Mum at home

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

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

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!

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Power Cut

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

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

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

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

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