A Few "Holiday" Snaps

Today was another quiet day up here on the coast. Slept late. Read a lot. That's about it. We had sweet potatoes for tea.

So your substitute entertainment this evening is going to come in the form of some photos. I'm tired though, so this is going to be a wordless post. I'll tell you the stories another day, I promise.

Wheel-y Tired!

Dear reader, I'm exhausted! Despite my youthfulness and lack of obese-ness, I'm really very unfit. My day has tired me out, so if I seem to doze off and lose track of myself in the middle of this post, you'll know to blame my mother...

Yesterday afternoon wasn't so tiring. We went down to Coldbackie Beach and had a wander around there. No shark wrestling, no picturesque welly boots. Just me and my mum being a bit silly. You can see the results of our silliness in yesterday's blog post if you're curious - today I'll be sharing some of the more sensible photos.


This is the view across the beach which you see walking down the hill from the road. The sand dunes before the beach are about 20ft high, which is very impressive, and there's a stream that comes all the way down to the beach in wetter weather, parts of which make a very good flume (water slide).


This stream at the north end of the beach was pretty, but probably less enjoyable to slide down...


The high water mark is an interesting feature of this beach. It's seems that there is a stream which runs along the edge of the beach - that is, a counter current that runs at right angles to the direction of the tide. The effect of this is to create a sandbank at the edge of the water, which moves up the beach as the tide comes in, and gets left behind, like this, as it goes out.


Some interesting geological features as well - for example, part of this rocky outcrop was shaped and coloured just like me... Kidding. I think we were actually interested by the stripe of quartz in the rock behind me. However, I know nothing about geology, we just thought it was pretty.


There was also a massive cliff at the south end of the beach, about 100ft high, with this wee cave at the bottom. It doesn't go very far back, but its full of reeds that get washed in by the highest tides, and if it wasn't soaking wet, I imagine it would be quite a cosy bed...


Today's expedition was much further away. It's Dad's day off, so he went to play golf over at Durness, and he dropped us off in a place called Laid to go for a walk.

We headed from the tea room there, up the side a very pretty burn (stream), following a path marked by little heaps of stones, called cairns, and big long upright stones balanced in the top of cairns, or stood up by themselves.


The view of Loch Eriboll on the way up was incredible - I just wish I had a better camera for panorama shots.


Anyway, the main reason for our walk up and along the ridge was to see an Iron Age Wheelhouse. Now, I know absolutely nothing about the Iron Age, so instead of trying to say something intelligent off my own bat, I'll quote from a guide leaflet instead (entitled "Laid Heritage Trail" produced by Durness Community Council).


"A Wheel House is a dry stone dwelling house used in the Iron Age. Circular in construction with slabs of rock forming the basis of a roof, these slabs also appear to mark interior divisions of a family habitation."


"Considering its age of some 2000 years it is in excellent condition, one of the best preserved in Scotland. It measures 5.5 metres NE-SW by 5 metres NW-SE within its dry built wall, 1.1 metres thick and 1.4 metres high, with the entrance in the east. In the interior a circle of 7 [uprights] set at a distance of about 1 metre from the wall, one of which is lintelled and another partially with roofing slabs lying close by."

This particular Wheel House is the only one of its kind in the area, the rest are in Shetland, the Hebrides and Caithness, for the most part. Also, most of those are much lower down, and seem to be associated with other buildings. This one is high and isolated. The leaflet suggests "one explanation which can never be proved is that it was built by strangers, possibly from Caithness, who were only allowed this spot to make their home." Caithness is east of this area.


Can you imagine how much it would suck if you'd just walked miles and miles from your own home ranges, only to be told by your grumpy new neighbours that you had to go build your house a mile out the way and 900 metres further up hill. I might be moving soon and I have to say, I hope our new neighbours are nicer than that!


Daily picture of Mum, taking a picture of me taking a picture of her taking a picture of me taking a picture...


Love and hugs

Warning

When I am an old woman I shall wear purple
With a red hat which doesn't go, and doesn't suit me.
And I shall spend my pension on brandy and summer gloves
And satin sandals, and say we've no money for butter.
I shall sit down on the pavement when I'm tired
And gobble up samples in shops and press alarm bells
And run my stick along the public railings
And make up for the sobriety of my youth.
I shall go out in my slippers in the rain
And pick flowers in other people's gardens
And learn to spit.

You can wear terrible shirts and grow more fat
And eat three pounds of sausages at a go
Or only bread and pickle for a week
And hoard pens and pencils and beermats and things in boxes.

But now we must have clothes that keep us dry
And pay our rent and not swear in the street
And set a good example for the children.
We must have friends to dinner and read the papers.

But maybe I ought to practice a little now?
So people who know me are not too shocked and surprised
When suddenly I am old, and start to wear purple.

Jenny Joseph




Love and hugs

Happy Birthday, Dad!

Dear reader, today is a special day - that's right, a post not about my mum, but about my dad, because it's his birthday today *blows hooter, waves tiny flag*

Well actually, the post isn't about him either, because today was actually an interesting day. As days up here go, that is. We had a party! Not a birthday party though, a painting party!

As my dad is a minister, that leaves him with responsibilities for things like looking after church premises. You would think he'd be quite busy chasing that flock around, but apparently not so much. So today, my mum, dad and myself went to the church at Melness, on the other side of the kyle. It has a gorgeous view!



Along with some of the other church folk, we did some work on the window frames. We scraped off old paint, we dug out rotting wood, we sealed up some draughty gaps, and we put on some shiny new white high gloss top coat. There were a myriad of problems of course - more rot than expected, more peeling paint than expected, no undercoat, bigger draughty gaps than expected etc etc, so the job is only partially done, however the size of the thing (there are 19 windows in the church, and we're working inside and out) and the size of the working party (six) we did about as much as might be expected of us anyway.



I learned how to use silicone sealant, and as such did all the windows. Actually, I lie I only did 13, but that's still quite a lot. I quite enjoyed it. Pretty sure I deserve an NVQ now (national vocational qualification). Jussayin. We had two tea breaks, with cake, and cake with our lunch. I ate a lot of cake. Apparently because I am still a "young thing" I am expected to eat vast quantities of cake. This is why the youth of today are fat, dear reader. We need to start a revolution! No more force-feeding cake. That said, I did what was expected of me without hint of complaint. What? Don't look at me like that, it was good cake!

After we'd cleared up all the mess we made, mum, dad and I headed over to Bettyhill, because there's a chip shop there (it's the closest one, and it's 13 miles away! Talk about the middle of nowhere). Om nom nom nom.



Then we went for a walk along Farr beach, which is actually not very far from anything, it's right behind the chip shop/tourist information centre (yes, they are the same place, officially). It wasn't sunset, but the sun was starting to get low in the sky, in a very photogenic manner. And there was a lost photogenic welly boot lying in the wash of the tide. It was so romantic... (!) check out my ace photo.



Ever wanted to hire a welly boot photographer? I'm thinking of starting a business - boot photography, well-shod AND well-shot. No? I shall continue.

We saw other things on the beach too, like this dead dogfish. Did you know, a dogfish is like a shark's little cousin? They both have five gills and the same kind of skin. Dad moved it. That's right, you heard me. On his birthday this year my dad wrestled a shark... Honest...



It was very pretty generally, so I took lots of pictures - you can see a selection of these below. If you're my facebook friend you can see them all there. If you're not, then that's a shame. I don't think my photography is good enough to deserve a flickr account. Not that other people let that stop them.



Anyways, that's all for today, its WAY past my bedtime, and daughters of the manse must get up for church on Sunday mornings. Therefore dear reader (I have discovered from my blog stats that there are actually other people than my mum out there, so you've been promoted from imaginary, in case you were wondering) I must bid thee adieu and farewell, and on the morrow you shall hear from me again.

Did you know, the more tired I am the more I don't shut up... who knew!

Love and hugs

The Hybrid Medieval Space Bonnet

Hello dear (imaginary) reader. My stay up north is getting no more interesting. Today I did the ironing, read Harry Potter, and went to the post office and the spar. My dad fixed my laptop power supply, and then my belt broke. I watch some funny stuff on telly. Not really worth a blog post.

SO instead, I'm going to kick off telling you what I did this summer.

The FIRST thing I did this summer was to graduate from university!


(Look, there's my mum!)

The graduation ceremony at University of Edinburgh has some interesting traditions. We graduate in the McEwan Hall, which is a grand, circular building with classically-inspired paintings inside, and gorgeous architecture outside. The ceremony of actual graduation involves walking along the platform and getting "doffed" on the head with this hat - the Geneva bonnet.



Now this hat was made, apparently, out of an old pair of John Knox's breeches, which is nice... The Dean was also telling us how a former student called up one day and asked if he could take the hat into space! Unfortunately, the hat is somewhat sacred to the ceremony, so instead he took up a university emblem patch which was then sewn into the hat onto its return. You can read about that here.



After four years of solid hard work, it was nice to finally get a bit of time off to have a drink with my friends (!) We had a really great day, and I'm so proud of all my friends who graduated along with me.

Love and hugs

Edinburgh Festival

Tongue is gorgeous today dear (imaginary) readers. Beautiful weather. And yet still I didn't go out. I sat in the house in joggers and did very little all day. Mum and I made pasta salad. And I did some work towards a research proposal. Don't ask me who I'm going to propose it to, I haven't figured that out yet.

So instead of trying to eek out a post from my boring day, I thought today I'd post for you about a much more exciting day that I had at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival before I came up north.

In the afternoon, I went with my best friend, her mum and brother, and my other best friend (yes I'm 22 years old and I still have best friends) to see a show called Potted Potter which was on at the Pleasance.

Really enjoyed the show - it was very funny, and very Harry Potter, so unless you are a big fan of Hazza P, or you are a child, then it might not be to your taste. But to Potter fans I recommend it most highly, I'm sure you'll enjoy the incredible dragon, the epic story telling, and your very own game of Quidditch!

After the show we went for something to eat at the Tron - don't get a baked potato - and then we went off in search of some free comedy. There is quite a lot of free comedy around the High Street/Cowgate area, and if you just wander around people tend to give you flyers for things that are starting soon and send you in the right direction. After umming and erring and trying to chose between a few things, we ended up at 2Facedbook 2 by a guy called Jools Constant at Sin Club and Lounge.


This was really good too. A bottle of beer was £2.50, not too bad, and the guy was pretty funny. He ripped me to shreds for being a posh girl because I knew what a duck island is. If you don't know, google it.

After that we went back to the Tron to meet some of our other friends and by chance got offered free tickets to see another show. The basement bar in the Tron turns into a venue during the festival called Just The Tonic at the Tron for various comedy shows. We got tickets to see Get Happy in Edinburgh and the hosts called it a "working mens club" and had us playing darts, downing pints, and watching burlesque dancers. There was some weird stuff too but it was all pretty funny. The last act of the night was this bizarre comedian, something like Mr Bean but not quite. I got his flyer but I left it in Edinburgh - very sad :( he was really funny and I feel he deserves mention!

After that show we hung around in the basement and we saw this other show, called Set List which has apparently moved to the Caves, probably because it was awesome and they wanted more space.


This was funny too. There was a line up of different comedians, and each of them got a set list of topics which they had never seen before, including some audience suggestions, and they had to do a five minute set based around this material. Some of them were really really funny, including one lady who wasn't even doing a fringe show this year she just wanted to perform for a laugh. I really wish I had a note of everyone's names! If I was an entertainment blogger I'd be far more professional than this. Never mind.

After that we went to the Hive and I met this guy:


who is in this show: The Joker.

I haven't seen the show but may be going when I get back home. He was really nice anyway, and when I saw him on the telly he was quite funny so I hope I do get to see it!

Any of my dear (imaginary) readers seen anything in the fringe this year? Or anything you've heard of that's decent and not too expensive?

Rain and Wild Raspberries

My mother tells me I need to update my blog more often. She's probably right. I'm pretty sure she's the only person who reads it anyway...

So for the next couple of weeks I'm going to update every single day! Mostly with pictures of her.

But what's that dear (imaginary) reader? You thought my mum lives far away and that's why she actually reads your blog, so how are you going to have pictures of her? Well, dear (imaginary) reader, I'm on holiday. Staying in my dear (non-imaginary) mother's spare room.

It's very nice. I like it here. In fact, the bed and the duvet are so comfortable that I stayed between them for the whole morning. It was great.

This afternoon the weather was like this:

It was raining. So I stayed in mostly, doing this:

I went to the post office to get birthday cards for my older brother and my dad, but I didn't take a picture of that.

This evening mum took me to her Zumba class. Except they don't call it a Zumba class, they called it Dance Yourself Fit. It was run by a lovely lady called Magda, from North Coast Leisure, Bettyhill, and there were about 25 people there of all ages. Here's a picture from Facebook of the class a few weeks ago:

We walked up the wee path past the river and saw it rushing down - its been raining here for weeks - and we saw some wild raspberries.

And here's me, outside the centre, after class. Apparently I have a forehead the size of Jupiter. I'm glad I was able to share that with you :)

This evening, we watched a really gross programme about ants, and now we're watching another one about code in nature. It's annoying. You know what else is annoying? My laptop power cable has finally given up the ghost. So who knows if I'm going to manage to post every day or not. My dad might fix it, or else I'll be stealing a turn on my mum's computer. And if she gets annoyed of me talking about her on the internet she might not let me.

Dear (non-imaginary) mum, please let me keep updating my blog. For the benefit of all my dear (imaginary) readers.

Love and kisses

Pirouette en dedans and en dehors

You'll have noticed by now that regularly posting on my blog is not my strong point. Largely this is because I am not really interesting enough to tell the internet things about my life. Everyone else is more interesting than me it seems, and someone else has always already said what I was going to say, but more eloquently.

But despite that fact, I shall keep my blog, and every now and again, write the odd post (and I mean odd), just to catch you out.

Today's is because we learnt something brand new in ballet yesterday, which I wasn't expecting to happen since I'm retaking the beginner level course.

We did pirouettes en dehors. Usually we do them en dedans, which is FAR easier. You would never believe it. It's difficult to explain the difference to the uninitiated. I know this, because I had to read a whole bunch of things myself before I really understood.

To do a pirouette en dedans, you are spinning away from the working leg. This means if you are standing on your right foot (on your toes of course), with your left leg raised in passe (left toes just under right knee), then you should be turning to the right, with your right elbow leading, in a clockwise direction. En dedans means "inwards". Your left knee, the raised one, is coming inwards, towards your body, in order to turn. When you do a pirouette en dehors, it is different. If are turning to the right, you stand on your left foot with your right leg in passe, so that your right knee is leading - you are trying to push your leg outwards and away from you in order to turn. En dehors means "outwards" hence the different names for the pirouettes. Another difference is that en dedans, the working foot starts behind and winds up in front, while en dehors, it starts in front and ends up behind.

We've been doing our en dedans pirouettes from a lunge-type stance in fourth, so that you have the momentum of your left leg coming forward to passe as well as your left arm coming from second to first to help you go round. This means that although you might not turn very elegantly, and you might over balance part way round, you nearly always have the momentum to go a full turn. However, en dehors, you start in fifth, so the only momentum you have is the arm coming from second to first. The first couple of times I barely managed a quarter turn. It was horrible. I just didn't get it. Pirouettes en dehors are all in the mind guys. You need to use every muscle on the left side of your body to turn. Its just that you don't get to move any of them very far. It's strange. But yes, the fact that I worked this out, means I managed a rightwards pirouetted en dehors! And then I did another one! They were by no means brilliant examples, but I went all the way round and put my foot down behind and didn't fall. Then I tried a third one and came down of demi pointe a bit funny and hurt my ankle and scared it away. Turning leftwards was never better than a quarter turn at the moment, which is hugely frustrating. But its like a whole bunch of things, you have to learn it separately for the left side and the right side. Hopefully I'll get there. We'll see how it goes :)