After the Storm

Last night we had a huge storm, which caused a power cut and left us without electricity for 6 hours. We had met David for dinner at a local Thai restaurant and as we left the first raindrops fell. Sheila drove back, en route the storm hit, with lots of flashes of lightning and claps of thunder. The temperature dropped by 20˚F in about 20 minutes. In places the rain came down in torrents. Just as we reached the cabin the rain stopped and indoors no power. David drove back a little later and missed all the rain. The storm was overhead for only 20 minutes but made quite an impact.

We sat out on the porch to watch the distant lightning, and I tried some photographs. By the time it was dark enough to do some long exposures the fork lightning had moved on, leaving only sheets to light up the sky. The power came back on during night. There were lots of outages in the region but in the local area it seemed that only our part of the street was affected, perhaps a half dozen houses.

Today in the wake of the storm temperatures are much cooler, I’m sitting comfortably on the front porch typing this. Taking advantage of the conditions I took a walk around the neighbourhood, which is in the countryside just outside McKinney. Later on I walked down the pasture to see if I could get to the creek, but as it is overgrown I didn’t venture far. It sounded as though there were lots of birds down there.

The first week

That’s me been in Texas for a week and y’all should know that am really enjoying it. Arriving to temperatures of 38˚C (100˚F) with a hurricane on the way was a bit of a shock, but the Rita past to the east and did not rain on us – as much as the land could do with it. The clouds did make for nice sunset photos.

I’ve been taking it easy, I’m sitting on the back porch, which is nice and shady but still in the 80s, might have to move back into the AC soon. Sheila and David are at work, so it is just me and the dogs… and my laptop – the wireless network reaches out here!

Sheila and David’s cabin is out in the country situated in 7 acres of land. The top part has the cabin and a lovely stand of mixed woodland, further down there is a huge area of pasture which reaches down to the river. There’s lots of wildlife around, hummingbirds feed at a special feeder, the dogs chase the squirrels, there are lots of butterflies which don’t stay still long enough for me to take a photo, just saw a couple of birds of prey… must look out my binoculars.

Went with Sheila to school last week, very interesting, I’ve learned a lot about sensory integration (SI). Have been doing some typing for her, she’s camp director for a SI camp this weekend.

Helped David finish his fence yesterday, with the odd break to take photos of interesting bugs.

In the afternoon we watched the TV coverage of the Dallas Cowboys losing all the way through the game only to make a last minute comeback and beat the San Francisco 49ers, 34-31. I must admit that it was all a bit foreign to me, I could hardly keep up with what was going on – thought that it looked a right rammy. Still at least Morton won at the weekend. I have an RSS feed so that I can keep up with the results.

I’m still trying to get my ear round the local accent – who said that we all speak English! It’s not only the accent but also the words people use, listening to the traffic reports I heard that a disabled vehicle was blocking the road, so I thought that it was some sort of special needs bus, until I heard about another one and thought that they don’t maintain their buses that well, until it dawned on me that she meant that a vehicle had broken down and was disabled…

Well, better get the housework that Sheila’s left me done before she gets back – a hard taskmaster :-)

Hurricane Update

The hurricane has made landfall and is well east of us in McKinney. It's a bit breezy, but when you are from Scotland you are used to it. It has caused a lot of problems further east and south. We may still get some rain, but it seems to be falling just east of us. It is a lot cooler today, only a high of 89˚F!

Hurricane Sunset

Hurricane Sunset - The clouds at the edge of hurricane Rita.

Still extremely hot here in Texas, but hurricane Rita is on its way. It should have calmed down considerably before it gets to Dallas but we might get alot of rain. It could be really destructive on the coast.

I've been out with my sister Sheila to some of her work as a behavioural therapist, really interesting.

Across the Atlantic

Yesterday I flew across the Atlantic from Glasgow in Scotland to Dallas in the US. Really good flights, all during the day so could see a lot of the land as we flew over it. I love the system on the plane where you can track your progress, so I identified, Lake Huron, Chicago and the hills of Arkansas where my sister and I visited a couple of years ago. The temperature in Dallas when we landed was a rather warm 100˚F (37˚C). It’s about 10 degrees higher than it usually is at this time of year, and about 40 higher than Scotland!!

My sister met my flight and took me to her home. The house is lovely and in a great location, I woke to a lovely birdsong this morning – some kind of tit I think, and a woodpecker. Hummingbirds feed at the porch and there are butterflies.

Crarae Gardens and Argyll

What a place to spend my last free day in Scotland. Crarae Gardens are lovely in Autumn, lots of trees are just starting to turn colour. I had an enjoyable couple of hours wandering round, snapping then it started to rain, found some bamboo to shelter under. I find taking photographs really relaxing, so the rain did not matter.

After Crarae I continued on past Logilphead to Kilmartin and a trip to the stone circle at Temple Woods.

Edinburgh Botanic Gardens

PurpleTaken in the glasshouses at Edinburgh Botanic Gardens

A trip to Edinburgh meant that I could visit the Edinbugh Botanic Gardens. A bit windy so for photos I went to the glasshouses. There are a series of glassshouses for different environments and lots of photo opportunities. The hot houses steamed up my camera lens, but managed to get a couple of nice shots. Definitely one for another visit.

Skye Ferry

Eigg
Taken from the Armadale to Mallaig ferry, which links Skye and the mainland.

Returning home on the ferry. Windy but sunny.

Point of Sleat

Speckled Wood Butterfly
This is a lovely walk, I did it on a very hot and sticky day (for Scotland). The distant views were obscured by a haze. There is parking at the end of the road in Aird, from which a good track leads off to the point. Met a few people, including people working on a cottage at the small harbour, an idyllic location. I climbed to the top of the hill and looked over to the lighthouse at the Point of Sleat but decided to visit the beach, Camas Daraich instead. I had the beach to myself, very peaceful. After a paddle in the sea, I cut back across the moor to rejoin the track.

South Skye

Started off with a trip back to Elgol. The views to the Cuillin were great. The coffee shop had great views and the sun came out as the clouds disappeared.



We continued on to Kinloch where we walked to Leitir Fura, a ruined township with great views across the Sound of Sleat.



That evening there was a lovely sunset. This photo was taken from the Tarskavaig road.

Glen Brittle

Liz and I followed the path from the campsite out to the point Rubh'an Dunain. A really nice walk with lots of interest including a chambered cairn, runied house and best of all Loch na h-Airde. At the outflow of the loch Liz spotted an otter, I managed to grab a photo of it. On the way back the light was golden, with the dark Cuillin.

Skye

Spending a few days in Skye. Weather has been lovely and the views are magnificent. Will post some photos when I get home. I've been down to Elgol to soak in the views, walked to the point at the end of Glen Brittle and to the Point of Sleat.

Road to Skye

En route to Skye the weather was wet until I left Fort William. I stopped at the Loch Garry viewpoint for this photo of the loch which looks like a map of Scotland.

Continued on to the Lochalsh Woodland Garden which is run by the National Trust for Scotland. The first autumnal colours are appearing and the light as I walked around the garden was lovely.



Drove over to Elgol to watch the sunset, the clouds on Blaven looked particularly angry.