Graduation time

Yesterday we had the privilege of going to see my son Will, graduate as 'BEng hon' in Automotive Engineering. He got a 1st which made it even better.

The ceremony was very traditional with all the fancy academic dress and traditional words and speeches. The national anthem of Wales sung in Welsh and the British national anthem in English also sung. The old pipe organ playing and the surroundings of a very old and ornate hall.

Here they are after their group had gathered outside, Will is second from the left..the tallest one, and me his Mother only just scraping 5' 2"!

Here's the old tradition of throwing the mortar boards in the air!

If you like to listen to the Welsh language listen to this, part of one of the speeches. I love to hear it and for my husband it is very special as his Mother was a Welsh speaker from North Wales.

A bit of Birding!

I know...you need good eyesight to work this one out but I don't have a fancy camera! Not sure if this was a Buzzard or a Golden Eagle, it was pretty big and up in the mountains on the west coast of Scotland.

This too takes a bit of seeing, if you look right in the middle on top of the stones you will see a Ringed Plover, it helps if you enlarge the picture by clicking on it! Well I gave up the nature photography then and stuck to binoculars instead! Here's the list of birds and creatures seen during my holiday in Scotland and the Islands.

Starlings (loads on the Hebrides)

Blackbird

Snipe

Wheatear

Cuckoo (heard it everywhere!)

Gannets

Puffin

Robin

Lapwings

Oyster Catchers

Skylark

Common Gulls

Wren

Raven

Greylag Geese

Rock Pipit

Fulmar

Shag

Cormorant

Meadow Pipit

Rock dove

Artic Tern

Artic Skua

Eider

Little Stint

Guillemot

Black Guillimot

Great Northern Diver

Common Sandpiper

Chaffinch

Hern

Greenfinch

Siskin

Dunnock

Hooded Crow

Pied Wagtail

Buzzard

Red Kite

Ringed Plover

Black Throated Diver

?Golden Eagle

Slavonian Grebe

Blue Tit

Great Tit

Sparrows

Common Seal

Grey Seal

Dolphin

Sheep!!!!!!

This little hand-made notice summed up the steepness of this hill and the seat is well placed! Worth it though because the view is amazing, over the Summer Isles.

One of the many lochs we sat by and idled time away, reading books that you never have time to do at home, drawing and painting or just cloud-watching.

A remote holiday in the Outer Hebrides

If you are wondering where I have been over the past weeks, this is the answer...the Outer Hebrides...to those of you outside the UK they are a small chain of islands off the west coast of Scotland. We stayed on the Isle of Harris in this beautiful cottage in the first picture overlooking the loch. It was like stepping into another century, the people are charming and everyone waves as they pass you in their car or in their gardens and love to chat and pass the time of day with you. Sundays are still special and everyone goes to Church, there are no shops open, no Sunday papers (until Monday lunchtime!) no washing on lines and it is a real family day and a day of rest. It reminded me of when I was a child and I have decided I will keep to that in my own way now, I have slipped into the habit of popping to the shops anytime but it was so nice to have such a peaceful day.

This is an evening view over the loch from the cottage, we could see seals from here and plenty of birds too. We also saw dolphin.

One of the many lochs in North Harris, I think this was Loch Seaforth. As you can see we had amazing weather and sunsets that kept you outdoors every evening. Because the islands are so far north the sun does not set for long at this time of year and it never gets completely dark. In fact my husband found he could read a newspaper outdoors at 10 minutes past midnight, just about!This sunset was taken looking over the Sound of Taransay, which if you watched the BBC's Castaway a few years back is where the folk were 'castaway'. This was the first week of a wonderful holiday which I hope we will repeat one day.

I managed to get my bird count up to 97...so 3 more to go!

Working hard at the Nurses Gala

Today we had our Nurses Gala at the Palliative Care unit where I work. We set up some great stalls, jam made by one of the Mac Nurses, cakes to drool over.............

Tombola, I've never seen such a big tombola stall, manned by our amazing volunteers who put in so many hours both on the ward and for the Gala.

Tattyanne doing the BBQ, they tasted wonderful and I think she ran out of Burgers in the end! It was good to see her again, quite like old times. (She has moved on to pastures new during the last year)....but we keep in touch.

In came the people, it doesn't look many but when it was really packed I had to man my bookstall and couldn't take photos.

The sun shone and we did really well, the funds are replenished! Alot of the people who came have lost loved ones in the past with us and it is lovely to catch up with them, lots of hugs, a few tears but mostly fun and laughter.

At last...I've done a bit of gardening!

I spent nearly all day today doing the garden with my son. We got out there by 9.30.am and kept going until 5.00pm! We repainted the seat and table, cleared out some scruffy bits of the patio, dead-headed the roses, weeded and hoed.

When we sat down to have a break we had a go at racing two snails which we called George and Sid. George won but Sid was rubbish!

This is the pond which has a host of wildlife in it. The whole garden is a bit of a wild garden but I like it that way. It's typically English in that we put everything in closely and let it all spill over the path and grow into each other....and it is only a small patch but I have 23 rose bushes in it, nearly all old fashioned smelly ones and lots of Cranesbill too.

We celebrated by having a BBQ this evening!

It's a grave matter!

A couple of weeks ago whilst walking Wrecks the dog I came around the corner here in the graveyard and saw an adult fox with 4 cubs. The cubs were playing and rolling about and jumping on the smaller gravestones. Wrecks and I stood and watched and they seemed not to have seen us...of course I didn't have my camera with me!
Since then I have been back regularly (with my camera) but only seen the adult fox, he or she seems unconcerned about me being there but no sign of the youngsters. He or she is in the middle of the picture at the back....I know, it's a bit distant!
I am beginning to wonder if people are beginning to think me odd as I am loitering about in the graveyard alot (Nobody who knows me is allowed to comment on whether I am odd or not!!!!!) Still, I shall keep looking every time I go past.

Baptism's in the sea Brrrrr!

Today 3 people in our Church were baptised in the sea, and it was a cold and rainy day. I'm not sure who was wettest, the baptism people or us stood on the beach! Mark was the first to declare his faith in Jesus and Ben (our Pastor) and Marks wife Rosie did the baptising. Now Rosie is a tiny little lady and the waves were buffeting her about, and prior to the service Rosie told me she "doesn't do cold!"

As you see it was a bit of a struggle with the waves and everything but Mark did go under!After Mark two young girls were baptised, Chloe and Verity watched by everyone from the Church on the beach to great cheers when they came up out of the water. Before this we had all had a shared lunch back at the Church.On the way back from the beach we stopped off to cheer my sons girlfriend on, in the 10k race, she's the girl in the grey T shirt getting soaked through. I think the rain was actually OK for them, it kept them cooler.
And now, at the end of the day the clouds have cleared and it's blue sky! So it was back to our house for a birthday tea for one of our son's. A busy day but really lovely too. Now...where's a darkened room I can lie down in !