Wonderful, Bruce, your writing is great. \i'm in Stromness myself for the week enjoying the Folk Festival here, staying in Andy Fawcett's delightful BandB. Such music and voices brought to gether here. I highly recomend it to everyone for next year if you can. \i came not knowing what to expect and can't beleave how lucky I am to be here. Kathy --- Bruce Fletcher <ricardian@btinternet.com> wrote: > Our trip to Kirkwall last week was uneventful > despite Maureen's belief that > the boat was doomed to plunge into the depths every > time it rocked. The > outward and return journey took about 90 minutes > each instead of the usual 2 > hours because the boat did not call at Eday or > Sanday. It seemed strange at > first to see all the traffic and people in Kirkwall > even though it was less > than two months since we left 'civilization. > However, I remembered to keep > looking in my rearview mirror and we soon adjusted > to looking both ways > before crossing the road and fastening our seatbelts > every time we got into > the car. The main purposes of the trip were to visit > the hairdresser/barber, > stock up with some seed potatoes, onion sets etc. > and to bulk buy some > frozen food. We achieved all these objectives and > still had time for a > leisurely lunch in the Kirkwall Hotel. An added > bonus was spotting and > buying some fresh strawberries that had been grown > on Papa Westray - much > tastier than the huge, forced strawberries that > appear in some mainland > shops at this time of year. > There were several monks from Papa Stronsay on the > ferry to Kirkwall. On the > return journey they were laden down with a variety > of mysterious parcels > including an extremely long curtain rail that was > particularly difficult to > control in the stiff breeze. I always thought that > monks were quiet, > thoughtful, rather lugubrious people but the > Transalpine Redemptorists from > Papa Stronsay seem perpetually happy and cheerful. > The chap who does various electrical and plumbing > jobs that are beyond my > capabilities (i.e. most of them) keeps hens on his > croft and has just > acquired five lambs, two to keep as pets and three > for the freezer. Last > week he thought that the lambs had escaped because > there was no sign of them > in their field. Just as he was about to commence a > search of the area his > wife called his attention to five lambs that were > squeezing themselves out > of the tiny henhouse entrance followed by one hen. > Fortunately the lambs > will soon be too big to get into the henhouse so the > hens will have the > place to themselves again. > We have just one wagtail who has visited us almost > every day since we moved > in. For almost a week now we have been delighted to > see that he/she has > brought a baby wagtail into the garden and has fed > it while we watched > through the kitchen window. There are plenty of > local birds - sparrows, > starlings and blackbirds - just as there were in > Yorkshire but we hear > curlews, oystercatchers and lapwings calling all the > time. The two greylag > geese near one of the two shops are now the proud > parents of two goslings > and emit warning hissing noises if they think that > anybody is too close to > their offspring. The sparrows and starlings are all > very tame and appear to > have no great fear of humans. When either of us goes > into the garden the > birds immediately take to the air but as we walk > about they will land right > behind us and carry on as though nothing had > happened. It is not uncommon > for Maureen to shake the washing line to make the > birds fly off it so that > she can peg out some clothes. Maureen puts out food > scraps for the birds > every day and they are soon gobbled up but some > birds are very ungrateful > and leave multiple tiny, dirty claw prints or, > worse, their 'calling cards' > on her clean washing. > -- > Bruce Fletcher > Stronsay, Orkney > http://uk.geocities.com/ricardian@btinternet.com/ > > > ==== ORCADIA Mailing List ==== > To unsubscribe from the Orcadia mailing list, send > an e-mail with the word > 'unsubscribe' in the message body to > orcadia-l-request@rootsweb.com > __________________________________ Do you Yahoo!? Friends. Fun. Try the all-new Yahoo! Messenger. http://messenger.yahoo.com/