Yesterday I took mum to visit the tiny museum at Holland Farm. It’s always open and you can enter and look around anytime. The museum is set in an old stone building and it houses an assortment of old farm…

On a quiet morning, with the older two children at school, I was sitting with my daughter and my youngest granddaughter in the playroom. Drawing inspiration from the many times I’d seen my granddaughter dancing to music, I opened up…

I spent some more time in the Kelp Store today and I spotted the ‘peedie boat’ coming back from a trip to the Holm. “Peedie” is a Scottish dialect word meaning “little”. As I took this photo, the Kirkwall plane…

One of the hazards of living on Papay is a more than usual dependence on the weather. Two days ago, Mel had to travel to Aberdeen. She flew Papay to Kirkwall and then onto Aberdeen. She was meant to return…

Yesterday was a lovely warm sunny day. Mum joined the family for a walk up to the RSPB North Hill viewing point. It’s a relatively short walk but it’s uphill and it’s bumpy going. You also have to avoid days…

The main ferry that connects Papay to Kirkwall on Orkney’s main island calls in just twice a week on Tuesdays and Fridays. It’s the main lifeline for the island as it’s the only way that, for example, cows can be…

ON the road down to the Old Quay just before the left hand bend, there’s a tool store which is shared by the farmers so that they don’t each have to buy every tool they need. A sensible cost-saving idea…

It was Anjanette’s turn to go to town on the plane today. So I took the pooch for his morning visit to North Wick beach. He got sand in every pore/paw (mine as well as his!) but he was eventually…

Papay doesn’t have a pub in the usual sense of the word. One of the realities of very small communities is that dedicated facilities (i.e. buildings and people) for most purposes aren’t sustainable. So, for example, the kirk doubles up…