Category: Journal
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St Andrews offer holder day and McIntosh Halls
We spent yesterday in St Andrews for the University offer holder day. This is a day for students who have received offers from St Andrews and who are either trying to decide which offer to accept or who have already decided and want to learn more about the course and accommodation. Daniel has accepted his…
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Highland cows at Crathes Castle
I got some nice photos of the highland cows at Crathes Castle today. It’s always a good day for a walk at Crathes. Crathes Castle was built by the Burnetts of Ley family in the 16th century on land that was gifted to the family in 1323 by Robert the Bruce. The family lived in…
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Critters and a cathedral
We’re back in Aberdeen after a lovely 5-day break in Aviemore. Victoria came with us as always and although she meows the entire way in the car, once we’re there she seems to quite enjoy exploring a new place. Lucille the hamster went to Mrs Murray’s Cat and Dog home for boarding. We take her…
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The funicular railway at Cairngorm Mountain and Loch an Eilein
We went up the Cairngorm funicular railway today to the UK’s highest restaurant and bar – Ptarmigan – which is at just over 1,000m. It was our first ride on the funicular which opened in February this year after being closed in August 2023 for safety reasons. The work required to get it back in…
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Freezing dip in the Green Loch
The Green Loch or An Lochan Uaine is probably my favourite loch in Scotland. When the sun is shining it’s a luminous green colour and very enticing. It’s also reached by a very pleasant forest walk that’s relatively flat and very pretty. We visited today and went for a brief dip. In my case at…
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Banchory Lodge Hotel and garden wildlife
Mum and I had lunch with some friends at Banchory Lodge Hotel last week to celebrate my friend’s birthday. It was lovely. We had a table right beside the river with captivating views as you can see in the photo. There’s nothing vegan on the menu but if you let the waiter know the chef…
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Daniel is going to St Andrews
Daniel got some exciting news last week: he received an offer to study computer science at the University of St Andrews. This was his top choice so he’s planning to accept it and will commence university in September this year. I never imagined I’d one day have a child at St Andrews University. It must…
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My first highland dance exam
I did my first highland dance exam today. Watching Elizabeth dance has inspired me and I’ve been having lessons in an adult beginner/intermediate class with Pam Dignan who gave us the opportunity to do an exam if we wanted. So I did and I danced a 3-step fling and 3-step sword. It is the very…
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Is Trump a Russian asset?
I asked Grok, Elon Musk’s AI tool, whether Trump is a compromised Russian asset. It said yes, with a likelihood of 75 – 85%. It may seem a like joke but as this Senator says in the video below, if he was a Russian asset he would be doing exactly what he’s doing now. It’s…
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“Give us your weapons, we’ll look after you”
On the 5th December 1994, the UK, US and Russia signed a security assurance with Ukraine in exchange for Ukraine relinquishing its nuclear weapons. At the time, Ukraine had the 3rd largest nuclear arsenal in the world; weapons left over from the former Soviet Union. The agreement was signed in Budapest, Hungary and as a…
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The new appeaser of 2025
On the 30th September 1938, Neville Chamberlain arrived at Heston Aerodrome near London with an agreement he’d just signed with a Mr A. Hilter in Munich, Germany. He waved the paper to a jubilant crowd saying, “it is peace for our time.” Great Britain had agreed alongside France, Italy and Germany to annexe part of…
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A trophy for Elizabeth
Elizabeth came 1st in her dance competition on Sunday in the intermediate 14 years and over category. This is the second intermediate competition she’s won and also the second competition she’s ever won. She never won any when she was in beginners and only ever managed one 2nd overall in novice. It’s a reflection of…
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Soup, hamster, lights
Dinner tonight was soup with homemade sourdough. I made the soup using Hodmedod’s mix of British grown peas. You can buy it in 5kg bags to save money. The pea mix alone consists of 5 different varieties: red fox carlin peas, black badger carlin peas, marrowfat peas, blue peas, and yellow peas – all grown…
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“No murders at all” in Lucy Letby case
It has been a while since I’ve written about Lucy Letby and the terrible miscarriage of justice she has endured but I think about the case often. In my last post about it in July 2024 I likened it to the imprisonment, torture and execution of an innocent Scottish woman called Agnes Sampson in 1591…
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Daniel turns 18 and gull rescue
Daniel turned 18 this week and when asked what he’d like to do to celebrate he said a walk in the woods with a picnic beside a waterfall. And so we planned the Kincardine O’Neill and Dess Waterfall circular walk for today. In preparation for a picnic I walked into town this morning to get…
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Dancing, hair and Dickens
Elizabeth got her first ever 1st overall trophy today in the intermediate section of a highland dance competition. She came 1st and 2nd in every dance taking 1st overall. She was absolutely thrilled. The trophy is massive and by far the biggest and heaviest one she’s ever got. I’m still having weekly highland dance lessons…
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Knitting with cables and photos from the weekend
Yesterday we went to Blairgowrie to have Elizabeth measured up for a new highland dance jacket at Piob Mhor, a shop that makes kilts and highland dance outfits. It was a gorgeous drive as Aberdeenshire is still covered in snow and the hills to the west were white. As we went south the snow gradually…
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Sledging at Duthie Park
I do love the snow. We had another snowy day today and Aberdeen is looking beautiful. We made the most of it and went sledging. There’s rain forecast for Sunday so it looks like it may disappear soon unfortunately. I got a video of a starling at the bird feeder this morning when it was…
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A walk in the snow at Tom’s Cairn
We woke up to a winter wonderland today. I immediately went out for a run in the snow, stopping many times to take photos. After breakfast we went for a hill walk in Finzean up to Tom’s Cairn. We haven’t done this walk before and I was a bit hesitant about an unknown hill walk…
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Happy birthday to Elizabeth and happy hogmanay 2025
We followed our tradition on New Year’s Eve yesterday which also happens to be Elizabeth’s birthday to go to the pantomime at His Majesty’s Theatre. It was excellent. We had particularly good seats this year in the 5th row from the front but this meant we got wet as in typical pantomime style one of…
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