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