Happy New Year!

Yesterday the weather was cold, wet and windy but I still made it over to Stromness for lunch with friends. A lovely way to end 2013.  Then last night it was up to the farm where A. and C. were hosting the Hogmanay party.  All the folk on the island that were fit and well, plus their visitors, were gathered for Midnight and wishing each other a Happy New Year.  Lots of lovely food (mince, clapshot, plus a lovely buffet, mulled wine and lots of other alcohol) made for a lovely evening.  I'm not a night owl these days so headed for home at 12.30 while the party was still in full swing.

Today I did one of my favourite things - headed to the beaches with Button.  It's been a glorious day, chilly, with a light breeze, but brilliant sunshine.  So do join me on my new year walk!

The beach is strewn with tangles and seaweed from the recent storms....

And oystercatcher's were feeding among the seaweed and along the shoreline.

I love the sun glinting on the wet sand....

This old pier was built around 1860 when the lighthouses were built - it was used to bring the stone for the lighthouses over from the Point of Ness in Stromness.The old buildings are part of the "steading" of Sandside (farm buildings) which were once homes too - low croft houses.

Button is not too keen on wet paws....

And eventually sits somewhere dry and waits....

Meanwhile I was fascinated watched the gentle ripples on the shore - so different to the crashing waves during the storms....

See "home" is quite close to the shore..... did I mention I live next door to a lighthouse? ;-)

Then it's a scramble up the dunes to head to the shell beach.... Um... Button has to wait patiently while I scramble up - she, of course, just needed two bounds to get to the top.....sigh....

The old steading..... note to self to take more pix of these lovely old buildings.....

And onto the shell beach..... Button not caring about the finer points of "artistic" photography and gets in every shot....

The old pier wears the seaweed like a skirt....

It hangs on through all the little crevices....

An artistic shot of an old winch.... had to edit Button out of this one too!

Lots of shells strewn across the beach!

And then back to the house for tea and cake..... meanwhile the hens are having a dust bath just outside the garden!

Happy New Year to everyone and may 2014 turn out to be one of the best for us all!  I'll leave you with a short video taken down at the shore this afternoon, with the sound of the gentle waves, the breeze, a curlew and a grumpy Button meowing because I'm taking too much time doing "arty" stuff *again*!