Boats, cows, sunrise and chocolate...

But not all on the same day! Above is the sun rising behind Hoy High lighthouse. This was taken outside the back door - Madam Button had woken me after a night out and I wondered what the glow through the window was. It's so rare I see a sunrise I grabbed my camera and tottered outside in my pyjams to take this photo. Enjoy it - you won't see many sunrises on MY blog!

We've had some sunny days, and it is getting warmer but we've also had quite a lot of grey cloudy day. Bah! Don't like those.  But the garden is getting on with it anyway and here are some of the flowers in bloom, I'm from the "chaotic" gardener school - if it grows it stays....though sadly I've had to slaughter a lot of red campion this year as it got a bit over exuberant.

And through the grey cloud the sun does peak.  This is taken from the conservatory reflecting through this beautiful shell and glass hanging made by my lovely friend P in the USA. Wait till she sees the shells and coral on our beach :-)

I love looking out this window and watching the light play on the sea, clouds scud across the sky, boats going in and out of the harbour, plus birdies sitting on the fence. Lots of swallows around, and this year I've noticed a lot of linnets too. This male linnet was singing to me the other night!

And I mentioned boats...... here are some kayakers from Kirkwall had paddled over from Stromness one evening.  In this photo you can see them coming close to the Graemsay shore near my house, and in the distance you maybe can see some white triangles - the Stromness Sailing Club was out that night too, and all had to navigate round the big ferry the Hamnavoe as it came into harbour for the night!

The sea was flat calm that night and the tide was coming in. They were planning to paddle down to Houton, down the coast after laving Graemsay.

I went and said hallo to them as I'd seen them coming in. |I think I startled them! Poor chaps out for a quiet evening paddle to Graemsay and the wee wifie from Sandside calls by for a chat!  I was telling them there were groatie buckies among the shells (much prized tiny cowrie shells) so I left them searching for some. I'd tole them the story that we tell the children - you can't leave the beach till you've found one!

And I mentioned cows....

Actually they are last year's calves and so are strictly speaking steers and heifers. A neighbouring farmer uses my field for summer grazing so these young stock are in the field for a while.  The first day or two they were very skittish and running about everytime I stuck my head outside the door, the hens wandered about, or poor Button went out for a pee! But they've settled down now, though are still very inquisitive.

And mentioning dear Button. Here she is sunbathing. She'd had a traumatic morning. We both had. It was time for her annual injections and health check at the vet in Stromness. So that meant I had to wake her up and dump her in her box, poor thing, not impressed. Then get the 8.25 ferry to Stromness, and then car ride to Kirkwall (about 25 minutes away)....she swore at me the entire journey!  The vet was happy with her - she'd lost some weight (yay the diet is working!), and appears quite healthy. She had her injections, then I left her to go into the cat kennel for an hour while I dashed round the library, bank, and supermarket, before picking her up again (she'd been sleeping so not too distressed then!) and back for the 12 noon ferry. She's not happy on the boat, quite fretful. So next year I might see if I can get her checked when the vet is out to a local farm. We'll see how that goes. Anyway she's none the worse for it all, and even *I* have recovered now!

And I mentioned chocolate? Well I went over to Hoy where a cafe there is doing evening meals. Beneth'ill Cafe has been open a while but just started on evening meals.  So I met up with a friend who lives on Hoy for an evening out. The meal was delicious, and the dessert was the best - chocolate samosas with cream and strawberries. Yum!  I'll leave you with this......

And if that's a little too rich for you, how about this - honeycomb parfait with shortbread and raspberries! Enjoy!