It is officially Spring!

Yesterday (1st March) was the first day of Spring...whooo hoo! [see note at end]  Er yes - that'll be hail showers then. It was also Dewi Sant (St David's Day) - he is the patron saint of Wales.  I always celebrate as my father was from the Welsh valleys. So a nice mug of tea and some Welsh cakes were in order....

A few daffodils are out in the garden but I didn't have time to photograph those.... and there are new lambs in the field - but they were hiding among the silage bales for shelter so I didn't get a photo of them.  You will have to use your imagination for both! The rest of the "maternity unit" of pregnant ewes are happily tucking into silage. Yes - dark clouds full of hail hovering. Poor sheep and wee lambs!

We still have water coming out of our taps, which is a huge relief.  Work is ongoing to resolve the problem. Scottish Water have been looking at various options and we await their decision. For most of us as long as we continue to have water out of our taps we can be patient.  Bottled water for drinking of course, but that is no hardship compared with last week!

I went for a wander across the other side of the island to see the boat that seems to be permanently over the bit of sub sea pipe that sprang a leak.

There's a mini-digger at the shore too. Though that's not been in use since they discovered the problem was under the sea.

As you can see - quite a stretch between the islands. The sea looks benign today but it can be a treacherous piece of water with strong tides and currents.  Should be interesting if they decide to lay a new pipe!

On my way back home I stopped to take a photo of this ruined croft looking towards Stromness. What a wonderful home that must have been. What a view!!

And back at home, there's a lot of water in the field, the result of a very wet spell of weather!

Note - Actually the OFFICIAL first day of Spring is 21st March.  But in my house it's 1st March, Dewi Sant, because that's how my mum and dad treated it.  The first daffodils would be out in the garden and it always FELT like Spring. And I am always so desperate for it to be Spring (even when I lived South), that I take any indications I can!  But really Spring doesn't start till the Equinox.