Day Three - Saturday

Day Three 5/26/07 - Saturday
Early Morning:Ah. Much better. An early bedtime last night resulted in waking this morning at about 5, which seems pretty good. A couple of cups of coffee, and I seem to be feeling pretty good again. Although, it's strange. I see the clock says it's 6 am, and then think "that means it's about midnight at home" and suddenly I feel as if I could crawl right back into bed and sleep for several more hours. I guess I'll just try to not think about what time it is at home anymore. It just confuses me.
I believe our plan for today is some shopping, and we might go ahead and pop down the way and peek at Callanish and Arnol Blackhouse today. I hope so. I'm looking forward to seeing them. I'm looking forward to feeling warm again, too. The wind seeps into everything. The house is chilly, even with the radiators going full blast. I think the wind just sucks the heat out of everything. I want to get one of those thick Irish knit sweaters, and a Harris tweed wool hat and maybe some gloves, too. I then plan to wear this ensemble until we leave.
Ya know, it's funny. When we were in Glasgow, people would ask where we were heading, we would reply "Stornoway" all excited, and we would get very funny looks. Even some rolling of the eyes. Waitresses, taxi drivers, hotel employees... no one could understand why we might wish to spend some time here. "Nothing there but sheep", I think our taxi driver said.
After getting here, I suppose I understand a bit better. We were in one of the two major cities in the whole country, declaring excitement at leaving to go to a very quiet country place. I suppose it would be a lot like coming all the way to the US from Scotland, landing in New York, and stating excitedly "We're heading to Kansas!" to the New Yorkers. That might get you a few funny looks, too.
We all seem quite contented to be here, though. Hannah particularly seems thrilled with the place. Within the first few minutes of being in the house, she declared the this place was EXACTLY what she'd been hoping for. It's very quiet. Our window looks out onto sheep grazing in the foreground, with the ocean in the background. Long walks. Staring at the waves breaking onto the rocks. Watching for seals and dolphins. Birdwatching. These are the kinds of things we're hoping to do all week. All interspersed with many naps and quiet hours curled up with a book. Hannah was actually quite happy to find out that we didn't even have phone service out where we are. Knowing that she can't call anyone just makes it easy for her to not call anyone, so she can just worry about pleasing herself and not others.
I think we all are just worn out. This first week is just for us. Nothing to do but sleep, walk, rest, enjoy the sea, eat and drink.
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Later:
Saturday was just a wonderful day, I must say. We didn't actually get moving until around noon, because Hannah went back to bed with a "maybe I need just a *little bit* more sleep" about 6, and slept until almost 12. I tell you, this jet lag thing hits hard. She woke up around noon, though, as I said, and quickly got ready to go. Our first stop was a little shop near the Eoropie Tea Room that advertised Harris Tweed hats, scarves and jumpers. Gretchen had to translate and inform us that "jumpers" were sweaters. "Hurray" I hollered, and we all piled out of the car and into the teeny shop, stopping to greet the charming orange cat lounging in the path.
We found a small collection of 8 or 10 hats, a small pile of wool socks, a few sweaters and several scarves. We each, even Terry, quickly picked out a hat, and Gretchen and I each bought one of the beautiful hand knitted sweaters. We were all even happier with our purchases when the fine vendor informed us that these items were all made by the lady priest from St Moulags, who sold many of her wares all over the Nis area.
If I understand this correctly, the whole Harris Tweed thing is an example of crofting in action. The local wool is gathered and spun at a central processing facility, and is then delivered to the weavers, who all own their own looms and weave the cloth in their own homes. After weaving, the cloth is delivered back to the processing facility for cleaning and finishing. I'm not sure at what point the local artisans get the wool and make their own creations, but at some point they do, and there are little shops all over the place offering local artists' hats, scarves, and table mats, etc. It's all just beautiful, and warm as can be.
I think we might have made that lady's week, as we piled into her shop, (actually, I think it was her husband's shop, but she was watching it that day) all picked out a number of items and paid, then quickly piled back into the car to head off for further adventures. I think we dropped over a hundred pounds there within just a few minutes.
Our heads properly wooly, we headed south toward Stornoway, stopping along the way to goof around one of the beaches Terry spotted. We had to pull through a sheep pasture to get to it. The signs said "cattle gate. Please close after passing" or something like that, so Hannah would hop out of the car and operate the gate, and we'd drive through, then she'd shut it after us. The beach was stunning, with many many big round rocks strewn all over the beach. We clambored around the rocks, picked out a few small souvenirs, took lots of pictures, and toodled back to car, stopping to greet the sheep with their baby lambs that greeted us along the way.
The day was absolutely gorgious as we pulled into Stornoway. The sun was out, just a little bit of a breeze. Everyone was smiling. It was great. It was a lot less stressful driving in this time, as Terry was a bit more comfortable with driving on the left side of the road, and kind of knew where we were going. We found a good spot to park near the city center, and walked from there. We stopped at a little shop sort of like what would be a "dollar store" at home, and I found an inexpensive watch, so now I don't have to look at my cellphone, see it's display of US Eastern time and try to calculate what the time here should be. A little farther down the way we found a shop selling Scottish garb, and I picked up a wonderful cashmere scarf, woven in the colors of the Black Guard. I found a couple of Mackenzie pins, too, which I hope Mackenzie will enjoy when we get home. We toodled and shopped our way up the road, and then we came upon the Harris Tweed Authority shop, tucked down a little alley way, it doesn't look like much from the outside, but inside, Oh My! There was so much to choose from. I think we all went a little bit crazy in there. The shopkeeper was just friendly as can be (see photos), and we chatted away about everything from the Kansas City Chiefs to American Idol (he had watched it last night, not us). Terry bought a beautiful tweed jacket and hat, which I think makes him look very British indeed. I found a few pairs of gloves and mittens, as well as a stunning shawl. Gretchen almost bought the place out, she had so many filled bags. Even Hannah found another hat, and I think a pair of mittens, too. He was so nice, and wanting to make sure we had a fine time on the island, he walked us out to the street to point out features worth seeing (like the seals playing in the harbor) and which way to his favorite restaurants. We took his advice on the restaurants, and after stopping back at the car to drop all our purchases, we stopped in to a couple local jewelers, (I found some earrings, Hannah found a ring) then had a late lunch at HS1.
After lunch, we decided to meander our way back home via the long way, toodling past some of the local sites on the way. We drove through the Lews Castle grounds, which are a beautiful local garden woodsy area right along the water. There we found a place to stop and watch the seals playing in the harbor.
Not too far out of Stornoway, we found some HUGE wind turbines, which are apparently making a bit of a political stink on the island, as there are plans to put in a huge line of them all the way down the island.
A beautiful scenic drive through parts of Harris finally took us around, and we stopped at Callanish standing stones. It was after 6 by the time we got there, so the visitors' center and tea shops were closed, but the stones themselves were available and we climbed up and took many pictures. I called Mary from the center of the circle, just because I knew she would want to be there. It is a fascinating place. I would like to go back again some time this week and see what's in the visitors center.
We drove along the coast for most of the way home, and every bit of it was just beautiful. From the peat bogs to the machair to the rocky beaches, it's all just beautiful.
We got home about 7:30, and just lazed around for the rest of the evening. I fell asleep on the couch watching some strange Glasgow "American Idol" kind of show where the winner would get a part in the musical production of "Grease". Weird.
After my little snooze on the couch, I felt energized and refreshed enough to decide to go for some full on hard-core sleeping, and I was snoring in my bed like a champ by 9.