For us it's been a whirlwind of circus, festivals and championships - or a combination of all of them at the same time. From the sublime to the bizarre, we've been experiencing a talent-tastic August. It's been so hectic, I've not had much time to write the blog and looking back at it all I clearly haven't manged to take many photos. But here goes...a whistlestop August tour...
First up came Zippo's Circus - a first for both our girls but on the back of their new found love of The Greatest Showman it was one they both delighted in. Then there was a festie re-enactment with camping in the garden in the pouring rain. Then there was Glasgow's European Championships and Festival with loads of sports and other top notch entertainment all over Glasgow. Then it was the turn of the Merchant City Festival before the Edinburgh Fringe, and finally the Kirkintilloch Canal Festival. Wow! I've never seen so much talent, or been to so many large scale events, in such a short space of time.
There's been jugglers, acrobats, trapeze artists; street theatre, dance and drumming; stunt bikes, road bikes and unicycles. Its been a miscellany of top talent of all varieties, shapes and sizes. We've oo'ed, ahh'ed and applauded like never before. The girls have copied, mimicked and performed. We've been entertained by the best - and seen the best that Scotland, and the world, has to offer. August has surely been a month of talent.
Welcome to the European Championships (Niomi has gone camera shy)
Maybe it's the exceptional weather we’re having but somehow everything seems to have grown and got really big, either that or we’ve all shrunk. Whatever, wherever we go at the moment the world seems to be a bit supersized.
Beach fun
We’re just back from a long weekend in Dumfries and Galloway in the van – Sands of Luce to be precise. The weather was fine and the vista massive as Sands of Luce stretch for miles and miles. Undaunted by the scale of it all the kids spent much time on the beach which was 20 yds from the van (so close to hand they regularly went in pyjamas), looking like tiny dots on the horizon. Then there was the monstrous plants at the Logan Botanical Gardens and the huge avenues of trees and 2 acre lily pond in the 75 acre grounds at Castle Kennedy, which are all well worth a visit. And then we returned to a garden which seemed to be erupting into a supersized existence. Sunflowers that must be 7ft high, pumpkins growing left, right and centre – enough for our own pumpkin festival, and then throw into the mix some lettuces, rocket and spinach that looks like it’s straight out of Mr McGregor’s garden and an apple tree creaking under the weight of its apples, and we’ve got a vegetable patch that’s truly blossoming with nature’s bounty. The world’s definitely gone large just now, and that's helping us love this summer that never ends 😎
In 20 years I’ve never had a completely successful beach holiday in Scotland. The beach in Scotland is generally a place which requires your inner Boy Scout; you need to be well prepared with thermals, windbreaks, waterproofs, plan b’s, escape routes etc. Last year in North Berwick we barely made the beach once, and that entailed a rather hasty windswept and sandy barbecue.
But this year was different. This year we did them all – Yellowcraigs, West and East North Berwick, Canty Bay, Seacliffs (x2) and Tyninghame. That’s pretty much all the major ones covered form Dirleton to Dunbar. Fantastic! We slapped on the factor 50 and picnicked on the beach without sand in the sandwiches. We dipped our toes, paddles and buckets in the North Sea as we jumped over waves, investigated rockpools, and kayaked round the bay. We built fires (for fun not cold) as we wildcamped by the beach. The kids cried with delight rather than cold. We even occasionally needed to escape the beach for a change of scene – unheard of! And on top of all that we dined like kings of the coast with a plethora of seafood. We did it! We had a proper beach holiday in Scotland 😊.
Thanks to the Gurney’s for letting us stay. The cats survived, just not sure they loved having us as much as they were ‘loved’ by our daughters 😊.
Niomi loves the Gurney's cats. Possibly a little too much. It seems that generally as she appears they seem to disappear. "Where cats go?" she cries hopefully. "I don't know" I untruthfully reply, whilst thinking that they're probably hiding a long way away. I never thought you could have too much love for something but now I know. Still her talking's coming along - even if it is talking to the cats.
Videoclip: Cat Pesterer
The weather's been incredible in the last few weeks. We've had blazing sun, torrential downpours and some really windy days. Our annual bbq and the Kirky gala ended in spectacular storms with crazy lightning across the sky. The girls have been on fine form though and we've had a trip to North Berwick which involved much cycling, and some wonderful end of term shows. Niomi did us proud in her end of year nursery show and Emily more than equalled her in the drama. Both involved some seriously energetic dancing. And now it's time for the summer holidays to begin. The weather is currently as good as anyone can remember, so lets hope that continues for the rest of the summer. Let the madness begin. Good luck Mummy, I'm off to work...
And so the Rooke company took their production on tour in their very own yellow tour bus. It was a very middle class affair. First up was a comedy of errors at a lovely little eco-friendly campsite in-between Forfar and Arbroath. It’s the second time Persephone and Polly had been to a campsite suited better to Jamie Oliver’s kids than themselves but hey…if you can’t beat them, join them. The comedy and error came when Daddy realised he’d forgotten half the tent and had to make a four hour round trip back home to collect it. (Note to self - the tent is in two bags, not one). The girls didn’t mind as there was a world of ponds, fields and forests to explore. Mummy however was a little ragged by the time Daddy triumphantly returned with tent in hand. A few burgers and sausages later and everyone was much cheerier, with enough energy to stay up far, far, too late running round a field. Who’d have thought it could be that much fun?
Next day was a quick trip to Arbroath and a walk along the cliffs looking for nesting seabirds. Here the issue with our mission quickly became apparent, as due to a late night of running round a field, Persephone and Polly were a little out of sorts. Couple this with a distinct lack of nesting seabirds to keep the interest up, and it was no surprise that we didn’t tally long before heading back to middle class camping land for a spot more running round fields and pond fishing. A campfire added a spark of enthusiasm into the evening, along with the obligatory melting marshmallows and chocolate bananas. Really, we like to make sure we keep on the script in our bourgeois productions.
Polly was very excited about the tour
Teamwork unpacking the tour bus
Polly realises Daddy forgot the tent
Polly and Persephone working in harmony
Persephone being just so
The girls were really impressed by Daddy's fire
Polly followed Persephone around a lot
Polly being just so
Mummy and Polly being just so
And then it was onto a midsummers night’s dream in Banchory. A little early perhaps, but who’s counting. En route we stopped off at Steptoe’s Yard outside Montrose, which if you’re ever passing is well worth a visit. It consists of about 5 acres of the largest stash of every kind of bric-a-brac I have ever seen in my life - a hoarders dream, a minimalists nightmare - much ado about nothing. Persephone and Polly were by now very excited at the prospect of things being just as they like it at Nana and Baba’s house which helped keep everyone amused on the journey – well that and Niomi being sick four times. Then passed five blissful days of sun, castles, gardens, hills, food, horses and the great outdoors. The girls even got a sneaky softplay in, and Mummy and Daddy got a sneak munro bagging. All was good and a standing ovation should be given to Nana and Baba for their hosting of the tour.
Persephone loves ice cream
The girls loved getting their hands dirty at the allotment
Daddy and Polly
The girls really loved climbing hills
Polly wondering where the voices were coming from
Persephone was the star of the show
For once it was Persephone chasing Polly
Mummy and Persephone being just so
Persephone
Posing
Playing
Everyone loved sliding
Final stop was really all’s well that ends well. We hit our first family festie at the Mhor Festival. With the sun splitting the sky and set in one of the most picturesque of festival locations, this offering to our theatrical tour really hit home and was a resounding success. Most festivals are built round adults with things for the kids added on. The Mhor Festival seemed to be the other way round. And after 2 days of hula workshops, bubble making, bushcraft, disco yoga, fairy teaparties, sliding, dancing and great food. We returned home exhausted.
Persephone and Polly on tour might have been as middle class as it could get, but it was certainly a top class holiday in all our books - we all loved it 😄
