Picnics and barbies

It was a bit windy, but we still managed to have a picnic in the sun after the horse riding. It wasn't the warmest though, so after our lovely lunch it was back in to finish our skirts.

Burgers and sweetcorn on the barbie for dinner was the business. Sunny days are the best. If only we knew in advance when they would be.

Can you feel the heat?

Around about the time that Tinker was out catching prey, I took a video of the roaring fire. Yeah, okay I had had some wine by this stage but I wanted to remember how fantastic the fire was. I can totally feel the heat when I watch this.

Making Skirts - Part II

It started to become clear that the bubble skirt was in danger of being too puffy. Erm. Crap. I went first on the 'bubbling'. Yeah, it was too puffy. It looked like a costume! I had to resize it, trim it, press the bejesus out of it and now it kind of has the semblance of a normal skirt about it. Kind of. I'm not sure if it will ever see daylight.

Hilary, wise woman that she is, decided to watch me make mine first, saw how ridiculous it looked and decided to restyle at the last minute. She chose a sensible, cute A-line number and ended up with a piece that she wore next day. Hmm, lucky her. BTW, mine has a patch at the bottom because I managed to rip it too.

My skirt may not have turned out the way I wanted, but we did have fun making them. The material and the elastic were really nice to work with.

Out chasin' burds

On Monday night, Hilary and I were sitting having some wine, enjoying the coal fire when Tinker (I think) trots in from the back garden with a present.... We think he ate it. Except this leg which we found the next day. Nice.

Is this the worst toilet in Scotland?

Seriously, I couldn't even bear to take a photo of the inside. I'd rather have went to the toilet in Trainspotting.

Cantering along the beach

Thanks to boisterous Baxter, I had kinda lost my confidence when it came to riding. I just believed that all horses were there to take the mickey out of me. Along came Fiona.

A lovely Highland pony, Fiona went a long way to restoring my confidence in horse riding. I won't hesitate to ride her again. Gemma, our lead rider, was also a great help. She reassured me through the ride, I managed to get a picture of her, despite her protestations!

Hilary took up the rear on Rhu, Fiona's son in fact.

The ride wasn't the most exhilirating I've ever had, mostly walking, but the two canters were great. The first was a great flat run on the beach and the second was a bit more terrifying, on the grass and a blind summit; I had to rely on Fiona knowing when to stop and doing so on time. The champion girl that she is, she brought it back to a walk at the right time.

Back at the farm, Hilary was reunited with her old pony, Amy, who is now in retirement. It was nice to know that she was happy with her pals and that she had been a good lead horse in her day.

We had to walk up a wee path to get to the farm and the ponies were just strolling around. We were going to stop for a picnic after the ride, but while it was sunny, it was well windy so we just headed back to the house for a garden picnic instead.

Making Skirts - Part I

I had brought my overlocker and sewing machine, some material, some 2" rainbow elastic and a vague idea that we could make cute bubble skirts for summer. Hmm. You can see the final results later, but suffice to say, we had good intentions while we were measuring, cutting and overlocking our pieces. We left the house around 1pm to go to the horses.

Our skirts would have to wait for now.

Dinky Tink and Longhaired Tibbs

I can't tell the difference between Hilary's cats. At least I couldn't. After many, many mistakes I have now worked out a foolproof way of telling them apart. Tinker is dinkier. Tibbs has longer hair. T-i-b-b = l-o-n-g.

They are gorgeous cats. Hence the many photos. Hilary says that when Tinker is sleeping by the window, passing folk stop and take her photograph.

Arriving, then feeding lambs

Being a lady of leisure these days, I went back up to idyllic Islay to visit Hilary again. I brought both my sewing machines, some material and my jodpurs. It was promising to be an exciting few days.

After a looooong journey (don't ask), we stopped off at a farm on the way back from the ferry port to pick up a tractor part or something and when we got there, it was feeding time for the lambs. The lady feeding them let us lift them up and even feed them ourselves. It was ace. I was so excited. I just wanted to take mine home. He was a tiny black and white guy with a lame leg, it would have been quite easy to sneak him up my jumper....

How could I forget the big coal fire!

Everyone loves a big coal fire. Trouble was we couldn't get ours lit. After a box of firelighters and a little bit (lot) of vegetable oil, we had roaring flames. It's the best kind of heat. Gives everyone a rosy glow.

The journey home

A somewhat more subdued Nicola and Michelle on the ferry on the way back. Some nice chat, tea and muffins. Mmmm. We were so in love with the Islay Ales, we bought a gift pack of 3 each. Under the guise of a present for Gregor and Jason, it was really just a chance for us to have some more ale.

I felt a little queasy on the bus but felt improved come Inverary. Our seats on the bus reclined right back. Here's Michelle and I reclining and finding it hilarious. Where were these seats on the nightbus up from London?

Pub lunch next door

More ale, some predictable Scottish hospitality and pub grub. Hilary's back garden is just next door. We wanted to eat outside but it attracted seagulls. Good thing too, as it started bucketing the minute we sat down in the conservatory. We would have got soaked. True to Scottish form, it only lasted 15 minutes and the sun came back out.

What are we dancing to?

Gregor, can you help here? You and I seem to be dancing the same way. I can't believe that it's the Birdie Song. Jason reckons it must be the Five Aces. I just don't know.

The detectives among you should spot at least a dozen of our pals in this photo.

The Morning After

Despite waking up at the back of nine, none of us had hangovers. Splendid, especially as the weather was lovely and sunny. A bit blustery, good for blowing the cobwebs away. Michelle and I took our coffee out to the back garden. Yip, that's Hilary's view. A beautiful back garden and the beach behind that wall. So idyllic. So different from my own motorway view. Islay is such a combatant of stress. It's almost impossible to focus on anything other than your peaceful surroundings.

Kisses for Michelle

Awwww. We were pretty wined up at this stage!

Cats, cats, wine and more cats

Tinker and Tibbs.

They look like identical twins to me but Hilary insists that they are completely different.

You be the judge. Actually, I may have only taken pictures of one of them, I'd need to ask Hilary...

It may have been the wine but I was mesmerised by them. It was like telly; they were that hypnotic. Any time one of them came near me, I was desperate to cuddle them. I can't wait until we get our own wee kittens in the summer.

Festive & Nerabus Ale - yummo!

Islay House Square, Bridgend is in the woods and has a home-made chocolate shop, a micro-brewery http://www.islayales.com/, a photography studio, a cafe and a fabric shop (I could have spent all day in there, actually I got some lovely fabric!)

We bought a wee ale each; Hils and I went for the cinnamony-gingery-Christmasy Festive Ale and Michelle went for the Nerabus. They were scrummy. It was so nice to walk through the woods sipping on ale. Such a change from Glasgow streets. We couldn't have done it were it not for the temperate weather. Wouldn't have been the same in the rain!