insignificant ramblings of a 50-something woman
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Highland Safaris, Aberfeldy
We went on a Highland Safari today and it was the highlight of my week. It was sensational. The sun came out, there was snow on the ground, the views were superb, and I felt like I was on top of the world. We went up into the hills on a guided tour in two…
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Queen’s View and Pitlochry Fish Ladder
It snowed today! We went to Queen’s View which is apparently one of the most photographed views in Scotland. It was beautiful in the snow. Sister and family: Me and family: Sister and father: Ben got his obligatory “bored in the snow” photo. I got my usual “excited in the snow” photo. Afterwards we went…
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Happy Holidays!
Merry Christmas to everyone in the blogosphere! I had a great day yesterday – lots of food and friends and family and fun games. Here are some photos of our day. Four sisters (there are more; not everyone could make it): A morning walk: Christmas lunch: Handing out gifts: New outift: New toy: Festive glasses:…
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Red Deer Centre, Aberfeldy
Just outside Aberfeldy is a red deer centre where you can feed some deer and get up close to a barn owl. We took the children there this afternoon and it was wonderful. I’ve never seen deer up close let alone hand-fed one. It looks like Daniel is feeding his hand to the stag in this…
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Beatrix Potter Exhibition, Dunkeld
There’s a Beatrix Potter exhibition in the village of Dunkeld in Perthshire. Dunkeld is one of the oldest towns in Scotland and apparently Beatrix Potter’s family rented a house nearby and spent many holidays there. The local wildlife likely inspired some of the characters in her stories. Dunkeld is cute and the Beatrix Potter exhibition is…
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The Birks of Aberfeldy
The Scottish village of Aberfeldy is renowned for being the inspiration for Robert Burns’ poem, The Birks of Aberfeldy. A birk is the Scottish word for a beech tree and the Birks of Aberfeldy is a forested walk along Moness gorge. We did the walk this afternoon and met Robert Burns along the way. He’s…
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Perthshire for Christmas
We’ve taken off a bit early for the Christmas holidays; we’re spending it in the very lovely Perthshire. Here are a couple of pics from the drive today. We just managed to squish everything into the Co-Wheels car, including Creeper. There was a dusting of snow today which made the landscape look beautiful. Perthshire is…
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I’ve got rachel.blog!
Last year my company bought the .blog top level domain. As a perk we got first dibs in the new domains and I am now the very proud owner of rachel.blog. What an amazing Christmas present! Thank you, Automattic. If you would like to get a .blog then head over to get.blog to register a domain. It would make…
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“Gary” vegan cheese
Somehow I missed this very funny story from 2016. A few months ago a woman had a rant about Sainsbury’s new vegan cheese on Facebook. In it she suggests “Gary” as a possible name for vegan cheese. Here’s the full rant: Sainsbury’s responded with this: Someone at Sainsbury’s has a sense of humour. It has…
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My new obsession: blankets
Blankets: they need a higher profile. The world needs more blankets. Lately I have become a bit obsessed with blankets. I love my tartan skirt so much – and it’s basically a big woolly blanket – that I decided to get myself another. Here’s the new one: A close-up of the fabric since my photo isn’t very…
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Lady gardens (= pubic hair)
It must be time for another post about pubic hair. My last post about the topic was a few years ago now and pubic hair is currently in the news with some Bristol University students talking about it in this video. Why do women shave off all their pubic hair? A few of them admit they…
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It’s a Wonderful Life
There’s a terrific cinema in central Aberdeen called the Belmont Filmhouse. It was built in 1898 as a trades hall and is now home to three movie rooms (I think it’s three). They show a good mix of new release and classic films in cosy and comfortable rooms – not at all the soulless kind you find…
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Letters to Santa
It’s that time of year again. Here’s what the kids have put in their letters to Santa. Dear Santa, Can I please have Minecraft toys for Christmas and a Pikachu plushie please and the DanTDM 2017 diary and activity book please. Love, Daniel Dear Santa, Please can you give me anything that you think is…
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Mother India, Edinburgh
I’ve lost my voice. I guess it’s a sign of a good party when you can’t talk for the next two days. At the Christmas dinner a couple of years ago I arrived at the B&B and accidentally went into someone else’s room and drank their sherry. Thankfully nothing like that happened this year except for…
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Automatticians in Edinburgh
I have had a sensational afternoon, evening, and day in Edinburgh with an amazing group of coworkers. We started with ice-skating at the outdoor rink for the Christmas markets. It was packed! Way more packed than I was expecting but lots of fun nevertheless. Then we had dinner at Mother India and a small group of…
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How many outfits can I wear in one day?
It’s my work Christmas party in Edinburgh tonight and I’m very excited. Last year we went to York and this year there are so many more of us that we’ve split up into two groups – one down south and one up north. I’m off to the Edinburgh one today. The best thing about my job are…
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Why do some people hate cyclists?
After being the recipient of some verbal abuse recently I got to thinking about what it is that aggravates some people by the sight of cyclists. Why do people have such a passionate dislike of cyclists? To be clear, the cyclist-hating types are a minority and on the whole my experience of motorists here in Aberdeen lifts my…
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Some cool things from the #cycling Twitter feed
Before I go to bed each night I read the #cycling Twitter feed. There’s some good stuff there. Here are some of the things I’ve seen recently. I thought this was very funny: a car drove into a high-viz shop. Attention pedestrians: Please keep your high-viz attire on at all times, even indoors. Because you…
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Aberdeen Christmas Village
The Aberdeen Christmas Village is up and running again this year. We went first thing this morning to avoid the crowds and to be the first ones on the ice at the outdoor skating rink. It’s a slightly bigger rink than last year and we mostly had it to ourselves. Sunday morning at 10am is…
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Time to put up the Christmas tree
We always put up our Christmas tree on the first weekend in December and we’ve just done it today. We have a Timbatree which we use every year. I bought it because I wanted to reduce my impact on the environment and a Timbatree is a good way to do it while supporting a British business at…
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