The island Christmas Party

Friday night, despite it being a bit breezy (um - quite windy) the "Children's Christmas Party" went ahead. It is one of my favourite island events. The children come along in their party gear as do some of the adults (no it was NOT an outing for my red shoes - I needed to run races.....).  Folk brought along some food for the supper and, of course, Santa put in an appearance.

I love the way everyone on the island will come along to a party AND take part enthusiastically in fun party games to make it a good night for the children.  Above is musical arms - rather like musical  chairs but with - well - arms!  It dates from a time when the hall only had benches, no chairs, so people were needed instead.

The tall folk have to get down to the level of the wee folk!

And then there's the fish game - you use a newspaper to "flap" the fish to the end of the hall and the first one wins....  Er..... no these are not Ninja children!  Just wrong speed for my camera ;-)

This is how it SHOULD look

And of course there is pass the parcel

And a big brother must make sure a wee sister has got ALL the sweeties out before passing on...

Then it's time for Santa ......

And one is never too old for Santa!

Then it's time to play with the toys....

While the adults tuck into the supper...... of course I was first in line for Cake! Especially this delicious sponge made by Sandra

Survived that gale....

All is well after a windy night. The wind dropped to almost nothing this afternoon but is getting up again now. Currently it's measuring 30mph locally with 40mph gusts. It's from a different direction which is noisier in the house so I notice it more.  But a few jobs done while there was a lull, including a neighbour pumping the heating oil into my tank for me. So now, as long as the power stays on I'll stay nice and warm at least!

In Orkney there was flooding on some roads on the Mainland and many fields look waterlogged too. The TV transmitter went off air for a while today but I think it's back again now. Thankfully the radio stayed on - that's what I listen to during the day. The TV is for a relaxing hour or so in the evening and I have enough DVDs and recorded programmes to keep me going for a good while!

There are still delays to the ferries and I really feel for folk trying to get home or on holiday in this weather. But hopefully tomorrow will be quieter and ferries will be back to normal before Christmas.......

In this weather there is nothing for it but to get on with a bit of baking. Time for some home baked mince pies with a nice cup of tea!  Very tasty though I say so myself - adding fresh fruit and zest to the shop-bought mincemeat. Yum...  The pasty came out well too which was amazing considering I haven't made any for over 25 years!

Windy Days!

The UK is being battered by bad weather again. Much of  England is suffering from torrential rain on already rain soaked earth resulting in yet more floods. In North East Scotland, Orkney and Shetland we have gales. In fact we have had gales since Thursday AND been without a ferry since then too! This is partly due to "staff sickness" of the crew and weather. It looks like this will continue till Monday when the wind abates.

However Famine was averted by the Harbour Pilot Boat, John Rae (pictured above, photo taken by Mick Braddock) which visited the island on Friday bringing supplies from the town. Phew! I was doing OK as I am reasonably well stocked up and can probably survive to March with what I have stashed!! But others had been planning on shopping for the Christmas festivities at the end of the week so supplies were welcome. We hadn't had post either as it couldn't be shipped over, so the pilot boat brought that too. Lots of Christmas cards and parcels to keep everyone happy.

As I say I keep my freezer well stocked. I freeze bread (and keep a supply of flour to make bread too); milk (low fat milk freezes OK), butter, meat, home cooked meals and vegetables. I have plenty of pasta, pulses and rice in the store cupboard and tins of food too. I even have a yogurt maker (using a powdered formula) to have fresh yogurt.  Of course there is always the opportunity to make soup too which is always very comforting.

My old camping lantern failed last power cut so I have ordered a new one but that is yet to arrive. I've plenty of torches (I prefer these to candles though I have those too) and just hope the power lasts so I have heating and light!

I feel sorry for folk travelling to and from Orkney for the Christmas break. The main ferries to and from the Scottish Mainland are disrupted too. Shetland has one life-line ferry service and that has failed to sail since Wednesday so Tesco hired some Hercules aircraft and shipped a load of food into the supermarket there.

Meanwhile in Orkney the Churchill Barriers, which link the islands of Burray and South Ronaldsay are suffering from the high tides and are being shut at periods of extreme tide and wind. This means folk have been stranded either side as the Police have to shut the road access for safety.

All in all a difficult time for most folk.  The wind is increasing as I type and is due to get up to about 60mph later on about midnight and continue into tomorrow. It's hoped it will drop after mid-day. I've been out and fed the hens with extra rations, and Charlie in the Barn too has had lots of food and now we just have to hope for the best.

Of course Button is trying to sleep through it all, though is getting a little bored - sigh.. She woke me at 6am today as I'd blocked off the cat flap for safety. She was desperate to go out and made a dash for the relative shelter of the garden.  Of course I sat up till she was ready to come in....  I have a litter tray in the porch for her but she's too fussy to use that and will make a dash for it in most weathers.  Um.... tonight could be interesting!

Here's the weather for today..... The dark red is over Orkney & Shetland!

Winter Solstice....

We seem to have survived the Apocalypse forecast by the Mayans..... I did leave out some carrots for the horses of the four horesmen just in case, but carrots were still there this morning so I'm guessing they didn't come!

Anyway it's the Winter Solstice - my favourite day in Winter as it's the shortest day and slowly but slowly the light will begin to return and we are on our way to SPRING!  Whooooo Hoo!!!!

I'll share with you an old YouTube video shot in December 2010 of the Winter Solstice. I've shared it before but it is worth repeating. It shows the sun setting behind the Hoy Hills and the moon rising above Stromness.

Enjoy! (And apologies to those of you who have trouble view video....sigh).

An evening of stories.......

Saturday was a busy day.  After Santa had departed it was time for me to get ready for some guests who were arriving on the 4pm boat for an evening of storytelling.  Tom Muir, Orcadian storyteller and Fran Flett Holinrake, also a weaver of stories, were out on Graemsay to tell some tales.  Both are instrumental in the Orkney Storytelling Festival which as been running for the last three years. Folk on Graemsay aren't able to get to the events because of ferry schedules so they brought a bit of the festival to us!

All those on the island that were fit and able came along to listen.  The Christmas elves had decorated the hall earlier in the day (we have some tall elves on the island!) so all was looking festive. Folk brought along something for the supper, while I stood in the kitchen over a cauldron of mulled wine!

Tom treated us to some of the old Orkney stories, including Assie Pattle and the Stoor worm. All the children, young and very old, were held in his spell. There were more tales to tell, including scary ones about trows and true stories that took your emotions for a ride.

Fran gave us stories about her Orkney "ancestors" and a wonderful dramatic tale on how the cat and mouse got to be enemies. That had a few of us jumping out of our chairs!

Everyone had a great time and were pleased when Tom & Fran said they'd like to come back again. That would be great!  I love hearing stories. I'm a fan of "audio books" - there is just something about hearing a voice telling a story. Tom and Fran, together with others in Orkney are doing much to keep the story-telling tradition alive.  If you want to hear Tom telling a story click on this link HERE and scroll the the bottom of the page and click on the audio version. (I couldn't get the video link to work and it might take up a lot of bandwidth).  Make a cup of tea or coffee and spend a few minutes hearing Tom tell a Selkie (seal) story in his lovely rich Orcadian accent.

Also in the visiting party was Andrew Hollinrake, an archeologist with a particular interest in WWII "stuff". He was keen to visit the Hoy Low WWII gun battery remains. I'll post some more about that in the next post....

Santa comes to Graemsay

Saturday started off a busy weekend with the Graemsay "elves" decorating the hall for Christmas with lights, glittery chains and of course a Christmas Tree. We were having an evening of stories in the hall, but I'll leave that for another post.

After we had stuck up as many paper chains as we could it was time to head down to the pier for the arrival of Santa! He came over with some of his elves to give the children on the island some early Chrismas presents.

The elves looked a little cold but gave us a rousing chorus of Jingle Bells, with some of the island folk joining in enthusiastically too.

A wee boy happy to collect his present from Santa

A wee girl very happy with her present

Santa could only stay a little while as the children in Stromness were waiting for him too but it was nice to see him.  He'd left his reindeer at the North Pole as they need to save their energy for Christmas Eve, so he came along on the MV Graemsay instead!

A trip to the town....

Wednesday I was off to Kirkwall on the Orkney Mainland to do some last minute Christmas shopping and also to meet up with friends for lunch. It was a cold day but no frost, no wind and very little rain - so not a bad day really then!

Above you can see the sun catching the tower on St Magnus Cathedral. The building really dominates the town... in a good way

It has lots of lovely detail but I didn't have time on this visit to capture much. This is one of the side doors

The Christmas tree is well tethered down!  It's a simple tree with white lights on at night.  The fence around it is to protect the tree from the pack at the annual "Ba" game (a game of street football).

Two halberdiers guard the door to the town hall

While the shop windows are decorated ready for Christmas

Fortunately there isn't the crush or mad rush in the town at Christmas as there is in larger towns further South.  Though on a visit to Tesco (maybe the 21st Century Cathedral to Mammon) I did very unusually have to queue at a checkout!

I got back to Stromness in plenty of time for the boat home so popped into the Pier Arts Centre to take a look at the Christmas Exhibition. Anyone in Orkney can submit work to this exhibition, which fills three large rooms. Other craft shops in the town also exhibit art-work so at the moment Stromness is full of art! These two photos were taken in the abstract art gallery (I have to say I do like abstract art).

There were lots of paintings of more representational art too in another gallery but I was running out of time and it was hard to get angles and photos. However I did take a quick snap of this wonderful Viking boat!

Then it was a quick walk along the street to the pier, the boat and home.  Stromness has a Christmas tree too, and some street lights.  But Orkney doesn't go in for large light displays (apart from the natural spectacle of the Northern Lights!), it's much more understated. Probably as a result of it's Presbyterian roots!