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 2009, Armin Grewe armin@islayblog.com (Armin Grewe) Fri, 03 Jul 2009 21:52:00 GMT http://www.islayblog.com/images/islayrss.gif http://www.islayblog.com/ 140 70 http://www.islayblog.com/2009entries/20090703-friday109.shtml While the recent heatwave is slowly subsiding throughout the UK the summer is far from over. I'm sure many more fine days will come, on Islay and elsewhere in the UK. To remind us of one of the best things to do on such a day I've picked today's Friday Islay picture. Going to the beach and flying a kite: [View this week's Friday Islay picture of families spending an afternoon at Saligo Bay and flying a kite in the full entry] Fri, 03 Jul 2009 21:52:00 GMT http://www.islayblog.com/2009entries/20090703-friday109.shtml Armin Grewe http://www.islayblog.com/2009entries/20090702-oldportaskaig.shtml Regular readers quite possibly will be familiar with the name Neil F King. I've mentioned his pictures on Flickr on a number of occasions, in particular his Islay (or Islay ferry) pictures. Today I'd like to point out three more of his pictures, two of Port Askaig on the Sound of Islay and one of the ferry named after the sound: [Find links to the old Islay pictures scanned by Neil and read more in the full entry] Thu, 02 Jul 2009 21:38:00 GMT http://www.islayblog.com/2009entries/20090702-oldportaskaig.shtml Armin Grewe http://www.islayblog.com/2009entries/20090701-noelpano.shtml It's always nice to be able to put a face and a voice to a name and in particular when I can link to something Islay related that person created. During the Education 2020 Unconference on Islay I attended a few weeks ago I had the pleasure to meet Noel Jenkins, geographer, teacher and author from Devon. Among the many things he does is photography, 360 degree panoramas to be precise, published on 360 Cities. During his visit to Islay he also completed three Islay 360 degree panoramas including this one of Port Askaig and the Sound of Islay: [More about Noel Jenkins' Islay panoramas and other work in the full entry] Wed, 01 Jul 2009 20:27:00 GMT http://www.islayblog.com/2009entries/20090701-noelpano.shtml Armin Grewe http://www.islayblog.com/2009entries/20090630-ali.shtml Having just spent quite some time looking through Ali's view the decision what to blog about this evening was quite easy: Ali's pictures, in particular her Islay pictures. Alison and her family live in Northumberland, but from the looks of it travel in the UK regularly, including visits to Islay. While most of her Islay pictures are tagged with Islay not all are, so I'd like to point out a few more and some of my favourites: [More about Ali's great pictures from Islay in the full entry] Tue, 30 Jun 2009 20:31:00 GMT http://www.islayblog.com/2009entries/20090630-ali.shtml Armin Grewe http://www.islayblog.com/2009entries/20090629-sunsettimelapse.shtml With the current heatwave continuing on Islay (Port Ellen managed 23.4C this afternoon from the looks of it) and the rest of the UK (I think we were in the high 20s down here today and the forecast is 30C for Tuesday) many people look forward to the evenings when it cools down and the sun sets. Talking of sunsets, Ron posted his Islay Sunsets Video today, a collection of sunset pictures. I thought I'll add to that with a Saligo Bay sunset timelapse: [Watch the timelapse video of a sunset on the west coast of Islay in the full entry] Mon, 29 Jun 2009 21:29:00 GMT http://www.islayblog.com/2009entries/20090629-sunsettimelapse.shtml Armin Grewe http://www.islayblog.com/2009entries/20090628-cooling.shtml Apologies if you were expecting an Islay blogging roundup this evening. It's far too hot and I'm too tired to compile one today. Looks like the (first) heatwave they have been promising for this summer has arrived in the UK. At least in Aldermaston Wharf from where I'm writing this it was 25C+. Port Ellen seems to have managed 20.6C late this afternoon, not bad for Islay. At least there's a quick remedy: [See one way of cooling down on Islay in the full entry] Sun, 28 Jun 2009 21:00:00 GMT http://www.islayblog.com/2009entries/20090628-cooling.shtml Armin Grewe http://www.islayblog.com/2009entries/20090627-goatsvideo.shtml While I've had a Sunday Islay Goat Picture (following on from an earlier Islay goat picture) I haven't had any moving pictures of the goats on Islay yet. Thanks to Deborah (aka ceallaighgirl) this is going to change, as she put a video of the wild goats of Islay running around on to YouTube: [Watch the video of the wild goats in the full entry] Sat, 27 Jun 2009 21:15:00 GMT http://www.islayblog.com/2009entries/20090627-goatsvideo.shtml Armin Grewe http://www.islayblog.com/2009entries/20090626-friday108.shtml The last Friday Islay Picture was on the 5th of June, time to get back into them. I've picked another picture from my most recent visit to Islay. Earlier this week I blogged about the videos of the Laddie Cup final. As I don't have the equivalent video footage of the Lassie Cup from this years Islay Beach Rugby tournament here's at least a picture instead: [View the picture of a player about to score a try in the Islay beach rugby Lassie Cup final in the full entry] Fri, 26 Jun 2009 20:20:00 GMT http://www.islayblog.com/2009entries/20090626-friday108.shtml Armin Grewe http://www.islayblog.com/2009entries/20090625-russianmini2.shtml With the original entry The Russian Islay Job? dropping off the front page today I thought it was a good idea to quickly revisit the 'Mini People' Mini Club Russia's visit to Islay. I'm not sure how he found it, but one of the Mini drivers discovered the blog entry and got in contact with me. Fedor was so kind to send me this picture: [See another picture of Fedor's Mini on Islay in the full entry] Thu, 25 Jun 2009 20:57:00 GMT http://www.islayblog.com/2009entries/20090625-russianmini2.shtml Armin Grewe http://www.islayblog.com/2009entries/20090624-trafficlights.shtml Looking through some other pictures I originally wanted to blog about today (they can wait a few days now) I came across a few pictures of a rare sighting on Islay I took just over a week ago. No, not any rare birds or rare animal. Traffic lights. Usually the main reasons for having to slow down or stop on Islay apart from normal stops at junctions are the moving roadblocks. There are no permanent traffic lights on Islay. But recently there were (and may be still are?) a few temporary traffic lights in Bridgend in the centre of Islay. [See pictures of the traffic lights on Islay and read more in the full entry] Wed, 24 Jun 2009 20:51:00 GMT http://www.islayblog.com/2009entries/20090624-trafficlights.shtml Armin Grewe http://www.islayblog.com/2009entries/20090623-rugbyfinal.shtml As promised yesterday I'm going to show you two videos from the recent Islay Beach Rugby tournament today. They are both from the last game of the day, the final of the Laddie Cup (sponsored by Bruichladdich distillery) between Black Bottle and Loch Lomond. Other than all the other games with 4 minutes each way the final was played 7 minutes each way. I therefore created two videos, one for each half: [Watch the 2 videos of the Islay Beach Rugby men's final 2009 in the full entry] Tue, 23 Jun 2009 20:24:00 GMT http://www.islayblog.com/2009entries/20090623-rugbyfinal.shtml Armin Grewe http://www.islayblog.com/2009entries/20090622-rugbyvideos.shtml While I thought I had seen quite a few video cameras at the recent Islay Beach Rugby tournament there seems to be very little of it available online. The only ones with some footage of the games I'm aware of are The Laddie Cup and The Lassie Cup from The Ileach. Having only just returned from Islay I still need a bit of time to go through all the footage I've taken, but hopefully should be able to make a few videos available over the next few days. [More about the Islay Beach Rugby videos I'm hoping to publish this week in the full entry] Mon, 22 Jun 2009 23:28:00 GMT http://www.islayblog.com/2009entries/20090622-rugbyvideos.shtml Armin Grewe http://www.islayblog.com/2009entries/20090621-back.shtml The Islay blogging break turned out longer than anticipated, just didn't get around to do any blogging over the last week since leaving for the beach rugby after the Education 2020 Unconference. I've had a great time on Islay again, despite some rather mixed weather this week. While I didn't do some of the things I had thought of doing (e.g. I decided not to go to Colonsay as the weather on Wednesday wasn't as I had hoped for) I did manage to fit in a few others instead. [More thoughts and first pictures from my 1.5 weeks on Islay in the full entry] Sun, 21 Jun 2009 21:35:00 GMT http://www.islayblog.com/2009entries/20090621-back.shtml Armin Grewe http://www.islayblog.com/2009entries/20090613-unconference.shtml Before all the attention moves on to the Islay Beach Rugby today I would like to provide a quick report from an event I attended in Bowmore yesterday, the Education2020 Unconference. I'm not sure of the exact number (somewhere I've got 43 in my head), but more than 40 teachers, education professionals and other people just generally interested in education (like me) met on Islay yesterday to discuss the future of education and how it might look in the year 2020. [More about the Education 2020 conference with 4 pictures in the full entry] Sat, 13 Jun 2009 07:00:00 GMT http://www.islayblog.com/2009entries/20090613-unconference.shtml Armin Grewe http://www.islayblog.com/2009entries/20090611-timelapse.shtml After a long journey (there's a lot of roadworks on the A83 at the moment, plan with at least 45 minutes delay time from Glasgow to Kennacraig) I have arrived safely on Islay. Having played with time lapse video at home I couldn't resist doing the same thing with the ferry crossing to Islay: [Watch the time lapse video of the ferry crossing to Islay in the full entry] Thu, 11 Jun 2009 00:18:00 GMT http://www.islayblog.com/2009entries/20090611-timelapse.shtml Armin Grewe http://www.islayblog.com/2009entries/20090608-holiday.shtml Haven't you only just returned from Islay someone asked at work when I mentioned that I was leaving for Islay again soon. He was right, well, kind of. That was April! Feels like ages! So I'm off to Islay again tomorrow evening, arriving on Wednesday. To get into the mood (as if I need to...) I thought I recycle last year's Islay ferry crossing video again: [More about my upcoming Islay holiday (and the Islay ferry video teaser) in the full entry] Mon, 08 Jun 2009 19:50:00 GMT http://www.islayblog.com/2009entries/20090608-holiday.shtml Armin Grewe http://www.islayblog.com/2009entries/20090607-roundup82.shtml Running rather late today after creating my first time lapse video earlier. Something I wanted to try out before leaving for Islay next week as I'm considering making one or two from Islay. Ideas and suggestions for topics (sunsets are already on my list) are welcome. Also trying to follow the European Election 2009 coverage while writing this week's Islay Blogging roundup. That could be rather challenging. So without further ado to the roundup: [More about Islay and Jura in the blogs in the first week of June 2009 in the full entry] Sun, 07 Jun 2009 21:55:00 GMT http://www.islayblog.com/2009entries/20090607-roundup82.shtml Armin Grewe http://www.islayblog.com/2009entries/20090606-squared.shtml One of the latest tools available from Google is Google Squared. Inspired by an entry Funky search result on Google Squared I tried the new tool to see how it copes with a search for Islay. Not too surprisingly a plain search for Islay on Google Squared churns out a list of the whiskies and the distilleries on Islay: [More about Islay on Google Square and starting to create my own Islay related squares in the full entry] Sat, 06 Jun 2009 22:23:00 GMT http://www.islayblog.com/2009entries/20090606-squared.shtml Armin Grewe http://www.islayblog.com/2009entries/20090605-friday107.shtml The weather is turning, at least down here in the south of England, it must be almost weekend. It still seems to be holding on Islay though. Having played a bit with Google Squared earlier this evening (probably more about that tomorrow) it's now time for this week's Friday Islay picture. [More about the picture of Port Charlotte on Islay in 1999 in the full entry] Fri, 05 Jun 2009 21:11:00 GMT http://www.islayblog.com/2009entries/20090605-friday107.shtml Armin Grewe