Visitors and Furnishings continued ...

It didn't take long for Andy to get his kayak in the water and paddle out of Bousta Geo. I was hoping he would tow some logs back for me from my driftwood beach but the weather was not good enough, and surprisingly, there were other things he and Louisa wanted to do.
When they all got back, the day of the carpet (which went down like clockwork in an hour and a half) I cooked tart and tangy beans (actually cooked a week before and unfrozen for the occasion) and the (Vivian) rhubarb and butterscotch (though some bits of the the rhubarb proved a little unyielding) which we had in the porch and then retired to officially open the extension. Louisa actually had some wine (which Andy regarded with raised eyebrows ... takes this baby thing very seriously) and Peter joined me in a dram. Just after they left we got the furniture from Betty's (less the desk which is still under repair and restoration after being damaged).
Yesterday (after moving books and videos) I set up the hi-fi equipment on the new bookshelves and here is Mum enjoying a Jamie compilation as I exit left for a bath! Somehow we are going to have to 'wash' the settee too to remove the smell of cigarette smoke! I have also just sent away for old (new)castors for the back, one of which is missing. We plan to put the TV on top of the music cabinet (which I think was another wedding present to my parents from Betty's father) and the DVD/Video machinery etc inside, along with the 'projector' which Sorley is going to install for us when he comes in a fortnight. We are waiting for a BBC freeview box to come next week and then Mum and I will move our evenings permanently into the extension ... can't wait, the old room feels so small and dark now. The new room is great, feels spacious and warm and has good sound qualities! Mum will now be able to watch me cooking from her rocker (where she at the moment waiting for me to tell her it is time for Lerwick)!

While everyone was here I had the ms of the book to do the index (clearly the Shetland Times have never done a book with an index before), 18 pages and 10 days to do it. This morning I will take it back to them and pray that now everything can go ahead and I don't need to think about it anymore!

The next task is to get a carpet down in the upstairs (double-)bedroom. Andy helped me get it upstairs, now all we have to do is empty the room (into where!?) and get the carpet down ... that's tomorrow's task whether the sun is shing or not.

Mum is clutching her hat (Gudrun, you may have noticed I have taken over the one you made for her ... maybe I'll ask Maya to make me a cardigan to go with it!) and gloves so it is clearly time to go.

Visitors and Furnishings

Mum's brother Peter flew up for a week from Stanstead on the Faroese flight (Atlantic Airways) only 165 pounds sterling and 1 hour and 20 minutes, luckily no fog either coming or going (Peter does not like the boat!). He is still busy promoting an American executive jet, playing tennis and golf. It was good to see him, we hadn't seen him for a year or so. He took Mum out for walks.

In the right hand side on the track you can just see him and Mum ... I was having a walk above Little Bousta from where I took this picture. He also took Mum up to Hillswick and Eshaness for the day when the carpet was being layed in the extension. On one of the days Mum was at Waas (Walls) I got him to help me turn the drying peats over ... not as glamourous as golf or tennis! We got the job done in half an hour.
Peter also took a nice picture of the 'old' sitting room ... you might recognise some of the pictures. This is the last time this room will look like this. Yesterday, when Mum was at Waas, I moved the books of the bottom shelf and put them in the extension, then moved nearly all the videos down ... a trifle dusty! We've been looking for a bed ... tried online but then most 'south' firms do not transport to the 'Scottish Islands', which is a pain, so we are into Lerwick this morning (en route to Richard and Victoria for lunch) to buy a bed. I can't make up my mind whether to buy a single, with a spare mattress underneath, or a double ... I guess we'll buy what is available! When Sorley comes we will move the kist and old settee through to the new living room.

The day after Peter came Louisa and Andy arrived. We went that afternoon to the Skeld Foy ... pretty chilly as you can see, wandered around and had some very tasty hot fish ... herring, organic salmon and cod, I think.

They (A&L) both looked very well and with Peter too we had a great time ... it was fun company. Also good food, Andy caught some brown trout and we had them as starters one night! Their car was jammed pack with equipment ... where they are going to put a baby I don't know ... with two long kayaks on the roof. They went off several times kayaking among the islands and seemed to enjoy themselves.

I have more pictures and will have to start a new blog ... watch this space!

Awaiting Carpet

It's so nice checking the blogs and finding out what - at least some of - you are doing! Beth and Sorley you must get a blog ... and we will get webcam (I promise). It's like getting the family paper ... news ... news ... news, and with pictures. (sometimes moving, and emotional). I am now addicted to David's blog (and all his great reviews which I am enjoying vicariously), watching the kids on Girl Cat; the Shetland Trader and these crazy American comments ... what adulation! I also love when Helen writes their blog and Jamie's literary/philosophical blog. I think I will discontinue the London Review of Books.

Finding the time is the problem, I know. Anyhow, it's 4pm, the extension is painted, shelves up, ready for the carpet on Tuesdsay; Peter's bed is made up; the house has been cleaned top to bottom; the grass is cut and I have made tart and tangy beans for the freezer to have when Louisa and Andy come. Peter comes tomorrow morning and L&A on Saturday (they are camping). So time to relax (well, I have actually had a snooze on the resting chair in the sun in the porch) and do the blog before I go and cut my hair, shave and bath, then I will be all nice for the guests. We just got David's book so it was a temptation to continue lying on the resting chair and start reading it again. I will, but will wait until the guests have gone, and until I have done an index for Victorians 60 Degrees North which the S.T. cannot do (they have just informed me).

Thought I would start with a wee picture of spring squill in flower down the road, the orchids are all out too (you might see one or two in the photo).



We are also waiting for Mary Gibbon's picture (in the post) which she did for us from a photo I sent her. You might think it strange to see Muckle Bousta without the garden walls (she thought it would look better without). Coincidentally, I was looking at old photos on the Lerwick Museum website and there is one of MB, taken in the 1950/60s before the garden walls were built and it is very like Mary's. We like the picture very much and it will be one of the first to be hung in the extension.

We had hoped that the carpet would have been laid earlier this week but were informed with days to go, and at least a month after ordering it, that the line had been discontinued! The shop (in Lerwick) were very upset too and told me to pick another carpet and if it was more expensive than the original one they would pay the difference ... lead me to your most expensive carpets! No, just chose another which is due on Tuesday am. Being optimistic (do I ever learn), I have asked for the furniture from Betty's to arrive in the afternoon (sofa, music cabinet, 2 upright chairs and the desk if it has been repaired). I can see what is going to happen ... there will be problems laying the carpet, it will be pouring with rain, the removal people are going to dump the furniture in the back garden!

We moved the shelves and books through from the small room and I have some book re-arranging to do (which will be fun). I was also able to take the books from Betty's, which I had hastily grabbed and stuffed in boxes, and put them on the shelves. I sat there the other evening, sipping a Mortlach, and looked through them. Prizes for Sunday school attendance to my Dad (1910); Waverly Novels that had belonged to Betty's great uncle in Glasgow (1890); Betty's father's bible, book of quotation and huge encyclopaedia; and some great poetry books Betty had bought in the 1940s ... lots to read! My father's desk will go in the corner where Mum is sitting so that I can look over it at the view.

As you can see we are already making use of the room. The sun (when it shines) pours into it in the afternoon and right through the evening until it sets (at 10pm at the moment). It's as warm as fresh toast!

Right outside the gate of the garden there is an oystercatcher nesting on the top of the wall (thinks it's a raised beach). It has got used to us now and doesn't move when we leave the house, but the chicks are going to have a big jump when they hatch!

Right, time for a bath.