Weekly Chat (Non-Osprey), 27 August 2023

CLARE: No, I've never been to the UK. My great-grandparents (on my mother's side) immigrated here from Scotland. They were the ones who homesteaded my land that I live on now. But I've never been abroad. When Trump was elected, I considered emigrating to Scotland, but I couldn't afford it, and I didn't qualify anyway. I didn't want to leave my land, to which I feel a deep bond. and I also felt a responsibility to stay here and fight the growing fascism.

Unknown said:

No, I've never been to the UK.

What a shame.  This country has so many beautiful places in it, not least my home county of Suffolk.

Unknown said:

I didn't want to leave my land, to which I feel a deep bond. and I also felt a responsibility to stay here and fight the growing fascism.

That doesn't surprise me in the slightest.  No wonder your hawks have bonded with you.

Diane - thank you for your kind words. I was very interested to hear that your great grandparents came from Scotland. We heard a lot about the “clearances” whilst we were on the islands. I don’t know if that was the reason they emigrated. We visited an excellent museum which had exhibitions about the way of life in the area and then the clearances. Most of the people from Uist went to Cape Breton Island in Canada. The museum has a website. It was called the Kildonan Museum. It was an amazing place in the middle of nowhere!!! Really well set out and explained. Bilingual too - English and Gallic. (They also did good soup and sandwiches!!!!!!)
I think I can understand how attached you feel to your patch. There is a huge sense of community and belonging up there. It is really wild and remote. It is a very different lifestyle. When we got back to Inverness the traffic and people took some getting used to.

rusty2 said:

It is really wild and remote. It is a very different lifestyle.

Going to Mull always feels as though we're leaving civilisation behind.  Strangely enough, going to Minsmere has a similar feel (though on a smaller scale).

Cooler today and some cloud cover – but forecast dry for three whole days! Expecting electrician, cleaners and door surveyor all in the one day – and I just booked gutter cleaning company for next Monday! J has got up at a sensible hour to walk into town and OH is catching up in the kitchen after abandoning it to go out yesterday.

DIANE – I couldn’t begin to guess how whisky featured in your medical documents!

Thanks DIANE for starting the week !
Also, thanks to all for interesting posts and pics.
ANNETTE and RUSTY - please send me kick up the ***. I'm fed up with knee pain, back pain and stupid hand pain !! I had to ask the window cleaner to open up the new weedkiller spray :-( .I keep saying to myself ' if you don't use it you lose it !!!
I wish that I had visited Benbecula etc. I've been to Lewis, Skye, Mull and Iona.

Heather - I am so sorry about all your aches and pains. It must be horrid. I might have to wear hearing aids and glasses but I am so grateful that, up to now, I don’t have any creaky joints.
However, I can’t give you much of a kick at the moment as I have got post covid tiredness!!!! I go into the garden with much enthusiasm and come back indoors after 30 minutes in need of a sit down. Not like me at all. I suppose it is only a week since I tested negative.
OG - I admired all your work people coming today and then remembered that it isn’t a Bank Holiday in Scotland!!!! I hope you have coped with them all. Talking of gutter cleaning, I looked up this morning and, to my horror, saw plants growing out of the gutter. It only seems like 2 minutes since my neighbour and I (I live in a semi detached house) shared the cost of a gutter cleaner. I will have to speak to her again. Unfortunately I know she has just forked out a lot of money reroofing her extension!!!!

Morning all:

Heather; I am sending you a kick up the derriere with my right leg, which is the good one right now. Sciatica is on the run (so to speak). I found that if I get up and do stuff and am focused on something else then I tend to move more naturally and not in such a 'protective' way that throws all the other stuff off.

Rusty/Diane: Interesting about D's forefathers and possible link to the clearances!

Diane: I jokingly suggested to OH last night that we decamp to Wales (based on Rusty's/Lindybird's descriptions). Although I wouldn't mind having a bolt-hole in Ireland (land of my sainted Irish Mum!) :-)    Re ghastly doings in the US, read that about 40% of us are avoiding the news because it's so depressing.  But good new re the Wisconsin Supreme Court.  I think the Republicans have picked a fight they can't win re reproductive rights. 

Rusty: We are paying someone to clear our gutters this year - I usually do it. Major tree pruning due early October and I shall schedule for after that.

OG: Glad J up and out the door early. Hope you have survived all those workmen.

Am going to Tai Chi class this morning after stop at local dump site where they'll take Styrofoam and non recyclable plastic......

Stay well all.

No AQ?? Hope she is OK.

I'm on here gratefully, as have been unable to even get the page up due to our frustrating WiFi problems here -- grr!

We went to the Welsh Heritage Centre which is on the Llyn Peninsula near to Nefyn, a place famous for a large beach and wonderful views (Nefyn, that is). To read about it online, Google: Heritage Centre, Nant Gwythern, Wales.

View from the window of the cafe at Nant Gwythern.