The Returning

Almost 180 years after being found hidden in the  shifting sand dunes of Uig, six of the Lewis Chessmen returned 'home' just for a day. Of course, we had to head over and see them in situ.

 
I must apologise for the very blurry photographs, but they were the best I could do today.  I hope you are able to make out those doleful expressions. The Queen, King, Bishop, Warder and Knight are pictured above.  The King is pretty scary looking, sitting there with his sword across his knee.  The story of the Lewis Chessmen is very interesting, and the details can be found here - much better than any of my retelling.

The carving is beautiful - even the back of the pieces are richly decorated.  It was a good visit today - lots going on.  There were two Vikings in the museum, giving spindle and weaving demonstrations and telling stories of battles and bravery, and BBC Alba were recording some interviews.

James wasn't in the mood for that though - he wanted to go to the museum cafe for a bowl of their delicious homemade soup.

So, I had a pot of tea and, a slice of Victoria sponge cake - oops - just crumbs left, sorry!

So, since we were over there anyway, we decided to go on the couple of miles to the place where the chess set was originally found. It just happens to be one of our favourite beaches too :)

When we got there, we found these large arrows marked in the sand, pointing towards the dunes.  Was that a clue perhaps? Who knows.

One of the local Bards has written a poem to celebrate the return of the Chess pieces to their finding place.  It is just so beautiful, and you can read it here.  It is in Gaelic, but there is an English translation further down the page.

xx

This week in Autumn

The colours of Autumn this week have been mostly grey, shot with silver

Pale sunsets in monotones

and rainbow brightened days

We have gathered late harvests;

and re-built the Titanic - totally unsinkable this time;

met some exacting housekeeping standards

Visited a wonderful local museum.  Saw so many ideas for our barn kitchen, and remarked on how some tool  construction cannot be bettered -

and found design inspiration in some unlikely places!

 We enjoyed some evening company

and a night out too :)

Now we are making preparations for the coming storm - making sure our seedlings are safe in the shed, the bins are secure and the lifeboat is safely moored in the ditch. Usual stuff for here, mind you.

And making sure that we have something to occupy ourselves when it is just too wet to go out. ;)

Take care and enjoy your week, and the colours around you xx

Thoughts of home and abroad

Gazing out over the Atlantic breakers towards the Western horizon, our thoughts turn to the city of New York.  Can it really be 10 years ago that those blue morning skies were blotted out by flames and dust?

So many innocent lives dashed in an instant - at that moment - and in the decade since. 

So we send our love and healing wishes out with the tide, to the people of America; of Iraq; of Afghanistan and London, and all others caught up in the fires that were ignited on that day.

An event which has touched us all.  Even here, in this remote and beautiful spot.  For we stand on the beach at Mangersta, on the West coast of the island. This is the home of Linda Norgrove, kidnapped  while working with Afghan women and children, and who died while being rescued.

Peace and love be with you all. x

This moment...

A single image, no words, capturing a precious moment from my week.  A simple moment that I want to pause, savour and remember. 

I am so happy to be joining in with Soulemama again this week. Wishing you all a colouring weekend.

Birthday girl

Happy Birthday to my little girl, Kristine.  It is so nice to have her nearby now - close enough to meet up for birthday lunch (and cake, of course) and a wander around town among the showers.

Yes - very nice indeed. :)

Just so you all know - Kristine has moved up for a year to study at the UHI campus in Stornoway.  She is living in a house-share in the big town -  about a half hour drive away from us. Happy, happy happy me:) 

Getting ready.

So - I have chosen the yarn for my Ripple blanket - mostly pinky purpley shades with the odd dash of lichen green and faded yellow. I think I have been influenced by the landscape colours of the moment here.  But I am just so excited about this - crochet seems to be such a colourful thing.  I am sure knitting is too, but - sigh - I have lost my heart to the hook, I am afraid.  Talking of hooks  -, while I was ordering my wool, this "ergonomically designed" crochet hook just happened to fall into the virtual basket - see it there?  It looks like something from an operating theatre tray, but it feels very nice in the hand.  I think we are going to be very close friends.
I have a couple of things to cross off my list this week, but very soon, I intend to snuggle down with my new buddy and start this rippling thang.  I very much hope that in this spot next week, you will see some colourful wavy crochet lovliness.

And to continue the getting ready theme - some essential reading material  in preparation for the arrival some other new friends who will be joining us at the end of the month.  Oh my - oh my!

Pop over to see Ginny at Small  Things and see what the yarn along is today. x

Lumberjack cake

My original title for this post was "I'm a lumberjack and I'm a cake", but I thought that was just too groan inducing, so I will just give you the recipe instead.  This is such a delicous and filling cake - and it certainly doesn't deserve to be the focus of my bad attempt at a pun.
The recipe comes from The River Cottage Cake Handbook, by the very lovely and gentle Pam Corbin.  For once I actually had all the ingredients called for, so no tweakery necessary today.

Grate two eating apples - these are Discovery, and I left the skin on.

Add 250g  (9oz) chopped dates to the apples and mix together.

Sprinkle over 1 teaspoon of bicarbonate of soda and add 250 ml (8 fl oz) boiling water/

Set aside until warm.

Then beat 125g (4 oz) soft butter and 175 g (6 oz) light soft brown sugar until light and fluffy

Beat in 1 egg

Add the apple and date mixture including the liquid and mix well

Sift in 150g (5 oz) plain flour with a good pinch of ground cloves and salt added

Fold together gently

The mixture will be very sloppy, but Pam says that is just fine.

Pour into a prepared tin - sorry forgot to mention that a 18cm (7") square (mine was 19cm) or a 20cm (8") round tin, greased and lined is required.

I also forgot to take photographs of the buttery, sugary, floury, mixy bit, but you can imagine what that looks like, can't you?  This was what the bowl looked like at the end.

And my glamorous assistant took care of the rest.

Bake @ 180c, 350f, or Gas mark 4 for 40 minutes, until firm to touch.

While it is baking, make up the topping.

In a saucepan, melt together 75 g (3 oz) butter, 75g  soft brown sugar (Pam says either light or dark!),

 60g (2 oz) dessicated coconut and 75 ml (5 Tblsp) milk

When the cake is cooked, spread the coconut topping over the cake and bake again for another 25 mins.

Leave the cake to cool in the tin and then turn out.  Do try and stop yourself from picking at the edges, as it cools - although I certainly couldn't.

So there we have it!  Moist, dense, chewy, soft, puddingy, appley, coconutty, totally deliciously -

 Lumberjack cake.

I think it would have gone well as a dessert with ice cream, if it had lasted long enough!

Eta:  I was thinking about this again last night - I'm not the only person to think about cakes all the time, surely?  Anyway, I had an idea that it might work beautifully with pear and dried blueberries maybe with a slight gingery hit or with dried apricots, apple and cinnamon??

♥

Colours of the season

The warm hues and tints of Autumn are slowly, but surely stealing over the landscape.  Even the sea-lochs are looking burnished.  I loved doing my Summer Loving posts - looking back over the past week, as we stepped out into a new one.

I am going to continue this theme every Sunday - a kind of catch all post for things I want to remember, but don't have the time or space to blog about.

Autumn is still a very busy time for us.  We have such a lot of things going on over the next few months - all of which will be shared here in more detail as we go along.
We have several sets of lovely visitors to look forward to - very exciting.  There will be some new arrivals on the croft, plans for the land and buildings as well as the house and garden.

And we have our own projects too -  finding space and time for creativity, for family, and for community.

I am making lists, and mind-maps - trying to pin down all these ideas and plans. Where to start?  Which list to tackle first?

Ah yes!  The most important thing of all.  Being out there - being in the beauty of nature - just - being!

Today, at the beach, James wanted to cover his favourite rock with shells.  Off we went with heads down searching for all the shells we could find, as quickly as we could - it is a big rock, you know!  There are plenty  of shells on this beach, and soon John and I had pockets bulging.  Then I became aware of James picking up his shells, and I stopped to watch him.

Each shell was carefully looked at, and its colour,shape or some other attribute remarked upon.  "Look at this beautiful pink one!"  "This one is like a butterfly!"  "What kind of shell is this one?  Oh see -I think the creature is still inside!"

Every tiny fragment of sea-urchin shell was exclaimed over and revered. 

He collected his shells carefully and full of presence, observing and appreciating the act of gathering

I suddenly became aware of my busy-ness - concerned only with quantity.  It is the same with all my plans and schemes for the new season.  How much can I achieve? When can I get started?

It was a lesson in pure mindfulness from a master, and one I needed to learn.

Find the joy in the gathering and again in the completion.

Whatever the colours of the season, where you are - whatever plans you may have for the next few months -

I hope you find moments of presence in there too.