Holidays!

This beautiful blue loch is in South West Scotland. How lucky we were with the weather as it rains and rains in south west Scotland. The wee figure that you see is Ralph, taking a refreshind dip in Loch Enoch. It was half way round a walk I was looking out for my Club weekend in June. I hope the weather is as good.
After Newton Stewart, we had 3 days in Wastwater. Whatr a stunning place the youth hostel is in!
Then it was down to a damp and dreary York for a few days. We had a nice walk on Sutton Bank, but York lies on a flat plain which is wet and featureless. The weather is usually good being on the east side and without hills and M-i-L s garden is a wondrously productive site.
I'm glad to be back in a place where the hills are.

The crofters Home.

It was actually pitch black inside. How people used to live...

This post is out of sequence but I can't move it...

While the rest of the country drowns...

How wonderful to live in the north east this year! I can't imagine what the fields of Sandal Farm look like and although I desperately miss my animals, I do have the sun as compensation and my new wide ranging chickens who are now foraging in the garden, being stalked by Moss.
This untidy bit of garden is at the front and gets the sun all day. You can see beyond the sprawling heathers, there is a cleared piece of land which now has 10 strawberry plants on it. , carefully netted to prevent hungry little beaks getting to the flowers and fruits and also slug pellets, which although are pet friendly, I'm certain will do no critter any good.
The hens are obviously used to being handled and one came and sat on my lap while I forlornly nursed a cold yesterday. They don't seem to have got the idea of putting themselves to bed at night but are easily plucked from the ground and put back in their run.
Whenever we are absent, the chickens will live in their house and run so they don't need to be locked up evry night.
They won't like it, after they've enjoyed the freedom of the garden but better that than death by cat.

Enough of the April Showers but I've got a job.

The rain comes over in sharp heavy showers which leaves huge puddles on the roads and the Mossie has turned into a nightmare bog. The horses are standing as still as they can on the highest parts of the land. In between showers, the sun is actually very hot and the vegetation and tarmac steams as the surfaces rapidly dry off.

Talking of steam, this is the engine that Ralph, as a trainee fireman/stoker, has had a hand in making go forward. It is the job of the driver to ensure forward motion but it is the fireman who provides and regulates the fuel to propel the beauty forward. He has spent 2 days on the plate and will take him a while to be fully trained up (no pun intended).  On his other days he has replaced a washbasin, cleaned up wheel cogs so they turn, rubbed down, greased, drilled holes, scrapped off dirt and rust...and so on. Ralph is very good at the minute tasks that refurbishment of vehicles entails but here he is also enjoying the comaraderie of an all male enviroment. Being in the clothing industry, then nursing, it is almost a unique experience. He comes home with a dirty face and his hands are a disgrace, so it is just as well he isn't nursing. Patients would run a mile.

Yes, I have a job. Same as I was doing in Bradford only instead of Pakistani wives, it's Eastern European staff. There are many many of them and they are delightful! Good fun, committed and hard working.

Hurray!





Highland Life Museum.

Free entry. A lovely sunny day. Interesting and not one bit stuffy.

The house is an example of one that I may have lived in in Grantown on Spey a few years back. There were also older examples of how the MacDonalds may have lived in their Glen when life was cold and harsh.

I have lots of photos but Blogspot only seems to accept one or 2 at a time. Best go on the website to see what is there.

What I really liked was that the buildings were inhabited by local people and so their stories were real. The bicycle repair man who loved clocks and so built a lean-to on his house in the twon of Nairn so he could indulge his hobby, collecting, repairing and inventing wierd and wonderful machinery in order to do so. His workshop looked like my dad's. Everything was saved and mostly stored. But some things were made use of, his iron bedstead was cut in half length ways and made into gutters on his shed. How unique and inventive.

I wonder what possible use my dad had for the collection of castor wheels he collected, or the old irons. He won't have any use now though; age has made work in his garage impossible. He is still hoping that Ralph will take up where he left off and Ralph is busy donating it all to the Steam Railway. Now that's another post.

Snow use.

Plans for a canoe trip have been postponed and Ralph took the car instead of the mtoorbike because snow was lying this morning. It has been coming down in flurries on and off for 2 days but inbetween the sun has shone and it is very hot then.

I walked in the morning yesterday and had to stop to take my fleece and jacket off. I sat on a bench overlooking the Cromdales which are picturesque with their fresh snow lying lightly on the upper slopes. The Cairngorm mountains were not visible at all. I wonder if people are manging to ski. Locals have bought their annual ski pass and used it 3 times this winter! There is still time, we are quite far north after all.

The garden flowers have been battered by the snow. This picture was taken at 2.50pm Sat and shows the sleet laying the daffs low.

I have picked a good crop of rhubarb though and that is stewing ready for our first crumble tonight! Yum.

Ralph is on his training to be a steam engine fireman so should be warm and exercised today.

The hens have arrived.

This is one of the 3 young PoL hens that arrived yesterday. She is very timid and hasn't ventured out of her tidy new home. I relented and put feed and water in their house yesterday because it was obvious Miss Shy wasn't going to be persuaded to descend the ladder.

However the other two are out and about in their fox proof run despite the extremely cool showery weather we are having this morning.