Clouds

Having two or three different kinds of weather - all at the same time - is not especially rare on Skye.

In order to produce such weather, some pretty impressive clouds float about. Take a look at these (all photographed in the last three days)

Loch Greshornish

Our garden

Loch Bracadale

Upper Feorlig/Loch Caroy

Rush hour

Basil is getting his morning walk at about 8.00am these days - it's fully daylight by then. I generally take him along one of the local township roads in the mornings, and we have a walk in the woods or somewhere else more interesting in the afternoons. 

Of course, between 7.30 and 8.30 is rush hour - when everyone is driving to work. 

This morning, during our 30 minute amble, it was quite busy... I was passed by four cars and one van.

The nightmare of rush hour on the M20 and M25 are such a long way away now!

Holiday Skye...!

Having just had our little holiday on Mull, we promised ourselves that we would spend some time exploring our own island.

So on Sunday we went up to Trotternish for a walk in the awesome Quiraing...

more single track roads...!

Mull - single track roads

They go on for miles and miles and miles and...

Holiday Mull

Mull is wonderful - very different to Skye. 

Quieter (resident population 3,000 - Skye 10,000). 

More wildlife (because there are fewer people to disturb it). 

More trees.

At the time of our visit,  Mull was deserted, which would not be the case in the summer.  Indeed, in the tourist season, the miles and miles (and more miles) of single track roads would be a nightmare! 

But I think we will be visiting Mull again!

Birthday Treat

What would you do on your 50th birthday...?

Sue hand-fed a cheeky chaffinch...

...pretended to be a rhododendron while sheltering from a shower...

...walked in woods with waterfalls...

...reclined to give Basil a tickle...

... and relaxed in front of a blazing log fire...

Happy 50th Sue!

Birthday holiday

Sue has a significant birthday this week, so to celebrate, we are having a few days holiday on the Isle of Mull - we can check out the opposition while we are there!

Photos to follow!

New wheels

We came to a decision that at 7 years of age, and 153,000 miles on the clock (71,000 of them driven by me)  it was time for our trusty VW Transporter to move on.

Actually - although he never let me down on one of the many long distance trips from Kent to Skye and Devon, I did make the most of my Green Flag membership, calling them out on four separate occasions during the nearly four years that we have owned the van.

But we will have fond memories - especially when the final move here took place and I stuffed the poor thing to bulging... 

But, time moves on, and after a bit of research I tracked down a 'deal you shouldn't miss' on a less than 3 year-old Mercedes Vito with just 38,000 miles on it. Only snag was, I had to collect it from Burnley...

So, Basil and I had rather a long day out on Friday... But here it is, and we hope it will serve us as well as the trusty Transporter.

Know your onions..

Our neighbour, Jan, gave us a handful of onion sets in the spring, so I poked them into a growbag and left them to it.

The crop has now been harvested and is seen here keeping warm in front of the stove.

Notice the slightly inebriated goblin on the right.

Medical express!

Sue had an appontment at the Raigmore Hospital in Inverness last Thursday. (A follow up from a previous investigation, and everything is fine, by the way).

The appointment was for 10.30am, but as it's a three hour drive to Inverness, we arrived a bit early. We reported into reception and settled down to wait half an hour or so for the appointment. Five minutes later, the doctor called us into her consulting room, and a fifteen minute chat took place. The doctor wanted a further blood test, so we were directed to a seating area to wait for that.

Sue didn't even get to sit down before being whisked away to have her blood sample extracted.

We were then directed to the cashiers office where we could claim our travel expenses for the appointment (yes - really - NHS Scotland pay expenses for attending appointments...!!) 

This was dealt with immediately. 18p per mile for our 250-mile round trip, and even the car park fee was covered. Paid to us in cash - just £10 withheld because we are not on any benefits.

By 10.30 - the actual time of the appointment - we were back in the car park having seen the doctor, had a blood sample taken, and been reimbursed for our costs.

Wow!

Nurses uniform

When Sue came into the living room this morning in a fetching nurses uniform, I thought maybe she'd forgotten when my birthday was...

Turns out today was her first induction day into a Community Care job. Sue loves working with people, and doing something useful, so it's a job she is well suited to. She is only doing three mornings out of every six, so there'll still be plenty of time for baking and ironing!