When icicles hang by the wall

This morning was still, frosty and the sun shone here just until it slipped under the cloud. So, I was out bright and early (well relatively) ... others - who had been up until midnight, some (me too) watching film noir (Double Indemnity) and others (wee folk) doing computer stuff on the kitchen table - were a little later.

When Mum was home for tea yesterday she joined in the games, in between re-arranging anything to hand, but she did scoff all of Gudrun's homemade pizza. The previous night - the day Sorley and Ben joined us - we celebrated thanksgiving with Gudrun, Maya and Sage. We had grilled organic salmon in teriyaki (Sorley had a quorn fillet) - which M & S now love and Ben discovered he quite liked too (!), then granny's apple pie (a la Laughton), which went down a treat too (last time I made it was in Mass I think).

Back to this morning: which reminds me that we had a discussion yesterday (Maya raised the topic) about what were, and what were the difference between, colons and semi-colons ... interesting but I do not think definitively resolved ... answers please on a postcard.

Part of the reason (the other being laziness and this really being a rationalisation) for not keeping our blog up to date, has been the awesome quality of Gudrun's photos. This morning I determined to try and match her.
Here are some high-flying cormorants.

And here the view back into Sandness.
I deleted the other 56 shots! And still the 3 I kept are not as good as Gudrun's ... must be the camera.

It is lovely to watch the cousins together. Even from my perspective I can remember the excitement that Sage can hardly contain as he waits, at breakfast, for Ben to get up!

Okay ... Saturday morning ... Gudrun and Sorley are off taking photos and I am looking after the kids ... very hard work.

Shortly, they are all off to the Walls pool and I will wash to kitchen floor. When they get back with Mum we will all consume Gudrun's yoghurt and spinach soup (I will observe Ben's reaction with interest - will be back with news of this, if you can wait?).

Power Cut

I think I am in danger of forgetting just what the weather can be like here. We have apparently had more sunshine in August than anywhere else in the UK! It was a lovely month and coupled with a record-breaking dry May, all in all it has been a very special summer. The downside is that I am way behind in my writing.

It all seemed to end on the 2nd September with heavy, black clouds, thunder and lightning and solid rods of rain bouncing a couple of feet off the road. I went to Lerwick just when it started and returned at teatime to find the power off ... lightning on a pole somewhere.

As it got dark I filled Lizzie Goudie's (an old relative now long gone) oil lamp and lit the stove,then lit another wee lamp in the kitchen. It was all very cosy. You'll notice a glass of whisky by Lizzie's lamp (and the wind-up radio)!

It didn't last long, the power came back, but the glow of the lamps and the smell of the paraffin brought back memories of a crofthouse somewhere when I was a visiting child.

Oh, and the weather ... has returned to stillness and sunshine, but cool, with a touch of autumn.

Mending Wall

Something there is that doesn't love a wall,
That sends the frozen-ground-swell under it,
And spills the upper boulders in the sun;
And makes gaps even two can pass abreast. (Mending Walls, Robert Frost)

What would I do on a nice day if there were not a wall to mend?
The yard wall by the cattlegrid was falling down, the inner side completely collapsed. The problem was that it consisted on the inside only of stones taken off to clear the ground in the yard. There were very few small stones, no heart.

Sorley kindly wheelbarrowed part of the excavations from the extension so that I could fill in the centre. I forgot to take the first picture inside before I had done some of it.But here it is finished and all Sorley's spoil within it.

The outside consisted of large round stones, some very large that I did not want to take out ... knowing that I might have a little difficulty getting them back! This time it was Peter who helped, when he was here in June, who barrowed some large flatter stones down from where I was demolishing another wall. With these I could tie the wall together better. This is the outside finished.
It should all stay up a little longer. Thanks Sorley and Peter for leaving me the pleasurable part. But as you can see beyond ... there is plenty more wall to repair. As Robert Frost said to the stones in the wall he was repairing with his neighbour 'Stay where you are until our backs are turned!'

sons and grandson

Sons and grandson at Snarraness.

Just to prove that Sorley was in Paris too!

It was lovely if a little hot. Went to some great restaurants with Colette (literally) ... she was her usual generous (and immovable) self. It was all very enjoyable.

Jamie came up with Sorley and Ben on the boat (all the rest of the pictures are his) for one night. Sorley and Ben are here until Saturday. We went to Snarraness to walk to the point and to take some pictures of Bousta. The house (Snarraness) ginger cat decided to come with us. But he/she and Ben didn't always see things the same way.

I looked for purple saxifrage (long past flowering) but couldn't find it. But I did find some sea spleenwort that was not recorded (at least in the book) for there ...
then me and the cat had a rest ...
Sorley tried out his new binnoculars ...
and, reluctantly, we all went home ...
after Jamie took some pictures with his big zoom lens.
We watched some films (when we could drag Ben from his book(s), bed or the laptop), including Monsieur Hulot, Kes and Highlander, yow how the last has aged! We have also partaken in a little whisky. All in all a great week for me.

Award!

Last night I was at the Museum restauarant for the judging of the short listed buildings for two architectural awards. This was the Orkney and Shetland section of a Highlands and Islands competition and the 7 short listed buildings had been selected from some 30 entrants. There were two categories ... New Life for Old Buildings and New Buildings. We were entered in the former and up againt 3 others. The finalists for each to go through to the grand final in November in Inverness. I was there with Richard and Victoria, Fred and Magdelena and a couple who owned a new building Richard had entered. I have to say that I had mentioned this competition to Richard some months ago!

First, yesterday morning, I had had a visit from the four judges (all architects). They were all very complimentary about the extension, inside and out, and the setting ... I had a good feeling!
Richard's photos must have been taken last autumn as I have finished the wall below. Well, Richard won the category with the Muckle Bousta extension!! The judges commended everything it seemed. They were especially taken with the high quality of the detail and finish (need to thank Archie and Andrew for that) and the way the extension adds to the old house. Richard had entered it as 'phase 2', which I did not know when the judges were here. One of them had said to me 'of course, this is still in progress, isn't it?' I had the gumption to say 'yes' but didn't know what he was talking about! Richard had meant that phase 1 was the old house; phase 2 the extension; and phase 3 Sorley's house!! In fact the chairman of the panel said to me last night that Muckle Bousta could have been entered in a category for 'place in a settlement (Bousta)' and that when Sorley's building is up we must do that!

The evening didn't end there. Richard then won the other category with a building he had designed for close to Clubbs. I was speaking to the couple who were the owners and we found that we had met, way back in 1974 when we were living at Netherton, when Dirk was overseeing some dredging for one of the first oil developments (a shore base across the bay from Netherton). This is their house below. They live near Southampton and have another house in Italy. When I suggested we might meet in Inverness in November he said unfortunately not, that they would be busy picking olives in their grove ... ah well.

I'm really delighted for Richard that he won and that he scooped both awards! So they go on to Inverness in November. I'm quite tickled of course to be part of it ... I did have a wee influence here and there.

The meal was not very great but the company was good anf I had a fascinating discussion with Magdelena about Slovenia and with Fred about his wool (fleece) insulated water (heat reservoir) tanks he is working on with Oxford University. Had a wee dram when I got back at midnight and smugly stroked the cat.

Sandness Hill

Last Friday, Elizabeth (Crossroads) came in the afternoon for 3 hours to look after Mum. It was a beautiful day so I took off for Sandness Hill (249m). Great feeling to be out in the open spaces listening to curlews, skylarks and ravens. From the top there was a great view back to Bousta in the distance across Sandness. The bare gravel in the foreground indicates that the climate here can be arctic-alpine! Bousta is in the middle of the picture on the near coastline ... if you look very, very hard. Looking south west gave me itchy feet but the old leg muscles said otherwise. That's the walk back to the Dale of Walls that I think Sorley has done.
The view north to Ronas Hill takes in the Melby area of Sandness.
The white house on the far end of the row of houses on the righthand side is Sand Cottage where Gudrun, Maya and Sage will be staying.
Using the full zoom this is all you can see of Muckle Bousta. Sitting at my desk and turning my head to the left I can look up and see the top of the hill from where I took the photo.

This is an old (relatively, Gudrun) poem that I just had published in a Borders poetry journal.

Leaving Edinburgh

When Gudrun left that morning
for the Guildhall in London,
Tricia went to Marks and Spencers
to buy curtain rings,
I went home over the Bridge
listening to Tippet in the fog
and Beth went back to the flat
to have a good cry and
await the plumber.
On the counter were her earrings,
in the sink, her hair,
and in the music, her song.
Now that she has gone, somehow
we have to come to terms
with the Gudrun she left behind.

You may know it but hope you like it.

Wallpaper

Sorley kindly took these pictures as my camera seems to refuse to focus properly at the moment ... just too lazy to take it in to an expert in Lerwick, probably something trivial. We are really pleased with the results, though Richard has reminded me that the colours will fade over time. I have no problem with that. It has really made the room a little more intimate and throws out the colours pof the pictures, especially Roger's little Mediterranean village.
Sorley also helped me move the resting chair out into the front porch, much appreciated by Polly. I have the feeling that she thinks she's a dog sometimes, the way she stretches out on the hearth in front of the stove. She has also turned into a night animal and loves to go out when it is dark. The other night I had to leave the outside door ajar at midnight when I went to bed. I woke at 2am and went down to find her in the porch.

Went to Bressay for the day yesterday on an invitation from my old pal Jonathan: still, cold and sunny (the weather, not Jonathan, full of warmth, knowledge and bonhomie as usual) Took a walk along the coast while he was gathering waar (seaweed for the garden) to a very old graveyard with the remains of a medieval church with the graveyard extending up and over an old broch. In the graveyard is also a pictish stone with wonderful and enigmatic carvings. A very refreshing day for the body and the mind. Jonathan offered me a job guiding on his boat for a week in May but I had to turn it down, would have been fun, though I doubt I am up to the physical aspects anymore!

More summer visitors returning by the day, red throated diver the day Sorley left and yesterday the wren and twite back in the garden. Daffodils now upright again after the blizzard, but the tulips - or what remains of them - look very sad!

Spring solstice

So this is the spring solstice. Now I know why we wait until 1st May to wash our face in the morning dew ... it is distinctly salty here today with a touch of hail and snow, all the way from the Arctic and in a hurry to be somewhere else. I phoned Richard at 9am this morning to say that we would not be in for lunch. He told me he had been out tying things down. Of course, this is the night that Sorley is supposed to be on the boat ... I doubt it ... keep you posted.

It is really a day for settling by the fire to finish the new Andrea Barrett (very enjoyable) or in Polly's case ...
We hope the spring or autumn solstice is better with you. Or at least you have a good book to read or cat to watch.

Polly

Well, here she is, Polly, who is about 3 we think. The first night she miaowed like a baby, but I stuck it out, remembering what Maya said, not to let her become a 'fussy pants'. She was right, Maya, that is ... not a sound since. Saturday was the end of her first week and coincided with a sunny and warm (relative) day. So we sat in the porch (first time this year) with the door home and she made a few forays around the front of the house. She perseveres with Mum who gives in and strokes her.

When we got her she was rather matted - she has long and thickish hair - and we were advised to take her to the vet and get the lumps cut out under sedation. Well, we did, and she wouldn't speak to me for 24 hours afterwards: i think to do with putting her in the cat basket. The girl at the vets is Sandra's (Lunna) sister. We recognised each other and she asked after Gudrun ('heard a lot about Gudrun'). Anyway, I bought a comb so that we could prevent Polly getting matted again. I tried it out yesterday and found out quickly why she had got matted in the first place. One stroke of the comb and, as quick as a cobra, she wrapped herself around my hand with drawn claws, took my hand in her mouth and bit, not to break the skin but just enough to let me know what she could have done! We looked at each other. 'Okay,' I said, and she walked off with her tail in the air. Trouble is that it cost 30 quid to get her dematted in the first place. Any advice cat lovers?

Saturday, I tried Gudrun's yoghurt soup recipe. It's the sort of soup you take, either before you go out in the freezing cold for 4 hours or when you've just come in after 4 hours! And, I only put in the minimum of hot stuff. I really liked it but unfortunately Mum didn't, now I have about five pints of it in the fridge. Mind you, when I made minestrone the other day I found that Mum was pushing all the kidney beans aside. I did a little rearranging and I had kidney bean soup and she had minestrone-lite.

Outside-In

Hi folks. There was a great sea rolling in last Saturday morning so John came up with his camera from Little Bousta to take some photographs ... Lillian came too and we had hot chocolate as usual. Actually, the tide had come in a bit by the time he came and things were not so spectacular as they had been at daybreak ... after an 80mph or so gale. The day before it had been planned to have our new (Peggy Angus) wallpaper put up in the living room. Emma had printed the paper and a guy called Richard Swales - who had come to Shetland several years before to decorate Vaila Hall for the new owners and who had stayed - was coming to do it. I explained that I was rather nervous of putting up such unique paper. He told me that the first papering job he had had on Vaila was to hang one complete roll of Victorian paper on the staircase in a oner and each roll coast 80 quid ... so he was kinda relaxed about doing our living room.

We left him to it and being a Friday made off for a run and then to Richard and Victoria for lunch. There we learned that Emma and I had miscommunicated! She thought I only wanted to paper one gable end, I wanted both. Richard Swales had prepared the paper and found that there was not even quite enough to do one and decided not to start!! Ahh ... I nearly cried since I had spent the Thursday evening taking all the pictures down (after making sure by measurements that I knew exactly where they were to go back) and moving the furniture (gradually) on my own. Thinking also that Mum and I would be out the way. Also Richard S had told me that he was starting a long job on the Monday so if he didn't do it then it would be a month or so!

Anyway, Emma, bless her, printed two further rolls on the Saturday and Richard S returned on Sunday to hang them. Meanwhile I took Mum off to Sumburgh for Mother's Day lunch ... I tell a lie, I didn't know it was Mother's Day, but it did seem to impress people. On the way back we passed through Bigton and nipped down to St Ninian's where I took this pic of the sea over the tombolo.


But the paper ... looks fantastic doesn't it?It is composed of circa 10 inch repeated blocks of birds and beasts ... just a wee idea for Maya there ...? I've tried to take a picture of the whole wall but for some reason the left hand side of the picture never comes into focus. I'll get there. It has made an amazing difference to the room, making it feel (psychologically)much warmer and the colour of the paper seems to make the colour in the pictures stand out much more than they did against the old white background.

Aussie Peter was supposed to start putting the forest fence up in the walled yard today, but there has been so much rain trhe ground can't hold it anymore and he reckoned if he dug a hole for a strainer it would just fill up ... he would have got pretty wet too. So he's starting tomorrow ... weather permitting.

On Friday on our way to lunch with R&V I am planning to visit the cattery at Tingwall. I am still not sure I am doing the right thing in getting a cat, but without one there will be no garden (and probably no trees) because of the rabbits. The last time I felt like this was when we were going to get married. Well I suppose that has been a success ... so I should stop worrying

Despite

Despite Jonathan's idyllic little portrayal of Shetland on the CD we sent, there are days when it is just not possible to lie on the beach and get a suntan. If one was desperate for a brown skin it would be quicker to lie in the peat and get pickled. So I thought, to quell the overpowering desire to jump on an aeroplane (and become a Viking, Sage) I would send this little Jonathan antidote. But the picture here is not at all as barren as it looks. Since Victorians came out people have been asking me what I am going to do next and I have been saying ... 'oh, nothing at the moment I think'. Then out of the blue I was invited to meet the HEAD OF BUSINESS DEVELOPMENT in the Council and subsequently asked to submit a proposal for a book on Shetland Emigrants for the 2010 hamefarin. Well, I have just signed the contract with the Islands Council. They agreed to everything I asked ... why didn't I ask for more ... ever had that feeling? Shortly ... I will let you know ... there will be a piece on the Shetland Hamefarin website about it with an email address for people to contact me. By the way, sons and daughters, you all have bit parts in this, after all you are all Shetland emigrants, I might get my dad in too. So now I just have to get my head around spreadsheets and get on with it.

Word of the Day

In the Scottish psyche there is ' ... oh dear, we're going to pay for this' as in Scotland 1 France 0. The antithesis is very English, 'hubris', as in England 1 Croatia 3.

Unfortunately I fell into the English trap today ... hence hubris is the word of the day!

Having seen Mum off on the bus at 9.30 am I returned to the numerous planned 'chores of the day'. First, hang up the washing, feed the birds, empty the ash, fill the peat basket and empty the compost bucket into the bin. Everything going well, continued and, after vacuuming, washed the kitchen, bathroom, porch, passageway, stairs and landing floors. Feeling very pleased with my achievements, checked the email and made some smug remark to the downunders about spring (probably that was my mistake), then I confounded my error by making a clever remark about Mum and widgets. Having finished the email I went for broke and prepared to fix said widget to underside of toilet seat.

You see the result! From small beginnings ....

I successfully removed old broken widget, drilled holes for new and glued it in place, after checking the seat was sitting securely once more. Put seat down then realised what I really needed (when gluing) was some downward pressure ... heavy weight on seat. Ah, I remembered that when preparing the ratatouille yesterday I had pressed the extra moisture out of the aubergine and courgette in the collander by use of a fine rounded boulder of serpentine (kept by the back door for such occasions). Fetched said boulder and placed on toilet seat above widget ... disaster ... hubris ... it fell into the pan and smashed it!!

A line of poetry from Milton's Ozymandos comes to mind (probably misquoted) 'Look on his works oh ye mighty and despair'!

Archie (bless his cheerful and helpful heart) has been and is away to get another pan, meanwhile I have demolished the rest of the pan in preparation for replacement. Archie has promised he will be back and have it in place before Mum comes home and only smiled when I told him shamefacedly how I had done it.

Now I desperately need a ... well, look on the bright side, at least I'm a man, but then a woman probably wouldn't have got into this situation.

'Hubris: arrogance, such as invites disaster'. Chambers Dictionary.

Moonshine

The full moon at Xmas time set me to thinking about it and realising that I did not know what the 'thirteenth' moon was. How ignorant after all those years! Of course the moon cycle is just over 29 days (as you all knew) so that every so often there are 2 full moons in one month and a 13th in the year (not last year or this year I think). So the one above is only the 12th, how boring. I would like someone to work it out but I reckon one would have to be 80 years old or so to see 1000 full moons ... now that will be a celebration!





Jamie and Helen's pictures of their house prompted me to put up a curtain rail too ... for Mum. I found the brass rail and brackets, much discoloured, in the shed (where I store such objects waiting for a purpose) and spent an afternoon (thank you Sorley for letting me out) cleaning it and putting it up. The curtains came from the gudrunsjoden catalogue. Kids ... that's grandma's daemon sitting in the corner on the box waiting for a call from its cousins who are due back in about a month.

Now I am thinking of taking the books out of the bedroom (filling the wall behind me when I took this photo). There is room for some upstairs, but some will have to go. I'm still just thinking ...

Sorry, this next picture a bit out of focus ... we made a quick visit to Snarraness Here is Mum with Sorley ... not insouciant this time ... on the road down. It is a tarmacked road now and the house has been totally rebuilt.
Another out of focus picture of Sorley standing in front of his house that will be!
Idly looking through the bookshelves and came across this wee booklet privately printed by May Stevenson ... she was Graeme (Mum's cousin) Hinton's mother's sister (I think) and she lived in a terrace opposite the Botanic Gardens in Edinburgh. I'm sure we visited her with Beth or Gudrun, or both? She has a great view of the old town skyline. This was rhyme I used to sing (first time I had seen it written down) and I remember my uncle singing it to me. May wrote out a number of these nonsense rhymes and illustrated them.

No picture of a nuclear power stations to hand, but I find myself in an anomalous position regarding them. The Labour government has just decided that the UK will build several of these to meet an energy gap (circa 2016-20) and, they say, help with reducing carbon release (actually very little). But in Scotland the SNP government opposes them, has powers of planning consent and will withold that ... so no nuclear power in Scotland. I have always supported Labour (hoped that Gordon Brown would prove to be an antidote to Blair, but no alas) but am anti nuclear power and not a fan of Alex Salmond (SNP Scottish First Minister) ... hhmmm. I am finding myself wanting to be shot of Westminster politics but where does that leave me? Maybe, if Mr Salmond keeps a steady head, I may find myself voting SNP at the next election ... for Independence!