Inspiration

We left the blog a day or so before Christmas. I have a feeling that the evening after I'd posted last time was the night that Charlie and I headed down to the newly-revived Pier bar down by the ferry on Rousay. "We'll just pop in for a quick drink" we promised each other. The issue is that if you buy a round for everyone, everyone buys a round back.... We finally got home, somehow, and felt extremely fragile the whole of the next day - which was a definite step-back for our plans to decorate the house and chapel in time for our Christmas service on the 22nd.  We had a busy Monday morning. But it all looked good in the end!

Charlie's tree, amazing as usual.

Our walk later that day.

Christmas cake and cheddar cheese snack - the best.

Down at the Midhowe Broch.

Many seals sunning themselves on the rocks that afternoon...

And amazingly, we had lunch in the garden. The sun was warm.

(that's a tiny model Orkney chair that Charlie had bought from an antiques fair).

Amazing sunsets.

And a crescent moon.

The sea was mirror-flat that night.

C H R I S T M A S   D A Y

Christmas Day got off to a chilly start!

Off to the veg patch to pick veg for lunch.

All from the garden - carrots, parsnips, winter salad, and potatoes.

Christmas lunch in the kitchen!

It was just the two of us (or seven, depending on your perspective) - so we had a delicious fillet. Cooked by Charlie here.

Christmas afternoon by the fire.

And then suddenly the evening sun was amazing...

Boxing Day was bright and clear.

Today, we walked up to Tofts (or Tafts, depending on your point of view) - such a beautiful, melancholic place.  You can read more here. Another mid walk cake and cheese picnic.

The dogs might be forming a girl band. Enid as usual will be the lead singer and Mavis is always the backing girl.

Evening light in the servants hall.

The days between Christmas and New Year are the lost time, when you have no idea what day it is.  But the walks were wonderful.

We had some good bonfires.

And some good walks.

We went over to see a friend on mainland. The tractors were leaving the Rousay ferry for the annual Orkney Tractor Christmas drive!

Back over under amazing skies.

The weather was getting up somewhat....

Plenty of Bloody Maries, Westness style.

N E W   Y E A R ' S   E V E

New Year's Eve dinner.

The next day the weather was getting up more.

On our way home it started snowing.

That was it, we thought.

But the next day a lot more snow.

And more.... and, as you can see below, it was beginning to drift...

The next morning, Bridie was meant to be going home. We woke up to a heavy fall of snow.

But the ferry was still running and the flights were still going - or so we were told.

Arriving on Mainland was quite exciting.  By this time we had two neighbours in the car as well - one we were dropping in Kirkwall, the other taking to the airport with Bridie.

Charlie and I dropped them at the airport and set off back to our ferry home. But then ten minutes later a call from Bridie. All flights cancelled for the next 3 days. We went back to the airport and dealt with rebooking tickets. Then we headed back into Kirkwall where we saw our neighbour Gordon who we'd dropped two hours earlier.  He was trying to get to Stromness.  No buses or taxis were running.  The Landy taxi was good to go!

We crawled over to Stromness and dropped Gordon at his ferry and realised that things were a bit more serious than we'd known.   We made our way back to the ferry to Rousay - the last ferry that would run for a while.

And then home.  The wolf moon was bright and clear.  It had been snowing for hours at this point.

T H E   B I G   S N O W !

The next morning it was really snowing.  And had been snowing all night.

It was a beautiful sunrise.

Nancy, absolutely, loves the snow.

Off she goes!

We went for a lovely walk.

Looking back to Westness.

Amazing snow drifts coming through.

Our road had completely vanished.

More snowdrifts up top...

We don't need to visit the Turner exhibition, it was in front of our eyes.

And then it started, yesterday, gently, to soften. Charlie built an amazing snowman.

We woke up this morning and the snow was going. The snowman was down to his lower snowball, and Bridie recreated him. Almost better than the first time round!

The winter wonderland was coming to an end. Our prolonged New Year was over; this afternoon, we took the ferry over, made our way to Kirkwall, caught the little plane to Aberdeen, and we've just landed in London.

I've got some travels coming up this month. I won't be back in Rousay for a little while. The next time I'm home, I think the snowdrops will be up. Spring is not so far around the corner.