The Soaplady

I don’t think I’ve ever been as glad to spend christmas at home, here in Breasclete, as I am this year …
My absence at family celebrations on the mainland was the result of a decision taken way before the weather became cold and the snow started to fall - more due to extraneous factors, and [...]

 
Well, it’s a lovely crisp fresh sunny day here in Breasclete, although the temperature is definitely cold, and the roads were suicidally icy this morning when Mindy and I went for our walk around Callanish …
 
I desperately feel that I should be doing something ‘outside-ish’, like hanging out the washing, or closing down the garden [...]

 
My little east indian black ducklings have grown, and are now out in the garden, their feathers being fully through, and their little chests all waterproof and springy …
 
 
They are so *loud* … especially at feeding-time when they surround me and quack as if it were their last breath, getting it all off their springy [...]

 
There is a new business start-up in Breasclete which is already starting to pick up custom all over the island: my friend and neighbour Karin and her Company
Clean Squad …!
 
 
Karin is naturally-endowed with enthusiasm, vigour and ebullience, and is that particular treasure of womankind who *enjoys* ironing …!  Imagine it …!
 
Karin also offers all the services usually performed [...]

 
No pictures today - just an account of the most delicious breakfast I’ve had in many months …
 
Two Stag bakeries spiced fruit buns, sliced in half and spread with butter, then gently heated for 10 seconds in the microwave until just warm, the butter softly melting inside, accompanied by a whole punnet of fresh, plump, [...]

 
Welcome to the duckling pleasuredrome …!
 
oh what fun we can have inside a roll of fencing wire, fortified with duckling mesh …!
 
My babies go out for an airing most afternoons, and come back in absolutely worn out … Most times they are watched over by the muscovy duck contingent, as in the picture …
 
But mostly, [...]

 
I was walking Mindy from the Callanish Sorting Office (having bartered for certain chocolatey items for the way - for me, not Mindy … :- ), off to the left, past the roaming cattle and the mad sheep dog who has worn his own track in his front garden, dashing manically to and fro, and [...]

 
” … and I’m feelin’ good …”
(You have to imagine Nina Simone singing that, in her earthy, chiming tones) …
 
Had a good Saturday morning in the shop today … Lots of visitors, lots of motor-homes, a couple of local children buying presents …
 
Everything was sort of all over the place due to my having done a [...]

 
We have our first buddhist Minister on the island - she has just recently been ordained into the Western Buddhist Order, and her ordained name is Animisha, which in the Sanskrit language means ‘eyes wide open not blinking, vigilant’ …
She was ordained in Spain at the new women’s ordination retreat centre just northwest of Barcelona [...]

 
I’ve just finished a two-day First Responders Course, given by the Scottish Ambulance Service, in Carloway, the next village along from Breasclete …
 
 
The purpose of First Responders, in remote communities like ours, is to attend people, in our locality, who have already phoned 999 for an ambulance with cardio-vascular or breathing problems, to make good use of the valuable [...]