We've Moved.

Well, that time has come. It's come and it's gone. I turned the key in the lock on Saturday. The Builder and the boys had left on Friday; Katie and I cleaned up and left on Saturday.

I was sitting in the car, having locked up when I realised I hadn't taken a photo. That is the ultimate no-no for a blogger - even for a semi-lapsed blogger such as my own self.

And so, of course, I did the necessary thing: I re-ran the whole locking up thing, and this time I clicked my camera phone to capture the moment.

And so, Saturday lunchtime saw Katie and I on the ferry leaving Lewis, not for a holiday, but to go and live elsewhere. It's not as though we're going to be far away. We're still in the North of Scotland, which in American terms, is practically only a block away. 

But this isn't about the number of miles. This is about leaving the island that's been home for most of our lives. This is about leaving the island on which my Mum and Dad live, and have lived all their lives. This is about leaving my sister and her family; my brother and his; the Builder's siblings and their families. My kids are leaving the island on which all their cousins still live.  Quite frankly, it's home. It was for the first twenty-four years of my life. It was still 'home' for the twelve years the Builder and I lived in Glasgow. It's been home for the past dozen years, and in our hearts, it will always be home. Whether we ever actually live there again, we don't know. We honestly don't know. But we do know that it will always be home.

And, at the risk of sounding rather the-king-is-dead-long-live-the-king-like, this was the sunrise on our first morning in our new home. I'll show y'all more photos very soon: suffice to say that the landscape is quite different from what I had, but I am still totally and utterly surrounded by God's beautiful creation.

That means that the Builder and our kids still have to hear an almost endless stream of:

"Oh, guys, have you seen this?"

"Katie, wow ... come and see the sunset."

"Have you seen the moon? Looooook!"

"Wow ... I just love seeing these fields. Look at that!"

Yes, it honestly has sounded rather like that these past few days.

Just one thing: whilst trees are lovely, in moderation, I can't help wondering why folks wanted to plant so MANY of them?? Seriously, they block out so much of the stunningly beautiful countryside. 

Aye, I guess whatever I am, a tree-hugger I am not.

Blue skies...

I just got a Facebook notification saying:

Katie just added a photo of you.

And so I went to look at what masterpiece she'd unearthed and posted on the dreaded Facebook.

This is the photo...

Er... am I missing something? 

As Jackson and I went for our morning stroll today, and watched the sun rise behind the mainland hills... 

Let's just stop right there. Doesn't that sound good? 

Me. Walking. Morning. 

Let's just dwell on these three words for a moment, realising they were placed, correctly, in one sentence.

And now I can't remember why I began the sentence in the first place. No matter: it was worth putting in just for me to emphasize these three words.  

Talking of the sunrise, if you head over to Eoropie Tearoom's Facebook page, you can watch a video of that very sun rising, this very morning.

Have you watched it? See the mainland hills? Nice.

I reckon if any future tourists are planning on visiting Lewis, they might think of booking a November holiday. These past few days have been as bonny as any days we've had all year. Last year, around this time, we took OMSH on a tour of our local sights.

We showed him the lighthouse,

and Port Beach

The skies were blue that day too. And that was November. So... mark my words - you wanna see our island bathed in sunshine, visit in November.


The Tourist Board ought to pay me for my in-depth studies into weather patterns on the island. Just sayin'

Good Morning, Sun

This morning's sunrise...

This is looking over Lionel and across the Minch, with the mainland hills seen in the background.

The later sunrise means that it's possible for me to actually see the sun rising in the mornings. This was taken around 6.30am, so it really feels like the nights are becoming longer - at both ends of the day.

These two photos were taken within seconds of each other, with this one giving a wider scope. The outline of some of the Knockaird houses can be seen at the left side of the photo. But here's my question: Why are the colours so different in these photos? Is it because the flash was used in one, and not in the other? I do know that the flash was definitely used in some of the photos, and not in others, but which is which? And why?

Please let this ignoramus know...