I know the feeling.....

Button feeling a bit "Mondayish" and realising she has to go out in a gale and heavy rain to have a pee!  She DOES have use of a litter tray, but being a rufty tufty country cat she insists on going out in all weathers!

Anyway I'm joining her with my head in my meataphorical paws - er no *I* use my indoor facilities!! But  I'm way behind answering comments here and I LOVE getting comments.  Apologies - I will reply!  Just life getting in the way of fun stuff - you know how it is.  That and energy following the sun to hide behind the Hoy hills for winter I think......

Another gale due for tomorrow - I may emerge by the end of the week....perhaps......

Autumn gales...

To be fair, it was only the one gale and it didn't stay too long!  But for a couple of days we have VERY changeable weather.Sunshine, showers and wind.....

The Hamnavoe Ferry which sails from Scrabster on the North coast of Scotland is pictured here on it's usual route via Hoy. However during the gale it sailed up Scapa Flow as it was more sheltered.

And the rain came too.....

I now have some sheep in my field behind the house.  These belong to a neighbour.  The brown ones are crossed with Jacob sheep.  These are this season's lambs which will be sold onto another farmer to "bring them on" before they go for - er - eating.... I don't like thinking about that bit but I DO eat meat so I shouldn't really be so squeamish.  And at least these lambs have had a good life on Gramesay for the summer.

Large clouds over Stromness on the Orkney Mainland.

And the sun is out for a while.... I love the bright colours after a shower of rain

The grass in front of the house is getting quite long, but it's not been dry enough for me to get my tractor mower out.  The hens just love wandering among the grass, nibbling bits of it and scratching around for any insects or worms.

If you look closely at the front of the house you can see a diagonal line running from the window above the door to just below the window to the right of the bench.  That's where the old stone staircase used to be.  It disappeared long before I lived here. But originally the house was split into two "flats", with one family living upstairs and one downstairs. Both with their own entrance.  Quite unusual for an island property which were usually small croft houses.

More interesting clouds over the Orkney Mainland - this time looking towards Orphir, behind the Hoy High lighthouse.

More sheep were added to the field during the week.  I like having sheep in the field, they are usually quiet (so don't disturb my sleep! Apart from lambing time), and make the the place feel part of a farm again (the house was one of the main farmhouses on the island at one time).

And here you can see the sweep of Sandside bay. The island road runs quite close to the shore so on stormy days drivers have to watch for waves crashing over.

And down at the main Graemsay pier were some seals taking a break......

These are grey seals and are often seen around the shore on Graemsay

And here is our ferry coming into the pier - it had engine problems a couple of weeks ago and we had to have some interim boats (a pilot boat among others) and a small ferry drafted in from another island for a few days.  We were all glad to see our own wee ferry return though.

Short videos of Orkney (and Scotland)

For those of you unfamiliar with Orkney (or indeed Scotland), here are some short videos.

The group of three share some similar scenes but focus on different aspects of Orkney

This one is about living and working in Orkney (about 12 minutes long)

The next one is on Orkney culture (can't embed this one so click on link below, about 10 minutes long).

Orkney Culture - Youtube

And this one on Orkney history (again I can't embed in this blog so click on the link below, again about 10 minutes long)

Orkney History - YouTube

And finally, one from Scotland - a bird's eye tour of some of the majestic views around mainland Scotland and some of the islands.

Beautiful Scotland (on Vimeo, about 3 minutes)

Summer is drawing to a close.....

September has been a good month for weather! It's lovely to feel the last of the summer warmth, and watch the shadows lengthen as the Autumn equinox approached.  Above are some fuschia bushes, willow trees and a honeysuckle peering over the dry stone dyke in the garden.  These are in a "shrub" border on the other side of the dyke - they have to brave the fierce North winds of Winter.  Hoy High lighthouse can be seen between the gap. My nearest neighbours.....

Meanwhile Button enjoy snoozing on the garden bench outside the front door. I love sitting here and having my morning "cuppa".  It will soon be put into the shed to protect it from the worst of the winter gales.  But we make the most of it while we can, both of us.

And some fluffy clouds in a blue sky

I love dandelion clocks! I remember blowing them as a child - they were never very accurate but I didn't mine. Time has a different meaning as a child does it?!

And they are just so *pretty* and delicate....

Ok so you get MORE dandelions.....but that doesn't stop them being pretty!

Referendum over....

Stromness Polling Station

The referendum is over and as anyone following it will know, there was a majority vote against independence.  The turnout throughout Scotland was great - over 80%.  That is extraordinary and much higher than for a General Election.

The Westminster Government have made a number of promises to the people of Scotland about giving more devolved powers. Promises made to try and keep Scotland within the Union.  We'll see how they pan out, but I suspect if they renege on them there will be trouble ahead.

Those voting for Scottish Independence vow to continue campaigning on and there is talk of another referendum in a few years.

But for now it would be great to keep up the level of political engagement that the referendum brought and take that forward to the next Westminster and Scottish elections.

I voted in Stromness. Most isles residents get a postal vote but mine didn't appear so I went to town to vote.  The town was buzzing with lots of folk clutching their polling cards (you can vote without them but it saves time).

After voting I went into Julia's cafe for breakfast and folk were discussing in very good natured terms the pros and cons of independence, and how folk thought the vote would go.  It was great to have such good natured discussion.

The Scottish Independence Referendum

The Saltire is the national flag of Scotland, proudly displayed throughout the land on public buildings, car stickers and many flag poles.  It's also currently all over the TV, newspapers and social media because of the forthcoming Scottish Independence Referendum on Thursday 18th September. I won't provide any links - just Google it and you will be overwhelmed with information (or disinformation!).

I also won't say how I am voting and I won't say much about it on my blog. But to not acknowledge what is going on would be strange as it is such an historic occasion.  Currently the polls have both the Yes (in favour of Independence) and No (against Independence) almost neck and neck, and depending on the day and the source either one in the lead by a couple of points.  It will be a close run thing, with just 51% needed to decide the vote.  With the vote being so close (according to the polls anyway) whatever the outcome there will be challenging times ahead as nearly half the country will not be getting the result it wanted.

As the saying goes "We live in interesting times".

Home again....

Truth to tell I've been back a few days, but just now taking a breather and some time to catch up here. I've been away on holiday down "south" to London and Exmouth in Devon.  I'll post photos of that adventure sometime in the coming weeks...... I enjoy going away, but it's good to come home. And there have been blue skies and warm sunshine on my return.  A lovely end to the summer.

Meantime I arrived home just as our ferry developed engine problems.  So we've had a week of uncertainty with various replacement boats brought in to get people home, children to and from school etc.  We currently have the MV Golden Marianna, which should still be running between the more Northerly of the Orkney islands of Westray and Papa Westray.  However it's been brought to do the run between Stromness, Graemsay and Hoy until our own ferry is back working. Currently a reconditioned engine is being put in, or so the story goes.

One slight problem for me is that before I went on holiday I'd run my heating oil low so that a neighbour could fix a new valve onto the tank. So I'd ordered a fresh tank of oil to be delivered this week. Unfortunately the replacement vessel for cargo has a weight limit so couldn't bring the tank over. However a drum of oil has been delivered so that should keep me going fora while.  Actually the weather is quite warm at the moment, but I like to be prepared for the inevitable change!

Hopefully our ferry will be back at full capacity soon.  It's also coming to the time of year when the island farmers are wanting to ship lambs and cattle over to the mart in Kirkwall so the ferry will be busy over the next few weeks.

Which reminds me, just before I went on holiday one of the local farmers had a bull to send off to the Orkney Mainland.  He had a cow to keep him company on the voyage, but he seemed peacable enough.  Bloomin' big, but peacable!  I took this photo from the safety of a vehicle...just in case!

Up up and away!

Ready for his sail to Stromness.....

And now for the final sunset of summer. I took these photos just before I headed south and while I was away the sun snuck behind Graemsay to set, on it's way to hiding behind the Hoy Hills for winter.....sigh.....

Look, we could roll it down the hill like a giant cheese.

Night Night sun....