I had found (of all things) down in the charity shop, a package of balloons with "30" on them...and Sara turns 30 today. So I gave them to Jan last night and she was going to have Pete blow them up this morning and have them in the kitchen to surprise Sara. Mission accomplished!
We had a very leisurely breakfast of the leftover bread pudding and some fancy chocolate muffins they had bought. We had a nice visit and was a great way to end our stay. They had presents for Sara for her birthday...a really neat book of wrapping paper...very unique, a little hanging decoration of hearts, and a canvas plant holder...all really nice. They gave me a lace shoulder shawl/collar made in the Shetland lace style. This is amazingly intricate knitting made from local Shetland sheep. For this particular kind of lace work, they get this wool not from the usual way they shear sheep, but rather from the front of the chest of the sheep...and they don't shear it...it is so fine that it just pulls off in tufts....then they spin the wool and knit it. The color of it is all natural...in Shetland they call this colors "moorit". It's absolutely beautiful!
Keep in mind that this is knitted...not crocheted:
I took some final photos of their house just before hopping into the car for Jan to drive us to Lerwick where we will catch the ferry.
Their house is from the white on the left to the white on the right. The white building on the left is the seal house that is being retiled. The similar but larger white building on the right is the bod and the charity shop and Paul's living quarters on the upper level. The rest if the building...the brown part that is L shaped ... is the main part of the house. On the left side of the brown house are 2 dormer type windows....the one on the far left was the bedroom where we stayed. below that is a dining room that is not used now. The L part on the right is another kitchen that can be used, but wasn't while we were there. In the middle of the L shaped part is the courtyard with lots of plants and herbs.
The mustard brown building above is the St. Magnus Bay Hotel.
Jan needed to stop at the co-op grocery store in Lerwick. How interesting that the cashiers get to sit down while ringing people up!
Next we stopped at another food supply store for Jan to stock up. She shops in Lerwick once a month so she really loads up with good healthy food. She found us a CD of a local fiddling group and she gave that to us...so nice!
We then went for lunch at a little cafe and had soup and a pannini sandwich. Jan dropped us off at the ferry and sadly we said goodbye. What an experience this has all been.
If I had to condense this all down into a few thoughts about Shetland overall...it would be an amazing energy here of connectedness and also of the totally unbelievable resourcefulness of everyone we have met on the islands. These people are hard working, they waste nothing...everything get puts to use....even the wool that is stuck to the fences out in the open...they gather that and spin it for a certain type of knitting. They are deeply rooted to the earth, no one here is pretentious or phony...they just are who they are.
The vastness of the land here and the openness are part of the character of the people...giving a great sense of freedom and independence...and self-sufficiency. There is very little possesiveness....everything is shared in a very communal manner and everyone pitches in for others when needed. They have respect for nature and weather and may comment on it, but don't complain. This place is not for sissies...it's a very hard life with isolation and desolation at every step. It has been one whale of a learning experience.
So off we went to board the ferry...and since it was Sara's birthday...we were going to be "merry on the ferry!" We boarded and checked into our little room, dropped our things off and went up to the upper deck to see the port as we were pulling out. We got two local Valhalla beers to toast to Sara as we left port.
After that we paid extra to be allowed access to the fancy lounge and we each ordered a scotch on the rocks. We had already paid for a full 3 course meal in celebration of Sara's birthday....so we ordered the salmon dinner and it was delicious. Sara enjoyed the scotch, but not me...I did take a sip of mine...but that was my limit (Sara was happy to finish off mine!)....besides that, it was a bit rough on the sea and my stomach wasn't doing great.
Did I tell you that the North Sea is way more rough on the northern part of the trip than it is on the southern one. When we first got here 3 weeks ago and took the ferry, we didn't notice it because we were asleep during the rough sea time, but this time, on the return trip, the sea was quite a bit worse. We had to hold on to rails to get back to the cabin and it was a bit touch and go (with barf bags close at hand!) for several hours. It helped to lay down and block the view and the light from our eyes. After a few hours, things settled down.....both the sea and our stomachs.
Here's the last photo of simmer dim: It was taken through our port window in our cabin...so there are some streaks on the window. I couldn't make it up to the deck at that time as I was not feeling well at all.
It actually was a bit dark at one point during the night.
Location:Hillswick and leaving the island
