Troubled times....

Thankfully everyone I know in London is safe.  But we live in troubled times.  I sought refuge in my garden today, and took a wander up the road in the late afternoon sun.  Photo above - early evening sun on Hoy High lighthouse and Sandside.

*my other post today was uploaded a couple of days ago before news of the events in London...

Evening sun

Above from the "front door" on Friday night.

At the end of May a lovely sunset, looking West.....

And then the mist came in!

Looking towards Stromness

Hoy High disappearing into the mist.....

And another evening from the Graemsay Pier on another night....

And a gorgeous ephemeral sky.....

...and over Hoy....

Sunshine, sunsets and rainbows....

Mist hanging over Stromness above.  The same scene at sunset....

And with thick cloud at sunset....

And a rainbow between Hoy High and the "Graemsay telephone exchange" at the end of my drive!

It's JUNE!

Goodness, the year is moving quickly!  I've been busy working, gardening, at the Orkney Folk Festival and various other things.  I'm enjoying the longer days, and sunshine and warmth (well now and again!).  Anyway here are few photos taken over the last month. (I'll try and answer comments on previous entries over the next few days!).

These are of Sandside Bay on cloudy and sunny days.  I've been feeding a neighbour's hens so I've been getting a different view of  "my house" and Hoy High Lighthouse.   Above a tractor ploughing up the field closely followed by gulls!

A rather cloudy version of the same view (minus tractor!)

A bit sunnier.......

And a panorama.....

And looking over to Stromness with the Hamnavoe ferry arriving from Scrabster on the Scottish Mainland....

And looking towards the croft of quoys....

The hens I've been feeding come to greet me each day!  Just the 3 ladies....

And on the way home from feeding the girls, lovely green landscapes....

Garden..... early Spring

I'm always optimistic about gardening at this time of year. Everything is beginning to grow again, and it a beautiful vibrant green.  Well most of it....  I've been getting a neighbour, S. to help do the heavy work in the garden so I can focus my energy on planting and nurturing. I don't have energy for both! A couple of borders have been widened this Spring and I've added some new perennials.  It all looks quite bare at the moment.  We'll see how things go.  Anyway here are some photos....  Oh and washing on the line. I LOVE when I can put washing on the line again!  OK to be honest many folk put it on the washing line through the winter too, but I don't have the time or energy to keep rushing out to take it in if it rains etc so I just do this in the summer months.

In Orkney we are about 6 weeks behind the South of the UK.  Though once then we have a very rapid growing season.  I can almost HEAR the lovage, in the photo above, growing!  Lots more to plant in these borders....  The stone wall gives some protection but in these borders, as they get a lot of salt spray over them, as well as battered by Winter gales, I tend to grow perennials that die right back in Winter...

I love this delicate Spring bulb.

And these are so lovely (photo is NOT!) - they open when the sun shines...

This is another new border.  This used to be the "midden" where household rubbish was thrown.  It was full of broken china!!  Bucket loads of broken china.  I've kept most of it with some ideas of how to "reuse" the fragments.

And my new toy - a cordless grass strimmer.  It's very lightweight and I can just do bits at a time. I'm loving it so far!

So, as things progress I'll share more photos.  Oh I dream of an abundant garden!  Many folk are successful in Orkney producing just that.  But it probably takes more time and effort plus LOTS of more shelter and TLC than I can give.  Still considering all this was just field grass when I moved in, it's coming along slowly....

Of hens and cats.....

The hens love nothing more than to sunbathe and have a dust-bath!  Button just goes for the sun worshipping.... and in good weather, barn cat, Charlie, even comes out to say hi.

This handsome boy is Charlie.  He and Button do their best to avoid each other I think.... he's completely feral, though will sometimes come for a bit of a fuss at feeding time. I did try to have him in the house but he was terrified and prefers living in the barn. He's the same age as Button, 11.5 years old or thereabout.  And I got them both at the same time, but from different homes.

A hen strutting her stuff across the grass at the front of the house....

Button sunbathing!

Headless chickens?!  Two of the girls having a bit of a preen....

Hmm now I know why the onion sets keep getting disturbed! Button was lying on them just before I took this photo....

Two more of the girls sunbathing.  These two are sisters, Light Sussex breed. Quite old girls now but still laying eggs now and again.

Button....again!

And here is "Pecky Hen" who has learned some manners and is happy to be carried and made a fuss of.  You can just see my "black" eye!  It's much improved now, thankfully!

And Button....under the gooseberry bush in the shade after getting a little bit too hot I think!

And even on a grey, chilly day, the girls love to have a rootle about in the field.

And finally in the evening, most of the girls are present and correct at bedtime.... though two have gone broody!  No cockerel now so I remove all their eggs and make sure they get food and water in the morning.  Eventually they get bored and leave the nest.

Sunset.....

Tonight the sunset is due at 9.21pm.  The days are really drawing out.  And on uncloudy nights we are almost at "simmerdim" - the time when it doesn't really get dark.  I love this time of year!  Here are a few photos from a gorgeous sunset last week. Above from just outside the "backdoor".  The Hamnavoe ferry arriving from Scrabster on Mainland Scotland to the Stromness harbour for the night.  The rectangular building in silhouette to the lef is the henny house.

The sun has dropped a bit lower now.  I know it's Spring once the sunset clears the end of Graemsay!

And a view from the "front" door!