The first weeks

That week we met Donnie Post - a ruggedly handsome man who delivered the village mail in a bright red van and brought us news of the outside world. We had a coal delivery - soft Polish coal delivered into our little shed next to the kitchen at the side of the house. I grew to love that shed. It was sheltered by a lovely rowen tree and formed a handy platform for feeding birds. I loved the robins - very different from American robins. They are tiny, round, and have a very sweet song. The other common visitor is the chaffinch - not a bird we have at home either, but very pretty.

We had a washing machine of sorts in the kitchen with a spin dryer. It was the same machine my mother had when I was a teenager - we thought it was pretty fancy at the time. Unfortunately when we got there we found that the machine didn't work so we had to wash our clothes by hand. The iron did work though so that was good.

In between the work of getting our lives in order (?) we took some time to revel in the beauty of our surroundings - walking on the hills and exploring the beautiful beach at Achnahaird. Or just standing in our front garden looking over the sea, islands and mountains. (Enlarge the photo for the view from our front steps). To the west we could see the outlines of the Outer Hebrides - Lewis and Harris. To the south we could just make out the northern tip of Skye, and across Loch Broom were the snow-capped Dundonnels with the high peak of An Teallach looming over all. There were croft fields across the road running down to the sea where the Summer Isles lay in constantly changing light. We couldn't believe we were actually here to live with this beauty every day.