This sunny Shetland afternoon, Floss and I sat in the Minion field waiting for our friends.

I was wearing a sun hat, which I was forced to take off.

So I popped it on various volunteers.

First up was Albie.

He wore it well.  With a certain je ne sais quoi.

Then there was Storm.

There was a bit of jealousy from Tiddles who had a bit of a hankering but was not brave enough.

Storm loved this hat – after all it is a “Peter Storm” hat.

It stands to reason really.  The look.

The hat frequently swapped between Albie and Storm.

It was a competition of who wore it best.

To me, there were no winners or losers.

Each had their own flair …..

….. and style.

Even a friend was brought in to give an opinion.

So, who wore it best?

You say.

A day with Lambie (et al) is spent with him mostly sitting outside the house waiting for permission to come in.

There are certain factors that have to come into play before Lambie is allowed indoors, namely OH has to leave the house and go to work!  He is not a fan of letting Lambie in the house.

Once inside, it takes a while for Lambie to settle down, even with his favourite radio station playing.  He needs to reacquaint himself with his surroundings and introduce himself to the locals.

But once settled, Lambie is happy.

And he quickly goes to sleep.

Sometimes Lambie has to change his position but he quickly sits down again.

And nods off. Truthfully, Lambie is no trouble.  He loves being in the house (and I love having him here).

If I am going outside, the Boyzens tend to follow for a while, either taking themselves into the hill or to come with me on my daily walk.

Today, they came too. It was nice to have the company.

There was a certain amount of argy-bargy so I swiftly disowned them.

And so did Lambie.  He hates being hassled.

I miss not being able to take Haakon with me on my walks but he is very stiff and footy so having time off for the time being.

Never mind, there is always an aternative volunteer.

These days I am rarely lonely!

Flossie drove me over to see the Minions.  I miss being with them so much.  I wish they were nearer home.

We had a lovely time.

I was sitting on a small bank taking photos.

Flossie was being loved.

Silver has a thing about her ponytail.

As does Albie.

She was “loved” by everyone.

Note the furry belly Flossie is leaning on.

Lilja was particulalry beautiful and loving.

She was obsessed with the velcro in Floss’ glove and undid it and then did it up over and over again.  Hypnotised.

We think we should offer this as therapy for anyone who wants to forget their troubles “or invent new ones like having your hair eaten” says Flossie!

100% satisfaction guaranteed.

Outside the house there is a picnic table that was given to us a few years back.  It has it’s uses.

Today, after going for my usual 2 mile walk with BeAnne, I took my coffee, laptop and camera and sat outside to enjoy the view.

My friends stood around and then went off to eat the long grass that is growing around the house.

This is the view that I can see while I sit at my table – with my laptop in the corner.  Not bad, eh?  The sea is in the distance.

The green Shetland grass is growing now we have had rain.

I find it very peaceful watching Haakon snoozing, the chickens about as well as the sheep munching close by, occasionally coming up for a hug.

One by one various member of the family joined me.

I may not go places, travel, see the world but, to be perfectly honest, I don’t want to.  Sitting with my animal family is good enough.  No, actually it is perfect.

It is lovely to see the green grass growing.  It has been slow to start as it was a strange spring/summer but we have not been as drought-hit as those south on mainland Britain.

During the day our Icelandic boys are divided into the fatties and non-fatties.

In the fatty field are Iacs, Kappi, Haakon (and Klængur who was somewhere away eating).

These boys are only in this field for a few hours, mostly for convenience and to stop them having a bloated grass belly – these are the horses being ridden or need something.

Mostly they sort of “volunteer” ie Flossie goes in and leads them through while they are thinking about wandering in.

They don’t really mind and don’t try to evade her morning routine.  The upside is that they have some time off from the youngsters.

Meanwhile, down in the non-fatty field, Taktur tries to hang out with the cool kids.

Hjalti is still having none of this and so Taktur stays around the edge of his circle of friends.  There is the occasional shout as they bicker but it has mostly stopped and life is calm.  We can’t let Taktur join the non-fatties as a) he does not need to lose weight and b) he would gaze at his mares. They live in my field across the scattald.

If the bickering turns into all-out war then we will think again and possibly move Hjalti.  Perhaps he can go back to living with his mother, Hetja, and learn how to respect his elders and not try to beat the crap out of them.