Tuesday 30.12.2014

Boxing Day morning and it was diamonds, if not on the soles of my shoes, then everywhere else -

crisp, clear and pretty even, sharp and invigorating.

The same walk today could almost have been a different country with layers of white,cream,grey and blueacross the sky,

rich browns and greens in the surrounding fields.

The air was quite still, the crows overhead apparently enjoying a leisurely return to their roosts as we came back down the road,the day ending on a calm and rosy note.

Wednesday 17.12.2014

Let the day thaw out a bit before venturing up the hill and was rewarded with warmish sun (shirtsleeves weather almost) and beautiful winter colours - browns and blues and greys and greens and whites and even a little yellow still on the gorse. The sun made the trees sparkle and brought out the scent of pine in the still air: an altogether perfect winter day which could just use a light sprinkling of the white stuff for Christmas........

Sunday 14.12.2014

Marched defiantly up the hill this morning in the cold and the wet and the wind, determined to get a walk round the woods in no matter the weather....very bracing though as always once in the woods the hat and woolly sweater could come off....but then as we were returning the wind dropped, blue sky appeared, a low-in-the-sky wintry sun casting long shadows

and even a rainbow. Sometimes maybe it`s better to wait an hour or two. :)

Sunday 07.12.2014

Icy road this morning, brain freeze wind and first of the snow - well - just a little sprinkling.....
enough to decorate a dog or two anyway......



Sadly, despite forecasts, looks like that`s it for now so work will be as normal tomorrow.
:(

Sunday 23.11.2014

Sundays proving the best walking days over the last couple of weeks. Last Sunday the theme was green...how many greens are there? Moss green, grass green, lichen green, pine green......

This morning it was brighter as the sun eventually emerged above the clouds sitting on the horizon, creating long shadows,

diamonds on the trees



and still plenty of green.....

Hopefully a "walk round the block" tomorrow at work - peering into people`s gardens :) - and then it`s some train rides (yay) and a trip down to the tropical south..........

Sunday 9.11.2014

More of the joys today - no long walks but twice up onto our hill, the second time at dusk, a cold evening, a mist sitting in the dips of the fields,all the surrounding wind turbines (and there are quite a few now) at a standstill, smoke from the neighbour`s chimney rising straight up into a clear sky, Ben Rinnes a sharp silhouette in the distance and the urgent alarm calls of several blackbirds echoing across the field only serving to emphasize the otherwise perfectly still atmosphere.

Sunday 02.11.2014

Driving back quite late last night through driving rain and a wind that was strewing the road with piles of wet leaves and chucking the odd branch across the bonnet of the car I assumed we`d be confined to barracks this morning but instead it was a dazzling, sparkly, fresh-washed autumn morning, all decked out in poster-paint colours, the sun with plenty of warmth left in it and the dogs skipping about like puppies.

We had the best of it as the odd grey zeppelin began to float overhead when we were on our way back,

anticipating coffee, toast and honey and feeling full of the joys of...well...life I suppose, or at least a (fairly) early morning walk with the dogs in the woods. :)

Friday 31.10.2014

Grey and damp but so mild it was delicious walking - even the spots of rain were warm and the autumn scents were rich with that year-on-the-turn poignancy. Big skies

and autumn colours.

Really wouldn`t want to live in a country where the weather was the same day in and day out.

Wednesday 29.10.2014

A glorious autumn walk this mild and sunny morning, nature imitating art

and spectacular colours wherever you looked.....

It was the perfect end to a long weekend of over-indulgence, jollity and much struggling with my school-girl French as L&P got married in rainy Perthshire: a country wedding in the best possible sense in a barn with flowers and food and music, truly a couple of days to remember. Congratulations to a lovely couple!

Sunday 19.10.2014

I wish it was an original simile but I recently read it somewhere and today that was it exactly - the air so soft it was like silk caressing your skin. Wow! In October! Gorgeous day - breezy, sunny, busy sky

trees on the turn

and that mild silky air.

Back from travels for a fortnight now and brain just about caught up with body. One final post on therewillbechickens and then it will be put on hold...until the next trip.... :)

Did have quite a lot of time for reading btw:
(i) approached Alain de Botton`s The Art of Travel with trepidation as bit suspicious of philosophers but loved it
(ii) The Urban Circus by Catriona Rainsford an excellent piece of travel writing about an unusual subject
and (iii) still not quite finished the seriously disturbing (thank you J!) but excellently written The Panopticon by Jenni Fagan

Also in the middle of Michael Rosen`s latest - Good Ideas -which should be required reading for every teacher and parent in the land: guaranteed to revive the jaded.

Sunday 12.10.2014

The earlier golden autumn light had disappeared behind banks of grey cloud by the time we were able to get out this afternoon but somehow it mattered not. Cool wind, spits and spots of drizzle but it felt good to be walking in a place I understood: recognizable sounds, scents and wildlife and the seasons moving on just as they should. Our adventures in Ecuador have been brilliant but familiarity has its own rewards.

Wednesday 10.09.2014

Imagine the most perfect September day. This was it: the geometry of the season,

the very first signs of leaves on the turn,

a warm sun and that indefinable scent of change in the air.
My favourite time of year which is why I`m spending the rest of the month more than five and a half thousand miles away......some are born contrary, some achieve contrariness and some have contrariness thrust upon them, to mangle The Bard.

Some posts here but hopefully a fuller account at www.therewillbechickens.blogspot.co.uk

Hasta luego!

Sunday 31.08.2014

An absolutely perfect late summer evening in the woods,fresh-washed from the last 48 hours or so of monsoon, light and shade

and long shadows,

signs of autumn

but the beasts still out on the top of the hill.

It was hard to resist the urge to sing a few bars of Fool on the Hill:

"The fool on the hill
Sees the sun going down
And the eyes in his head
See the world spinning around"

so we didn`t, which brought us an interested audience.

August may have seen limited walking (bad leg, now restored to full health), ridiculously long, wet grass which involved more wading than walking (grass now cut), much Shambala Silliness**,

not to mention the arrival of one Winifred Merry Marzipan Sparkes (congrats to K&D as well as new Grandparents and one Great-Grandmother) but now it is onwards and upwards and the next BookBus adventure.****


**www.shambalafestival.org
**** http://therewillbechickens.blogspot.co.uk/

Friday 15.08.2014

A benign afternoon after the various monsoons we`ve had this week. Grass in the woods really needs a panga to get through just now



so instead took a gentle stroll round the "estate"...it`s too easy to take the old homestead for granted......

Very different to the landscape which we`ll be heading towards exactly four weeks today.....

www.therewillbechickens.blogspot.co.uk

Wednesday 30.07.2014

Walking (but not working of course)curtailed by bad leg - a slight contretemps with a garden implement - however spent last couple of days house-sitting a couple of wee terriers who like to take it relatively easy in the warmer weather.

So today it was a gentle stroll down by the river

alternative views of Bennachie,

high summer landscapes

and more splendid views from the house.

Simple pleasures :)

Saturday 12.07.2014

Grass too long, sun too hot, flies too numerous....so today, in slightly cooler conditions, we eschewed the woods and went on a road trip, round Broom Hill via a rather splendid mushroom - yup, just the one - and a distant view of white sails ......

Tarmac`s hard on the legs though......

Wednesday 02.07.2014

A full on summer morning, not clear and sunny like yesterday but warmly overcast, the air full of pollen and bees and butterflies, chest-high cow parsley and purple grasses - a veritable jungle -

So in the interim there has been much walking, both fast and slow:







meandering the streets of Sicily,

taking in the splendours of Milan,

seeing Naples and not dying

which meant we could go on to be delighted by the tranquility of Verona......

....after the madness of Rome and before the laid-backness which was Amsterdam.......

and the ferry back.

Since then there`s been more pounding of city streets in Glasgow (Balkanarama* - phew!)

gentle strolls round picturesque lochs for semi-significant birthdays which for that very reason ended up at the best cake shop in the Highlands

and its quite stunning surroundings. **




So hey-ho - back to work, walks and blogs........could be worse......



* "Balkanarama: a blend of klezmer, Balkan, gypsy punk and electronic beats featuring live music, bellydancing, VJs and a live jam session"

** http://www.inshriachnursery.co.uk/
http://www.inshriachnursery.co.uk/the-potting-shed-tearoom