Quiet after the storm.

 

The village Burns Night was due to start at seven but  someone had forgotten to make sure that the kitchens gas cylinders were full. As a result dinner started  an hour and seventeen minutes late. While waiting Kenny, the gentleman deputed to give the toast to the Haggis, drowned his stage fright with a dram or two of whisky. His declamatory style , when unleashed, was memorable. The farmers youngest son and his teenage pals provided 'musical' accompaniment although this was not to everyones taste. Before the raffle this was sung - https://www.youtube.com/shorts/c8--TZDHTWA  . The retired gentleman who doubles up as the local taxi driver/odd job man left early. He tells me he's get three jobs collecting storm delayed students from Edinburgh airport and bringing them into town.

This morning the winds have fallen to 30 mph. That , in these parts in January, can be classed a calm day.

In the field that faces the courtyard the sun picks out what I take to be a circular patch of stones thrown up by the recent ploughing.

Closer inspection shows that the stones are moving ... and chirruping. It's an enormous Covey of quail. We've seen a dozen or so every morning for the last month as we set off in the car but we've never seen so many. There must be at least sixty of them.

Looking off at right angles we can see three deer. This is good news. We've not seen the deer in weeks and were worried that they might have been in a collision with one of the large trucks that speed along the road that runs inland .

Mother and youngster are oblivious to our presence and munch on the newly sprouting grass. Father has us clocked and monitors our progress carefully.

It's going to be a clear day with blue skies. It is however cold. Blown over rubbish bins are still being collected. Life after the gales has returned to its old routines. 

Singing to your cows. Possibly the most Highland thing I've ever seen :https://youtu.be/ilmhR_EgK8Y?t=648 

This may, possibly, only be of interest to Brits ( although the search for easy solutions is not confined to them alone )  :https://davidaaronovitch.substack.com/p/the-impossibility-of-axel-rudakubana

The visual thinker :https://thevisualthinker.substack.com/p/sketchpad-feeling-sadness-for-objects

A gratuitous piece of Scottishness :https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vZkvvICG4TE