Summer is such a brief season up here on Shetland. The trees don’t get their leaves until well into May and they’re gone by October.  The grass grows slowly and for the bulk of the year we can shortcut across this field to the park on the other side.  But for a few weeks, that’s off-limits as the grass gets long enough for harvesting as silage.  When that happens, the kids start counting down until the farmer bales the lot and they can play hide and seek amongst, climb on and jump off, and generally race around the bales, turning them into whatever wonderland they desire.

This year, the fog’s been oppressive, the weather absolutely dreadful. We’ve hardly seen the sun and the farmer hasn’t had a chance to do a thing with his grass.  Until last week.  Last week he cut and wuffled the field.  Friday night he baled and wrapped it.  Saturday morning it became the world of Harry Potter for the kids.

Saturday afternoon, the rains came again and the farmer took the bales away.

But for that one brief wonderful morning, my kids made the best use of them they could.