Lochs - Living the Dream

Here he is…….lovely wee soul. He seems to be blind in one eye.  Eric is a twin, he was born on 15April, and his mother stopped caring for him.  So he is living in a cardboard box next door - in the house overnight and in the veg patch during the day.  He is being fed 5 times a day, at 4 hourly intervals

With the lovely sunny days we have been having, lack of cloud cover means that it is not particularly warm - fresh is the word which springs to mind!  This chap is quite skinny.  Because he is on his own, there’s not much motivation to move around much (no pals to gambol with) - this in turn means he gets cold.  However, if he is indoors for too long he won’t toughen up for life on the moor.  So it’s quite a balance between building up his strength and toughening him up.

Anyway, enough gabbing…..meet Eric!

PS - N and I have just been for lovely walk with Ned and Archie on Traigh Mhor, in the sunshine.  Had the beach to ourselves……and guess which muppet didn;t take her camera???  When will I learn?

Thought I’d frighten the life out of you and post 2 days in a row!

I have done a very special thing today…..P the D and I went next door and fed the lamb, Eric.  He is about 6 days old, his mother wasn’t looking after him, and he needs caring for.  P and I were both clucking around him for 15 mins with a bottle of milk.  No wonder the poor soul is struggling - lambs don’t cluck! 

Anyway, I have committed to the lunchtime feed tomorrow - so I’ll be taking my camera with me to get some snaps for the blog.  Eric is a little star - he is still quite weak and wobbly on his legs, so might take him for a walk too, to build him up a bit.  So, photos tomorrow!

I have been nudged and reminded that I have not updated for nearly 3 weeks.  The time has rushed by and yet this is only my first post in April. 

Well, we had 2 weeks of Easter Hols from school.  N and I went back to Cheshire for a week. He spent the week with his Dad, and I spent the week working - 2 days on South Coast near Mum and Dad and the rest working in K’s dining room.  It was lovely to see everyone - didn’t feel as weird to be back as I thought it would.  All the gang are still the same and it felt great to be there

K laid on a fantastic girls afternoon tea…….forgot pictures of girls, but didn’t forget pictures of cake!

We spent the next week off school/work together back in Grimshader, and had a good relaxing time.  Lambing has started, there were lots of children on holiday in the village, and so N was in his element roaming the crofts, wading through muddy ditches and climbing trees. To top it all the weather has been glorious for around 10 days.  This place is beautiful at the worst of times, but in sunny weather it is just unbeatable

Here’s a snap of N, A and E on Grimshader Moor - they spent most of the walk looking for tadpoles in the puddles (and found loads!)

I thought we might have a bit of a “wobble” returning after our first week back in old familiar surroundings, especially N having special time with his Dad.  But we didn’t.  We both grinned at each other as the plan touched down in Stornoway, and enjoyed our few days together before back to school

So, why “My Clever Son”?  latest funny story.  We were in church yesterday morning.  N sits at the front with the other children, and just before they go off to Sunday School the minister speaks to them, and tells a story, or teaches them something.  Yesterday, the minister asked the children,  “How many books are there in the Bible?”.  Up went a few hands, but N was first, so he got to answer “66″ he said.  “Well Done N”, said the minister.  I nearly fell off my pew…..had no idea how N knew the answer.  Anyway, there were a few more questions, and then “How many books are there in the Old Testament?”…..this time only N’s hand went up.  “Come on then N”; pause for baited breath “39″; pause again for baited breath (as I had no idea whether this was the right answer!)…..and it was! 

I sat glowing with pride, nodding sagely as though I knew he’d get the answers right.  Glancing round to check everyone realised he was MY son.  Fiddled with my book of psalms, and popped another aniseed twist happily into my mouth 

Has my gorgeous clever son been here before?  Does he secretly study the Bible after lights out?  As we left church, I hugged him and told him how proud I am of him, and asked how he knew.  “Well Mum, I was sitting next to the lady who runs Sunday School, and she whispered the answers to me”.  At least he was honest!

So life on the island continues to make us smile, and feel glad we are here.  Here are a few more photos

A photo of a Fank, for my friend A……you know who you are! This one is not as clever as yours, but was taken with you in mind

We spent a lovely afternoon on the beach on Saturday with friends from the rough end of the village (!!).  Here are a few snaps…..this one is Dalbeg Beach, about half an hour from here - very very crowded and the water’s filthy, but hey it’s a beach

Building a dam!

I know, I know….what’s the use of raving about our adventure on the moor today, when I forgot my camera and have no photos.  It doesn’t come naturally to me to carry my camera around, and I would have got some great shots today, so must do better

When we woke up this morning it was raining/hailing/snowing and stayed like that until late morning, so we had a lazy couple of hours pottering around the house.  N was keen to help our neighbour, D with his sheep, so we went to see if he was by the pen……he was…but it was snowing!  So I left them to it for half an hour and went for a cuppa further up the village.  When I got back they were working with last years lambs - painting their bums, vaccinating against bluetongue, putting some stuff on to get rid of ticks and giving them worm medicine.  N was learning how to catch the sheep, hold their horns and sit on their shoulders to keep them under control……wow…..he was really enjoying it and it was nothing to do with X-Box

Once all the work was done on the lambs, we set off across the moor with them, and to see if we could find any sheep to bring back ready for lambing.  It was a fabulous walk….blue skies, clear air, absolute quiet and a good guide (D from next door).  All in all a really good day

PS - this was written on the day of the walk….but posted on Tuesday!

Tags: Grimshader Moor, sheep

Just a quick update on things happening in our life

1. N saw first bumble bee of the spring in the front garden tonight, so he took a photo

2. I found out a couple of days ago that I am related (although distantly) to the person who built this house.  The last Macaulay to live here only had one leg, and they called him Murdo “Mac-crutches”…..you couldn’t make this stuff up

3. The family renting my house in Cheshire have had a new baby.  Baby Annabelle was born in the en suite bathroom attached to my bedroom.  Mum never made it to hospital - both are doing well.  How fantastic is that?!

4. Promised several people some more photos, so here’s a few more

The road into Grimshader - our house is hiding behind the road signs

Our wee hoos, front and back

We climbed a hill near the house tonight, trying to get a view of the sunset.  Found a lovely still small loch, catching the last of the light.  Shame I am not a camera buff with a wide lens as the light just off to the right of this shot was beautiful

Goodnight for now!

Here’s the proof……isn’t he gorgeous?  Elvis isn’t too bad either.  Many thanks to my friends J&L for providing me with their pictures of Elvis on the moor.  This is Elvis with J&L, my lovely friends from Cheshire, and my boy N

I await the flood of apologies from those of you who doubted me….how could you….you have known me for so long!

Having set this blog up to record what I am up to “up here” for my friends and family “down souf” I have felt the need to share this story with you all - some of you were there, others have heard it already.  This was certainly one of the most surreal experiences I have had……just a lovely giggle

During Summer 08 N and I were staying on holiday in Achmor with friends.  By a bizarre coincidence we were staying in the house where X333XXX has been staying for the winter - but that’s another stalking story

One lovely sunny day, we decided to go into Stornoway across the moor road, from Achmor, to join the Pentland Road .  We set off in convoy with our friends J&L.  Just about half a mile before the junction with the Pentland Road we could see a bit of a commotion up ahead - lots of people and vehicles and those big long poles with lights on the end that you see on film sets.  We pulled up next to a man who waved us down.  He explained they were filming for the new BBC Alba channel - they were moving a truck off the road and hoped not to keep us waiting for too long.  Being naturally nosy, I asked what they were filming - “A comedy about Elvis…well Eilbheas actually; that’s Gaelic for Elvis” (I think he was showing off!)

“So, is he here?” I asked……”yup, just down there by the peat bank” the talented traffic diverter advised.  Having never see Elvis in the flesh (far too young) I leaped out of the car for a gawp.  And there he was - just below the level of the road, sitting in a directors chair, big quiff, shades and full-on Las Vegas, white, all-in-one trouser suit.  Strangely he had a Scottish accent (must have been here a long time), but he posed for photos and was generally very pleasant.  We didn’t hear him sing though.

We continued our journey, with that “did that really happen” kind of feeling, trailing behind us for most of the day.  Now the next thing I planned to say was…happily though we had the photographic evidence.  Although I know there are pictures, I can not find them anywhere, so will have to go back to J&L to pinch theirs.  However as I have really hyped up my entry for today will have to post this without the pictures, and will add them when I can. 

You will get used to my total muppetry - if you are a patient sort of person

Tags: Elvis, Pentland Road

I am impressed!  Les has worked a miracle and transferred my blog across from Blogger to IB - X333xxx, please note, this was NOT magic, but pure mastery by the man I think we should all refer to as His Les-ness from now on.   I didn’t really believe this could work……but it does.  Thank You Guru!

Tags: Guru, transfer blog

I changed my mind!

I had set up my blog and and was happy with it, until I found out about the world of Island Blogging, which somehow managed to pass me by until a couple of weeks ago

Hopefully with Les’ help, I can move over all my old posts from Blogger and continue my blog as part of big happy cuddly network of other bloggers on Scottish Islands.  So, if this all works I can post tomorrow and tell you all about how N and I met Elvis on the Pentland Road……OK sad attempt to attract interest……but that’s me, attention seeking!

Tags: Elvis, new blog, Pentland Road

I know that you can buy postcards of Highland Cows, but somehow, when you have taken the picture yourself from the car window, the cow looks even prettier! Look at this one

I have been asked to post more pictures of the house and the village we live in. Every time I have my camera the weather is awful and yesterday, when the weather was beautiful my camera was at home…..but I have a couple taken from the road between Grimshader and Ranish. As the road winds between the hills there are a couple of places where you can see the house through the gaps.

Hard to see when the picture is that small, but our house is just above the silvery patch of water just to the right of centre of the shot. Hmmm, that didn’t really work did it? Sorry Dad!

We are working hard again today at observing a traditional Lewis Sabbath. I am getting a bit better at doing very little, but need to try harder again next week. N and I went to church today in Leurbost - N happily pointed out that he knew far more people than I did, which was horribly true! Even the minister recognised him from a visit to the school. I enjoyed the calm atmosphere and the singing - especially the singing.

Did some more work on the family tree with “The Elder” yesterday - we now have around 350 names on it and still growing. Starting to pull a few reports from the data and finding the best way of looking at it. Not bumped into any new relations this week, although we talked, quite by chance yesterday to some one whose blog I have been watching for a few months. Strange how small this place really is!

Swimming, climbing and football are still the mainstays of N’s out of school activities. He is playing for Lochs U12s and is in a tournament which runs every Tuesday night for another 4 weeks. The tournament is indoor and 5-a-side, so very fast and exciting to watch. We are trying to swim twice a week to get him good enough for canoe club, not sure if we are progressing or not. As for the climbing….that is great. We had an induction on the climbing wall in the Sports Centre, and that means we can go as often as we like - with me doing the belaying, rope thang. We went on our own for the first time yesterday, and fumbled our wya through the knot tying (with a bit of timely intervention from a climber just when we needed it!). N made it to the top via 3 different routes, each harder than the last - he is a bit of a natural.

This week the mobile library comes, so off to try and finish my books - although you can have as many as you like and there are no late fines, so if I don’t finish it doesn’t really matter! What a place