October days....

Hoy Hills at Sunrise

Well this week was busy!!  Work, first aid course, speaking to a newly found cousin as a result of the genealogy trail! And the last couple of days have been beautiful so I found time to do a bit of gardening. Sadly the garden suffered from lack of attention this summer as I was so busy.  So now trying to dig up weeds and clear borders so that we can start again next Spring.....

The days are growing shorter and sunrise is now about 7.30 so I was able to take the above photo of the Hoy Hills in a pink blush. I think it suits them!  The sleeping dragon on the left is still snoozing.....

And the town of Stromness looks so pretty in her morning colours.... the windows are catching the first rays of the sun...

The cattle are still out in the fields. At the moment there is enough grass for them and it has been quite dry. But once the ground gets wet they are taken into the byres to protect the ground.

Amazingly some flowers survived the gale last week - they must have been in the shelter of the dyke (stone wall) as others are blasted to shreds....

I love this flower, it is so delicate - Nigella I think? Battered but still blooming! Bit like myself ;-)

Not sure what these are - pyrethrum in blazing a lone flower in the background.

All the flowers and plants have a battle to survive given the garden is just yards from the shore, so salt spray and sand is blown at them, gales batter them, the hens scratch about them, and I forget to weed them! Poor things!

I love these orange flowers - not sure what they are....a poppy??.... so pretty....

And these lovely delicate red poppies...

Did I mention I live near a lighthouse?? Hoy High bright in the sun here...

I love the variety of seaweed on the shore...

And on the walk back I saw this spider which had bravely spun a web between two cow parsley stalks.  Lots of spiders about at the moment busy spinning webs.  They hide in crevices in the wind and come out once it's calm and start spinning again.....

And just to make the point that I was up at SUNRISE here's another photo (can you tell I'm not a "morning person"?!).