Yule Greetings from Hjaltland

The lengendary Socks was the special guest at the Shetland pony riding school Christmas party held last
Sunday.

A week ago today we helped our friends Barbara and George with their pony riding school Christmas party. It was a very breezy afternoon and pretty chilly. Our duties were to provide soup and hot drinks to the guests. We really had a good time, albiet a chilly one, and It was great to meet new people. 

Socks, the moon walking Shetland pony, was the special guest. He was a bit petulant, I guess the pressure of TV and big screen fame is a difficult thing to bear.

Socks waiting with Elaine (his trainer) for his next adoring fan to say Merry Christmas

Father Odin came to provide gifts for the children. (Unfortuantely, Sleipnir was not well, so one of the ponies graciously took his place). 

Rae's Christmas making, its amazing what you can do with old beer bottle tops! Beautiful aren't they.

As you can see Rae has been busy making Christmas cards and decorations which are lovely. 

Rae's gorgious cards!

The trees on these cards are made from wall paper samples!

Note the caulking mallet, a useful stamping implement.

Winter Solstice sushi night. 

 Last night we had some friends over for suchi which was great. It was a hands on make your own suchi party but unfortunately we forgot to take any photos.

Cosy.

The stripy couple wishing you a very happy yule.

Merry Christmas from us in Shetland.

Gales & Snow.

The Storm last Thursday.

Well, we survived last weeks storm, albeit we were a bit chilly at times, the wind found its way in, under the eaves and past the odd window frame. Still we layered-up kept the fires stoked, stuffed hot water bottles up our jumpers and we were fine.

The extreme weather was exciting, mainly because we were ok. We were very aware that there were many people down the east coast of Scotland and England who were not so fortunate and who have suffered damage and some who have lost their homes which is awful.  

There are lots of photos in this post. I hope you like them. 

We felt very sorry for the ponies seen here huddled behind the old van.

We felt sorry for the ponies who at times huddled behind the old van for shelter. Rae was getting a bit freaked 'cos, for a while, they were all stood looking at her through the kitchen window. Happily, Rae did not invite them in for a warm and a cup of tea.

A leaden sky.

Very pretty.

Then the weather really closed-in on Friday morning.

Happily Defiant survived on her strapped down on the trailer. Just kept her bow to the wind.

Friday afternoon the weather cleared and we had a walk to check on Zephon.
Note the ice on the windward side of this loch.

Me wrapped-up warm.

One of Zephon's stern lines had come loose and a chap called Dewie (sorry if the spelling is wrong)
kindly re-tied it, thank you!

Walking home.

Love the light in this photo.

Saturday morning and snow.

Me enjoying the snow.

Snow on the beach.

Rae made me chuckle, she has a thing about the seals. The seals are very inquisitive even though they don't like people coming near them. First sign of a person approaching and they are straight into the sea. Once in the sea, they will bob-up and stare at you, to see if you are posing a threat. Rae, at this point starts chatting to them, as if they can understand her. Strangely enough, they seem to actually listen! Weird I know. So, Rae's new name is 'Seal Whisperer'.  When I look at the seals it makes me think about the old tales of seals being the reincarnations of drowned sailors. 

Cosy home, well actually, bloody chilly during the height of the gale!

Gorgeous, Seal Whisperer.

We love the tough ponies!

Latest News from Burra, Shetland.

A couple of weeks ago we had a great morning out at the Tingwall craft fair.

Well, Autumn is defiantly here in Shetland, and as I write this post the rain is lashing at the window and the wind is howling around the hus.  The weather has been like this pretty much all week, and off course, the days are becoming shorter.

This morning we went to the craft fair at the Clickimin Sports Centre in Lerwick, there was some lovely stuff, knitted products including Rae's favourite, the Burra bears, lots of jewellery, wood turning and the like and brilliant food. 

Whilst at the sports centre I enquired about gym membership as I am finding my muscles are, well, getting a bit soft as are my hands which are cut, grime and callous free and are worryingly silky smooth...!! 

To be honest, the one thing I am finding hard about doing this otherwise enjoyable academic stuff is the lack of physical activity. In the past I was kinda used to hefting large lumps of wood about Ash's yard: spending days caulking; followed by days of power planing; followed by days of belt sanding and ..... well, you get the picture. So hopefully, a couple of sessions a week at the gym will keep me muscles chipper for when I get back into a bit of traditional wooden boat building, with perhaps a bit of a Nordic twist.

Zephon is settling in to her new berth.

Zephon is the only sailing boat in the marina!

View of the marina from the car (on our the way home for a lovely cup of tea).

A couple of weeks ago we were invited to go to the pony show organised by Barbara Tait. We had a great time there watching the ponies and their owners strut their stuff and generally doing horsey things which both Rae and I know absolutely nothing about!  But it was great meeting the ponies and their proud owners. 

Barbara Tait recently organised an Autumn Shetland pony show. 

The pony show was great, I didn't have a clue what was going on but it was fun and it was great meeting new people. 

Sandwick Bay this morning at low water. 

Zephon arrives in Bridge End.

Our pumpkin, doing the warding off the evil spirits thing.

Last night Rae and I enjoyed ourselves in true halloween fashion, Pumpkin carved and lit, a spookey movie, well actually we watched Ghost Busters! 

Mike (MJS Boat Transport) and his partner Susan arrived at just after 08:00 this morning. The day was far from ideal for off-loading Zephon; it was, and still is very windy, with driving rain showers. The brand new truck with the hiab was driven by a chap called Sean who works for Stephen Henderson.  Bloody great bit of kit. All went very smoothly and Zephon was lowered into the water without a hitch, well apart from the fact it took me and Mike to pull her back along the quay, yep it was pretty damn breezy!

First job remove the mast.

Hiabs are wonderful things!

Remote controlled hiab, bloody amazing!

 Needless to say the wind meant that there was no chance of getting the mast rigged and stepped so that will have to wait until a calmer and drier day. 

Zephon moored alongside the quay. waiting for the wind to drop.

Zephon looks very small moored alongside the quay. Although the weather was not ideal its great that she is finally here and I would like to thank those that made it possible: 

Charlie Hussey and Mary Watson for all their help de-rigging Zephon and keeping a watchful eye on her and their donation of some large fenders. 

Guy Cotton (Savage) for taking Zephon from Old Mill Creek to Darthaven and making sure she was loaded safely onto Mikes lorry. 

Mike from MJS transport, brilliant, great service and very helpful, would recommend using Mike if your boat needs to be transported. Also thank you to Susan for taking these great photos.

Sean, the hiab lorry chap, again great and really helpful.  

Thank you