Patricia and Laughton Johnston in Bousta, Shetland

Nigel's Week in late August

2011-08-30T20:18:00.000Z

We started with a visit to Mum who was in good spirits.

The week went very quickly and I just cannot remember on which days things happened. I do know that Nigel took most of the photos. I think, the second day, the weather was good and we took the boat out fishing for the first time. Nigel caught five, or was it eight, mackerel ... honestly, they're in the bucket.

It was hard work so we allowed ourselves a little reward before we cleaned and filleted them for the next day's breakfast .... delicious.

On Friday we went to Skerries on a silky smooth sea. Saw about six neesicks (porpoise).

This is James Laughton Johnston and behind him is the lighthouse manned by an Orcadian, James Laughton in 1863 and after whom our grandfather was named.

This is the harbour and the ferry on Skerries. Sadly there are only about 60 people on the islands (two inhabited and joined by a bridge) half of whom are 60 and over. There are four Secondary and three Primary children and only one pre school child. The main income is from the salmon farm and a couple of white fish boats.

At the Long Ayre we searched for Kirsie Cottie's Lodge (Christina Sutherland, a Cottar [no croft]). We did not find it because it is now under the runway (on which I am almost standing taking this photo). This is the spot that she brought up our grandfather, his sisters and brothers in a hovel on a diet of limpets.

We met two third cousins and chatted until about ten with a lovely sunset.

We were due to leave at 11.30 am the following morning but had a call at 9.30am and told to be ready for the back of ten when the ferry would have a look and see if they could pick us up. They would not have come if we had not been booked for the entrance in bad weather is challenging!

The car was lashed down on the deck and off we set. We were not supposed to be on deck but couldn't resist it. In the end it was not half as rough as we expected, but we still enjoyed it!

Since the ferry dropped us at Vidlin (where we stayed the last year in Shetland in 1979) we went on up to Lunna to the old kirk where Christina (Sutherland) married Thomas Johnson (our great grandparents).

On Sunday we went to Unst for the day to visit George (Geordie) and Lorraine Jamieson. Geordie, now retired, was latterly headmaster of the Lerwick (Shetland) secondary school and Lorraine has been Shetland's premier actress for many years. On their kitchen table we pored over genealogical connections. Lorraine is our second cousin. Her grandfather, Thomas Johnson was our grandfather's brother. Nigel thinks there is a touch of sister Elizabeth in Lorraine. They have a daughter Morag who is the next generation's third cousin and nearest Shetland relative (not counting me!).

Thomas Johnson was Lerwick's lamplighter and here he is in the 1880s (foot on ladder) lighting up the lamp above the public toilet in Lerwick.

The last thing Nigel did for me on the morning of his departure was to help me pull the boat ashore onto the trailer and take it back up to the house.

We had a great week and will hopefully repeat it next year.

Polly writes

2011-06-14T19:07:00.000Z

After photographing the otter, and leaving the writing on the screen that I was working on, I went to make a coffee. When I returned, Polly was sitting on the keyboard. She had moved the cursor to between 'o' and 'ld friends.' and inserted this message -

o[]====================================================================================================================================================================================de88888888888888888888888888888888888888888888888888888888888888888888888t1290000000000000000000000000045Rld friends.

I think she was trying to tell me something ... any ideas?

A visitor

2011-06-14T10:13:00.000Z

I was sitting at my desk and just happened to look over my shoulder and there, less than four metres away, through the large glass windows, was a large dog otter loping across the terrace! I won't tell you what I said!

He explored the garden giving me time to grab the camera and then slipped over the wall again behind the tree. I had caught a glimpse of him this morning by the shore and saw him last week too. Must be the same otter who visits Little Bousta. Polly slept through it all on the couch!

Havera

2011-06-12T10:38:00.000Z

I fulfilled an ambition this past week ... to get to the island of Havera. It's on the west side of Shetland, just north of Maywick (which is just north of Bigton). I went with Bobby Hunter (1/4 owner) from Burra (which is a couple of kilometres north of Havera ... all very confusing, you'll need a map!). It took 20-30 minutes on his boat. The island is almost cliff-bound and about a kilometre square and on the top is a windmill (unique in Shetland). There is no jetty.

From the top of the island there is a great view (telephoto above) south to the Holm - just west of St Ninian's Isle - and Fitful Head in the distance.

The island is of a hard limestone rock, the grass very green and the buildings neatly built. Fishing was very important to the community. There is a wee description of going off to the haaf (deep sea) in Andrew Jamieson's story ... page 74 of A Kist of Emigrants.

There were 4-5 families living on the island up to about 1920. A schoolteacher recorded staying in the house above the cave and listening to, and feeling, the crash of the sea under the floor. There is still one lady (96) living (on Burra) who was born on the island.

The houses hug each other intimately between the steep banks of The Harbour and Hame Ham. Apparently, they were sheltered from the wind as it blew up the cliffs and over their heads. And, according to the schoolteacher, wee children were sometimes tethered like sheep so that they would not fall over the banks. That's Maywick in the background. The newly roofed house is used during the lambing when one or two people return for a couple of weeks in the spring.

On top of the island is the mill. There is very little water on the island ... no burns for a water mill and the people always brought water back if they went to Mainland. Somebody built the mill a long time ago. It was driven by the wind and the sails could be put out of which ever hole was the best for the wind direction. In the end it was not that successful.

There was also a tiny school in the centre of the island. No windows ... no distractions ... but probably a skylight on the thatched roof. There are lots of stories from the island of course ... one wee ten year old only attended school when the weather was not suitable for going off fishing. And of course there were wrecks and dramas.

There is no peat on the island which had to be cut across on Mainland at Deepdale (beyond the Holm of Maywick in the middle distance above) and brought back by boat. Not visible just south of the Holm is Bruce's Baa. Bruce was the laird whom the islanders drowned (or attempted to drown) by deliberately wrecking their old boat (with him in it) on the Baa (submerged rock). Pre-planned, they had with them another 'good' boat from Maywick which picked them up and left the laird behind!

I'm planning to do a book on the island and have the 'go-ahead' from two (so far) of the four part-owners (and descendants of the Havera folk). I would like it to be an attractive book with a broad appeal ... with poetry (not mine!) and art as well as a history of the island and its people.

Spring is Sprung

2011-05-05T13:51:00.000Z

Mum was, as usual, in great form when Sorley and I saw her.

One of her characteristic poses.

It's been such a good last ten days that I got my peats cut and, yesterday, raised.

Besides getting the new boat I also managed to get all the bruck cleared from around the new window and paint it. Next thing is to finish painting the whole house.

Sorley took some photos to prove that the boat actually works! We had an action packed four days.

We had, as per Sorley's photos, a great walk to the Hams at Muckle Roe. A12km round trip for me by the track and a bit longer for Sorley round the coast. This is the North Ham.

And I got a new shirt for my birthday from Gudrun, just in time for summer.

Spring ... maybe?

2011-02-26T15:08:00.002Z

Mum today at Wastview. It's almost impossible to catch her smiling or laughing as she switches so quickly to 'not being amused'!But she is in very good form. Apart from a cold and for the first time in all our years I caught it from her! She's remarkable really and seemingly content in her world.
It was almost a spring morning today ... but I'm not fooled! Sat in the porch for lunch and went for a walk to Breiwick for floats. Two families of swans were on Tara Water (nearest wee loch to Bousta) by the road. Unusually, both species were present ... the one mute at the back and three whoopers in front.

The whoopers are mum and dad and three young of last year.
Being around Ben's birthday, the oystercatchers are back and I've seen the otters and a gannet out to sea ... so it's coming ... feeling balmy at around 10 degrees!

South Island Journey

2011-01-25T03:25:00.007Z

On Thursday 20th Beth and I drove down from Dunedin to Bluff via Invercargill. Bluff is the southernmost port in NZ and the ferry point to Stewart Island where Sorley went last year. After 22 degree temps in Wellington it was relatively cool in Bluff. We stayed the night in Invercargill with a Shetland couple (relatives of the man whose biography I am to write).We then drove along the south east coast through the Catlins with some wonderful views.
Following the tourist trail on a dirt road we drove 7km (seemed like 20!) to this waterfall at Purakaunui.
We stopped the night at an upmarket eco-lodge at Mohua Park with a wonderful view, of what someone described as 'Tellytubby' country. That evening we had food at the Lumberjack cafe at Owaka. We ate out every night and this was the only place where I did not have fish but venison in a blueberry sauce.
En route north Beth spotted a big bull sea lion on a beach. By the time we parked the car and got to him he was more interested in sleeping on the warm sand, watching us with one eye.
At Nugget Point in a strong wind we walked out to the lighthouse along this path.

It's called Nugget Point as the rocks are supposed to resemble gold nuggets ... and visitors look like old gold prospectors.
The final ascent to the lighthouse was spectacular.
Next day we were on to Dunedin and to Mueraki (one hour or 40 minutes north, depending if one is driving at European or NZ macho speeds). There we had a look at the famous boulders ... don't ask me to explain.
Just proving a point ...
We stayed the night there and went to Fleur's place ... the large building just before the pier.
This was something I had been looking forward to since leaving home ... a Rick Stein recommended restaurant.
The meal was fantastic, one of the best I have had. I ate Orange Roughy and Beth had sole; the lemon sauce was delicious. Then we shared a dessert of rhubarb compote (?) and liquorice (mild) ice cream. Plus we had a great Pinot Gris (which we finished) and I had a Scottish whisky that I had never heard of (!) that was not very great.
The atmosphere was fun and Fleur herself came and chatted with us ... Beth bought her recipe book for Nick. When Beth told her that I was from Shetland she tried to phone her friend Vaila (whose father, Magnus Williamson was from Shetland) ... luckily she was not at home.
In the morning, before returning to Dunedin airport and Wellington, we nipped back down the road from our cottage and had an early coffee at her door. Oh, and I forgot, the night before Fleur's we went 1km up the road to Hampden to get fish and chips, blue cod, bit like haddock and superb! I think I managed to pack in about six (new to me) fish meals in four days. One day we must all gather at Fleur's ... you'll be bowled over. It was a great holiday with Beth ... thank you Nick!

Stagland

2011-01-15T06:20:00.004Z

We went to a kids' animal park today about an hour away and spent two hours walking round it and talking to ducks, rabbits, hens, pigs, horses, goat, sheep, keas, donkeys, geese, chickens, deer and anyone else who would listen.First off was a wild ride behind the donkey.
Then, thanks to a father with foresight, fed massive rainbow trout. Later, Madeleine tried to feed the fallow deer on her own and all the feed got snatched and eaten, including the brown paper bag!
It was a great park with space to fly ...
and sit
and run.
There were bridges to cross
old homestead bars to drink in
and graceful wee waxeyes to watch.
Another grand day out.

Wellington

2011-01-14T20:44:00.006Z

Extended my walks yesterday to the top of the hill behind the house with its great view of Wellington. Nice contrast to Gudrun's pictures of snowy Mass: it was about 22 degrees, very comfortable.This is Cosmo and his French girl, Fifi La Belle. Colette sent Fifi. Fifi purrs/snores and her petite tummy rises and falls sleepily.

A Grand Day Out

2011-01-08T03:05:00.003Z

We took the car to downtown Wellington and the cable car up to the Botanic gardens and play area. Molly was pretty vocal coming down the slide tunnel so we knew when to expect her to emerge!Beth took a trip down with Madeleine ... any excuse!
Nick took a photo of me and the family. I promise he will be in the next blog.
Then back down the cable car to street level - Beth explaining the technical details of cable cars to avid listeners - where we had amazing ice creams; even grandpa was impressed.
Nick, I and the girls took the train back to Ngaio. NZ is a shocking country. They employ very young children to collect the tickets!

Birthday Present

2010-12-17T16:38:00.003Z

First, I meant to show you all Maggie's portrait of Mum that she did a few years ago and gave to me in September. She has exactly caught how Mum used to sit and read.
Well it arrived at last, my 70th birthday present from the family ... thank you all. Now I can fall asleep safely by the stove!I'm snowed in and the first I knew about the chair was when the man from Streamline and the postman knocked on the door after carrying it up from the roadend ... he couldn't get his van up! It was lucky that they met because the Streamline man could not have done it on his own and I would not have been able to help him much.
Now all my guests can have comfortable seats.

I shall sit in it this evening and raise a dram to you all.

Finished!

2010-12-15T16:34:00.003Z

Today, finished work on the bedroom completely and tidied it up.

This is the old window which now has 9cm more depth. I've lost the same amount on the other two walls.This is the new window.

When I get back in February I'll get a carpet laid. The whole thing is as good as new. The colour is a kind of olive and a little greener than it looks on the photos.

Window continued

2010-11-15T09:02:00.003Z

After Archie finished putting in the window and took away the shuttering I put up the framework for the panelling, inside of which I put 75mm of insulation.There were only a couple of boards that I had split in taking them off and it all went back together relatively easily. The room will be a few inches smaller all round ... but cosy!
Yesterday, I finished lining the window recess ... it's the photo that's distorted not the handiwork!
Archie comes tomorrow to disconnect the electric switches and sockets on the final wall (where the original window is) and then I shall start all over again there. I should get it all done, filled, sanded and maybe the first coat of paint before Xmas.

A Grand Day Out

2010-11-12T09:39:00.006Z

On Wednesday I go an invite to join Jonathan and SNH counting grey seal pups. The last time I did this (regularly) was almost 40 years ago. Then it was aboard inflateables with the Seals Unit from Cambridge ... rugged stuff in November in Shetland! Today, it was aboard the Dunter III with all mod cons.

We cruised the wee islands and holms around Whalsay, Fetlar, and Hascosay. My job was to count the white coats (they thought I might still possibly manage that). These white coat pups are just a week or two old. The large seals beside them are the mums and the larger one on the beach is the dad.
I had planned this summer to get to Out Skerries ... but never did. But on Wednesday I made it, at least around it. From afar a few wee low islands.
We scooted through the harbour ..

and onto the lighthouse.

... the Lighthouse, built by the Stevensons. It was at this lighthouse that an Orkney man with the surname Laughton was working in 1863 and my impressionable great grandmother took the name for her son, James Laughton Johnston. There you go!

Room with a View

2010-11-03T16:22:00.002Z

Today Archie finished the window. It changes the whole aspect of the gable, suddenly there's an eye looking out and a warmth looking in.Archie and Andrew have fixed battons for me on the floor and ceiling. Now time for me to construct the rest and begin putting in the insulation and then the panelling back.
Polly checked out the view and seemed satisfied. Now (when all my contribution is done) I just need a pair of binnoculars on the window sill and I will be able to check the driftwood situation on the Breiwick beach from my bed!

The hole in the wall

2010-10-30T18:47:00.002Z

Archie, Andrew and David have now been a week at the job.

A nice tidy bedroom to start with.I started inside by stripping off all the panelling as carefully as possible and was relieved to find the walls fairly dry. However I did find that some stone that was used as the lintel for the wee fireplace had not been suitable ... in places it had turned to sand with the heat. So Archie is making that safe. If someone had gone on using the fire eventually part of that inner wall would have collapsed. So, I'm glad I stripped all the panelling off!
This is Andrew - a bit camera shy - putting in the shuttering prior to filling in with concrete
The hole was initially rather large for comfort, even though it was shored up with scaffolding, but at this stage (below) Andrew and David have rebuilt the sides around the frame which will be the window.Some pretty big stones came out!
I am expecting that on Monday David will point up all around the window space and Andrew will tidy up the inside, then, hopefully, the new window will be in place sometime this week. When that happens I will start building a frame on which to re-fix the panelling and within which I will put insulation.

It's a bit draughty as we are having southerly gales! However, it could be freezing, rather than mild!

Garden walls and gable walls

2010-09-20T19:27:00.002Z

Before the severe gales came and blew away the leaves the north west corner of the garden looked like this. I decided that the wall was too low, needed repair and raising to the height of the other part of the north wall by the terrace.I have done that ... after it falling down once when I thought I was nearly finished. It looks like this now as I have removed a boring bush and planted some lupins and foxgloves that will come up next year.
The outside side of the wall with part of it rebuilt and heightened.
This is the wall now completely rebuilt. Note the vertical stone at the foot, just left of centre. Behind it is a very large stone (I could not move) which resembles a steep sided back. The first time I thought I had bridged it successfully. The second time (!) I put in the vertical stone to hold the bridge.

In the longterm, Sorley's house will provide shelter and we may reduce the height of the wall again. But in the meantime I can grow more things in the garden.
Archie has now started work on the gable window. First off, David (who works for him) has taken out all the old pointing and repointed deeply with plenty of cement. Towards the left (not pointed) is where the window will be. The plan is that all the new pointing will hold the wall together when he takes out the hole for the window, long enough for him to install a concrete lintel. Having built walls with the 'pigs' heads' stones of Bousta, I know the problem!
Archie is now making the window (a sash window same as the kitchen and bedroom windows, which he made) and I have a two week gap to nip down south for family and culture. I'm hoping the weather will be better than last week when the boat took 12 hours (into the northerly gale) from Orkney!

Bell(e) Heather

2010-08-27T21:22:00.002Z

Just had to share the wonderful colours of the bell heather as some flowers go over and some are still fresh.I don't think I have ever seen it like this ... maybe I just haven't looked!

I think it is also very rich just here - on the way to Breiwick - where there is only very light grazing ... of Cass' ponies and a couple of rams.

Mushrooms

2010-08-10T16:17:00.002Z

Yesterday collected 3lbs of dinner plate mushrooms, around Bousta and in Gordon's field by the Hall. The recipe was for 1lb, so I tripled the amounts.The result was delicious! And I have five servings tucked away in the freezer.
Yep ... finished the crossword.

Rebuilding old garden wall

2010-07-18T18:08:00.002Z

I thought the old, north, wall of the garden needed to be rebuilt. I think it was the last piece of wall put up by the original builder of the garden walls, perhaps in the 1950s, and he just wanted to get the job finished. I also thought that I had left too big an opening through to the new garden (when the extension was built) and where the wind whistled through in the winter ... and sometimes in the summer too! This is it before I began and after Sorley had moved a few very large stones for me.
It took a couple of hours to pull just half of it down.
And a few days and most of the best stones to put that half up again ... with the inclusion of a seat, for fun.
Then I pulled the other half down, minus a few stones to keep the old gate up. There was not a lot of room to put all the stones!
Now it's finished ... and I'm quite tanned and fit.
There are still a few stones left in the pile so maybe I'll carry on with the wall on the other side of the old gate ... after a few pairs of younger arms have moved them closer for me!

Nigel's visit

2010-06-26T07:24:00.002Z

I just found these in my downloads from Nigel. The first should have been in the previous blog showing Nigel's gate before I painted and hung it ... and before I re-did the wall.Nigel and I at teabreak.
The guide who lost his clients ... and his way.

Garden

2010-06-24T19:30:00.002Z

Couple of additions to the garden. This is my 'fishvane', a piece of driftwood with fin and tail. Mind you, the wind has to be Force 4 and up to make it spin. I'll have to work on that.When Nigel was here he kindly made a new gate for me to replace the rusting wrought iron gate we brought from Forneth. I rebuilt the wall to fit, painted it 'company colours' (baby blue) and hung it so it is now in action ... a great improvement.Next project is to rebuild the wall between the old and new garden.

A Kist of Emigrants

2010-04-08T08:19:00.002Z

At long last ... David will know the feeling ... I have passed the last CD of material to Shetland Times today. I have seen the proofs and I think the book will look good. I think it could have looked better but ST do not have a designer. On the other hand, most readers are probably just interested in the people and the photographs. The cover design was difficult. I saw a friend's design in the archives (he made the piece that hangs above my bath also) called Diaspora (it's made of wood) and thought it ideal. It also gave me the inspiration for the title ... the boxes and chests at the bottom of the boat. I wanted a title that didn't suggest that the book contained all the emigrant stories but a collection, and I think that a 'Kist' (or chest) does just that.

Diaspora is actually quite funny and that has worried me a little in case the people who gave me their emigrant forbears' stories get upset ... some, naturally, take their stories very seriously!

The background (this is a mock-up) is supposed to be the grain of a box and the title a stencil stamp on it. It's going to be slightly larger than A4 and will cost 30 quid.

The book is to be launched on the evening of the 14th June ... first night of the Hamefarin ... and is supposed to be one of the 'highlights' of the Hamefarin! That kinda worries me as there is not a lot of excitement in launching a book. We'll probably show the illustrations on a large screen (it will be in the Museum lecture hall) and have some music, nibbles and wine. I have also persuaded my old friend, Jonathan Wills to be MC; he will be very entertaining! And Jamie, Elizabeth and Tim will be there too. Most of the time I will be signing and trying to remember who people are ... I have had over 100 contributors whom I have mainly corresponded with by email and they will expect me to know them or remember their story. Ah well, it will be fun ... I hope.

I have got tickets for all of us to the big Hamefarin concert, Aly Bain and Phil Cunningham and Catriona MacDonald among others. It's Tim's birthday the day after so we'll go and have a meal at Burrastow. Should be quite a week.

Snow and Mum

2010-02-24T13:32:00.002Z

Dug myself out yesterday! Although cold (-6 last night and around 0 today) and covered in snow it is all very beautiful and a little strange. The oystercatchers have been back a week and are calling, while it was warm enough to have lunch in the front porch with the doors open! While I was sitting there I saw the kestrel again on a rock above the beach ... now been here for around a month.

Mum was in her room, quiet but in good form.

Showing just a degree of patience ...

'That's enough, now give it to me!'

She has a new pair of shoes (I got in Lerwick on Monday) as she has worn out the slippers she was given at Xmas! She's good.

Skullduggery

2010-01-22T15:59:00.002Z

A brief and sad tale.
I was working at the desk and Polly was fast asleep on the couch the other afternoon, when there was a loud bang. Something had hit the large glass windows and hit them hard. Even Polly woke up (she kinda hibernates in this winter weather). Outside on the terrace was a newly dead meadow pipit, still warm. But it was not it that made the bang. It was the kestrel who had just caught it!

The kestrel was almost knocked out and also on the terrace with its wings spread out, not knowing what had happened or where it was. I picked it up and put it on the stone ledge by the terrace. Several times its eye started to close and its head droop. Each time I stroked it, muttering the lines I had heard from the last bit of TV drama I had watched, 'stay with me'.

Gradually, it took almost 20 minutes, the kestrel recovered and eventually got up and flew away.

I'll need to stick something on the window as other birds have hit it before. I think that from some angles they see through the windows and out the smaller ones on the seaward side and think they can fly right through.

First time I have handled a kestrel, a beautiful little hawk ... the pipit was beautiful too. I buried it.

The Icing on the Flan

2010-01-11T16:14:00.002Z

Wonderfully still, sunny - with just a little snow - and freezing weather in Shetland since Xmas while, it seems, the mainland (England predominantly according to the BBC) come to a stop under deep snow. Yesterday, so beautiful in the morning that I took a walk to Breiwick and fell three times before I had gone 100 yards. The ground is like concrete with an icing finish! However, it was very enjoyable, though very cold out of the sun. Although there is very little snow around Bousta there's a good coating over Ronas Hilland inland (yes, I know that term is a bit of a joke in Shetland).

All the lochs are frozen over ... weird to see the sheep nonchantly taking shortcuts across the surface. I just hope that those who have settled temporarily on the little loch islands get off before the thaw! This is Burga Water on the way to Walls. Even the sheltered voes are frozen.

After my walk I made a smoked-salmon flan (a la Gudrun) using my new dish from Joy, the Durham's potter-neighbour. Must get another one next time.

The flan was good and is not finished yet!

Xmas at Shutesbury

2010-01-01T13:59:00.004Z

Maya's room, generously donated to me for the stay ... and the warmest room in the house!

So I spent Xmas, and a couple of weeks beforehand, with Gudrun, David, Maya and Sage at Shutesbury ... they seemed happy, if not humoured to see me. They really were, and so was I to see them.

It was just as I remembered and hoped for ... snow and sunshine, forest trails

and frozen ponds and lakes. Though I had forgotten just how cold it could be, strolling out there.

The kids and I (just a kid too) went down to Lake Wyola several times to play 'chucking stones and star-bursting plates of ice' on the frozen surface. Coming from Scotland, iced ponds scare me, and the kids enjoyed stretching my terror ... 'that's far enough ... c'mon, we said a metre ... okay maybe two ... no more.' Of course, when DAD arrived things were different ... 'of course it's safe.' Sage and I also did a bit of exploring and tracking. If they don't have rabbits (everyone disputes that the tracks I saw belonged to them) they've got 'b..... big squirrels!'

It seems ... dare I say it ... that the Durhams are settled (just don't phone me up Gudrun with an opening 'Daaaad ....'). So I took a photo of the house and 'garden' before things change. There are a few trees down, a new deck, a planned 'mud room' and some cladding and fresh paint to come.

I had lots of yummy food from both cooks and managed a wee contribution of Tart and Tangy Beans, fish cakes and an apple tart (I am beginning to sound like Betty!). We played game with neighbours and friends ... especially taken with that French werewolf game. I'll need to get that for July ... no longer 'next' July!

I got some books for Xmas, what else is there? Well, there's a knitted skull cap from Gudrun. She was knitting all day/night long to finish various presents. I also got myself an applemac pro!! By the way Gudrun/David, when I got home I had a message on my answer phone from the Bank. I shall phone and thank them for their diligence later! For the others ... the bank stopped me using my card in Mass, even though I had told them I was going!! And this is the Bank of Scotland that squandered trillions!!!

While the Durhams slowly froze on the Pond I took several photos ... this one is a good 'serious' portrait of the family.

The day I left, it was raining and above freezing. When I arrived in Glasgow it was -6 degrees, Lerwick was -1 and Bousta +2!

It was only three week but five days after leaving, I am still putting my hand in the left hand side of the drawer to get the teaspoons (they're on the rhs in my drawer). It was a lovely time, thank you to all the Durhams and especially Maya for her room and Sage helping me with my tracking skills and finding the way to the pond..

Oh yes, Polly was happy to see me ... wouldn't even let me close the bathroom door for the first day without miaowing to check I was still there!

Ah ... happy, carefree days

2009-10-18T15:20:00.003Z

Although this photo is dated 1953, it was actually taken in 1956.

Nigel had drawn my attention to a website for Merchant Navy training, on which was the Dolphin Training Ship at Leith. I had glanced at it but saw that none of the dates for the photographs coincided with my training on the Dolphin, so did not look at them closely.

At Beth and Nick's wedding, if you remember, we took a flat in the old bonded warehouses at Leith, and I told you that it was right next to where the Dolphin use to lie.

Anyway, I looked more closely at two of the photos the other day and suddenly realised that I recognised some of the boys ... and gradually, I found that I could recognise them all and remember their characters. Especially the one at the desk nearest the camera ... me!
I was a very young 16 over 50 years ago!

In another photo on the Dolphin looking up the basin to a little bridge, is Nigel (in 1953/54). he is at the back to the immediate left (as we look) of the flagpole. I think I was better looking than him at 16!

Looking at these two photos brought back a little story to mind. Every morning we used to race two lumbering old lifeboats (3 oars a side and a coxswain at the helm) to the end of the dock and back ... through that little opening under the bridge where there was not room for two lifeboats abreast. Oh what fun we all had (when it was our turn to be coxswain) trying to get our nose in that opening first and the fights that erupted when we got jammed side by side in the middle! The man in charge of the Dolphin was Captain Tait (who is the older man standing at the front in Nigel's photo) and sometimes he used to watch us out of a porthole where he thought we could not see him.

You can imagine that when we were rowing we did not always obey whoever was the coxswain. One day, when I was coxswain, the guy at the desk beside me in the photo ... who was much bigger than he looks there ... started playing up. I saw Captain Tait at the porthole out of the corner of my eye and made just enough of a gesture to this guy to let him know that the Captain was watching (without letting the Captain know I saw him). Then I shouted at the guy in my best 'commanding' voice, to sit down and row. With much muttering and threats under his breath he just had to sit down and apparently obey me.

He beat me up later but I got 'good at taking command' on my end of year report ... and it was worth it.

On another occasion I got knocked out by an oar, and on another I fell into the dock from the top of the steps down to the boats ... just missing them as I hit the water!

Ah, happy, carefree days!

By a strange coincidence the guy who is supposed to have taken the photo (with me in it) is a guy called Derek Blair. We recently emailed each other (as I wanted a photo of the Dolphin for the emigrant book ... so many Shetlanders were there before going to sea and moving away from Shetland) and discovered that he had relieved me on a ship in 1958 (I was going in leave and he was joining the ship). We can't remember each other (what does that say!) but we must have met and chatted: he's now in Tasmania.

Just a bit of fun.

Mum, evening and heather

2009-08-24T18:28:00.003Z

Mum really enjoyed Alice's music therapy this week. I only took her back into the wheelroom once, otherwise she stayed with Alice for 45 minutes. She listened, talked, danced and watched and laughed with Alice, who was very good with Mum. It was lovely to see her having some quiet moments and enjoyment (of some sort).

Once I brought her in I cut up an apple so she would sit down for a moment and then I left and just watched through the door. Mum didn't want to play any instrument but she clearly enjoyed Alice's company and her music. She'll do another one next week and weekly thereafter all going well.

Wonderful sunset over Little Bousta these cloudy evenings.

The flowering heather, ling this time rather than the usual bell heather, has been fantastic this year. I have never seen it this way in Shetland, must have been all the sunny weather.

Mum in good form

2009-08-16T08:24:00.003Z

Sorley took a few photos of Mum before he left yesterday. She was in good form.
'I wasn't going to smile, but ...' 'What are you up to?' Definitely a 'No'

Listening

Trying to ignore me

Wiping a smile off my face

A laugh

Considering

It was tea time and Marianne (whom we knew years ago when we were at Little Bousta) came in. Mum went off, Sorley said 'goodbye' and Mum muttered something ... might have been 'goodbye' too.

She is very settled at the moment and Anne-Marie (Manager) thought she was actually communicating more, recently.

Music therapy tomorrow.

Garden wall finished

2009-07-16T18:41:00.003Z

28th June ... Going 2nd July ... going

15th July ... gone!

At last I cannot see the new house from the sitting room. I put the last stone in place with the help of Sorley last week, photographed by Ben. Today I put some dwams in the wall and cemented them in. Tomorrow, weather permitting, I'll put in the uprights for a gate.

View from the Little Bousta side. I/we still have to complete the wall to join the yard wall. This will run in front (north) of Sorley's house.

It has been a still, warm day with the fog slowly creeping in.

This was at teatime. Now, 8pm, and I cannot see the skerry in front of the house. Sorley rang me at 11am from the top of Collafirth Hill as he set off for the Lang Ayre on the other side of Ronas Hill where he is going to camp tonight ... hope he finds his way! Tomorrow should be misty and sunny. Hope it lifts for Sorley.

Summer

2009-06-30T16:18:00.001Z

I don't remember a better June in Shetland. We have had a month of sunshine and warmth after a pretty good May too. Today, it's 22 apparently, too hot to be working outside in the afternoon. Judd told me that a neighbour of his could not face clipping his sheep in the heat of the day, so started at 10pm and finished at 5am!
All the little boats are tied up at the jetty and people are buzzing in and out in the evenings and at the weekends. The evenings have been brilliant with the sun setting at around 10.30pm, wonderful sunsets, mauve horizons and limpid sea.

The good weather seems to have suited the birds. There's a baby (rather gangly) oystercatcher at the front ... whose parents always remind me if I decide to have a stroll that way. The arctic terns have chicks too and the swans have cygnets on the lochs. Even Polly is finding it a bit hot!

The flags are flying at Bousta for Maya's birthday on Thursday!

I am on the last piece of the garden wall. Begun building up the end (with the good stones) where I will put a gate. When I am finished I won't be able to see the new house from the sitting room ... that's the plan.

Late the other night (around 11pm), a lone yachtsman passed through the Sound of Papa Stour.

The weather is set to stay for the week and I hope it lasts until Sorley and Ben come on Sunday.

Took an ice cream into Mum's this afternoon and we sat outside (in the central bit) while she took great bites of a Magnum and I tried to intercept the drips and flakes of chocolate. I think nshe enjoyed it.

It's the wall again

2009-06-24T07:57:00.000Z

The weather continues fine, sun setting at 10.30 pm. Much delight yesterday, leaving Bousta a little overcast, going through low cloud and rain to Lerwick and back again, to enter Sandness and the sun is shining!

Now finished the north wall of the new garden, put down a lot more topsoil (from a great heap I had collected during the excavations for the extension) and sown grass. I have now laid the N-S base and started building ... two thirds to go. Halfway along I am dropping down a level and making a wee sheltered bit facing south (see picture) where one day I will sit ... might have to lie down ... under the shade of an aspen tree (from the local native supply, now growing in a pot and which I will plant next spring).

When this bit of wall is done I'll go back to finish the north wall in front of Sorley's patch.

The view from the terrace is getting positively suburban. I plan to grow lots of foxgloves and lupins against the wall facing south (like Mum had at Forneth) ... again, next year.

It seems the good weather is being reflected in the sea. Lots of terns nesting for the first time in years. Several on the beach and Skerry and one has chosen the track by the gate into Little Bousta. It is luckily not on the wheel track but right in the middle, which means that, to its great annoyance, it has to get up each time a car (and Cass) passes over. So it takes it out on the car and the driver when the latter has to get out to open and close the gate. I didn't know this at first and when working on the wall one day saw Cass waving some envelopes at me from the Little Bousta gate. I waved back but she ignored me. She was trying to fend off the tern!

Walls and walking

2009-06-15T19:14:00.000Z

This was where I was at 29th May. The point where I start the dividing line between Muckle Bousta and Sorley's (eventual) house. A lot of debris and topsoil to shift, but not the monster stones which were laid on the old east-west boundary. By the time Sorley arrived I had just started the north-south boundary.

Sorley dug out the rest of the boundary foundation for me - which I will turn to after finishing the north-south wall between us, maybe later this summer. He also rolled some of the very large stones out of the heap for me (for the base). The ground is higher on the Muckle Bousta side.

I forgot - when Sorley asked me if I wanted to go walking anywhere - that I wanted to have a look at one of the Viking Energy (wind farm of circa 150 giant turbines) sites, which has just gone to the Scottish Office. The decision on Planning should come later this year. So I went to the easiest site at the top of Weisdale (the dale where Bonhoga is).

A lovely day again, met a birdwatcher and we listened to the whimbrel and skylarks. The hill is peat-covered, but on the summit there is much (deep - six feet plus) erosion ... from the weather and grazing.

Tomorrow is the last sunny day for the present. We've had a great spell ... I have been neglecting the book! So out on the wall again.

Spring Pleasures

2009-05-23T13:13:00.000Z

The primroses are still out, the bluebells in full bloom and the trees are rather tentative of unfolding their leaves.The ewes are back with their lambs so early awakenings these light mornings.

But at last I can get out and resume work on the wall which has been at this stage for more than a year.A week of good weather and I have doubled what I had. Now at the point of a right-angled turn to come back across (north to south) to the old garden wall. Then go back - and continue at the right-angle - to the yard wall (and in front of Sorley's house to be). Very satisfying and delightful on the very still days when I can hear the young seals playing ... slapping the water surface with their flippers ... and the terns calling. I'm going to have to leave moving some of the very big stones until the boys are here.

The mornings are bright early and evening sun goes on until 9pm now, brilliant skies over the Voe and Little Bousta, the sitting room doors open to cool it down!

Children's Stories

2009-05-02T07:21:00.000Z

This is the cover of the latest New Shetlander. The picture is by Meilo So, a Chinese lady (from Hong Kong) who lives in Yell and works for Doubleday. Thought you would like the image, it's entitled 'How to be safe at sea'. Jonathan tells me that she might illustrate his next children's book.

2009-04-18T20:09:00.001Z

This time of year again! Monday was dry and sunny and mild, so made a start on my peats. Did a couple of hours on Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday and Friday ... by which time it was distinctly cool, though dry. I'm ahead of the game ... first one to finish this year!! Most people haven't started. In fact most years I have not started until the first week of May. But it feels good to have it done ... and just a wee bit smug. I was going to wait until Sorley and Jamie were here (in a week) but if the weather is there you just have to grab it. But if anyone is desperate, then there is a wee bit more we could do.

I'm having problems loading more than one image so the next part will have to be ona different post.

Miscellany

2009-04-08T09:32:00.006Z

There is a really good exhibition at the Bonhoga gallery just now by a Jennifer Talbot. It is an interpretation of landscape in woven, felted wool, but looks very fine, almost like silk. She really gets the colours and textures of Shetland just right. Unfortunately, these hangings are over 1000 quid ... I bought a very, very wee one! I have been looking at the old Shetland Trader sign in the shed where it has been since I took it off the coldwatertank in Little Bousta (when the Pedleys left last autumn) where it had served as a door (at the top of the stairs) when we were there. It used to stand propped-up in the 'Street' at the foot of Burns Lane in Lerwick when Mum had the shop. I was worried that it was going to get damaged in the shed and could not think what to do with it. Then had a brainwave and have hung it is the glass porch. Maybe attract some trade from the Papa Stour ferry passengers or passing lobsterboat men.

Out of the blue had a phone call re the Shetland Trader. To cut a long story short ... the Burra (island connected by bridge near Scalloway) History Group have just restored an old, thatched croft house and want to put in an exhibition of Shetland knitwear (not garments but text, photos etc). Someone had come across the first leaflet Betty had drawn for the ST. They were intrigued, so I took Mum's folder of photos etc to Burra last Friday. A Fair Isle knitter there was overwhelmed by Mum's designs and colours and wants to use some for the exhibition ... and I think some herself(!). Anyway, when it is up I will take some photos.

Another historical tale from that era. When I was working for the Nature Conservancy around 1969 I became very interested in the remnants of Shetland's native trees (actually found new sites for several species and enjoyed myself hugely) and identified a little ravine that held native rowan, rose, honeysuckle etc. Very few people in Shetland were (are) aware of what the land looked like before we came along with sheep and cattle and pigs and goats and geese and ponies, circa 5000 years ago and grazed the trees and shrubs out of existence. I thought this little ravine would be an ideal place to plant up one day with native trees to recreate some Shetland woodland ... for education, science and fun. So I scheduled it as a Site of Special Scientific Interest. A decade ago, the Shetland Amenity Trust folowed up my idea, fenced part of the ravine off from sheep and have been planting 'native' trees. Since we have been back at Bousta I have grown several aspens taken from suckers on the crags nearby. On Monday I took one and planted it in the Burn of Valayre - overseen by an official from the Trust. Curious to be in the position of doing this almost 40 years after I first thought about it!

Okay ... so it's very small ... but you wait!

Spring!

2009-03-26T19:30:00.001Z

Spring! Well maybe. Lunch in the conservatory (I know I don't call it that). Took me a day of washing the winter mould off the glass, woodwork and floor. But worth it. Primroses out, and a daisy ... got to start somewhere.

The daffodils nearly there ... just waiting to make sure another gale won't come along and flatten them.

Good to sit back in the porch and admire the view (and sheep) in comfort. This year's geraniums have arrived and are all potted up.

It's raining now of course ... and there are warnings of gales!!

Mum at home

2009-03-07T16:10:00.001Z

Mum home this afternoon ... won't take her elegant long coat off ... yet.
Having her chocolate and looking at the pictures.

A warning look

I kept trying to take her while she was smiling, but by the time the digital camera flashed she had changed expression again. So I just pressed the button and then tried to make her laugh ... got that look!

She's thin but eating well and not losing anymore weight now.

Snow, snow

2009-02-12T21:25:00.000Z

No post today. We are snowed in, Polly and me. I tried to get out this afternoon to see Mum, but had to turn back at Collaster (4th house down the road). Just managed to turn with the aid of the shovel. This is what it looks like on the Hillswick cliffs across St Magnus Bay.And Bousta too ... though the wind and the sea thins it a bit here. Nevermind, Polly and I have the TV and she seems to enjoy the first of the David Attenborough new series ... these are tysties.

It was not staged, she also liked the guillemots and arctic fox (not shown)

It is supposed to thaw by the weekend.

More Snow

2009-02-08T19:25:00.002Z

Went to see Mum this afternoon for a couple of hours but decided not to bring her home because of the roads. Very picturesque though.
Stanevatstoe frozen over and the sheep having to dig for food.

Coming down into Walls

The view from Wastview towards Vaila at 3pm

See if Sage can recognise where I am ... halfway home(!)
Freezing up again tonight but a lovely full moon over the snow.

Earthquake!

2009-01-15T16:27:00.002Z

Sorry, no pictures, and I have to admit I did not know there had been an earthquake until Gudrun told me! When she phoned this afternoon and said that she had heard on the news that there had been an earthquake of circa 3 on the Richter scale in Shetland, that it had occured at 5.30am in the morning and some Shetlanders had described it as a train hitting the house, I suddenly remembered - I did wake up with a start to a kind of bang/concusion just at that time. I remember I thought that there must be a gale blowing and that a flaan of wind must have hit the house (when there is a strong gale the wind seems to smack solidly against the walls and roof of the house) or that a door of the glass porch must have blown open. I lay a wake for a few minutes listening but the wind was not strong enough to create what I had heard. I almost got up but all was quiet and I fell asleep again!

If that was a wee earthquake, I don't fancy a muckle ain.

New Zealand Again

2009-01-10T13:21:00.000Z

Three weeks of, mostly sunshine, lots of fun, no cooking, lots of meat, scrabble, swapping slurs (banana head/rhubarb knees) with Molly, getting to know Madeleine, achieving par in one hole out of 12 with Nick, vineyard visiting with Beth, pushing swings (endlessly), trying not to watch to see if Molly and Madeleine would collide on the trampoline, lots of good coffee, wine a late evening dram, and many 'catching up' conversations. This is a picture of a good mother (her turn for the lie-in).This is a picture of an inattentive father ... engrossed in Neil Gaiman's fantasy that I brought and read on the flight. Note that the kids can actually get out, it's only a safety net.

This is Madeleine training for the 'short drop' in the 2012 London Olympics. Seconds after this picture was taken she broke the world record.

Meanwhile, Molly was training for the 'cheeky smile' event.

And I came home with my Xmas present from Beth and Nick, a lovely coffee mug that I can put my hands around on a cold morning. I also brought two bottles of Stonecutter Merlot (after a bit of sampling at the vineyard ... one we opened and drank with Sorley, Gudrun and Wendy ... and Maya! The other I will keep for another special occasion.

The visit would not have been complete without one bon mot ... from Molly. I admired her new haircut and asked her what she thought of mine. After a moment's inspection she said 'It's gone!'

Madeleine's favourite expression was 'Wha dis?' She also has a wonderful sulk worthy of a Hollywood starlet failing to win an Oscar. Hence ...

Wha Dis?

Wha dis?

Like a Jamaican girl,

lazily, warmly.

she holds out a fruit, then

overcome with shyness

black lashes close over lowered grey eyes,

and her hair slides over her face

like yellow grass in the wind.

Wha dis?

Only two years old

but we cannot wait for a contrary breeze

to uncover her smile,

or a pout

if we do not promptly answer the question.

This is an improved version Beth & Nick ... thanks for such a lovely time.

When icicles hang by the wall

2008-11-29T10:56:00.003Z

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

2008-09-04T07:09:00.002Z

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

2008-08-27T10:25:00.003Z

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

2008-08-14T15:07:00.004Z

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!

2008-07-27T10:07:00.002Z

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

2008-07-09T19:37:00.002Z

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

2008-03-28T10:47:00.003Z

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

2008-03-21T10:04:00.003Z

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

2008-03-16T11:20:00.003Z

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

2008-03-05T20:42:00.003Z

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

2008-02-07T15:20:00.000Z

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

2008-01-28T14:15:00.000Z

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

2008-01-12T15:08:00.000Z

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!

Xmas 2007

2007-12-25T11:52:00.001Z

Happy Xmas everyone! Mum is wearing a scarf from Gudrun which is hiding a brooch from Beth (sorry!) and I am wearing the Unst skull cap. But if you look closely at the books just to the right of the little painting on the top (rhs) shelf you may just make out Mr Pip (NZ author), The Night Gardener (a George Pelecanos thriller) and The Wild Places (Robert MacFarlane travel/places). You might also spot the yellow cover (on its side) of Tree of Smoke which I am really into. It took me half an hour to get this picture ... one of the sitters kept moving. Hope you have had/are having/will have a great day. Love Mum and Dad xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx.

Now off to make fish cakes with anchovies, open a bottle of red wine and fire a party popper over Mum's head!

More pictures

2007-12-23T15:01:00.000Z

This Yule's New Shetlander came out with both a poem of mine and a review of Victorians 60 Degrees North. I had planned to include these in the blog ... but ... when I scanned and uploaded the text it was unreadable. I also tried adding the poem directly from a file but it wouldn't do it either. So, the poem I will attach to an email (you've probably read it before anyway) and I quote the last paragraph of the (whole page) review below.

"Laughton Johnston has written a book which for me became a real 'page turner'. To tell the truth, I just hadn't expected to find the life stories of these 'Victorians 60 Degrees North' so engrossing. I've enjoyed my time inside their world. In other words, what I am saying is simply: 'Dis is a raelly interestin book, full o fascinatin stories and colourful characters - it's a bit o Shetland's history served up in style and I hoop you laek it too'."

If you would like a copy of the issue let me know and I will send you one.

My printer/copies/scanner is not scanning anymore. Luckily I bought a new scanner for my Xmas (okay, a month ago) so that I could easily copy family photographs onto a CD ... it's a slim line Canoscan LiDE 600F that can sit by the laptop on the desk and is powered through the latter too. So, of course I had to find some photos to scan. By coincidence, while looking for the Xmas decorations and/or wrapping paper (for Mum) in the cupboard at the top of the stairs I found a bag I had forgotten all about which was full of old goodies (photographs, papers, letters etc). So, here are two.

First, Mum at Real Foods! Actually there were quite a few of all the staff that Jill must have taken, but I didn't think you would want photos of Michael, Dave etc. Doesn't Mum look good! The next photo, for Jamie especially in case he thinks he is the only footballer in the family (!), is of the Benalder football team in 1958 in Singapore. The captain of the team (of course) was the 1st Mate (in the centre) and all the others, except for me, were the sailors. Our style was rather like Bolton's ... for those who do not know Bolton's style, it was pretty physical as we had no skill whatsoever but loved dressing up in our strip. To put it more bluntly, we didn't really mind just how we won the game(s). Don't ask me which position I played in. I know I tried to be wherever the ball was unless being threatened with a tackle from the opposition ... particularly after we had set the tone for tackling. You could say I was a pretty cosmopolitan player both on the pitch and on the globe!
Mum and I are now already for Xmas. We don't have a tree or crackers (nobody does a 'pensioner pac' ... 2) but we have mince pies and paper streamer bangers and frozen banoffees and fish for the fishcakes, some wine for me and cranberry juice for Mum ... she doesn't know what's coming!

December Pics

2007-12-17T13:32:00.000Z

Okay, so trying to put these pictures into some kind of aesthetic order but failing miserably.
The weather has been very kind here recently, lots of quiet days, around 6-10 degrees (but warmer than London!) and some sunshine. This time of year it just creeps over the hill and tends to light the clouds from underneath (!).
Today, Mum at Wastview and I have been pottering slowly ... rescuing a geranium and bring it indoors, spotting one (maybe two) great northern divers (that would be my daemon I have decided) out in the bay from the cliff top, sawing up some old fence posts, checking the seals, looking (unsuccessfully) for otters, coppicing the old rowan tree by the door as it has been struggling of late, filling in rabbit holes in the garden with stones (which gives me a particular kind of pleasure), making coffee, and shortly, going to see if I can fix up the wireless connection to the laptop (to give me one less lead on the desk).

What happens here this time of year? Well, apart from the rather loutish ram (looks a bit like a Raging Bull who should have retired half a dozen fights ago) pursuing the sheep at a lesiurely pace, crocuses having a first nervous taste of the air, the Papa Stour ferry passing unhurriedly twice a day, rabbits digging holes in the garden, only the lobster boat seems to be purposefully busy (I feel I should wave to him like Linda to the Muckle Flugga supply boat in Jonathan's book, Linda to the Lighthouse).
Then there are our regular bird visitors ... the rock doves that come to feed on the bird seed we put out. These are the birds from which a lot of the fancy pigeons have been bred, Shetlanders call them blue doos. We also have an annual visit through the middle of the winter of 4 or 5 turnstones and a flock of curlews who come very close to my window. I tried to take a photo of them through the window and chicken netting fence (to keep rabbits at bay) but ended up with only sharply focused netting and blurry images beyond ... I'll master it yet.The other day (and yesterday evening ... when I say evening I mean about 3 o'clock) we had these wonderful shafts of sunlight piercing through the cloud (I expected a thunderous voice and Charlton Heston to appear with the tablet any moment).

As you can see, Ronas Hill (in close up) looked weird, kinda underlit. We had some northern lights too the other night, but not good enough to photograph (I will get one and post it!). And the new moon has the old moon in her arms. Actually the line from the ballad (Sir Patrick Spens) says ' I saw the new moon late yestreen / with the old moon in her arm'. I think it is better in the plural?

No, I am not going mad ... just pottering.

Daemons

2007-12-05T21:13:00.000Z

Since rather quiet on the family blogs, apart that is from Maya - delightfully, I have decided to write about one of those strange coincidences that regularly occur. First though I will have another sip of this evening’s choice whisky … single Jura, not unpleasant.

I have been reading, as no doubt you all have, about the film version of His Dark Materials by Pullman ... a wee bit disappointed. The ‘daemon’ in the story fascinated me as I knew nothing about them. Simultaenously, I have been reading the much hyped The Gift by Lewis Hyde (presently Creative Writing professor in Ohio). It requires a lot of attention … not recommended reading in bed just before intended sleep! He looks at age-old myths surrounding ‘gifts’ and sees creativity as a ‘gift’ too. He is in to the idea that ‘gifts’ are for reciprocation and their value lies in their passage, back and forward between individuals and around groups. In today’s world these ‘gifts’ have been commercialised and we have capitalism; where the ‘gift’ has been given a monetary value and where it is kept it become capital. You’ll have to read the book to get nearer his truth!

However, last night, on page 54, I came on the section on the ‘gift’ of creativity … literary, artistic etc. First, it rang a few bells as it seemed to echo something I have always felt … that we must use (not a good word here in this context, sorry can’t think of a better at the moment) our own personal ‘gifts’ to the full … otherwise we are denying our intrinsic selves, never mind anyone else.

Now we come to daemons! Quote from book … ‘The task of setting free one’s gifts was a recognized labor [he’s American remember] in the ancient world. The Romans called a person’s tutelar [guardian if you have to look it up like me] spirit his genius. In Greece it was called a daemon. Ancient authors tell us that Socrates, for example, had a daemon who would speak up when he was about to do something that did not accord with his true nature. …. The daemon comes to us at birth. It carries with it the fullness of our undeveloped powers. These it offers to us as we grow and we choose whether or not to accept to labor in its service … the spirit [daemon] who brings us our gifts finds its eventual freedom only through our sacrifice [to realise the gift], and those who do not reciprocate the gifts of their daemon will leave it in bondage when they die."

It is no longer often, in fact it is pretty rare, that I come across something that makes me sit up (and fail to go to sleep later) and think ‘now there’s a view of life that I feel that’s familiar and friendly, and needs thinking about’.

Now I am wondering about the shape of my daemon. However, I do know who must have a cat as a daemon!

Need to go and fill up my glass …

Storm!

2007-11-08T13:45:00.000Z

There was a forecast of bad weather for today. At 9am it was not too bad, but bad enough not to try and take the ash out the door! So I decided we would not go to Lerwick for lunch with the Gibsons as usual. A good decision! By lunchtime there was a force 10 plus storm (100 mph recorded in Orkney and a little less here) blowing from the north. My wee gate/fence between the gardens was beginning to blow up in the air so I went out to weigh it down and quickly realised that it was in fact dangerous to be out there. I could hardly stand up and had to wrestle with the gate out of the garden.

I tried to take some photos through the window but the visibility was not too good! I can see where the phrase 'wave after wave' ... of attack, comes from. Looking out now, the half mile or so that I can see, are line after line of breaking waves with their tops sheared by the wind. The skerries are covered in white foam and the wind is whistling around the house, and somewhere the poor sheep are huddling behind a wall.

Surprisingly, the extension feels rock solid. The only problem is that the wind is creating a vacuum in the loft space and sucking up the hatch. Even with it left open several inches every now and again it lifts and begins battering away. I will need to fix a brick to its upper side!

Now, at 2pm, with the Orkney schools all shut and no ferries running, the forecasters say it will decrease to a severe force 9! Luckily, the tide seems to be at the bottom of the ebb at the moment so that the big waves are not at the top of the beach. By early evening when the tide is up, if the waves are still coming in as they are there may be damage to the Little Bousta track across the beach. It was in this sort of weather that I remember taking Sorley and Beth across the beach to get the school taxi, holding their hands to make sure they didn't get blown away!! Ah ... how boring this would have been in Forneth!

Poetry

2007-11-02T20:45:00.001Z

I don't know if this will work but here are 3 poems just published in the Autumn edition of Northwords.

The St Kilda poem is basically the one I put in the NTS book. Bousta to Papa was the infamous boat trip just before Jamie was born; and Nightshift Offshore I wrote when working on the rigs. Hope you can read them!

Home and Away

2007-10-21T11:01:00.000Z

Have to start with the get-together ... thanks Helen.

Can't believe it is 4 weeks since you were all here. I've printed this picture so that Mum can take it with her to Wastview. It was wonderful having you all here but the departures were a bit painful! Of course, since you have been we seem to have had a run of quiet, mild weather ... even good enough for walks up the road.

We had a busy week away, seeing Sorley, Wendy and Ben for a couple of nights; Stewart and Maggie, Nigel and Moira (and Louisa and Andy and Amy and Rowena, a very grown up 6 year old John and a bright and cheeky wee Lexie [had to look that up!]). Also went and saw Jim and our old friend Jean in the Borders. Took a few days to get back to normal and not sure that we will go south again soon.

At long last Victorians 60 Degrees North came out. As it was published by the Shetland Times there were embassassingly large fliers in the paper!

This was about half a page!

We also went up to Unst last week to get a photo taken with David Edmondston (last of the ...)

Anyway it is now out (I've sent copies to Craigievar, NZ and the US, and Paris[!]). I think the ST have done a very good job with it ... layout, print, pictures and paper.

And Maggie's cover has been commented on by many.

The signing yesterday went well ... about 60 signed for folk that didn't want to come and meet the author (maybe they had met me before!) and another 20 or so in the shop ... that's a start. Learned also that A Dream of Silver was still selling well (it's all relative, I keep telling myself David). Mum enjoyed herself too beside me.

I'll be doing an interview for Radio Shetland this week and will let you know when it it to be broadcast.

Our only other excitement this week was the absence of our neighbours who should have been back from a trip to the Mainland. Other mutual friends phoned us up to ask where they were and I emailed John to ask if everything was okay. Turned out that they were enjoying themselves so much touring around Scotland in the Indian summer that they decide to stay away for another week!

Final thoughts ... thank goodness England didn't win the World Rugby Cup!

The baby's lullaby

2007-09-04T18:55:00.000Z

I spoke to May Fraser this morning ... Thomas Fraser's daughter who is heard crying on the Lullaby Yodel track. The crying is so well balanced on the track it sounds as if it was dubbed afterwards. I asked her this and she said no, just 'something I got right'. It was recorded when they were staying with a friend and he had nowhere else to record. She told me that they are still finding new recordings of his and hope another CD will be out next year! May works in the Peerie Shop and is a singer herself. She was delighted to hear that the Johnston / Durham / Armstrong family were keen fans.

Right now, we have a big hole in the track where Archie is putting in a cattle grid. Once that is done (in a couple of days) and I get a fence up there will be no more getting out of the car to open the gate in a cold, wet wind, and no more tiptoing around sheep shit. We'll be very happy and so will Cass the Post! I'm hoping some 'visitors' will soon help put up the fence!

Yesterday I collected a bagful of rowan berries from a neighbour's garden ... the owner's uncle had uprooted the tree when it was a sapling from a holm in a loch, so it is a native. I have given the Amenity Trust most of the berries but kept some for myself to try and germinate for the Bousta Forest.

Dykes and Dreams

2007-08-20T13:08:00.000Z

We have had enough good days since Sorley left to get on with the terrace and walling. Now finished the corner of the wall and link to house (apart from a gate), built up the face of the terrace and sown grass (for the moment). You won't be able to see them but there is a set of (very uneven and ethnic) steps in the corner by the wall to access the grass bit. Outside the wall I have smoothed off the slope and sown grass there too. As you can see I (with Sorley's help when he was here) have been able to get rid of all the big rocks and debris. Once the grass has grown it will be fine. Going to concentrate now on the other retaining wall of the terrace which Sorley built. The rest of the garden wall is going to have to wait until I have finished the inside. In the meantime I have up a fence to keep out the sheep.

We had Rosa (of Lea Gardens at Tresta) and her partner, James (tree man) here on Sunday morning filling my head with ideas. In this climate I find it hard to visualise the results of their enthusiasm! James was here to give me advice on planting trees in the walled yard (where Sorley's 'chalet' will be) and mentioned that we might be in line for a Forestry Commission grant, so I am looking into that ... it will mean planting in the spring, which is a relief as there is so much to do!

Having crossed one Rubicon two weeks ago in getting a homehelp I am now on the shores of another ... one I have seen on the map but chosen to ignore until now that my feet are getting wet again! Rosa and James have persuaded me that if I am going to have a garden, vegetables etc., we must have a cat to keep out the rabbits! Apparently toms (neutered) are very good ... they have 7 (!), but then they have a couple of acres of garden, and hardly see the toms in the summer. So, next spring (see I am still putting it off) maybe we'll get a couple of (neutered) tom cats! Sorry Helen, maybe I should have warned you not to read that!

One of the great ideas that Rosa and James came up with is to turn one of the two ruined buildings into a plastic tunnel, simply (hardly) roofing it with polycarbonate. Maybe the other I can put a net over and grow soft fruit ... such is this vision of abundance. By then I (and my muscles ... I thought I was looking pretty muscular until I saw some close-ups of the Scottish rugby team) will probably have had enough of wall building, there won't be any stones left anyway at the rate I am going!

I knew there was a connection

2007-08-10T07:45:00.000Z

Shetland's caribbean coffee!

Just a quickie while waiting for Mum's bus. Thought I would share this little joke. It's from a very special bean that likes cool, damp, windy climates. They have to be picked with pliers because of their tenacious grip otherwise they would all end up in the sea. How the Caribbean aroma is added I don't know, but it works.

On Sunday we have our gardening and woodland (another joke) friends, Rosa and James, coming over to advise on the new garden and yard ... planting of shrubs may take place this autumn but the rest will be next year. Fun to be at this stage, now I have only to finish the wall (!), which topic will be the subject of the next blog.

Yesterday was a historic one for us ... we had the house cleaned while we were out! Seems to work, now we just want someone to wash and iron the linen bed sheets every day.

By the way, the new owners of 24 Grant Street moved in this week, no more visits there. We are reminded here daily of Betty with a couple of pictures on the wall and particularly, the large Victorian settee which is even more comfortable than I remember ... I think I was on the edge of it most visits to Cullen.

Reading Matter

2007-07-26T20:19:00.000Z

Yesterday I finished Acacia ... wondering what was the future? Would Corin meet some terrible end at the hands of her siblings, would her son/daughter wreak a hideous revenge or might he/she be the best of them all and because of his/her mixed descent be able to pull the world together again? Naw, David's imagination will have a different and more unexpected future awaiting. I saw a lot of references/comparisions to Tolkein and Lewis in the reviews (made some myself), but on finishing Acacia, Part 1, I am left with more of a taste of Dune.

Anyway, yesterday evening, after Mum had gone to bed, I scoured the shelves for something new to read, having now read all the (excess baggage) books I brought back from Colorado last autumn. I took just as many books from Betty's as I could reasonably carry last November, no one else seemed to want very many, so I had a look at them and lighted on On the Edge by Walter de la Mare (short stories published by Faber and Faber in 1930!), partly because it has some nice woodcuts. I almost did not get past the first sentence of Recluse, the first story ... "Which of the world's wiseacres, I wonder, was responsible for the aphorism that 'the best things in life are to be found at its edges'?" (which on reflection covers the antics of several generations and branches of this family). But I persevered and was soon wishing that it was a winter's night, it was dark, the curtains drawn and the stove was blazing. One extract that I would like to share concerns the repast the lost storyteller shares with the recluse in the latter's almost empty house he stumbles upon late in the evening (the housekeeper having gone home and his lifetime secretary having died a week or two previously) in some byway of rural England around 1905.

"Mr Bloom [the recluse] glanced over his shoulder into the corridor behind us. 'He has been a great loss,' he added. 'I miss him. On the other hand,' he added more cheerfully, 'we mustn't allow our personal feelings to interfere with the enjoyment of what I am afraid even at best is a lamentably modest little meal.'
Again Mr Bloom was showing himself incapable of facing facts. It was by no means a modest little meal. Our cold buillon was followed by a pair of spring chickens, the white sauce on their delicate breats adorned in a chaste design with fragments of cucumber, truffle and mushrooms - hapless birds that seemed to have been fattened on cowslips and honeysuckle buds. There was an asparagus salad, so cold to the tongue as to suggest ice; and neighbouring it were old silver dishes of meringues and an amber-coloured wine jelly, thickly clotted with cream. After the sherry champagne was our only wine; and it was solely owing to my abstemiousness that we failed to finish the second bottle."

At this point (around 11pm) I had to rush off to the kitchen and make myself a cheese and pickle roll and pour a glass of milk. I finished that story before sleep and look forward to the next shortly!

He had another lovely line where Mr Bloom points out the portrait of his sister on the wall ... "I glanced up at Miss Bloom; but she was looking in the other direction ..." That's a gem.

Actually, there is a bit of the David in that description and I would not be surprised to see a Mr Bloom, though which province he would hail from I'm not sure, appear in Acacia 2.

Walter de la Mare was a favourite poet of primary teachers in the 40s but I had never seen this Edgar Allan Poe side of him ... great fun ... needs a glass of whisky and some cold leftovers as an accompaniement.

Visit from Cragievar

2007-07-22T13:48:00.001Z

I am re-reading Acacia, having read part of the ms, and enjoying it even more than the first time. In fact I am having difficulty putting it down ... definitely up there with Lord of the Rings. So, sitting late last night in our new room reading and getting up every now and again to watch the sunset, I was taken by the light on Ronas Hill ... I thought 'the Outer Isles at sunset or Vumu at sunrise'?

Sorley, Wendy and Ben were here for ten days, just leaving a couple of days ago ... oh, and Ella of course, a fine wee dog who, thankfully ignored the sheep and gratefully, caught a wee rabbit in the garden. A second one disappeared and later in the day Ella bcame very excited around the fridge in the porch ... yes, it was in behind and in the works. Managed to get it out. For those of a tender, rabbit-loving nature, I won't say what I did with them ... but they had been eating my precious lupins! Discovered I'm a real Mr MacGregor.

Ben seemed to enjoy himself and did a bit of cycling practise ...

strange, but lovely, to see him cycling where Sorley cycled 30 years ago at the same age!

We also went swimming at the Walls pool where Mum and I go weekly (weakly) in the winter ... Ben under the water, Mum out early.

Sorley also gave me a lot of help with the 'quarry', turning it into a paved yard. Here he's building the retaining wall againt the bank. We managed too to shift some very large stones and bury them in the bank on the north side of the house. And while Wendy was in the house I was able to get on with the wall.

Just before he left, Ben printed out a note which I have sealed in a bottle and buried in the wall.

The (music) cabinet under the TV houses all the hardware for the TV including the projector. Sorley did a fantastic job connecting everything. Now we can watch films on the screen from video, DVD or the TV ... and, more importantly, Match of the Day!!

As you can see, the new room is very comfortable ...

It was great for us to eat (and drink!) with some company and to have someone else cook too. Most nights we ate out in the porch, but on cooler nights we ate in the kitchen.

I think it was this evening that Mum came home from the Walls centre with two pieces of Pavlova she had made. So we had a competition for who would get them. The question was (going back to an interview with David that I had listened to) ... what, who, or where, was Gilgamesh? Ben won (by a good guess). Mum was second by default as while the competition was going on she had been quietly eating the second piece anyway!!

It was a great ten days and we finished off by discussing with Richard where we might erect a cabin/chalet ... exciting times lie ahead.

Visitors and Furnishings continued ...

2007-06-28T09:12:00.001Z

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

2007-06-28T08:39:00.000Z

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

2007-06-14T15:23:00.000Z

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.

Peat and Extension

2007-05-20T13:37:00.000Z

I have discovered that if one tries to add further pictures (while writing the blog) to correct earlier errors, they appear at the beginning and not at the end as intended ... so this blog is kinda topsy-turvy, you will find.

In this first picture looking out of the new extension you will see the slot in the ceiling, above the door into the kitchen, where the film screen is going to go. You may also notice just how muck bruck I will have to clear up outside.

Well, you will see that I have not quite got the hang of removing one of two copies of the same picture! Nor have I found how to move pictures around once they are posted. Any advice welcomed.

At last the extension is getting near completion. All Archie, Andrew and David have to do now is to finish the woodwork (around windows/doors etc). Hopefully that will get done this coming week so that I can get in to seal the concrete, then paint, then get the book shelves up before the carpet arrives on the 12th June.

The yard is looking really good ... note the wall rising in the background, very slowly. I will have to face up the bootom of the slope where it meets the concrete flags with a low stone wall, then I will fill it in behind and grass it over ... that's the plan!

It was a lovely atmospheric day with bright sunshine and dark clouds ... thought you would like it. Plenty of sightings of the otters, though they are not popular with the Symmonds up the road as they have been seen walking off with their ducks. Alas though, no terns even attempting to nest on the skerry this year, we miss their crying. We do have a rather silly oystercatcher who has nested on top of one of the walls ... I hope the youngsters will be able to jump down safely when the time comes.
Managed to get our peats cut before the end of April and last week got them raised to dry. There is only one other (insane) peat cutter in Sandness now ... the rest of the population is much more sensible. Still, I get a lot of satisfaction and a bit of exercise.

This is a stereo (!) picture of the extension from the doorway into the kitchen, there is slate under and behind the stove. David finished cementing the doorway at the end of the week and I spent a couple of hours on Saturday morning cleaning every surface, including all the cups and dishes and pots and pans to get rid of the cement dust.

Dammit, I seem to have done it again! Help!

At the end of the month (31st), I have been invited to the opening of the New Shetland Museum. I believe Charles and Camilla are going to be there too. I will need to put on my suit again ... last time was for Jamie and Helen, but that depends on the weather ... I may have to wear keeperwear and boots ... which may just give me an introduction to C&M ... thinks, better take along a riding crop too.

Edmondstons' Victorians 60 Degrees North ms now back with the Shetland Times and planned to be out by the end of June ... when an editor tells you the 'end' of June, that means the beginning of July earliest. Still waiting to hear if Chapman and/or Dark Horse are going to take any poetry. Oh, and still waiting for other blogs to be updated.

April 2007

2007-04-29T20:08:00.000Z

When we left for NZ I put some tulip bulbs in pots and left them in te most sheltered part of the garden. When we came back they were up and almost out. Somehow they had survived a 100 mph gale a couple of weeks before we got home, one of the worst apparently for several years. Glad I didn't know before! No damage done done to M Bousta but the Pedleys' road badly torn up. I tied up the tulips just in case after we got back and here's Mum enjoying them yesterday in the sun! Beth, I just pack them in at several levels into a pot to get a mixture, seems to work!

The weather has been sunny and dry for the last few days and promises to continue that way, though it is kinda cool. Anyway, made a start on the new wall ... can you see it among the debris in the middle? It will be 80cm wide and, it is my intention, 2m tall. There are some really big stones so it will be a slow job, but very satisfying!

We were sitting out in the garden again this early evening with a glass of wine. It was really warm sheltered in the garden and we were watching the twite (wee finches a bit like sparrows but not so domesticated) feeding on the seed we had scattered on the grass ... bit like watching budgies ... and listening to the curlews and oystercatchers, when a car pulled in. I thought it was going to be another prospective councillor on the hustings (election for MSP and local councillors on Thursday), we've altready had two, but when the gate opened it was the familiar, but slightly older figure, of Callan Duck! Sorry my shadow got into the picture!

He works on Seals from St Andrews and was up doing a quick survey ... harbour seals (as we have at Bousta) have fallen by over 50% in Orkney and up to 40% in parts of Shetland ... though they have not fallen around us. They don't know why but are looking for places and people to carry out weekly counts through the summer ... so I have volunteered. We had a great chat, you can imagine, about Rum and he was fascinated (and jealous) to hear where you all were ... sent his kindest regards ... told me he still wears the kilt he had when he was 14 but was down to the last button round the waist!

Still waiting for the proofs of Victorians Sixty Degrees North and heard that I got a good review for A Dream of Silver in the Scots Magazine ... that'll boost sales ... hmm, appropriately, listening to Thomas Fraser singing Somewhere over the Rainbow!

Mum enjoying her second day at the Centre, is always asking me when will be the next day she'll be going. Actually, it is tomorrow and if the weather is as good as today I will go up to the peat bank and start cutting, aching muscles relieved by the song of the skylark!

March Visit to NZ

2007-04-08T08:48:00.000Z

After a rather long delay in Auckland we arrived at Sorley's about 9pm, 48 hours after leaving Nick and Beth's. Surprisingly, we slept well and set off with Sorley for Cullen the next day. Over the week, three trips to Betty's house (one with Sorley and the gardeners' van) and helping Elizabeth, Nigel, Louisa, Tim and Karen, we almost emptied the house. It was very difficult to know what to do with all the material Betty had gathered. I have taken the family (historical) photos (one suitcase and one large box) which I will eventually scan and, Sorley suggests, put on a website. Sorley has taken 4 large boxes of Betty's papers (writings etc) for Jamie and Tim. Nigel is taking the films and I will ontact the Museum of Scotland to see if they will take them. I have also taken some Shetland films which I will give to the Museum here. The slides and negatives alas we have ditched. There were hundreds, if not thousands, of them, many not good and many not labelled. I looked around for things people might want, but not much really. However, I have taken all the books with family signatures (Betty's, my father's, grandparents etc. When anybody is home they are welcome to look at them and take any that are of interest. Betty kept everything and there are many letters (copies she kept) to institutions, domestic services, banks, papers etc etc, complaining about something at great length! The best (?!) were dozens of missives and replies to and from the Readers Digest re Prizes she had won (just reply and your lucky number will be yours type of thing). Her replies were along the line of ... 'I'm just an old widow living on my own, though I have written 5 books etc etc, and I can't afford the time or money answeing your questions ... please just send the money'! Sorley and I made two journeys with the van fully loaded to the tip and swept the garden path clear, while the others painted the living room and hall, and Nigel some of the outside. Very sad to see Betty's home reduced to a few pieces of furniture but I think we have kept what will live on.

We had a great holiday in NZ with Beth and Nick and Jamie and Helen briefly. Molly is such fun and a real challenge! Madeleine is just as perfect as you would wish a baby to be. I had great games with Molly in the garden, usually recovering dolls flung over the fence after a long lead up with a Molly monologue along the lines of ' ... oh, poor Dora ... she's lost ... poor Dora ...', then wham (!) she's over the fence and Molly is crying for her. She had her birthday party when we were there and at times it was obviously just too much for her. See below! Molly also took to Thomas Fraser and demanded I took her up to dance each time, usually accompanied by half a dozen favourite dolls ... kinda exhausting but fun.

Madeleine was just beginning to take an interest in all around her, especially Molly.

We had a very brief week with Jamie and Helen which was lovely. Can't remember another 2 hours I had Jamie to myself (when he took me down the river), which was great. We ate out a lot ... well, it only cost us 1/3 of what it would here!

Lastly, we had the week with Sorley. He was on holiday and it was really good to be with him so much. The weather too was fantastic, frosty mornings and then calm sunny days with the temp sometimes nearly reaching 20! It's all spring in Aberdeen, daffodils everywhere, cherry blossom, lambs and everything green and fresh. We made plans for the 'chalet' we intend to put up at Bousta, hopefully by 2010. Ben was fun (even though he beat me at cribbage and pontoon), even took my hand walking across the carpark to the pub where we had a meal, that is until he suddenly realised what he was doing! Ella is a bundle of fun, sometimes puzzled as to where Ben has gone!

Not far away!

After finishing the job at Cullen, Mum and I had morning coffee with Douglas ... the chairs he makes are amazing. We swapped NZ stories ... especially about food, wine and walks! Then we spent a night with N&M in Edinburgh and saw Jim, looking well. On the way back to Aberdeen we stopped at Dollar and had lunch with Dorothy (who already has a Mary Gibbon picture on her wall!). We spent much of the time swapping info about Jamie and Helen, adding it all together and surmising ... won't tell you what! She looked well and it was good to catch up with her again. maybe when we have the 'chalet' up we will be able to show her Shetland. We left with what I thought was plenty of time to get to Aberdeen for the boat at 7pm. But, I forgot it was the Easter Weekend and the Tescos at Perth was like Hampden at a Cup Final and then we hit Dundee at rush-hour ... after pushing the wee car beyond the normal limits, we just arrived about 6.30 and were the second last car on! How I enjoyed my half pint in the bar!

Back in Shetland the temp is half what it was in Aberdeen, daffodils just out, but just how we like it. Mum relieved to be back where she knows where everything is (and me). No progress on extension except that the insulation and slate for the stove base have arrived! Lots of mail, mostly junk, but one poetry mag has taken 3 poems and another (Chapman, the doyen of Scottish based poetry mags) has asked if I would alter one (Wheelbarrow) and resubmit it ... hhmmm.

Luckily, from scrappy notes, Jamie's instructions for doing the blog are still readable and I haven't forgotten my password ... so here you are.

Now, with the washing done (hoovering to come) and a coffee at hand, we are settled down to listen to, guess who ... Thomas Fraser!

Rangitata

2007-03-17T21:16:00.000Z

Jamie says this is a class V ... hmmmm. It was great whatever. We went on a two hour float and rapid down the Rangitata ... I believe him now when he says he is a whitewater rafter. It was a lovely day on the edge of the mountains. Helen took Mum by car to meet us and took the photos.

I think that I resemble a rather elderly Oor Wullie here.

If you look closely there are two of us here working in perfect harmony.

Later, we went back up the river where the put in is for the clients. Away in the background are the mountains where Jamie and Helen want to walk when they go to stay in Peel Forest in a couple of weeks.

Having a great time!

Christchurch

2007-03-17T05:52:00.000Z

My first blog words and pictures (with the minimum of assistance). Mum and I by Jamie having lunch at New Brighton (Christchurch). Had a wet day driving up from Dunedin but has continued fine since ... the next blog will be today's trip to the Rangitata ... you can't wait, I know!

This is job-hunting online, demands the maxim concentration.

This is one of John Irvine's paintings (circa 1865). It is supposed to be someone called Hume, but I think it may actually be Mr D'Arcy!

Having a lovely time with Jamie and Helen, sadly leaving tomorrow, but, on the other hand, will be back with Beth, Nick, Molly and Madeleine for almost a fortnight.

Madeleine

2007-03-16T02:04:00.000Z

These pictures are of Madeleine.

New Zealand rafting

2007-03-16T01:50:00.000Z

Tomorrow Jamie is taking me rafting on the Rangitata river in Peel Forest. He's asked me to walk around the two biggest rapids, and after seeing this picture, I have agreed!

More time for snoozing...

2007-03-16T01:37:00.000Z

Jamie here.

This blog, at my father's request, has been setup to keep the ever expanding Johnston clan in the know as to what exactly is going on at Muckle Bousta and beyond.

What is that sheep up to? We're all very curious.

This blog will provide us anxious readers with the morsels we require, while simultaneously allowing Laughton more much-needed nap time, and giving Patricia a respite from the tap-tapping of the keyboard. No more resending of emails.