insignificant ramblings of a 50-something woman
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Sunday diary: good food and wild swimming
Today started at around 2am with the cat meowing at me. She wanted to go outside but we don’t let her out at night and usually she’s very happy with that. I think her bowel movements must have got out of sync and she was desperate to go and crap in the neighbour’s garden. Eventually…
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People who make the world a better place
In his book, Do No Evil, Michael Berumen writes that ethical judgements are universal and apply just as much to business as to any other social venue. He argues that death and suffering are evil or immoral and that this is universal; not subjective. For instance, in his chapter on the environment he says businesses…
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Sunday walk at Crathes Castle
We haven’t been for walk in the country for a while. Saturdays are busy again with Highland Dance and Sundays is allotment day. Late this afternoon we decided to head to Crathes Castle for a walk. How many people who live in cities can decide late on a Sunday afternoon for country walk and then…
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Escaping Afghanistan with 200 dogs and cats
I have been more than a little moved over the past 24 – 48 hours by the plight of Pen Farthing and the Nowzad animal rescue team in Afghanistan. They appeared in the news several weeks ago with Pen Farthing, a former British marine who served in Afghanistan, saying he would not leave the country…
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Vintage 1960s dress
My latest addition to the vintage clothing collection is this gorgeous 1960s velvet dress with organza ruffling and a plunging neckline. It is really long and goes right to the floor on me. I’m quite tall too. The velvet is thick and heavy, very different to the fabric you’d get in modern clothes. The organza…
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The wasp and the sticky bun
I had an encounter with the local wildlife on the weekend: a wasp stung me on my lip. It was not a particularly nice experience. I blame the cinnamon bun. I had gone to Bandit Bakery to get some bread. Bandit Bakery is the best artisan bakery on the planet and they make the best…
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Victoria gives Yora’s insect-based cat food the paws-up
A third UK pet food manufacturer has released an insect-based cat food this year. Yora has been making insect-based dog food for a little while but the cat food was taking a while to materialise. I contacted them about it over a year ago now and they told me they were working on it. I…
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Refillosophy
Refilleries are popping up everywhere in Aberdeen; soon we’ll need two hands to count them all. A refillery is a type of grocery store that allows you to refill containers with food and cleaning products as a way to reduce single-use plastics. It’s heartening to see there’s increasingly more choice for consumers because it means…
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Exclusively Highlands
Last Sunday we went to the Exclusively Highlands art, craft, and food fair at Kincardine Castle. This market travels around Scotland and sells exclusively locally made goods which is why I like it so much. There’s stuff there you can’t buy anywhere else and I always like looking at things people have made themselves. Kincardine…
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Another report and the message on climate change is still the same – our emissions must be zero
I used to write about climate change quite a bit on my blog. The first posts date from 2013. I was usually prompted to write after having an emotional reaction to something I had read or heard – usually someone denying it was happening. One of my earliest posts was prompted by claims that climate…
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Helen Bur art in Aberdeen #nuart
I was very excited to see this art by Helen Bur on the side of a building in Aberdeen. It’s terrific. The couple in the scene are friends of hers who have recently had a baby. You can watch a timelapse of her creating it here – Time-lapse of artist Helen Bur creating the last…
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Levelling-up the animals
Growing up in Australia has given me a healthy respect for dangerous wildlife. Sometimes it feels like every animal is trying to eat or poison you which is unsurprising given the country has more animals with deadly venom than anywhere else. I find it funny how the same animal in Scotland is relatively harmless. It’s…
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A week in Braemar
Our holiday is over. All good things must come to an end and now we have lots of wonderful memories to tide us over until the next one. The week we’ve just spent in Braemar was our first full week of holiday since our trip to Glencoe in April 2019, more than two years ago.…
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Braemar Castle
Today we went on a tour of Braemar Castle, an L-plan tower house built in 1628 by John Erskine. It has a colourful history having been a hunting lodge, an important garrison after the Jacobite rising, it was attacked and burned by John Farquharson in 1689 and then a century later bought by another John…
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High tea at the Fife Arms
We did something special for Elizabeth today to commemorate her finishing primary school and starting high school. She somehow missed both the beginning and the end of primary school and I know she was upset about missing the end. When we first moved to the UK in October 2014, year 1 primary school had begun…
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Ballochbuie forest and the Falls of Garbh Allt
The Ballochbuie Forest is a fine remnant of the ancient Caldeonian forest which once covered much of Scotland. It was saved from being felled by Queen Victoria in 1878 and is the first example of woodland conservation in Scotland. Since then subsequent generations of the royal family have protected it. It’s not hard to see…
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Our trout friend, Segways, squirrels, and the River Dee
I haven’t done so much swimming since I was a kid when we’d spend a week or two at the beach over the summer holidays. I’d get sunburnt and dumped by waves but generally have a very good time. We’ve been swimming with the trout in the Clunie River everyday and we’ve named one of…
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Swimming at the Linn of Dee and Linn of Quoich
There was more wild swimming for us today. This time we swam in the Linn of Dee and the Linn of Quoich. Linn means a “pool below a waterfall”. The Linn of Dee is a well-known tourist attraction about 6.5 miles from Braemar. It was a favourite spot of Queen Victoria’s and is a gorge…
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Swimming in the Clunie River
Yesterday was another warm day and we swam in the Clunie River in Braemar. It was refreshing, crystal clear, and home to lots of juvenile trout. The trout ranged in size from tiny to an adult that was at least half a metre long. They can live for 10 to 20 years apparently and are…
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A pingdemic and flood warnings
The pandemic has turned into a “pingdemic” in the UK because as new cases soar to over 50,000 a day, so too has the number of people getting pinged as a close contact and having to self-isolate for ten days. It’s so bad that many shops can’t open due to staff shortages. We have been…
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