http://www.islayblog.com/ IslayBlog.com, a blog about the Isle of Islay, an island in the Inner Hebrides off the west coast of Scotland. Links, news and pictures from Islay. en-gb Copyright 2008, Armin Grewe armin@islayblog.com (Armin Grewe) Thu, 15 May 2008 21:19:00 GMT http://www.islayblog.com/images/islayrss.gif http://www.islayblog.com/ 140 70 http://www.islayblog.com/2008entries/20080515-chough.shtml In the Islay Blogging Roundup #31 two weeks ago I linked to a Portuguese blog entry with the title Projecto Bico-vermelho: Os abrigos de Islay. As my knowledge of Portuguese is a wee bit underdeveloped (or in other words, I don't know a single word) I asked if anyone could help with translating with it. From some of the words and pictures I could guess that it was about Choughs and that it was somehow about Islay, which is a stronghold for them in the UK. Yesterday evening the comment and translation I had hoped for turned up at the entry: [More about Choughs on Islay and in Portugal in the full entry] Thu, 15 May 2008 21:19:00 GMT http://www.islayblog.com/2008entries/20080515-chough.shtml http://www.islayblog.com/2008entries/20080514-aprilhotel.shtml It's been a while since I last updated you about progress at the new/old Islay Hotel in Port Ellen. Looking through my archives I think the last update was the first floor ceiling entry from the end of March. Because of the events of the last few weeks I hadn't got round to post the pictures from my visit to Islay in April, so I decided to catch up on them before posting more recent pictures later this week. Here's a view of the hotel from street: [More about the progress at the Islay Hotel until April in the full entry] Wed, 14 May 2008 21:33:00 GMT http://www.islayblog.com/2008entries/20080514-aprilhotel.shtml http://www.islayblog.com/2008entries/20080513-reappearing.shtml Last Friday I posted a picture of Machir Bay and mentioned the changes the winter storm which battered Islay this year brought to the beach. In the entry I promised to revisit an entry from last year, which I'm going to do today. I guess I could call it the Islay version of now you see, now you don't, now you do: [More about the reappearing wreck in Machir Bay on Islay (with 4 pictures) in the full entry] Tue, 13 May 2008 21:25:00 GMT http://www.islayblog.com/2008entries/20080513-reappearing.shtml http://www.islayblog.com/2008entries/20080512-roundup32.shtml Yesterday I promised you an Islay blogging roundup for today, so I think I better get going on this mild spring evening. I managed to collect a few Islay related links over the last week, although not much about Jura or Colonsay. Last week I started with the birdwatching, let me start with the whisky this week: [More about Islay in the blogs last week in the full entry] Mon, 12 May 2008 21:59:00 GMT http://www.islayblog.com/2008entries/20080512-roundup32.shtml http://www.islayblog.com/2008entries/20080511-kayak.shtml That's a very busy weekend almost over. After two days of sorting out various administrative tasks and finally unpacking the remaining boxes in the new flat as well as cleaning the old flat I finally find some time to sit down and think about Islay blogging again. With a nice pint of Angus Og from Islay Ales and a bar of chocolate I think I'll send you out to look at a few interesting pictures and views of Islay. [More about the pictures from an Islay circumnavigation by kayak in the full entry] Sun, 11 May 2008 21:40:00 GMT http://www.islayblog.com/2008entries/20080511-kayak.shtml http://www.islayblog.com/2008entries/20080509-friday57.shtml Slowly but surely I'm beginning to settle into a routine again, having blogged every day for almost a week now. It's a very nice evening here in Aldermaston, very mild and calm. Looking out of the window over the canal is very nice. Not much can beat that now, although I can think of several views on Islay which can. One of them is this weeks Friday Islay picture, it's a morning view rather than an evening view though: [More about this weeks picture of Machir Bay on Islay in the morning in the full entry] Fri, 09 May 2008 20:27:00 GMT http://www.islayblog.com/2008entries/20080509-friday57.shtml http://www.islayblog.com/2008entries/20080508-octomore.shtml The rumour has been out for a while, today it was made official: Islay's new peatiest whisky is being bottled today. Until now I believe that claim fell to Ardbeg, now the crown has passed on to Bruichladdich. Not only is this interesting from an Islay news point of view, it also has some significance for me personally: [More about Bruichladdich Octomore and why it matters to me in the full entry] Thu, 08 May 2008 21:31:00 GMT http://www.islayblog.com/2008entries/20080508-octomore.shtml http://www.islayblog.com/2008entries/20080507-antarctica.shtml For a change I'm going to send you away from Islay today. Although towards the end you can return to Islay. I think there might be a few bird- and/or sealwatchers among my readers and the blog I found today is probably of interest for them. It's the blog of Stephen Boulton, who just returned from an 18 months stay in Antarctica: [More about Stephen's stay at Rothera in Antarctica (and how this links to Islay) in the full entry] Wed, 07 May 2008 21:00:00 GMT http://www.islayblog.com/2008entries/20080507-antarctica.shtml http://www.islayblog.com/2008entries/20080506-roads.shtml In yesterdays Islay Blogging Roundup I mentioned Tom Paine who fell in love with a Maserati Granturismo and took it to Islay recently. Now the roads on Islay are not exactly made for high performance sports cars, something I've mentioned previously. Tom described his experience on Islay this way: [More about high performance sports cars and Islay in the full entry] Tue, 06 May 2008 22:23:00 GMT http://www.islayblog.com/2008entries/20080506-roads.shtml http://www.islayblog.com/2008entries/20080505-roundup31.shtml The last Islay Blogging Roundup was almost exactly a month ago, I'll have to slowly ease back into the habit of collecting input and writing it weekly. This Bank Holiday Monday is a good time to start with it. Here are some of the blogs and blog entries about Islay and Jura I spotted over the last few weeks: [More about the return of the Islay blogging roundup in the full entry] Mon, 05 May 2008 22:23:00 GMT http://www.islayblog.com/2008entries/20080505-roundup31.shtml http://www.islayblog.com/2008entries/20080504-rainbow.shtml Let me start this entry with a big thank you to the man with the horsebox. I don't know how comfortable he is with seeing his name blasted out on the web, so for the time being he'll remain anonymus. Either way, he helped me to pretty much finish the move today by transporting my larger furniture from Swindon to Aldermaston in said horsebox. This means I now have my desk again with the full dual monitor setup and everything else I need for cask strength Islay blogging. Setting it all up took longer than I had expected, leaving only time for another Islay related picture instead of the Islay Blogging roundup I had hoped to write today: [More about the rainbow in the bow wave of the Islay ferry in the full entry] Sun, 04 May 2008 23:50:00 GMT http://www.islayblog.com/2008entries/20080504-rainbow.shtml http://www.islayblog.com/2008entries/20080502-friday56.shtml It's been a while since the last Friday Islay picture, so this one is a little bit special. It's not just one island on it, no, you get three for the price of one. Islay, Jura and Colonsay. As I'm enjoying a nice pint of 80/- Ale from the Colonsay Brewery while writing this entry I thought Colonsay should feature in some form and picked this picture: [More about this week's Friday picture of Colonsay, Jura and Islay in the full entry] Fri, 02 May 2008 23:52:00 GMT http://www.islayblog.com/2008entries/20080502-friday56.shtml http://www.islayblog.com/2008entries/20080430-potpourri.shtml Since yesterday I'm back on 'proper broadband' again, so proper Islay blogging can slowly start again (I still need to get my desk over into the new flat from the old flat, which I hope to do over the weekend). For today I thought I'll post a few Islay related links I collected over the last few weeks, from the news to the quirky, also a few Islay pictures thrown in. Here they are: [More about the assorted Islay links in the full entry] Wed, 30 Apr 2008 23:08:00 GMT http://www.islayblog.com/2008entries/20080430-potpourri.shtml http://www.islayblog.com/2008entries/20080428-cruise.shtml The difficult task of slowly starting to blog again. I'm back in the UK now and need to settle into some kind of routine again after my mother passed away last week. There's still a lot to think about and the funeral to come in May, but I think she would have wanted me to continue now with blogging about Islay. She never visited Gigha (I've only been once so far myself), but knew Islay and to an extent Jura, so I wonder what she would have thought of this cruise: [More about a cruise from Oban to the three islands on a small cruise boat in the full entry] Mon, 28 Apr 2008 21:11:00 GMT http://www.islayblog.com/2008entries/20080428-cruise.shtml http://www.islayblog.com/2008entries/20080424-mutti.shtml She didn't suffer. During Tuesday night my mother fell asleep and passed away. In the end it all happened quicker than we all, including my mother, had expected. I wasn't able to say good bye to her as I had thought, yet at the same time we had our good byes over the past months. She was first diagnosed with pancreatic cancer in September 2006, at first we thought we only had a few months left. Luckily we had much longer than we thought back then. [More thoughts about my mothers life and how she dealt with the cancer in the full entry] Thu, 24 Apr 2008 21:03:00 GMT http://www.islayblog.com/2008entries/20080424-mutti.shtml http://www.islayblog.com/2008entries/20080422-germany.shtml This is going to be a tricky post. It has almost nothing to do with Islay, but is more a personal post. Not one I was hoping to write on my birthday (yes, it's my birthday today, but that doesn't matter to me at all now), yet it is also in a sense very fitting to my birthday. Tomorrow morning I will board a plane to fly to Germany to visit my mother. I had only hinted about it in the blog so far, but it has now rather quicker than expected only last week reached a stage where I can't and don't want to hold back on it any more. My mother has terminal cancer and probably not long to live any more. [Read the rest of this rather personal posting in the full entry if you care] Tue, 22 Apr 2008 20:34:00 GMT http://www.islayblog.com/2008entries/20080422-germany.shtml http://www.islayblog.com/2008entries/20080421-impressions.shtml After my return from Islay yesterday I promised you a few first impressions from the Islay walking week 2008. I didn't have much time to go through the pictures today, but managed to quickly pick seven pictures from almost all the walks I participated in on Islay, Jura and Colonsay. Let me start with a group picture from the Bruichladdich to Kilchoman (and return) walk: [More about the 7 pictures from WalkIslay 2008 in the full entry] Mon, 21 Apr 2008 22:06:00 GMT http://www.islayblog.com/2008entries/20080421-impressions.shtml http://www.islayblog.com/2008entries/20080420-return.shtml Somehow this about sums it up: Yesterday afternoon I left Islay in the sunshine. This morning I left Scotland in the sunshine. This evening I returned to Reading in pouring rain (and I think I still detected a bit of the Euro-Whiff after all that fresh air on Islay). [More about a fantastic week on Islay and my return home in the full entry] Sun, 20 Apr 2008 22:22:00 GMT http://www.islayblog.com/2008entries/20080420-return.shtml http://www.islayblog.com/2008entries/20080411-arrival.shtml Now I hadn't planned or expected to do this, but as I prefer looking at my latest Islay pictures to watching television and as I seem to get a surprisingly good signal here I thought I might as well post a quick entry that I've arrived on Islay this evening. The Islaymobile in connection with Calmac and the Highways Agency have done a great job and taken me to Islay without any major holdups (apart from a minor problem at the M74/M73 junction because of the roadworks). [More about my arrival on Islay after a long journey in the full entry] Fri, 11 Apr 2008 21:26:00 GMT http://www.islayblog.com/2008entries/20080411-arrival.shtml