Puffer's Close
The garden
This is Stromness (if you can see it through the rain) and Hoy is hiding in the background in the cloud, which is not unusual.
You'll guess from the last photo - it's been a bit wet the last few days.
Saturday, 15 November 2008
Friday, 14 November 2008
New Camera!
Ha! The camera has arrived, however I've not taken many photos yet. I mentioned the waxwings in my last post, a colleague caught some in the RSPB garden on Thursday (to ring them) and here is one!
The big event this week of course was my birthday! I didn't have anything planned but ended up going out which was fun. Thank you for the lovely pressies.
More photos coming soon!
Sunday, 9 November 2008
It's a wee bit chilly!
This month I'm going to try and blog more than I have in any other month. Which, if I'm honest is not going to be hard as my monthly total so far has been two. I will have already have equalled last month with this one!
It's a wee bit cold up here at the moment (please forgive the talk about the weather - it kind of dominates your life up here!) but dry and bright.
This week I went to the song shop choir for the first time (folk singing), I got thrown in at the deep end as we were learning a new, quite complicated song. I'm not sure if I'm a good enough singer but we'll see how it goes!
I also got see some waxwings up close (birds that visit Britain in the winter - very pretty - look them up in a bird book). A colleague had caught some to ring them - I'm majorly chuffed that I got to see them.
It's a wee bit cold up here at the moment (please forgive the talk about the weather - it kind of dominates your life up here!) but dry and bright.
This week I went to the song shop choir for the first time (folk singing), I got thrown in at the deep end as we were learning a new, quite complicated song. I'm not sure if I'm a good enough singer but we'll see how it goes!
I also got see some waxwings up close (birds that visit Britain in the winter - very pretty - look them up in a bird book). A colleague had caught some to ring them - I'm majorly chuffed that I got to see them.
Sunday, 2 November 2008
Copinsay
Today, at the last minute I got the opportunity to go out to the island of Copinsay. It has been a lovely weekend here weather wise - calm and bright, if slightly cold. Copinsay is an RSPB reserve, mainly important for seabirds but today's visit was to go and see the seals. It is the time of year for grey seals to be pupping and last year there was over 2000 of them! The beaches were covered in fluffy white pups of various sizes and their very large, angry mothers!
We only had a short time on the island and I did have some work tasks but it was a fab day to be there and the views from the lighthouse were amazing - right over the east side of Orkney with Hoy (as with most Orkney views) lurking in the background.
We only had a short time on the island and I did have some work tasks but it was a fab day to be there and the views from the lighthouse were amazing - right over the east side of Orkney with Hoy (as with most Orkney views) lurking in the background.
Saturday, 25 October 2008
A gentle breeze!
Blimey it's a bit breezy at the moment, proper knock you off your feet stuff. I realised I failed to mention that I am now in Stromness but you may have guessed that. I still don't have a camera but hopefully that will be remidied soon.
I had a slight problem yesterday, as in my excitment that my fuel for the stove had arrived, I went to fill up the scuttle in the shed and shutting the front door behind me I realised that the keys were still in the house. It was just at the moment that the door closed over that I suddenly remembered that I hadn't put the snib off and I had now locked myself out of the house. After a little swearing, trying various windows, finding one that I could open, persuading it that it really did want to open just enough to let me squeeze through I did eventually get back in, pick up my keys, sat down for a minute to recover from the thought that I might have had to break into my own house and went back out to fill the scuttle.
I had a slight problem yesterday, as in my excitment that my fuel for the stove had arrived, I went to fill up the scuttle in the shed and shutting the front door behind me I realised that the keys were still in the house. It was just at the moment that the door closed over that I suddenly remembered that I hadn't put the snib off and I had now locked myself out of the house. After a little swearing, trying various windows, finding one that I could open, persuading it that it really did want to open just enough to let me squeeze through I did eventually get back in, pick up my keys, sat down for a minute to recover from the thought that I might have had to break into my own house and went back out to fill the scuttle.
Monday, 13 October 2008
Broadband!
Papa Westray - Looking North from Fowl Craig
Papa Westray - St Tredwell's Loch
Papa Westray - Rose Cottage
Papa Westray - Fowl Craig
At last I have broadband! Here are some photos!!! Once I get a camera I'll post some of Stromness etc.
Friday, 5 September 2008
Leaving Papa Westray
Well, suddenly it's time to move again. I was doing a calculation a couple of days ago - the number of times I've moved since I was volunteering/working with the RSPB. This next one is the twelfth. You may question my maths (not an uncommon event) but it includes moving in and out of the same house several times.
Tonight I completed my rather scary end to the season - The Presentation to the Community! (Notice the capital letters) I only discovered about it well through the season and was generally trying to ignore the fact that I had to do it. At the beginning of the week I decided I'd better do something about it and the first step of putting the sign up in the shop was completed. The rest of the week has disappeared into oblivion and last night I was frantically preparing the power point presentation, finishing it this morning, dashing to the shop when it opened at 3pm and then baking what seemed like hundreds of muffins to feed people at the end of the talk. Chocolate cheesecake, lemon, maple and walnut, carrot were the options, which seemed to go down well. The chocolate cheesecake (in the middle of a chocolate muffin, a lovely cream cheese filling) vanished the quickest. It wasn't quite as scary as I thought. Mid afternoon I was seriously wound up about it all and bit more relaxed when it came to it.
I'm moving next Friday to Stromness, two days in the house and then I'm off galavanting around the country. I'm looking forward to it. I will hopefully at long last be able to post photos soon as I will have broadband in the house! I may actually join the 21st centuary and buy myself a digital camera (I've been borrowing the work one). My number of islands that I'll have lived on will be up to four. (I seem to be doing a lot of statistics tonight - it must because of the annual report/ presentation!).
Lots to do before I leave Papay. Plus packing!
Tonight I completed my rather scary end to the season - The Presentation to the Community! (Notice the capital letters) I only discovered about it well through the season and was generally trying to ignore the fact that I had to do it. At the beginning of the week I decided I'd better do something about it and the first step of putting the sign up in the shop was completed. The rest of the week has disappeared into oblivion and last night I was frantically preparing the power point presentation, finishing it this morning, dashing to the shop when it opened at 3pm and then baking what seemed like hundreds of muffins to feed people at the end of the talk. Chocolate cheesecake, lemon, maple and walnut, carrot were the options, which seemed to go down well. The chocolate cheesecake (in the middle of a chocolate muffin, a lovely cream cheese filling) vanished the quickest. It wasn't quite as scary as I thought. Mid afternoon I was seriously wound up about it all and bit more relaxed when it came to it.
I'm moving next Friday to Stromness, two days in the house and then I'm off galavanting around the country. I'm looking forward to it. I will hopefully at long last be able to post photos soon as I will have broadband in the house! I may actually join the 21st centuary and buy myself a digital camera (I've been borrowing the work one). My number of islands that I'll have lived on will be up to four. (I seem to be doing a lot of statistics tonight - it must because of the annual report/ presentation!).
Lots to do before I leave Papay. Plus packing!
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