1st July – A bit of a dreich day to open July. I’ve been finding things to do around the house and H has been experimenting with her gel plate painting technique and producing interesting results.
This one is called “Do waves make a noise on the shore if there is no-one there to hear them?”
Giclee prints are available from the National Gallery website. (Only kidding)
3rd July – HMS Magpie passing the Hall of Clestrain. I wonder if the crew are aware that a previous resident of the Hall had a few run-ins with the Admiralty.
Dr John Rae fell foul of the Royal Navy establishment for reporting that members of the ill-fated Franklin expedition resorted to cannibalism when they became trapped in the Arctic. See the section in Local Heroes on Rae.
We went down to the Northlight Gallery to see Ralph Robinson’s latest exhibition, “Time and Tides: Allegories of our days”. Ralph’s work highlights the plight of refugees and the dehumanisation of this group of people.
We’ve known Ralph and Patty for many years now and it’s nice to catch up when he’s in Stromness.
4th July – Election day! H & I had postal votes, so no need to queue at the polling station.
I’m not sure if the crew of this boat are rushing to vote but it’s hard working travelling against the ebb tide. Hoy Low lighthouse is keeping an eye on them.
10th July – Our local on-line publication, The Orkney News, produced this interview with Ralph Robinson to highlight his current exhibition.
Ralph is a genuinely nice person and his personality, humour and compassion comes over in this film.
n.b. An allochthon, or an allochthonous block, is a large block of rock which has been moved from its original site of formation, usually by low angle faulting. (Wikipedia).
The interviewer is Martin Laird, local artist and filmmaker, one of his animations can be seen in Local Heroes, the section on Stanley Cursiter.
13th July – Once every two years, thousands of athletes from across the globe — from Scandinavia to the Mediterranean, the North Atlantic to the Caribbean — come together to compete in the NatWest International Island Games, the next event is in 2025 and Orkney will be playing host. I’d never heard of the Island Games but investigation shows that it’s a big event for small island communities.
We’ve just had a coach load of committee members receiving a tour and being shown Stromness Golf Course.
Twenty-four Islands are represented, From the Falklands to Greenland teams will arrive here in 2025, making Orkney the place to avoid.
17th July – H has been working on her linocut technique today. This is an image of an Inuit hunter based on a stone cut image in Stromness Museum.
The day finished with a late phone call to say there were Orca heading towards Ness Point. So, with shoes untied, I dashed up to the Point just in time to catch them passing by.
18th July – It’s proving to be a productive week at Ness Point. Orca yesterday and harbour porpoise today. The size of the porpoise can be gauged when seen next to a creel marker.
19th July – We went over to Firth Park, in Finstown, this afternoon.
What a difference from our visit in April. There is an explosion of colour throughout the garden, in particular, the little stream bed is unrecognisable.
Puts the GMB garden planting to shame! Full credit to the volunteers that maintain and care for the park.
24th July – It’s Stromness Shopping Week and the festivities begin with the crowning of the Shopping Week Queen. This years Queen, Zara Johnston, and her entourage are being escorted along the pier, rather self-consciously, by the local lifeboat crew.
25th July – An early morning tip-off from friends sent me back up to Ness Point to see another visit of the Orca group that came by last Thursday. We’ve been spoilt this year for sightings.
This chap on the spit of land near the campsite had a great view.
The original “heads-up” came from Emily Wade, the skipper on the dive-boat Huskyan. Here she is letting the divers watch the Orca, prior to getting into the water themselves. Rather them than me!
This was an unusually large grouping with ten individuals. Difficult to get them all in one shot but there are eight in this one. We think there were eight adults and two juveniles.
27th July – It’s the last day of Stromness Shopping Week and the Scalloway Jarl Squad passing by the local park couldn’t resist a photo opportunity on the kiddies longship.
Scapa Views 
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