A Lonely Ruin

When Wendy and the children and I were at Callanish last week I took stock and saw things I’d not seen before.  We were there long enough for the sky to have some very different moods:

Evening Sun Through Trees

When I was in Strathblane recently I went for a walk and was quite taken with the effect of the evening sun through the trees:

A Wedding and Birthday Celebration

Catherine and Wayne married some weeks ago and had their wedding reception, combined with a party to celebrate Catherine’s birthday.  The party was held at The People’s Palace in Glasgow on Saturday 5 June.  And what a party it was.  I spent most of the ‘dancing time’ dancing with Catriona who discovered that rock and roll was a Good Thing.  I was quite astonished that firstly my knee held out and that secondly Catriona had a limitless desire for being thrown around. 

Interior of The People’s Palace where the wedding ‘do’ was held

The building from the other direction with the bride and groom

Catherine and Wayne with the wedding cake.  Apparently this ‘Wedding Cake’ is all the rage in the UK.  It’s the first one I’ve seen.

Just to prove that  I don’t wear shorts and a polo shirt all the time

Catriona being Catriona

Dancing Kiwis

All’s Quiet

It’s 7am (or it was when I started this posting) and all’s quiet.  Mind you at this hour it has been since the Geddi (the plural of Geddes and applicable to any gathering thereof) arrived at Eagleton last Sunday.  Everyone has been going to bed so late that the mornings have not started until rather later than usual.  But this morning all is quiet and there will be no tired faces appearing for breakfast.  We were up just after 5am and by the time this post is finished Wendy, Fraser and Catriona will be half way across The Minch on the way to their next visit. 

They were fortunate in having wonderfully sunny, if cold, weather for the first four days and the children, who had not been on the Island before, saw it in its best light. Wendy, having lived here, knows the Island in all its moods.

So now the visit is just memories.  I have enjoyed it immensely.  I have enjoyed their company.  I have enjoyed that they have seen my home as it now is (Wendy was last in this house over 15 years ago).  I have enjoyed the laughter.  I have enjoyed being congratulated on my lovely grandchildren (and have given up explanations).  I have enjoyed (on one occasion and by someone who should have known otherwise) being mistaken for Wendy’s husband (who’s 20 years my junior!).

Today there were no emotional goodbyes; just hugs and high fives.  I probably won’t see them again before they return to New Zealand but I should be back in my NZ home at the end of our UK summer.  Summer?!  In Napier they are complaining about the cold winter.  It’s summer here and our temperatures are still generally lower by one or two degrees than in Napier!

Fraser, Wendy and Catriona at ‘The Wedding’ Dinner and Party (posting to come)

A beautiful smile

‘What’s more interesting than a Nintendo DS?’ (But at least they kept them happy in the car!)

Sunny Stornoway.  Even sunnier family.

Laughter

Being impish

Being Catriona

Being Fraser

Being contemplative (and windblown and chilly!)

A hole in a wall (a very high up hole in a wall!)

Wide open spaces

  and windblown sandy beaches