Strip my gooseberries why don’t you?
In the garden of Einar I have some unusual, old and very abandoned plants. There are Sycamore trees more than six feet …
Angelic Angelica
The Angelica is growing beautifully and wears a bright halo at the Ring of Brodgar.
Catching the late ferry
It’s Sunday so it’s the late ferry from Kirkwall to Westray tonight. It’ll be dark when we get there. I walk on …
Pink and orange
Pink and orange don’t go together; they clash. Or at least that’s the mantra when accessorising or designing a garden of flowers. …
A glimpse of Stromness
It’s Sunday and we have a whole day on the mainland before our evening ferry to Westray. There’s time for a glimpse …
Too good to recycle
I love the Orkney Brewery. It produces some wonderful beers. The bottles that their Dark Island Reserve comes in are also beautiful. …
Velvet Crab Boxes
My friend has a wonderful garden on mainland Orkney. It has trees. Yes, you heard me right; trees. In amongst them were …
The Ness of Brodgar Open Day
The Ness of Brodgar is a great name. I spent many holidays as a child in South Devon in a small village …
The two houses of the woodland sprite
Red Campion is pink. It doesn’t matter how many times I look at it, or photograph it, it still looks pink to …
White foam and intense blue
A panorama of Grobust beach on Westray.
Limpets in the midden
What we throw away tells a lot about us. A quick look at my bin would tell you I like an occasional …
Rock licking kneecaps
Limpets. Their traces are everywhere on the stones on Westray’s beaches. The name limpet means ‘rock-licker’ and that’s what they do, with …
Potent potentilla
The Potentilla is spreading with beautiful vigorous red runners over the shell sand at Grobust.
Wheatears in the new stone age
I’m sitting in a stone-age house; the new stone age, when the climate was warmer and people began to settle rather than …
Fish, eggs and baby birds
The Arctic Skua is one of the most recognisable silhouettes in Orkney, patrolling the shoreline hunting for birds’ eggs, young birds and …
Intelligent Sheep
I’m wandering up to the cliffs at Noup Head to take some photographs of the Gannets. I decide not to when I …
Bistorted
There are beautiful pink flowers in the garden at Einar. They look like Bistort in which case I wish I had more …
Well drop my scone…
One of life’s little pleasures is a cup of tea and a piece of cake. One of the very few downsides is …
Fettered
Around Gill Pier I spot a buoyancy ring. The word buoy comes from the 13th Century from the Old French boie “fetter …
Orkney Brewery
I’ve loved the Orkney Brewery’s beers ever since my first adventure with Red MacGregor and my journey to the Dark Island. I’ve …
Half a pound of biscuit
Half a pound of biscuit – that’s the way the money goes. WFM Brown makes bread and cakes and biscuits on Westray …
Glasgow, St Mungo and Midges
The toilet cisterns in Einar’s old school toilets say St Mungo on them. St Mungo is the patron saint of accused adulterers …
Fancy a piece?
I’ve just bought this fabulous dried fruit tart from Peter Miller’s shop. Would you like a piece? Hold on! Wait a …
Eggs on the doorstep
I arrive back from a day out exploring and there are freshly laid eggs on the doorstep from my kind Island friend. …
Emptying woodlice from the bread machine
I remembered to empty the woodlice from the toaster when I arrived. I forgot about the ones inside the bread machine. There’s …
Sunrise
Broad horizons. Breathtaking clouds. Constantly changing skies. That’s the view of Westray from my window.
Even a Gypsy caravan was too much settling down
Alicen’s Gypsy caravan has some wonderful paintwork.
6:43 am
I really must put the curtain pole back up with all this early sunshine directly into my eyes in the bedroom.
Tread softly because you tread on my dreams
Tread? More like trample all over. The horses have left their mark on my rhubarb.