Sunday 31 August

Afternoon all, it's another bright and fairly sunny day today - better for being minus one cracking headache that left me since yesterday. Ouch. Quite breezy outside on a stiff southerly breeze, which leaves us with 16C / 61F on the mercury. In the afternoon, the rain and the wind picked up. Force 6 from the south, mercury now down to 13C / 55F. Stornoway rainfall radar is off-line at the moment, so cannot watch progression of rain in these parts.

So, there are 1179 names on the Lewis War Memorial for the Great War (1914-1919), of which some 40 I have not yet been able to match to my Faces from the Lewis War Memorial website. Some of this is due to transcription errors on my part - about a dozen. But you try to find Donald Macleod in the RNR, when there are so many of that name, even in the one parish or district. Conversely, there is the case of Captain Ian Macfarlane who is mentioned on the War Memorial. He is easily traced on CWGC, having served in the Royal Army Medical Corps before his death in 1917. He was the son of an Edinburgh minister, but a cursory glance does not immediately yield a Stornoway connection.

Saturday 30 August

Morning all from a decidedly wet Stornoway. Although there is some brightness about, there is also plenty of rain. To quote the Met Office: "Drier and brighter gradudally (sic) conditions" developing through the afternoon - which duly happened.

On this day 84 years ago, the last permanent residents were evacuated from St Kilda. HMS Harebell took them to Lochaline on the Sound of Mull, and on to Glasgow. Their houses remained behind, but the islanders took with them a culture and heritage of 9,000 years. The Ionad Hiort/ St Kilda Centre, whose allocation to Mangersta caused such a furore in 2009, is yet to materialise.

Friday 29 August

Fairly bright in Stornoway this morning. The easterly breeze of the last few days is still with us, but that doesn't prevent the temperature from rising to 15C already, and it's only 10.30am.

Today it is 9 years ago since hurricane Katrina struck New Orleans, with the loss of more than 1800 lives. My tropical cyclone blog remembers with a simple tagline: Remembering the victims of Katrina, 29 August 2005.

Less than two weeks until the 13th anniversary of 9/11. I shall once again post tributes to Norberto Hernandez and Jeffrey Dwayne Collman on my blog Atlantic Lines, at 12.46 GMT on 11 September. That is the exact time that the first aircraft hit the World Trade Center in New York. Who will you remember? If you have a blog, but maybe not use it anymore, why not research one of the victims of 9/11 and post a tribute.

Went for a walk round the harbour and into the Castle Grounds, around the Castle. It was a sunny afternoon, and came away with some pics of lovely views.

One of five herons

Thursday 28 August

The day has brightened up after a wet start, and the sun has just come out. We shall probably see some showers this afternoon. 20C? I don't think so. At the beginning of next week, we could well get a sideswipe from the remnants of hurricane Cristobal. That storm is currently north of Bermuda, and will scoot northeast past Nova Scotia towards Iceland. Its fronts will brush past us on Monday.