insignificant ramblings of a 50-something woman
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Christian the lion
Yesterday I stumbled across the obituary of John Rendall who died this week of covid, aged 77. The story caught my eye because he and his flatmate bought a lion cub (Christian) from Harrods in the 1960s. I was expecting to read some awful case of animal torture but it turned out to be the…
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Allotment produce in January and Veganuary
I got four leeks and lots of kale at my allotment today. There’s still a number of leeks left; definitely enough to last us until spring. My pond is filled with leaves and I had this idea that I’d pull them out until I actually tried. They’re frozen in! I took this video of it.…
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Portlethen and vegan galette with friends
We had a lovely afternoon with friends in Portlethen today. Portlethen is a small village about 7 miles south of Aberdeen. It was originally a fishing village and there’s an old harbour there where the fishing boats used to come and go. Today it is more like a satellite suburb of Aberdeen with lots of…
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A hair cut, pea and mint soup recipe, and giant violins
I had a bad haircut just before Christmas and couldn’t stand it any longer so today, on the spur of the moment, I went in search of a haircut. All the women reading my blog will understand the impossibility of my quest: one does not simply walk into a hair salon on a Saturday afternoon…
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Booster shot and back to school
I had my booster shot on Saturday and that completely wiped me out for the rest of the weekend. I’m only just feeling better today. I got a half dose of Moderna after having had two jabs of Pfizer. I had a similarly bad reaction after my second Pfizer dose with fever, aches, headache, and…
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New Year’s Day 2022
We all got wet suits for Christmas so we decided to christen them at the beach in Aberdeen today. That’s Daniel and Elizabeth in the centre of this next photo venturing in together. I’ve never swum in a wet suit before but I have done some winter swimming and I can tell you the wet…
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Hogmanay and Elizabeth’s 12th birthday
It’s Hogmanay and Elizabeth’s birthday today. The years tick by and although there are big global events – like the pandemic – we still go through all the same motions each year. Elizabeth is 12 and had a lovely celebration at home with two of her school friends. Elizabeth was such a cute little baby.…
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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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