On the way to the Summer Isles

We had a lovely Christmas. Family and friends came up to spend it with us in our cosy little house on the hillside. The weather wasn't at its best although Christmas Day arrived with some sun shine, and we managed a walk on Gruinard beach (the day I forgot to take my camera!)

Now our visitors have gone and the weather, of course, has improved - not much but a little.

Yesterday we took advantage of a break in the clouds and drove out to the Summer Isles. A region some 20 miles from here by road - less by water

The Summer Isles Hotel is situated in Achiltibuie and as its name suggests overlooks the Summer Isles. It is noted for its home produced or locally caught food. We had hoped to book a table there for friends arriving this coming weekend. Sadly the hotel is closed until March 2008, but the drive was beautiful and worth the effort

The sun sets at around 3.30pm, although we've now had the shortest day and have longer days to look forward to

A Happy and Peaceful New Year to you all

Christmas 2007

It's the Christmas present you barely consider that often gives the most pleasure!
I keep finding furry eyebrows and moustaches stuck to the inside of cupboard doors and bathroom mirrors! Children can be such hard work!

Crikey...!

Two weeks ago I was helping to clear trees from our land so the digger could get on with his digging. In the process I hurt my back and ended up in bed with a slipped disc. It's much better now and after many days of quiet contemplation and reflection spent on my back I've concluded that a career in 'logging' is not really for me. Sadly as a result we had to cancel a weekend in Devon celebrating a dear friends birthday along with a stop over in Manchester to see our son who has also just had a birthday. I missed lots including....

this. This looks like a road. This is so exciting. I've walked up and down it pretending I'm in the car

Never mind that we can't get into the shed.


Driving nicely round the bend, with my Waitrose shopping in the boot (this is also just pretend - there isn't a Waitrose in the Scottish Highlands)

This is why we're here of course, to build a house. It's easy to forget as everything seems to take such a long time to happen.

The danish house agent flies up on the 7th Jan. with his site manager to meet the building contractor. They want to talk about foundations. I want to talk about fitted wardrobes and curtain tracks - maybe I should hold back a bit..?

Sometimes when I can't sleep at night I try and remember what things are packed away where, and in which container - it's just a variation on counting sheep I suppose. But at times I do miss the contents of my home. It will be nice to see them again. Of course I've forgotten how shabby most of it is and will wonder why on earth we kept it all when it finally arrives!

Winter Sun

The sun is very low in the sky at present. It barely gets over the mountain tops (in most cases it doesn't.) The days are short. The sun rises at 9.00 and sets at 3.30. On our hill side in Letters we only see the sun for about an hour each day. It appears from the side of one mountain at the head of the loch travelling the short distance before disappearing into the side of the mountain on the other. This photo was taken yesterday morning at around 10.30 on the way into Inverness in a vague attempt to deal with the christmas shopping! It was cold and the sun cast l o n g shadows, The temperature was -6.5c. There is little if any snow though and the forecast for the weekend is more rain!

The Weather

There has probably been a mistake at the weather centre, but if you wanted to take your summer holiday now, this coming week looks as if it might be quite good - sunshine everyday not too hot, not too many summer visitors, nor midges - nor camper vans. It does get dark quite early though.

And he's off...

If you're not much interested in Diggers, now might be the time to look away

I can't believe in the space of half an hour what
total destruction it caused I have two concerns. One, is for the frogs that were happy and carefree last month hopping about looking for a good spot to bed down for the winter. They are going to wake up in February and wonder where on earth ('in' earth?) they are. And two, our digger driver never gets out of his cab. All day long he sits and drinks water. He has a break for lunch (I saw him eating a crunch corner) and yet I never see him get out of his cab? I have offered him the usual facilities one does to someone sitting in a confined space all day but he seems quite happy and able to 'manage!' I would be in and out of the cab on the hour.

This is the stream that has been diverted away from the center of the land to run along side the access road to join the main stream further down in the wood

This is the house site! I think the digger is in the kitchen (maybe the downstairs cloakroom!)

The Digger's here!

The Digger arrived in the dark this morning. I don't suppose you will feel as excited by this as we were! We grabbed the camera and rushed out in our water proofs, and boots (It's raining hard here -that's the polite way of putting it) ready to see the action. There wasn't any of course, but this is the most hopeful positive sign we've seen yet to suggest we might have a house here one day. Yes seriously!

For those of you who are passionate about diggers I've done a collage. You can print it out if you like and pin it on your bedroom walls. I don't have the specifications, but I can tell you it's a lovely bright yellow colour and comes with buckets and scoops and a fork thing

I do hope it's still there tomorrow. What if it's just been parked (Is that the right word - maybe one dumps a digger?) to be used elsewhere along the lane on a more pressing and urgent job?