Oops I did it again….

let days go by with no bloggage!

Monday – I’m on cake duty for teashop all week – hugely political, can’t be bothered to type out all the reasons why but I’m earning £7 a shot for doing it so I’ll take the cash thank you very much!

I had leftover raspberries to use up from our foraging adventures so I did a chocolate and raspberry cake which came out with a very gorgeous pink icing. I made that and Ady, Scarlett and I headed down to deliver it and meet the ferry. Lots of people came off including Vikki, Fliss and Jinty coming home and Jinty’s sister Kirsty (who is the double of Frazer’s girlfriend Cat which is messing with my head) visiting. Also Gav and Laura, prospective crofters. I met Gav at the crofting course hence they are here and I suspect they are the strongest candidates for becoming our neighbours. I like them a lot and think they would be a great addition to the island. I greeted them and invited them up to the croft for a cup of tea once they’d landed properly. Kate and Ian gave us 3 live crabs they had caught and Ian offered to come up later and help process them.

We delivered the cake and headed up here. We had lunch and then they arrived so we had a good chat with them and then I walked back to the village with them as I had a Midgefest meeting to attend. We did that, Ady, Davies and Scarlett came down to meet me as it was veg box night and I ended up being bought 3 cans of cider by various people which put me at that happy point of not wanting to go home. Ian had come up and helped Ady and the kids do crab killing and meat extraction so when we did get home it was simply a case of cooking some pasta and tossing it with crab meat. If I’m honest I’d probably not bother again, but I am not a huge fish lover anyway. Ady and the kids enjoyed it, possibly more for having been involved in processing it.

Tuesday – Cakes again – I’d managed to not buy icing sugar so had to improvise with a cake that didn’t require icing and went for orange (also trying to use up fruit and veg gluts). Ady walked down to the car (other side of the village) with me to deliver it and call in to Fliss and collect some food from their freezer (we are borrowing space in there) then we drove back to the croft. This latterly has proved to be quite an error but more on that later….

When we arrived home Ian had been up and offered to take Davies and Scarlett out in the canoe in the afternoon so we had lunch and then walked down to the village with them to meet Ian. I love that this is now their life – heading off for canoeing trips with people who teach them so much and have all this time and energy for them :). We chatted to Paul and then came back to the croft. I had some online stuff to do and Ady wanted to strim an area so we got on with that. Gav and Laura called by on their way back from climbing up Hallival and while they were here Davies and Scarlett arrived home full of chatter about crab and lobsters and starfish :).

They left and as we needed some bits from the shop Scarlett came down with Ady and I while Davies stayed here. He is enjoying the odd bits of time to himself, or time with Bonnie and it is great to be able to give him that at his request.

We came home and inbetween cooking dinner I had something of a bakefest cooking cakes for today and tomrorow, cheese scones and three types of muffin for the craft fayre today.

Wednesday – At about 11pm last night we’d debated whether the rain meant we should move the car to the other side of the river and decided to gamble getting wet there and then in the dark walking back from moving it was worth the risk of the river running too high. We stayed dry but made the wrong choice and both of us woke several times during the night to the sound of continued heavy rain and sure enough the river is now a torrent meaning the car is trapped on the croft.

Ady was on piermaster duty today so after discussion with Davies and Scarlett we left them at home and donned waterproofs to walk down to the village with all my cake offerings. Ady and I arrived at the hall and moved tables around to get it prepared then he headed off with Neil to learn the ropes while I chatted with Claire who made me a very delicious honey, lemon and ginger drink for my continued coughing.

Fliss arrived and we finished setting up the craft fayre and enjoyed our usual Wednesday 3 cups of tea, chatter and selling stuff session. Fliss made nearly £50, I cleared a tenner but have used Fliss’ freezer space for storing leftover muffins for next week which saves cooking 🙂 and I earnt enough to cover the Sheerwater for tomorrow 🙂 We chatted about various options for making money and I have more cunning plans for making cash by crafts.

Ady called back in after the ferry and took some cakes home for the kids to have lunch with them, then he came back again before the final ferry. We had 45 minutes before the shop opened and we needed some bits for dinner so went back to Fliss & Sandy’s for a cup of tea / chat. I am loving making new friends with other couples like this, it really feeds my soul to make new connections and spend time getting to know people 🙂

Quick stop at the shop and then home – Ady spent some time sorting some drainage out around the static, the kids took advantage of a break in the rain to head down and look at how high the river was running and I got some dinner sorted – garlic and rosemary flat bread, veggie pasta bake as we had Vikki, Gav & Laura up for dinner. It was a nice evening – Gav & Laura are ex teachers and got the full Davies and Scarlett charm offensive so now have a lovely positive view of Home Ed kids, then the kids went off to watch a dvd while the adults chatted. The usual nice evening with Vikki and lots of positive plans for the future of Rum. It is very cool to sit putting the world to rights once a week and actually be able to get together the following weeks and talk about what motions you have put in place towards making it a better place 🙂

I have musings on children growing up and away and my acceptance and support of that, on the beauty of living here and the exhilaration of feeling so much a part of nature and loads on the politics of the current set up but frankly I am currently way too busy living it to be recording it. I must sort that out as I am very aware I will have this set of feelings and perspectives only for this finite period and will regret not having recorded them once they pass.