Today has been a beautiful day, cold and bright. One of those days when we feel privileged to live in such a wonderful place. One of those days that make us forgive Skye instantly for any amount of bad weather previously thrown at us over the winter. When the glen looks stunning from top…
…to bottom…
One of those days that our fellow residents seem to appreciate – along with each other’s company!
They are, but not as exciting as the arrival of our first twin grandchildren! Don’t worry, this isn’t going to turn into a gloating granny blog, but I couldn’t resist sharing our special event. Jake and Holly were born yesterday, to Matthew and Sarah, in the early afternoon at 33 weeks. Holly was first into the world weighing 4lb 7oz, Jake half an hour later at 4lb 12oz. A bit of an ordeal for poor Sarah but she is now fine and both babies doing well, Holly being taken out of her incubator for the first time today letting the new mum and dad have their first cuddle. It looks like Jake might have to wait for his until tomorrow! I’m pleased to say that Matt also sounds fully recovered today!
Holly
Jake
After reading some fellow bloggers’ posts about seeds for spring and indeed seedlings in some cases (you know who you are!), I think I suffered a bout of over-excitement or possibly an early onset of spring fever, especially after my seed potatoes arrived at the weekend! However, after delving into my seed packets and checking the planting dates (February-March at the earliest), reality kicked in and reminded me that hey, we’re on the same latitude as Alaska here - the perfect antidote for spring fever! So I consoled myself by arranging my seed potatoes in egg cartons for chitting. (Charlotte as earlies, Desiree main crop)
I was also pleased to see that all my geranium cuttings are flourishing and the plants which I brought in to overwinter are producing plenty of new shoots.
To quash any further feelings of feverishness, today has been one of those days on the weather front. All mist, drizzle and gloom, yesterday’s scene in danger of disappearing…
…so it became one of those days…
…one to be spent with a couple of Highlanders – no, not the kilted variety!
It’s been a funny old day weather-wise in the glen today with conditions changing almost by the minute. We haven’t managed to reach 5 C but thankfully there’s been no wind so when the hail showers passed through, at least they were straight down rather than in your face! As you can see, we even managed the occasional sunshine with shower!
The following pictures of the ridge were taken within half an hour of each other…
Over the weekend there was an indoor scene which took on a different look too. Any readers last week may remember that I’d decided to have a go at drawing a picture of our first ducklings. Well, the drawing went O.K. but the minute I approached it with my BIG GREEN BRUSH, I felt an inevitable trip to the kitchen bin coming on! (Do worms dispose of failed watercolours I wonder?) Anyway, I carried on with the ducklings themselves and the painting ended up not too bad in the scheme of things. (memo to self: Me+big brush+watercolour = disaster ; me+small brush+watercolour = potential – take heed!) Not to be defeated (or maybe I’m just a glutton for punishment) I decided to try the same scene in acrylics. My mum-in-law bought a set for me a couple of years ago and I’ve been threatening to do something with them ever since, so here was my chance! Now perfection it ain’t, but I was pleasantly surprised with the outcome and it’s encouraged me to use them again at least. All in all, I’m happiest with the acrylic painting.
You might have noticed that the water dish is missing on the second painting. That’s because me+1st time using acrylics+painting water = way too big a challenge!
Yup, the gales have returned so it’s been a case of completing outdoor chores as quickly as possible and then diving for cover! All the ducks were of a similar mind, forsaking foraging afield and taking shelter within the confines of the garden. Of course there was all the usual social manoeuvering between the muscovies and Aylesburys before they can get settled, made all the more difficult with the inter-species language barrier! Anyway, during a brief lull between bouts of horizontal precipitation, I thought I’d take you for a wee windy walk around the garden. Chickens don’t feature in this as they didn’t make an appearance, not even in their winter spa facility! It was too cold to go searching but never fear, they have reappeared since!
Well, I hope you weren’t getting too excited about the 14 day wormery inspection! As you can see, there’s not a great deal of change, although at least the wormies haven’t pushed everything to the side of their ‘plate’, like a child re-arranging its food when trying to avoid a brussels sprout! At least there were only two of the wee fellas squirming around at the top of the bin. Presumably the spec-less ones eventually blundered their way home and decided to stay put - hopefully they’ll give their pals a shout to join them! Anyway, in the hope of giving things a helping hand, I’ve taken the advice of fellow blogger and experienced worm person, Cecilia, at http://thekitchensgarden.wordpress.com who suggested cooking the tougher veg before offering it to the worms. Hopefully this method will make the food more palatable for the wee fellas and that they will appreciate all this special effort on my part!
I only hope that you can contain yourselves until this time next week for the three-week inspection!
Although the weather has deteriorated into yet more gales accompanied by some bouts of particularly aggressive hailstone, here are a couple of cheery sights to give us hope that spring and kinder weather are indeed not too far away…
Almost open!
Daffodil shoots
All your lovely comments about my Wallace drawing – thankyou - have spurred me on and give me hope that I may have success in another venture! We’ll see. For better or for worse, I’ve decided to try a feathery subject this time - our first ducklings, hatched almost three years ago. Now, I can draw reasonably well when I put my mind to it, but a group of anything is generally something to avoid! I read a tip in a drawing book once which does make the task less daunting however. I used this method successfully with piglets, so thought that ducks – or more to the point, I – might benefit from the same treatment. Basically, scan the picture you want to draw, draw a grid over the picture then copy that grid – same size or scaled down – onto your paper. Hey presto! It’s then like drawing lots of small pictures to make one big one, just rub out the grid lines. I remember similar things in puzzle books as a child.
You may or may not see the result of this one!
I finally finished my Wallace portrait today, and I’m quite pleased with it…
…though Wallace himself didn’t seem to be particularly impressed.
“But you’ve made me look cross-eyed!”
“ No Wal, it’s what you call ‘artistic licence’ – adds more character you know. Honest“
Some of you may remember that recently I was in search of a non-roasting recipe for duck (Any roof will do) after two of our muscovies went beyond their ‘Best for Plucking’ date and we had to skin them. Well, our friend and neighbour, Dorinha, found just the thing – Duck ragu.
Serves 8
½ tbsp. Olive oil
4 duck portions, skin & fat removed
1 Lg. onion, finely chopped
2 med. carrots, finely chopped
1 celery stick, finely chopped
2 garlic cloves, crushed
150 ml red wine
500 ml hot chicken stock
400 g tin plum tomatoes
2 tbsp. tomato puree
1 tbsp. dried basil
1 bay leaf
If you have an older bird, then cooking in a slow cooker for 3-4 hours on HIGH, as I did, is ideal and then continue with the last three points.
I’ll tell you something though, looking at that lovely, red duck breast, it looked good enought to eat raw!
And now, from food to feline, a quick update on the Wallace portrait. The bulk of the work is now complete, just some ‘darkening’ pen-work and the dreaded application of watercolour when everything could go pear-shaped!
The first good thing to arrive at Garybuie (well, the whole of the U.K. actually) is the first ridge of high pressure since I don’t remember when! Consequently, gone are the gales and seemingly constant rain, with colder, crisper conditions taking their place. Of course along with this high pressure come some sights not seen around the place for some considerable time.
Such as hens enjoying some winter sun…
…blue sky over the ridge…
…a shadow…
…ducks NOT having to hang on to their perch for dear life…
…and Hamie doing cat things OUTSIDE rather than causing trouble INSIDE…!
The second good thing is that today I received an award! It came via a fellow blogger over in the U.S.A and you can find her at
http://thekitchensgarden.wordpress.com It’s a great place to visit with some heartwarming stories and some stunning photography. And here’s the award!
apparently, liebster is german for ‘dearest’ or ‘favourite’. Now although I do read quite a few blogs, there are only a few which I visit most days and those particular few are well written, usually with some lovely photos and obviously are concerned with subjects dear to my own heart. And so I would like to pass on The Liebster Blog award to two of my favourite blogs…
http://morningbrayfarm.com/ - for its wonderful world of donkeys (especially Bernard!) and other critters
AND
http://teri-gonewalkabout2.blogspot.com – for her tales of travel, her love of life, the world and all that live in it.
I feel like we should get the Bubbly out or something!
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