The four seasons of Drumnadrochit...

Spring in the Highlands

Apart from having a wonderfully colourful name, it appears Drumnadrochit also has some wonderfully colourful weather. And in the first week of our holiday we managed to experience most of it. Snow and sunshine, downpours and gales, made for interesting week utilising all the rich variety of clothing we had bought with us. But being a typical Highland May, woolly hats featured plenty, as did waterproofs and wellies.

 Travelling in style

Feeding Pharaoh was a daily highlight

 

And storytime was a personal favourite

The local eggs were top class - all 6 were double yokers!

 Dandelions featured plenty too...

 The dizzyingly impressive Plodda Falls

 Wading in rivers was a joy

 And trying to push over trees

 Success at last!

 Sheer Highland joy

 Getting to pet rabbits

 Out with Mummy

 More stream wading

 

Still, a bit of weather never stopped the Rooke's holiday adventures and there was much to keep us amused. There were some stunning walks in Glen Affric (which has to be one of my favourite glens); waterfalls and more waterfalls; playing in rivers and lochs; cycle rides on big bikes and little bikes; managing another couple of munros; a trip to the animal park; Daddy/Daughter story time; searching for Nessie; and meeting up with Tanya’s school friend, Hayley and her family. All in all, a cracking first week of our May holiday, which, despite appearances, really is the best month to explore Scotland's wild places...

Videoclip: Travelling in all weathers 

But then nothing in life is straight forward, and trouble can strike at any moment on a campervan adventure. So despite DDU (our campervan/my 4th love) being on great form for a change and thoroughly enjoying being back on the road, he decided to break his clutch about 200yds before the Forth Road Bridge. Not a good place to break down. In fact, not good full stop. This didn't bode well for week two...

 The girls were unimpressed and ignored Daddy in the back of the recovery van

Lowering the tone at the Gurney's in North Berwick

Tomatoes: The toddler’s oyster…

Being a supreme being, Emily is already trialling the skills required for high society. Her love of books bodes well for taking on the classics. Her joy at running and jumping is preparing her deportment well for her first May Ball. And her love of food gives her a head start in fine dining and the gourmet delights enjoyed by the upper crust.

One particular skill she has developed recently is tomato eating ‘in an oyster stylee’. It is a culinary delight which gives her much satisfaction. The deft and dextrous way in which she ‘sups’ on the red fruit might leave the beholder in no doubt that this little lady is destined for the higher echelons of society. Or then again maybe it might not.  Whether this be true only time will tell. Till then I’ll leave you to make your own mind up…

 One nicely supped packet of tomatoes...

Videoclip: Upper crust oyster training...

 Post-tomato/oyster eating face

Seeing stars...

The last thing I need or have time for in my life, is a new hobby. Nonetheless, the fine weather over the past few weeks has meant that my new garden obsession has now extended beyond daylight hours to watching the sun set and the moon rise. I have been fixated by observing Venus track the Moon across the sky. And, whilst I am no stargazer, the world of easily downloadable apps means that any amateur can learn the basics. So I did. Whilst the weather held in April.

Moon and Venus Part 1

Moon and Venus Part 2

Obviously the weather in Scotland is never that good for that long, so this week has seen us back to freezing winds and cloudy skies. Just in time for our holiday to the Highlands and then on to some Borders beaches...Brrrrr...it will definitely be parky if it doesn't perk up. The supreme being is really excited about our 'oliday, and is counting down the hours till we go (as I am, I have to add). We've splashed out on a new van bed for Emily, and if the weather is warm enough we'll get to try it out. She is of course delighted at the prospect and promptly fell into a pretend sleep. Let's hope she gets some for real whilst we're away...

See you in a fortnight :-)

Trialling the new van bed

A Golden Easter...

It was a Golden Easter this year. All of Tanya's family (Gediks, Gurneys and us Rookes) had arranged to go away to a lovely, luxury house in Bamburgh, Northumberland, to celebrate Nana and Baba Gedik's Golden 'Getting Together'. This slightly unusual celebration does break somewhat with the tradition of Golden Wedding celebrations, but it appears that Nana and Baba were somewhat greedy and had a few weddings in 1965, so never quite knew which one to actually celebrate as their official anniversary. Oh well, we thought what the heck, let's celebrate them all!

For those of you that have not been to Bamburgh it's really worth a stop. It features an imposing castle home to the Kings of Northumberland in the first millenium; a stunning and expansive beach and sand dunes to climb; and a lovely and well-kempt village with some wonderful houses to ogle at. We were lucky enough to all be spoiled staying in a lovely house in the village, which became the centrepiece for a weekend full of food, sun, conversation, merriement, game playing, adventures and chocolate. A brilliant time was had by all, particularly as the kids are now at an age where they seem to entertain each other, so the adults all got to relax as well. It was a really memorable time and a truly fitting celebration to 50 years together for two lovely, lovely people.

Happy Golden "Getting Together" Nana and Baba :-)

 The happy couple with a party cannon

View of Bamburgh Castle from the garden (we had terrible weather)

 An Easter Supreme Being

 The local wildlife

 The girls (minus Rosie and Ciara)

 Three generations

 Local street urchins

 Searching for the stars

 One happy Easter Egg hunt champion

 Sunset on Bamburgh

Sid Vicious vs The Supreme Being...

The supreme being has started really getting into her music. She loves dancing to a whole variety of tunes and Daddy's Friday Night disco fever is a particular highlight of my week. She's also taken to 'playing' a full range of instruments. This generally involves bashing, blowing, strumming or shaking whatever instrument it is as hard as she can. Certainly plenty of enthusiasm there, although a bit early to tell whether there is any natural talent. In fact her recent renditions are somewhat akin to the early days of punk or thrash, and she has done some interesting remixing of all-time classic childrens tracks.

Videoclip: Twinkle twinkle (punk remix)

Spring is springing...

Ah Spring is definitely springing...daffodils, crocuses and snowdrops appearing. The sun starting to shine with a warmth that feels wonderful on your face. Lighter evenings and mornings. It all starts to make me feel good.

 Jumbo sized sweet jar

And then Mother's Day appears like the financial sting in winter's tail. If Mummy hadn't fleeced me enough with Christmas, her birthday and our anniversary, this year caught me particularly on the hop on the back of our recent house purchase. And so I resorted to assisting Emily and Mummy enjoy Mother's Day by munching their way through an rather large sized jar of retro sweets. All quite exciting until the sugar rush kicked in, which was quickly followed by the sugar crash. Not very pretty to be honest...particularly with 3 kids and 2 grown women (the Gurney's were visiting) all going through the same sugary cycle at once. Still am sure the dentists will be clapping their hands with delight.

 Butter wouldn't melt before the sugar kicked in

 It all started with just one lollipop

And before you know it she looks like a liquorice allsort

Emily's really taken to our garden now that the sun is out. Which is great news for us and great news for the inside of our house, as we hope this love of the outdoors will be reflected in a reduction of internal chaos. The supreme being has also taken to a spot of photography, filling my memory card with a toddler's eye view of the world.

 Ball on Grass: A spring retrospective

And then the spring sun really came out. I love the poem 'Today' by Billy Collins...and last Saturday reminded me just of that.

If ever there were a spring day so perfect,
so uplifted by a warm intermittent breeze

that it made you want to throw
open all the windows in the house

and unlatch the door to the canary's cage,
indeed, rip the little door from its jamb,

a day when the cool brick paths
and the garden bursting with peonies

seemed so etched in sunlight
that you felt like taking

a hammer to the glass paperweight
on the living room end table,

releasing the inhabitants
from their snow-covered cottage

so they could walk out,
holding hands and squinting

into this larger dome of blue and white,
well, today is just that kind of day.

To celebrate the best day so far of Spring's arrival, I wanted to take Emily up the Campsies for a hill walk where, for once, she wasn't going to be carried all the way to the top. It didn't quite pan out like that, as she did insist on being carried for some of it, but I did have a really quality Daddy-Daughter experience, and she rushed home to tell Mummy how she had climbed 'Daddy sizes mountains'. It was most restorative and just what I needed after a winter that seems to have been really dragging its heels in disappearing.

 Snack time half way up

Stunning sunset in our new garden

I need an axe...

There comes a time in every mans life when he needs to purchase an axe. 2 weeks into the new house and it seems that my axe-purchasing time has come. We are really settling in, and whilst there isn't any really major stuff that needs doing, there are lots of things that could be done. Extending the gateway to the drive was one, to make sure DDU (now 4th favourite) gets to sit alongside the house rather than on the road. And so I needed to purchase an axe. That's me, man of axe, and now truly come of middle-age.

 Man and Axe

The supreme being is loving the new house. She loves the space inside and running around in it. And, weather permitting, she loves the garden too and running around in that. She has also really got back into her book reading since the move which is great. She must get through 20 or so a day. Her favourite place to sit and 'read' is on her new window seat made by Mummy. It's a lovely spot and so we often join her and read with her too. Family life has never been so good :-)

 New window seat and comedy glasses

 Discovering posing for the photo

 Videoclip: Reading stories - Pittipats