We enjoyed having Bethan and Toby to stay for a couple of nights while Tim and Ruth did some serious walking - not the kind that we did on the last day when it took us all afternoon to cover a mile (flowers to pick, pooh sticks to play, feathers to collect......). Joe's Mum, Kaye has also been up for a few days, staying with Sarah and Joe in Culloden and they came to the local flower show where I made my mark. Those of you that have taken jars of jam home from here can legitimately call it 'award winning jam' !
In between establishing ourselves as a holiday destination the work has been cracking on in the house. Although 
the plastering hasn't been done yet, the 
decorators have stripped and lined most of the walls in the affected rooms and I am ecstatic at having men who not only take the light switches off the walls before wallpapering but the radiators as well. Not only that but they take the catches off the windows before painting them!!!! The house is encased in scaffolding and the repair to the harling is in progress. Unfortunately the harling on the North side of the house was found to be 'blown' and is having to be stripped off. This isn't covered
by insurance (ouch) but at least it was discovered now - the surveyor said it wouldn't have lasted another winter. I am starting to strip the shellac off the banisters and balustrade which is time consuming as there are three floors and I can only work once the workmen have gone for the day. The hinges, catches and finger pulls on all the shutters are also being 
stripped and as there are approximately sixteen items on each window and six windows worth - well, a lot of nitromors and steel wool!!There has been the odd hitch with the work progressing so quickly - the ceilings were papered one afternoon when we were out before the electrician had been to move the light fittings (doh!) but on the whole things are going well and we are hoping to be back in th
e house at the end of October. I am still camping here which has worked well and has certainly made caring for the birds morning and evening much easier but there is a decided nip in the air then and the shops have started stocking snow shovels. The first snow fell on Cairngorm last week so not long until the ski-ing season begins! By way of compensation we have had some fantastic weather and the starscapes are amazing as it is so dark at night.One particular dark night I elected to take a torch across to the tent and was startled by a large animal running across my path - about the size of a cat but not the shape of a cat, low to the ground and with a pointed head. I swung the torch around to get a better look but there was no sign of it and then by chance I caught a glimpse of a field mouse scuttling away - it had thrown up a huge shadow in the torchlight - out of such experiences do Loch Ness monster stories grow.......
We still have tups in the field from David (our local farmer) who are doing a good job of mowing the paddock even if they do occasionally worry me by playing dead.
The chickens continue to lay well and we are inundated with eggs - possibly spinach flavoured after they got under the netting one afternoon and demolished the lot - no wonder they seem so content. We are still picking mange tout and kale but tomatoes are only just ripening and the runner beans, although covered with small pods are unlikely to grow to maturity. We haven't had time to finish the polytunnel and as we are forecast another severe winter I am tempted not to expose the polythene to the elements if I'm not going to have the time to use it much this winter - we shall see. The turkeys are growing rapidly and seem content but I was disconcerted to see a pine marten running away across the paddock last night when I was going to shut them in. Pine Martens will attack poultry so we will need to be very vigilant about shutting them in before dusk. Pete says he has a humane pine marten trap but the problem then is what to do with it - could we be about to have the first sighting of a pine marten in Sutton.....
This week-end I am going to the Drug Proof Your Kids update in Glasgow with a view to running the course here next year. It will be interesting to get a Scottish perspective on the issues surrounding drugs and alcohol and I am looking forward to brushing up my knowledge. I'm driving down to Sutton as soon as the conference finishes for a few days work which may be my last for a while as we will have our hands full moving back in and doing all the extra decorating bits as well as putting the garden to bed for the winter - remember the leaves this time last year?
I'm getting a couple of long shifts a week up here now so am gradually making the transition...with everything else that's going on it's more than enough.
