Letter from Iona - 6

Hello All:

So here's what's been up this week.

We've had some wacky weather going on with days that start out beautiful and sunny, then 30 minutes later it's raining cats and dogs outside, then sun, then gusty wind, then rain, then cloud, then sun again.........Right now, the motto is, just wait 30 minutes and it'll be a totally different day outside. However, because of all these weather changes, we've been priviledged to experience 2 beautiful rainbows! We've attached a pic of one here, but the one yesterday was a double rainbow!! Sadly, we weren't able to grab the camera in time for that one. Katie was working, and Dan was reading.

Katie also saw an otter yesterday in the water outside of work. Apparently last year there was a whole family of them that lived at the bottom of the pier and they were seen quite frequently. But so far this year, this is the first otter that they've seen.


The other excitement for this week was the Mull and Iona Piping Society that visited us last Friday. Dan was able to catch them in action as they piped up the hill to the Village Hall playing 'Scotland the Brave'! There was a good turn out and in such a small hall, the music was very loud, but enjoyable. There was also a flutist, guitarists, vocalist, and a fiddler. Dan, of course, felt a pang of sadness when he saw the fiddle as it made him miss Felix (his fiddle), but he thoroughly enjoyed hearing the music and making small talk with a number of the musicians afterwards. He then followed them to the pub to meet me after work as we said goodbye to our kiwi friend Jess. She's left now and has been replaced by two Aussies. They only arrived two days ago and we haven't had much chance to get to know them as they live in the flat above the Spar Shop.



Our biggest excitement by far will be tomorrow as we once again leave the Isle of Iona and this time head to the Isle of Mull where we will attend the Tobermory Highland Games. The Piping Society will be there as well and there will be music, dancing, and athletics. This means that we worked today, but will have tomorrow off. We'll be up for the 7 am ferry (much to Katie's chagrin and Dan's happiness!) and onto the bus to Craignure. Then we switch buses and head to Tobermory. We're really looking forward to some new scenary and fun for a day. We'll be sure to take pics and have stories to tell next week.

Other than that, there's not much else to tell except that we wish the Harry Potter fans all the best in the release of the latest book and hope that they all enjoy reading it!

Until next week!