Or, birthday part 1, because I also got plenty of gorgeous consumerist presents which I’ll share with you next post. This one however is about the lovely thee days I had back on the Scottish island of Eilean Shona, back in the off-grid cottage that was our home for an unbelievable month last summer. You can read more about the cottage here…

I was a bit worried this time whether we’d enjoy it as much, whether three days would be just to short to relax and unwind, whether we’d need to spend all our time doing the work of island living with none of the relaxation time. Needn’t have worried. Once again the key turned smoothly in the lock, and inside the house was just as we’d left it. Once again the sweet scent of the mint growing round the door welcomed us as we brushed in and out. The wood we’d stacked in the outdoor shelter had been dried by fierce winds all winter and the fire roared into instant life at 6pm. It being mid-summer in the Highlands it was light practically all night, so we had to keep nipping out to enjoy that too. Here is my birthday dinner cooking.

And here is my cake with 40 candles.

The only change we made this time was buying a little Primus stove so we could make coffee without it taking three hours. Slightly wobbly picture but just look at the design of the stove! Before we’d had a blue one – Gaz brand maybe? – but this Primus is just too cute, and the design wonderfully economical. In a sea of green it’s nice to see red things, and I adore the groovy, Flinstones-esque type face. The actual burner which comes in its own little box looks like something designed for the Jet Age.

Other than making coffee and eating cake, we just ambled around, noticing what had changed (foxgloves lit up the hillsides, the ferns were taller) and what hadn’t. We even had the privilege of watching a sea otter bring a crab out of the sea and eat it on the rocks. And we saw a seal sneeze. I think. It was the perfect place to turn 40 – somewhere that it really felt like it didn’t matter at all.