Indian Summer

For those of you who greeted the news of our move to Scotland with 'What do you want to go there for - it always rains and the midges are terrible', here are some pictures to put your mind at rest... in truth we have been very blessed with a good summer which has made all the loading and unloading of vans and cars so much easier.



Hanging out the washing becomes less of a chore with a view like this.....

The veggies are doing well despite the attacks from slugs and pigeons. The war on Brer rabbit continues and I have spent most of the afternoon fixing rabbit proof fencing to a breach in the back fence and also to the new gate which hopefully will also stop Rhema and Bethan investigating the stream and ponds at close quarters! There is still a lot of colour and interest in the garden and plenty to keep me busy.

It's not just the cultivated plants which are thriving .......not 'lilies of the field' but certainly growing wild and in my opinion would definately put Solomon in the shade....

Rhema - our intrepid gun dog, when not soaking wet from the stream is usually to be found looking as foolish as ever - this time with a toy lamb given to her by Seth and Charis as a leaving present -it is her favourite toy now and as she seems to have few gun dog instincts I don't think that there is any danger of her picking up the real thing!!

Rhema and I took a break from our labours today for a stroll down to Loch Moy which lies less than ten minutes walk from our back door. We did actually have a couple of days of heavy rain earlier in the month and the level of the loch rose considerably. The small island, although not submerged had much less land visible above water than normal. According to local history, prisoners used to be secured to a ring embedded in the island overnight while their fate was decided. In the morning they were either released or executed - not the stuff that sweet dreams are made of......a rising water level wouldn't have helped much either......

The 'front' garden survived our efforts with the

ride on lawnmower but with the warm weather

is needing attention again .

I fly down to Belmont tomorrow for two weeks.. It will be a hectic time as I am working for ten days on NNU and in the intervening few days will visiting a fabric warehouse in North London with Sarah to choose some new furnishings, helping Tim and Ruth move on 24th and hopefully completing on the house in Belmont on 25th! We are looking forward to Tim, Ruth, Bethan and Toby coming up to stay for a week at the beginning of October.

I was told this morning that last year the first snow fell here at the end of October. It seems hard to believe but the rapid change from one season to the next is something we will need to adjust to. At the moment we enjoy about an hour extra daylight than Belmont but that will have changed by the time I get back. On the plus side......there will be log fires to look forward to and a mobile library that will come to the door if requested, not to mention all those seed catalogues to browse!