On Christmas Day....

Photo courtesy of Mary Harris, Longhope

The only "alterations" to the photo above are the snowflakes.  Mary Harris of Longhope, Hoy took the photo on the snow hills of Hoy where the mountain hares turn white in Winter.

I hope you are able to spend your day however you wish, with family, friends, or like myself, in glorious solitude. May you find peace, feel safe, and have enough.

Graemsay Christmas Party

I'm a bit late with this photos as we had the party over a week ago! Anyway here they are now - the so-called "Children's" Christmas Party - for young and old!  With an appearance by Santa too of course.

Above one of the classic party games - pass the parcel!  There are two versions, one for the children and one for the adults. The children win sweeties, the adults win....alcohol of course!

Below - the snowball game.  Two teams, the winning team has the most snowballs in the buckets! Um... ok rolled up paper balls in the buckets!

Then the snowball and spoon race - chocolate snowball on a spoon! Well we don't get much snow in Orkney!

And another classic game - er - limbo dancing!

Then it was time for Santa to arrive.....

There was time for a supper and then the dancing! The children learn the traditional Scottish Dances at school so they were trying out some of these at the party....

Now the children are older they get either money from Santa or "construction" gifts like Lego, or crafty gifts.  But one wee lassie still got a doll..... and very happy she seems with it too!

Sunrise!

The sun remembered to shine again after the longest night!  Sunrise today was 09.06 and sunset will be at 15.17.  It still rises a minute or two later for a few days yes but sunset is a wee bit later too so slowly the days extend. 

I'm off to town today to do the last bits of food shopping and then a few days off work.  In the UK many places shut from Christmas Day through to January 1st (Jan 2nd in Scotland).  A winter holiday!

Right  - now I MUST get on with the shopping list!

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....