How often we get a dry May - over the years I can think of trundling buckets of tadpoles from the forest pool down to the burn by the house. Far too late for that this year. Apart from one heavy shower it has been dry for weeks, so it's out with the hose and 'thank goodness we moved to mains water'.  Yes, you lucky cottage visitors no longer need to arrive with a trailer full of bottled water because you're scared of pine needles!

Just back from a trip to Ireland - they say Scotland's beautiful but you should see the Wicklow Mountains. But horses for courses and we were happy to be back in our own little patch (despite the fact that no-one had watered my new border). Came by the Ardrossan - Campbeltown ferry . It was delightful to be back on an old Cal-Mac boat - we were familiar with Isle of Arran from past visits to Colonsay. The P&O European Causeway - she who nearly capsized last winter - was sparkling and clinical , but give me Cal-mac where we could eat chips and drink brandy on the top deck watching the sunset over the wee toon.  A great and inexpensive alternative if you are coming up from the south.

Next task is to replace the flower tubs down on the pier which have rather fallen apart. We have bought some very snazzy ones which appear to have come from Holland (tulips all the year round?) and once they are set up our good friends from Drumfearne will plant them up. They  have already planted billions of bulbs around the urban motorway (new path to the hall) which looked glorious.

Having had no swallows last year they are in abundance this year - even coorieing doon in our porch. When we rebuilt our original collapsing byre we had to  leave a hole for the two families that nested in what is now our bedroom. We have also acquired wagtails in the wood pile. (no racist jokes please). I am reading a fascinating book on how birds and insects navigate  and  clearly it's a doddle for them to pop over to Carradale from Africa. The eyes have it.

Which has to bring us to Brexit. Or not. The Irish felt very sorry for us!

Well, I've started the 2019 blog four times now. First we had the first daffodil (middle of January, a record), then we had the first primrose, then we had the frogspawn ( dead on time on February 17th) but I reckon the first camelia is the best. Camelias are very contrary - one year you get none, and the next the bush is covered. A trip to the gardens at Gigha used to be a joy with swathes of gorgeous flowers, but years of neglect have left them a shadow of their former selves. However we will certainly go over to the lovely island this summer just to check up.

And how is the village getting on? For all you afficianados of Carradale, the main big change is that the shop has closed. So no more gossip from Jean, and fight for the papers. However all is  not lost. True to our re-incarnation as Kintyre's Ambridge we now have a 'Community Shop'. Housed in a wee cabin on the Village Hall car park it opens on 29th March (of all days!) and full  marks to the energetic team that have got the whole thing going , and the volunteers who are going to run it. It will be fairly functional with basics only, but will save tedious trips to town for the odd loaf and tin of dog food. Next on the go  is a village composting point ( a composterie?) and surely we must be getting lined up for another Village Panto . 

 Incidentally Campbeltown now has a super re-furbished Picture House which has endless films on at all times of day and night so on that odd wet day it's a most enjoyable way to spend a couple of hours .Pick up all the times on your tablet.  For Carradale's burgeoning retiree population it enlivens the weekly (Thursday is Carradale's day) trip to Tesco.

We are exceedingly well off for coffee shops in the village which certainly , to Mike  and myself, is the requisite of a good holiday.(I think we know pretty well every coffee shop in Ireland). Drumfearne's baking just has to be sampled. 

And the cottages?  Colin's has had a good old makeover with new carpet and decoration , and Mhairi's porch is in for a rebuild if we can persuade Jerry to brave the road from Campbeltown. A smashing joiner who we discovered when the cottages were created who did all the lovely pine panelling  and who we have regularly used for tricky jobs ever since. His piece (I can't do grave accents on the  computer) de resistance was one December when we were having the works Christmas dinner (14 of us) in the house and he arrived on a wild and windy  morning and proceeded to take out all the windows in the dining room and replace them. Floor was covered with glass, everything was soaked, but boy, what a night we had!

We hope you manage a wee trip down to see us. Apart from our three night rule we are infinitely flexible on dates, and we welcome dogs, although our new, 'must be kept on a lead round the premises ' rule is to allow our free ranging  hens, especially our  precious wee hen 'Sultana' to have a happy life and furnish us with lots of eggs .More of her next time

Well, on Wednesday the first storm of the winter hit us - Storm Ali. Amber warnings from the Met Office and terror all round. As a  gesture  we closed the hoop house door, took the chairs off the balcony, and one of our braver cottagers gave up half his holiday to hi-tail it back to that safest of places - Harrogate. (Having lived in Leeds for a number of years I experienced some of the worst storms ever, but there you go). Of course it was all exaggerated. 60 mph gusts at Machrihanish but here at the Mains we are very sheltered and, apart from the wisteria descending from the pergola, all was well.

At least it could give CalMac an opportunity to have a new excuse for the boats not sailing. It has been a terrible year for the timetable - boats endlessly breaking down and at the moment they've had to shuffle them all around and at the week-ends they are all whizzing backwards and forwards round the Mull of Kintyre to provide the next sailing to Stornoway or Uig or  Barra. The down side of living on the islands. My cousin's daughter has just moved to Coll and has a new baby, so every visit to the obstetrician in Glasgow necessitates boat and train and overnighters in Oban.

Cottages are suddenly easing off and at the end of this month we move into the cheapest of price brackets, so be tempted! We often holiday at the beginning of October and nearly always get lovely weather. Apart from a hill-walking break up north one year when we got soaked every day as we tramped the mountains in gales and rain, and draped our cottage with sodden jackets and dripping dogs (try getting a sheepdog onto a pulley) every night.

Enough, the sun has come out and the tomatoes will be ripening.

Well, I'd never winner 'Blogger of the year' as there 's no time to blog! Far too busy growing monster marrows. Yet again we mourn the passing of the garden show. So that's 10 jars of wonderful chutney (we hope - you have to be patient with chutney)  My brother-in -law, clearing out his mum's house a few years ago, found some home made jam dated 1956. However , if you're into that sort of thing, the brambles are brilliant this year - huge and juicy and masses of them. I always freeze them and end up making jam the following July.

Village is over the summer rush so no exuberant dances  or exciting golf matches ahead of us. And sadly the famous Carradale Duck Race is no longer ,which is a huge miss for all the visitors.

And yet more depressing news - the shop has finally closed. We all had great hopes last year when
a young couple moved in, but it just didn't work out . We can still get milk in the Post Office - and digestive biscuits - but it's a trip to the toon for anything else, so be warned.

I can offer wonderful dark skies however.  We've had a couple of nights with amazing displays of stars, and with Mars and Saturn both hovering above the southern horizon it's very spectacular. Out with the telescope.

And just to sum up the recent weather, we have an Israeli couple in the cottage just now, and last dreich, drizzley Sunday  he said to me  'Trish, what is this weather called - we don't have it at home?' Thank goodness we've now had 2 sunny days.

Rain at last - and the only people not overjoyed are Mr Claffy and his merry gang who are just putting finishing touches to the Village Hall roof. They have done a wonderful job repairing and reslating it and haven't they been lucky with the weather? There was only one week-end when we slightly panicked that the tarpaulin was going to blow away and leave a gaping hole , but all was well and for most of the two months or so that thay have been working away it's been almost too hot to hold the slates! We will really miss them - ice creams have been exchanged, as have packets of Pringles and the brave lady in the team has got a marvellous suntan.

The garage roof much appreciated a dowsing and is growing away brilliantly. Not to be outdone by Mrs Claffey I was up there on my hands and knees weeding it at the weekend, and although far from having complete coverage it's coming on nicely. We had a lovely stray poppy the other day which was very cheery and who knows what other goodies will arrive. It was thistles and willowherb that I  had to remove .

Lots of discussion about the village shop which is being vacated by the  present tenants in August, and no one knows what will happen. We are so lucky having it and if nothing else there are plans to make it a community shop,  A meeting last week was inconclusive until there is more information, but at the same meeting was discussion of  the proposed community composting project.  We really are getting like a village in The Archers! 

Enough, I'm off to pick blackcurrents (having only just made last year's crop into jam). And the sun's coming out again.

85 degrees here yesterday - what a change from these freezing winter days. But lovely and cool inside - the sound of bees, a distant saw, the smell of peat wafting through the window..........the smell of peat wafting through the window? 

We rushed outside to discover that our intrepid cleaner, Sue, had managed to set my geranium pot on fire when she stabbed out her cigarette.  No wonder they tell us we mustn't use peat based compost. Fortunately Lynsay is in the local fire crew so she knew what to do. Spray the whole thing with foliar fertiliser.

After that excitement it was a nice chance to continue with the watering. Hanging baskets are all very well but until we get the automatic sprinker system going again its a bit of a palaver keeping them moist. And now we have the 'green' roof to add to the list. Which is, incidentally, doing tremendously well and now even has poppies bobbing around in the breeze,

So there we were sitting on the balcony last Sunday and heard a familiar  clanking and round the point came The Waverley.  For those of you who haven't heard of The Waverley, it is the last sea-going paddle steamer in the world and cruises around the Clyde all summer reminding people of the good old days of going 'Doon the watter'

She is a real icon, and a few years ago we were hugely miffed when a lady from Bristol came into the workshop and said ' I see you have borrowed  our steamer', We soon put her right. But the cruising season does start in Spring when she bravely battles down to the Bristol Channel for a few weeks. Then it's back up to Oban for some marvellous trips to Coll. Tiree and around the coast. But her real home is here on the Clyde , and there couldn't be a nicer treat than catching The Waverly at Tarbert on a Wednesday afternoon and cruising up Loch Fyne. Combined with a pre-cruise lunch over at Portavadie it makes for a grand day out.

Delighted to have storm Hector last night - we were getting really fed up hosing the garage roof. Unfortunately it coincided with a day that the electricity people decided to disrupt our power for the day to do maintainence.So for the poor souls in the cottages, not only did they have to wander off to find heat and light on the first of our greyer days, but the electricity was 2 HOURS late coming back on so drenched and starving they had to wait ages before there was any respite. AND they missed the Scottish News. Here's hoping they had all been visiting the distillery. A stiff letter has gone to the Hydro Board and a lot of use that will do. But huge apologies all round.

We are delightfully sheltered at the Mains, but not so just up the Glen and poor Judi, my trusty assistant, got held up coming to work by a fallen tree.  A fairly common occurance round here and it is miraculous how quickly a few experienced guys with chain saws can clear it all away. At least the trees are all well in leaf now , so not as much damage as a gale earlier on. Our cousin sailing back to Ireland this morning had a VERY bumpy trip, and most of the ferries were off but for once the Ardrossan-Campbeltown ferry has managed to sail.  If I rush up now to the balcony I will see it on the horizon. Or not.

One of our hens is sitting ( for about the twentieth time so we don't hold out much hope) so we are hoping for chicks. They are rather special Rhode Island Red bantams, and though we started off with 6 we are now down to 3 , so the egg supply really needs replenishing. One year we had a hen who produced 20 chicks from a shed at the bottom of the garden in November. She solemnly walked them all up to the house over the gravel. We rescued most of them and they ended up at the farm next door.

I will keep you posted....