Eats plants
We've come to Dunblane for the weekend, a picturesque Scottish village in Perthshire, about 110 miles southwest of Aberdeen. The village is beautiful with lots of quirky shops and an attractive river running through the middle called Allan Water. There's also a cathedral that dates from the 12th century. There's a fake Banksy outside one… Continue reading Your mother was a hamster and your father smelt of elderberries
We've come to Glasgow for the weekend to submit biometric data (fingerprints) for our permanent residency application. We've been waiting to do this since March when everything closed down. The centres began opening again in June and we've been waiting patiently for Aberdeen to reopen but as of this writing it still hasn't. Every month… Continue reading Glasgow in autumn
My last blog post I wrote and published from my new phone when I was out and about in town. As I walked back home, tragedy struck when I dropped my phone, smashing the screen. I had bought a spigen phone case for it because these had always protected my iPhone very well but they… Continue reading I broke my phone and photos of the autumn colours
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… Continue reading A cucumber in Scotland in November
We went for a glorious walk up Craigendarroch today. The landscapes are beautiful at this time of year with a palette of yellows, oranges, golds, reds, browns, pinks, and greens. Craigendarroch is a steep and craggy hill overlooking the village of Ballater in Aberdeenshire. It's covered in oak trees, hence the name Craigendarroch - craig… Continue reading Back to Craigendarroch
It's not often we get to see snow and autumn colours simultaneously but that's exactly what we got today. We drove past this next distillery on our way to Grantown on Spey and the building looked particularly striking in the snow. It was one of those, "Wow, look at that!" moments in the car. I… Continue reading Autumnal snow
A photographer friend of ours visited for a few days this week and took off before dawn each morning to capture the sunrise. One morning he got this shot of Dunnottar Castle which then made The Times the next day: Isn't is marvellous? You can see the full version on his site at https://www.bigladder.co.uk/ We decided… Continue reading Aberdeenshire in the Autumn
This afternoon I told the kids we were going to a vegetarian restaurant for dinner and there was an explosion of complaint. I thought I might have accidentally pulled off their finger nails one-by-one given the level of protest. But I checked their fingernails and they're all still intact. So then I offered an alternative: vegetarian restaurant… Continue reading Duthie Park in October
We ran out of biscuits today which was potentially disastrous. My choice was either to bake some biscuits or cycle to Newton Dee to buy some more. Of course the virtuous thing to do would have been to cycle to Newton Dee to buy the *ingredients* and then return home to cook them but I'm not that virtuous. And so… Continue reading A rainy autumn day on the bike path
I like to look at the types of houses people live in when I go to different cities. Here are a few from the residential streets of Aberdeen plus a couple of our backyard. Aberdeen is a beautiful city. It's quite leafy for a British city - which I really like - and many of… Continue reading Photos from Aberdeen
Every Saturday morning, Daniel plays soccer. He is 6 years old, mildly autistic and has Tourette's syndrome. We have tried many extra-curricular activities for him before, including soccer, but he never enjoyed any of them. But he loves the soccer coaching in York because it's run by the mother of someone in Daniel's class who… Continue reading Soccer and cycling in York
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