Autumn gales...

To be fair, it was only the one gale and it didn't stay too long!  But for a couple of days we have VERY changeable weather.Sunshine, showers and wind.....

The Hamnavoe Ferry which sails from Scrabster on the North coast of Scotland is pictured here on it's usual route via Hoy. However during the gale it sailed up Scapa Flow as it was more sheltered.

And the rain came too.....

I now have some sheep in my field behind the house.  These belong to a neighbour.  The brown ones are crossed with Jacob sheep.  These are this season's lambs which will be sold onto another farmer to "bring them on" before they go for - er - eating.... I don't like thinking about that bit but I DO eat meat so I shouldn't really be so squeamish.  And at least these lambs have had a good life on Gramesay for the summer.

Large clouds over Stromness on the Orkney Mainland.

And the sun is out for a while.... I love the bright colours after a shower of rain

The grass in front of the house is getting quite long, but it's not been dry enough for me to get my tractor mower out.  The hens just love wandering among the grass, nibbling bits of it and scratching around for any insects or worms.

If you look closely at the front of the house you can see a diagonal line running from the window above the door to just below the window to the right of the bench.  That's where the old stone staircase used to be.  It disappeared long before I lived here. But originally the house was split into two "flats", with one family living upstairs and one downstairs. Both with their own entrance.  Quite unusual for an island property which were usually small croft houses.

More interesting clouds over the Orkney Mainland - this time looking towards Orphir, behind the Hoy High lighthouse.

More sheep were added to the field during the week.  I like having sheep in the field, they are usually quiet (so don't disturb my sleep! Apart from lambing time), and make the the place feel part of a farm again (the house was one of the main farmhouses on the island at one time).

And here you can see the sweep of Sandside bay. The island road runs quite close to the shore so on stormy days drivers have to watch for waves crashing over.

And down at the main Graemsay pier were some seals taking a break......

These are grey seals and are often seen around the shore on Graemsay

And here is our ferry coming into the pier - it had engine problems a couple of weeks ago and we had to have some interim boats (a pilot boat among others) and a small ferry drafted in from another island for a few days.  We were all glad to see our own wee ferry return though.