And then there was one.....

Poor Jasper got deported from Graemsay today! The Cat Protection people have placed him with his previous fosterer till they find him another home. I did feel guilty putting him into the cage and parting with him, but it's better for all concerned in the long run. He's a very pretty and affectionate cat so I'm sure he will soon find another home, and I wish him a long and happy life!

Button can't quite believe he isn't hiding around the corner ready to pounce on her. She has finally settled on the sofa in the sitting room this afternoon but with one wary eye open for the expected onslaught. No doubt it will take her a few days to get accustomed to her freedom.

While delivering Jasper this morning I took the opportunity to take a look at the Christmas Art Exhibitions at the Pier Arts Centre and the Waterfront Gallery. Both run regular exhibitions of work by local artists inspired by the Orkney landscpae. There were several in both galleries that I really liked. The exhibits included pictures (photographs, other work was in oils or using natural materials), ceramics and "installation" objects. Two pictures that particularly caught my eye were by Tim Wooton and were of birds in the landscape. He really captures the birds in their natural elements. Another local artist I like, Joan Holdsworth, uses sand and paint in glass to represent natural materials or images of the landscape. I have a piece of hers from the exhibition last year, it's of the Hoy Hills, with Graemsay in the foreground - but have yet to hang it on the wall! I need to make sure it's safely anchored and doesn't fall down!

I then had time to have breakfast in Julias Bistro before getting some more groceries and then heading back on the mid-day boat. The wind was already getting up by lunch-time. Some folk were shipping lambs to the mart today and at one point I thought they might make *me* go up the sheep-run onto the pier, but thankfully the boat moved round to the steps so I could get off with my shopping with ease - although the wind was quite strong up the pier and it took my breath away. Now I'm nice and snug indoors and yet another gale is raging outside - it's obviously going to be a loooong winter - sigh.

Beach Art

A friend took this photo of some “art” along the shore just outside Stromness yesterday. Click on the photo and you can see a larger image – the legend on top of the box reads “The end of a summer romance”.

I just love the unexpectedness of walks along a shore. You never know what you may come across with flotsam and jetsam being washed up, or folk making their own art exhibits.

On the beach near Skara Brae (a Neolithic village now managed by Historic Scotland) the beach is often adorned with modern day attempts at the stone houses, or at stone circles.

I love picking up driftwood, stones and shells along the shoreline and place them on windowsills and bookcases in my house. Throughout the Spring and Summer each year I return finds from previous years to the shore and replace them with new ones.

The beaches on Graemsay are all different, the beach at Sandside Bay is sandy with shingle. Depending on winter gales and spring and autumn tides sometimes it’s sand scattered with shingle and sometimes it’s more shingle with a sprinkling of sand. I love looking at the patterns the tide has made, or arrangements of stones shimmering in the water.

On the other side of the old Sandside Pier is a “shell beach” scattered with cold-water coral (merle) and shells. It fascinates me as both beaches are separated by the pier and yet the sandy beach rarely has any shells upon it. It almost seems as though there are traffic cops under the sea directing sand to the left and shells to the right!

Each day the tide brings new finds, sometimes it’s ship buoys, last year we had a dead whale washed up – unfortunately none of the authorities would dispose of it so we had to wait some weeks before it decomposed and got washed out to sea again!

On the beach near the Hoy Low Lighthouse fragments of crockery are washed up from the wreck of the “Albion”. This ship was wrecked in 1866 to the West of Graemsay. It was carrying emigrants and a cargo of pottery from Liverpool in England to America. A Graemsay man, Joseph Mowat, lost his life trying to rescue survivors, and is buried in the Graemsay Kirkyard.

The pottery that washes up on the Point of Oxan beach at Hoy Low varies from glazed fragments, to unglazed “fruit” – tiny lemons, oranges and the like that would have adorned (one presumes) the lids of tureens as part of a grand dinner service.

So I just love wandering along the shore line to see what each day brings!