Anyone remember Monster or Poods as Daisy calls him (and she has reliably informed me of the correct spelling)?

Well, today he was very long.  Even elongated across the floor.

And looking particularly magnificent.  We don’t use the word “fat” in this house.

I worked out last night, when we were discussing the “magnificence”, that Poods cons out of someone at least 5 meals a day!

The schedule goes like this:-

• Breakfast when OH gets up.
• A lunchtime snack to inspire BeAnne to eat her medication – “ham day, ham day, Oh my goodness, it’s ham day” (all together now, please sing with us!)
• Tea – supposedly 5 p.m. but OH usually gives in at about 3.40!  Poods is very persistent to the point of annoying.
• Supper before he goes to bed at midnight.
• And lastly there is his middle-of-the-night snack from his special timer foodbowl – and he will wake you if the bowl doesn’t work!

Five meals a day usually silences the world’s largest white cat and he has a strontium atomic clock located in his stomach from which the world sets the time.

Some might say Poods has us all very well trained.

And I think they could be right!

While feeding Vitamin and Fivla, I looked behind me to see this pocket-sized tyrant looking particularly magnificent.

I think he means business – dear little Newt!  He is starting to lose his mad-yak look and soon he will be a racehorse.  Personally, I favour his yak phase.  The sleek shiny racehorse is never that convincing.

Anywho, an uneventful day taking wee-dog on the slowest walk in the world, feeding barging pregnant sheep every minute (it feels like it – she eats for Britain, but I seem to remember Edna was like this).

And then some friends popped by this afternoon and we dutifully (and lawfully) sat outside wearing many layers, drinking tea to keep the hypothermia at bay while I looked at their fabulous state-of-the-art camera and all its lenses.

And I was allowed a little play with it too.

Oh my word – ok, I had it on automatic but even so, it was a very nice camera indeed.

It felt “right”, if you know what I mean.  If I had this camera, I might even read the manual!

Dammit, it started to rain so I did a couple more shots and handed the camera back to its hovering, and possibly anxious, owner as I had my feet in the stream!)

I have a few more cameras to try and then I shall see what I think. It has to be right.  Now, if only I had some good subjects to photograph……

We have good days and bad but we still keep going.

When I see BeAnne like this, playing with her family, it helps remind me that our little dog has a huge amount of wanting to live.

Note Monster’s approach to all of this!  Total disdain.

We try and go for a little potter every day. I have learned my lesson and, when outside in the fields, Her Maj is on the extending lead all times.  I let her take me where she wants to go.

Today it was in search of the bunnies! Tis the season.

BeAnne enjoyed herself very much, just sniffing about and pottering slowly.

So, we are still going because that’s what BeAnne wants.  She enjoys her life.

Yesterday, we went to see the King of the Cocos Island’s Shetland home.  Next to the settlement (on the right of the photo) is a small enclosed graveyard that also has a story to tell.

From Ancient Monuments’ webpage:-

There is a tradition that two wealthy sisters founded the chapel, after surviving a storm off the coast of Shetland, during which they vowed to Our Lady that they would erect a church in her honour on the spot at which they were able to land. Our Lady’s Chapel was apparently held in special regard by fisherman and mariners, and by women seeking husbands. It seems to have remained a place of pilgrimage after the Reformation of 1560, which was interpreted by observers as evidence of superstition or idolatry amongst Shetlanders.

There is not much left of Our Lady’s Chapel now – from what I can gather, it is defined by the grassy mound which are the foundations.

By 1878 the Chapel no longer existed but the graveyard is still in use.

We didn’t go in – the gate was not helpful so we just peered over the walls and wondered.

The sheep watched on.

And here is a bit of a Shetland oddity – we saw a large (larger than life) saggy sofa in the middle of a field, made out of (I think) concrete.  It has been there for years and I know nothing about it except that it makes me smile every time I see it!  Most strange.

The King of the Cocos Islands came from Shetland!

John Clunies-Ross (1786 – 1854) was a merchant.  In 1813, while he was in Timor (slight left off the top of Darwin and opposite Papua New Guinea), he was offered the chance to captain another ship.  Apparently he cruised around the uninhabited Cocos Islands, surveyed them, nailed up a Union Jack, went back to Shetland for his family and moved in two years later (7,220 miles as the crow flies from island to island. 

There are different versions of this story.  Still, whatever it is, it is fascinating and since then, I have wanted to see the Clunies-Ross home in Shetland for myself.

Today, we had had enough of horses and ponies, so once all chores were done, Daisy and I set off to find the house.

It was a wonderful site with some superb trees all bending the same way – the predominant wind direction.  Shetland trees do that.

A small settlement with many old buildings around a small bay – a fishing station (böds) for landing, drying and curing fish.

The Clunies-Ross were an eminent merchant family who lived at The Haa of Sound – a large two-storey house – just behind the bay.

Some of the buildings attached to the house included a laundry, barn and even a public house.

Next door was an old chapel and graveyard (more on that tomorrow).

We wandered about taking photos. We were the only ones there and the atmosphere was very special.

Apologies if there are any duplicated photos. I have got in a muddle and I am using both Daisy and my photos and I don’t know whose took what!

Anywho, that was a lovely afternoon doing something completely different.  More tomorrow.

And apparently the Clunies-Ross family are still on their islands in the sun – I wonder if they ever come back to Shetland to visit their ancestral home?

Clunies-Ross Family – Wikipedia article