Category: Journal
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Finzean walk and shop
I think I’ve fully recovered now aside from being a bit snotty with a lingering cough. We made the most of a sunny, mild winter day today to go for a walk in the countryside. I chose Finzean because I wanted an excuse to visit the Finzean farm shop. We arrived at the farm shop…
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Christmas 2024
Merry Christmas everyone! I am feeling much better today and it has been a wonderfully relaxing day at home. We all slept in, opened presents, then went for a walk down the river with some friends. It’s been an exceptionally mild day today of about 12C. Then we had a late lunch of roasted vegetables,…
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Lebkuchen
I make lebkuchen in December every year. This year I modified the recipe slightly to make it healthier by reducing the amount of sugar and replacing vegan butter with olive oil. I try to avoid all seed oils these days but olive oil in small amounts is probably ok. This is the good thing about…
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Covid for Christmas
I finally got covid. I took a test on the weekend and the two lines appeared immediately. I haven’t had covid until now and was thinking I might be one of those super-humans who have no symptoms but it turns out I was probably just protected previously thanks to the vaccine. Ben got very ill…
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Street art, yule logs, and Christmas puddings
This week the local artist behind KMG painted the other wall on Deeside Way beneath Great Southern Road. She did the opposite wall for us a couple of years ago in 2022. I have always thought it would be nice to continue the theme along both sides of the path so this year we applied…
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Newton Dee pasta and parsnip soup
Last Saturday we went for lunch at Newton Dee. It has been a long time since I’ve been there and it was delightful. They had a good selection of cakes and I always enjoy looking at their crafts. I stocked up on goodies in their grocery store including this fantastic find of Newton Dee pasta…
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Sourdough mother, glasses and beets
When I first started making my own sourdough consistently a couple of years ago I used a starter bought from Hodmedod’s. I’ve been feeding and nurturing that same starter ever since. Recently I wondered how old it was, or as they say in baking parlance, “how old the mother is”. I emailed Hodmedod’s to find…
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The season of Christmas markets has begun
It is the season of Christmas markets and we’ve been to two so far and counting. Last weekend was the Christmas market at Ardoe House, a Baronial 19th century mansion about 3 miles from Aberdeen that’s used as a hotel. It’s in a lovely picturesque spot beside the River Dee. The market was extremely crowded…
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Snowy Aberdeen and vintage tweed trousers
Winter has come to Aberdeen. I took this photo on my run on Monday. Since then it has snowed a bit each day. Here are photos from today’s run. We set our thermostat to 16C during the day so it sits at about 16C indoors. I don’t feel cold and if I did I’d just…
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A weekend in Angus
For the past two years around the time of Remembrance Day, Elizabeth has competed in the Forfar Highland Dancing competition. We make a weekend of it and spend a couple of nights in Angus and that’s what we did this weekend for the 3rd year running. The competition is always on a Sunday and takes…
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A weekend of gardening, cooking and theatre
Ben I spent a couple of hours this morning helping to plant 2000 bulbs at a local community garden along with some other volunteers. We managed to plant all of them and I look forward to seeing the flowers next spring. We saw lots of earthworms including this big specimen. Yesterday Elizabeth I went to…
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Photos of Lucille and Aberdeen
We never see our hamster Lucille unless we get up after midnight and sneak in for a peak. She’s very shy and only comes out when we’ve all gone to bed. However, today I freshened up her home and as part of that put in some new sprays which she loves. This enticed her out…
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Vegan cheesecake and autumn colours
Yesterday I made a raw, vegan cheesecake which is made with dates, cashews and fruit. No sugar, no cheese. Just whole plants foods only. It’s really nice and quite easy to do as long as you have a food processor. The base is made with almonds, cashews, and dates. The cashew cream in the middle…
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Aurora, BioCafe, and wildlife photography
I hopped into bed just after 10pm last night and began scrolling social media where I discovered we were in the midst of a red alert aurora. I looked out the bedroom window and took this photo. Not bad for the middle of a city and quite a lot of cloud cover as you can…
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St Machar Cathedral and the University of Aberdeen
We took Ben’s mother and her partner to some sights in Aberdeen today including St Machar Cathedral which was built between 1380 and 1520 on the site of a 6th century Christian church. The cathedral has a particularly lovely timber ceiling, recognised internationally and possibly the earliest flat ceiling in a British public building. It’s…
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Elizabeth the performer
Elizabeth has had a hugely busy couple of weeks. Last week she performed in the Leading Lights production of Sister Act at the Arts Centre. She auditioned earlier in the year and although she didn’t get a main part she still had an important role in the chorus as one of the nuns. She loved…
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Early autumn at Crathes Castle and Gran is here!
Ben’s mother is visiting us and we spent a lovely morning wandering about the grounds of Crathes Castle. The weather was very changeable with wet and windy one moment followed by warm and sunny the next. The gardens are still in full bloom and looked beautiful but there are clear signs that autumn is upon…
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49: the perfect square
Today I am the perfect square and will be for the next 365 days. It’s my birthday and I’m 49; 1 year before I’m half a century. This is me at my 1st birthday with most of the birthday cake on my face. Elizabeth is performing in her first musical theatre production this week: Sister…
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In praise of castration
Women of the world are collectively enraged by the Giséle Pélicot case and our anger is growing. Giséle was drugged and raped by her husband and others repeatedly over a 10 year period. We try to make ourselves feel better by saying, “not all men”. Not all men but her husband and her neighbour and…
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Design mastering Elizabeth’s room
I finished decorating Elizabeth’s bedroom today. She has been wanting me to “Design Master” her room for a little while and wanted an insect theme. I did the wallpaper a couple of weeks ago and we were both very happy with the result but I wasn’t quite finished. I still had some painting to do…
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