More adventures with cats.....

Had problems uploading to my blog so haven't updated for a few days. Anyway have had further adventures with the new cats - including losing Jasper for two days! Well I knew where he was - he was in the byre among the hay but chose not to come home in time for tea, then the weather blew up into a Force 9 Gale and he sensibly stayed put in the barn. I found him this morning, none the worse for his adventure, though very hungry! He is now snoozing downstairs.

Button was disappointed to see him reappear as she had enjoyed having the place to herself. Last week Jasper went from stalking her to attacking. As soon as he sees her he runs up to her and a full scale battle ensues. It's very tiresome and doesn't seem to be getting any better. So I have to keep separating them so I can get on with work, life etc!

Friday night I was over in Stromness at the Film Club - watching "The Scent Of Green Papayas". It had won several awards - a Vietnamese film (think it was a french film crew), very gentle story, beautifully filmed, stunning photography. But somehow it failed to touch me - I just didn't connect with any of the characters and there were several events in the film that just didn't get explained. The ending was so ambiguous that I had to watch the final scenes again when I got back to my friend's house for the night and we ended up surfing the net to try and decipher the meaning! We gave up in the end......

Anyway we had a good turn-out of about 18 folk, which was good going as there were several other "art" events on the same night.

I was also over for physio during the week - the final session. My back feels a lot less painful now so hopefully things are improving. Though I'm supposed to be careful lifting things - not easy when we only have a passenger ferry and everything has to be carried on and off! Still I'm trying to be organised and get shopping sent over from Stromness grocers etc. And folk help, but I hate having to be dependent on others as we all have our own shopping etc to carry.

I've also realised that the dreaded Christmas is round the corner and am trying to get organised. I'm definitely in the "Bah! Humbug!" category. Have never really enjoyed Christmas - though used to enjoy the time off work. We won't get boats for 4 days over the Xmas period so I shall just hibernate! I used to go and visit family but it's rarely weather for travelling so to save hassle I prefer to stay at home and visit family and friends in the summer time!

I've just come back from checking around Sandside to see if there was any damage from the storm force winds last night. The wind and rain were so noisy they woke me up. It has been extremely windy since Friday, but fortunately by mid-day the wind had died down and it has been a reasonably pleasant afternoon - very bright. I meant to go out and take some photos but have been working today - one of the advantages of working from home I can be flexible with my hours. And of course by the time I thought to go out - it got dark!

I've been watching flocks of Lapwings swooping around over the field at the back of Sandside. They are amazing birds and give an amazing airborne display. I also heard geese calling today but didn't see them. I wasn't sure if they were on Graemsay or Hoy. When I stayed at Longhope (south end of Hoy) there were thousands of geese around and someone was employed to shoo (yes that's shoo not shoot!) them off the land - well of course they just moved on to another field! But they do make a mess of the pasture so they were not regarded kindly by the local farmers. A few at a time wouldn't be too bad, but in large numbers they become a problem.

I've got a new recipe for soup so think I shall go and experiment. If it turns out well I'll post the recipe!