A few days ago Maureen sat down and listed all the flowers that are growing in our garden. We were quite surprised at the size of the list - daffodil, tulip, sweet pea, oriental lily, fried- or poached-egg plant (primula family), pansy, primrose, sweet william, pink, carnation, hollyhock, michelmas daisy, montbretia, baby's tears (soleirolia soleirolii), wallflower, bluebell, whitebell and forget-me-not. We also have a large fuschia hedge and a Chilean potato vine hedge as well as rhubarb, strawberries, potatoes and onions. All of these grow outdoors and receive little or no attention although I have trimmed back the fuschia hedge and potato vine because they were threatening to take over the pathways. And of course there are the usual weeds - dandelions, dock and convolvulus.
We had a day out in Kirkwall last week because Maureen had to see the eye specialist at the Balfour hospital. On the trip to Kirkwall Maureen found out that the boat was carrying a trailer full of sheep and cattle when she got out of the car to go up to the passenger lounge and found herself face to face with a placid but very dribbly bull complete with a ring through his nose. Whilst waiting in the queue of cars for the return journey from Kirkwall Maureen took the opportunity to meet all the dogs that were travelling back (sleeping in their owner's cars) to the island. There were two German Shepherds, a Scottie, an Old English Sheepdog, a Terrier and a mongrel. It was probably just as well that the dogs slept because there was quite a heavy swell as we approached Eday and some of the passengers (Maureen included) were rather 'tense' as the boat ploughed through the maelstrom. Fortunately the heavy swell only lasted for ten minutes or so. The three boats that link the Northern Isles to mainland Orkney are fairly new (about 10-15 years old), strongly built, well-maintained and crewed by extremely experienced seamen who know all about the currents & tides so I have no qualms about setting out for Kirkwall no matter what the weather. However, Maureen is not quite so keen on the idea and is always convinced that the boat will plummet to the seabed at the first opportunity.
Maureen developed an inner ear infection a couple of weeks ago which has meant that she is very unsteady on her feet and has attacks of vertigo. One day I had to go back to tell the shop that Maureen wasn't actually drunk after I spent our time in the shop surreptitiously supporting Maureen as she swayed along selecting vegetables. Late one Sunday afternoon it was so bad that we had to call out our local GP. Later we discovered that I telephoned at the instant that the GP had put some bread rolls into the oven in preparation for dinner. Despite this he was at our front door within a very short space of time with some tablets that have worked very well indeed. He has since assured Maureen that his dinner was not ruined.
There was a 'blackening' at the weekend. An extremely elderly and very rusty truck rumbled past the house carrying down to the harbour a number of smart young men clad in clean boiler suits. A short while later the truck rumbled back up the road and the young men appeared to have been cavorting in the rotting seaweed and general detritus that accumulates in the cove next to the pier - the clean boiler suits were black and dripping with things unmentionable as were the wearers. The ladies were also roaming the island on the same evening but they were much more sedate - just a small truck packed full of the aforesaid ladies having a whale of a time as one of their number beat out the rhythm on a small drum.
In my last Saga I mentioned Matilda, the hen that marches into our friends' living room each morning and lays an egg. One day last week she must have been feeling under the weather as the egg was tiny (photograph below) and the contents rather suspect but she is now back to normal. On the same croft our friend was concentrating on making some repairs to the interior of the henhouse when he turned round to find that Curly, one of the lambs, had found the henhouse door open, thought it was a new, lamb-sized entrance to the henhouse and had marched in and itself comfortable.
The annual Stronsay Raft Race took place on Sunday 29 August. The weather was kind and the rain held off for the duration of the race. I took some photographs so I will produce a 'special raft race report' when they come back from the printers. Late on Sunday evening the moon was full, the sky was clear and the view from our back garden over Mill Bay was quite breathtaking.

Matilda's egg (the one on the right!)

Last updated 30 August 2004