Thanks, Bruce, i really enjoyed this lovely insight into your Orcadian life and look forward to your next epistle! Esp wonderful image of the compliant, unruffled hen with lambs hiding in her hen house! Can't help worrying about your frozen food supplies though - after a leisurely lunch and a 1&1/2 hour crossing! Hoping to get to Stronsay this July perhaps - I have Sinclair ancestors who once lived at "Sowiehall" - can't find anything similar to that name on my OS map, so i reckon its now a ruin or worse, like the homes of my other ancestors on Westray and Shapinsay. If there are any elderly residents you could ask - i'd love to know where Sowiehall once stood?? Hoping for some of those jolly monks on board the ferry, too! Best wishes, Fiona Pearson, here in your-left-behind Yorkshire, but dreaming of July. _________________________________________________________________ Get a FREE connection, FREE modem and one month's FREE line rental, plus a US or European flight when you sign up for BT Broadband! http://www.msn.co.uk/specials/btbroadband