One photo, no words.

Funny and Crafty

I love making little stories for my felt creatures, there's something about it that makes me smile.  This one is no exception.

Errr, guys... all the teacakes are gone.


Bagsie a shirt!  I want a hat!


Think we can fool her if we all sit in the box?


Quick, grab those sheep, the might look like an uneaten teacake!


Baaaa!

No teacakes here, just us in our cool outfits!

baaaa!

(Unfortunately for them, I was not fooled)

I've been crafty too.  Been wanting to make a rice bag type thing for needle felting as a lot of folks find it better than foam and my piece of foam is getting a bit used in places.  But with mice randomly checking for tidbits and a dog who can find food easier than she can find the living room, using rice was not going to work.  I asked on Ravelry and someone mentioned the plastic stuff that's used to weight down dolls and stuffed toys.  Little EBay hunt later and I had some recycled plastic pellets on the way.

Last night I got out the hessian I'd bought yonks ago and made a not-rice bag!


Yes, it fits in a Tunnocks teacake box.  I've also ordered myself a nice wooden box for my needle felting stuff, the cardboard box I have is getting more and more bashed and isn't really deep enough for a work in progress.  Plus, the box is unfinished so I can decorate it!

Remember the blanket I started in October last year?  The one with the diagonally striped squares?  Finally finished it last week.  Yesterday I washed it and it was hung out to be breezed and dried the Tiree way.



I admit to thinking I am NEVER knitting that pattern again, but I did LOVE the recipient's reaction.  It may have been late, but the timing was perfect.  It's now with its new owner who is very happy indeed.


I shall leave you with this photo of a bovine who should not be where she is.


TTFN

P.S. Yes, we BBQ'd!  Three days in a row of sunshine has been WONDERFUL!

Six Thousand, Seven Hundred and Twenty.

That's the current photo and video count on my Nikon. I have `now overtaken the Kodak that stood at 6431. I've had the Nikon a third of the time. I might be able to claim “Nutter with a shutter” status now.

Jo and I went to Oban this past weekend. His parents were doing their tour of the children and the country. As we were to leave on the Saturday boat and return on the Tuesday evening ferry we thought to contact a cycle shop in Oban to get the trike serviced. We had all the parts, but it is nicer for someone who's done this for a while to do it. So on Saturday I got the bus and Jo set off with the trike.

We had the Clansman out and back.

It came in to Tiree very light.

Positively swung round the turn to dock.

It was rather a mixed day weather-wise; consistent wind but inconsistent precipitation. Sun, rain, snow, hail, sleet, we saw it all in an hour. But the sea was fairly calm and it was a very pleasant sail over. I got a bit of knitting done and had a nice doze, Jo read most of a book.

Once in Oban it was damp. Not outright pouring it down, just constant mizzle with the odd bit of rain. The Clansman had apparently had a bit of a knock to her paintwork below water level.

Jo and the other cyclists had to wait for the cars to disembark, including those on the mezzanine deck, so his parents and I had a bit of a wait for him. But unlike boarding, I got to photograph the trike leaving the ferry. In this case alongside a kayak with it's own little wheels.

We trotted round to the entrance to the flat building and I took the bags up with Jo's parents while he took the trike to the shop. It is a lovely flat and I was so relaxed up there I completely forgot to photograph the view! It was very close to the train station and above the bus stops so we got to spend a fair bit of time watching folk coming and going, including Jo coming back with the trike!

Turned out that the shop had closed early (we don't know why, perhaps an emergency) and they weren't answering the phone either. So Jo and his Mum found it a good place in the car park and we all went shopping to Tesco where Jo purchased two extra bike locks. The trike can easily be moved if you know how unless you add an extra lock or two.

Jo had left his mobile on the ferry, this caused a very amusing scene when it was announced and suddenly everyone on deck did the "have I got mine? dance", caused Jo's parents to laugh on the shoreside.  Before we went shopping we trotted to the ferry office to reclaim it.  I saw this basket of crabs outside a van offering fresh cooked treats:

They are alive.  I was surprised they hadn't made a bid for freedom!  Upon picking one up (a lad watching me jumped back just in case it attacked him) I found out they were very sluggish and grumpy.  Quite hefty critters too.

Sunday the family went to church and I took a wander. I didn't know at that point that there were two sets of keys so I made a mad dash back when I noticed the churches had cleared out only to find them all happily settled. Oh well. That afternoon we went to Curachan, the hollow mountain.

Curachan was the first reversible pump/generator station in the UK, possibly the world (I can't remember) and is 90% efficient, not bad at all! You can't take cameras or bags inside which is actually a nice break. The tour guide and her “glamourous driver” were great and full of enthusiasm even on the last tour of the day. It truly is worth a visit I think, even if all you do is admire the loch.

On Monday we took a footpath in the direction of Dunollie castle. At the end of the paved bit you could either go up to the castle, up into the forest or back the way you'd come. Jo and his Dad went adventuring up into the forest and to the summit of the hill there, his Mum and I decided to walk back. I then went shopping. 

Loved this painting for the seal colony cruise:

I had a list of bits I could only really get on the mainland and that couldn't come by mail without adding extra instructions like “surface mail only”. I had a pretty good explore and satisfied my yarn cravings with a visit to the two yarn shops. Didn't spend a fortune this time either. I even found a new pair of trainers and some snow boots that are waterproof to over the foot. I am prepared for next winter.

Tuesday morning we went to Aldi, Lidl, Homebase and Tesco. Just getting various bits and some fresh stuff to bring home. We got a giant tarpaulin too which we used to wrap up all the shopping and Jo's rucksack in the basket of the trike. The weather forecast said it was going to be Wet on Tiree and it wasn't kidding!

The journey home was a little rougher but while the stabilisers were out it was perfectly fine. The view was rather...monochromatic?

Now then, here's a conundrum for you: What do you do if your phone battery is dead and the only socket available is 7ft off the floor?  The phone won't balance on the poster frames under the socket and the charger cable leaves the phone dangling precariously.

No ideas?  Well, other than the obvious wait until you get to your destination.

Use a detachable hood!

As for the weather at home, WET. Absolutely pouring with rain that had just enough wind to get under hat brims. By the time I got on the bus all I could see was huge water droplets on my glasses. We had planned to unload the trike onto the bus to save Jo effort but it really was too wet for that. So I rode back with two bags on the bus and Jo pedalled back with two crates, one coolbox, one rucksack and various extra bits all wrapped in a tarpaulin in the trike.

He's now outside drilling holes in the trike. But that's another post.

TTFN

Three years already?

That's right, Jo and I have been here for three years now.  No plans to leave, we're even looking into buying a house!

I've not been up to much recently.  Had an operation at the end of January and am still getting back to normal.  But I have been playing with cameras.  The thing about having two cameras is you sometimes end up forgetting that you took photos with either of them and then have 300 or so to sort through.  Oops.  So this will be a photographic post.

I got to see some snowy views on my way to Glasgow:




The day I flew over was so still and sunny the flight was wonderful.  No bumpiness at all.  Think the flight back was pretty good too, seeing as I fell asleep!

Random outcrop on the way to Mull:


We even had snow here!  Admittedly it didn't lay, but it was quite surprising to see:


After all the rough weather we've had over the past few weeks it's nice that calm is returned, the sea has gone from huge waves to smooth:


Makes nighttime photography easier too, you don't have to worry about the wind wobbling things.

I've been on a huge learning curve about astrophotography.  I now know I need a small mm and a small f value but those lenses are currently prohibitively priced so I am experimenting with what I have.  The Canon came with an 18-55mm f/3.5-5.6 lens that is a great starter and has done the star photos you've seen so far.  Tonight it was clear-ish and I managed to get The Shot of Orion:



This is using a borrowed 50mm f/1.8 lens.  The problem with this lens is that for working out exposure before star trails will form you divide 600 by the lens mm, but even at 7s I get trails:



So the smaller mm means longer exposure and more light captured.  The f value is how "fast" the lens is apparently and 1.8 is Good.

I couldn't get more earlier on in the evening because the airport was lit up and it produces quite a bit of light for such a small (relatively) set up:



The thing about staying up for the stars is that you then have a habit of staying up longer to see if the cloud clears.  I've gone nocturnal.  It did mean I got to play with both cameras on Friday morning during a gorgeous sunrise.


I started out using the Canon and playing with settings and manual focus.  I'm starting to get the hang of actually focusing.  It's harder than the camera makes it seem, just a tiny twist either way will unfocus.







But the battery pack died and while I do have three, only one seems to keep its charge, so I switched cameras and let the Nikon do its automatic thing:









Good morning Mull.






A little play with the dewdrops:


Teeny tiny bug:


Finally, "our" Robin:


I've been trying to photo this chap for ages, but he's very very easily spooked.

As a little three year celebration to myself I contracted Celestine and the Hare again.

Today an envelope arrived.  I had to cut the tissue paper back on this one, my new arrival was too scared to peek. I also found the wrong end first!


Oops.

Once I carefully cut off the other end my little weesus tried talking our new resident out of their hidey-hole:


Hellooooo?


I had been previously informed that "smalls" like biccits and speak their own language while also being able to communicate with others.  Alas, I didn't have a small to tempt out this one so I used food to tempt out the hungry traveler:



Thursday I had baked shortbread and one batch had been coated with dark choc.  But even this took longer than tempting out a weesus.  Still, lots of rustling later...


Finally Medium (he's quite a large small) made an appearance (not before weesus ate her piece of choccy!)



So now I have a weesus and a medium :)

Speaking of, weesus might have been eyeing up my cakey stuff while I was recuperating last month:



That's it really.  I'm thinking I will be back to the museum next week and get to start on births soon.  The next post will either be on stars again or possibly my musings on deaths on Tiree from 1855 to 1920.

TTFN

A new resident

There is an amazingly talented lady down South who started Celestine and the hare a year ago and makes incredibly cute felt animals in her shed.  Up to now I've only been able to marvel at her talents as she charges very reasonable prices for hand made items but they're a tad above my budget.

Until she started making "weesuses".  Little weasels.  Those did fall in my price range and so one fell into my order of two mugs.

Today a packet arrived with two boxes and a little tissue-wrapped parcel.

One of the mugs is "King Norty" weasel in his walnut whip crown holding up the weasel slogan.


Weasels from C&H are, like myself, chocolate addicts.  If they detect "choklit" they hoard the stuff and then stuff themselves into choccy-coma.

What better way to lure out my new friend than to show it our fresh batch of chocolate brownie?

Initially nothing happened but rustling and the snuffling of a nose that has detected something yummy.


Said nose made an appearance accompanied by happy dooks:


Followed by most of the weasus:


"Can I have this bit please?"


"*urp* mmmmmmm"


"Think I might enjoy living here."


So I now have a new friend who can go anywhere with me and I plan to knit him/her (one doesn't ask these things, you know!) a little bag to attach to mine so when I go exploring they can come with me.

The other mug is part of my reward for having surgery next week, so that's staying wrapped up until I get home.

Weather here is still cold, windy and wet.  The drive turned into a pond by the morning and the wheelie bins aquaplaned being brought in.  But we are fine in our house, the electric bill is probably going to be a bit high, but a good long, warm, summer will cancel that out.

Pippa is off to the v.e.t. tomorrow for her annual assessment and vaccinations, not that she knows.  She doesn't even care about the jag, it's having her arthritic limbs stretched and poked that has her giving me the puppy eyes.  Still, she's bouncy as ever and other than perhaps sleeping a little more is showing no signs of being 15!

TTFN