Fridays Fauna (and a fishy tale).

This morning when we looked out of the window into the field at the rear this is what we saw.

 The left hand side of the field has been ploughed, but the vast majority of said field remains with barley stubble.

The deer head off to the woodland.


I have mentioned before the big dips in the field.  One of which has filled with water and created an enormous pond.

So we now have ducks!  I did see the farmer some days ago marching round and hands on  hips and shaking his head as he examined this pond.  You really cannot win against nature!  Bit less barley this year, but hey, he can always shoot the ducks.

The hare doesn't mind what is underneath his feet.

And a trout beneath the Ospreys feet.  The DP has been asked to try and find where the Osprey is getting its trout from.  The male was seen eating a pike (!)  Above is the female.


We will not be telling anyone where the nest is.


Just have to tell you a funny story, well I thought it was.  Many years ago when I was living at home with M and D.  D who ran a garage, petrol and repairs, was often given stuff.  One day he was given a pike.  Freshly caught.  Mother sniffed and said "Put it on the floor."  So he did, laid on I seem to remember, The Barnsley Chronicle.
Mother continued preparing her speciality,  savoury mince, which was basically mince and peas swimming valiantly against a tide of very watery gravy.  As she stepped over the pike to dish up it jumped up and bit her.  (We managed to ditch the mince without anyone noticing.)  (Altho I did consider giving it to the pike as a reward.)

Well now -

As they say up here in the North East of Scotland,

Well, this is Puzzle when he was well , note the tummy touching the floor.

He is still with us.  A shadow of his former self.  We have nursed him along.  He has been fed mush, hot water in mush and lapped it, to save him from having to swallow big lumps.  Then suddenly, Monday, he got to the other cats biscuits before we did and crunched away and swallowed, and no 'orrible noises when so doing.  


Tuesday was much of the same, plus he was aroond and aboot doing the stuff he used to do.
Wednesday back at the vets.  She found a lump in his throat, which could be an abcess.  Look away now if you are squeamish, but if this grows and she will see him again Monday, then they can sort it!!!!


Back to the mundane, well no actually, back to the art.  Next two weeks is farming machinery and the older and more ruined the better.

As regular viewers of this blog you will know that the Dawn Patroller often discovers such gems.  So I have to provide photographs for said artists to  interpret in their own way.


Now here is a trumpet sound or whatever for the dawn patroller.  This is a photograph he took of a short eared owl and we had it put on to canvas.

Now on the dining room wall.


Back in the summer hoosie - my wall, of 'learning by your mistakes' the display of which took most of this afternoon - but I thought it was necessary.

Well now! 

Wednesday Witterings.

Yesterday some of the Fraserburgh Gang had coffee in Cafe Connect, followed by lunch at the Lighthouse Museum.

During the time we were together we finalised plans for our next volunteering stint in the local primary schools.  The bond that unites us is art and craft.  There is a variety of different skills within the group.  We have been asked to pass on those skills to the children and help them to design something -from a waste bin to a mural, garden bench to a floor design, for the new swimming pool and leisure centre , the building of which is to finish this summer.  As I am banned from classrooms and their germs I am to set up a facebook page.

 Our other project is this -

Every year in the North East of Scotland there is NEOS.  North East Open Studios.
It last a week and during that time you can tour round meeting artists in their studios, or in shops, in church halls et al.
Our lot are putting our art into a cd case and displaying it at a local doctors surgery.
(My contribution is Sith Cat at the bottom of the poster above.)
Last year we did knitted fish and ended up with over 600 from all over the world.
Watch this space.

Tuesday's twittering.

These are the roses I painted last week when they were in bud.  We have another session tomorrow on flowers so am not sure whether to paint them again now they are opening up.

My painting below.

I was going to collect up all the daffodils and tulips and cherry blossom and paint a big vase full, but down came the rain, along came the wind so unless there is a marked improvement it will be the roses again.  As the rest are flattened.

Before the change in the weather, the DP began getting ready for the erection of the new shed.


Earlier in the day, yesterday, we had what the DP said was five minutes of fun.  Whatever turns you on......


I had bought these space saver bags.  You put stuff in and then vacuum all the air out.

In the one above there is a Super kingsize quilt, 6 pillows, a cushion and some bedding.

Air vacuumed out, bloody amazing.  I have reduced two huge boxes of pillows, quilts and 6 drawers full of bedding to four of these crinkly efforts which take up hardly any space at all  in the bottom of one of the wardrobes.  Five minutes of fun - I was ecstatic. 


So much so I moved into the sitting room.  Having followed advice from magazines to have books interspersed with ornaments that is what I had done.  I then thought but you can't appreciate the ornaments/family heirlooms/objet d'art and some crap.

So - the shelf that faces you as you walk into the sitting room is now like this.


All the books apart from those under my bed are now all happily together on the other shelves to the right as you walk in.

At the moment they are placed in sort of  subject order like birds, flowers, gardening, crime, Dickens, poetry, whatever, but the magazines say I should colour coordinate.


I think I should stop buying magazines and twittering.

Mondays Meanderings.

Just look at this amazing poster, advertising See Scotland by Train.  The silhouettes of the buildings and the beach are still there, and I think the building, on the left, could be the Beach Cafe, which is also still there.

My second daughter works at the newly refurbished Museum in Edinburgh and sent me this.


Right, more history.



During the late Neolithic and early Bronze Age, a large number of, usually circular, burial mounds were erected in prominent locations to intern important members of the community. The rites of inhumation (in short, stone-lined cist graves), and cremation (in large pottery urns), were practised.  Aberdeenshire Council.

This one is huge, and is the remaining one of three, at Memsie, not far from here.

The picture below gives a better idea of the size as you can see the house behind it.

Nice view!

This morning's deer via the DP.

And as lambing continues apace some more aww pictures (and dreams of mint sauce Penny.)

I'll just meander along to the bottle of wine.

Sunday's Serendipety

Well - they looked straight when I ploughed them.

You never know when you might want a cup of tea.

One always has hope, (see previous post on our woodland.)

Snow, followed by sun, followed by hail, followed by sun.  Proper British Weather.

Awwww.

So good to know....

that life goes on.

It has been a year!

This is me making the decision that we would buy this house.  

Didnt really care about the main house, I just wanted this!

We moved in on April 15th 2011.

First to go was this lot.  Lylandii taking light from the kitchen and dining room and leaving us with no view.  Now we have one.

The house was well and truly warmed by all our friends and new neighbours.

Some transformations, such as my take on a luxury bedroom.
Into which grandchildren are also welcome.  (Along with a cat.)

I took up art again after many years.

We found we really were enjoying retirement from hosting a bed and breakfast.  (I havent really got blue lipstick on strange photo!)

And made lots of new friends.

Cherry Cottage we love you.

So guess what I am doing now?  Yep raising a glass of red.  Its been a good move.  And a good year.