What a summer?

It needs to be said that this year we have had little warmth..... even by Shetland standards! We have had some lovely bright days but often accompanied by northerly winds, and as you can imagine northerly winds are colder than southerly winds because they come to us first before being warmed up on their journey south to warm up England!!!! On similar grounds Southerly winds are warmer because of hot air brought north from below! (what this hot air is I will leave you to contemplate!)

Any way life carries on well for me here and I am getting more and more settled with my work pattern, though it is very exhausting at times! (some of my close friends here tell me I should slow down!) My work with Annsbrae now takes me right up to Unst on a regular basis. This is the most northerly island.

The puffins are here again at the moment, and they are a real delight to see.

I have an e mail from Rod Broker who is a reader of this blog, and he tells me that he is going to be visiting soon, so I look forward to meeting a reader! Rod tells me he is a "worker/priest" in the lutheran tradition.

Today I am using a Nave Altar for the first time here! (get ready for the outfall!) I am introducing this with a reading from my old friend and Spiritual counsellor Leslie Brown, who introduced the practice of facing west to the Eucharist to the Anglican tradition when he was in India in the 1940s. I am constantly indebted to Leslie for his support and friendship, and I still miss him.

The church council here (known as the Vestry) have suggested we try it out, so here goes. I a not sure we could keep it as a fixture due to the geography of the church and its inherent design, but at least we could use it from time to time maybe? Watch this space!

Today Rachel Jack and I are going to see the Seal Sanctuary up in Hillswick. It is a wet and horrible day at the moment so a journey in the car will be a welcome trip instead of walking. We recently walked to the top of a first world war lookout on Bressay and used the camping stove. Great fun for Jack even in the wind!

Eli and Leah continue to thrive, and are going into kennels again soon when Rachel Jack and I are away in Inverness on a short holiday