Autumn into winter
It’s been very wintry lately. Frost and hail and - in some bits of the island (mainly the mountains) - snow. And when the weather’s this cold thoughts turn to Christmas. I don’t resist it. I’m guilty of watching the odd formulaic but festive film (they usually involve someone returning to their little home town from the Big City and having an epiphany whilst saving the family Christmas tree farm from developers, or something like that. Oh, and reuniting with their high school sweetheart). And just reading that back makes me cringe slightly.
The kitchen is fairy light central. To be fair, it’s the gloomiest room in the house and chilly too thanks to someone laying ceramic floor tiles (WHY???) so twinkly lights are pretty much a necessity. There’s a big vase of greenery on the dresser, leftover snippings from a trip to collect twigs and pine cones for some workshops I’m running next week.
It smells of oranges in there too as Joe and I baked an orange and olive oil bundt cake yesterday (recipe here). There was a slight panic when it refused to come out of the tin but I won in the end. And it tastes lovely, even without the glaze. Gluten free, milk free. Lots of sugar though, which is why I’m fighting the urge to slink off for a slice.
Other than a trip to Inverness on Monday we’ve stayed close to home. I’ve been walking behind the house and through the village (that greenhouse in the picture - I want it and am slightly obsessed with it). There’s no need to go far when you have frozen lakes and pine forests on the doorstep.
We’ve been exploring the woods near the castle and found a rope swing. We always seem to find a rope swing, it’s like some strange token with a hidden message. But that’s probably just me; I have a tendency to attach hidden meanings to things like robins and wild geese and white feathers.
We went in search of things to make wall hangings with (workshops again - I have four planned so far) and took a basket and secateurs with us. It’s a lovely place with lots of paths meandering off here and there, and recently they’ve been felling trees so the air smells of pine resin.
If you head up out of the woods, you can look out towards Macleod’s Tables. There are heaps of branches and pine cones. The bracken is sere and the leaves are still falling, but there’s still some heather in bloom. The colours are beautiful.
Jay came with us the following day, which meant I could wander off alone along a path I’d never noticed before. It wound down through thick trees and bushes, deep into the woods. It was frosty and like something from a story book and I wanted to keep going but the problem with unknown paths is you don’t know here they lead or how long they are.
So I’ll be going back…
Joe’s off school tomorrow and Friday as they’re INSET days. We have plans to go into town tomorrow and Friday might just be a stay home day. I’m thinking films, drawing, reading… Although he can be exhausting as he likes talking so very much, and he always wants to be busy. The only antidote is to park him in front of the TV (it acts like a tranquiliser dart) but I try to limit that.
He watches wildlife documentaries then fires facts at me.
Our trip to Inverness on Monday was stunning. I’m planning on writing a post to go in the ‘Skye’ section of the website, as the photographs are magical. Hopefully before next week…
