There’s been a mistiness over Uist for a few days now that has hardly lifted at all. It’s warm too. It’s lovely. Just when I’d given up on Summer, she’s come back for a few more days. 
summer
Misc.
A few snaps from Summer so far.
Summer Ending
The air has changed. Autumn is creeping ever closer. The sun sets not long after 9pm and the rain is starting to make a reappearance, more regularly by the day. The wind is gusty and more determined; the plants all around looking tired and drawn. I arrived on Islay at the tail end of Autumn last year, and with Autumn making her presence felt, I’m reminded that my time here is beginning to draw to a close.
When I’m ignoring the pressing issue of What To Do Next (well underway but really, a daunting task) I like to read. I go through fits and spurts in reading. Either I’ll be utterly addicted, every spare second with my nose in books, devouring every word in front of me, or I’ll be quiet, not reading or trying to and perhaps struggling to manage more than a few paragraphs a day. I’m in the midst of the former at the moment, happily. It does make me feel like something of a recluse, though, rejecting company to instead keep reading.
I live by the mantra my parents set out for me: “money spent on books is never money wasted”. To that end, I frequently don’t have much spare money, but do have an ever-increasing book pile.
Images: some books I’ve read and enjoyed recently.
Flùraichean – flowers
floo-reech-en Pronounce the -‘ch’ as if you were saying ‘loch’. Run the sounds together, gently does it; emphasis on the first syllable. There you are – that’s how you say ‘flowers’ in Gaelic.
Summer seems to have appeared out of nowhere. Granted, there was a spell over the weekend where it was cold and windy and everyone was back in their wooly jumpers, but for the most part the past few weeks have been glorious. Every inch of grassland has some kind of flower or jolly plant growing on it, sprung into life.
Baby birds are appearing from their nests, waddling about warily. It’s lovely, really. Remind me of evenings like this, evenings where it’s calm, warm, relatively midge-free. It’s barely dark for anytime at all so midnight walks are perfectly acceptable; farmers nearby are out working their fields ’til all hours making the most of the good weather. It feels like a waste going to sleep when there’s so much daylight.
more on that shawl
Remember that shawl I mentioned before? Here are a few more pics.
Lovely, isn’t it?
Outside at the moment
The shawl is getting a lot of use. As I wear it, I feel like both a product of my environment and a reflection of it. The colours are perfect.
uiseag 