Six Hours

The date is getting close to the winter solstice, and we are a long way north here.

At 8.00am this morning, when I took Cupar out for his morning walk, it was just about light enough for me to be able to make out the trees, undergrowth and fences that line the local roads. By the time we returned, half an hour later, the grey morning light was just giving way and painting the landscape in dark greens and browns. By 9.00am, it had become as light as it is going to get today, as an area of high pressure is building, giving us low dense cloud cover and occasional light drizzle. The sun only makes rare appearances at this time of year. At least it is pleasantly mild!

In just six hours time, our winter daytime light will be fading again. Indoors, with deeply inset and rather small windows, we live in a permanent gloom, brightened only by electricity. How on earth did people manage when all their lighting was by oil lamp and candle?

I often wonder at how the wildlife copes with such a short daylight time to forage for food. Even if the garden birds rise at the first glimmer of grey, and hang on until the world returns to uniformly black, they will still have to face some sixteen hours of night before venturing abroad again. It is no surprise that virtually all plant life slumbers through the winter.

It's that time of year when it is good to browse back through the summer posts of sparkling sunshine on the sea and flourishing wild flowers...!

Roskhill Barn garden, August 2018

The Potting Shed Latest

Regular readers of this blog may recall that we are in the process of building a new space in the garden at The Barn. A timber 'Garden Room' has been erected, and a lean-to greenhouse will be added onto it early in the New Year. 

The purpose of all this is two-fold. One, to provide an environment for growing some of our own bedding plants and starting off veg for the allotment, and, Two, to create a craft workshop which will be equipped as a hobby pottery, giving me an extra occupation for when I retire again and we give up the the holiday cottage business. Sue and I both intend to squish a bit of clay from time to time.

Being dual purpose, but both purposes being pot-based, naming the building the Potting Shed seemed pretty appropriate. We shorten this to the PS.

At present, we await delivery of the greenhouse - now promised for mid-January; and also of the pottery kiln, frustratingly delayed due to difficulty in obtaining some essential internal parts. But in the meantime, I have been busy fitting-out the interior of the PS. I bought some of the cheapest range of kitchen base units sold by DIY giant, B&Q, and have to say, I am most impressed by the quality. I have also been keen to use as many as possible of the 'off-cuts' of the timber from the build of the PS, and am delighted to now have a larch floorboard floor, made entirely from off-cuts from the external cladding. I laid the floor on a base of very effective floor insulation material. I have also made a work table and shelf unit, both of which are built largely from left-over construction timbers, with just a new sheet of MDF to provide the work surfaces.

We hope to be potting in the spring.

Viewed from the greenhouse end, the kiln will go in the far left corner.

This view, through the front doors, showing my massively built work-table.
There is room for a potter's wheel where the radiator is standing,
should I decide to invest in one at some time in the future.

The kitchen units and worktop.
The shelves are also made from a worktop, sawn down the middle.
The raw edges will be covered by an edging strip presently.

Looking out through the greenhouse end

Hunkered Down

It's that time of year again - deep, dark December. I don't dislike it. With the curtains closed and Cupar curled up in front of a glowing stove, it is cosy enough in here - and wonderfully quiet too! 

Sue is away at the moment, making a pre-Christmas visit to her Mum and friends in Kent. Sue is working over Christmas this year. I am occupying much of my daylight time in fitting-out our new Potting Shed with cupboards, work-surfaces and shelving. I made a trip to Inverness the other week in a hired van, and returned with kitchen base units, work tops, paving slabs and assorted other stuff. I am enjoying honing my joinery skills as I assemble what I have bought and am also aiming to create some useful items utilising some of the off-cuts from the build of the PS itself.

I have had great news today - that the lean-to greenhouse that will become an integral part of our Potting Shed Project is at last scheduled for delivery in mid-January. I am still awaiting news of the delivery of my kiln though... But it will be so good to see our plans come together when all is in place, and then let the potting commence...!!

Meanwhile - on the allotment, we are still enjoying freshly picked kale and brussels sprouts, and when the weather is kind enough, I will be turning-over the soil in the beds to try to keep in place some kind of weed control. 

Cosy Cupar

A Holiday On Harris

Sue and I have now established a tradition to have a short-break holiday to mark our birthdays. Sue's birthday is in November, and mine in March, so it fits us well, with being 'out-of-season', meaning we have no clashes with cottage bookings, and we benefit from quieter places to visit. We take a chance with the weather of course - but one does that at any time of year if holidaying in Scotland.

We are just back from this November's trip. Ever since we have lived on Skye, we have promised ourselves that we will make a visit to the Outer Isles, and at last we have done it. After a bit of research, we chose to stay near Tarbert on Harris. The ferry from Uig on Skye sails to Tarbert, so we only had to drive about 35 miles in total from Roskhill to the cottage we rented, with the ferry taking us the 30 miles or so across the Minch.

The landscape that greeted us when we drove off the ferry was a complete surprise. I had really expected that Harris would be much the same as Skye, but in fact, it could barely be more different, with vast areas of the island being bare rock rather than the heather moorland of most of Skye.

As ever, we packed our days with exploring as much of the island as we could. We knew Cupar would love the sandy beaches, so visited a couple of them, but we also managed to make short climbs to the top of a hill or two, visited Scalpay and its lighthouse, drove the famed 'Golden Road' and explored a restored ancient church built by the MacLeods of Dunvegan. As it is fairly unlikely that we will return to Harris, we also made the 40-or-so mile drive north across Lewis to see the world-famous Callanish Stones. Here, I had another surprise, as I found the stones to be far more spiritual than I expected - a feeling enhanced by us being almost the only people at the site when we visited.

We haven't yet decided where we will go for my birthday jaunt in March, though it won't be back to the Outer Isles. However, I think there is a strong possibility that we will be making a further trip across the Minch - probably to the Uists next time  - at some future date.

Sue is likely to get round to posting a picture-story of the holiday we have just had at some time in the not-too-distant future, and as she takes better photos than me, I'll just post a small sample of my pics below...

Eilean Glas lighthouse, Scalpay

Luskentyre Beach

Birthday-girl (and me...)!

Clach Mich Leoid

Callanish

Scarista Beach

Typical South Harris coastline