Flying Cat - 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...

Well, what a disappointment! Not a sign of known bloggers at either the Dounby or County Shows. The sun shone on Dounby and the rain rained on the County. However, undeterred, my parental units sallied fourth to bring back these pics. Very disappointed not to have been able to make the acquaintance of Hermit, having bottled out last year...especially as her flowing golden locks would have made a very nice contribution to this blog. And we're far too honest here at Anorak Towers to go pinching pics off other bloggers blogs...unlike some!
As I'm sure you are all aware, out there in the massive FC Fanbase (counted on the claws of one paw) there is a very strong Orkney connection with Blondie. I need hardly tell you that Debbie Harray is a Dounby lass...

at Dounby - an Andean blonde

and some bottle blondes...surely that's not natural? And yet...its hard to get to grips with the idea of a husky Orkney farmer clarting on the clairol...

this one's been around a bit too long...no doubt Hanging on The Telephone...

utterly butterly blonde prizewinners at Dounby Industrial Show

mmmmm...lemoncurdy blonde...Heart of Glass

queueing blondes

stray blonde

a very pretty moo-blonde

sunbleached blonde...rather how I imagine Squidgy...

Skaill Kirk lime rendered blonde

sweet blonde in a meadow

at the County Show...Pretty Baby...goatee blonde

hoofing it with blonde feathers

strawberry blonde au fonde

blonde on blonde

Cats Protection Dog

oooo duckie!

blonde chick...I know he's a he, but one could hardly say blonde c**k, now could one? Standards have to be upheld...

probably pushing it a bit to call this one a strawberry blonde, but it would really stretch the bounds of credulity to include my very lovely self...
Aupres de ma blonde...qu'il fait bon dormir.

Dear Reader, should you ever be tempted to succumb to the blandishments of 'free' seeds with a gardening magazine, I advise you most urgently to think once, think twice and then...DON'T!
Or at least don't plant the whole bally lot. Like Someone did. Nor should you prick your seedlings out so that they lie at the foot of a dwarf wall (lack of sunshine), nor feed recklessly, nor go away for three weeks leaving the watering to a kind friend without requesting regular window-opening.
Because, if you do all of the above, some manner of Tomato Disaster will be the end result...not to mention the mould on walls, windows, sills, floor...
This here is the lank dank jungle of allovertheplace tomato plants (did I mention they are a bushing variety? Well they are so...Gardener's Delight!)

and that orange box is the tomato food and these here are watering cans

and this here...

...is all the falling-down bits

oh and this here seems to be...A TOMATO! I want a prize, I want a prize, I found one, I found one

a veritable pyramid of juicy fruits

oops sorry fpu I didn't mean to knock one off, just wanted a wee furryhug

the future crop...isn't nature wonderful?

as me and m'Marmalade Chum were finding ourselves a bit lost in the Sunroom of Eternity, fpu decided to get in there with the machete and tame the jungle

now we can all go in and sit down again without use of map&compass

its almost too much for one purrson to eat

So, we'll not be doing that again will we fpu? *hard stare*
Twiglet Update
On to happier things. Here are Island Threads' fine Twiglets in full leaf in their fishbox and ready to move on

the first planting hole lined with soggy Stornoway Gazette

a twiglet resplendant in its new home

one day this will be a hedge protecting 6-foot fennel from vicious southerlies...purrhaps that's being a bit optimistic...but you never know.

Bliss was it in that dawn* to be alive,
But to be feline was very heaven!
As the poet once said, with minor improvements. And, speaking of improvements, what with the sun shining day after day, and only the occasional shower to kiss Rolling Acres awake, renovations have been going on apace: the trailer-loads of secondary jungle, land-and-pondweeds and other detritus that have been driven to the dump you just wouldn't believe. I'm quite exhausted just watching...well, you didn't expect me and m'Marmalade Chum to join in...did you? (The correct answer is "no".)
The beach of Pond1 came in for particular attention and has been restored, without recourse to lottery monies, to its former glory, from this weedy mess...

...to this



The accidental rockery has had the treatment too

and, naturally, after such a strenuous afternoon, fpu had a bit of a sit in The Lost Sitooterie...

and I came along just to show my very fine tummy

However, like another garden before it, there is a metaphorical serpent in the grass. How could any biped do this to two cute kitties? We have been seriously deprived of one of Liff's simple pleasures - birdie hunting - surely a Feline Right. The French would never stand for such an infringement! Jamais! Aux armes kittoyens!
Sadly, our purrtests fell on deaf ears...the Anti-cat Device is now in place, beside the Bird-feeding Station of Opporchancity

Like a cat on a wire/Like a drunk in a midnight choir/We have tried, in our way, to be free...but to no avail (and, believe me, my chunky chum has done his best)

knotted at the top

stapled at the bottom

but in the end, the sun set on Anorak Towers and we were just happy to be alive...and so are the bl**dy birdies!

*any resemblance to any purrson living or otherwise, is purely unintentional...