65. Can't believe it's nearly Christmas again.

I don't know where this year has gone, it seems to have passed by without me being aware of it. I can't believe it's nearly Christmas again. We've been back just over a week, we went to a wedding in the Midlands so stayed down a bit longer to see family. Because the days are so short now and we don't like driving in the dark we set off early and drove through to Inverness. We stopped at a travelodge there overnight, picked up a food shop early the following morning then drove back to the jetty to catch the postboat.

I've still not unpacked, I shoved the bag under the bed on our return and haven't looked at it since. It's on my to do list for tomorrow. 

Before we went away our new batteries arrived so the electricity has done much better and hasn't gone off since, even though there's been overcast days with no wind.

I did manage to finally get a wash done today and Rich has managed to mend the boat. He's heat welded a piece of plastic underneath where it was wearing very thin. He's also serviced the engine so hopefully all will be well for a bit. As it was calm we went across the Loch and emptied the car which was still full from our return a week ago. So the garden bench, lawnmower, wooden batons were all loaded in the boat along with 9 bags of sand and gravel (we're still trying to empty the 3 tonne bags that have been sat there for a few years now!!)

There seems so much to do at the moment that it feels a bit overwhelming. Also on my to do list is the polytunnel I've still not finished clearing it, there's a few dead tomato plants in there and the plastic all needs wiping down.

We have been busy and achieved a bit today though. After we returned from emptying the car, Rich went on the cabin roof and swept the chimney. It's not been done since moving in nearly 2 years ago so was overdue for a clean up.

I decided to try one of  our sweetmeat squashes, I only used half of it and made a soup which lasted 3 days. I then cut some more of it and roasted it to use as a filling in pasties which we had for dinner tonight.

Rich has been working in the house this week, he's taken the remaining internal walls out upstairs and continued fitting the new insulation. There's still an awful long way to go but progress is being made. Hopefully by this time next year there'll be major moves forward (I think I said that at the end of last year and maybe even the year before that!)