insignificant ramblings of a 50-something woman
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Skiing at the Clashindarroch Forest
We had a magnificent day today. We ventured into the Clashindarroch Forest with our newly bought, second-hand, cross-country skis. Last year the Huntly Nordic Ski centre had a sale of second-hand skis and we decided to get some for just this purpose. I love the snow and I love being outside in it and what…
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Prince Philip is setting a bad example
Last week Prince Philip was involved in a car crash after pulling out of the Sandringham estate in his Land Rover and onto the A149. He’s received a lot of criticism for driving at 97 years old and many people are calling for him to relinquish his licence. The whole affair has outraged me but…
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View from the cycle path
The view from the cycle path today was misty with streaks of sunlight melting the snow. You can see on my bike’s dashboard that it’s 3°C. There were icy patches but I felt very stable on my three-wheeled beast.
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Snow and Brexit chaos
We finally got some snow today. The first snow of the year and winter. It was beautiful but will probably be all gone by tomorrow. Daniel told me that he and his friends are going to form a band. Daniel has been learning the guitar for nearly a year and he’s got a friend who’s…
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Pieces of eight
For Christmas I bought Ben a book by Simon Singh called The Simpsons and their Mathematical Secrets. I think Ben is enjoying it because I’ve heard him laugh a few times, most recently this morning after reading this joke: Q: What says “pieces of seven, pieces of seven”? A: A parroty error. I didn’t get…
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The hungry gap, vegan haggis, and cast iron cookware
I heard a new word recently – well, two words – hungry gap. It has come, once again, into popular parlance thanks to Brexit. Britain imports more food than it produces and there are fears that without a trade deal on 29th March 2019, Britain will run low on food. Before Britain became a net…
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When did everyone become so young?
People in TV shows have all become very young all of a sudden. Why are there so few old people? I know what you’re thinking – I’m not a spring chicken anymore and suddenly aware that I’m older than lots of people. TV shows have always been full of young people, I just didn’t notice…
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Dunnideer Castle
It seems like too long since we went for a proper walk. That is how I felt this morning when I woke up and so off we went in search of a hill. I got my fix just next to Insch, at Dunnideer Castle. Insch is a small village about 45 minutes by car north west…
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2018 in review
I scanned through the posts from 2018 on my blog and was surprised by how much I did and accomplished. I hope I will have as much energy in 2019. It started with our January 1st walk up Bennachie which was marvellous. There was ice, lovely views, and an incident that involved a dog stealing…
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Happy New Year!
The clock has ticked over and it’s now 2019. Happy New Year to you all! I don’t have any new year resolutions other than to try and exercise as much as possible and eat less sugar. How about you? Yesterday was Elizabeth’s birthday and as we do every year on her birthday, we went to…
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Winter swimming
We went to St Cyrus beach for a swim today. My sister-in-law is visiting and she has a penchant for icy showers and swims in freezing lakes in Switzerland. The photos make it look like a warm summer’s day but it’s actually winter here and the water temperature was 7°C. I’m preparing myself psychologically before…
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How to cook for 10 people for less than £8
They say healthy food is expensive but this isn’t my experience. Unhealthy, processed food is expensive but healthy, fresh food is cheap, albeit time-consuming to prepare. Today I made a lentil shepherd’s pie for ten people and as I was cooking I couldn’t help thinking how cheap the ingredients were so I decided to add…
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Merry Christmas 2018
One of the nice things about having a blog is it becomes an historical record of what I’ve done or where I was at a particular moment in time. I sometimes wonder what I was doing for Christmas in 2012 or 2013 and all I need to do is go back through the archives of…
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Merry Christmas from the bike path
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King Street cycle path competition
Last week, on behalf of the Aberdeen Cycle Forum, I launched a design competition for a cycle path on King Street in Aberdeen. Out of all the cities in Scotland, Aberdeen was the only one not to apply for Sustrans Community Links Plus funding this year which is specifically for infrastructure projects like this. The…
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Foodstory
Ben’s mother is staying with us and it was her birthday yesterday so we went to Foodstory for dinner. Foodstory is hands down the best cafe/restaurant in Aberdeen. Daniel’s plate of chilli was huge. But it disappeared very quickly. He’s only 11 and very skinny. I’m not sure how he can be so skinny yet…
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‘Tis the season to stuff your face with lots of yummy food
Every Christmas I make lebkuchen which is German for ginger bread except that it doesn’t contain any ginger. I’m a bit slow making it this year because I’ve been making panforte – I’ve made three batches of it so far and probably eaten most of it myself because the kids don’t like it. I had to…
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Christmas holly
Yesterday I discovered Christmas decorations growing over our back fence – holly. Holly is a native shrub in Britain and commonly used to decorate homes over Christmas. As a child I only remember seeing plastic holly but why buy the plastic stuff when you can have the real thing FOR FREE. That said, it’s probably…
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Strong, fit, and healthy
I love Saturdays. I feel so strong and energetic right now and the weekend is my time to get outside for some physical activity. Today I have been particularly active having spent my morning hefting huge bags of grit salt up the hill to the church. Several months ago the city council invited people to…
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Sunday at the beach
Elizabeth was invited to a birthday party today at Laser Tag which is by the beach. We don’t go to the beach very often because it’s a bugger to get to by bike but we survived the traffic to make it there in one piece. To be fair, all the motorists were very good and…
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