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I suppose I could claim to live in the wee toon o' Dounby (Doonbee). There are not a lot of towns in Orkney though! Kirkwall, Stromness, Dounby...I can't think of any other places that qualify as towns. But that's because I'm still new here.

(Blasted bandages!! Grrrrrr!!)

Dounby is so cool! I just love this little town. The main (only?) street is lined with lovely old stone houses and there is the Plout Kern (spelling?) where we have the pub quizzes and the Smithfield Hotel. Erlend and I spent our wedding night at the Smithfield and we kept laughing because our house is so nearby! It was a lovely hotel though - they left the key in the door for us because weddings in these parts don't end until LATE. We crept upstairs to a lovely room with a big bed, cheerful wallpaper and a large bathroom. I peeked out of the window and looked right down at... Dounby Shop!

Right now Dounby is lit up with zillions of colorful Christmas lights, Christmas decorations on each hydro pole and even a Christmas tree!

Today we went "doon by" to pick up eight bags of coal from the Dounby Shop.

(I'm beginning to be able to translate some more of my husband's language: When he says we are going "doon by" he means we are going into Dounby and to go "tae toon" means to hit up Kirkwall.)

Our farm dog "Zeb" rode along in the back of the pickup - we have a chain in there so we can keep the canopy door open and he can see the world zoom by. He's such a lovely dog and everyone gets a kick out of him. He got plenty of pets while at the Dounby Shop getting fuel and loading up on coal. We got a free bag of this stuff with every two bags of coal: I can't remember the name but it's coal dust I think??

We went into the shop and stocked up on veggies and some cream for our Christmas apple pie. I snatched up the rice and chicken and also the zuccini and onions for today's meal. I always enjoy tooling around inside Dounby Shop plucking up this or that item. They have a wide variety of things and we hardly ever have to shop in Kirkwall because we have our own beef and lamb and we have the Dounby Shop! The folks there are always cheerful - and the shop is the place to see just about everyone that lives around here. We always bump into a bunch of friends and neighbors. They should open up a coffee shop seeing as how they are the hub of the social life in Dounby hehe!

Our next stop was the Dounby Butcher to pick up our Christmas ham. We are having the in-laws over for Christmas day gifts and dinner and I wanted to serve ham because we've already had turkey for Thanksgiving!

We went inside to find two of the ladies wrestling with a side of beef. They were sawing away with much hilarity as we customers bantered with them back-and-forth. The third lady produced a ham about the size of a small car and asked us how much we wanted. I had figured about four pounds because I want to have leftovers to freeze. (Don't tell Erlend this but it gets really old eating beef, beef, beef...)

While she took the ham away to be cut one of the hacking-away-at-side-of-beef ladies came out and poured everyone a glass of warm mulled wine. I had discovered a chair and greatfully plunked down onto it because my ankle was throbbing. Our chunk of ham soon appeared and I asked how on earth to cook the thing! Everyone stared at me. "Look!" I replied in self-defence, "When I first got here to Orkney I didn't even know how to boil a tattie! (I'm not kidding about that)" Everyone had a good laugh at that and then the customers and the three butcher ladies all chimed in and gave me instructions. Hopefully, now that I'm armed with instructions, I'll be able to produce a lovely (edible...) ham for Christmas.

I *think* that we are done with all of our Christmas shopping. We went intae toon yesterday (Kirkwall) for Erlend's 2:20pm dentist appointment. We decided to have lunch at the Orkney Auction Mart first but when we stopped by we found it closed! So we had fish and chips. Then we walked from the chip shop up to the dentist office. Along the way we passed Saint Magnus cathedral and Erlend, who has lived here all his life thus far, looked up at the red sandstone building and said, "What a magnificent building that is! Every time I see it I am struck by how amazing it is - and how and when it was built!"

It's true. The Cathedral strikes me with awe every time I see it. And I'm really enjoying having Sunday Mass there!

We showed up at the dentist only to be told that the appointment was at 2pm, not 2:20. Ooops. We sheepishly slunk away.

We went searching for gifts for Erlend's sister and her family. We tooled around the Judith Glue store and then ended up raiding a shop called the Longship where I loaded up with some nifty little gifts. I just LOVE shopping in Kirkwall! Once again the streets are lined with old stone houses. There all manner of curious narrow lanes leading here and there via clean flagstone paving. There are a huge variety of nifty shops containing all manner of things from old-fasioned stuff to modern "Retro" and "Shabby Chic" items. Jewelry, books, clothes, sewing notions, perfume, wool yarn, knick knacks, shoes, household items, wine, music...you name it you can find it in Kirkwall! I had thought that moving to a small island in the north of Scotland would mean giving up good shopping. Boy was I wrong!!

I had a delightful time scurrying around with about 75% of Orkney's population as everyone mobbed Kirkwall in a desparate attempt to finish their Christmas shopping.

No trip to Kirkwall is complete without hitting up the Pamona Cafe - our favorite haunt. It's such a humble little cafe - you can miss it very easily because there are no huge signs to grab your attention. Just a brightly painted door set back a bit between the front windows. It's such a normal cafe: no fancy decorating or frills, just simply tables and chairs and a counter loaded with recognizeable eats. Coffee, tea, sandwhiches, pies, cakes and an array of incredibly sinful fancies. But nothing so fancy that you look like a bufoon because you can't pronounce its name. There is no trendy music playing or modern art hanging on the wall and the people working there do not look like they just stepped out of the glossy page of a fashion magazine. Not that I mind trendy music and art on the walls but sometimes I just want a down-home ordinary place to have my cuppa. (The Pamona Cafe is by no means plain and boring. It is just...down to earth, homey and relaxed.)

This day the cafe was bursting with Christmas decorations and the counter was bursting with Christmas fancies. An (incredibly beautiful!) blonde-haired girl was serving behind the counter (we think she is Polish maybe?) and we ordered tea, coffee and, in keeping with the Christmas spirit, two of these incredibly sinful-looking fancies. We also purchased a festive box of mince pies. After enjoying our relaxed cuppas and puddings we took leave of the Pamona and headed home. On the way to the truck we stopped at the pet store and bought Zeb a big bone to chew and bought the cats two jingly playing balls and a catnip mouse. (All three of these toys are being ignored by the basking cats as they lay in the livingroom soaking up the heat from the fireplace.)

We got home just as the sun was setting and Erlend turned on our Christmas lights that are strung across the stable. MERRY CHRISTMAS !!