Nicci looked round the kitchen, already feeling that this room would be …..  perhaps where she was happiest.......  no that wasn't it..... it felt....... well it was the kind of kitchen she'd always wanted, a big table, and a....family round it, cooking for them....... caring for them.  Soppy-date she thought, smiling at the way her mind was working at the moment.  Less of the day-dreaming and more of the practical she thought as she zoned back in to what Cathy was saying abut how little fresh veg there would be now coming from the kitchen garden, but that in the summer they were just about self-sufficient and had frozen lots of stocks to tide them through.<br/><br/>"What about lunch and supper today?" Nicci asked, her mind running on the cooking needed straight away, "Is there anything set aside to cook?"<br/><br/>Cathy showed her that in the kitchen fridge there was fresh meat and sandwich fillers for the next few days, and that after that they'd need to make sure they either defrosted meat in advance or used more fresh supplies that they had delivered. Already planning meals in her head Nicci smiled and kissed Cathy's cheek, "You think of everything, you are giving us girls a hard act to follow."<br/><br/>Cathy then took them through the house, explaining how and when each room was normally cleaned and any special things to remember, but most of it was just logic and she reassured them that the housekeeping manual she was leaving each of the girls had it all written down to refer to too.  They had a lesson on how to clean out and then lay and light the fires; she showed them the linen room - and that was an eye opener too.  The castle seemed to have everything, four hoovers no less, in different cupboards, so no lugging them up that many stairs, and everything was so well organised it seemed to Nicci that in some ways it would be easier to keep clean and tidy than some smaller houses she'd been in.<br/><br/>Then they all booted up and met Jamie at the back door, Cathy introducing them all and saying she would have hot drinks ready for them all when they got back.  It was ages since Nicci had worn wellies, it made her feel..... childish, and in gallomping and stomping and puddle splashing mood.  She was thankful of the warm jacket though as the wind had picked up from earlier and although it was sunny it was also quite cold.<br/><br/>Jamie showed the boys which veg was still there to be used, and all of them how to feed the chickens and how to collect the eggs and how they should be cleaned out every couple of weeks.  There were every day things like the compost/recycling and rubbish bins, they huge wood store with enough wood for the whole winter already logged. He showed them how to chop  kindling and the little mechanised cart used for hauling that and the coal up to the back door.<br/><br/>The only livestock on the island were the sheep - he introduced them to Donald and Nick and they  explained that every few days someone had to take the quad bikes and trailers up onto the sides of the mountains to take some extra feed up to them, but that they did that whenever they could get over to the island.  When it came to lambing both of them would move into the shepherds cottage on the other side of the burn. Cathy met them at the back door and explained that  after some elevenses the guys were going to be taken off by themselves for some hands on experience both with feeding the sheep and down at the jetty to help unload the fresh supplies they'd brought over with them.   The girls could then do lunch which would be their first meal all alone as all the staff would be talking the boat back before the wind picked up any more.<br/><br/>Trooping back inside and taking her outdoor gear off Nicci wished she could go with the guys, well she wished she could be in both places at once, she had known that was going to be hard for her..... she'd have to find a way of escaping out onto the mountains sometimes.<br/><br/>Cathy had put out homemade cookies and the large coffee pot and tea pot, gently steaming away with mugs and milk and sugar on the kitchen table.  She explained where the first aid kit was, smiling at Nicci and Bo as she told the others Nicci was a first-aider and Bo also had done first-aid in training, and said that there was an air-ambulance that could be scrambled for emergencies, also explaining how 999 worked for the benefit of the Americans.  Then she left them alone, saying she was off to do her own last minute packing.  Looking at her watch Nicci was amazed to see it was already half-past eleven, and sitting down in the middle of the table she smiled at Mari, "I'm glad they are leaving manuals and notes about everything, that was a shed-load of information all at once wasn't it....."  she reached for the coffee pot and started to pour a mug of coffee, "Who wants coffee then?"  She asked as the others took their seats, "If you guys are going out for an hour or so looks like we'll be having a fairly late lunch, don't you think?"