insignificant ramblings of a 50-something woman
-
The Green Loch in snow
We’re in Aviemore and we awoke to a winter wonderland this morning so what better thing to do than a walk to The Green Loch. I’ve not seen it in the snow before and this is one of our favourite lochs as it’s a pretty green lake surrounded by hills and forest. I’ve got photos…
-
I papered the bedroom
I finally papered the bedroom today. You might remember a couple of months ago we had to replace the wall in our bedroom. I painted over the new wall but it was always my intention to wallpaper it. The beige wall looks ok but I’m not a beige person and it was starting to irritate…
-
“I love studying for maths”
Said no teenage boy ever except Daniel. After spending two hours on Saturday night studying he said exactly this followed by, “Two hours of doing practice exam questions is so nice.” I guess it’s a bit like solving puzzles which can be fun when you know how to tackle them. I can’t say I ever…
-
Photos of Aberdeen
I took this photo of a man in a kilt washing windows a couple of weeks ago when walking into town with Elizabeth. Only in Scotland! Last night we went to a Christmas party at Ben’s work. We’ve had several frosty days and it took us around 10 minutes to scrape all the ice off…
-
Knitted baby garments
I’ve spent the past couple of days clearing out a cupboard containing bags of baby stuff. We’ve still got all the kids’ old baby clothes, nappies, and loads of beautiful knitted garments. I took some of the clothes to the charity shop today and have been washing the knitted garments, most of which we’ll keep…
-
Autumn colours
Last weekend we went to Angus and took these lovely photos of the autumn colours on a walk near Kinnettles Castle. Up on the hill behind the castle are two water towers that previously supplied water to the castle and estate. One of them has a door that you can open to peer inside. It’s…
-
Knitwear anonymous
After years of denial I’m finally accepting the truth that I have a knitwear problem. My family are supporting me through this difficult time. They’ve been aware of my problem for years and despite their efforts, I continued to deny it was an issue. But now I’m at the point where my cupboard door won’t…
-
Lest we forget
As Armistice Day approaches I want to remember my Great Uncle William Haswell Shelton who was killed in action on the 25th April 1915 at Gallipoli. He is one of 3,200 Australians who died at Gallipoli and was only 22 years old. Several young men from the same area in rural Queensland signed up together…
-
Fiona the sheep
I was delighted on Saturday to learn of the rescue of Britain’s loneliest sheep. Fiona’s story went viral late last month after a plea from a kayaker who had spotted her while kayaking off the coast of Brora in Scotland way back in 2021. The sheep had apparently called out to the group and followed…
-
Autumn in Aberdeenshire
Stunning autumn colours in the Scottish countryside today. This is Scolty Hill in Aberdeenshire: the best little corner of the planet. The tower behind us in this next photo is a 300m high monument built for a local man, General William Burnett, who fought alongside Wellington in the Napoleonic Wars. There’s a spiral staircase inside…
-
The fox and the stilton
My mother left some black pudding and stilton in our fridge when she departed. Even if I wasn’t vegan there’s no way I’d be eating either thing as they’re both full of salt so I put them outside with a camera. The stilton went first followed swiftly by the black pudding. Mr Fox looks to…
-
Replacing and insulating our bedroom wall
About a month ago I started removing the wallpaper from a wall in our bedroom with the idea to cover it with 10mm of cork for insulation. I thought this would be an inexpensive way of keeping our bedroom warm in winter and lowering our energy bills. This wall is an external wall that faces…
-
Wild weather, litter in the Dee, and Provost Skene House
The weather has been wild, wet, and windy in Scotland with large parts of the east coast of Scotland swamped by a deluge from the heavens. The village of Brechin which is about an hour south of us was evacuated in advance of the River Esk breaching its banks on Thursday night. We’ve mostly been…
-
Granny is here, a wave from the King, and a knitting trail
My mother is visiting from Australia which is extra special because it has been more than four years since we last saw her. Today we drove out to Braemar in celebration for lunch and a walk. As we drove past Crathie we saw lots of people gathered and realised the King was about to leave…
-
School trips and a bothy concert in Braemar
The kids both went on school trips last week and we were all alone for five days. It’s the first time we’ve not had a child in the house overnight since becoming parents. It was very quiet. Elizabeth went to Keswick in the Lake District and Daniel went camping in Glen Affric. Both participated in…
-
Anthony Horowitz in Braemar
How beautiful is this scene? The view is looking down towards the village of Braemar from Craig Choinnich. We do this walk quite a lot because you get such great rewards with little effort. It’s only about 25 minutes up the hill from the village and you get magnificent views in all directions. The first…
-
I knitted ranunculus
I finished another jumper! This is a pattern called Ranunculus by Midori Hirose, a Japanese woman living in Germany. You can buy Ranunculus on Ravelry. I had to re-start this many times as I kept making mistakes at the beginning but once I got the hang of it everything came together smoothly. It’s a very…
-
A new dress, wardrobe cleanout, knitting, an unusual teenager
For the past few weeks I’ve been clearing out my wardrobe and selling stuff on Vinted, an online marketplace for buying and selling second-hand clothes. It was founded in 2008 by two Lithuanian entrepreneurs, Milda Mitkute and Justas Janauskus. It launched in the UK in 2014. I’m not sure when I discovered it but it’s…
-
A birthday, a trophy, some trains, and insects
What’s been happening lately? It was my birthday yesterday and I spent much of it at a highland dance competition with Elizabeth. She got third place overall which was a wonderful birthday present as there’s nothing better than seeing your child happy. The last two competitions she entered she came away with nothing so I…
-
Rocket’s cage gets a makeover
Rocket’s cage has been getting a clean this weekend so I took the opportunity to give it a makeover. I noticed that he’s been trying to dig in his sand baths and because they’re shallow all he ends up doing is kicking all the sand out of the container and making a mess. I decided…
rachel.blog 