Saturday 26 March 2011

Saturday 26.03.2011

Plans to scale Bennachie nearly scuppered by weather but by the time I`d finished first shift at work with a few hours to spare before the next one, the rain had eased so I went for it. But oh! How strange to walk without Dog. Would have been unfair to bring her as she`d have spent longer in the car than out of it but I missed the enthusiastic leaping out of the car, the `come-on-what-are-you-waiting-for`expression, the rushing on ahead but then coming back to check up on me.
Nevertheless a good tramp. Cold but still in the woods, cold and windy above the tree line.

Last few hundred feet were in the cloud: very atmospheric reaching the ancient fort at the top when the mist is swirling round.
I know it`s Pictish but I always imagine some woebegone Roman soldier,(there was a famous battle in the region) wrapped in a blanket, bemoaning Alba`s accursed weather and yearning for the warm slopes of Tuscany and a beaker of decent plonk.

Perhaps I should try my hand at historical fiction.


Wednesday 23 March 2011

Wednesday 23.03.2011

Totally delightful spring day - warm drying breeze, sunshine, blue sky full of smoky grey and white fluffy clouds. Spent day cleaning out birds - a very satisfying thing to do I always find - and planting willows of which we have an abundance already but can you have too many? Especially as some are now old enough to be coppiced for firewood - and the wonderful thing is - they grow right back up again.....
Enjoying pottering around so much nearly didn`t go for a walk at all but eventually set off at about 10 to 7, with the birds fully into their evening repertoire, the air still and fresh, the setting sun turning the sky a kind of pinky coral and one huge black cloud hanging over us so low you could have jumped on board and floated off on it.

Sunday 20 March 2011

Sunday 20.03.2011

Sun shining, beautiful warm spring day... and I have eggs, eggs and more eggs!

Friday 18 March 2011

Friday 18.03.2011

Last Saturday evening only just made it up the hill through several inches of slushy snow after an extra late shift at work
Last Monday to Edinburgh where it rained and rained and rained and was still raining as we came back up the road on Tuesday.
Since then it`s been bright skies, sunny but cold with patches of snow still lying in the corners of fields.
So variety definitely the spice etc and that goes for the week`s entertainment: the brilliant Gogol Bordello on Monday night and Mark Steel on Thursday back in Aberdeen. In fact come to think of it, variety/diversity the theme of the week - Gogol has the most amazing list of recommended music from all over the world on their website and their own style is a fantastic mish-mash of styles and provenance.
And Mark Steel ranted wonderfully about the soullessness of corporate, call-centre life, winkling out stories of eccentricities
(cue Thesaurus: aberration, abnormality, anomaly, caprice, capriciousness, foible, freakishness, hereticism, idiocrasy, idiosyncrasy, irregularity, kink, nonconformity, oddity, oddness, outlandishness, peculiarity, queerness, quirk, singularity, strangeness, unconventionality, unorthodoxness, waywardness, weirdness, whimsicality, whimsicalness)in the towns and cities he`s visiting on his tour.
Read the articles on his website for v. funny commentaries on life/politics - oh and the pain of being an English cricket nut.

So, much pounding of city streets which does have its own charms but then back to the woods which were all warm sunny glades, babbling brooks, busy crows/rooks and loud birdsong.


Heard then saw the first peewit of the spring on Wednesday - a cause for muted celebration: I don`t remember any at all last year as against the large flocks of them when we first arrived twenty odd years ago. Not much has changed agriculturally round here so is it something that happens to them during their winter - and where do they go in the winter anyway?
And the camera`s coming on a treat - fewer `pixies` than the last one but for £12.49 from ebay it`ll do for now.

Wednesday 9 March 2011

Wednesday 09.03.2011



Out earlyish before work: a bitter, bitter wind and covering of snow but bright blue sky and sunshine.
And I think I may be getting boss of this camera....

Sunday 6 March 2011

Sunday 06.03.2011

Beautiful Spring morning. Up betimes planning to:
a) Walk
b) Take pics with new camera
c) Finish an article I`m writing
d) Make delicious Courgette and Mozarella Pasta accompanied by home made Ciabatta
e) Tootle to work.
Instead I had to:
a) Assist chief lumberjack to cut tops off trees nearing electricity wires
b) Chase runaway ducks (a story for another day)
c) Eat hastily made cheese sandwich
d) Drive quite quickly to get to work on time
Hmmm.
On the other hand, you can`t be walking everywhere (not 30 miles to work anyway, not today) and all the old Bon Jovi favourites on a sunny afternoon with the car window wound down makes up for quite a lot.

Saturday 5 March 2011

Saturday 05.03.2011

A gloomy morning transformed itself into a beautiful sunny Spring afternoon and evening. Dog and I had an hour round the woods before tea and I think I may have nearly got the camera working..........watch this space.

Wednesday 2 March 2011

Wednesday 02.03.2011

So that might have been my first evening walk of the year, early evening anyway. Lunched with ladies, braved Tesco but then dog and I escaped to the woods - all greys and browns and greens,the air quite still but birds very active and deer bounding around all over the place.

Earlier the sun was out, crocuses and daffs coming through,and now of course chickens clucking around - springlike indeed but if March comes in as a lamb don`t we have to watch out?

My `new` camera arrived, courtesy of ebay, and seems to be in working order but I might have to read the instructions.