The Winter Solstice

The circle of friendship protects the light.

My favourite part of Winter is the solstice - the shortest day.  From now on the days get every so slightly longer, creeping towards Spring and Summer and loooong days.  Today Sunrise was 09.07, and sunset 15.19.  In the photo above the circle of friendship protects the light to remind the Sun to return tomorrow morning.

Today was also a lovely calm day, quite mild temperatures and barely any wind. I managed to go out for a bit of a walk along the shore, although I was working today.  But that's the joy of working from you, you can take a break when the weather does! 

So here are some photos from my walk today.  Madam Button decided to stay at home. In Winter as long as she has warm paws and food in her tummy she doesn't bother about venturing far, apart from the odd night hunting...

The sun was just setting behind the Hoy Hills....

The last rays before dusk falls.

Sun tinged clouds over Stromness.

After the recent storm there are a lot of stones and shale pushed up along the beach.

After every storm I wonder if I'll find this wall on the beach!  The old ruin creeps nearer the shore every gale.

And more stone from this building ends up on the shore too.

The sun has set now...

I've had to get sheep hurdles secured at the gate this winter....

Some marauding sheep have been in the garden...... they kept knocking the hurdle down, and the wind blew it too.  So had to get someone to put fence posts in to secure it....

Pesky sheep ate my hebe!!  AND the herbs... including the mint...oooh the irony!

And when I got home..... Madam Button still snoozing!

"What?"

And then the moon rises over the Hoy hills, make sure Sun comes back tomorrow!.....

In the bleak mid-winter....

Except it's only JUST winter! But on Sunday I decided to take a "turn" around the island in the car to give it a run as it has sat in a gale and snow for days. It was lovely to get out too and the island of Hoy looked magnificent!  So here are a few photos of my drive round the island. Button, of course, remained firmly in her bed, snoozing!

O love the bluish colours, though the light to the eye wasn't quit that blue.

It's snowing on Hoy!

Looking across the croft of Dean on Graemsay to Hoy.

Still snowing!

A panorama of Hoy round to Stromness on the right.

This panorama distorts the landscape a bit but I do love it!

The road home - strewn with seaweed. Hoy High in the background.

The waves threw the seaweed across the road and into the adjacent field.  Not many stones in it thankfully.

A walk across the Stromness hills

Photo David Sinclair

One of our boat skippers, Davy sent me these pix of his walk across the top of the Stromness hills at the beginning of September.  Above Graemsay as the sun rises!  You can make out Hoy High lighthouse and Sandside.

And over the top of Stromness, it's wild there! Haha! Looking towards Hoy.

Photo David Sinclair

Photo David Sinclair

A trip to Stromness

I've said many times that Stromness is my favourite town. It is beautiful in any season. As well as grocery shops and a hardware shop it also has a number of galleries.  In December they all have a Christmas exhibition and an opening night on a Friday, with mulled wine and mince pies.  It's a lovely atmosphere going from gallery to gallery a mince pie here, a mulled wine there... don't mind if I do!  However this year the weather was too bad for me to go over on the Friday night. Instead I met up with a couple of friends one afternoon and took a look round. And the shops dress up in their Christmas finery too!  My favourite shop in Stromness - the Quernstone! Lots of goodies to be had!

The big exhibition is in the Pier Arts Centre which is a lovely building with history that has evolved over the years.  In the courtyard is a sculpture by Barbara Hepworth, and there are several of her pieces in the main collection in the upstairs gallery.

The building has cut through views that surprise....

The Christmas exhibition is open to all in Orkney, professional artists and "amateurs".  You can exhibit for free too which is a wonderful opportunity.  This year it was one of the best I think.  Lots of pieces in different media, paintings, sculpture, mixed media art, fabrics etc.

Lots of lovely things.  My eye was particularly caught by this beautiful sculpture. An otter.  There was so much movement in the piece it was amazing.

And I loved these ceramics too..... and a view over the harbour!

Then after lunch in a nearby cafe it was time to head home.  This duck is having a map! He's very tame, it's thought it was a pet that has been abandoned. However it has been adopted by the MV Graemsay crew who feed it, and it seems very happy in the harbour. I hear it swims up to the primary school at lunch time and gets fed by the children there!

It had been a frosty, snowy day - the Hoy hills in the morning....

And in the evening..... just a light covering.....

But it was a lovely time spent in Stromness with friends old and new....

A dusting of snow....

Button ready for a walk to the shore

I'm catching up with myself now.  Sorry for the lack of posts but this was due to sinusitis and the consequence of me being very grumpy.  Mostly all better now so on with blogging!

These photos were taken on 1st December when we had our first sprinkle of snow.  Orkney rarely gets snow so the children get *very* excited at the thought of snowmen, sledging etc.  Sadly the last decent snow was about 6 or 7 years ago. Most will have outgrown their sledges in that time!  Anyway here are a few pictures of a lovely fresh day in December.

Showers over Stromness

Then brighter again

Ooops incoming for Graemsay! Button and I headed indoors!

Madam Button MOST put out as she wanted a walk to the shore...

Then the sun was out again....

Looks chilly in Stromness!

A different view of Graemsay

I thought you might like to see Graemsay from another angle. Ale Carini visited Orkney earlier this year and has made this film of a trip along the Orphir coast, looking towards Graemsay, Hoy and Stromness.  You can see the Hoy High lighthouse on our island (my house is just the other side of that).

I'm not sure where the boat journey is but it most definitely is NOT our MV Graemsay! Hee hee!

Best viewed in full screen (we are only a small island!)

Do visit Ale's website, particularly "50 shades of Scotland" (ahem) - and click on the tab for Orkney Islands for some beautiful photos of a whistle-stop tour of Orkney Mainland!

Use Google translate to share the journey too.  And there are wonderful travelogue photos and blogs to read and follow too.  Definitely one to recommend.

Linke to Ale's website: click here

Blue sky and sunshine....

Most of November (Orkney's wettest for 10 years) and December so far have been under a lot of grey cloud and rain.  There is an excess of water everywhere.  So yesterday to see some bright sunshine was a sheer delight!  Even if it was sub-zero temperatures!  Above photo is of Hoy High, with the Orphir hills in the background.

A chilly view to Stromness but at least the sea is calm!

And the sun setting behind the Hoy hills....

The cloud looks like someone is walking over the Hoy Hills onto Graemsay! A giant perhaps! Or Paddington Bear?!

And this one looks like a giant rabbit!?

And here Button was looking at the sun wondering what I was I think, it's been a while since we've seen it! And although I am no domestic goddess, the windows are covered in salt spray - not dirt!