The Price to Pay

After yesterdays rainbows I checked my lottery tickets. Must have been someone else's pot of gold this time! But perhaps just seeing so many rainbows is a pot of gold in itself.


There is a price to be paid for living almost anywhere. Many people who see the marvellous view from GB's kitchen and study windows would sell their souls for a view like that. And the island life seems idyllic in many ways. Comparatively little traffic in Stornoway and virtually none on the roads outside. Beaches that are mile after mile of sand and surf with not a soul in sight. Summer days that are long and light. But there is a price.

Heather mentioned No-see-ums the other day. Well, the Hebrides have their equivalent - the dreaded midge. Clouds of these biting insects can drive even the hardiest of natives indoors when they attack. Then, whilst the summer days are long the winter ones are short and dark. But it is the wind that might get me down if I lived here. Calm days are a rarity and whilst the average wind speed for much of the time may be unspectacular it is nevertheless enough for someone like me to find it off-putting. And the wind, especially with its salt content, makes gardening a real art.


GB has learned that art over the years and has an attractive pond with a lovely waterfall, surrounded by low-growing rockery plants that can cope with the weather. This is Phlox 'Emerald Cushion Blue'

And Potentilla neumanniana 'Nana'. (Try saying that after a few glasses of wine!)



And, of course, that mainstay of rockeries, the Mossy Saxifrages.

P.S. Incidentally, if you receive an e-mail telling you not to eat tinned pork because of the dangers of swine flu, ignore it. It's just spam.