insignificant ramblings of a 50-something woman
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Animal friends and summer days
About a month ago our hamster Ruby died. She was slowing down and starting to struggle to walk. It was extra sad because we hadn’t had her for very long. I think she must have been quite old already when we adopted her from the SPCA. I guess this is one of the downsides of…
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Home-grown meal
It has been several weeks since I’ve been to the allotment and I knew it would be overgrown with weeds so yesterday I enlisted some helpers called Ben, Daniel, and Elizabeth. We managed to get a lot done in a short period and I think the kids even enjoyed aspects of it like harvesting potatoes…
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Falkland and the Pillars of Hercules bothy
We’re back in Aberdeen again after a lovely week’s break in Falkland staying at the Pillars of Hercules bothy. We’ve stayed here once before, back in 2019 and ever since I’ve been wanting to go back because we all enjoyed it so much. It’s a simple, rustic building on the edge of the forest and…
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Loch Leven nature reserve
We visited the RSPB (Royal Society for the Protection of Birds) nature reserve at Loch Leven today and I was able to learn that the bird of prey we saw yesterday was a male sparrowhawk. The nature reserve at Loch Leven is a fantastic place for a visit and the RSPB centre in particular is…
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All you need is lovage
We saw a bird of prey tussle with another bird today before dispatching it right in front of us. There was a loud screeching then the two birds spilled out onto the path. The victim fell silent and still. We’re not sure what the bird of prey was but likely a buzzard or falcon (update:…
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East Lomond Hill and Maspie Den walk
5 years ago we walked up East Lomond Hill in a blizzard. It was December. It was cold and visibility was very poor. We couldn’t see far beyond the edge of the path and when we reached the top everything was white. I took this photo of Ben and the kids huddled together in front…
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Falkland Palace
Falkland Palace is a splendid 16th century Renaissance building inhabited over the centuries by many Kings and Queens including Mary Queen of Scots. We last visited Falkland in December 2019 but the palace is shut over the winter so we only saw it from the outside. Today we returned and got to go inside. It…
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Lucy Letby: another grave miscarriage of justice
On the 27th January 1591, a woman called Agnes Sampson from East Lothian, Scotland, was garrotted and burnt for the crime of witchcraft. She was accused of raising a storm to sink the ship transporting Princess Anne of Denmark to Scotland to marry King James VI. The ship safely docked in Norway and the King…
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Why we got rid of our electric car
We sold our electric car last week. I have been thinking about it for a while now as we were frustrated with broken charging points, maps pointing to charging stations that are not available to the public, and an inability to travel long distances. The final straw was the council removing the charging stations at…
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A ramble at Crathes Castle
We had a lovely ramble on the Crathes Castle estate today and although we’ve been there many times before we somehow managed to get lost, ending up in someone’s private backyard before rejoining a path we’d never taken before. There was even a private cemetery there. Everything is lush and green here as we’ve had…
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The Secret Diary of Henry VIII at Drum Castle by The Three Inch Fools
Last night we were at Drum Castle watching The Three Inch Fools performing The Secret Diary of Henry VIII. This is an activity we’ve done almost every year since we moved here – except for the covid years – and we all love it. Last year it was Robin Hood, also produced by The Three…
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Seabirds at Fowlsheugh
We took dad to see the birds at Fowlsheugh yesterday. Over 100,000 seabirds come to the cliffs of Fowlsheugh over the spring and summer to breed turning the cliffs into a bustling King’s Cross Station of Guillemots, Razorbills, and Kittiwakes as well as the odd Puffin and Fulmar. Scotland’s seabirds have had a challenging few…
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Ballater, Braemar, Linn of Quoich
We’ve had a lovely few days in Royal Deeside. Here are some photos from Ballater. We went to the Junior Highland Games in Braemar today and Daniel helped out for a bit taking children for train rides. Here he is driving the train. Dad gave caber tossing a try. Then we had a late picnic…
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Picnic at the King’s house and a smile from the Queen
We had an epic day today. Dad is a very keen e-bike tourer and has completed several cycling holidays now in multiple countries. He suggested we go for a bike ride while he’s here so we booked some e-bikes from the Bike Station in Ballater and cycled to Loch Muick. It’s my first time riding…
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Highland dance show
Elizabeth’s end of year highland dance show was this week, performed over three nights with the last performance this evening. She’s been performing in these shows for several years now and we love going to them. I went fishing through my old photos and found this one of her from the show in March 2019…
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Grandad visiting, end of school, and allotmenting
There’s lots happening at the moment but the big news is grandad is visiting which is fantastic. Daniel is keen to catch up to grandad’s height and he’s getting close! Daniel is still growing and grew almost 1cm just in the last month so he may yet make it. Yesterday was the last day of…
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Is freedom of speech worth dying for?
On January 16, 1969, Jan Palach, a 23-year-old Czech student set himself on fire in Wenceslas Square, Prague in protest against Soviet Occupation. While he was rushed to hospital he kept repeating, “Please tell everyone why I did it. Please tell everyone.” It was reported that a letter was found with him stating that he…
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The Kilt Walk, highland dancing, and visitors
Daniel participated in The Kilt Walk this weekend to raise money for Charlie House, a local charity that supports children in the north east of Scotland with life-threatening of life-limiting conditions. He raised £258 and walked from Aberdeen to Banchory which is almost 19 miles. He had blisters at the end of the day but…
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Edinburgh International Book Festival forced to cancel partnership with sponsor
The Edinburgh International Book Festival has had to end its 20-year partnership with a sponsor after being targeted by pro-Palestinian protestors who object to its investment links with fossil fuels and Israel. The festival organisers said the pressure from activists has become “intolerable“. I know a little bit about this because when I started my…
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Woods, street art, awards and more
It’s a lovely rainy day today. I’m not a summer person and at this time of the year I start to miss winter so an overcast, rainy day is always welcome. That’s not to say I don’t really enjoy a refreshing swim in the river on a hot day but we haven’t had any of…
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