rachel.blog

insignificant ramblings of a 50-something woman

  • Kincardine Castle

    It feels like ages since we last spent a Sunday afternoon exploring a castle but today the gardens at Kincardine Castle in Aberdeenshire were open to the public so we went to have a look. The castle is a beautiful Victorian building designed by architects Niven and Wigglesworth and positioned on a hilltop overlooking Royal Deeside. The…

  • Repeating a year at school

    We got some great news today about Daniel: it looks like they’re going to let him repeat year 5 next year at school. It might seem like a strange thing to be happy about and also a very simple thing to arrange but it really wasn’t. They don’t let children repeat years in Scotland for two…

  • Stinging Nettle Soup

    Just over our back fence is a prolific jungle of stinging nettle. I have always viewed stinging nettle as a bit of a nuisance because touch it with your skin and it’s very unpleasant, leaving a stinging sensation for sometimes a day or two. However I recently discovered that the leaves of stinging nettle are super nutritious because…

  • Hemp milk

    I’ve been feeling really irritable this week for no apparent reason. I couldn’t figure it out but recently I decided to give up chocolate and other sugary things. Maybe I’ve been suffering from withdrawal symptoms? This morning I decided to do the only thing I knew would help: I cycled out to Newton Dee to…

  • Poppies and swear words

    The blue poppy in my garden is a Meconopsis Sheldonii aka Himalayan Blue Poppy. Two of the flowers have opened up today and they’re absolutely stunning. Apparently this is a very sought-after plant and tricky to grow but it thrives here in the north-east of Scotland. It likes cool and damp summers just like me 🙂…

  • Blue poppies

    Another Saturday and another children’s birthday party at Codona‘s by the beach in Aberdeen. Last Saturday we also went to a children’s birthday party at Codona’s and I found the bike ride there incredibly stressful. This Saturday I took a different route and it was just as hard. I even cycled the wrong way down a…

  • The gin verdict

    This might be a little premature because I haven’t finished the treatment but so far, gin seems to be working well as a weapon against hair lice. I treated Elizabeth’s and my own hair twice last week. Then I did it again earlier this week, but just the once. I’ve been inspecting Elizabeth’s hair and haven’t…

  • What’s growing in my garden?

    A couple of months ago I posted a photo of my newly planted tomato seedlings: Here they are today: One is a cherry tomato plant, hence the smaller size. I actually thought they were both cherry tomatoes but now I’m not so sure. There’s a bean shoot growing in there too. I’ve probably got too many…

  • Should cyclists be allowed to run red lights?

    People like to complain about cyclists: “They don’t obey the law,” “They run red lights,” etc. I’ve seen cyclists go through red lights before but I don’t object when they do it. Why not? I’ll try to explain using a situation I found myself in today. I was on my bike with kids inside at an…

  • Nuu Muu and World Bicycle Relief

    I found these fantastic dresses for cycling last week. They’re actually exercise dresses for any type of exercise: running, cycling, yoga and probably even swimming. They’re made by an American company called Nuu Muu. NB: Nuu Muu are not paying me to write this post. I just think they’re fantastic because they’re so comfortable to wear…

  • I’m not an alcoholic, I just have hair lice … probably

    Elizabeth has hair lice. We had reports from school last week that it was going around so I inspected her hair last night before bed and found four of the little buggers. It was already fairly late and I wasn’t sure what to do but I didn’t fancy going to bed without doing anything so we…

  • Cycling with babies and toddlers

    I watched this video recently of cycling with babies and toddlers on the Dutch Bicycle blog. I won’t say anything about it other than to point out to those who might be horrified when they see it that the Dutch have the lowest incidence of head injuries in the world.

  • I’m sorry, Harald!

    I had a bit of a rant this morning about Harald. I’m very sorry, Harald. I’ve just come back from a fantastic cycle out to Newton Dee. It’s only about 8 miles there and back and goes up an elevation of almost 50m on the way out which means it’s mostly downhill on the way back.…

  • Bicycles and number twos

    I’m not happy with my new bicycle. This is hard for me to admit because we spent so much money on it and humans have a tendency to justify expensive decisions like this. The problem I have with Harald is two-fold: I can’t walk beside and push him when the kids are inside. Why do I…

  • I’m so cool … not

    We were cycling through the centre of Aberdeen earlier and I was feeling great: the weather is perfect, people were staring and smiling at us thanks to Harald (my bike) and I was thinking how cool I must look. Everything was perfect. Then I stopped at some lights to cross the road. When they turned…

  • When life is like a Monty Python sketch

    I ordered some shoes online last weekend and this evening at about 6:30pm a delivery driver from DPD turned up with the box. However when I opened the door he was looking at his device – the thing you sign to accept the delivery – with a concerned expression on his face and said, “Sorry, I’m not supposed…

  • Balmoral Castle

    We left Mar Lodge today but extended our holiday somewhat by visiting Balmoral Castle on the way home. Balmoral Castle is owned by the Royal Family. The estate and original castle were bought by Prince Albert in 1852 but a new and bigger castle was built in 1856 to the designs of Aberdeen architect William Smith. Queen…

  • Mar Lodge, part 3

    I love this place. We’ve had another wonderful day at Mar Lodge and I don’t want to leave. It has been so relaxing and although I wouldn’t describe myself as stressed my life is incredibly busy and so it has been nice just to relax and enjoy nature for a couple of days. Nature here is…

  • Mar Lodge, part 2

    Two posts in one day because we’ve just come back from a fantastic walk in the hills and I like to relive the experience by writing about it and looking at all my photos. It’s a glorious day here today and so we decided to make the most of it and go for a medium length…

  • Mar Lodge, Scotland

    We have gone away for the long weekend and rather than going to a city where we typically spend our time racing around to all the sights, we’ve done the opposite and come into the heart of the Cairngorms to peace, quiet, and spectacular scenery. We booked one of the Co-Wheels hybrid cars, a Toyota Yaris, which…