Christmas Calf!

I took Isadore around while delivering Christmas cards with my friend and her ponies. Don't they make excellent Christmas Critters?!

I opened the door to the barn and saw...

A peacock! Er...because as you all know, we have loads of peacocks just moseying around this wind-blasted island in the north of Scotland. In the middle of winter.

None of us has any idea were Sir Peacock has come from...but personally, I hope he sticks around!!
(Update: Peahen. PeaHEN... turns out Sir Peackock was Madame Peahen and wowza she could chase those cows around the pens! We might hire Peahen to help us with shifting our herds and flocks around the fields...)

Strange clouds tonight!

I caught sight of these clouds while walking past the silage pit after checking on the sheep. A lamb got loose and it sure was a rodeo trying to catch him and put him back in! Anyhoo, here are some pictures of the clouds. They remind me of deer or hounds racing across the sky! (The middle picture is of different clouds seen from the front of the hoose.)

Hogmanay! The Scottish New Year - And First Footing too!

THE LAST DAY OF 2006 !!!!!!

Today I will celebrate my very first Hogmanay! This is what they call New Year here in Scotland/Orkney. I quizzed Frances about Hogmanay and First footing. Frances visited on her pony Thorfinn. She often stops by on Thorfinn and taps on the front door with her crop from here lofty perch in the saddle. (Sadly we don't have room in our stable for Thorfinn at the moment so she's stuck visiting outside in the weather!) He's a lovely pony - I give him plenty of scratches and pets while I visit with his human.

I asked Frances about this Hogmanay and First Footing. Apparently Hogmanay is New Year. First Footing refers to all of the visiting that takes place over the next three days. From what I've gathered Hogmanay and First Footing was very popular because folk were not able to celebrate Christmas. (Calvinism at its best!) But the emphasis on Hogmanay/First Footing is starting to fade a bit now that it's ok to celebrate Christmas. I hope it doesn't fade away too much because it sure seems like a fun way to bring in the New Year!!

I just hope people don't try and force me to drink. I hate drinking. I'll have a glass of wine or a bit of drink here and there - but lots of drinking just isn't my thing.

A lovely thistle!

It amazes me how many beautiful useful plants are dismissed as horrible "weeds." Here is a lovely shot of a bonnie thistle just ootside of the kitchen winow. I hope it comes back every year!

Gardening and Farm pictures!

This is what a typical Orcadian ultra wind-proof byre (barn) looks like. They are built to withstand the pounding rains and gale-force winds of winter! These puppies are SOLID.


One of our farm roads.
Here is one of our Angus bulls, "Prince Chan."
Here is Prince Chan up close. He's been rubbing his face in the dirt and just now noticed that I'm available for some neck scratches. In wich he indulged.
Here is my beautiful Walled Garden...a tad bit on the eh...wild side.
My first two lambs, Sigured and Swayne.
Here are some lovely flowers growing under the kitchen window.
My lovely Sweet Rocket.
Here is a close-up of my "Livingroom Tomatoes." I won't have a greenhoose until next spring so...Erlend planted them in April and we've been nursing them along in the windows! So far so good...
Some American imports :-)

Summer Solstice 2006

When Erlend, Frances and I arrived at the Ring of Brodgar on the night of the Summer Solstice we found the place teeming with people. It was so good to see so many people there!

Summer Solstice 2006

Looking between two of the stones at the Ring of Brodgar as the Solstice sun sets behind a farm in the distance.

The Standing Stones of Stenness

These are the Standing Stones o' Stenness here in Orkney. I love going tae these stones and also tae the Ring o' Brodgar! Francis and I are going to go tae Brodgar on the Summer Solstice.

http://www.orkneyjar.com/history/standingstones/index.html

This is a bere bannock

A poke o' bere meal, a bere bannock and a plate full o' bere meal.

One of Erlend's favorite foods in the universe is the trusty ol' bere bannock: a flat bread made out of "bere meal." What is bere meal?? An ancient grain with a very rich and strong flavor. Here's how Wikipedia describes it:

"Beremeal is a whole grain flour made from bere, a variety of barley grown in northern Scotland, Orkney, and the Shetland Islands. It is commonly used in making bannocks and ale."

I still haven't managed to get it right. Every bere bannock I attempt to create becomes either hard as a rock, burned to cinders or rubbery as a bounced check.

I did manage to create a perfect Chinese Fighting Bannock though...

Me as a helicopter mechanic in the US Navy

Here is a picture of me back when I was a helicopter mechanic in the U.S. Navy. In this photo I was in the beautiful Middle East. The rotor blades of the helicopter are folded back in order to make the aircraft take up much less space when in tight places like aircraft carriers. (Normally they would be spread oot!)

I never imagined I'd follow a path that led to being a farm wife in Scotland!! Life is always so full of surprises!

Me, enjoying the daily news on my wooden throne in Alaska. I just HAD to share the oothoose picture!! Now I'm living high on the hog with indoor plumbing!!

(I never looked that thrilled when it was 40 below zero!!)

Goodbye Alaska! How I shall miss you...

But before I came here to marry my handsome farmer...I lived far far away in Alaska. (No I did not live in an igloo!!)

A common sight back home in Alaska. This is a very leggy young moose.

I attended the University of Alaska and I also volunteered as a firefighter/EMT. Note the lack of anything farm related. When I came here to Orkney I was utterly clueless... (This is my FAVORITE fire department picture because I *look* as if I'm all high and mighty talking with three Chief Officers...but in fact I'm asking them a question hehehehehe!)

This is the one-room cabin I rented just outside of Fairbanks. It had a big sleeping loft and it really wasn't a bad little place! Look - the cabin even had a porch! That's pretty fancy stuff for a college student...

Here you can see me and Erlend holding up the Alaskan Pipeline....

Seriously, I hate cameras. I always look like a doofus in photos! But anyway, my photo frustrations aside, this is a picture of me posing before a TRAINING FIRE. This was me a year ago, in Alaska, living a very very different life then what I'm living now. Don't get me wrong here - I'm very happy in Orkney! But wow...I have a LOT to learn about being a farm wife! A farm wife that... AVOIDS CAMERAS!