Speyside today.

A walk by the river brings some shade. Above left; if I win the Lotto then this will be my steading.
Above right; yet (yawn) another photo of...yeah...you guessed it...

But not enough for Moss and Pip who are cooling off...(right)

When Pip does a "swimmer" (as opposed to a runner) and she disappears down the Spey, in full spate after a salmon (?). Sadly she comes back empty mouthed so it's fish cakes for me and Dad, not fresh salmon. (above right)

The extent of the estate, spot the bird.

This the view from the kitchen window. On the bird table I have seen many coal tits, chaffinches, blue tits, robin/s and one siskin. The blackbird comes to the window sill and is nesting in the leylandii hedge which is the dead brown bit you can see on the left edge of the picture. The garden is a little haven for small birds but we also have a rather large pheasant that hangs around the boundaries, pulling leaves off bushes and squawking. Our neightbours fance a bit of slow roast pheasant as he is quite destructive in thei more open garden.

There is hedge behind the greenhouse then a "plantation" which is rampant weeds and too many trees. This will change by next summer. This plantation will be full of snowdrops then bluebells in the spring, and they will stay but they will have to share the soil with a few more things like cabbages and hens!

The table and chair are a testamnet to the dry weather we have here. A very nice man who came to take away some of Dad's magazines said, "I come from the West Coast and Grantown does not have rain." Of course we do, it isn't Kent, but it is nice to have a more sheltered climate than either the west of Scotland or Sandal Farm.

Follow the yellow brick road...

No, this is still not Speyside but it seems to me that I have followed the yellow brick road and arrived in the Highlands. Since I was a wee girrrl I've been coming to the area to visit and to holiday. My granny was a Grant and she lived with us in the Midlnads until I was 8 then she went to Ballater to live with her new husband/old flame. Ballater is the other side of the Cairngorms but it is a pretty town, worth visiting, ask the queen.

Then we emigrated for 7 years and on returning to Southampton, Dad drove us straight up to Carrbridge, back on the right side of the mountains where Granny and Andrew lived...having bought the old wooden but and ben that had been in my mother's family for years.

Granny and Andrew lived there until both died, Andrew dying when I was 24. I spent 3 months living at Woodside during the last of my college holidays. The cottage then passed to his daughter from his first marriage and out of our family. We all still went to the area regularly and Ralph and I went often as a couple until 20 years ago, my mum and dad went there to loive permanently.

You can see that my path was paved with many hours driving up and down the A9.

It seemed likely that Ralph and I would retire there one day but circumstances has lead us there prematurely, Mum dying suddenly, Dad having a stroke which resulted in Parkinson's Disease, Ralph being sick and tired of being treated aggressively and insolently by 90% of the A&E pateints presenting themselves, demanding their right to treatment etc...and Dad moving into sheltered housing.

It wasn't my idea, it was implicit that I would be happy to live here in the Spey Valley and it was entirely Ralph's idea that we buy the house from Dad and he could take early retirement.

So in a week, he will be here. The ache of leaving the farm is quietly diminshing as it is so nice to walk to see Dad, cycle to the Spey Art Group, buy my groceries from the Co-op...in fact everything is within walking distance. The weather has been good enough for me to get started on the garden and the land and crofting activities are on hold...but only on hold!

I am here...Speyside.

Actually this isn't the Spey, it is a Lochan and it is in Glen More but it is a pretty loch. (An Lochan Usine).

So life after 10 days as a resident is as is I am here on "holiday" because my day consists of 2 or 3 visits to my dad, cooking and eating our dinner together, trying to sort through all his stuff in the house and slot our stuff into the space left.

Ralph comes up in 10 days time and after my weekend away then perhaps it will start to sink in.

After a tearful week at the farm before my move and a tearful week here as the "New Home" cards flooded in and I saw a cow or I came across a piece of paper with my mum's writing on it...I am now at last on a more even keel.

Yesterday helped, when the girls (Moss and Pip) and I went up a mountain together and looked across the world from the top. Talk about space...

Scotland is a stunningly beautiful country. People always compare beautiful countries to Scotland, New Zealand for example, and here I am living it!

Then there were 3...

My doe and fawn had another with them this morning...this may be dad although it is a bit early for rutting and also I can see no antlers.

The last 2 days have been very windy and raining, not the best conditions for Sandalfarm but the animals are all hardy sorts. Aryanne is the only sheep not plastered to the top wall, although she is easiest to identify of course. Cloud doesn't mind the rain, it's the mud that is her problem. We have had a reasonably dry summer and the field is in good condition so hopefully mud won't be a problem for a month or two.

Little ram lamb has torn off one of his little ram lamb horns. I'm glad it is cool as it has stopped the flies from infecting it. They get them caught in the fencing, we have often rescued sheep with horns. Why the grass is always greener on the other side of the fence when they are on open moorland is beyond me.

I have only 3 days left to go here at the farm. Ralph is staying on another week to complete on the 16th. Our buyers are looking forward to settling down here and I trust in them my precious animals.

Feeling weepy now. Goodbye Sandalfarm.

A dismal performance.

So the tomatoes I entered are the unplaced ones at the back on the right. They are more uniform and not as blemished as the 2nd winner. I think they had gone over a bit looking rather more red than the others. I did like the Highland cow made of a courgette and leek legs and the mis-shapen carrots...which are supposed to be long and straight. The ones in the foreground were discounted! I wonder why.

The thing is that all of this is what makes living off the earth more interesting and brings us strange gardeners and small holders together.

Another week goes by...

I'm getting used to the space in the house. I don't want to go to a house with 2 lots of furniture squashed in. But I do want to go...

It seems we may be completing next Friday.

In the meantime I have been walking miles, catching up with friends and changing my mind about what days I should go, return for a day's work, collect the rest of the stuff from in-laws' garage, join my walking weekend in Durham and so on. In between all that I have to take Pip for her second injection withing a 2 week slot. (I forgot to vaccinate her last year.)

It's all very boring.

It is peaceful here this Sat lunch time and my highlight of the day is the entry to the Clayton Horticultural Society's Annual Show. Yes, tomatoes. I'll post a picture later with a rosette decorating the plate, maybe.

Meanwhile, here's another rosette. Pip got 3rd in Best Condition at a very busy dog show in Huddersfield. Good Dog!

The new neighbours haven't moved in yet as they are busy stripping the place out and putting right 18 months of neglect. Sadly, they too have no interest in using the field and it will be used for hay only. When so many people want land, it seems a shame to waste this precious commodity. I just have to hope there is someone in the Spey Valley in the same mind set.