Sunshine at last!

A Happy New Year to everyone! A change in the weather today to start the new year. It was pretty gusty last night and I wondered if the fireworks would go ahead as they're set off in McCaig's Tower on New Year's Eve, just up the road from us. However, they went ahead, to the terrifying of all the local animals, if Rosie the cat's anything to go by. With the first bang she was off and hiding under the bed.

By late morning the sun was out and my daughter having put some hazel nuts out, a red squirrel came along the fence to investigate. Rosie came out to watch too! I got a couple of pictures, though not as good as I would have liked.

After lunch I decided to do a litter pick around my usual circuit, beginning with the Tower. As usual the fireworks setter-offers leave all the minor debris scattered over the grass and that was my first job. I must have picked up hundreds of small round cardboard discs and many red tubes, which are probably part of the fireworks' setting-off apparatus. I went up to the viewing platform which was bathed in sunshine, but couldn't get in due to a large crowd of jovial people congregated there. A lady asked if I'd like a whisky and when I declined, she offered me a chocolate biscuit, which I also declined. I noticed a dozen or so bottles of whisky lined up on a bench!  The view was gorgeous, with the snow-covered mountains of Mull catching the sun.

Somebody else wished me a Happy New Year and asked again if I would like a whisky, so I accepted a tot of Jura, plus a small chocolate swiss roll! The visitors were from Glasgow and came up every New Year apparently. We had a lovely chat and I took a couple of pictures with my tiny Canon, which I can slip into my pocket when I go litter-picking. Unfortunately when I got home I discovered that I'd forgotten to replace the SD card, so my Blip today is of a cheeky red squirrel who was enjoying one of the hazel nuts. 

Quote of the day: 'Red squirrels... you don't see many of them since they became extinct.' - Michael Aspel. (I think I've used this before, but I like it!)