A mist bow.....

...well technically I think it is a fog bow..... but very pretty! (click photo to enlarge). This one was right outside my back door yesterday. Beautiful!

The mist had an ethereal quality to it .....

A time of mist....

....or the mists of time...? Gorgeous day yesterday, warmer than it has been for many months, despite the mist that drifted over the landscape.  Beautiful - though it disrupted plane schedules, though largely because other parts of the UK were affected too, having a knock on effect.  Meanwhile I could stand at the front door with a cup of tea in hand and just watch the ethereal beauty of the landscape.

Later the sunset was even more magical.

I expected a Unicorn to come walking towards me out of the mist....

A glorious sunset!

Sunday was a glorious day. A taste of Spring to come maybe? The sun shone, oystercatchers were singing (another sign of Spring) and the sun set a little further on it's route to the height of summer. Sunset today was at 1705.  Such a change from 1505 in mid-winter!

So I thought I'd share some pictures of the beautiful sunset. May it be the first of many this Spring! (OK it's not "quite" Spring yet, but we can imagine).

I love the way the sun warms the colour of the stone on the house....

And the colours got deeper as the sun sunk lower

Ah yes, I can feel the promise of Spring in the warmth of the sun :-)

Maybe .... it's Spring???!

Shhhh .... perhaps we should whisper that??  But today it was mild, the sun shone (between the showers), the birds were singing (starlings and oystercatchers), and the trees are getting buds and the bulbs pushing up through the ground.....

So of course Button insisted we took a walk on the beach. I'm not exaggerating ..she stands at the door and meows and won't go out, then I put my boots and coat on and she's at the door meowing and trots out waiting for me to follow.  Sometimes I think she's a dog!! (oooh she'll get me for that comment!).

We started out heading for the sandy beach, but the dunes got a lot of damage from the storm tide and I decided it wasn't safe to try and scramble down the shifting sand. Button, of course scampered down calling for me to follow. Oh were I as nimble as a cat!  Lots of tangles on the shore (Orkney word for Kelp seaweed).

So we retreated and went back to our favourite walk on the shell beach. Um... I thought cats weren't supposed to LIKE water??

Lots of shells still on the beach

And I love watching the seaweed gently swaying as the waves lap the shore. How did this survive the storm?? So delicate but so strong....

I love watching and listening to the waves.... (hmmm speck of dust on the lens there...)

And then walking back, we saw some daffodils struggling up among a pile of sand blown by the gales. They might think they are somewhere tropical!  Well once they stick their heads up a bit further the weather will disabuse them of THAT!

But in the shelter of the dyke (wall) and the shrubs, these daffodils are fairly coming on....

Meanwhile the chooks have come to greet us and ask for news of...food ....of course!

It's graupelling....

Yes, I did say graupelling.... no I'd never heard of it before either..... but apparently that is what it was doing on Wednesday.... horizontal graupelling even..... um... that's soft hail or snow pellets, in case you were wondering. Take a look here for the explanation.....

It stuck onto the side of things - only the side of this car was covered!! This was Irene delivering some laundry to me. My washing machine has been behaving improperly so she kindly put some laundry through her machine. What a friend to deliver clean washing in a blizzard!! Actually she was on her way down to the post office at the Lighthouse where she is Deputy Post-Mistress on a Wednesday. Um... she didn't get any customers....

The graupel stuck to the side of the windows in thick sheets of ice.

Which then broke off in chunks.... at the Lighthouse it was falling from the tower in huge chunks apparently, making it hazardous to go outdoors.

And then the next day....sunshine again!! This photo was taken by a friend out walking in Orphir, looking back to the hills of Hoy.

After the storm....

Finally, after days of wind and rain and a busy few days with visitors, I managed to get to the beach to see what the waves had done to the shore.

First I walked past my neighbour's "allotment" outside my garden wall - this sand was blown there by the storm force winds!

The land around the top of the old stone pier has been gouged out by the waves too

Button was in search of her pea-green-rimmed boat.....

Sadly it had been smashed to bits.  Don't worry - it wasn't sea-worthy anyway!! Well it certainly isn't now!

Bits of it are scattered along the shore....

The old burned hull was still there though!

Sunday was a particularly low tide and it was possible to walk right along the channel cleared by storm tides. I felt I might even be able to walk right over to Stromness!

I've not usually walked this far out before!

Meanwhile Button wanted to get on with hunting...

So we set off along the beach....

You can see where the seaweed is in a tide line above... (Button must be hunting mice!).

Here you can see the coastal erosion is worsening! This old ruin is definitely teetering on the edge!

Meanwhile the sea is flat calm for a change. Oh for it to stay that way for a wee while. I might believe Spring is on the way then...

An island funeral.....

Today was the funeral of John Procter of Windywalls. He and his family had lived on the island for the last 18 years, having moved up from Lancashire to farm on the island. John had been ill for some time, nursed at home by his wife, Mary. Sadly his health deteriorated at the end of January and he was air-lifted in the air ambulance to the hospital in Kirkwall where he died a few days later at the age of 71.

Family and friends had arrived from south and were staying at various homes on the island and joined the community in paying their last respects to John - Big John as he was known on the island as he was so tall and Big!

The day had started with a fairly strong wind and sleet showers, but this gave way to a bright, if cold day. The mid-morning ferry left Stromness, taking John on his last voyage home. The ferry went to Hoy and picked up a few folk from that island and then arrived at Graemsay. The men folk were at the pier to receive the coffin, and, appropriately for a farmer, the coffin was put on the back of a four-wheel drive truck to go to the service in the community hall. (Can't get a hearse onto the island).

Those of us with vehicles were at the pier to take the visiting mourners up to the hall too. Some musicians from Hoy, who are now good friends of Graemsay, came over to provide music during and after the service.  Fran Gray played a tune on the keyboard she had composed for John & Mary's Ruby wedding called, naturally, "John & Mary".  The Church of Scotland lay minister came from Stromness to conduct the service and spoke some words about John. Hymns were sung and prayers were said.  Then the cortège set off round the island, taking John past his farm and on down to the Kirkyard.

The kirkyard is on the shore and looks over to the Hoy hills, it's a beautiful, reflective place to be and a beautiful last resting spot.

I stayed in the Hall to help set out the buffet which had been prepared by folk on the island. There were pots of soup to be warmed, sandwiches, savouries and cakes to be put out, the drinks (plenty of Whisky at a Scottish funeral) to be prepared for when folk returned.

The family wanted to celebrate John's life and so there was music provided by Fran, John & Leslye Budge and young Sam, all from Hoy.  Accordion's, bodhran and keyboard together with John Budge's mellow singing voice provided a lightening of the mood, and later the family and old friends of "BigJohn" sat around for a blether (chat), with lots of tea, coffee and whisky as an accompaniment.

Then it was time to get folk gathered to return to the pier and home again, and we returned to the hall to join in with the family and old friends.  The consensus was we gave "Big John" a good send off....