Frying Tonight

More author events rattling in, so I watch Michael Morpurgo for a bit of inspiration. He too had a shaky start in English back at school, as did Roald Dahl. This gives me a little comfort. I mainly empathise with the way Morpurgo pours the fresh story out into ‘the cup’ before it gets cold, […]

Eagles and the Big Draw

The month of October has been nothing short of a blessing. Book drafts were finished off and a nice break on the Cowal Penisula meant we had some great sightings of Sea Eagles and some truly superb meals. Apart from our own nosh at the Kilfinan post office, we managed to visit some of the […]

The Wild Geese

July has been a scorcher of a month, with more voyages in the family tub, the Wilding, and a trip across to deepest Majorca, or Mallorca, as the Spanish call it. Loch Lomond has been idyllic this month. Often flat-calm, we saw plenty of Ospreys, Goosanders and irate, posh boat owners. I don’t know what […]

A Swish of the Pen, A Dip in the Loch

A dip in the loch The last time I went for a paddle in Loch Lomond would have been about 20 years ago. I put my toe back in this weekend. It was 23 degrees and we had our own wee private beach. We really are very lucky to live beside such a beautiful place. […]

The Big Hoose

After a refreshing swim, I settle down to some lunch and then walk the gardens of the place I once worked and played. Cameron House, formerly the home of Sir Patrick Telford Smollett, it is now a full-blown De Vere Hotel. It was, however, a stately home when I first ran along the grassy lawn […]

Up Up and Away?

Apparently not, if you want to fly anywhere… This is as close as I came to flying during my Easter break, thank goodness. Unfortunately the camera missed my forward double twist roll. Ah well… Wee Joe has a nice pose as does Ruthy. This is Brora just before the ash from Iceland started to clog up […]

A Walk on the Wild side…

It started off so well… A brisk, Easter Day walk round Ardmore Point with Betsy, was the idea. There was sun, a full complement of Wildings (7, including Betsy – the dog)and a cold to shake off. I went ahead with my eldest daughter, Emma, only to discover that we’d actually slipped into another dimension and […]