insignificant ramblings of a 50-something woman
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For the treatment of headaches
I got this terrific present from Ben for Christmas today. It contains 6 bars of my favourite chocolate with this prescription. It’s just as well I’m married to a doctor.
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The wishes of children
Last week we were invited to Elizabeth’s school to listen to them sing and to explore their classroom to see what they’ve been working on. At the back of the classroom was a wishing tree that the children had added their wishes to. They were all anonymous but we could read them and some were…
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Wonky parsnips and the winter solstice
I went to my allotment today having not been there for a few weeks. I picked some leeks and parsnips for Christmas dinner but my leeks are looking a bit wonky. Does anyone know why this happens? It’s the first time I’ve ever grown parsnips so I’m excited even if they look deformed. It was…
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Scottish vegan cookbook and lebkuchen
It’s lebkuchen time of year which means it’s time to share my recipe. It has become a tradition in our family to make numerous batches of lebkuchen every December. Lebkuchen is a German Christmas dish which translates to “ginger bread” but there’s no ginger in the recipe. I got the recipe from a German friend…
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When leadership fails
Australia is the hottest place on Earth right now. Bushfires are raging across the country destroying homes and habitats, smothering cities in smoke, and taking lives – two volunteer firefighters tragically died this week. Meanwhile, the Prime Minister has been holidaying in Hawaii. Please remember this with @ScottMorrisonMP's name. Spread it far & wide whenever…
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Hottest day ever for Australia
Australia recorded its hottest day EVER on Wednesday with a national average temperature of 40.9C. Paradoxically, the front page of The Australian newspaper, which is owned by Rupert Murdoch, ran a story on coal exports and another story attacking the people who are trying to tackle the problem of climate change. Instead, a British news…
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East Lomond hill walk
This morning we walked up East Lomond Hill in Fife. It was a pretty short walk from the Carpark but it started snowing just as we arrived and that combined with an Artic wind made it feel like we emerged from the car and into a blizzard. I think there are probably magnificent views up…
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Pillars of Hercules Bothy
We’ve had the most relaxing weekend at the Pillars of Hercules Bothy just outside Falkland. The bothy is on the Pillars of Hercules organic farm, the name for which was inspired by a local 19th-century landowner with an interest in classical history, Onesiphorus Tyndall Bruce. There is a statue of him in Falkland: The history…
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Falkland
Falkland is an historic village in Fife, Scotland, about an hour’s drive north from Edinburgh. A friend recommended it to us recently as a good place to visit and we were not disappointed. It’s just delightful. Falkland has found fame recently as a film location from the TV series, Outlander. Here’s my Outlander photo which,…
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Despair
I am profoundly disappointed with the election result this morning. The Conservatives under Boris Johnson lack integrity and honesty. Apparently, nearly 90% of their Facebook ads were found to be misleading. During one of the TV debates, the Conservatives rebranded their Twitter account to factcheckUK. There is already an independent fact-checking charity with the Twitter…
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Boris, Actually
Boris Johnson has released a campaign video that parodies the film Love, Actually. It’s quite clever and I give kudos to their marketing team for it. However, it has sparked a huge number of responses on Twitter, some of which are very funny. I DON’T KNOW WHO MADE THIS BUT IT MADE ME CRY LAUGHING…
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We passed the test
I’m very happy to say that Ben and I both passed the Life in the UK test today. It’s the test you have to take to get indefinite leave to remain or citizenship in the UK. It consists of 24 multiple choice or true/false questions about the UK including questions about kings and queens, sporting…
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Smarter and distinguished
I just got my first pair of reading glasses. I guess this is what happens when you reach your mid-40s, or almost. I’m 44. I’ve always had 20/20 vision even up until a couple of years ago. But lately, I’ve noticed I have to hold things further away from my face to read the print…
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Morse code
The other day Elizabeth was waiting anxiously for Daniel to get home from school because she wanted his help with something. I asked her what she needed him for and it was to translate morse code and hexadecimal. This prompted more questions. How does Daniel know morse code and hexadecimal? And what was Elizabeth wanting…
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A vegan’s blood test results
I recently had the Well Woman blood tests done by Medichecks. There’s nothing wrong with me but now that I’m 44 I thought it would be good to start monitoring things like cholesterol since there’s a family history of it. I also like to check my HbA1c regularly for diabetes. Since I don’t have any…
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Scottish reindeer, Cairngorms
We visited the Cairngorm reindeer herd near Aviemore today. Reindeer are native to Scotland but were hunted to extinction by humans a long time ago. They were reintroduced in the 1950s to the Cairngorms and there’s now a managed herd of 150 of them. They cap the population at 150 because that is all the…
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Treezone, Aviemore
I’ve wanted to try one of these tree-top obstacle courses for years and we finally had our chance today at Treezone in Aviemore. It was thrilling! The course was mentally harder than I expected and I felt scared initially despite not being afraid of heights. You are quite high up in the trees and although…
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Loch Morlich
We went for a walk around Loch Morlich today. Loch Morlich is an inland fresh-water loch near Aviemore in the Highlands of Scotland. It’s a reasonably flat walk on a good path that goes through forest and along the beach. Yes, Loch Morlich, which is miles away from the sea, has a beach with sand.…
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A cucumber in Scotland in November
Yesterday I picked all these tomatoes at my allotment and even discovered a cucumber! This must be a first for Aberdeen: a cucumber in November. I thought my cucumber plant had died but it’s a bit of jungle in the glasshouse and I didn’t notice this cucumber until yesterday. I picked all the green tomatoes…
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Electionmania
Since we moved to the UK we have participated in so many elections. We narrowly missed the independence referendum in Scotland in 2014 but since then we’ve had two general elections, several council elections and European elections, and a Brexit referendum. This week there’s a council by-election in our electorate and next month there’s another…
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