FERRIES AND FERAL CATS

I breezed out to the Holmsgarth Terminal this afternoon, to pay for our trip to Duff House in June, or at least the part of it which involves sea travel between Lerwick and Aberdeen, courtesy of Northlink Ferries. For two passengers and a car, in peak season, this came to just under £500, even with my my concessions for being over 60. Mind you, we did opt for premium berths! I'm looking forward to the June excursion, and to my trip next weekend to get some more photographs of the Mearns for a reference library I'm building up as background information for an exhibition at Catterline at some as yet unfixed date in the future.

My exhibition at the Shetland Museum and Archives building finished on Monday, and I took the paintings home on Tuesday. I am grateful to Sonny Morrison for his assistance with transport and labour. I sold very little, which is scarcely surprising, given circumstances such as the time of year and the fact that I couldn't produce a fresh body of work for it, as the forthcoming Duff House event has been taking up all my available time over the past six months. On Wednesday afternoon, I reinstalled my mini-exhibition in the Lounge pub, the walls of which have been somewhat bare these last five weeks. Thanks are due here to Derek Hendry for making himself and his van available for painting transport. After I'd hung the pictures, I had a couple of pints of lager there, in the pleasant company of some friends.

The Duff House exhibition, already alluded to here, is progressing steadily. I've almost finished a picture of the Buckie seine-netter "Frigate", which will make eleven completed works. Number twelve, of the Gamrie drifter "Silver Wave", is also well advanced, with a further two works started. When, in the past, I have been discussing fishing boats with Buckie fishermen, and the name "Frigate" has come up, heads were shaken sadly - she was not a beautiful boat! Nevertheless, she deserves her place in the gallery with the rest.

I was out at Whiteness on Thursday to see my mother, who has been suffering from a cough caused by a virus. She is gradually getting better, I am glad to say, and the main purpose of my visit was to lend what assistance I could during a planned visit by the optician. She was given a thorough eye examination, and a welcome pair of new glasses are on the way.

For some time now, we have noticed a feral cat in my mother's neighbourhood. She is a dark tortoiseshell of quite ample proportions, and we were glad of her presence, as rabbits are no longer plaguing our garden plants. Whenever we attempted to get close to the cat, however, she beat a hasty retreat. So we were surprised when, all of a sudden, she began to to come up into the house windows, meowling to get in! On Thursday, I went out ot make contact with the beast, and she attacked me ferociously, drawing blood from my hand, before I hastily withdrew it, and hissing fiercely as she transferred her attack to my ankles which, however, were better protected. I managed to retreat indoors, and my sister Thelma, who is equally fond of cats, went out to see if she could fare any better, and came back similarly bloodied. Unfortunately her wound has become infected, and she has since had to have anti-biotic injections to counter this. Love of cats can be tough love!