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 [...]

 
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 [...]

 
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, [...]

 
Feast your eyes on the latest additions to the Soaplady’s menagerie …
 
 
These are four of Fred’s black east indian ducklings … I believe their father was Mr Quack, and their mother was Crispy … They made the strange journey from Aird to Breasclete on Sunday afternoon, and are still settling into their sunny [...]

 
I had a really busy day in the shop today, and didn’t really feel like traipsing into town for shopping afterwards, so decided not to do shopping this week, which left me with the question of where to walk Mindy … It only took a small effort of will and a suppressing of the cost [...]

Hello All,
 
Everything is in bloom at the moment - buttercups everywhere, and tiny little pale blue flowers in the ditches … The cotton-flag flowers are flying in the wind too - of course they’re not called cotton-flag, but I don’t know their real name - they look like tiny puffs of cotton-wool on a stem [...]

 
” … 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 [...]

 
Well yesterday now, actually …
 
Just look at this little one, in all his glory -
 

 
One of my favourite twice-daily walks with Mindy is along the Pentland Road - a sort of a short-cut single-track road across the moors …
 
Spring was sort of busting out all over, and we saw these beautiful lichens on the lewisian gneiss …
 
Also an excuse to see if I can get Photobucket working … Lets [...]

 
How much more windy can it get without a galeforce warning being issued …??!!
 
Why am I writing about it …?
Because this weather is scarey, and it invades your life, and it’s interesting, because it causes you to get flashes of the ‘Siege’ mentality -

do I have my power-cut box stocked,
is everything moveable tied down,
how many (unavoidable) [...]