I’ve never seen anything like the blossom on our fruit trees this year. The apple tree in the picture is particularly splendid – in previous years it has never done much. So hoping for a good harvest and many apple pies. The smaller tree beside it is a pear, and it has also been loaded […]
The ducks seem to be becoming semi-permanent residents on our pond. The female keeps looking around the area in a vaguely broody way as though she is thinking about making a nest. I would have thought it was a bit late in the year – in any case I would rather she didn’t as I […]
My friend J just got back from a holiday in Peru with my brother N. Over a week after they got back I received a very crumpled postcard from J. I managed to restore most of the crinkles out of it and am preserving it on this website because J is not a great written […]
I was a bit concerned about Billy the bull and his little family, as we heard loud (very loud) mooing the other morning – and subsequent to that they were gone out of their usual field. All is well, however, as they have just been moved up the hill a bit and are now enjoying […]
I actually heard my first cuckoo of the year from Ben Lui last weekend, but today I heard the call from home for the first time in 2017. Also on the bird front, we still have two ducks visiting the pond which is unusual at this time of year although we generally only spot them […]
The standard way to climb Ben Donich is from the Rest and be Thankful. This has the advantage of a path (and takes about 300m off the ascent) – but the distinct disadvantage from our point of view that it means having to get the car out (or a very long walk in) to climb […]
After the revolting wheat free pastry I made the other day – I had another more successful attempt. This time – 150g Dove’s gluten free plain flour sifted with 1 heaped tsp xanthan gum. Rub in 75g butter (or vegan margarine) until like breadcrumbs. Then mix in a lightly beaten egg, and enough cold water […]
We get a lot of bird visitors here, but not that many different species (lots and lots, and dare I say it, lots) of chaffinches are our normal visitors – with these partially taken over by siskins in the summer. So we were pleased to see a single goldfinch on the seeds a few days […]
I’ve been told there are several types of fun:- Type 1 fun – you enjoy it at the time and it seems as though it was fun afterwards (e.g. Orient Express) Type 2 fun – it doesn’t seem so great at the time, but after it has finished you remember it as fun (e.g. BSides […]
The primroses here last ages and are still going strong. They seem to like the same areas as violets and are frequently mixed in with them. Where the excavation work for the hydro was done last year along the waterfall path, the flowers are now taking over (thank goodness for nature). The bluebells are also […]
