The snow has gone for hogmany.

There is a sense of anticipation. Over the last 2 fays the town has filled with folk, all walking around in boots in the snow yesterday and today it is 10c.

The hotelks and bunkhouses have cars, the caravan site has campers and even in Glenmore, the campe site is full.

The festivities start at 11pm and it is about 4 years since we were last here at Hogmany. Everyone can do "Strip the Willow" and the whole street was taken with people in their groups of 8, twirlking and skipping to the pipe band.

Now there are fireworks also (poor little Pip, she'll not like that part) and stalls for mulled wine and punch, perhaps deep fried haggis too.

I'll let you know as I'll be there!

HAPPY NEW YEAR

The family estate?

This private residence is on another of our local walks. The grounds run into several 100 acres but are mostly owned for shooting and there are some tenant farmers. There are tracks all round the estate and one is free to walk through them (although not to shoot or kill pheasants).

Castle Grant has been over the years, part of the estate, a hotel, flats and now is obviously owned by some people who are lucky lottery winners.

My granny was a Grant but no, sadly, not the ower/accupier of a grand castle. She stayed with her family as a tenant farming family some 2 miles from Grantown itself. One of 11 children, many of them went off to Newfoundland to make their living and I do have distant relatives there too.

Granny married a man from a fishing family from Stornaway and lived with him in Birmingham to have her family (my mum) and only returned to the Highlands when she was in her 60s and remarried. She was first a Grant, then a Matheson then Calder.

Which od course links her to the Calder Valley!! Way down in West Yorkshire.

The carols.

I guess you might like to see the lights and singers...better photos than the reindeer anyway.

Christmas and real reindeer.

OK, it's a really poor photo. I took several, including one of one of these georgous animals close up but the jostling crowds made it a bit difficult.

Father Christmas on his sleigh had no less than 6 reindeer although none had a red nose. The 2 at the front and the 2 at the back with their babies wedged betwen them, presumably to get them used to the noise and crowds.

They were totally at easy with all of us patting them, taking their photos and cooing with love. Their fur is dense but soft and they are surprisingly small. Of course there were no Rudolphs, only females but they were shorter than my shoulder even at the top of their heads. Their velvet impressive antlers make their reach much longer and the handler warner us not to touch the front of their heads and to be aware if they turned round to look, an antler could take an eye out.

Whoops...too much about the reindeer and not enough about the torch lit parade and carols. Headed up by a pipe band (naturally), Father Christmas and his helpers then most of the town following with their torches and furry hats or watching from the sidelines before gathering before a small tent with 3 musicians to sing carols.

But the reindeer stole the show.

Pheasant for Christmas.

No, not this one. This one is too small and is for tonight's dinner. All you sensitive people, this bird was free range and killed instantly. The recipe is Hugh Fearnley Whittingstall and the pheasant is in season.

Ralph has plucked it this morning after 3 days of hanging. I "found" this poor dead bird on my walk and having learnt from the wild salmon that I had to leave behind, I now carry a rucksack and a plastic bag for occasions that may present themselves.

I may not be a farmer any longer but I am still a hunter/gatherer and wild food for free is abundant around here. Ralph had seen a dead deer by the road that was fresh but unfortunately at that time we had no freezer. Imagine how much meat a whole deer would provide for us and the dogs!

The large cock pheasnt from the butchers is costing a measly £4.50p which is a considerable saving on a turkey at £50, although of course we won't be eating pheasant burgers for 6 months after Christmas.

My sort of pony.

Look at the adorable Highland ponies, standing cosy in their woolly mamouth coats and long fringes keeping the frost off their eye lashes.

Then Tails, kipping on his heap of hayledge...ahhhh

Frosty Morning.

It was minus 6 at 8am and the paths are a sheet of ice. This picture is taken at the top of Dreggie, a steep winding road that leads to Glen Beg. This estate is a small one, 20,000 acres (and not an acre for sale!) and is an active shoot. The scaredy Pip can only enjoy this walk on Sundays, when they can't shoot and after Feb 1st. Today there wasn't shooting until we were nearly down the other side. The views across to the Cairngorms are variable but today The Hill (as Cairn Gorm is called) was clear.

The ski ing started last weekend, after the storm. We have ski-ed the area many years ago when it was a lot quieter. Now the price and the queues are reasons enough not to bother on the weekend, but I have my crumbling knees to prevent any downhill ski -ing anyway.

The best day ever in my brief ski career was on Cairn Gorm but going on mountain skis. We left the car park and ski tows way behind and climbed up and up, away from all the crowds and there was just our small group and our guide. It was breath taking and I will always love the mountains in winter more than the summer.

I'm no mountaineer though. So now, I walk around at 1000 - 2000 feet and ski in the woods and tracks (cross country) and look in awe at the beauty and grandeur of The Hill.

and another photo because it's a nice one...

Viewpoint Walk in black and white.

It was Christmas dinner at the Grant Arms this lunch time so we had a quick walk up to the Viewpoint behind Grantown. From the top you have seen photos of the Cairngorms so today I tried the black and white function on this new camera. So, what do you think?

Do you like the atmospheric b&w or the lovely blue sky of the colour one? Answers on a postcard...

If you look very closely you can see Ben Rinnes, the mountain of the rocks on a previos blog. This view is north and slightly east. If you keep on you would end up on the Moray Coastal walk (also previously featured).

Dinner at the Grant Arms was excellent. The hotel is now a centre for wildlife, particularly bird watching holidays. Their lecture hall is available for local groups too...which is why we had our U3A dinner there. Posh hats, party poppers, blowy things, silver crackers and huge amounts of food, all warm and well cooked. Poor deaf Dad couldn't hear anything for the noise which interfers with the hearing aid but he tucked in well and what was left over, the dogs have had for their dinner tonight.

Sadly Ralph is still in York. His dad's funeral is tomorrow. Then he goes to his work's do which will be a lot more rowdy I expect, despite our party poppers at U3A (average age circa 75)!

Is Grantown crime free?

No, is the answer to that. But mostly it is driving offences on the A9.

The Strathspey Herald, the local paper, headlines any misdemeanours. One time it was Horse Rug Found Dumped in High Street. This week, like most, there is nothing.

After the bars close, there can be drunkeness. The owner of the fantastic independent bookshop has found vomit in her doorway after a Friday night.

And there is the graffiti...pictured.

But yesterday's paper had;

"Strath's Oldest Resident dies aged 107". This woman tried canoeing for the first time aged 104! And she isn't the only one as at my dad's sheltered housing complex I have met a man aged 101 who plays golf still and a woman aged 104. When I was introduced to her, her friend said, "...and she is 105."

"Don't be silly Dorothy, I'm only 104!"

The kids are like teenagers everywhere, texting, girls walking to school with the tiniest of skirts, messing about at the bus stop, even drinking cans of lager in the woods...but they still say hello as you walk past. It's almost weird.

But it's nice.

No ducks.

This pond is very scenic and usually full of ducks etc which staff from the Craiglynne hotel often (daily?) feed with their cast off bread. Now it is iced over but not frozen. The temperature was quite high today and the ground was still soft under the snow. I have taken at least 30 other pictures but it takes so long to load them that I am restricting myself.

Curling only takes place in Inverness now. Despite the seemingly hard winters of the last 2 years, the pond is neglected in the recreational use. And as for the water fowl...I don't know where they have gone. There are very few on the river due to the fast flow at the moment... but they must be somewhere around. So instead, here is a dipper in the middle of the river on the fishing pier.

and then today...

It snowed last night and when I took the dogs for their evening wee, it was already a beautiful winter scene. Today I walked in the woods behind the house and took 25 photos but so as not to bore you with snowy photos that other people can take much better than me, here are a selection of 3...Mossie Road, the snowy bank leading up to the railway line and the meeting of the collies...2 called Moss!

Sadly Ralph's dad died last night. It was a peaceful death in a wonderful hospice with all the calm and comfort these places can offer. He died in his sleep with no pain. I shall personally miss him, such a good man, so patient and kind, generous and a quiet sense of humour.

It's snowing again, 3.30pm.

This was yesterday...

A couple of views from the Cromdale walk. The day before the river was in full flood and I wasn't sure I would make it over the little wooden bridge that crosses a stream near Cromdale bridge. The ducks had abandonned the river and were all on the flooded stream instead. Only the widgeon were on the river, flying back to their resting place as the fast water carried them towards Spey Bay (the sea) at a speed I couldn't guess at.

But although the river was still fast and full yesterday, it was obviously navigable! I spooted the little boat through the trees and when I got a clear space of river, I caught him with my zoom lens. He was twirling around like a broken branch but obviously was unalarmed!

The trees are full of lichen which I believe is good food (deer, squirrels, capers) and it is very beautiful both hanging from the tree like Christmas decoration and close up, so I thought I'd share that with you.

Garden birds!

Autumn Watch said not to put fat balls in nets out for the birds but how else can they be positioned in a tree?
This one is outside the lounge window and with the new super camera I could zoom in and catch a very happy blue tit.
The blackbirds have also learnt to use them even though I put stuff on the garden table for them.
There is a crowd of birds that come now the weather has turned colder. Many coal tits, chaffinches, dunnocks, greenfinches, robins (who fight), blackbirds and of course the pheasants.
I've spent a lot of time trying to catch the red squirrel on camera. He or she is very tame and around a lot but is quite camera shy. It's funny how the equally endearing grey squirrel is such a pest in the English garden while the red squirrel is a treasured visitor. There are lots to be seen in the woods and there it is the cappers and black grouse that prove elusive. I have seen the latter but only seen a dead capercaille. Found of course by the inquisitive dog but not killed by mine...of that I am certain.