Memories of Winter

Memories of Winter.......

This was taken last December 2010. Beautiful day lovely sunshine.

I wandered out with my camera and found the sun shining on the frost.

With a little bit of artistic licence (water colour enhancement) this picture has texture qualities.

2011 Lambing

This little lady managed to deliver twins herself. She started lambing about 10.00am and produced these wee wonders at 11.00am.....Brilliant.

The weather has been really kind. Just for a change.

Actually it has been amazing, we had such bad weather from late November until the end of January.....

Fireplace

After all the fanfare of finishing my ROOF I decided that the fireplace should now take centre stage.

Jim Duncan (who is a fine stonemason) took on the challenge.

My thoughts coincided wi

th his and he has come up with a superb design. We have used Nigg sandstone (courtesy of Johnny Ross).....

Strangely the living room is the same size as my flat was in Thames Ditton........More photos to follow as work progresses...

All the stonework finished. Just need to plaster the lintel, do recessed pointing, tile the back and splash out some more money on a suitable burner......

Wetting Head of Roof

The rear view.

It has taken 2 years and seven months to get this roof finished......

Ok I don't rush into things. However I decided to have a "Wetting of the head" of my roof. It has been an epic voyage....especially as I don't like heights and and and and....hate roofing.

Money is/was and in fact probably always be an issue: So here it is in all it's glory. My roof.

The front view

Left to right........Chris & Brian.... Thanks guys.

Left to right....Susan, Derek & Johnny.

Yes we do make cocktails from Heinz tomato ketchup in Rogart!......

Check out the space heater in the background..mad.

It was really warm but I think the insurance company just might have had grounds for a fraudulent claim

Natural Tendencies

Finally managed to get some attention.

Irene has been helping me for the last couple of years and came up with this....

Be there or be square!!!

Check out the

URL.....http://naturaltendenciesart.wordpress.com/

The Guy That Says Goodbye

This was MY view of Loch Preas nan Sgiathanach yesterday evening. Mum used to say that if you can see three peaks on the horizon there will be a change in the weather.

Today it is glorious, not a cloud in the sky, we have had such bad weather......

Also, I have noticed that a full moon heralds a change in the weather. It was a full moon 2 nights back.

Unfortunately I missed the best shot, the Loch had distinct contrasts of colour, I went to change the batteries on the camera and by the time I got back this was the view.

We now have an addition to the family. Charlie came up with the name "Echo"........Not that I have to repeat things........

She is 11 weeks old and very very naughty.

Yesterday I found a dead lamb. She had been sick for a while, the recent cold night must have been the final nail in the coffin. How was I going to catch the mother?.

I made a small pen in the corner of the field and placed the dead lamb in it. Made sure Echo was well away from the action on the other side of the fence and tried repeatedly to coax the ewe into the corner...After the third attempt I noticed out of the corner of my eye Echo had managed to get through the fence and was helping me.......slowly we got the ewe to the corner....Echo was brilliant she just walked to my left watching me and watching the ewe.....When the ewe got close to her dead lamb she started to stamp her foot defending the lamb.....Echo took the hint and retreated slowly......I grabbed the ewe and walked her into my trailer.

Eleven weeks old and she helped me..............One of a kind....

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9oG1IfQx9Oc

"The guy that says goodbye to you is out of his mind"

Griffin House..........

The Cossack

Alec Vass........The "Cossack".........

We all await our fate, most people have their plots arranged. Alec was probably the most generous person that you could wish to meet. Sadly missed. Yet another character lost to the mists of time. Look at his face. Tell me that you cannot feel the wind, the rain, the driving snow.

A face etched by years of struggling against the elements

His eyes reflect a time where Highland Hospitality was at its prime.

This is not an epitaph. Just an observation.

We should all step back a wee bit sometimes and observe how we interact with this precious place we call Earth.

Late in the day, light is the most revealing.

Thanks Alec.