HebCelt Madness!

As the title of this post suggests, the Isle of Lewis has been going mad this week with concerts every day and night, tents dotting the landscape, and a surplus of walking trousers and funny hats. The Hebridean Celtic Festival is on, and this year I actually made it to a concert in the huge tent on the Castle green!

Here are a couple videos of the night. Please forgive the poor sound quality, I blame the upright bass player Duncan Lyall (who incidentally I would marry if he asked.)

A few hours ago, I drove down south to Barvas with Murdo and Golly (the surviving molly) splashing around in front of the passenger seat. I'm off early tomorrow morning for Ireland, and I barely remembered that I'd needed to find somewhere for my babies to go. Just days ago, I was actually in line at the Post waiting to add to my electricity key when it hit me! It would've been a hectic Monday morning had I just remembered then...

Oh yeah, did you catch that?? ..."for Ireland"? Whoop whoop! I'm headed to Connemara to visit some friends tomorrow, and I'm beyond excited! I've been once before, but it was November and it rained every day, so I'm excited to see it in the 'heat of summer.'

Random pictures for the day:

The few from my front garden this weekend

And here are the first pages from my brand new art journal! This is the first art journal I haven't put together with watercolor paper, so I was a bit apprehensive. Turns out it's not too bad, but definitely not as easy to work with. Twas convenient and cheap, but probably not worth it in the end...

A family affair

Better late than never I always say. At the end of May, the Isle of Lewis was invaded by a group of Americans here for one thing, and one thing only. To see ME!

Mom, dad, grandma, grandpa and auntie Carlene all made the transatlantic trip and got their first taste of Scotland. It was great having them around because, lets face it, I miss them, but also because they reminded me that I'm not as strange as I thought I was. Many of my preferences and routines don't seem to be common around here, and as my roommate is from Georgia, not common in my house either. But when my family came to visit, and they made themselves at home, the answers were very clear. Most of my quirks seem to be hereditary, and somehow, that's great news :)

Better than camping...

This past Sunday evening, I made a last minute decision to brave the wilds of the Ness moor and join a friend in her family's airigh. An airigh (also known as a sheiling) is akin to a summer home for the people here on Lewis. When one wants to get away from it all...you leave your seaside house and go to the moor, where you will sometimes see more rather than less of your fellow islanders, but less of the modern conveniences that can sometimes complicate our lives.

I'd been on a brief visit out to what seems to me to be an village of sheilings, so I was very very very excited about staying there overnight. Especially when I was informed that there was a toilet of sorts. No trees for privacy out on the moor!

Once I finally arrived to the airigh (after taking the scenic and slightly squishy route), I made myself comfortable and had a great night! With a "wee blaze" going in the fireplace, a combination of candles and an awesome kerosene lantern, I felt right at home.

The next day I got the grand tour of the area which included a trip to the beach, multiple crossings of a cute little stream, mussel and winkle picking (kept me busy for hours), and ambling through the grass and heather barefoot. Definitely a good day, and I have a feeling that there's even more to see on my next visit...

Oh yeah...the Big News!

(Where's Murdo?)

So after a well deserved chiding from a devoted reader (aka friend and possibly bored office worker), I'm coming out with the big news!

I got my froggie AND he's still alive! Oh yes, he is still alive and kicking...literally. It was touch and go there for a few days...which is why I didn't write right away. He was extremely anti-social and I couldn't even get a picture of him! He wouldn't leave the castle I was nice enough to put in his aquarium, and didn't seem to care at all that I wanted to be friends. My last two frogs were extremely social creatures, so I was a bit worried about him. In an effort to bring him out of his froggie depression, I bought him some mollies to help him chill out. It worked! Within 24 hours Golly and Miss Molly got lil Murdo out of his castle.

Let me tell you, they may be little critters, but it was definitely worth it. I wasn't meant to be in a pet-less household.

So that was the big news. The next big news is... My family is coming on Tuesday!!! Wahooo!!!

PS. A recent (yes, you know this word is relative) journal entry...

Surgery Prep

After a successful run of 4 to 5 posts a month since the New Year, I failed miserably in April. Ach. But, ever the one to try and look to the future when the past isn't so good, here I am moving on with a new and exciting post.

By this time tomorrow, my macbook should have a brand new brain! Yes, a brand new 250Gb brain to replace the old 70Gb brain that, between you and me, has been lagging a bit lately. Since I installed Window's XP via Virtual Box to run a work program, I've been cramped for space. It's forced me to put most of my pictures, and all of my videos on flash drives. What a pain. Like my current macbook brain, I have limited memory, and I never seem to have my flash drives around when I need them.

I'm cloning my current brain at the moment and am forcing myself to get on with the rest of the process tomorrow since it's getting late.

I came home from a weekend in Skye today, so I might have some interesting pics to post later this week. Skye is honestly one of my favorite places to visit (and I'm not alone in that opinion), but luckily it doesn't have pull of any kind. That is to say, I have no interest in ever settling in Skye...but it's still a gorgeous place to spend a sunny weekend!

Alright, this is me, over and out. Tomorrow's first order of business is Macbook Brain Surgery! Stay tuned for the success/failure of that endeavor.

Also, I will be making an important announcement in the next 2 days...maybe tomorrow! Yeah, that's all I have to say about that.

Cabin Fever

As far as I can tell, I'm finally better! Yes, I do believe that my eye is done acting up and now I can get on with life. On this side of the river, I can honestly say that my time in quarantine did have its benefits. My solitary confinement allowed me to work on some projects I'd been waiting to get started on. Here are a few...

One of the days that I was home on my own was Easter Sunday. It was the first Easter that I've ever spent on my own, but I set out to make the best of it. I made myself an Easter pizza (look closely), and took a little walk out to the sea armed with my eye protecting sunglasses and damp cotton ball.

I also knitted an arm warmer that I've been trying to figure out for a couple weeks, but I'll wait to post anything on that. So far my knitting standard has been very low, and this perfectionist needs a few more tries before sharing any of that with the public. But speaking of knitting... look at my new knitting bag! I crocheted the bag some time ago, but didn't put in the insert until last week. Now the needles don't poke out the side!