Such beautiful scenery. I had no idea that the UK had any decent beaches. Lovely white sand and the water was such a beautiful blue! Gorgeous wildflowers too.
I’m still chuckling over ’Terry’. Quite a character. Stunning eggs, even if the boxes left a little to be desired. That’s always the problem when you have lots of eggs to share around. There are never enough boxes. (There are four Isa Brown chooks where I’m housesitting at the moment, and it has been fun working out how to keep the number of eggs in the fridge to no more than 24. Everyone keeps on getting gifted six packs with the request to please return the box if at all possible.)
LOL - that sign made me laugh out loud when I saw it, Beth!
Yes, we have gorgeous beaches - and between 11,000 and 19,000 miles of coastline, depending on what level of the tide it's measured at, and how many islands are included that calculation. Where we are we have stony beaches, but the Atlantic coast has stunning white sand. Eastern England, particularly the north-east, has literally miles and miles and miles of flat sand - there is such variety.
Oh Amie, it's glorious up there - much nicer than our stony shingle beaches down here in the south-east corner of England. Although heck, I love those too!!!
I loved this, Rebecca. It's just what I need to read right now so thank you so much... And TBH, I could handle a South Uist beach - lovely. It reaffirms my attraction to NW beaches of Scotland and beyond.
I'm so glad you enjoyed it, Prue - thank you so much for reading! The beaches of western Scotland are incredible.
(I've seen your wonderful latest post - I'm hoping for a proper catch-up on Substack tomorrow once I've just caught my breath! We've been away working for a couple of days and I'm looking forward to the treat of re-reading and commenting on Knots in the String tomorrow). xxxxxxx
Terry is a pseudonym, actually - and I feel very guilty for having picked the same name as my partner-in-correspondence, Terry Freedman! Terry had been the only name starting with T (that wasn't the *actual* name of the chap at the campsite).
You can see more of 'Terry's' campsite in this post of mine - specifically his chemical loo disposal point, and his washing-up area. Did I mention that it had been 'one of our most curious campsite stays'?! 🤣
The Outer Hebrides. A name/location to conjure by. Seems kind of Iceland-adjacent, with no trees and stark beaches. Worth the 4,252 mile (6,493.82km) trip from Colorado?
The islands off the west coast of Scotland are utterly glorious - Atlantic white sandy beaches and stunning blue/green sea. I spent some time on an Inner Hebridean island - two trips around 20 years ago - and every beach was different. One had an extraordinary amount of sea glass, one was made up almost entirely of pink cowrie shells, and one had the most insanely gorgeous huge rocks with swirls and stripes... Just wonderful. WONDERFUL.
I miss my chooks. A fisher cat managed to push the chain link at the bottom of the gate up enough to squeeze in and massacred my ladies. I haven’t been able to eat an egg since then.
Oh Julie, I'm so sorry to hear this. We've had some tragedies of our own in the past - all of our gorgeous maran hens one night (the fox dug its way in), and my favourite duck on another occasion. I'm still not over that one (and it was over thirty years ago). So sad. Sending big hugs your way. 😘
I've just Googled fisher cats, because we don't have them over here - they look a little like pine martens, but I gather they're much bigger (and HORRID). xxx
I'm happy you reposted this as I hadn't read it earlier. Lovely post, both photos and descriptions. We are fortunate enough to have a number of fresh egg sources in our area, and it wasn't until recently that I began buying fresh local eggs. Boy, what a difference from store bought! I'm a fan now and won't be buying store bought unless I'm desperate, lol. We too love eggs! 💜
This is one of my all-time favorite posts, Rebecca. Thanks so much for bringing it back! Please don't let these classic Holdens get lost at the bottom of the archive! They are beautiful stories.
Simply beautiful - beautiful photos, a simple story = simply beautiful. Thanks as always, Rebecca, for another delightful read as I'm stretched out in my favorite comfy place, out of the triple digit heat, relishing the written word. :-)
Yes, one could scramble eggs on the hot surfaces in Austin! We've had 37 days in a row of 100+ F. Current temp: 103 and the forecast is for triple digit heat to continue until 8/22/23. Swimming and cycling in the morning is a must!
What a fun read! That's hilarious about the egg boxes but as my grandfather was an egg farmer (or maybe it's proper to say a poultry farmer) those boxes were gold! :) Thanks for the re-gift today.
Thanks so much, Julie! And yes, egg boxes are so precious - I bought some eggs from a farm shop while we were away recently, and the boxes were PINK! Once I'd finished with them and peeled the labels off I gave them to my parents to rubber-stamp with their 'homegrown eggs' stamp, for housing eggs from their girls! I'd never seen pink egg boxes before.
That’s so lovely of you to say! 😊
(Your own latest post is a workout from my brain! I’m nowhere near getting there, but goodness me I’m enjoying trying to get to the bottom of it!)
😊
🤣
‘Deranged’ chicken eggs! Hahaha!
Such beautiful scenery. I had no idea that the UK had any decent beaches. Lovely white sand and the water was such a beautiful blue! Gorgeous wildflowers too.
I’m still chuckling over ’Terry’. Quite a character. Stunning eggs, even if the boxes left a little to be desired. That’s always the problem when you have lots of eggs to share around. There are never enough boxes. (There are four Isa Brown chooks where I’m housesitting at the moment, and it has been fun working out how to keep the number of eggs in the fridge to no more than 24. Everyone keeps on getting gifted six packs with the request to please return the box if at all possible.)
Another delightful read. Thanks so much.
LOL - that sign made me laugh out loud when I saw it, Beth!
Yes, we have gorgeous beaches - and between 11,000 and 19,000 miles of coastline, depending on what level of the tide it's measured at, and how many islands are included that calculation. Where we are we have stony beaches, but the Atlantic coast has stunning white sand. Eastern England, particularly the north-east, has literally miles and miles and miles of flat sand - there is such variety.
'Terry' was extraordinary. Check out this post too - he had two features on his campsite which were absolutely shocking - https://rebeccaholden.substack.com/p/27-too-tall-to-shower
Yay to house-sitting with cooks! And YES to requesting the return of egg boxes!
What a divine setting!
Oh Amie, it's glorious up there - much nicer than our stony shingle beaches down here in the south-east corner of England. Although heck, I love those too!!!
I loved this, Rebecca. It's just what I need to read right now so thank you so much... And TBH, I could handle a South Uist beach - lovely. It reaffirms my attraction to NW beaches of Scotland and beyond.
I'm so glad you enjoyed it, Prue - thank you so much for reading! The beaches of western Scotland are incredible.
(I've seen your wonderful latest post - I'm hoping for a proper catch-up on Substack tomorrow once I've just caught my breath! We've been away working for a couple of days and I'm looking forward to the treat of re-reading and commenting on Knots in the String tomorrow). xxxxxxx
Lol that was really funny , Rebecca! You have a knack for capturing people with words. I can’t wait to visit the Outer Hebrides myself.
With love,
A fellow egg lover
LOL - I'm so pleased you enjoyed it, Camille! Thank you for reading! 😊
(And yay for eggs - I love the things!!!!!!)
Delightful post, complete with beautiful scenery. It reminded me of the west coast of Ireland.
Someday, you'll have to tell us more about Terry. Such a quirky character.
Thank you so much, Jim!
Terry is a pseudonym, actually - and I feel very guilty for having picked the same name as my partner-in-correspondence, Terry Freedman! Terry had been the only name starting with T (that wasn't the *actual* name of the chap at the campsite).
You can see more of 'Terry's' campsite in this post of mine - specifically his chemical loo disposal point, and his washing-up area. Did I mention that it had been 'one of our most curious campsite stays'?! 🤣
https://rebeccaholden.substack.com/p/27-too-tall-to-shower
🤣
😂
So you should feel guilty.
The Outer Hebrides. A name/location to conjure by. Seems kind of Iceland-adjacent, with no trees and stark beaches. Worth the 4,252 mile (6,493.82km) trip from Colorado?
YES!!!
The islands off the west coast of Scotland are utterly glorious - Atlantic white sandy beaches and stunning blue/green sea. I spent some time on an Inner Hebridean island - two trips around 20 years ago - and every beach was different. One had an extraordinary amount of sea glass, one was made up almost entirely of pink cowrie shells, and one had the most insanely gorgeous huge rocks with swirls and stripes... Just wonderful. WONDERFUL.
(Not many trees, though. Jolly windy!)
Will bring a kite. Thx!
I miss my chooks. A fisher cat managed to push the chain link at the bottom of the gate up enough to squeeze in and massacred my ladies. I haven’t been able to eat an egg since then.
Oh Julie, I'm so sorry to hear this. We've had some tragedies of our own in the past - all of our gorgeous maran hens one night (the fox dug its way in), and my favourite duck on another occasion. I'm still not over that one (and it was over thirty years ago). So sad. Sending big hugs your way. 😘
I've just Googled fisher cats, because we don't have them over here - they look a little like pine martens, but I gather they're much bigger (and HORRID). xxx
They are horrid. And they scream. It scared both me and my dog when I heard it.
I am sorry about your hens. So sad when that happens, and I am sure they were all terrorized when the fox was in. So hugs back to you.
I wouldn't like to meet a fisher cat, not for a million bucks, Julie! And thank you for the hugs. xxx
One of my all-time favourites! I loved this tale before and what a treat to read it again. Xx
Awwww Sabrina - I'm so glad you had another read of this one! Thank you so much! 😊
Delightful reading for my Saturday morning. Thank you for sharing.
Thank you, Sally - that's really kind of you. 😊
Ah! This is the post that made me long to live out of Brooklyn and to the country so I could have chickens... still feel that way 🐣
Yes! I remember! Thank you so much for reading it again, Jillian - I'm so glad you enjoyed it. 😊
I'm happy you reposted this as I hadn't read it earlier. Lovely post, both photos and descriptions. We are fortunate enough to have a number of fresh egg sources in our area, and it wasn't until recently that I began buying fresh local eggs. Boy, what a difference from store bought! I'm a fan now and won't be buying store bought unless I'm desperate, lol. We too love eggs! 💜
Thanks so much for reading, Sue, and for this lovely comment. There's such a difference between farm eggs and ones from a shop, isn't there?!
YES! 💜
This is one of my all-time favorite posts, Rebecca. Thanks so much for bringing it back! Please don't let these classic Holdens get lost at the bottom of the archive! They are beautiful stories.
That's so kind - thank you, Sharron! 😘
Simply beautiful - beautiful photos, a simple story = simply beautiful. Thanks as always, Rebecca, for another delightful read as I'm stretched out in my favorite comfy place, out of the triple digit heat, relishing the written word. :-)
Thank you so much for reading, Mary - I'm so glad you enjoyed it! Triple digit heat? Golly! August isn't really happening here yet....! 🤣
(I guess the eggs are scrambling themselves over there, right?!)
Yes, one could scramble eggs on the hot surfaces in Austin! We've had 37 days in a row of 100+ F. Current temp: 103 and the forecast is for triple digit heat to continue until 8/22/23. Swimming and cycling in the morning is a must!
Wow, that's incredible, Mary!
What a fun read! That's hilarious about the egg boxes but as my grandfather was an egg farmer (or maybe it's proper to say a poultry farmer) those boxes were gold! :) Thanks for the re-gift today.
Thanks so much, Julie! And yes, egg boxes are so precious - I bought some eggs from a farm shop while we were away recently, and the boxes were PINK! Once I'd finished with them and peeled the labels off I gave them to my parents to rubber-stamp with their 'homegrown eggs' stamp, for housing eggs from their girls! I'd never seen pink egg boxes before.
Pink! That's awesome. What a change from the grey. :) I bet your parents were thrilled.
Over here we have grey boxes and green ones in equal measure - sometimes blue - but pink was a FIRST! ♥️♥️♥️
Yes, I will keep my eye out for pink now. :)
Love eggs, even the deranged ones! Lovely post.
ESPECIALLY the deranged ones, right, Donna?! 🤣 Thank you so much! 😊