31 Days of October

Happy Halloween!

I have spent the last month posting a 'photo a day', which I have been posting on our Dower House twitter every evening. (With the exception of last weekend as I was in Winchester at my cousin Alex's wedding!) I thought it might be nice to compile them all here.

If you get to the end, please read the next post as Mary-Ann posted another update just yesterday showing the progress on the house, as well as our autumn visitors and a lot of island pictures.

1st - View over the Sound of Islay, from Keills Farm.

2nd - Late afternoon sunshine at Ardilistry Bay.

3rd - Hidden sunshine at Sanaigmore.

4th - Sunrise from the Dower House.

5th - Last few moments of the sunset at Kintra.

6th - View toward Bridgend and Loch Indaal from the Glen Road.

7th - Young stags at Kildalton, behind the Fairy Hill.

8th - Red Deer Stag, calling, from the top of the Fairy Hill.

9th - Sunrise between Laphroaig and Port Ellen.

10th - Beginnings of the sunset over Lagavulin.

11th - Juvenile Sea Eagle at Claggain.

12th - Dark clouds rolling in over a sunny Port Ellen. (From the rooftop)

13th - Seal Bay just before sunset.

14th - Looking toward the Paps of Jura, from Bunnahabhain.

15th - Rainy sunset over the Lily Loch, Kildalton.

16th - Waves at Loch a' Chnuic.

17th - The Dower House, from the Fairy Hill. (Cnoc Rhaonastil)

18th - Looking out to sea, at Ardilistry.

19th - An afternoon up Beinn Bheiger.

20th - Jumping the burn at the Lily Loch.

21st - Dawn on Knock Bay.

I flew from Islay to Glasgow and then onto Southampton that evening. Highly recommend the flight out of Islay, absolutely incredible views and it was so easy. I'm used to the trip home to Dorset, or in this case, Hampshire, taking 13 hours by car, including the ferry, so leaving Islay at 6.15pm and arriving in Southampton at 10pm felt quite surreal.

22nd - The flower girl and page boy at my cousin, Alex, and Rachel's wedding.

I took so many pictures of the children that I forgot to get one of the bride and groom...!

23rd - Cows at Gretna Green.

We stayed at The Mill Forge for the night on the way home.

24th - Looking toward the Sound of Islay from the Finlaggan.

After a mad rush from Gretna to Kennacraig we made it to the ferry by 12.25pm, 10 minutes late for final check in and without a booking (they were too full to pre-book) and after Mary-Ann and I walked on as foot passengers, they did just about manage to squeeze Nick on as the last car, so he didn't have to wait for 5 hours luckily!

25th - Autumn colours on a dull Islay day.

26th - Sun rays over the water, from the House.

27th - A buzzard taking off from the garden fence.

28th - An old love lock on the fence at Knock Bay.

29th - Cassie and the House as the sun sets through the clouds.

30th - Reflections on the Lily Loch, Kildalton.

31st - Sunrise through the mist.

Whilst I have actually really enjoyed doing this photo challenge, I am going to give it a rest for a little while. We are working full time at the Dower House until Christmas, followed by a roof just up the road afterwards (fingers crossed for a dry-ish spring) so I think photos of Knock Bay and the Lily Loch every other day might get a bit wearing! We also have little to no daylight outside of working hours for a few months over the winter, even now the dark sets in less than an hour after I finish. Look out for #31daysofMarch, or perhaps #30daysofApril. (Note the correct number of days in each month- I started out on twitter #30daysofOctober... Thanks to Jude for pointing it out! Also for being our best follower by far, it is good to know that someone is watching.)

Please click the 'older' button or choose from the side menu for Mary-Ann's update!

                                                                              ~Jenny