SQUIDGY THE OTTER, COLL

BBC ISLAND BLOGGING, IT'S BEEN AN ABSOLUTE PLEASURE





And now, the end is near;
And so we face the final curtain.
My friends, I'll say it clear,
I'll blog my case, of which I'm certain.

Regrets,?? Oh I've had a few;
But then again, too few to mention.
I did - what I had to do
And saw it through without penetention.

Yes, there were times, I'm sure you knew
I poured out my heart and embarrassed you.
But through it all, when there was doubt,
I blogged my soul, left nothing out.
I faced it all and I stood tall;
And blogged it my way.

I've teased, I've laughed and cried.
I've had my fill; my share of cruising (Thanks Barney).
And now, as tears subside,
I find it all so amusing.
To think I blogged all that;
And may I say - not in a shy way,
Oh no, oh no not me,
I blogged it my way.

For what is a blogger, what has she got?
If not her friends, then she has naught.
To blog the things she truly feels;
And not the words of one who kneels.
The blogs all show I took the blows -
And blogged it my way!


Winter is a harsh season, the days are short and the nights long. Forced indoors we have time to reflect on the year that is now coming to a close.

From the many comments I have read, many posted on BBC Island Blogging and some which I have received via my own email, I truly believe that BBC Island blogging has been such a positive, interesting and special experience. Not just to the islanders who have participated, but also to readers living in every far flung corner of the world.

"I look forward to reading the blogs every Monday"
"What a shame there are no blogs over the Weekend"
"I love reading the blogs"

The comments are all in a similar vein, just how much BBC Island Blogging is loved the world over. Images of these beautiful islands, from the far north to way out west. It didn't matter if your island was big or wee, contributions were always welcomed and gave readers an insight and a tiny snapshot of the islanders' unique way of life.




Humour and sharp wit, poetry and beautiful photographs,

Who can ever forget Mountain Man's stunning images and the photo of the Buzzard captured by Wild Freckle (I will never forget that very special photo of HRH Princess Anne on Mull !!).

What can I say about Flying Cat? In the sun room of Eternity, always there to support the bloggers, never failing to encourage those lacking in confidence.

Hermit Life posted some of her enchanting stories, and I'm sure she has even more to enthrall us with....

Island Threads with her stunning work, Diary of a Deckhand with such amazing underwater photography.

Fred Blog and his mammoth ongoing building projects. TWS who never failed to intrigue us and get our brains into thinking mode. (It was TWS and FC's leg pulling that first drew me into Island Blogging)

Then there's the Island Poets, the weather watchers, the schools and occasionally postings from animals... such as an Otter !!! (Oh dear I took some ribbing for that one)

Occasionally, there are deeper issues to discuss, problems with the Ferry, the NHS, roads, airports, the piers, windfarms and very distressing when a couple of island bloggers lost their homes and had to leave their beloved islands.





We have regular contributions too from readers such as Barney who made his way to Coll and other islands over the summer, Carol from France, now NZ, Roy from Oz, we have Jill who never fails to comment, always supportive and encouraging. Our very special MJC, FooFoo from Glasgow and many more regular commenters.

Island Bloggers have spoken about the beauty of their islands, of ferocious weather, huge seas and summer times spent on burning hot beaches.






We've blogged about dogs, seals, otters, cows, hens, birds, cats and we've blogged about our children, our babies and our better halves.

Creativity, imagination, writers and artists, ....So much talent in such a small but great, unique blogging community....

For any Island Blogger who has visited other "social networking" sites, you may have found them quite anonymous, the content is often scattered with *@!@!%!* words and spoken in an abbreviated lingo which seems to appeal to anyone under 20 years of age.

So it was with a heavy heart that I read the sad news that BBC Island Blogging will be no more. Have we grown too big for our own boots?

and right now I'm feeling nostalgic, I've looked over my past blogs, and daft as they may have been, they were mine, and I'm so very proud to have been a

BBC ISLAND BLOGGER

and I for one

TAKE MY HAT OFF TO YOU ALL...

Is it just me or is mass produced food becoming even less pallatable?

Plastic, tasteless, cardboard cutouts !!!

Steaks like old boot leather
Eggs with insipid yellow white yolks
Chickens way past the old boiler stage


Carrots that are uniform in size and shape, no nobbly bits to make
you laugh, wink wink

and

take your average supermarket sliced loaf for instance.

Sometimes it's like eating bubbles, its so over refined
other times it's doughy and heavy.

This week I've taken to making my own bread, and what a difference.

Okay, so its got an hole in it from my bread maker, wait a minute I'll hide it with a coupla eggs, there, that's better...




I can actually taste real wholesome bread. And the aroma which fills the kitchen, .....

It slices beautifully, all wonky and thin at one end, thick at the other, but hey who cares? A great big doorstep with a whallop of butter.



Here I am with my Panda's Tonic and my old Red Rooster from a 1960's TV "Serial", What a KleverKlogs he is too.....



And Eggs?? A few chickens scratching about in the back garden...



Can there be anything better than a freshly laid egg, softly boiled and home made bread cut into soldiers to dip in.


That deep yellow yolk, so tasty with a sprinkling of salt
MMmmm, I'm beginning to drool.

And what about home made soup. A great way to get rid of all the bits in the fridge, the half cut onion, the odd carrot, a few spuds and hey presto, a mouth watering meal for just pennies.



(half cut onion - tee hee)


Sometimes, living on an island, its difficult to get the ingredients for adventurous cooking, but yesterday in our Island shop, I spotted the most beautiful quail's eggs. They were so pretty. What a treasure trove of gorgeous delights found on the doorstep.



Islands all over Scotland have some fantastic produce....

Shortbread, Black Puddings, Chocolates like sea shells,
Heather Honey, Hebridean Lamb, Lobsters and mmmm scallops
Crab Claws, whisky, winkles, Haggis, oysters, cheeses,

and not forgetting Scottish raspberries, surely the best raspberries in the world.

Swirled into my whisky laced cranachan, oooo soooo luverly.....

I've conjured up too many mouth watering images in my head that I really must go put the kettle on.....

When you're smiling, when you're smiling, the whole world smiles with you...

Despite the grey skies and heavy clouds, this otter really brightened my day..



Yes, I've had a lovely few days, wildlife wise,

Out and about with my camera,
Walking along the beach, away with the fairies
When something black and shiny ran out from some seaweed covered rocks. Over the sand he ran and into the sea.

Was I ready with my camera? eeer no.

Well the otter was in a playful mood and he swam on his back
he dived for fish and then with one last cheeky grin he was gone.

Back at the homestead, I have made some seed and suet puddings for the birds and although the majority of visitors are starlings, one cheeky coal tit appeared.



A friendly little chap he was too,

Although Coal Tits are common on the Mainland, according to my Tiree and Coll Bird Book, the Coal Tit is a scarce visitor to Coll.

I was well, choughed,

No, lets not bring up Choughs, I had enough with that one, identifying a rather large blackbird as a Chough earnt me the name of birdbrain.

A more sorrowful sight is the one legged starling who for now is holding his own, hopping about atop of the seed puddings,

I haven't taken his photo, as I do not want to scare him

I think it's rather amazing that this poor one legged bird is surviving amongst his brothers and sisters which are quite an aggressive bunch.

Will he become pussy fodder in the next few days? that remains to be seen.

It's my **************th birthday on Sunday and I am now the proud owner of a Camcorder, which I am learning to use and load up to YouTube,

It seems the world and his wife are on Youtube, but it's so confusing, what you can load up and what you can't,

Anyway, it's a nice hobby over the winter months.

Well, I hope you are all keeping warm

Take care
xxxx