4.22 miles later

Today saw a very low spring tide and some lovely weather so after washing Madam's bedding and putting it on the line doglet and I went for a stroll.  I took the GPS but forgot to clear the previous journey.  The green one is today's beach escapade.  Google Earth shows the tide in, but I assure you, the deepest water was only about 14".

I did discover that Vodafone has six of seven signal strength that far out on the beach.  How?  I wanted to know the tide times to know if the sea was headed any further out.  Nope, low tide was 0.4m at 13:50 BST.



As per usual, I was barefoot and discovered what this kelp "field" felt like:




Slimy when wet and downright spiky when dry.

Due to the low tide we found some rocks that are usually submerged.  It looks like concrete, but I can confirm this is rock.


There was also lots of this weed intermingled with the kelp.


Yep, I need to learn more about seaweed other than the punny jokes I so enjoyed as a child.

Spring is definitely here though, where there were dark weeds there are now colourful pools:



Now these, *consults Birds of Tiree and Coll book*  Okay, Google helped a bit too.  These are Common Eider ducks



This is one of those...wooden poles in concrete.  I saw one...erm..March last year I think.  Still not asked what they were for.  Must ask around.


We also discovered this:

Madam was daft enough to try paddling to it, fortunately it was warm enough out and she'd already had her "doggy drugs" to stop the arthritis making the walk sore.

I have no idea what this thing is.  I suspect something from the RAF times, it seems to be mainly either iron or steel.









Goodness knows.  Mark that down as another to ask about around folk.  Really must see if I can corner that Angus or someone who may know.


What else have we been up to?  Well, on not-so-nice days or when I'm trying not to break myself Jo and I enjoy a good jigsaw.  He went hunting on t'internet a while ago and found some Winnie the Pooh "impossipuzzles".  The first was missing all the edge pieces so that's now sitting about waiting for some inspiration.  The other two though, well.  One is a multitude of Tiggers and one is a multitude of Piglets.  I chose Piglet first:



Took about a month of on/off tackling to do that.  Definitely worthy of a photo!  It is now in pieces back in the box and Tigger is waiting for my jigsaw urge to resurface.  Until then Jo and I play the odd game of Scrabble where we aim to get a really high score between us (thank you Sue!).  I had gone off Scrabble since Jo was always winning but now we're doing joint high score it's more fun.

That's about it really.  I do have some super-delicate shells or skeletons or something I collected but they're not photo'd due to dead camera batteries so I'll post them next update.

Now I am going to go enjoy my freshly cooked rhubarb crumble and a movie.

TTFN

Catching, Checking, Clearing and Cock-ups

I do enjoy alliteration.

Catching.  Catching up.  The weather was so mixed last week I admit to letting the laundry slide a little.  This week has been catch-up week especially as it pee'd it down earlier in the week.  The wind's been up so predicting the weather by reading the sky was down to 30 minutes from our vantage point.  That did mean me doing a mad dash around the house because it started to rain just as I had an armful of recycling.  Still, laundry was saved and dried.

We got this rather gorgeous rainbow too:  (the end of the rainbow is apparently in the middle of the Reef)

Today I made a cock-up.  I forget to switch the waste hoses over between the washing machine and the dishwasher.  I then ran the washing machine on a full load.  Oh well, the kitchen floor is clean.  I do now have the hoses the correct way around for more laundry tomorrow (weather permitting).  20mph winds dry t-shirts in about an hour, very useful!

Clearing.  Over the Easter hols desks, floors and shelves were rediscovered.  This resulted in a fair bit of card and paper recycling on top of our usual load.  It's taken two bins and two bags to clear the extra plus the norm.  I did discover it's incredibly cathartic to stomp on vegetable boxes, the ones with reinforcement at the corners.  They make a great popping noise as they go splat.  Also cathartic is smashing a bar of dark chocolate with a rolling pin because you need chips and haven't the strength to cut it with a knife.  Yes, it makes an almighty racket but it's sooooooo good!

Checking.  All right, bit of a stretch.  Checking for plugs and sockets on t'internet.  A lovely friend on the island told me a while ago about how her electronic piano had had a bit of an oops.  The power jack on the back shed its pin so it couldn't power up.  I said I'd take a look at it.  Well, I did and informed her that it would need to come apart so I could remove the old socket and put a new one in.  Today I brought it home to start on that.

34 screws later...





34 screws!  16 around the outside and another 18 within that to ensure nothing moves.  That green board is the brain of the piano.  It's currently sitting like that on my desk while I await new parts.  The bits of paper are to protect the PCB (Printed Circuit Board) from my "handy andy" that's holding it so I can get at what I need.  Oh yes; 10 more screws to move the PCB.  Still, it's an easy enough fix so long as the bits I ordered are the right size.

Today was the Wednesday crafters and we were amused by the new chucks. 



They all ran for me when I went out, wondering if I came bearing food.  (note to self: pack a few raisins next week)



"Are you SURE you don't have any food?"  This was followed by my fingers getting pecked just in case and my sandaled toes being eyed up.



Once food wasn't forthcoming they went back to browsing.

I did think I'd got a great video of the three cluckers and the one that sounds more like a goose, but apparently I didn't hit the button properly so I have one second of "booook"

Jo received some leaflets recently, the packaging was rather ironic:



*snerk*  Yep, they all ripped in transit.

I'm test knitting at the moment:



(you weigh the yarn at the start and then keep an eye on it until 25% is used up)



I'm making a fair number of daft mistakes (misreading charts).  This is an adjustable shawl pattern so while my chosen yarn is pathetically short I can use up some of the cones I have to make a nice big one.

Not much else to report really.  Madam is cooking herself every chance she gets and the ferrets are enjoying being able to leave the garage without getting sodden.  They still get blown about a bit though.

Anyway, back to knitting!

TTFN

Funny weather

Last week was glorious sunshine and cooking dog.  Laundry was done; walks were had; ferrets were even more insane than usual.  Spring sprung!

So what's the weather doing now?  Peeing it down!  This is a good thing though; the wind was burning the ground because the grass hadn't grown at all.  So the grass is perking up nicely.  I do believe the next dry spell will see me out with the mower on the back lawn, sorry, meadow.

All quiet here at the moment.  I finished Dad's pressie almost 3 years to the day that I decided to start it.  No, I haven't been working on it all of that time, it spent a lot of time sitting in its box while I pondered the enormity of the task.  Two weeks and a bit and you can finally see it.

The wind has been even less predictable than the rain.  The weekend was almost still, Monday was okay, yesterday was 60mph+ gusts that saw the ferry cancelled and me bringing next door's bins in before they made bids for freedom.

The longer days are lovely though.  It's nice to see without light at 6am and only need the lamp/light on before 8am and after 7pm on wet days or 8pm on sunny days.  Madam Doglet is also glad of the sunshine finally getting to the floor again.  Nothing quite like sunshine warmth on your arthritic joints.  Especially when your "evil" human restricts your walks.  (The 5mile walk saw her in pain for 2 days, don't want that again!)

I've started fathoming out Tiree Gaelic.  I'm working on plans for discovering the places on Tiree place names and am discovering it would be far easier if I knew what the more common words (like Cnoc, An, Creag, Carraig, Taigh, Sloc) meant so I could then stand a chance of seeing if that interesting building/rock/hillock has a name or if it's just a rock.  Really, *REALLY* need a Gaelic dictionary.  I'm also building up the confidence to find an islander who's willing to help me learn pronunciation of these things.  Yes, there are many online resources (I'm even working through them) but nothing beats human to human.  I learned that when I spent most of my school time learning French; only so much can be learned from tapes and books and nothing beats a native speaker for true pronunciation.  Thank you to that lovely shop keeper in Paris who had the patience to teach me "souris" all those years ago!

No photos this post.  Neither of us has really thought of taking any.  I just realised I need to take one for the photo group "lit"...still no idea!  Ooooh, maybe I do.

I have been baking though.  Cookies today and cake yesterday.  Perhaps bread tomorrow?  I can knead small batches and fresh bread is soooo yummy, especially with marge and marmite.

Anyway, going to set up my lit idea and wait for the dark.  TTFN

Brrrr

A few mornings ago it was a tad frosty.  Jo went out and took photos, I had absolutely no desire to rise from the pit.











The hares were out in fairly noticeable numbers:


This one is apparently a regular on our lawn.  I've not spotted him/her before.


Jo also took the camera on his shopping run.  Crossapol beach:



The tides have been quite low and so we've had these little sand islands:


View across to Balemartine and Hynish


Port a Mhulinn  (Inlet of the Mill)


A little bird on the beach: (thrush perhaps?)


I've been crafty.  I really didn't like the idea of carrying an iPhone "bare" in my bag or pocket, so I knit it a little pouch:



This is a sneak peek to Dad's birthday pressie:  It will have black lines on there, but those are to be added later.


You can leave comments guessing what it is, but I won't say yay/nay until after May 4th.

Wind is up again and oh boy do I ache!  Between all the walking last week; wearing heels to a wedding on Saturday, dancing Saturday night and walking to An Talla twice I could do with an easy week.

I did get to go to my first Ceilidh though.  It's kind of like barn dancing in that the steps are called out to start with but with more swinging and pairings and less changing the steps at random points.  We even did an unplanned dance called "the dashing Scotsman"; that went incredibly well considering we were warned it could result in a mess.  I only fell flat on my rump once; 4 steps backwards turned into 3 and thump.  Still, it was absolutely fab!  The lady who was calling the dances has even provisionally said she'll run classes come Winter.  I kind of feel ever so slightly guilty for wanting that to come just so I can go dancing.

Anyway, I have about 3 weeks to finish Dad's surprise; best get back to it!

TTFN (Ta Ta For Now)

Scarinish

After chatting to folk at the museum I had some time before Angus came back to collect me, so I bought some lunch and went to sit near the hotel.

I truly can't think of anywhere on this island that I have been where there isn't a wonderful view in at least one direction.


The snowy caps on Mull were defrosting nicely.  Today they're snow-free.


As a kid I spent a lot of time in Morecambe and thought there were perhaps 4 types of seaweed in existence.  Oh how wrong I was!  In just 2 square feet there were all these:

Green flat stuff.


Dark brown leafy weed



Green flat weed with feathery weed


Pink/brown/clear weed.


Add learning about seaweeds to my ever growing list of things to do while here!

There were, of course, a couple of ex-creels.  There was one almost completely buried but the camera batteries died before I could snap that.



I did get a chance to go see this wreck though.  It's the Mary Stewart (think it's Stewart rather than Stuart)


It's not as small as it looks!  I believe it was in use until 1930, but I can't find details right now.


Braces used to hold the shape:


Tiny nails used for DIY are useless in something this big.  This needs stakes!


Proof Nature is a patient thing.


Finally, it's only 32 seconds, but have a little soothing video from the bay:  (turn sound off, there's nothing to hear but me rustling with the camera)

Rest day today, got Dad's pressie to work on so I shall be moving to the garden and sunning myself while working away.

The forecast for next week isn't looking hopeful, so it might be quiet on here again.  Don't tell the dog, she's snoozing in the sun and will be miffed if it goes away for a whole week!

TTFN

Ah ha!

Proof that I'm not the only one that walks barefoot on beaches on Tiree:



Okay, they might be a kid's footprints, but still!  I'm not as mad as folk might think (honest :p)

Just back from a fab afternoon in Scarinish.  Had a chat with folk at An Iodhlann and have a more coherent plan for photos and geolocating.  I also discovered that Tiree placenames is now a website.  Click on the A-Z, that's quite the list!

Just to give you an idea, I just clicked Crossapol, where we live and was informed there are 48 entries.  That's a day or two of hunting and photo'ing in itself.

Had a chat with Angus, the ring'n'ride bus driver and he's happy with the idea of me asking to be dropped somewhere and collected so many hours later.  Going to have to do a fair bit of work to afford all this bus fare!

The Thursday bus tours are restarting in May; really must go on one this year.  The ferries are on summer timetable (daily ferries and thursday's goes to Barra)

My voluntary to-do list for this year is getting longer and longer.  So much for flopping on the lawn this summer :p  Instead I shall be challenging Jo on who gets more suntan; him cycling to and from school or me out being a nutter with a shutter.

AND (sorry, I know sentences shouldn't start with and) I've said I will help set up a Tiree Minecraft server if we ever get the map to not look like the island is exploding or walled off.

Busy busy busy!

Madam Doglet is happily exhausted today.  A little trot about the back garden while I got the laundry in and an afternoon of sunbathing across the living room carpet is all she wanted.  May see if she's up to a Crossapol explore on sunday.

Anyway, doggy dinner time and then I have some Scarinish beach photos to sort.

TTFN