Signs of Spring

Today is misty with intermittent drizzly rain, which seeps into one's bones and makes it feel colder than it probably really is. However I felt I just HAD to get out and get some fresh air today. There's no wind and I can hear a cacophony of sound from the birds. The wrens seem to be marking out their territory. The starlings are chattering around. Down on the shore there's a lot of screaming from the gulls and I can hear lapwings and oystercatchers too. I saw a sparrow dive into a hole in the wall so it must be nest building time.

And all the plants are sprouting - the rosa rugosa, the willows, bulbs are beginning to come into flower and even a few daisies were blooming despite the drear day!

I still have the tail-end of a virus and lack energy but it was refreshing to get out and "take the air"!

Even Button has a spring in her step these days with the milder weather and calmer days. Though *snow* is potentially forecast for next week.

The cattle are remain indoors in sheds for a few more weeks, and I don't think anyone on Graemsay has started this year's calving, though I know some folk on Hoy who have had several sleepless nights already. Lambing hasn't started on the island yet either, though will be within a few short weeks and then it will be a busy time on the farms. I love watching the lambs in the fields, but I'm glad I don't have to get up and walk round the fields at dawn checking the flock!

Shrove - er - Wednesday

OK so I was never much of one for conventional religious observance. Didn't feel up to making pancakes yesterday so saved them for today. Ooooh even though I say so myself they were really delicious, made with eggs fresh from the hens. And with lots of lemon juice and sugar. AND I managed to flip them over in the pan - wish I could have got an action shot of THAT one. It's years since I tried making pancakes and just got a fancy for them this afternoon.

That's all for today. Tonight the virus is winning and I have lost my voice again so I shall take to my bed and hope to feel refreshed after a good long sleep. There is nothing cosier than curling up safe and warm while listening to the wind rattling around outside, because yes, we are in the teeth of another gale!

All is calm and still

I've just been out to call Button in for the night (I'm delusional again, though she does sometimes condescend to answer) and stood for a minute or two listening to the waves gently lapping the shore in the darkness. It is such a soothing sound. Hard to image the wind may whip them into a frenzy tomorrow!

Another Spring Day

This morning was just glorious. The sun shone, the sky was blue and the wrens were singing their hearts out. Their song is so melodic and when you consider their size lasts for a long period! Ooooh for the lung capacity of a wren!

Button enjoyed being out in the stillness and the warmth. No sigh of Charlie Boy for a couple of days and in his place yesterday was a pretty ginger and white cat. However the deal is, Charlie Boy has to put in an appearance to get fed, otherwise I may end up with my own colony of cats turning up for breakfast. I know from experience that when he IS hungry he appears so he must be doing well catching mice, of which there are plenty in the barn. No rats - Graemsay is fortunate so far in that there are no rats surviving on the island.

When I stayed on the island of Hoy I had to make sure I kept external doors shut or rats would run in. Fortunately I had a very canny hunter cat which came with the property I stayed in so I had no problems.

However, Spring isn't quite here yet as I saw on tonight's TV weather forecast that gales are due to arrive in Orkney tomorrow. I'm due over in town in the morning so will hopefully make it there and back before the worst of the wind hits. I don't have enough breath to fight the wind just yet! Never mind "Oh for the wings of a dove" - give me the lungs of a wren!! But I AM feeling much better and recovering from my cold - I do feel a wimp but it's easy to forget just how yucky one feels with a cold........ I promise next time you mention you have a cold I will be more sympathetic.....maybe.....

Mist over Graemsay....

.... which happens to be the name of a tune composed by a local musician, Fran Gray, for us on Graemsay, but also happens to describe the weather today!

Visibility is only a few yards and I've heard the "Hamnavoe" ferry (Stromness-Scrabster run) hooting it's horn every time it approaches and leaves the harbour. In the mist it would be impossible to see even a boat that size and I suppose there may be some small creel boats out working today that don't show up on whatever gizmos they have on board boats these days.

Thankfully Graemsay doesn't have a fog horn attached to its lighthouses. In fact all fog-horns, in Scotland at any rate, have been disconnected as most ships have electronic gadgets that replace the need for fog-horn warnings. However the Graemsay lighthouses were never fitted with them as the island lighthouses are actually "leading lights" to guide the Victorian herring fleet safely into and out of the harbour at Stromess, rather than warning of dangerous rocks. Though it has to be said the channel between Graemsay and Stromness has quite a few "skerries" which appear at low tide (bands of rock), so even small boats need to take heed when navigating the water.

I should have been working today but the cold I developed over the weekend has gone to my chest, and coupled with the fact I have chronic asthma, I've been wheezing like a train and so have been reclining on the sofa feeling sorry for myself all day! However hopefully after a couple of days I will feel better again!

I did mange to make some soup yesterday. This is taken from a recipe I found some time ago in who knows where or when and I adapted.

Carrot and Caraway Soup

1 Tbs (15 ml) olive oil
1 onion, chopped
1 lb (450 g) carrots, chopped
2 tsp (10 ml) caraway seeds, crushed in a
mortar with a pestle
4-6 cups (1-1.5 L) vegetable broth
Salt and freshly ground pepper to taste
Chopped fresh parsley, chives, or basil for garnish

Heat the olive oil in a saucepan over moderate heat and saute the
onion until tender but not browned, about 10 minutes. Add the carrots
and caraway seeds and saute 3 minutes. Add the broth and bring to a
boil. Simmer covered until the carrots are tender, about 20 minutes (depends how small you chop them!). Puree the soup in an electric blender or food processor and adjust the
seasoning with salt and pepper. Serve hot or chilled, garnished with
chopped herbs. Serves 4 to 6.

The caraway seeds take away a little of the sweetness of the carrots and give the soup a slightly nutty flavour. Enjoy!

It's.... Winter again.....

Another gale blew up late yesterday. Fortunately I was able to go over to Stromness and meet up with friends for lunch and get home before the worst of the weather hit. But today the wind is battering the house and I can hear it roaring around in the rafters of the loft. At least it's fairly bright and sunny. AND I don't have to go far today. Which is just as well as I seem to have a repeat of the virus I had at New Year and am losing my voice. Do I hear cheers from certain quarters on the island?? So I shall snuggle down with Button and read a book this afternoon and be glad I don't have to be outdoors. Well except when I go down to the boat at 4pm to pick up a package.

At least the days are lengthening now - well the daylight is, if you see what I mean. Sunrise this morning in Orkney was 0730 (and yes I was awake for it...) and sunset will be 17.22. That compares quite favourably with London now where sunrise there is 0702 and sunset at 17.27. Mid-winter there is an hour and a half difference between our sunrise and sunset times, but we are fast catching up London, and in March we will overtake them. Sorry - I just LOVE LOVE LOVE the long days in Orkney!

We have a boat to Stromness this weekend, but I'm staying put at home. However next week I'm hoping to go over to see the new exhibition at the Pier Arts Centre in Stromness which opens this weekend. It's an exhibition of work by new artists and designers from Orkney who have graduated with Art & Design decress since 2001.

Tuesday Button is to visit the vet to have her vaccinations and to be fitted with a microchip. The microchip will enable anyone finding her, should she get lost, to locate me. But I also want her microchipped as I have just purchased a cat flap that works on recognition of the cat's microchip. Thereby preventing other stray cats entering the house. It was recommended to me by a friend, unfortunately she said it doesn't scan for a cat carrying rodents........ So we shall shee how Button and I get on with it! I fostered a cat over on Hoy some years ago and she regularly brought in young bunnies. Bunny would run behind the range cooker and Baggins and Fitzi-cat would sit either end waiting for it to emerge...... eventually I would have to separate the cats and try and retrieve the bunny. Then take it across a couple of fields to release it - though I suspect the poor wee things died of shock eventually. Baggins had to remain shut in for a couple of hours so she couldn't go and locate said bunny and repeat process.

It's SPRING!

OK, so I'm slightly delusional...... but today I saw this little bulb stoically blooming in the garden border despite a freshening wind! And yes it may look a little blury - did I mention a freshening wind? But I just HAD to capture it as a reminder that Spring is on it's way even if it hasn't fully arrived. It fairly gladdens the heart.........