Over The Hill To Evie, Windylights & Wildflowers
Posted: Tuesday, 05 August 2008 |
What a very odd summer we are having. Dry in July. Empty butts in Rolling Acres having to be filled from the tap and left to settle; earth as dry as a witch's t*t; bipeds habitually strolling around in tee shirts and fpu glowing like a horse whilst hacking back the secondary jungle, which closed up most of the paths in the three weeks we were away. Now its August and, apart from being a bit grey and chilly (in honour of Show Week no doubt) still no real butt-filling rain.
On a glorious July day the parental units took the moor road to Evie, quite the nicest way to arrive there - looking one way, a breathtaking vista of moorland in bloom and the other, Aikerness and Rousay bathed in sunshine.
moorland with Hoy in the distance
yellow meads of asphodel
meadowsweet like Devon clotted cream
red curly doddies
rantin rovin ragged robin
heather belles
cool soft squishy wound dressing
cocks 'n' hens
angelica - easily distinguished from other umbellifers (which have been reclassified but who cares) by their cauliflower-heads
tormentil
bog cotton
marram grass and Aikerness. Pu's would have stayed a while, but three small boys' high-pitched squawks made fpu grumpy, so off they went to somewhere quieter
take these chains...old tank traps
trees at Woodwick
road from Woodwick to Tingwall
Tingwall Ferry where parental units sat quietly on the rock armour
the beauty of windylights in small numbers, Burger Hill
Dounby Show on Thursday. I'm sending the olds over with digicam to see if they can spot any islandbloggers. It better not rain, or they'll never get out of the craft tent...
On a glorious July day the parental units took the moor road to Evie, quite the nicest way to arrive there - looking one way, a breathtaking vista of moorland in bloom and the other, Aikerness and Rousay bathed in sunshine.
moorland with Hoy in the distance
yellow meads of asphodel
meadowsweet like Devon clotted cream
red curly doddies
rantin rovin ragged robin
heather belles
cool soft squishy wound dressing
cocks 'n' hens
angelica - easily distinguished from other umbellifers (which have been reclassified but who cares) by their cauliflower-heads
tormentil
bog cotton
marram grass and Aikerness. Pu's would have stayed a while, but three small boys' high-pitched squawks made fpu grumpy, so off they went to somewhere quieter
take these chains...old tank traps
trees at Woodwick
road from Woodwick to Tingwall
Tingwall Ferry where parental units sat quietly on the rock armour
the beauty of windylights in small numbers, Burger Hill
Dounby Show on Thursday. I'm sending the olds over with digicam to see if they can spot any islandbloggers. It better not rain, or they'll never get out of the craft tent...
Comments
Dounby Show? If visiting it was good enough for GMB, it should be good enough for PUs, Are cats being evaluated as well as cows and such (not only for looks, but mental soundness?). Will there be a display of border collies strutting their stuff - or is that too humdrum? Let us have the pics.
mjc from IN, USA
I cannot help but comment on the concept of butt-filling rain. Or taps, for that matter. (Hey, somebody had to.)
cub from chav central
Hi Flying Cat. Very nice pictures. We drove this road on our trip to Orkney a few weeks ago. We passed the farm, Ovrabist. The name is the same as my last name. It felt like comming home. I loved the place and the moorland. It was interesting to see the tidal forces in the sound between the Mainland and Rousay. It looked like the sea was really living, not much of that in my parts of Norway.
Dag from Norway
Great photos as ever, FC, but none of your handsome self. Looking forward to the photos of Dounby Show.
Jill from EK
"handsome self"? FC? Really, Jill !! (mutter, mutter)
mjc from IN, USA
Oh really mjc, you well know there are no mad bovines in Orkney...and as for you cub, you're a very naughty little feline indeed, and should wash yo' mouf out wif soap!
Flying Cat from unnerabunnet
Errrrm...the 'craft tent' actually doesn't exist at Dounby...it'll be at the County Show, when it is forecast to be a dies horribilis. Possibly my ammanuensis was having a c.r.a.f.t. moment...
Flying Cat from a BSE-free zone
Hi Dag, you probably noticed many other almost familiar names. Some one once remarked that many Orkney place names look like Norwegian written down by a person who spoke only English, and indeed this is partly true as the map makers tended to be English. One example is the much laughed at Twatt which is actually the Norwegian Tveit and there are of course numerous nesses, viks and øys ( usually anglicised as ey or ay).
Hyper-Borean from Strømness
nice photos, thanks for naming the wild flowers, dry here too though the ditch at the front of the house has a trickle in it at the moment,
island threads from lewis
Thank you FC for the wonderful lesson in Bottomy, again, I have learnt something new, first it was an improvement to my spelling, now its bottomy and learning the names of new flowers and plants. The Ragged Robin, I've seen that before, but never knew its name! Lovely photos !!
Squidgy the Otter from Bottomy Bay
When my latest post appears, you may get even more bottomy Squidgy! I said 'when' not 'if' because I'm feeling really confident today. Comments are appearing in almost-real time!
Flying Cat from profundity
Pardon FC? Your latest blonde-themed post seems to have gone awol since it was published at lunch-time. What have you done with it or has it gone walkies in the... I can't even bring myself to say it.
Carol from IBHQ
Oh heck, what's coming up next. We seem to be obsessed with bums! Talking of which, Barney has surfaced, with all manner of excuses re: his wedding ring, he uses it as an egg cup (wink wink) and that's how it got to be thrown in the rubbish bin.. Looking forward to your next blog though !!
Squidgy the Otter from Lurrrv is in the Hare
Barney is in elite company (that coconut really rearranged his brain cells): a revered, and deceased, professor of mine from Hungary used his wedding ring the same way. One day, after breakfast in the uni. cafeteria, .... need I say more? I managed to fish it out: the things graduate students will do ... Wife has been known to use hers as an egg cup as well (I must admit it works).
mjc from IN, USA
Carol from IBHQ, according to my page, the Blonde posting is STILL processing...WHAT DO I DO NOW????
Flying Cat from in a bit of a tizz
Mjc, we are connected again! Congrats on daughter's graduation - theology, my hat! - amanuensis .. a person who is on hand to fish out odds and ends for persons higher on the academic pecking order . . . thank you for confirming to the Otter the veracity of my explanation. Now EffCee will be complaining about blog piracy again and charging 2/6 a word . to that I reply in advance, HA! Save your electronic breath, dear cat and use the space more constructively. Blog pirates reign supreme!
Barney from Swithiod greets S. Indiana
Wedding ring/egg cup. Either very big fingers or very small, perhaps quails', eggs. It wouldn't work with my ring because it seems to have assumed a vaguely ellipsoid shape, I presume from some garage or boat related activity.
Hyper-Borean from The bottom of the dustbin
Maybe you could try with elliptical eggs? If you don't put the egg on its main axis, this effect should be achievable without breeding a new race of chickens. But then you woud have to open the egg on an off-axis alignment - could you manage that at 8 of the clock on a Winter's monring?
Barney from Swithiod geometrical progression
Eight of the clock on a Winter's morning???? That's the middle of the night here! (all year round)
Flying Cat from snooze button
HB, you don't of course have to get the whole egg into the ring. It's a balancing act as I'm sure you already know. EffCee, cats may use a different rythm than pus .. or don't they?
Barney from Swithiod egging him on
There's rhythm in my method, Barney from Swithiod.
Flying Cat from up with the lark, unlike some...
As Billie Holiday sang: "That man ain't got no rhythm."
mjc from IN, USA
The diary entries of an averagely intelligent feline and his Marmalade Chum.
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