SUE AND JOHN'S VISIT

Sue's post:

We had the pleasure of another visit from Richard's sister Sue and her husband John up from Devon for a few days to coincide with a somewhat 'Big Birthday'  (!!!!) for Richard on 18th March.   Although we were not fortunate enough to have another completely rainfree and fabulous week's weather as we had during their last trip to Skye in October of 2010, we did manage to dodge the showers most of the time.   

Below are a couple of views taken at Talisker Bay.  It was a bright and sunny but lead soled boots would have been an excellent idea bearing the strong winds that prevailed that day...!

Looks can be deceptive - there was a howling gale blowing when I took both of these photographs

and it was freezing...

A couple of days later we all made our way down to Elgol - something we have intended to do since we arrived on Skye nearly three years ago.... (!)  Again the weather was kind to us and the roads devoid of other visitors or tourists. Below is a view of some of the Cuillin taken from the slipway down in the village.....

.....and spot Sue and John walking along the beach amongst all those pebbles!!

En-route home we stopped at a telecommunications mast as Richard was keen to get a couple of photographs for Geograph.  I also went off, camera in hand, and once he'd finished took some shots of him and sister Sue.

  

Further on we spied a well camouflaged local resident amongst the heather....!  I don't know who was more surprised - him or us!

Lastly, this entry cannot go 'to print' before including the preverbial birthday cake that I produced - candles and all - two days late!  Its a long and boring story so I won't go into it now but the cake wasn't bad all the same..... :)

HAPPY  BIRTHDAY  RICHARD!

Spring outings

Having my sister and her husband staying with us for a week has encouraged us to get out and visit a couple of the often-visited spots on Skye that we haven't made the time to visit before. Here's a couple of my pictures to whet your appetites, and Sue promises to post some of her shots shortly.

Talisker Bay - that's Sue just escaping from view on the left.

Bla Bheinn from a car park near Torrin

The Cuillin from Elgol

Being a Tourist

We don't spend enough time 'doing' the tourist attractions of Skye. Although I walk a lot, I do not often go to the places which are popular with the visitors. I am sure that is the same for people all over the world. How many residents of Paris have been up the Eiffel Tower, or residents of Delhi visited the Taj Mahal...?

So today, while my sister and her husband are here for another short holiday, we plan to be tourists, and travel down to the south of the island and do a bit of sight-seeing ourselves. All being well, there will be some pictures to follow!

Old photographs

I popped into the loft the other day, looking for something which I failed to find. However, I DID come across a box containing hundreds of old slides which I took between about 1975 and when I went 'digital' - probably about the late 90s. There was even my old projector in the box with them, but it doesn't work properly, and I can only project the slides one at a time, manually. 
The problem now - what to do with them all?
Part of me wants to wallow in the past and look at them all and transfer then onto the computer. But I know this would be emotionally difficult, as there will be pictures of family and friends who are no longer with us, past partners in the happy times, and even some pictures which will be, frankly, embarrassing!
So, another part of me says 'put the whole box back in the loft'.
But of course, I've already looked at a few.
It's very strange, but looking at them makes me feel old, and sad that all those great times (and mistakes and missed opportunities) are gone for ever. It's not that I don't have a wonderful life now, but I reach my 60th birthday soon - a bit of a landmark I guess - and the realisation that more of my life has gone than I have ahead of me is sinking in.

Skye weather

Sue is away in Kent this week, telling me on the phone how nice the sunshine is down there...

Here, I have all of Cupar's LOOONG walkies to do on my own (I am getting soooo fit!) and have so far this week been soaked by horizontal drizzle, almost blown away by the wind, and this morning... slithered about in SNOW.

It's snowing now, as I type this... but the sun is shining too.

You have to love Skye weather!!!

Obedience Training

I think he's getting the hang of this quite well... I just sat here and said, "Hold the stick out in your right hand. Keep your left hand behind your back. Good Man..!"

 

"give"..... "Give"..... "GIVE!!!"....... Hmmm... he can be stubborn!

Happy 8th Birthday!

It is eight years ago today that I took delivery of our Citroen C5 Estate car - so not quite a birthday, but a 'registration day'!

New - at White House Lodge, Kent.

We bought the car knowing that we would be doing many trips from the south east of England to Skye, and wanted a comfortable, spacious and economical cruiser for the job. And it did the job superbly well. There were invariably our two dogs in the back, the rear seat was piled with luggage and other oddments, and we travelled smoothly in front. The diesel fuelled car regularly returned around 50mpg.

Now, with just under 130,000 miles on the clock, and the ravages of life in Skye weather and roads beginning to show a little, the old barge is becoming a bit of an old banger, but as it keeps passing its MoT test, and continues to run reliably, there seems no point in changing it. It still has its original battery, too!!