Well, it has been a long time since I last posted.  The weather has dominated our lives over these past 3 montths.  Storm, unbelevably high winds.  Destruction everywhere. We came of quite lightly as we battenned down the hatches and don't really have anything yet.  People on the island lost caravans, shed roof, trees, wind turbines, green houses and polytunnels.  No one was hurt.  For two nights I slept on the floor and covered myself with cushions as I was so scared the roof of the hut would fly away or the windows would blow out.  But we were lucky.  Testament to building skills and most importantly perhaps, the choice of sites.  A little hill can afford amazing protection. January it rained and rained and rained.  Talk of, "How can we sell this wet stuff to the south of England" came up a few times.  Moving around on the land became difficult as the ground, once it has a boot in it, won't easily let it go again, and walking became quite hard.  Handy stones were put down on the routes we use most often, from the big shed to the building site, from the end of the road to the hut and to the cludgy.  The cludgy (composting toilet) has withstood winds of 125 miles per hour and now clad with currogated iron looks like it will last for 50 years or more.  It is a "throne" indeed.  The month of February I became ill.  All that dampness went for my lungs and together with what was probably flu, the aches and pains, the incredible back pain, the coughing, the difficulty with breathing, the weakness, lack of appetite.  I thought I would never recover, but I have, miraculously.  Lungs still feel a bit shallow and burny but am up and about and working again. 
The gaelic course I had promissed myself I would do when I had a lap top and a place to sit down with paper and pen has just begun.  It is hard, but I feel good about it and about myself for doing what I intended.  I am also working on developing a new product that I can manufacture and sell from Lismore.  More about that later.  I have also started practicing homeopathy and massage on Lismore - something I said I wouldn't do, but, when someone asks it is hard to refuse.
A group of us islanders has started a choir also.  So busy lives all around. 
As far as the build goes.  The foundation are finished!  It took 3x as much cement and block work as first anticipated as the holes in the ground kept getting deeper and deeper as rock turned into rocks and rocks turned into this strange "rotten rock" which is disolved rock which looks like rock when you first see it but then when you touvh it it is soft and you can poke your finger right through it.  It is oily also..  Strange.  Geology is something we have come to appreciate while living here, as something that needs a lot more study. I will post the pictures soon.  Cheery...
As far as the building is concerned

I've had comments about the American style of the date here and sorry Pauline, I haven't yet figured out how to make it British.  It's raining again, still, again, now, it was snowing this morning, but it isn't blowing now and that makes it better, a little.  Is this climate change or just bad luck?  Despite all the storms, we have been very busy.  Life just happens here with panache, as you can see from the picture of the craft fair, where many talented islanders sell their wares.  Maybe we will have the time for such luxuries as making things for selling one day.  Survival seems the main frame for us just now.  We have a bed to sleep in now!  We extricated it from our stored goods and shackles in the big shed and carried it down to the wee hut on a wheelbarrow.  We just managed to get it into the hut in between showers after planning this big event for 3 weeks.  It was always either too wet or to windy to manage this.  Not at all easy through the mud.  Then the mattress was next, wrapped in a plastic sheet and tied up with string.  I went across to Oban and purchased an electric under-blanket and oh boy, the luxury of it all!  It has made such a difference, though I don't normally like electric blankets, the warmth helps to keep the bed damp free and my bones have stopped aching.  I did have the flu for a few days also, I can only pretend to be hardy for a short time before it all becomes a bit too much.  I frequently find myself looking on the internet for holidays in warm places.....But, I'm not allowed, not till the house is finished.  By then we won't have any money left so it wont be any temptation.  Who knows, maybe we will be selling our wares at next years craft fair, so that we too can go on a holiday.  Stop moaning me!  The foundations are going up a pace, trees are going in at a rate of 50 per day, which is wonderful just.  Yesterday I planted 100 alders, 10 buckthorn, 30 June berries, 10 elder, and today 20 bird cherries and 10 guelder roses and 10 dog roses.  Watched a Kestral hunting and hovering while lying in bed this morning with the snow framing the view on the mountains all around.

The weather is everything when you live with the outside.  The rains have stopped and it is possible to actually do things.  I have been planting trees.  At the moment only around the actual house site as this is my own little project and is one of the most satisfying and happy things I have done in a long time.  There are ash trees, scots pine, alder, oak, birch and willow; all planted up behind the barn.  I have been dreaming and planning planting trees for over 20 years and to actually be doing it feels like an achievement.
On Thursday I have the pleasure of driving the granny bus to the mainland to take the senior ladies to visit their friends and relatives in the care home there, also a fun thing to do.  But tree collecting and planting is my passion at the moment.
What about the house?  After the gravel and cement were dropped off 2 weeks ago now, nothing happened at all, now things are moving again and in the morning cement will be mixed and if all goes well foundations will go in.  Watch this space.

The clocks have changed which is always a bit unpleasant at this latitude.  It gets dark unnaturally early and the artificial change of time cuts into the flow created by the passing of the seasons.  Halloween is an important festival here on Lismore. A dressing up party in the hall was very well attended. I didn't count the numbers but guess there were about 50-60 people all told.  Ages from 2-70, and costumes ranged from the usual purchased scary masks and cartoon characters to medieval damsels in exquisite finery, witches with warts, pirates, zombies and men dressed as ladies.  Really big efforts made with the costumes.  Sebastian and I had the daunting task of "judging" the costumes in 5 different categories according to age as the participants paraded around to music. Everyone deserved a trophy really! Games like pass the parcel and musical statues entertained the smalls and Dr Katy's surgery in the corner of the stage behind "bloodied" curtains created a scary alternative for slightly older children.  Like all event on Lismore the event finished with cups of tea and delicious baking.
Ben left this morning for his long journey back to NZ.  Both Leo and Adam (sons) arrived yesterday for a wee farewell dinner for Ben, and they have also left already.  So now it's just the two of us again.  Work will be slower.
Weather is good in between showers.  Very warm for the time of year
The fence around the building/house site is complete, so I can start to plant some trees, at last.  Sebastian is working on the old barn to get it ready for the new wooden structure which is

End of October already and although it may not look like we have achieved too much, i.e. the house site is still a very deep hole, and there is no garden yet, we do feel more grounded and beginning to belong a little more.  The weather continues to be the main influence on any work that does or doesn't get done. Our inside space, the big shed, is quite civilised now and I am sitting here writing this at the kitchen table.  The sun is out just now in between showers, and the wind howls through the eves a bit.  I have a view out through the glass door Ben installed last week.  It is a very fancy Nordan door that we took with us from Edinburgh and it makes a lot of difference. The mountains I can see of Appin and Duror in the distance are wooded and misty.  The buttery rolling hills of Lismore in the foreground are a defined by long lines of dark grey stone walls and sprinkled here and there with white sheep.  Intense and huge rainbows move in and out of focus and connect the land with the sky with colours that remind me of Mexico.  It is all very beautiful. Yesterday we attended an island funeral which was a wonderful experience for me.  The church was full to overflowing, most people in black, not somber really at all, but respectful and full of love for the plight of mankind and the mystery of life and death. The funeral was for Donald MacColl who had lived all his life here, was a farmer and musician.  His wife Iris had given birth to 8 children, many of whom still live and work here on the island.
The materials for the foundations are now onsite.  Not an easy operation.  Three large loads of gravel and 8 pallets of cement in bags delivered to the island by barge to the pier at Achnacroish and then moved by tractor and trailer to the site.  One trip had to be abandoned as the wind and the waves were too much to allow for safe unloading and a second attempt the next day early in the morning proved successful.  Now we are waiting for the digger and Ronnie MacColl and Michael Dempster, the foundations man, to get things together for the mixing and pouring.  Ben and Sebastian remeasured and realigned the strings and posts on the building site for the founds and we are ready to go.  In the meantime, they are busy with the constant work of improving the water and wind tightness of the big shed, with the repositioning of the caravan, with the installation of the water system and drainage and the other one thousand and one little jobs of making living on a building site in the wild north west feasible.

Work got under way again with the arrival of the digger on Thanksgiving Day.  Foundations reset, and re dug to the required specifications.  One of the two cattle grids was installed, so that visitors and ourselves will not have to open a gate to come in and out.  The fences and gates to the cattle grid still have to be installed, hopefully this will happen soon.  The weather hasn't been quite as wet as it was, though the ground is still waterlogged in many places.  Sebastian had his birthday yesterday and Ben Tombs, Sebastian's brother returned from a week away.  Good to have him back again as things seem to happen when he is around.  He knows how to get stuck in and has done all this kind of thing before in New Zealand.  Ben and Sebastian are working on getting a water supply to the new barn, which has become our main living space.  They put the yurt into the barn in an attempt to make a cosy living room and a second floor office above the kitchen for paperwork and writing.  It's all quite cute really and apart from the fact that it is quite damp and cold it is wonderful.

Oh boy, this is difficult.  It seems that it has been raining now for months so no scything now.  Very little work has been going on.  People keep asking me "How's the house coming along?"  I feel quite wearied by this question.  The house, dear friends is still only a big hole in the ground.  Why? What's the hold up?  Well it is a long story involving the rain, the mud, the change in plans due to the liquidation of the original kit building company, more rain which prevents the road entrance to be finished.  The ground is too soft for big machinery at the moment so can't put in the cattle grids, so can't finish the fences so can't keep out the cows and sheep.  Another consequence of all that is that I still can't start a garden either, this is my most frustrating complication.  I really don't want another year with no fresh food from the garden.  I'm sure we would all be a lot happier and healthier with our own home grown fruit and vegetables.  Adam (son) started the building of a large poly-tunnel, but is has been too cold to put the cover on it.  And without a fence the cows would most likely wreck it anyway.  I am moaning a lot!  One thing we do have now is a composting toilet.  It is very high speck.  When it stops raining, maybe tomorrow I will nip out and take some photos of it and post them on the site.

From Eva
Everyday starts with a scything session.  Rain permitting of course.  For a month I only scythed thistles.  These are mostly all gone now.  Now it's the rushes that are getting the chop.  Why do I do this?  I suppose I'm improving the land for the grazing of the sheep and cattle.  I do love scything.  I get called the grim reaper from time to time.  It is really a lovely movement though and it stops the thistles and rushes from making a bog out of the place, allows the young grass to grow and keeps the grass sweet. Scything weeds is not quite as romantic as doing hay, maybe that will come later.  At the moment we have no fences at all so all the animals just get everywhere and eat everything.  The lambs are going to market about 20 per week, so the numbers are decreasing from 120 all told a week ago.  There are six very large cows and their calves and a magnificent bull.  Takes a bit of getting used to.  But I love watching how they all move around the Ballygowrie, their relationships to each other and to us.   For some realy good scything see: www.youtube.com/watch?v=ugSO54WKm8