A group of our HighSchoolers who hang out at our place. When they see us coming or going, or in town, they call us "best friends". At first we had trouble with them throwing their trash all around, but they are better now and really are our friends.

Every school day a group of HighSchool youth gather out front of our cottage and eat their lunch and smoke their ciggies. We sometimes have as many as 15 gathered there. We have made friends with them. I take them homemade cookies and brownies from time to time and we stand and chat. They seem to be the "rowdies" at school, but we are winning them over with love.

There are many important archealogical sites in this area. Here I am standing next to a 1500 year old burial cairn. The Picts, who first settled this area built them. They are chambered and one can crawl inside and then stand up inside. This is just one end of a very large one.

This is a worker at the rock quary in the town of Spittal. Caithness stone goes all over the world. It is very high quality and beautiful when finished and polished. Here the man is driving a wedge between the layers to divide it. Hard work!

Here is an example of the flagstone fences that are only found in the Highlands, and are everywhere seen stretching accross the landscape.

This is a good example of a dry dyke fence. Our cottage is completely surrounded by just such a wall.

The farmers and sheepherders' lands are all fenced in stone in Scotland. Up here in Caithness, most are done with these large slabs of flagstone. It is abundant. some of these fences have been standing for hundreds of years. The one in the background is the other method used here. Many small flat stones are laid flat upon each other making a "dry dyke" It is a durable fence made without any cement or morter.

These old croft house ruins fascinate me, so I took a few pictures for you to see too. In the mid to late 1800s, the rich land owners kicked off all the farmers to make way for extensive sheep ranches. It was called the clearances. They had to find new places to live and many immigrated to Australia, New Zealand, Canada and the USA. I guess because they were made of stone, except for the thatch roofs, they still stand as sentinals of a hearty folk now long gone.

This was once a good sized home for its' time, having a large garden area and fruit trees. It is situated up on a hill with a lovely view. I had to do a bit of hiking to get up to it.

This is a typical scene found all over the Highlands. Melancholy remnants of someone's lives over 140 years ago.

This is the only croft house we have found with the thatch roof still intact. It is uninhabited but in remarkable condition. We found it along the highway of the North Sea, about 5 miles south of Wick.

Martin Embery, a stalwart in the branch stands next to the Priesthood exhibit part of our open day. On the table, all the prophets since Adam mentioned in scripture are laid out in the order in which they came.

Sister Lewry and I work together on family history. The exhibit showed the history of the Church here in Thurso, beginning with David O. MacKay's grandfather. A replica of the croft is on the table. It is still here, but in ruins.