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Its that time of year when UK over the word "Mum" starts to get worn out.. with "can I" being close on its heels, one can only attempt to hide ones anguish as the contents of the fridge dissipate quicker than a keg of ale at a ceilidh.

We're bashing on once again with the pig hut now that the weather has dried up again somewhat, the foundations for the exterior wall enclosing the concrete "wet weather" run are poured and the floor inside the hut is just about to be poured as I type, followed tomorrow by a skim of cement on the inside of the hut & then the grand roofing ceremony can begin.

The cows are starting to get ettchy, I recon they can smell that the grass is slowly starting to put on new growth & they are starting to become less content in they're warm dry & well fed winter arrangement, who can blame them really, but its another 6 weeks at least of pampered confinement for them before there will be enough grass to resist attack by the raging appetites they present.

Im feeling pretty chuffed with myself today, despite holidays & noisy kids decimating the kitchen on a daily basis, I managed to focus myself (during 10 min bursts) to learn the tune, 100 pipers & commit it to memory as well as the slow air, music of the spey.
I tracked down the score for a tune I love called Sheiling in the braes of rannoch, but, its in ABC format which im going to have to sit down & learn before I can even attempt to play it, one needs to figure out with all the C >F2 D etc are in reference to & then figure out what "Z" means.

Whilst playing outside this morning under the pretense of helping dad to mix cement, Amber had a bit of a tumble over an empty pallet & managed to poke herself in the eye with a piece of stick, so here we are yet again waiting to hear when the medivac copter can come in & take us out to lerwick so she can have her eye examined as she has a bit of a nasty cut.

Joy of Joy the weather seems to have the perception to know that something was going to happen and its not looking like we'll get back home till monday at the earliest, wed more possible, so we're frantically searching for a B&B who can be really flexible over our time of stay & trying to think of things to do with a 6yr old in Lerwick.

At least it means we get a trip to the co-op for some salad selections that dont cost the earth & more !

Back from our wee exciting weekend out in a very wet & wintry Lerwick.


Ambers eye is thankfully going to be just fine, one of those things, its going to look a lot worse as the bruising sets, before it starts to look any better, quite a size of scratch on her cornea but anti bio eye drops 5 times a day is helping to heel it up good.

She had a good time out, the hosp didnt see a need to keep her in & as we werent going to get home till yesterday, we checked into the youth hostel & prepared to suffer the weather, did some shopping for new trainers for school, took her to the cinema for her first time & found a really good swing park.

Even though we may only have the sun for just one day..

Movies.. We went to see Underdog ! Amber laughed so much right through it that come the end of the film I was laughing so much just at her.

Grand day today, brilliant sunshine right the way through, nipped up to a neighbour with one of my blazzin fiddles cd's, Lise is one of these brilliant folks who can play by ear, so she's going to learn a track called Catalina & the write down the score for me so I can learn it. On top of that I had an afternoon playing with Lise's grandfather working on the 7 step polka which they set me to on monday, almost got it just got to speed up the lillty bits a tiny tad, had a stab at The new rigged ship, but the ole 4th finger on the E string is still letting me down, getting that ole pinky to move with the dexterity needed to play this track is beyond me & im begining to wonder if it will ever not be so, ive just not got any lateral movement in my pinky when playing fiddle. Im working on it, drove everyone to near distraction this afternoon by doing an hr of scales on the E string to try and get some pinky response, hopefully if I keep doing that every day then one day, thine pinky shalt respond with light quickness.

But that aside, we had a stab at Maid behind the bar (which is a grand name for a tune of course) and ive got the 1st section note perfect & up to speed now, the 2nd section im working on (T Break ! ) It makes all the difference just being able to go play along with someone else & being able to watch how they finger & bow.

Its sunny ! the ground is seriously starting to dry out, & today we got the midden spread on tattie & veg patch no1. Finaly it feels like we are getting some place this year, although not without its frustrations. The 160 blocks that were supposed to be delivered to the ferry so we can finish the new pig run, did not appear, yes, as you can imagine, phone calls were made and the air turned slightly blue. We need this project finished within the next 2 weeks.


Anyhoo that Aside, I recieved a tip off that the program of events for this years had been posted. On checking it, I can only add that I am so glad I opted to camp for the 10 days that Im out (along with 4 others from various parts of the world) as the camp site is a mere 5 mins walk from where most of the workshops are held. It looks like Im going to return home pretty knackered ! but, with late night sessions at least someone had the brain wave not to start the daily tutoring workshops till 10.30am !

Suzie pig was moved into the maternity unit yesterday evening, not even a slight show of stress from either Suzie or our boar Doodles at being seperated, they can still see & speak to eachother freely so seem to be very content with the setup. Suzie upon entering her new house, got straight into the business of re-arranging the deep straw bed to suit her.

It shouldnt be none to long before things start to happen for her, she's very bloated, uncomfortable & her rear end is swollen, a sure sign that we are on the verge of piglet arrival, so until then its a case of checking on her every hr day & night.


No sign of any lambs yet but a few of the ewes are bagged up & not far off, but in the meantime, half of the veg garden has been ploughed & rotovated so this week it will be the planting of 100kg of seed tatties & the preperation of quite a few seedbeds.

An eventful morning thus far.

While feeding the chooks I discovered where wee noisy duck is nesting, down among the old midden & she's sitting on at least 12 eggs, will have to erect a cat proof fencing frame over the nest by the end of the week so that kitty isnt having young duck for breakfast & lunch once hatching starts.

And our first lamb has been born, a massive lamb which had to be given a wee bit of help getting past its shoulders, no idea what it is yet, just relieved that mum & lamb are both fine & bonding.

Nothing from Suzie as yet, although she has bagged up, being her first litter of piglings, it could be up to 10 days before she farrows, poor thing, I think Suzie is feeling very big & cumbersome.

Look what I found this morning !