Goodbye Jack

Jack died peacefully in his sleep last night. His brave wee heart failed and despite the best efforts of lovely Gail, he didn't make it. Hugh and Ross buried him in our garden this afternoon, between his two pear trees. Ross phoned me to tell me that they chose a spot "that a cat would like." No wonder my Mum was always so fond of Ross when he was a wee boy; he has grown into a fine young man. 

I feel so sad, but have no regrets over his life. Few humans have such a happy life as Jack the cat, and I truly believe that he was contented, which is a great gift. He loved his Dad best of all, he also loved his brothers, Jill, and me. The house was his castle and the garden was his jungle. He fought other cats, killed mice, climbed trees and observed James as he gardened. He was friendly and companionable and would come out of the house to greet us on the path when we arrived home from work. He kept an eye on everything that happened in and around the house, and had lots of favourite places and routines. He was a handsome fellow and kept himself lovely and clean; it amazed me that his fur smelled so nice as if it had been washed with shampoo rather than cat spit! He basked in sunshine and always found a cosy corner when it was raining. 

He was such a good cat and we will miss him very much. 

St Kilda in the sunshine

The weather was marvellous for our long dreamed of trip to St Kilda today. We left at 8 a.m. from Leverburgh. It's so remote - nearly three hours each way on the boat. But the crew were informative and pleasant, and the journey flew by. It was so exciting when we landed on Hirta, the largest island, which was inhabited for a thousand years until the last inhabitants left in 1930. Being Andersons, we immediately headed for the highest point on the island (in total we ascended 362 metres and had a circular walk of about 8 km) and we were rewarded all the way with fantastic views of Village Bay, Soay, Boreray, and sea stacks. We saw the strange wild little St Kilda sheep and lots of birds including arctic terns and very aggressive bonxies (skuas) who dive bombed us, and a bird watcher told us that a strange sound we kept hearing was a drumming snipe! I could hardly believe that I was on St Kilda! We descended to the village via The Gap, and passed lots of "cleats" which were low stone structures where the villagers used to dry out their food. Then we walked along the one long street past all the deserted houses and then the restored ones. Interestingly, there was no "St Kilda"; the Vikings called the islands "skildas" which means "shields" (because of their shape) but a medieval cartographer wrongly transcribed it as S.Kilda which was thenceforth assumed to refer to a saint. We had a good five hours on the island.

Back on the boat we circumnavigated the amazing sea stacks of Boreray (the highest in the UK) and thousands of gannets rose into the air above us. Davie was "shat on from a great height" but our skipper assured him that this was very lucky. We also saw puffins, guillemots and more bonxies, who were chasing the gannets to try to make them vomit up their food! 

When we got back to South Harris my phone lit up with messages. Our furry boy Jack, who we had left at his usual cattery in Newarthill where he is treated like a prince, is gravely ill and is at the vet's on oxygen. We had a long conversation with lovely vet Gail about different options and what will be best for him. The next twenty four hours will be crucial. 

Harris on Wednesday

Today we went on a relaxing 8 km peninsular walk at Rodel in fantastic weather with stunning views. We also re-visited the beautiful St Clements Church at Rodel - the carvings on the tomb of Alasdair Crotach MacLeod are amazing and quite moving, especially his ship.We had a delightful afternoon sitting outside our cottage in the sunshine reading our books. And then in the evening we enjoyed a beach walk with the sea and hills lit up by the moonlight all around us, after a delicious meal at the Anchorage in Leverburgh.

 

Harris on Tuesday

We had another big walk today; a 10.5 km walk with 500 m ascent, up Ceapabhal, South Harris. It was a great walk over the hill and along the peninsula in marvellous weather with just enough of a breeze to make it pleasant. There were amazing views all around us including Skye to the south east and St Kilda to the west. We picked up a lamb that had fallen over and was unable to get up. One of its back legs looked shaky as it ran away and it fell again but this time got up by itself. I hope it's ok.

Later we had dinner for three at the remote but very popular Rodel Hotel - scallops mmmm! 

Harris on Monday

Going on holiday with Anderson men means walking and today I was pleased that I managed to walk up Beinn Losgaintir and Beinn Dhubh with Jamie and Davie; an ascent of 560 metres and distance of about 7 km. We had amazing views of the turquoise waters and pale yellow sands of Luskentyre Beach below us.

We had a lovely dinner and evening - David was reading us passages from his Sherlock Holmes novel back in our cosy cottage at Scaristavore.

Lewis and Harris

James, Davie and I are on holiday in the Western Isles, in a traditional black house in Scaristavore on the Isle of Harris. It's such a beautiful place and is situated on the same farm where we had a holiday in 1999 with the boys when they were tiny.
James and I travelled to Ullapool on Friday and had a walk beside the river in the evening sunshine. Then we had dinner at the Ceilidh Place; I had delicious smoked hake with spinach mash. There was a band called Bluebelly who were playing the blues in the bar area. 

When we arrived on a ridiculously early ferry (the later ones were full by the time I booked it) James and I were the first visitors to Calanais on Saturday morning. It was absolutely amazing to have the stones all to ourselves before treating ourselves to coffee and scones at the visitor centre. It was a beautiful day; warm and sunny, and later we went for a walk on the white sands of Beirigh Beach. After a long day and all of that fresh air we certainly slept well in our little cottage.

We had a bright and breezy walk at Arnol on Sunday with Davie, after collecting him from Stornoway Airport. He likes the cottage and is pleased with his alcove bed in the living room. James and I have a small double bedroom. The walls of the black house are so thick that it is cool indoors whatever the weather, and it has a comfortable but cosy feel.

From Holland to Holyroodhouse

What a busy time I have had over the last couple of weeks! First of all I am glad to say that my work situation has finally been sorted out, and I am very happy with it. Without naming any names, due to confidentiality, I am back to job-sharing Depute Head one day a week and the rest of the week I have been confirmed as Principal Teacher. And the best thing of all is that all of this is finally permanent! Being Depute Head as an acting post has been almost impossible without the support of another manager in the department, however I have got through due to putting in a huge amount of work. I'm proud of what I have accomplished. The new Depute Head has been transferred to us due to issues at another school, which of course I can't mention, so this new set up will hopefully suit both of us. We had a meeting before the end of term and I have a good feeling about it. So the end of a very hard school year consisted of congratulations and celebrations.

I then immediately set off on a school trip to Holland and Germany with the usual group of staff and about 70 lively pupils. We had a great time and it was lovely to be back in the pretty town of Valkenburg. Carolyn was my roomie this time, and we had some really good laughs. As is usual, a few pupils presented us with some issues to keep us busy, but nothing too bad and it was mainly a well-behaved group. By the time I got home I was sleep deprived but happy.

We travelled to Edinburgh on 3rd July for Alasdair's Duke of Edinburgh Gold Award Ceremony. We were cutting it fine because the traffic in Edinburgh was very busy, but we made it in time, and joined our allocated group in the gardens of the Palace of Holyroodhouse. Prince Philip duly appeared from inside the palace and walked from group to group, spending about ten minutes with each. It was strange to see him so close up after seeing him on television over the years. I was so proud of Ally; what a great achievement. Afterwards we went for lunch with Ally, Davie, Cat and her parents Gerry and Christine and had a very pleasant afternoon.