varied programme.

for more information go to :

nrsheepfestival.com

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Quote of the month