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Monday 28 September 2020

End of September...

 


We have been really lucky with the weather in September, although the days are shorter they have generally been warm, dry and with little wind.  Bliss.  It makes Autumn/Winter more bearable for me when we have had a good long spell of reasonable (for Orkney!) weather.

The ferry sailing into Stromness from the Scottish mainland....


Random hens....




Beautiful skies.....


Hoy High light in the dusk...


Looking over to Stromness....




Sunday 27 September 2020

Sunshine and misty days....

 


Hoy high light with part of the arch of a fog bow...... Below the full fog bow....


I love watching sea mist, the way it drifts in and out.... Hoy High still keeping it's head above the mist


The top of Ward hill just peering above the mist on the left.... I'm standing in the middle of the "main road" on Graemsay....


With the lighthouse disappearing beneath the bottom of the fog blow...


Top of the tower looking all ethereal...


The mist slowly creeping in....


Stromness disappearing....




The mist creeps along the Sound



But earlier in the day it had been too hot for me to work in the garden!  It was glorious.....  Button of course snoozed....  quite how a cat with a thick fur coat can tolerate such heat is beyond me....




And when she got too warm.....


I love calendula....


Seed heads of lovage....


The last of the evening primrose flowers...


Dolores, one of the new hens also enjoying a sunny day...


I love daisies of all kinds....


Remember to take time to smell the flowers.....



Tuesday 22 September 2020

A walk to the shore with Button....

 


It's another grey day but it had been a while since I'd been to the shore with Button.  I'm trying to get out in the fresh air each day while I can!  

Button checking we are not being followed.  She still searches for Charlie.  He was the dominant cat and would chase her or beat her up so she's still wary....





A wander down the pier....



The tide was well out...


Looking over the green fields to Hoy...


We could almost walk to Stromness at low tide! Haha - well not quite but it feels that way.


The cliff would make great sandstone tiles, slates etc..


The old sail shed....


The old hay loft....


"Can we go home now please, I'm bored...."   Sigh..... time for a nap....


And a lovely September sunset in the evening....



Monday 21 September 2020

Bit of a grey day....

 


Sunshine yesterday, but early last week it was grey skies.  Still warm and NO WIND! Oh the joy!  And not too many midges either!  So here are a few random photos...  Above the old lighthouse pier at Sandside at high tide. Looking over to Stromness.....

Creels on top of the lighthouse pier...


Lighthouse pier and the Hoy hills across Sandside bay...


Sandside bay at high tide...


A former pipe fish - related to sea horses, basically a straight sea horse!


Old byres..... these were once lived in as a dwelling house but would then be repurposed as a byre for the cattle.  





In the old houses, shelves would be inset into the wall for jugs of water...


Dolores (black hen) is integrating well into the flock, hanging out with her pals...


One of the hens hasn't been doing her pelvic floor exercises - she randomly drops eggs around!


And I've been checking this nest box all summer - nothing.... I stop checking and one of the hens sneaks in to lay a clutch of eggs!


So a grey day but still good to get out and about