Lichen, Lobster Boxes, Highland Cows

We were told by a bus driver that one form of lichen grows only on the Hebrides because of the pure ness of the air quality.  I've not yet found this particular species yet, but here are a few pictures of lichen and lobster boxes.

Kilts galore for sale!

Highland cows

St. Magnus Cathedral on Orkney:

Time with The Shetland Guild

At a community meeting house, we met and chatted with lovely ladies from the area who do more fibre activities in a day than any teenager texts in a week.  Get the gist of how their world is centered on sheep by-products?  These ladies not only were knowledgeable and sharing, but also were gracious hosts.  They provided us with an excellent tea.

Alan Raistrick has been studying spinning wheels for years. Not only is it his particular hobby, but he also has contributed articles to The Spinning Wheel Sleuth (their website is www.spwhsl.com).  He attended the guild meeting where some spinning was going on.

The spinners and knitters were likely giving him literary forage for his next article in 

The Spinning Wheel Sleuth.  He has quite a series of his articles in their index going back to 1993. Thanks for talking with us, Alan!

More pretty pictures, this time the photographer was not this blogger, but Barbara Bonham from Ohio.

And my favorite:

Sunday at Services

Parish services at St Magnus Sunday were just a bit different from our church in the USA.

The most significant, in my mind, were that the Scottish Episcopal with which St. Magnus is identified, had no musical scores to follow. It seemed that worshippers just sang from the bottom of their souls, having known the incantation all tunes since times past.

What a thoughtful song this was, poetry in song. It seemed to reflect the homily centering on the take away and ponder topic of "faith is love."

Thank you, St. Magnus choir and parishioners, for being such a gracious congregation.