I am one of the lucky ones who has been offered full pay to stay at home during this Cornovirus emergency. I am lucky to have been protected, both as an individual and as an employee of the charity I work for. And I have loved spending time with my teenagers, finding out how they …
A Longing for Lewis: Carloway Broch
Perched on a hill, overlooking the township and out across Loch Carloway is an Iron Age fortification over 2000 years old. Thought to be Norse/Viking in origin it has been inhabited across time, still acting as a stronghold in the 1600's before it was partly destroyed by feuding clans. Brochs are circular in construction, with …
A Yearning for Uist
...I haven't been there yet, but after 14 years in the Western Isles, the Coronavirus travel restrictions could be the perfect opportunity to travel nearer to home....
Question…?
Should you continue to do what you believe is right, even if someone has told you that it won't make any difference? Example: The bin man told me that all our rubbish goes to landfill at the moment. Because of Coronavirus, there is no facility to send the plastic away off island for recycling, so …
A Hankering for Harris: Luskentyre
Many words have been used to describe the beaches at the tiny village of Luskentyre in West Harris. My favourite is: Sublime: of outstanding spiritual, intellectual, or moral worth. c : tending to inspire awe usually because of elevated quality transcendent excellence It is our first choice when the sun comes out and the beach …
I Bloody Love Scotland
I cannot deny it, I bloody love Scotland. Not the kilted, marketed, historical Scotland of the past and travel brochures, the real, here and now Scotland. In our 14 years of living here and travelling to and from my family in England, I have made sure we make the best of the journey between here …
A Hankering for Harris: Huisinish
On descending through the mountains, turn an immediate right through Bunabhainneadar and past the old whaling station. The first thing you notice along this road is a tennis court! Not what you'd expect amongst the moonscape of Harris (they filmed sections of the island for 2001 Space Odyssey because of its other planetary feel) but …
Restricted Movements
I haven't written anything yet about the global pandemic currently occurring, maybe because it still hasn't sunk in yet (Note to self: Lockdown announced 24th March 2020, realised world really had been put on pause so placed on furlough 20th April, today's date 17th May, end date unknown....). We are in an unprecedented situation globally, …
Lamb Tails
Such a joyous - but also worrying - time of year : Lambing. Our flock started a few years ago by taking in orphan lambs and bottle feeding them. One of those first orphans arrived in our kitchen for some warmth and formula and soon enough started bleating loudly to be taken out of her …
Easter 2020 & the power of friendship
It's times like this that I am glad I live in a place where people are so 'out' about religion. After a long winter, when the daffodils burst through the flat earth and lambs begin to spot the landscape, it feels completely right to worship rebirth. We think of time as being linear, it runs …
Horizontal Rain 