Saturday 25 December 2010

Saturday 25.12.2010

Couldn`t look more Christmassy out there: snow shower this morning, then bright and crisp and even wherever you look. Merry Crimble and pass the Ginger Wine.

Tuesday 21 December 2010

Tuesday 21.12.2010

The shortest day and what a day: a "heartbreaking work of staggering genius" I kept thinking, though I`ve never read the book of that name.
It began spectacularly with a full lunar eclipse and as the moon slipped below the horizon in the West the sun rose into a clear blue sky, making the icing sugar snow sparkle. It stayed freezing cold and almost eerily still all day - a whole lexicon of superlatives couldn`t have done it justice and, at least on this occasion,it felt as if photos would have been a bit superfluous.
And then the morning ceremony was reversed as the sun sank slowly down - in the south at this time of the year - and the full moon rose magnificently over the hill to the north,shooting a path of light across the snow, making it sparkle all over again.
The gods can certainly put on a good show when they try. Happy solstice.

Sunday 19 December 2010

Sunday 19.12.2010




Snow continues to float down in a Christmassy way, oblivious to the chaos and disruption it`s causing across the country: thousands of disgruntled people trying to `get away` and insistent that "more should be done."
All that stress and irritation seemed a world away as dog and I strolled (the only type of perambulation possible in wellies and a Michelin-man snow suit on a slippy road, wobbled might be even more accurate)) to the top of the hill: a vista of white, ice-blues and pale greys, the bleating of sheep ringing across an otherwise still and silent landscape.
Later I watched the snow flakes drift innocently across a nearly full moon: wouldn`t have surprised me to see a sleigh and reindeer flying over.
Luckily I don`t need to `get away`.

Friday 17 December 2010

Friday 17.12.2010

Is there a more satisfying - and warming - task than stacking up firewood? No "Walk" as such but have must have clocked up a few miles today, sawing, carting, splitting and stacking firewood.
Much snow, truly freezing temperatures and nation grinding to a halt for the second time in as many weeks. And I still haven`t got those skis.

Thursday 9 December 2010

Thursday 9.12.2010

Pole-axed by The Lurgy. Sounds like a punk band.

Chambers has it thus:
"lurgy or lurgi noun (lurgies) 1 originally a highly infectious non-specific disease • caught the dreaded lurgy. 2 now a any illness that is not very serious............
ETYMOLOGY: 1950s: although it is generally believed that this was first coined in the radio show, The Goons, there is slight etymological evidence that dialectal variations of it already existed, eg fever-lurgy a euphemism for 'laziness'"


Prefer the Goon`s theory but have indeed been `lazy` - a day off work spent sitting watching the Great Thaw. Have decided the viciously cold weather we`ve been having really isn`t very British. This dripping, slushy stuff is more like it.

Monday 6 December 2010

Monday 06.12.10



First post of the new month and I`ve been busy...walking. A week `on the road` between other people`s flats and the deep,deep disruptive snow has necessitated a lot of walking,mostly but not exclusively of the urban variety but none the worse for that.
After last week`s tramp round Aberdeen, spent Friday and Saturday walking the slushy, snowy streets of Edinburgh, up to the Castle (but not right in - too expensive!), along Princes Street (several times) and generally taking in the Christmas atmosphere.
Avalanche warnings for Arthur`s Seat so we left that for another day.
On the first evening walked along the waterfront at Granton - the combination of snow and water in the waning light quite magical.

Oh - and Frank didn`t make it....snowed out but he`s promised to re-schedule....for February?...has he seen what it was like here last February?

Tuesday 30 November 2010

Tuesday 30.11.2010

Sometimes you have to take your walks where you can get them: staying in town so I can get to work, covered miles into and around the city centre this afternoon. Snowing steadily, treacherous pavements, glum faces, a net full of satsumas in the Co-op with a free "Christmas Stress Ball" included (pur-leeeeease!), Christmas coming at you from all sides, "offer MUST end Sunday" (why?)and perhaps most bizarrely of all, a girl crouched in the front of a shop window painstakingly sticking polysterene snow onto it as the real stuff floated down outside.

Still, at least some kids were enjoying themselves throwing snowballs and a man in a kilt stood playing the bagpipes as the snow settled on his sporran, so it wasn`t all doom and gloom.

And why do so many people stand and shiver at a bus stop for hours, waiting for a bus that will then be gridlocked in traffic jams rather than set off walking?

Sunday 28 November 2010

Sunday 28.11.2010





Another day, another blizzard. Everyone`s parked at the bottom of the hill tonight in preparation for more snow and increasing wind in the next 24 hours.
Meanwhile it took me an hour and three quarters to trudge through knee deep snow a distance that usually takes me about 20 minutes.
Came back on the road, hard packed and slippery but not quite so hard on the legs and lungs. Winter wonderland and it`s still November.


As long as Frank Turner gets to Aberdeen on Wednesday all will be well.

Thursday 25 November 2010

Thursday 25.11.2010

At work all week so have to take my chances where I can. Today it was round the ring road again, dog and I in the warm sunshine and slush and snow. Yup, the year`s ending like it started - stunning snowscapes, skidding cars, jack-knifing lorries, blizzards, ice....hey ho, what larks, Pip.
And a slightly more convincing start from our cricketers would be nice.

Thursday 18 November 2010

Thursday 18.11.2010

The thing is, you don`t necessarily have to be out in the wilds with a strong pair of boots strapped on to enjoy a good walk. Dog had to come to work with me today and at lunchtime we walked up into town and then took a detour through a housing estate, nosey-ing (sp?) into people`s gardens and back along the ring road with a good view of Bennachie in the distance and a nippy wind keeping us trotting along at a brisk pace.
And the afternoon went a lot better for it.

Yesterday I was out in the wilds, or at least the woods, with the strong pair of boots on and against all the odds it was one of the best walks I`ve had lately. After a morning spent with one of those lie-very-still-under-a-blanket-until-it-goes-away kind of headaches I crawled out to peer at a grey,very windy and postively inhospitable looking day.
The trick at this point is to tell yourself you can always turn round and come back.....so I donned woolly hat and jumper - and the boots - and once we got going it was, well, fantastic.
The clouds were grey alright but above them were shades of blue and pink and coral. The trees were tossing and thrashing about, the wind in them sounding like the roughest of seas. The pylons too were singing their own particular song and then the light began to fade and simultaneously become strangely translucent.
The night before I`d heard someone describing why they liked living in Manchester despite - or rather because of - the weather. They ended up using the word `vital`. And that`s what it was all about yesterday: vitality, exhilaration...in fact let`s hit the Thesaurus:
"a rush, animation, cheerfulness, delight, elation, electrification, elevation, enlivenment, euphoria, exaltation, excitation, firing, gaiety, galvanization, gladness, gleefulness, head rush, high spirits, hilarity, inspiration, invigoration, joy, joyfulness, liveliness, mirth, quickening, sprightliness, stimulation, uplift, vitalization, vivacity, vivification "
Stand at a window in a warm house and look out at that sort of weather and you`d not think it but get out in amongst it and, as some wise person once said, "At least you know you`re alive."

Monday 15 November 2010

Monday 15.11.2010

Chrystal clear sky, champagne air - or should that be Cava in this Age of Austerity...cue song:
"this is the dawning of the age of austerity........"
Anyway - the hard overnight frost lingered in the shade but the sun was warm as we walked the woods at lunchtime.



The sky was full of geese: I know they`re supposed to fly south for the winter but these were heading in all directions.
On top of that the clear skies at night mean the waxing moon and stars make for beautiful drives home from work.
A friend has left her Australian home to spend a couple of months in India but I wouldn`t swap her on days - and nights - like these, much as I like the sound of her Christmas lunch:
"curry and rice followed by gulab jamun, washed down with tender coconut juice"

Been meaning to recommend Secret Life of Bees by Sue Monkton Kidd. Excellent read (and not a bad film either).

Wednesday 10 November 2010

Wednesday 10.11.2010

How interesting. Michael McCarthy, Environment Editor of The Independent, wrote an evocative piece about Autumn -
http://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/this-britain/autumn-sad-season-of-sensations-2126714.html
but much as I admire his descriptive powers and recognise his "sights,sounds and smells of fall" I couldn`t disagree more with his conclusion that its attraction is the melancholy mood it invokes.
Melancholy? It couldn`t have been less so this afternoon as dog and I spent a good hour and a half in the woods on the most glorious sharp autumn afternoon.
The whole point surely is that it`s all about regeneration: shutting up shop and waiting out the winter until it`s time to start again. (And, incidentally, see Frankiesoup`s post for Nov. 3rd...great minds).
Or it could simply be that Mr. McCarthy is a melancholy soul and autumn reminds me of pristine unsullied exercise books,fresh beginnings and endless possibilities.

Sunday 7 November 2010

Sunday 7.11.2010



Blowing up a real hooley out there now but this morning on Mither Tap it was glorious: a nippy little breeze on the top but down in the woods quiet and sunny.




On the way down picked up three plastic water bottles, one of which had been carefully wedged in a seat - why?!

And anyway, why are we so obsessed with this water drinking thing? Thank you Deborah Ross for bringing a bit of sanity to the subject.......
http://www.independent.co.uk/life-style/food-and-drink/features/the-water-myth-debunking-the-dilution-solution-2121712.html

Wednesday 3 November 2010

Wednesday 3.11.2010


Exuberance: plenty of that in the air today. Another clear bright autumn afternoon, the shadows lengthening early with the clocks having gone back and the sun creeping round the edges of the sky instead of over it. Skeins of geese overhead (why skeins? the v-shaped formation doesn`t look a bit like skeins of wool)and a golden glow over everything. Parky though - suddenly summer really is long past and there`s a whiff of winter on the wind.

Saturday 30 October 2010

Saturday 30.10.2010





Fantastic fresh-washed autumn morning: brilliant blue sky with the occasional splash of white cloud, a keen wind tossing birds and trees about, a half moon hanging overhead and Ben Rinnes needle sharp on the horizon. Could have walked to John O`Groats and back before breakfast. Made do with a tramp round the perimeter of the woods, dog delirously chasing everything that moved.
And Orion has returned. I glanced to my left as I drove up the back hill late last night and there he was, lolling across the eastern horizon like some disreputable lothario waiting to be fed grapes.
I`d been at a meal with some friends to say farewell to one of our number who is to set off on a fantastic adventure for six months, working on South Georgia.* Hopefully Orion will keep an eye on her as well.
http://www.sgisland.gs/index.php/Main_Page

Wednesday 27 October 2010

Tuesday 26.10.2010

Much milder, a bright shiny morning and blowing a hooley into the bargain: gulls and crows swooping and swirling with a lot of noise and fuss; sheep rediscovering their inner lamb and racing up and down as dog and I sped by - not running of course* but walking-very-fast as only a half hour to spare before work.
So autumn is keeping winter at bay for the time being though the sun is already travelling lower in the sky making for longer shadows and a more diffused light.
Blue sky, dollops of white cloud, green grass, reds and golds on the trees and a good strong wind to blow away the proverbial cobwebs - a few more weeks like this please.


* see Post 15.05.2010

Monday 25 October 2010

Monday 25.10.10

More driving than walking in the last week or so: up and down to work but also this last weekend away to a family wedding in County Durham which at least afforded the opportunity to look at some beautiful landscapes even if, frustratingly, there was no opportunity to walk in them.
Reminded how varied the vernacular architecture is and how the place names too speak of a country "invaded" by "foreigners" over hundreds of years - Romans, Vikings, French.......can`t be many "indigenous" citizens who don`t have a smidgeon of something "foreign" running through their veins, which is very comforting.
Meanwhile back at the ranch last week, forebodings of winter with an inch of snow one morning and this morning a sharp frost. Hey ho - back to scarves, gloves and hats and a shovel in the boot of the car.

Saturday 16 October 2010

Saturday 16.10.2010

Still grey but the cloud was higher as dog and I did the woods this afternoon - splashes of white and blue,the occasional burst of sunshine making everything sparkle and mountains visible in the distance instead of shrouded in cloud.
A clear night now, cold with a bright waxing moon but the weatherman is saying we`ll be back to grey tomorrow with arctic winds for next week.....
Sodden ground and soaking grasses but pleasant walking: still air, vibrant autumn colours, mysterious little pale blue fungi poking out of the undergrowth and spiders` webs laced across everything - are they really busier at this time of the year or simply more visible?

Wednesday 13 October 2010

Wednesday 13.10.2010

Grey, grey skies, for days now.
As I let out the geese this morning, a solitary heron flew ponderously across the field letting out the occasional mournful croak. We stood and watched (the geese apparently mesmerised by the noise) while a couple of officious crows escorted him out of their airspace.
Dog and I walked the woods later, the gloomy light and damp atmosphere underlining the autumnal mood:falling leaves; empty fields (the bullocks have disappeared sometime in the last week or so); the remaining large straw bales beginning to sink lopsidedly into the damp ground, no longer a golden yellow but faded to a pale browny beige, with the odd pair of disconsolate crows perched on top, slightly hunched like the vultures in Jungle Book.

Wednesday 6 October 2010

Wednesday 06.10.2010



Back up on Mither Tap this morning. It`s a while since we`ve been on the hill and dog got very excited, christening practically every rock and tree as if announcing her return.
A typical October day, blustery and unsettled, a busy sky, cloudy and spitting rain one minute, blue sky and still warm sunshine the next. The summer still feels nearer than the winter.

Sunday 3 October 2010

Sunday 3.10.10

Sensational starlit sky tonight as I returned from work. Dog and I took a stroll up the track to take it all in away from even our minimal lighting. One very bright planet in the south east - could it be Jupiter?
"Jupiter has now risen in the east after sunset and, at magnitude -2.9, will be well seen for much of the night. By month's end it is due south and highest in the sky at about 9:30 GMT (the clocks will have gone back by then!). It well worth observing with a telescope, as Jupiter has (presumably temporarily) lost its South Equatorial Belt and at the same time, the Great Red Spot has intensified its colour so is now standing out very well! A small telescope will easily pick up Jupiters four Galilean moons as they weave their way around it."*

Oh, for a small telescope.

All we could do was stare and listen to the spheres singing.**

*www.jodrellbank.manchester.ac.uk/astronomy/nightsky
**"There is music in the spacing of the spheres." -- PYTHAGORAS (6th C. B.C.)

Thursday 30 September 2010

Thursday 30.09.2010

Apres le deluge yesterday, a stunning autumn day so dog and I grabbed the last hour or so of sunlight after work and took off round the woods - nothing like being back on home territory. Completely still evening, glorious colours and woody smells. Demain, encore le deluge, with gales thrown in. Hey ho.

Tuesday 28 September 2010

Tuesday 28.09.2010


Last walk with the spaniels and Ms Dachsund.
She is in fact a miniature Dachsund (as well as that and the standard variety there is also a type known as kaninchen which means rabbit which I`m trying hard to visualize and may have to check out on Google). Far from being after small hapless furry creatures she was probably looking for badgers so definitely not to be messed with.
Not sure rambling is the right word for the garden if it implies overgrown. It is well kempt and tended but full of nooks and crannies and big climbing trees you could sit in all day.



And there aren`t any red and white spotted mushrooms: I thought I saw some when I was looking out of the window but it may be it`s just the sort of garden that ought to have them. Lots of other mushrooms though and one very strange patch of papery grey ones I`ve never seen before. Must ask my fungi expert friend.

Sunday 26 September 2010

Sunday 26.09.2010

It was going to be two short walks today but once we set off this morning it was a case of keeps-walking-because-why-would-you-stop: blue sky, warm sun,slightly damp air enlivening the mosses and lichens and strange and amazing fungi, not to mention the leaves turning all the autumnal colours there are.



The spaniels splashed in every available puddle, the dachsund carefully skirting the biggest ones but not averse to diving into the undergrowth to scrabble about after some hapless little furry creature.


We pretty well toured the whole estate but if it stays like this may go out again later.....or even explore the garden properly. There have to be trolls under that bridge.

Friday 24 September 2010

Friday 24.09.2010

Weather`s gone crazy: brief spells of warm sun, then cold deluges. House/dog-sitting,new place, new dogs, all a delight, even the Dachsund. Not always sure about little dogs but this one has great dignity and a penetrating stare. House on a beautiful wooded estate and we trotted round for a couple of hours - the Dachsund, an elderly Cocker Spaniel and a slightly demented Springer - getting pleasantly lost.


The garden of the house is a rambling affair with red and white spotted mushrooms, places to hide and a little wooden bridge. It`s like being in a fairy tale.

Tuesday 21 September 2010

Tuesday 21.09.2010

Variety is the spice of life they say: a week ago Sunday it was a venerable hotel in Aberdeen for a traditional wedding celebration;last Saturday a "bender" (willow trees and tarpaulins, not drunken rampages) on a damp Scottish hillside with a bonfire and musicians; and the day after that Perth Concert Hall with the amazing Nana Vasconcelos*, the Perth Youth Orchestra,Gaelic singer Aileen Ogilvie,Perth samba band Rhythm Wave and children from the Saturday `Cool Schools`,** music,on this occasion, being the food of international co-operation and much fun.
More cycling than walking this week as still feeding next door`s ducks and cats. Today an hour with dogs-on-leads who are with us for just a few more days before departing to their new homes.
A sense of everything winding down, days drawing in, the smell of wood smoke, the grass and vegetation flattened by rain. The bullocks, hefty beasts now, hardly look up at us, intent only on eating, with all that springtime exuberance vanished and ignoring the one lone swallow that swooped over their heads.
*http://www.drummerworld.com/drummers/Nana_Vasconcelos.html
**http://www.horsecross.co.uk/about/news/2010/gaelic-and-brazilian-music-come-together-simply-ab/

Tuesday 14 September 2010

Tuesday 14.09.2010

Walk first thing, bright and blustery but warm - felt like being washed in the wind. Much cooler this evening as I cycled to a neighbour`s to shut away their ducks and feed their cats.(They`re on holiday for a couple of weeks -the neighbours that is, not the cats).
Do enjoy being on the bike: best birthday ever was my twelfth when I got my first bike and when I cycle now I remember exactly what that felt like.
Computer monitor suddenly packed up yesterday. With access to email at work, thought I could wait to afford a replacement suitable for film-watching but sudden realisation that this would curtail writing for too long, precipitated quick purchase of cheap rather dinky little second-hand one which I think I prefer - at least for writing.
Could even live with it in The Shed (coming on apace) where I thought I wanted a laptop I could fold away. Hmm. We`ll see.

Saturday 11 September 2010

Saturday 10.09.2010









Blustery but warm September evening as dog and I set off - leadless, hooray! - for an hour or so round the woods after work. All about skies full of cloud, amazing light and long shadows.











Later, the wind dropped quite suddenly, Incy Wincy dangled from a single thread in the stillness and one by one the stars appeared in the darkening sky.

Tuesday 7 September 2010

Tuesday 07.09.2010

More autumnal music: the rattling of the black plastic on the newly wrapped silage bales. Winds have been battering us for two or three days now and there was a colder edge to it this morning as we set off for the woods, dogs-on-leads and dog off in front.
A solitary lapwing shot out of the grass in one of the fields by the road as we strode up the hill: a poignant sight, for when we first arrived here, nearly twenty years ago, there were large wheeling flocks of them every spring performing their courtship tumbling acrobatics, accompanied by the familiar `peewit` call. The numbers have been steadily decreasing and over the last few years there have been hardly any.

But talking of birds - I have geese. My new chicken hut is due to arrive next month but meanwhile my neighbour was looking for a home for her geese and last night they arrived. I was asked today "Why geese?" My answer - as with so many things - why not?

Monday 6 September 2010

Sunday 05.09.2010


The gates were singing this afternoon.The strong wind which finally lifted the grey and let the sun burst through also created a symphony of sounds - trees, grasses,telegraph wires but especially that particular gate at the top of the road which makes a wonderfully eerie wailing when the wind blows across the top of it.
Two shorter circuits, morning and evening, at the top of the woods by the road, for we have "dogs-who-can`t-be-trusted-off-the-lead" staying for a while and lengthy stomps aren`t much fun for me or them when they need to be restrained.

Wednesday 1 September 2010

Wednesday 01.09.2010








On the spur of the moment and with time to spare after work, drove round the other side of Bennachie this afternoon and up Millstone Hill. Not so high as Mither Tap and Oxen Craig but a good steep climb, like walking up the steps of an ancient temple in a jungle somewhere: the vegetation is lusher and closer to the path and the hill is shored up with big wooden sleepers at the bottom of the climb, large rocks and stones further up.
The `mighty` Don can be glimpsed snaking down from the mountains and on towards the sea and there`s a less familiar view of Mither Tap once you`re at the top.
Walked down to where the path crosses the Gordon Way: dog and I should do that one day.



Tuesday 31 August 2010

Tuesday 31.08.2010

Last day of August and it`s Indian Summer: cold this morning but by the time friends and I were strolling round the woods by Scolty Hill at Banchory, really warm and remarkably still. Tonight cold again under a clear starlit sky. My favourite time of year ...if I had to choose.

Monday 30 August 2010

Monday 30.08.2010


An hour round the woods this morning before work. Chill wind but no rain, just a sense of autumn speeding ever closer ever faster.