R went out on his nightly mission to put peanuts out for “the creatures”. But one of the creatures had forestalled him, had knocked the lid off the galvanized bin we use to store the nuts and was happily guzzling away. It was a pine marten! When it saw R, it went away and hid […]

The waterworks upgrade is progressing at pace. All the trees that Jack Ewing had planted nearly 20 years ago have been cut down which is very sad. I know the work has to be done, but they could have gone to more effort to preserve the trees. They have promised to put them back – […]

R took this photo of the garden which is looking lovely if a little scruffy. At least I can go outside and appreciate it now, although I can’t make it across the rough ground to the bluebell wood yet. The bluebells are out, however, and I am going to send R on a mission to […]

I’m not a massive chocolate fan and in fact I positively dislike cheap “kiddy style” milk and white chocolate. By which I mean most British chocolate like dairy milk etc. What I do like, is 85% dark chocolate, and after lunch every day, I have a few squares with my coffee. R likes the sort […]

I’ve been walking on crutches quite a lot this week. I am up to 50 lengths of the hall today, plus I walked down to the bottom of the drive and back. This is more of an achievement than it sounds, as it is 72m long and on a steepish hill. This time last week […]

A 5kg barbell or Amber? Actually we think she is heavier than it is. I wanted to give her the name Blump (from black lump), but Rory wouldn’t hear of it. Also it may be racist and get me reported to the Thought Police.

Nice day today, so I went outside walking on my crutches to sit on the patio with R for half an hour – it was 24 degrees in the sun and both of the cats went off to hide in the shade. I’d no difficulty walking up and down the steps. I do have a […]

This is the best time of year for bats. We have many bats around here – I think they are pipistrelles and they roost in a large house just over the river from us. At twilight and dusk you can see them largely from the front of the house flitting around looking for insects. R […]

I was a bit wobbly walking when I first started weight bearing on the crutches, but I am getting a lot better now. Although I am still using the wheelchair for doing my general chores around the house, I am doing two or three walks up and down the hall each day now. I started […]

There can’t be many people who wake up to a view like this. My temporary bed in my office faces french windows which look out over Beinn Bheula. At this time of year, dawn breaks very early and lying awake on my fevered bed of pain (this is a joke btw – I’m not in […]