Finally...

I know... I should have written earlier... about the holiday, about going back to school, about... and about.... But I guess blogging is not so on my Hard Disk yet.... but I hope 1 day it will appear there. So let's start holiday. Our holiday was wonderfull and it it still everyday somewere popping up in my head. We spend 4 weeks on the Shetland isles and going back there (we have been twice) was really soemthing we wanted for a long time. So with the Pound dropping we went by ferry first from Ijmuiden to Newcastle (very rough weather) and on the next evening we took the ferry from Aberdeen to Lerwick. Arriving there was at 7 in the morning. The first look on the isles brought tears in my eyes (don't know what it is, but I feel so good overthere) We drove immediately to our little cottage in Walls (yes, actually VERY LITTLE) and we saw seals laying on the pier in front of the house. Because the weather was so good we spend some days sitting in front of the house and "letting go by the days" in a "pleasant way" with reading and knitting. We had been already twice to Shetland so we felt totally not in a rush to go to all touristic sites one has to see. And next to that Bram's bad mobility didn't allow us to go to those places where it was rough etc. So I relaxed and came in a very good mood after a very hectic and emotional year we have had. And ofcourse I went on "yarnhunting" at Jamieson & Smith ( I even bought a knittingbelt overthere for the real fair isle knitting)and Jamieson's where I bought "loads of yarn" and ofcourse books at the Shetland bookshop to getting to know more on Fair Isle knitting. But the best bargain was my trip to the recycle shop where I managed to buy leftovers Shetland yarn which is perfectly for fair isle knitting where you sometimes just need metres of colours. The Shetland museum in Lerwick is wonderfull and they have the most amazing knitwear collection. Everything can be seen on line if you go to there Photo Library on the home page. My first project I started were my "Shetland Summer Memory 2009 socks"in traditional Fair Isle colours pictured here at Eshaness cliffs. It was my first real Fair Isle Knitting Project (more to follow definitely)and they came out "not bad". I did knit much more, but all of those things can be seen at my Ravelry project page. We met up with a load of people from previous visits who did recognize us even after 7 years. So we felt very "at home". The last 2 weeks we spend (compared to the first accomodation) in a real big house with 3 bedrooms, a big kitchen and living room with a beautiful vieuw in Aith with the name: Marshvale During our first week overthere one of our best friends: Tiny came over and we had so much fun that week. We did it very easy with little trips in the surroudings. It was her first time on Shetland and she loved it as much as we did. Ofcourse I had to see my favourite bird which is the puffin and the best place to see them is at Sumburgh Head (the very south of the mainland , a bit further than the airport) You can see them from such a close distance and can almost touch them. During one of our eveningtrips to the West of the mainland we managed to see the almost remote island of Foula with its specific shape. Difficult to land overthere but it is supposed to be beautiful and one has to keep something to come back. Because it was shearing time you could hear at someplace the bleathing of the sheep when they go"under the knife" to get rid of their fleece and this photo reminds me of all natural colours you can by at J&S.So at the end of the holiday we had dinner for my 51th birthday in the Shetlandmuseum restaurant where I took this picture from Bram and despite the fact that he thinks he looks a bit "moody" I like the picture very much. He looks good although his health is not very good at this moment (but about our adventures in a Dutch hospital last week are for another blog-entry coming soon) We left Lerwick by ferry to Aberdeen on a saturday evening with beautiful memories and a beautiful last look at Sumburgh head. The holiday is over now for already some weeks. Work has started last week and I have to teach tomorrow. I can't complain about 7 weeks holiday and feel very fortunate that we could have gone to those wonderfull magical islands..