British Summer Time begins tomorrow ......

..... and so today we have snow showers...... I do think that whoever dreamed up the title "British Summer Time" for the time when our clocks move forward was maybe being ironic?

But whatever, I shall dance when the clocks go forward (2am tomorrow morning) - OK I'll save my dance for a reasonable time, probably 11am! But I LOVE LOVE LOVE the longer days and the lighter evenings. Although I work from home I still do a fairly conventional working day from 10am to 6pm so it is a joy to have light in the evening to go for a walk or potter outdoors. Or just sit in the conservatory and watch the birds and the waves on the shore.

But as I say..... today we have snow showers and white horses cresting the waves, and with outdoor temperatures lower than I want to think about.

But Spring is definitely here. The photo at the top of the page are the rooks beginning to build nests in the trees in Stromness. The air is filled with their cawing, which at this time of year is several decibels louder than the gulls who usually frequent the harbour area.

Graemsay has no tall trees, lots of short ones and lots of shrubs, but no tall trees. So it is lovely to get off the ferry in the middle of the town and hear the rooks with their Spring calls - though it has to be said they are unpopular with a number of households. They make a real mess with their nesting and droppings in the tightly packed gardens of the town. Some folk have been known to go out with long poles and destroy the nests as they are being built to discourage the rooks. But others rejoice in the return of nests.

The nests are all higgeldy piggeldy and look as though a puff of wind will destroy them, never mind a well aimed pole. However the town around the harbour area is fairly sheltered and leaves are beginning to appear on the trees again, so hopefully that will afford them some protection. (Photo of spring leaves appearing on trees in one of the lanes in town).

The town has different bird cries echoing around during the seasons. During the autumn and winter months you can hear the starlings massing to roost. The summer months the young gulls roam around the piers trying to get scraps of fish or partans (crab) from the boats, or chips or ice cream from the visitors. Spring is the time of the rooks and crows.

For those who are interested in seeing a bit more of Stromness, the local business forum commissioned a video a year or two ago, which is available on YouTube : click on Stromness to see (approx 8 minutes). The narrator has a real Orcadian accent - for those who haven't visited ORkney, you may notice it's very unlike traditional Scottish accents. I think it has the cadence of the Welsh accent - particularly South Wales where my family originally hail from.

Time and Thyme......

Though winter is still with us at least the days are getting longer. Today sunrise was at 08:23 and sunset at 16:29. This compares with 21st December (shortest day) of 09:04 and 15:15. Amazing the difference six weeks makes!

The wind finally dropped this afternoon. Button was getting a little stir crazy! She did come out to feed the hens with me and whizzed around the barns but it was too windy for her to want to stay out long and in she came again. She's been grumping around the house all day. Then this afternoon I did some cooking and discovered that the herb, Thyme, seems to have the same effect on her as catnip! I'd put some in a soup (more of that later) and while sitting having a cup of tea waiting for it to finish cooking, Button came up to say hi - then she went completely bonkers after she'd sniffed my hand - racing around, pouncing on things, yowling, she rolled OFF the sofa TWICE! Well - I'm assuming it WAS Thyme I put into the soup........

Anyway here is a recipe for what I would call a "workaday" mushroom soup. Not an extravagent recipe with cream, just basic ingrediants but ooooooh it is delicious. I adapted the recipe from one I already had and thankfully it turned out OK. So here's the recipe

Mushroom Soup
(makes about 1 and a half pints)

(Different mushrooms will give different flavours so I just use whatever I can get!)

4 cups button mushrooms, peeled and chopped (10 oz)
1 small onion, finely chopped
2 potatoes, peeled and chopped
1 tablespoon olive oil
salt
black pepper
Thyme (fresh or dried)
1 and half pints vegetable stock

Heat oil in a large saucepan and cook the onion gently until transparent.
Add mushrooms and cook until soft but do not brown.
Add the chopped potatoes.
Add the stock and Thyme and allow to simmer for about 30 minutes.
Remove from the heat and seaon.
Blend.
Reheat and serve.

Options: Swap the Thyme for garlic and add with the onion. Or use Parsley instead of Thyme.

If anyone has any soup recipes they want to share then please DO email me!