Waiting....

This morning we had our last quilt class before Christmas. December is such a busy month for everyone that we steer clear of it and resume when it's all over, in January. One of the ladies brought in her quilt top which was completely hand sewn from scrap fabric and it looked wonderful - the only problem was that she had run out of scrap fabric so had to buy some more - so she now has more scraps to use up. A frequent quilter's dilemma!

Quick dash home for lunch and then out into the grey damp day for our walk. There was no chance of blipping any hills today as they were completely hidden from view so I chose instead to concentrate on my two chums. One of their favourite walking haunts is the moor which is large but enclosed to keep out deer and smaller rodents to protect young trees which were planted a few years back. You can see some of these young conifers here. Entrance and exits are secured by strong wooden gates which are on very stiff hinges. The only way I can go through a gate safely with both dogs and without being bowled over in the process is to get them to sit and wait patiently until I am on the other side, then I call them to come through - which they can then do with as much gusto as they wish! Here they are both sitting, dutifully waiting, but you can see that Bruce's eyes, ever voluble, are speaking his impatience at me fiddling about with the camera!

Once on the moor the wind really vented its full force and was bitingly cold.... I believe Orcadians call a wind like that a "lazy wind" because it goes right through you rather than taking time to go round about you! In Orkney they know all about that as there are very few trees on the islands and therefore nothing to break the strength of the wind. By the time we had reached the exit gate my right hand was very cold - from trying to catch the odd potential blip - and the three of us were also very, very muddy. Not surprisingly none of these potentials were any good as they were, without exception, out of focus! Once home I soon warmed up by towelling both dogs down and then was ready for a refreshing cuppa.