Category: Journal
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Scottish wildcat
Today we think we saw a Scottish wildcat. This is another very elusive creature whose population has been decimated over the past couple of hundred years. It is critically endangered and although it once roamed all of the UK it is now found only in northern and eastern Scotland. If it is a Scottish wildcat…
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Christmas 2021
Christmas in the Scottish Highlands is turning out to be one of the best Christmases we’ve had. I even saw a pine marten for the first time ever. These are very elusive creatures whose numbers have dwindled over the past couple of centuries due to hunting for their fur, habitat loss, and predation control. I…
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Ruthven Barracks, Kingussie
It snowed last night so it’s looking like a white Christmas for us this year, hooray! It was a lovely sunny day today so we walked to Ruthven Barracks. On a natural mound, a stone’s throw from the village of Kingussie is Ruthven Barracks. There was once a wooden castle here in the 1200s. It…
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Creag Bheag, Kingussie
We did a hill walk up Creag Bheag today. We were lucky to have views in all directions from the top and it was so calm with not even the whisper of wind at the top. The landscape has been gloriously silvery all day again today and it really felt like we’d stepped into the…
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Gynack Burn, Kingussie
We made it to the highlands! I’ve got holiday cancellation PTSD and before each holiday now I get paranoid that it’ll be canceled too. The night before we left I woke up at 2am thinking I’d lost my sense of taste and smell. I went downstairs and tasted some salt, felt reassured that it tasted…
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Omicron land
We’re living in Omicron land here with the new variant taking over as the most dominant in Scotland as of today. Things change so rapidly. Last month the UK was in the best position in Europe to manage the virus over the winter. Then Omicron arrived. I’m not so worried about getting sick although I’d…
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Things that bring us joy
My work has released a happy holidays video where those of us who want to participate, hold up a sign of something that has brought us joy over the past 12 months. Lots of things have brought me joy this year and aside from the obvious one of my family, the one that comes top…
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The New Zealand betrayal of science
I follow Richard Dawkins on Twitter. I don’t read all his Tweets but one recently caught my attention because it mentioned the “New Zealand betrayal of science”. I naturally took a closer look and also stole his click-bate words for my title. It turns out he’s written a letter to the Royal Society of New…
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A sockcessful national dance exam
Elizabeth had her pre-bronze National Highland dance exam today. She performed The Lilt and she thinks it went well. I took this recording before the exam. She won’t get her results until next year. When she was getting ready this morning she informed me that the teachers told her last Monday her socks were too…
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Cat wheel
We got Victoria a cat wheel for exercise because she’s turning into a fat fatty. At first, she was a bit scared of the wheel and wouldn’t go near it. But slowly we’ve been training her to use it using food as an incentive since she loves her food. Yesterday for the first time and…
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Provost Skene’s House and the Christmas markets
We walked into town to check out the Christmas markets today. It’s nice to see them up and running again after the very quiet Christmas we had last year. Marischal College (the building in this next photo) was as stunning as always in the afternoon sun. The ice-skating rink is there again but we didn’t…
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Eosinophilic keratitis in cats
Poor Victoria has been diagnosed with an eye condition called eosinophilic keratitis. It apparently only affects cats and horses and the cause is unknown but they think it might be due to the feline herpes virus. I took her to the vet last Saturday after noticing cloudiness in her eyes. She didn’t seem bothered by…
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Snow and storm Arwen
The first snow of the season arrived last Friday. We didn’t get a huge amount in Aberdeen but enough for me to get excited and for it to look Christmassy. I went for a bike ride on Sunday and this was the scene. On Friday night we got hit by Storm Arwen which was fierce…
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Our animal friends
Several months ago I bought a lemongrass plant which I thought would be nice in curry. However, Victoria has taken a liking to the plant and has absolutely shredded it. It’s the first thing she goes to in the morning when she wakes up, even before her food bowl. Last weekend we made some birdfeeders…
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Women’s sports and the IOC
I was surprised this week by the new International Olympic Committee guidelines on transgender women in sport. They say there should be no presumption that transgender women (humans who were born male but identify as female) have a physical advantage over females. This is an odd thing to say. All my life I’ve observed male…
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A vegan menu
We had a superb meal at the restaurant in Dunblane last night. We ate at The Kailyard and their vegetarian menu is one of the best I’ve seen and tasted. I had the mushroom and cashew wellington which was delicious. For dessert, I had the chocolate and orange tart which was also superb. We went…
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Cancel culture
Daniel wanted to watch the Life of Brian last night, something he hadn’t seen before, so we all sat and watched it together. Ben and I have seen it several times and it’s a classic, timeless film that seems to get more funny with age. There was lots of laughing out loud so I think…
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I took the 1% pledge
Earlier this year I took the pledge to donate 1% of my salary to charity after being inspired by Peter Singer and The Life You Can Save. He has written a lot about our obligations to help others in need and I once read that he encourages people to publicly declare their donations as this…
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A zombie, Elizabeth Bennett, and Ada Lovelace
Every year Elizabeth pleads with us to go trick or treating for Halloween and every year I say no. We tell children all the time not to accept things from strangers and about stranger danger and yet on Halloween we encourage them to do the exact opposite. Yes, I’m a big fat party pooper. This…
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A Diane Von Furstenberg dress, blackberries, vegan shortbread, and autumn
I went to the charity shop today and got this great dress: a red Diane Von Furstenberg dress. It’s soft, stretchy, and made from a wool mix fabric. What an amazing find! Diane Von Furstenberg dresses usually cost £400-£500 new. Bramble season is over, sadly. We’ve been eating bramble (blackberry) crumble several times a week…
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