A Day on Swainbost Beach

Of all the beaches I visit, my favourite has got to be Swainbost beach. Now, undoubtedly, part of my bias comes from the fact that this is the beach on which so many of my childhood memories were made. Growing up, this was My Beach.

But I also love it for what it has to offer: the mix of sand and rocks, and sea and rock pools. Places to shelter from any breeze that may be blowing, places to set out a picnic on a rock. I love it all!

Today's visit did not disappoint.

For the first hour, I read and took notes for my Bible study. 

Calum Stewart and my nephew, Ross, were having a wonderful time with their boogie boards, or simply sitting on the warm rocks and chatting.

After we'd been at the beach for an hour or so, some more folks joined us. My Mum - yes, my Mum! - came along with my niece and nephew, Iona and Owen, and some of Owen's friends.

The kids even managed to get Granny to dip her toes into the sea.

It was a very special day for me because the memories that make Swainbost beach such a wonderful place for me were all created with my Mum! Mum hadn't been on this beach since we were children until today, so it was a very special day for her. Today, she made more memories - not only with her own offspring, but with the next generation - her grandchildren.

Even Calum Stewart seemed lost in thought at times.

As the tide comes in, lovely pools form - pools with warmer water than the open sea. I remember playing in this very pool as a child.

Looking north towards the Eye of the Butt from the beach itself, 

... and from the machair. The machair flowers are so lovely at this time of year. To have the wonderful pinks and yellows and purples of the flowers, and the deep blues, turquoises and greens of the sea all in one picture is truly a delight.

Eye candy.

And finally ... just to prove that I did get my feet wet ...

Sheep Shearing on the Croft

It's the time of year again for the sheep to be getting their short-back-and-sides, and so Big Brother called on my help once again.

Okay, so he didn't actually call for my help, but having my offspring there as his assistants is kind of the same thing.

And talking of offspring, for this post, I'm going to let DR do most of the talking ...

Take it away, DR.

Okay, here's where the process starts:

The smallest amongst us dives in and grabs an unshorn sheep, holding it for long enough for....

me to take over the head.

I haul it over to the shearing platforms and.....

flip it over on its back.  

Uncle Calum, aka Big Brother,  then takes over for the expert part - the shearing.

When BB is almost finished with the sheep, I prepare to take its head. As a side note, the best way to hold or control a sheep is to hold its head - control the head, control the body. (I'm sure there is a sermon in there somewhere ... )

At this point I take the head again,

Calum clears the wool and I hold the sheep in preparation for...

a dose from CF and a mark from my cousin, Mairi.

This is what I do while CF is shearing - I lay out the wool, inside up, clean any lumps off it, and fold the sides into the middle

I roll it up,

and use the tail at the end tucked into the middle of the ball to hold it in place.

And, voilà!  Half a dozen balls of wool ready to be packaged.

Now for some trivia:

Sheep are sheared section by section - front, tail, neck, and sides.

Mairi is holding the power cord to the shears - here it's because Big Brother is almost finished, but if it's a restless sheep she'll be there just in case it goes postal on BB.

(note from Mother: I have no idea what 'postal' means in this context. Any help from readers on this score would be appreciated.)

Here, she's just pulled the cord. 'Good action shot, Mum!' 

I've taken the head and.....

I have it.

"Huh? A camera? And Anne? What is she doing here, so far from her natural environment?!"

(By 'her natural environment', I do believe Big Brother means the kitchen... )

Home free..

These two are really 'home free' - two runners who jumped the fence. We got them back eventually - two rugby tackles later!

Calum takes a go with the spray.

This sheep is wondering where her buddies have gone - they've made sure they're as far from us as they can get!

Catch-up from Facebook Posts

Here is a wee catch-up for all my blog readers who do not follow along on Facebook.

Last Saturday evening, the girls came home with this lovely package for me.

When packages are this bonny, I feel reluctant to open them. Who wants to tear the lovely tissue? Or break the pretty ribbon?

When I did open it, this ...

is what I found.

What precious girls I have.... so much more than I deserve.

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The weather has definitely got a cooler feel to it, and we lit our stove for the first time in some months.

It was lovely to smell the peat again.

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This photo was taken the day of the Glasgow wedding at which we were.

I kind of like this photo. 

I kind of like the greenery. I kind of like the boys. Oh well, okay, I love the boys.

And yes, I love the kilt too.

Have a great weekend, folks. I'm am looking forward to my Day of Rest Tomorrow ... Here's a sermon I listened to this past week (whilst on my treadmill. Yep, that's the truth.) The sermon is called The Seventh Trumpet, and is worth listening to. (Click on either of the two links.)

Blessings to y'all. Have a wonderful Lord's Day.

A Mish-mash of This Past Week

Here's a snapshot into my past week, because I know y'all woke up this morning wondering how my week was going.

When we spoke of 'our girls' over the past week, there were five delights included, rather than the normal two. Here are our girls heading off for the day to Luskentyre beach in Harris. 

Now, those of you who have no idea where Luskentyre is, or what the beach looks like will probably have thought, 'Oh, that's nice for them ...' . However, those of you who have been to Luskentyre, or who know what it's like will have thought something along the lines of, 'Oh wow! The lucky dippers! That is such a beautiful place!'. 

Am I right?

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At one of our morning worship times, we were reading in John chapter 7. Verse 43 struck me:

"So there was a division among the people because of Him."

We were talking afterwards of how that is always the case: Christ always divides. The truth is that we are either for Him or against Him. Much as I'd have liked to have believed before I was saved that I was in some middle-ground - that, even though He wasn't precious to me, that I wasn't against Him. But whatever I felt like, the truth stands: I was against Him. Praise Him for taking me out of that miry clay, and for setting my feet on a rock - on Christ Jesus Himself.

That led us to not only thinking how Christ and the Gospel divides, but how it unites.

And it sure unites! Here we were, a group who, only days ago, had never even met and who now felt completely at one, as brothers and sisters in Christ. What else would take young ladies from the west coast of the USA and a middle-aged couple from an obscure island off the coast of Scotland and unite them the way the Gospel does?

Nothing, I tell you. Nothing!

But all good things must come to an end, and on an early morning we headed over to town to see them onto the ferry. It seemed like they'd only just arrived, and now they were leaving us. 

Girls, we had such a great time with you here, and we certainly hope we'll meet you all again.

Haste ye back!

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This week, our nation rejoiced with the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge over the birth of their son, and so we raised the flag in honour of our new heir. Thankfully, he was born when we had little wind, otherwise our honouring of his birth would have been done in another way.

Maybe with cake. 

Oh. Hmmm ... maybe it wasn't so good that we had no wind.

HRH, Prince of Cambridge has been named George Alexander Louis. I had a Homeschool on the Croft FB poll the other night, and that was not the name we chose. In fact, Calum came out as our first choice, though we - and some of the readers - were a wee bit biased in that choice. 

Some of the other favourites were James, Albert and Arthur. 

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We have had the most wonderful weather over the past week. The other evening, I sat down after a day of almost unbroken sunshine to watch the sun set over the Atlantic. 

Ahhhh .... peace.

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Yesterday, towards the end of the day - actually, it was around 7pm, which is technically evening, I guess - the Builder and the Wee Guy mowed the grass.

When you double the workforce, you halve the work.

Sounds like a good idea to me.

And finally, it was done!

Well done, boys!

Photos of Port of Ness

Katie, Catherine and Calum went for a wander to Port Beach the other day. Katie took my camera and did some clicking ...

Port Beach and Harbour are a couple of miles from us.

None of us has any idea what Catherine is doing here, but Calum definitely seems to have his dad's dancing feet.

The harbour is cute to visit, and because Port is on the east coast, 

albeit very close to the northernmost part of the island, 

nevertheless, it's much calmer and more sheltered than 'our beach'.

Regardless of its calmness, I do not like seeing Catherine on this wall.

The beach is lovely to visit, and the sea is much warmer too.

Lovin' the colours on the pair of you!

I love this photo of this wee fella.

And I kinda like this photo is this lady too ...