Ramblings.... (what I do best)

Just when I thought it couldn't get any better, my delightful little cowboy has now taken to tipping his hat, with a quiet, 'Ma'am' every time he passes me.


I don't know where he saw this gesture, but just when I thought he couldn't be a more perfect cowboy.... he discovers this.

Here's my Cowboy with his Cowgirl. Aren't they the cutest pair...

And here they are with Buzz Lightyear. So cute.

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To add to my delight over Christmas, the Builder bought me perfume. Now, those of you who follow Homeschool on the Croft on Facebook already know this, but to the rest of you, this will be shocking news.


It isn't?


Well, it ought to be. Twenty years it took, but he finally bought me perfume. And I love it. 


I believe his shopping experience went something like this:


He walks into Chemist and finally reaches the front of the queue. To the shop assistant, he said, 'Ahhh, perfect. You're the very person to tell me what perfume my wife will love.'


Those in the queue behind him laughed, but the shop assistant asked a few questions and once she'd established what kind of person I was (tall, slim, cute, fashionable .... ) she recommended Hugo Boss. Pour femme. Naturally. And thankfully.

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Now, to me, the joy of this whole time of year is of being surrounded by family and friends. On Saturday, my Mum and Dad came with us to see the kids opening their Christmas presents. I think I spoke recently about Grandparents and how we ought, if at all possible, to treasure them and to try and include them in our children's lives. I can tell you that a gift of a million pounds wouldn't mean as much to my folks as what they had on Saturday - the pleasure of being with the kids, seeing them open their gifts, and have them show everything off to them. I reckon if we're able to give grandparents anything, let it be the gift of our time and our company. I'm thinking most grandparents would choose this over any other gift.

 ...although here...

they seem more concerned with what is in their bag than with any of their grandchildren.

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Today, we were expecting some visitors. These visitors are friends of our kids - friends DR made whilst in America last summer, and who have kept up the friendship via Skype. (Did I ever tell y'all I loved the internet?)

Well, these Englishers, these city-folks, are coming to stay. They were supposed to be here today, but our Gale Force 11 winds meant the ferry did not sail today. All being well, they will arrive tomorrow. Over the past months, while our kids made excited plans with these city-folks, the Builder and I planned on how to make their holiday as much of a culture shock as possible.

We thought we'd feed them...

yep, the Guga. Read about it here and you'll see why our citified friends will not come back again.

We thought we'd threaten to take them here...

to the peats.

Or to do this...

with the sheep.

But of course, it's the wrong time of year for these.

However, it seems the experience they're gonna have has been taken out of our hands.

Winds of up to 80 mph today meant their ferry didn't sail. They're stuck on the mainland, just across the Minch overnight. 

High winds tomorrow and a sea still raging in the aftermath of today's gale will give them a .... er, slightly choppy sail tomorrow.

Oh the joys of living on an island.

Our electricity has been flickering on and off in the high winds. Over the next week, there is every likelihood that they will experience a power cut. Life with no electricity: how will city folks cope?!

But the best is yet to come. Today, we lost our water supply. No kidding. We have no running water. The water company supplied us today with bottles of water... so we have water with which to cook, and we have water to drink. We don't, however, have the capacity to shower.

Seriously, we did not want to show our English friends this. We did not want to go this far back in time. 

Never mind the Londoners.... I can not cope without running water.