Sunday 23.02.2020

After the fleshpots of Glasgow - not to mention the torrentials - of which more in a bit, this morning on Bennachie rebooted the system.

Blowing a hooley but clear and bright. The path up from Rowantree afforded some shelter at first

but once out in the open we were at the mercy of the wind, the force of which increased as we neared the top of Mither Tap, the remains of yesterday`s sleet showers frozen into the rocks so at times it felt like we were climbing a stairway to heaven (cue song).

Nearly blown away at the top but keeping our heads down we managed a few pics

before heading down, fireside and a wee dram beckoning.

Couldn`t have been more different to Glasgow weatherwise which was wind and rain of Noah`s Ark proportions but nevertheless we enjoyed:
- an excellent gig at the 02Academy viz: Noble Jacks (a revelation) & The Dead South (brilliant and funny)

- a visit to the Glasgow Print Studio to see an exhibition about Alasdair Gray, to discover for the first time (for me) photographer Oscar Marzaroli plus a tour of the Sharmanka Kinetic Theatre where we arrived just in time for one of their shows - weird and wonderful.

- a brief call in at GoMA (The Gallery of Modern Art)

- various food/coffee/alcohol stops including The Scotia pub,The Glasvegan, Cafe Gandolfi and, as a finale,Sarti on Renfield Street
for the best Spaghetti Carbonara I have ever eaten.

In between, much conversation, discussion and random encounters with one of our company`s long lost friends.

All in all a weekend well spent. :)

Tuesday 18/02/2020

The sun rose above the horizon just as I got to the top of our hill this morning,sending long,thin shadows shooting out across the grass. Up above a lark simultaneously heralded the arrival of the new day....not a bad way to start it.

Another blustery one but bright blue and white again and much quieter in the woods at lunchtime, the birdsong audible over the gentler soughing of the trees.

The kind of day that encourages deep breathing, long strides and,just for a while, the banishment of any and all woes, worries and befuddlements..

Sunday 16.2.2020

Out three times today: this morning round the bounds, the wind blowing hard; tonight, in the gloaming, the wind blowing harder, sheep in the neighbouring field hunkered down in the lee of the gorse and a solitary star hanging in the slowly darkening sky; and, late morning, an hour in the woods on a beautiful bright blue day, the sun battling for supremacy with Storm Dennis who has wreaked more havoc down south than here but still tried to whip us off our feet.
(What`s with this Dennis business anyway - wouldn`t Hildegard or Thor reflect the ferocity of these storms a little better?)

The woods were wild and noisy, the trees being tossed about, crows surfing the wind,branches clattering and in some cases newly fallen.

Beautiful light

and a long cry from a dry if also windy Glasgow though the band at the Friday night gig would doubtless dismiss our winds as pretty puny seeing as how they hail from Mongolia.......The Hu - absolutely spectacular stuff.

https://www.thehuofficial.com

Monday 27.01.2020

Needed to sweep away the cobwebs after a relatively lazy Sunday - not to mention a fair amount of foodie self-indulgence - so, well wrapped-up, quite welcomed the freezing wind that greeted us as we set off at lunchtime.

Such a bright, sharp day, we lingered a little longer in the woods, taking a path less walked which afforded different views

as well as the opportunity to check out some different trees....always forget how spendid these are, whatever the season.

Cobwebs duly dismissed, back by the fire, old dog has had enough and is snoring loudly but dog no. 2 and I may skip out and round the bounds later.....the days really are drawing out.

Tuesday 21.01.2020

Another day of unseasonably (whatever that means these days) mild temperatures. At least, they were mild here. Not so down south I believe - is schadenfreude the word? :)

What we didn`t have were the fiery skies, morning and evening, that we`ve had for the last couple of days, the sun in a bright blue sky and a lot of very confused birds: "it feels like Spring but it doesn`t look like Spring".

Instead we have been swathed in cloud for much of the day, low cloud when I beat the bounds first thing this morning and though it lifted for a few hours it descended again as we hit the woods later on in the afternoon.

Immediately we were transported to a strange and mystical place where the lichen glowed, the grass shone so green it hurt the eyes, the air was so still not even the smallest branch at the top of the tallest tree moved and the silence was deafening. Any kind of ghostly apparition or mythical creature could have appeared from behind a tree and it would not have been in the least surprising.

In other news Spendiferous Stories & Heady Ideas is finally up and running after quite a lot of false starts. I hope to have a lot of fun with it.

https://splendiferousstoriesheadyideas.blogspot.com

Friday 17.01.2020

So good they named it twice....and such a stonkingly beautiful day we made two forays: up into the woods in the early afternoon under a brilliant sky, an almost warm sun and a chill breeze that was invigorating and made you think you could walk for ever......even old dog skipped along a little and played with a stick for a while.

However, she `d had it by the time the evening beckoned us out again  (though she would have wearily accompanied us if she`d seen us go) so younger dog and I snuck out  to catch the last of the day around the bounds, a few clouds drifting in but still plenty of clear sky, dark silhouettes, twinkling lights just emerging across the hillsides in the distance and the first lone star - Venus? - hanging to the south. Magic.

                                           

Tuesday 14.01.2020

Caught the last of the light this afternoon (and it is lighter a little later every day when the sky is as clear as it has been today), and it was a fine stomp round.

However, the same tramp round this morning turned into something quite special: up before the sun though the eastern horizon was lightening, the now waning moon still high in the sky along with one remaining star. It was clear and cold and there were the lights of houses and moving traffic down below as the day got going.

As we turned along the boundary of the lower field and started to head back down there was a flock of birds wheeling over the adjacent field, a mixture of noisy crows and starlings twisting and turning and apparently having a high old time. But what made it extraordinary was the sudden appearance of hundreds more, rushing pell-mell to join them from every direction until there was the most enormous cloud of noisy delirious black shapes, a murmuration and a murder combined, quite the most awe-inspiring sight I can remember witnessing in a long time. And it felt like witnessing, not just watching, as if there was some sort of symbolic significance to the display. Quite a start to the day!

(It`s at times like this I feel my powers of description are woefully inadequate, further underlined by the fact that I`ve just read The Gallows Pole a novel by Benjamin Myers, a dark narrative set in 18th century Yorkshire, based on a true story of rogues and villains but with some of the most poetic and brilliant description of landscape I`ve come across. Us lesser mortals can only read in wonder.)