Today has been very productive again :). This morning Ady and I went down to the village with Bonnie to get sausages out of Fliss’ freezer for dinner and post Lovefilm back. Fliss was not in so I emailed her to say we’d been and invited her up for coffee if she was free later.
We had lunch and then I went to mulch around the fruit trees with cardboard. About 3/4 of them have taken and we are even getting the odd fruit of the blackcurrants and raspberries. Renewed me with enthusiasm for getting some crops in – hoping to dig over some beds maybe next week along with getting the CCAGS grant form finished and sent off so we feel in control of stuff like polytunnel etc. I’ve also been thinking a bit about crowd funding and some creative ideas for fund raising which I may explore further.
I then went and hung out with the ducks and geese for a while. I love having livestock so much, I find the company of the chickens, ducks, geese and pigs so mellow and restoring. I love how they have this chilled pace of live which largely just involves scratching around for food, hanging out with each other, basking in the sunshine when it is there and sheltering from the crap weather when it comes. Reckon we could all learn a lot from stripping back to basics like they do :). Mostly I just like watching them all unselfconscious and making their own variety of happy noises as they go about their days.
Davies and Scarlett were doing much the same thing – they have been having a really good couple of days, lots of creative and imaginative play and getting on with their own little projects. Three times now they have built a sort of world (they call it Gloopa Loopa land) down on the river bank and it has been washed away. They create a whole community with leaders and politics and rules and shops and housing and stuff and it is very indepth, clearly their way of processing what they learn about here on Rum. Today they decided to build it again on the croft, where it won’t get washed away. They earmarked a space and got Ady to strim it for them and dig out a large hole in the middle and bring up some water for them and they got busy. So far they have built a castle, several dwellings and a beach because ‘the queen loves the beach and couldn’t live near it any more so the king brought the beach to her’. 🙂
Ady and I stopped for a tea break and sat on the steps enjoying the sunshine when Fliss and Joss arrived for a cup of tea. That was lovely, sitting in the sunshine with new friends chatting. We were treated to an impromptu airshow too as three jets were overhead and really quite low doing various manouveres. Ady was in his element :).
I walked down to the village with them when they left and called into the shop for a few bits and then round to Vikki’s to collect some printing she had done for me and had a cup of tea and chat in her garden too. Then back home as I had baking to do. Cake for teashop and some stuff for Market Day tomorrow which I am feeling a bit guilty about abandoning Fliss to do all on her own but I have 11 people all arriving on the ferry to see us tomorrow!
Ady made the most delicious toad in the hole while I whipped up cheese scones, ginger cake and lavender shortbread along with icing to finish the cake off in the morning. The next 10 days are going to be Very Busy Indeed but I am very excited to be having so many friends come to share our island with us. Can’t promise to be anything other than very slack at keeping on top of blogging mind you…
You’re allowed to be slack when friends are a-visiting :-).