I stayed up late playing guitar, making the most of having the house to myself, and after midnight went to let the cat out. She paused, lowering her head to sniff at something on the metal threshold, then moved on. My first impression was perhaps of a cat or marten dropping, right size and taperingContinue reading “Nightlife”
Tag Archives: passive-house
Send slate, now!
We’re sliding increasingly quickly into autumn: the swallows keep a low profile or have already left; bracken is browning and starting to subside; ling and bell heather are flowering; days are shorter and last night at three I caught my first glimpse of Orion. The year’s excellent blackberries are gone, the remaining fruit soft andContinue reading “Send slate, now!”
Bat time, EV time
Hemi-parasites: In the past six weeks I’ve noticed lots of eyebright here, but is it generally spreading or is this just a good year? Like yellow rattle it’s a hemi-parasite of grasses, ‘stealing’ water and nutrients, weakening them, which incidentally helps other plants establish. I’ve been wondering about the relationship between eyebright and yellow rattle,Continue reading “Bat time, EV time”
Flailing Flores
Monday 4 August: Flores – the storm, now almost forgotten, had arrived. Wild white horses raced up the loch between shores where helpless trees flailed. The air was warm but moving at an unusual rate. Driving anywhere was a questionable decision, but I took Tash to the coach in Tarbert then met my friend Simon.Continue reading “Flailing Flores”
Treshnish Isles & solstice revisited
Into the hills to find a dramatic gulley Richy said the land they bought in the village came with fishing rights to a loch up in the hills. I got out a map to identify it and he talked about a dramatic gulley or ravine nearby, as though you couldn’t visit the loch (which weContinue reading “Treshnish Isles & solstice revisited”
Raw easterly
Since Friday 25 March In contrast to the sun’s warmth through glass, the day outside felt raw, with a chill easterly chasing clouds towards us, across the loch. I collected a warm hens egg from the neighbour’s chickens and reflected that it was’t a good day for outdoor working after all. The four hens betweenContinue reading “Raw easterly”
Well sprung
Borrowing half of Monday from last week and Friday from the one before, I joined Tash for a weekend in Joppa/Portobello; Edinburgh on Sea – Saturday in town visiting galleries, Sunday walking the coast. We caught a bus east along the firth, got off at the river Esk and walked beside the river and theContinue reading “Well sprung”
A sustainable house for unsustainable times... 