Jonathan >

First thing, I drove to Eriskay to feed the chickens and geese.  After feeding the sheep I slipped spectacularly on the ice -flailing arms and bending the torso wildly to keep balance for a few seconds before landing down on the wet icy with a thump. And then – taking care to avoid the icy track – I slipped down into a ditch – now unfrozen!

Back at the house, drying out by the Aga with a mug of coffee, it was time to open presents, with some lovely gifs from daughters Becky and Cat (alas so far away, and the journey impractical at this time of year), and more from others.  The cats had treats too, and Tilly knew (from the smell, probably) that one parcel contained something for her: she picked it up and then ran around with it, tail wagging madly, one minute thrusting the parcel into our laps for us to do something with but then growling fiercely at us if we tried, up and down and round and round so excited she just couldn’t stay still for even a second: eventually she went to her bed, propped the parcel end-up between her paws and started to pick away at the wrapping paper with her teeth. And yes it was some bone-shaped doggy chews.

After Christmas lunch we went for a long walk along the beach at Smercleit and north to Garraidh na Monadh: it was a cold breeze, but the tide was out and the beach busy with wading birds and the sky with gulls. Beautiful!

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