It’s been an incredibly wet month so far, with torrential rain every day. The croft is totally saturated. I should be out there sorting vegetable beds out but I fear that I might sink into the mud never to be seen again.
For those of you unfamiliar with Isle of Skye rain, here’s a short video clip to share the joy.
Instead of being out and about, I’ve been wintering. Cooking warming, comforting food and sitting by the woodburner watching the rain sweep across the sea.
We’ve identified a strange noise that we’d been hearing every night around midnight after retiring to bed. We’d usually be just drifting off to sleep when it would wake us up. We’d both look at each other in confusion and in my case certainly, fear. What was that noise? Did we have intruders?
We eventually worked it out. There was no need to sleep with a baseball bat by the bed after all.
It was the woodburner emitting a loud metallic bang as it contracted on cooling after an evening of heating up. Amplified by the big roof volume in the sitting room, I suspect, it sounded like a gun being fired, and to say it scared the bejeezus out of us the first few nights would be an understatement!
As the work on the big bookcase, wardrobes and lighting continues, we have piles of screwdrivers, electrical bits and hinges everywhere. Coupled with the boxes that needed to be brought inside to make room for the carpentry in the shed (but which can’t be put away until the storage is finished) I’m feeling on the very edge of controlled chaos.
The way I’m coping with this without tipping over into the stress that extreme untidiness usually causes me is that I’ve carved a few spaces in the sitting room out of the mayhem and am working hard to keep them free of debris. They’re my small pockets of sanctuary.
We are making progress though. Husband is finishing the upstairs bedroom storage and has added knobbage to all the cupboard doors. We shall start osmo oiling these tomorrow and hopefully should be able to start using them next week.
It will be so good to start getting things finished and put away at last.
Ravencroft Skye 
I was surprised to hear about your rain – it has been dry here until yesterday when we got drizzle – or is it low cloud? Anyway getting me wet but doing nothing much for anything!
My woodburner bangs as it cools too but not in such a loud way thankfully. I’m sure you’re right that it is the large echoey space which is making it so scary.
The chaos is temporary but I understand your need for a few spaces which are calm and tidy. I used to try to keep the bedroom neat (not always successfully!) because that has always been my private sanctuary space. One day it will be finished, your garden will be thriving and the last couple of years will feel like a blip.
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Thank you. I can hardly wait for those days to come! Hopefully soon now
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Finding a home for things is so satisfying!!
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