Lochside Life

I wanted to show just a little bit of Lochside life. This is what we have been up to over the last couple of weeks. Our friends, the ones that don't live here, often ask us what on earth we find to do up here.

Two weeks ago I went to the end of the lane with a friend who lives locally and she and I and a group of other lochside 'Ladies' got to try our hand at wood turning. There is a very nice man and his wife who live at the end of the lane and he is very clever at wood turning, and he has a brilliant wood shed to work in. On the way we met a man who keeps sheep on his croft. He and his wife were in the process of sheep shearing. It's a busy time here for farmers and the weather hasn't been all that good for sheep shearing. 

Niels has started to build a drystone wall. It is built in front of the retaining wall so probably wouldn't qualify as a 'proper' drystone wall. But I think it looks great and is an excellent way of using the 10 million rocks and stones and boulders we have in the garden! I took Niels  to the gorge I went to with Mary. I wanted him to see how lovely it was. Finally, finally we have put up a fence so we can let the sheep in to the lower bit of garden. It's far too much for us to keep strimming and they will make a much better job of keeping it trim than we will!

My blackcurrants are really slow this year. We moved them last autumn up the garden so they wouldn't get eaten by the sheep. Maybe they haven't liked the change but they have been very slow to get going. I'm slowly filling the gaps and extending the flower bed along the front side of the house. I think it's a life long project! And as ever we have rainbows to photograph. I don't think this has been the wettest July but it's certainly been the coldest I can remember.

Hidden Places

This was a lovely walk I did with Mary. The Inverbroom Estate near to where we live has opened up a track down to a tucked away hidden gorge. It was such a find. I've lived here for almost 8 years and had no idea of its existence! Full of wild life and flowers, overhanging rocks, ferns and orchids dragonflies and bees.. At the end of the track is a bridge. We weren't sure whether it was finished or a work in progress! We took a chance and stepped on it....it's a long way down, but what a view. I've shown an arrow indicating where the bridge is in the photo taken from the other side of the gorge. On the way home we walked through one of the farms on the estate. The ewes had been to the hairdressers and were looking very trim if a little forlorn after their short back and sides. The sheep dogs kept them in order until it was time to return them to their lambs waiting in the nearby field. The sun came out in the late afternoon and the wild flowers enjoyed the sun. Thank you Mary it was a lovely day and a lovely walk.

A lot of clouds and some flowers...!

We might not have had wall to wall sunshine and June it has to be said was rather gloomy, but we have had the most lovely skies and light and rainbows and flowers!

Cloudy and the small picture

It has been very very cloudy 

Yesterday I thought I would go out and practice using the aperture settings on my camera. I sat in the car and waited for the rain to stop....

and after a while I took a picture of a bit of Stac Pollaidh 

before it disappeared...!

Down on the shore despite a glimmer of light on the horizon

I decided to give up on the big picture

and concentrate on small instead

cloud doesn't seem to matter when you look at small things

When I got home I thought the cloud was less than it had been. They say this coming week the weather is going to warm up. Does that mean warm with cloud I wonder..?

When things don't quite work out...!

We've been in the Isle of Wight celebrating our 40th Wedding Anniversary together with our children and their partners. We had a lovely time and I will put more pictures on here. This is just to let you know I haven't forgotten you! But now, I'm off to the airport to pick up my daughter, who should have been flying to sunny Barcelona this morning with her boyfriend but is flying to wet  damp and cold Scotland instead because, despite turning their flat inside out and upside down, she has been unable to find her passport...!!

Jo, in happier times with her younger brother...