The Shetland Football Cup

Well here's an update that's a little bit odd.  Drew has taken up football, aka soccer.  In fact, he's been practicing on the local team for six to eight-year-olds here in Brae.  He was kindly invited to join them in their tournament on Saturday, and spent the better part of the day playing for the "Deltings" against other local teams. Its a wonderful program really focused on skills and improvement and the kids have been very welcoming too. He had a great time playing and is still really excited about his medal from the tournament.

Even after receiving his medal, he was back out with friends playing again.  I guess this means I'm finally a soccer mom, or will be back home.  For now, in Shetland, I'll be a football mom.

The much awaited midnight picnic!

If you had asked our kids two months ago what they were looking forward to about our sabbatical, they would have told you, "The Midnight Picnic!"  This far north, the sun just barely sets and its light never departs in this season they call the "Simmer Dim."  So as the light started to dim... around 10:30 pm Tuesday night, we packed up the car with a bag of firewood, yummy biscuits aka cookies, and a thermos of hot tea.  The wind had been blowing all day, but the beach at the end of Muckle Roe island is in a valley, and there are two fire pits sheltered by the ruins of a stone fisherman's hut.  So began the long, promised "Midnight Picnic."

Andy built up a great fire and the kids enjoyed their treats while remarking endlessly that they just weren't tired.  It was pretty amazing to all be out on the beach until Midnight, exploring the rocks, scanning the heather covered hills for rabbits, and listening to the surf.

And of course, you just don't get over how light it is - at midnight!

Yes, a promise kept, and a wonderful memory made!  We loved the midnight picnic!  And, yes, in case you were wondering, there was no flash in any of these photos.

Walking in the only wood, on a cloudy day

Shetland does not boast of many trees.  But in a green valley, out of the wind, a few patches of woods grow.  Today we went to explore them.

To get in, pass through the gate, and then climb over the fence with the help of this little bench.  The chicken wire gives helpful footing when your boots are covered in mud on the way back.

Then you can run through the woods.  And when we came out, the sun did too!

An old mill turned art gallery and restaurant.

It is a pretty place

A Sunny Morning

It didn't take too much convincing to get the kids to leave school behind for the morning to take advantage of this lovely sun.  Now I won't say the afternoon return was easy, but everyone did get their lessons done before we left for tea time with friends.  

We went back to the lovely sandy beach crossing to St. Ninian's Isle.  Today we played on the sand and climbed on the rocks.

Drew is getting to be a little mountain goat.  Andy joined him out on the point, but the seals had already heard us and weren't hanging out in the cove now that it wasn't so quiet anymore.

It was a little too windy for our picnic, so we came back to Fladdabister for more shelter and more rock throwing.  

Our Evening Walk to Fladdabister

Now that is a word you can sink your teeth into - Fladdabister!  Yes, that is a real village that has been there a long time. Here we are walking there with the lovely Adamson Family, some friends Andy made on his first visit to Shetland.

Evelyn is both glad that we got to Fladdabister, and that we also explored the ruined croft house without being stung by nettles - of course, she was pretty assured of that thanks to Mr. Andrew.

Fladdabister also has a great spot for skimmin' stones.  And all this after "me wee bairns" should have been in bed.   Yes, the last photo was taken around 9 PM.  But tonight it's pouring - I'm glad we didn't miss the sun while it was with us.

Down to the Burn

Here's just a quick catch up post on some pictures from Muckle Roe.  A burn is a creek, ours runs down to a little beach that we can scramble down to.  The rainy weather we've had has kept the burns running in full force.  Drew is especially fond of damning them up.

A Romp of a Day

  Well, we've had a lovely week, but not a lot to show you in pictures.  We've had some friends over for tea, that's dinner for everyone back home.  The kids have adopted a pet hermit crab that lives in a bucket outside the front door.  They've found an ice cream tub size collection of sea glass down on the shore and collected a pile of other treasures that will require some culling if we're to make our weight limit for the return flights.  

   But today we had a fun weekend outing with friends that had me snapping the shutter again.  Here is the McPhereson family we keep talking about.  Samuel and their littlest are both hiding in high chairs at the end of the table there.

We went to a fun local event on the pier where the local fire engine and rescue boat were open for touring.  Here's our own "Fireman Sam."

The rescue squad is bigger than life!

We also played soccer at the city park and attack hide and seek at Clickimin Broch (wonderful old ruins) but the rain clouds kept my camera securely stowed.  But we finished up the day back at our little cottage (this week we're down on the South end of the Mainland again) with pizza and movie night.  The kids loved watching "Babe" especially with all of the sheep we've been seeing here.

Our trip to Scalloway

Well, I'm almost caught up.  We had another adventure last week to Scalloway Castle.  Isn't the town too charming?

 Here's the great hall of the castle and the stairway that I praise God we all came back down in the same condition as we went up!

Ayre Roe Beach

Andy's kind of beach day.  It was a sunny 54 degrees and we were off to the shore in our wellies and woolly jumpers.  But the kids decided it was warm enough to roll up their pants and get their toes wet.  What fun!

We moved on Monday!

We moved to a new island on Monday called Muckle Roe.  We are so thankful to a lovely Christian family for sharing their home away from home with us.  They recently bought a Church of Scotland Chapel that was no longer in use and turned it into this beautiful house by the water.  

We can't get enough of the view from the rocking chair.  Evelyn sits there all day and Andy and I take turns in the evenings.  

We've loved doing school at the table here and just making ourselves at home.

The neighbors are frisky but don't mind us staring back at them

And the view is just amazing.  Shetland weather can change through four seasons a day, but the light here can surprise you with new hues and glows every time you look out the window.