Tuesday 31.05.2011

Nine minutes into the new day: not long back from work under a sky light enough to read the paper by and layers of mist hanging low over fields and trees. Someone always says "heat inversion" when that happens: whatever, as people also often say, it was magical.

Monday 30.05.2011

Not skipping then but walking-really-fast as I tried to fit in a quick walk before work, the fresh, showery morning having somehow frittered itself away.
Boots and trousers soon soaked with the wet grass and vegetation - when did the wild raspberries shoot up to shoulder height? - and suddenly noticed the growth on the broadleafed trees - we were walking under some of the branches rather than in between little saplings.
One gosling still there last time I looked but there`s plenty of chance for him (or her) to find some way of ending it all.

Saturday 28.05.2011

No walking last couple of days despite temptations of ideal weather. Being sensible (aaargh) because full of cold - thanks L ;)
One gosling already gone: was it the magpie? Was it because the gander wasn`t around to defend the nest? Will never know. Never been tempted not to keep animals because they sometimes go and die on you but it`s still a shame when it happens.
Juice of whole lemon, honey for its anti-bacterial properties and to sweeten,in hot water with two paracetamol at four hourly intervals - oh and maybe a nightcap of pay-day whisky - be up and skipping about again tomorrow.

Wednesday 25.05.2011

So the poignant story is that there never was a prouder Gander than the one reponsible for these little critturs but a week or so ago, having spent a lot of time strutting about and standing guard over the goose on her nest, he inexplicably keeled over one night and died. She stayed on the nest and, just as I was deciding that he`d been all talk, these two appeared on Saturday night.
Whether they`ll survive is another matter altogether: they`re already up and running about while she continues to sit on the rest of her eggs. Hopefully it`ll be a story with a happy ending.
Today there was going to be a long walk before work this evening but I got diverted, mainly by bread-making, the closest I get to playing with plasticene these days (cheesy bread anyone?)

But we did manage a brisk half hour round the top of the woods:cool and windy (though not the destructive gales of yesterday and Monday), much of the grass and other vegetation already knee high. It`ll soon be time to get out the machete.

Tuesday 24.05.2011

With time to spare between dentist and work had planned a trip to Bennachie but sat in my warm car, listening to the gales howling as they have been for two days, watching the trees thrashing about, branches crashing to the ground, dust and leaves swirling in mini-tornados, power lines swinging madly backwards and forwards and decided the North Sea would probably be more restful.
And it was, oddly.

Walked along Aberdeen`s beach front, away from the amusements towards the Don estuary, and it was delightful: brilliant sun, fluffy clouds, the offshore wind just rippling the sea and the birds doing their Jonathan Livingstone Seagulls or resting on the rocks and breakwaters.

And only fifteen minutes walk from the city centre.

Oh - and I have goslings. It`s a long, poignant story. Tomorrow maybe.

Friday 20.05.2011

Roamin` in the gloamin` again this evening though it wasn`t so much roaming as pelting furiously up the road, clothed in layers of clothes including big woolly jumper and padded gilet,into the teeth of a really cold wind.

Enormous black clouds and heavy rain on the way to work this morning: by the time I emerged it was poster paint yellows,greens and blues, bright sunshine and boisterous wind. As Mark Thomas would have it, `predictability is the woodworm of joy` (the more I think about it the stranger that metaphor seems but I know what he means).

Wednesday 18.05.2011

Light nights are suddenly here properly: set off at nine tonight, the sky clearing and the temperature dropping as a cool not to say cold southerly wind blustered round us as it has been doing all day.
The sun was beginning to set behind a large rain cloud, emblazoning the horizon in black and gold and this year`s beasts cavorted merrily along the fence-lines as we walked past, apparently rejoicing in the fresh wind, the good grass and - well, life being pretty darned good really.
All very frivolous in the light of the book I`m reading, an account of a walk along the Israeli barrier by comedian, activist and serious rambler Mark Thomas.*

And, for something completely different, a poem. I`m afraid I quickly start losing the will to live with an awful lot of poetry but this one by Paul Farley absolutely cracks it and best of all made me laugh out loud:

The Heron
One of the most begrudging avian take-offs
is the heron's fucking hell, all right, all right,
I'll go the garage for your flaming fags
cranky departure, though once they're up
their flight can be extravagant. I watched
one big spender climb the thermal staircase,
a calorific waterspout of frogs
and sticklebacks, the undercarriage down
and trailing. Seen from antiquity
you gain the Icarus thing; seen from my childhood
that cursing man sets out for Superkings,
though the heron cares for neither as it struggles
into its wings then soars sunwards and throws
its huge overcoat across the earth.

*Extreme Rambling

Saturday 14.05.2011

All week it`s been huge skies with dramatic cloudscapes (including a pterodactyl on Thursday evening that morphed into three Portugese Men Of War)

Fierce, freezing, drenching squalls that are over almost before they`ve started but in between warmth and sunshine and still that luminous green everywhere.

Monday 09.05.2011

Bit leaden-legged today so it was Walking-Quite-Slowly round the woods on yet another stunning Spring morning. So much brilliant green still, especially the birch trees and the curtains of larch hanging over the paths.

Despite the fresh easterly breeze on the tops of the fields it was so calm, warm and peaceful in the woods I could have sat there all day.

As it was I did linger for a few minutes listening to a whitethroat, singing its heart out as it swung back and forth at the top of a tree like a cabin boy at the top of a tall ship`s mast.

Oh yes,of course, that`s why I don`t have a radio with me...........

Saturday 07.05.2011

Overcast, damp, even muggy in the woods round Bennachie this afternoon after work but above the tree line much fresher and by the time Dog and I reached the top of Mither Tap the rain was beginning to get heavier, stinging the face in the increasingly strong wind.

Bliss, in fact, for walking - much better than it being too warm though I know a prediliction for cool weather is something I should probably keep to myself.

On another tack: I am a complete radio addict, practically 24/7 except when reading a book (as opposed to a newspaper or magazine) - in the car, at home, often talk at one end of the room and music at the other - but I never want to `plug-in` when I`m walking............wonder why.

Tuesday 03.05.2011

If anyone wanted to write a perfect May day, today would have done it: brilliant blue sky with a few cheerful fluffy clouds dotted about; bleating lambs; chirruping larks; hares and deer leaping about;coconut scented gorse;fresh green on the trees and dappled shade in amongst them. The wind was cold enough to remind us that we haven`t left winter that far behind (it is snowing in parts of Europe as I write apparently) but,as always, in the woods it was warm and still.

And there is a new baby on this spinning planet - many congratulations F and S! (see Frankiesoup`s blog)



Last week was a whirlwind of work but escaped on Friday, down to Edinburgh and a completely brilliant gig - check out Katzenjammer- and then tramping the streets of Edinburgh on Saturday, soaking up the big city atmosphere, drinking coffee, reading my book and people watching.
Ended the day down by the waters of the Forth as the setting sun laid a glittery golden path across them, the bridges silhouetted in the background and some intrepid wind surfers braving the by then chilly wind.
Nearly finished Dan Gardner`s book (Risk) and it really is worth reading - especially if you worry a lot!