Sunny days and dazzling nights

Yesterday was one heck of a day!  First Gromitty came down with Butch and after the dogs had a mad hour in the house while we chatted and I had breakfast we all went down to the beach.





Gromitty and I walked along, chatting and enjoying the view, while the dogs went wild!  Butch ran around like the crazy youngster that he is and after an initial running loony moment Pippa got down to some serious plodding, sniffing and marking.  She truly tried to claim the whole beach, the walk down to it and lovefibre's garden.  Where does she get all the pee?!

I had given Pippa her stronger painkiller before we left and forgotten that those plus age-induced doggy dementia means she sometimes forgets everything.  Halfway along the beach we decide to turn around, Pippa took another five minutes to notice and five more minutes to catch up.  I think that's going to have to be her last off-leash experience, too risky for an old dog who's shedding marbles to run off and then forget she has a human with her.

After our beach walk we went to see Alan (organiser of the tech wave) for a chat about a Tiree fablab and general natter.  The day was so lovely we all sat in their front garden and the dogs sniffed about and generally did doggy things while we chatted.  Eventually the breeze got through to Pippa's joints and we headed home.  The walk home was slow.  Poor Pippa, she loves to get out and about but her joints are really getting grumpy.  We took it at her pace and once home she spent the afternoon conked out in the sun recharging.

That evening was the An Iodhlann AGM, about an hour before I left I read a post on facebook that there was a pretty strong magnetic storm going on and it might be a good night to see the Northern Lights.

Got back from the AGM about 10:15, got camera and things ready, sat on the back step and watched the stars for half an hour.  Then I went around the front of the house and noticed the sky to the North was lighter than the South.  It got lighter, I spotted clouds as black outlines...

Out came the DSLR and I aimed and clicked.  I think I spent about an hour just watching and photographing.  My human eyes saw grey streaks moving and pulsing, the camera saw more.



















So much more!  It was all over by 11:25 and the ending was amazing.  Directly above the island all the "rays" met and pulsed and changed shape.  Amazing to watch.  So amazing that I forgot about the camera!  I did get one photo though,



I tried one minute exposures thinking the light was too dim for the camera to collect.  Beginner's error, the photos were washed out with overexposure instead.

To summarise Tuesday:
Up at 9:30am, busy day with loads of fresh air, in bed by midnight with loads having been seen and done.

TTFN

What is this?

There's a bright light in the sky and the concrete is dry...



The wind isn't blowing a gale and the house has been warm all day without the heating on.  Is this the apocalypse?  The generators at the power station are humming away, maybe the rest of the world has vanished?

Nope!  Spring is coming!


At Silly AM on Tuesday morning I was having a bout of insomnia brought on, as it turned out, by the electric causing the microwave to beep as it went on and off.  I started using my PC but then the power truly went off so I got the oil lamp, managed to put the chimney on without it exploding and knit by lamp light:





As long as you're not doing something overly complicated it's actually rather peaceful to knit by lamplight.  So peaceful I made a humongous mistake and had to pull back a few hundred stitches.  But Mum will be happy to know her jumper is now at the waves chart.  Sleeve stitches waiting for pick up after knitting the body.

Speaking of knitting, *mumble* years ago I took some yarn and a book from Sue with the intention of knitting the rather nice lace item in it.  It took me so long not because it was slow but because of the border.  The original has a nice frilly border to compliment the pattern in the body but it drove me batty!  I couldn't get the pattern into my head and kept making mistakes.  So I consulted the island expert in lace shawls and did a simple yet complimentary garter stitch edging.  Then I got distracted by some deadlines.  Last week I found it again and finished the knitting.  This week I soaked and blocked it:



It dried overnight and looks lovely:


Close up of the detail:


I am very happy with the end result and admit I'm also happy it's done.  One less item giving me guilty vibes for not finishing it.

I have had a physically exhausting day today.  Took full advantage of the wonderful weather and did the first line dry of the year.  Two loads of laundry washed and then dried in sun and breeze, lovely!  Even if I did have to wear boots to put it out and get it in because the back garden is water logged.

The trike got a good air drying too.  I found any new rust spots and treated them with rust cure in the morning and painted over them with car paint in the afternoon.  The patches may be black on the blue lacquer but they're weather-proof again.  Come Easter it's getting a good service; new chain, new rear tyre, new rear sprocket, more rust treatment and a darn good clean.  At either Easter or summer hols it's also getting it's first recoat of varnish.  The marine ply and varnish applied by the makers has done sterling work these past three years but it's starting to fail.  I shall order some new marine varnish (the good stuff) and give all the wood a clean, brief sand to key, and then a good varnish.  Hopefully that will see it right for another three years.

The trike's frame is under warranty for ten years.  I think at the rate the weather and air attack metal here we may be claiming on that.  If anyone ever manufactures something, be it material or item(s), that they claim is weather proof and corrosion proof and will last for years outdoors in all sorts of weathers, I think they should test on Tiree.  We have strong winds; salt air; sandy wind and rain; cold and hot in one day and rain that can find the tiniest of cracks.  Claim something can last five years in a climate like you might find on the Thames?  It should last two on Tiree.  The weather here makes light work of metal, rubber, silicone, paint, lacquer and more.  Could also be a nice earner for folk here; allow someone to attach a box to your house for a few years and in exchange for taking photos and checking every so often you get a rent and the manufacturer finds out quick if their kit can do what they claim.

So, yes, I have had a very busy day, in seven hours I sat down for a total of one and a half and the longest burst of that was a half hour knit.

I shall leave you with photos of a very, VERY happy dog:





I shared these with the RSPCA rescue shelter in Halifax where we got her years ago, they were very happy to see smiling dog and I like to let them know she's doing well.  She's now snoring in her bed, I expect doggy dream yips soon.  But, I have laundry to fold and put away.

TTFN and I hope the sun finds you soon if it hasn't already.

Felting day

Ever since seeing some needle felted animals and having a go myself I have been in love with needle felting.  I like wet felting too but it's hard on my hands with the water and soap combination.  Needle felting is all done dry, you can wet felt it afterwards for a smoother finish but I rather like the slightly fuzzy nature.

Once a month Lovefibre runs a felting workshop at An Talla, it's usually the last saturday of the month and is a great thing to go to.  You can go with an idea or to learn, all skill levels are welcome and encouraged.

Back in October I think, I went to one and had a play with needle felting.

I managed a sort of guinea pig:


and a very hungry caterpillar:


The latter turned out a little soft and is more delicate than I'd like but I learned a lot and was hooked.

Then life got in the way and for two months I was too busy one way or another to do anything much.  Two weeks ago I finally had enough time to sit down and rest and decided to treat myself to a kit.  I'd um'd and ah'd over it for a while but decided to spend the princely sum of £18 including postage for a kit including various coloured wool, needles, a booklet with six projects, a block of foam to work on and finger protectors (most important!).  It all came in a very good box for keeping the kit and a work in progress inside.

Down came my spinning wool collection to expand my colour choices and out came a fleece I washed two summers ago that had turned out to have a weakness that made it unsuitable for spinning but ideal for filling out a shape and saving the "good" wool for colouring the outside.

I started off simple, a basic ball shape with colouring and maybe another shape felted on.

Robin:




Pair of chicks:


Then I got a little more creative, sheep:


I played with adding shaping to the ball to define features:




I put the kit aside for a while to catch up with some deadlines and friends and then on Monday I spent the day making two more things.

A rose:




and something that at one point considered being a dog...

First you make a rough frame out of pipe cleaners and cover it in "poor" wool to get a basic shape going:


Once that basic shape is formed but not firm, you add your "skin" of coloured wool:


I like to start with limbs so the ends at the body will be hidden and firmly felted into the body as that is covered and shaped.

Did you guess what it was?







I had a photo of an elephant up once the basic shape was done so I could get the ears and the head shaped better. 


Between the two cuties I had bought and the many experiments I've done, my table is looking a bit crowded:


Then today came, another felting workshop and my chance to try some other ideas.

The elephant was presented to Lovefibre and she was very happy with it.  Here it is watching her work:


Once everything was out we all got started with our ideas.

First was a ball with a spiral of colour and a flower.  The ball went fine, the spiral went fine:


Petal one went fine, petal two changed the whole thing to a bee on a ball:


Next was a different sheep, I made the head and four legs then took a rest for lunch.  After lunch I made a ball from fleece and added a black layer then felted on the legs...


And face:


This is the first of many sheep, the end result will be shown once I get there.  Right now I am on self imposed hand rest to avoid irritating a grumpy thumb.

But I did do one more felt today.  I made a smaller frame than the elephant and was aiming for a weasel, possibly a ferret.  I got the basic shape but then it went otterish.  With the wool colour I used, I just knew which otter it had to become.  A famous one who has his own book!

So I found his profile picture and one of him sideways on, waiting for Santa and got busy.  An hour and a bit later...





I think he's rather cute!


So that's my fortnight in crafty terms.

I am well on the road to recovery from my surgery in January and now that I can lift medium-weight things without injury I managed to find and hoover the living room floor!  We had friends over for a post-gallbladder-removal celebration meal and had a great afternoon, much laughter and happiness.

Jo went off on a teacher related thing at the start of the week so I had Gromitty over for a day and a night.  We watched far too much anime, made and ate pizza, and watched really jump-scary youtube videos right before bed.  We had to watch something funny just to allow the adrenaline to drop enough to get out the door!

I can watch horror, even the Japanese type that leave a lot of us quaking, but watching something where the tension builds and then the nasty thing pops up leaves me a little jumpy myself.

We had a powercut in the middle of this post, so I apologise if it doesn't parse as easily as normal, not only was my train of thought derailed by the loss of power it was then sent down a sidetrack when I lit our oil lamp and didn't get the flame under control well enough and the glass chimney exploded.  All bits found, including the bit that slightly melted the carpet, and all is well.  Must order more wick, just installed the last bit when the lamp stuttered out from wick not meeting oil (oops).

I shall go do that now.

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