Behold, The Sky.

Looking from my garden towards the mainland with Suilven and Stac Pollaidh and lowering clouds.

Lenticular Clouds

Lenticular clouds are a common sight in New Zealand and I've blogged about them before on my NZ blog. However I've never seen them before in Glasgow. Yesterday in the early evening they started to form and I suddenly became very aware of the 'small sky' syndrome that I suffer from when in cities. Being used to the big skies of Lewis it's hard to realise that one's view of the sky is so restricted. Nevertheless I did manage to get a couple of photos taken a good while apart of lenticular clouds over Glasgow.

 

Back in Blogland

It's been a rather odd week since I returned to the Island.  Little or no Internet access has caused me more than a little irritation and wasted time communicating with India.  I shall not go on about it too much, I promise, but after being, in effect, called a liar by a lady who, in all probability, has better degrees than I have but, unfortunately, could neither easily understand me nor make herself easily understood to me, I got the bit between my teeth.  After many days and being told that an engineer would come on the afternoon of 12 January, I eventually gave notice that I was going to institute the formal complaints procedure against BT.  I'm sure that it was sheer coincidence that within an hour my broadband had returned to what is normal here.  Given that BT tell me that they are only contracted to provide a download speed of 0.2 Mbps (which is just about adequate to get emails but not really to blog) I'm doing pretty well.

Whilst I was away we went for lunch with friends and on the way back Anna and I went into the Kelvingrove Museum and Art Gallery which we visit frequently.  This view looking over to the University tower on the way out struck me:

I've been experiencing weather during the last month that I haven't experienced for 9 years and whilst a lot of the time it has just been dark and grey and wet and windy some of the skies have been quite spectacular:

I've also had a frosty morning (which is unusual for my house which is so near the sea) when the pond froze over.  That's the first time I've ever experienced that.

Obviously coming up to Christmas most of us are very busy with one thing and another but now that I'm back in Blogland I'll hopefully do my usual catch-up with everyone.

Memories of a Lewis Day (so far)

Tomorrow morning I leave for Glasgow and the start of my journey to my Other Home in New Zealand.   Looking at the weather forecast for the rest of today and tomorrow we are promised strong gales and torrential squally showers and rain.  I took these photos within the last half hour but already the skies are lightening as the sun rises but darkening at the same time as the grey rain clouds come across from the west (these photos are taken facing east).  This is one of the reasons I love the Hebrides: the unpredictability of the view from my window.

The three photos were taken in a sequence about 10 minutes from start to finish as the sun rose over the horizon.

Within a couple of hours the wind had risen to gale force and the sea at The Braighe when I went into town was quite rough:

I met Gaz for coffee and lunch at The Woodlands; my favourite watering hole in Stornoway's Lews Castle Grounds.  Believe it or not it was very busy but everyone is behind us.

In the afternoon I popped over to Pat and Dave's for a coffee.  Their eccentric cat Misha wanted first to go out and then to come back in.

This evening a friend is popping in and by the time I get to bed the cases will be shut and I'll be ready to roll in the morning.

A Beautiful Spell

No this is not a novel about a witch or wizard or other spell-caster with tendencies to perfection.  It's simply a celebration of the beautiful week or longer that we have just enjoyed.  The warm, sunny weather has been made even more delightful by the almost complete absence of midges which has been marred only by the appearance of a lot of clegs (horse-flies).

Over the the period I have taken a lot of photos but some show the changing views we have here and our big skies. 

The mist, ah the mist

Even the sea was still

Last evening everything began to blend into one quiet, windless scene.....until.....

...looking the other way the sun was setting in a blaze of glory (probably not to be seen again for weeks).

Short Review

Up at 0554 this morning.  It was easy because I didn't have to be up early today.  Tomorrow I'm off down for a weekend in Glasgow before flying out to France for a couple of weeks.  I'll have to be up before 0500 and I will not like it - until I'm actually up and on my way to the ferry.  Strange things body clocks.

At least I'm largely packed and so today I hope to have a relatively un-rushed day.  I really detest last-minute packing and rush.  Oddly I find going to France, especially at this time of year with its uncertain weather and without my car, far more difficult than packing for going to New Zealand for 6 months.  Why?  Because I don't have to take clothes and so on to NZ just a few odds and ends and, of course, my laptop, camera and so on.  My packing this trip is complicated by the fact that I have a wedding in Callander when I get back from France.

 So this morning I can look at the sky and drink my tea - and blog, of course.

Behold The Sea

I love the sea. That's no secret. I live by the sea. Rarely does a day go by when I don't sit and watch it. The moods of the sea are as many and as varied as the moods of the sky. I love the sky too. In Eagleton, in particular, I live with BIG skies; 360 degree skies.

Some years ago when I was in The National Gallery in London I saw a painting by Akseli Gallen-Kallela entitled Lake Keitele and I was mesmerised by the patterns in the water.

Lake Keitele by Alseli Gallen-Kallela

I see similar patterns quite frequently in The Minch from my Study window:

It Turned Out Like This

This was how the sky eventually turned out as evening fell. I wonder if we'll see the moon tonight?

Long Days and Light Nights

A little while ago Katherine commented on my posting From Stornoway to Ullapool in relation to the fact that nights didn’t get truly dark on Lewis in the middle of the night at this time of year.  I’ve been waiting for the right moment (and the time given all the visitors I’m having).  Tonight seems to be that moment.

It’s a half cloudy and half clear night as the following panorama to the North shows:

 

The sky really is as light as that and this is the time the photo was taken:

Promise of Things To Come

Today dawned (a rare sight this autumn) and showed great promise:

Night Sky Over Glasgow

This evening I realised that the bit of the sky that I could see from Gaz's flat was quite red. I thought I'd share it with you. After all some people can't even see that much sky.

I Can't See The Sky

It's Wednesday. Where has the week so far gone? I woke this morning and couldn't see the sky. OK so I have joined the Great Majority but I don't like not being able to see the sky. After all I usually wake to Big Skies (see Not Rambling Far on Scriptor's Rambles From My Chair). 'No sky' has so far set the pattern for my day. Got up about 0630 and decided that I really had to try and acclimatise to my new home for the next six weeks: my son Gaz's flat in Glasgow (he's away at the moment). It's a beautiful flat with every mod con and his artworks all round his wonderful handiwork (who else - other than a joiner - dovetails all his bookcases) and when I stay it's not a problem. But living in a different space means that you have to know where the toilet paper's kept.

Now I've never been the sort to complain about things but I'm sorry I'm going to have a moan about this morning before I have my shower and get out to the city centre when I'm meeting a friend at 11am. It's already 9am and I seem to have achieved nothing. Having sorted out my room and got clothes etc into their new homes I decided to answer my emails. There were none!!! Wot! Stuck in Glasgow and no emails! Well I suppose that I had so many phone calls and texts yesterday that no one sees any need to amail me (and Pat's broadband's still down). OK so I told myself not to sweat the small stuff and that's definitely small stuff. No peanut butter and no Marmite so I decided on porridge. I make porridge a lot and I generally use the microwave. I've never had it spill over in decades. Today it spilled over. The bread was the 'wrong' bread for toast. After cremating two lots I managed to get some out of the toaster which were at least light brown rusks. Had them with cheese. Now I LOVE cheese. But not for breakfast. And to cap it all a couple of hours after getting up I felt sick. Fortunately that's passed. I started the morning with Arensky's Piano Trio but since then I've gone through the Asrael Symphony, Bach, Mozart and I don't know who else. I just can't find anything to suit my mood (probably because I don't know what mood I'm in) so I'm listening to Laura Brannigan. But as I'm in a flat (appartment) albeit a solid and well soundproofed one the sound has to be moderate. Laura Brannigan should be played LOUD.

OK that's my moan for the year. I promise. Now to get on with the day. Hopefully I'll be back in my temporary home this evening and will catch up with some proper blogging. And I won't moan.

Oh. And by the way did I mention that I can't see the sky.

Can't Get Enough

I know that there are plenty of morning sky photos on this Blog but given the weather that everyone else in the UK seems to be getting I thought that I would show you the sky from my Study at about 0600 this morning

Instant Weather Forecasting

As usual this morning there was an email from Amazon exhorting me to buy this and that. However the above book caught my eye. I read the synopsis.

"Instant Weather Forecasting has been a perennial bestseller since it was first published nearly 40 years ago. A brilliant concept, its winning formula of 24 colour photographs of cloud formations and their accompanying explanatory text enables the reader to read the sky, pick up the clues, and predict what the weather will do. With a revised and updated text, along with new colour photographs and diagrams, this bestselling gem of a book will be invaluable to anyone participating in outdoor activities, from farming, gardening and walking to riding, golfing, flying, sailing and fishing - and of course holidaymakers."

Then I thought of CJ. Before the knowledge obtained from the book is of any use to one, one has to be able to see the sky!

Morning Light

Red Sky, Rain and Empty Chairs

Last night (Saturday) the sky was a most unusual pattern and shade of red. Red skies at night delight shepherds and sailors so I was looking forward to waking to a good morning. Wrong! It blew a gale and poured with rain all day although it's let up now (it is, after all, nearly tomorrow as I write this).

Red sky

The pier and the rain

The empty chair - no CJ. Sad.