Benvenuto in Italia…

Summer holiday season and we’d plumped for Italy this year. Having been a committed Francophile for many a year I had been resistant to Italy, but upon Emily’s insistence that we 'go somewhere different', I reluctantly agreed. And I have to say I was in no way disappointed! Last year I visited Milan which blew me away; this year it was Lake Garda and Venice which equally blew me away. I am in danger of becoming an Italophile. Whatever next!

On Lake Garda we had chalet type accommodation at Bella Italia which is a Eurocamp kinda place. It was great - 50m from the multiple pools, and 200m from the supermarket, restaurants and Lake Garda itself. There was loads to do, but equally we spent only limited time there, amusing ourselves with ferry hopping to the beautiful towns of Sirmione, Garda and Lazise; a trip to a water park at CanevaWorld; high octane sofa riding or more serene parasailing; and exploring the market at Peschiera del Garda. We ate great food – whether locally sourced and cooked at home or cooked for us at lakeside fine dining – Italian cuisine certainly didn’t disappoint. And then there was the endless varieties of gelato – an almost daily experience of ice cold heaven to bring relief to the 35 degree heat. And the Aperols and the nibbles. All very civilised. Morning swims in the cool waters of the lake followed by pistachio croissant and coffee. I was in the land of the gods. Honestly – watch the video you’ll see how much we loved it!

And then it was 2 nights in Venice! Seeing the sights by day and by night, with brief respite in our lovely apartment in the Cannaregio area. And all topped off by more fine dining and a dusk gondola ride. Magical. Final departure was by water bus to the airport – definitely the way to exit our Italian adventure.

Oh my god. Italy you rocked for us. Grazie millie! We’ll be back for sure!!

Videoclip: Italy 2024

Or you can watch the video here

Black and Blue...

We’ve been dog sitting again. This time for a beautiful black labrador called Blue. He belongs to our neighbours and so is well used to coming round for a play as Niomi loves to have him round for a quick ball throw after school. The difference in doing a little dog afterschool care and being a fulltime dog carer is quite marked though. First off he’s quite a big dog. And big dogs need big walks, eat big food, do big poos, have big slobber and take up big space. They also leave big hair all over the place. But then they also have big soppy eyes and give you big love. So he’ll be leaving a big space in our hearts when he goes. He is however full of energy and a great climber, so was happy to assist us with getting the kids up their first munro, Ben Lomond. They were shattered after, and also so was Blue (well at least for half and hour).

Emily has also started the holidays by detailing her thoughts about the rest of us – describing us as an animal, colour, season, Disney princess and flower with the aid of some nifty tech. This was based on something that she did with her friends and an app that just allows you to bash these things out. I guess my prides not too bruised black and blue with my answers and hey, if you have to be a Disney princess then there’s worse options than Jasmine 😂

Next up Italy and Lake Garda! Arrivederci 😀

The boy Blue

On top of Ben Lomond

He loves to play in water

Shattered

Videoclip: What I think of...

Or you can watch the videoclip here

Moving on...

Its been a massive month for Emily....Graduation Disco, Taylor Swift, Wizard of Oz and moving on from Lairdsland Primary School to start at Lenzie Academy in August. Wow. And she's simply rocked it.

She looked stunning for the Graduation Disco. So grown up and quite the young lady. And then her first gig at one of the biggest there's ever been in Scotland... Taylor rocked too. She's also been rehearsing for the last 3 months for the Wizard of Oz production with the Kirky Players. That really blew me away just how good it was and just how much she flourished on stage.

But what really struck me about Emily is just how much she has changed and yet remained the same over the last 7 years. Her Leavers Assembly was truly amazing and she just shone with pure joy up there in front of everyone. Gone are her traces of shyness, she's full of confidence and zest for life. A real joy to behold and be around. She's confident, knows her mind, intelligent and talented. But most of all what I love about Emily is her heart. She really does have a genuinely good heart and is a complete delight and inspiration to be around. I am so very proud of her right now. June 2024 has left me speechless about how awesome she is, and I just know she is ready to thrive in the next chapter of her life.

You may be moving on Emily, but you're not moving on from centre stage in my heart. Go girl, you rock! You're going to rock Lenzie Academy as well.

How it started...

And how it ended.

Disco Fever

Tay Tay!!

Videoclip:Tay-Tay

Or you can watch the videoclip here

The cast of the young Kirky Players - a brilliant and inspring bunch

Name in lights!

The After Party

Going, going...

Gone.

Dodging the showers...

The showery weather just seems to keep on coming, and so we just have to get better at dodging the showers. And in between the showers we’ve managed to make the best of it. There's been a glorious bbq for our friend Andrew and his kids; and the weather just about held together for the Kirky gala and the Ford Freeride in Glasgow. I’ve even managed an awesome weekend away with John in the van around the Cairngorms. Slightly weather adapted from our usual munro bagging epics into a mountain biking epic due to the showers, but it was just great to be out nonetheless. That said the showers eventually caught us after a glorious most of the day and we got utterly drenched, but we managed a fire by the loch later and all was well.

Weather schmether. Its not been the best of summers so far, but we’ve coped….Final run of the school term is coming and then its holiday season. Lets hope we don’t need to keep dodging those showers for the rest of summer…

Another Kirky Gala hit

Videoclip: Glasgow Freeride

Or you can watch the video here

Oh yes its sunny

But still muddy

Scotland's finest

A wee bitty wet

A beer and a fire and feeling braw again

Making the most of it...

May is when Scotland normally shines. But this year its shiny periods haven’t lasted that long….we’ve had some great days but then the rain has quickly followed again. The garden’s loving all this heat and wet, but unfortunately that brings plenty of weeds and not the right weather to get out and deal with them. So I’m just trying hard to ignore it. And what better distraction than a van trip away to celebrate the (alleged) arrival of summer. 

Off to Falkland in Fife we pootled. Night one was cancelled due to torrential downpours, but we headed east on day two instead and spent a wonderful day looking round the Falkland Estate and Palace before heading to the Pillars of Hercules for some back to basics campervanning. It’s a lovely wee site, rustic and simple, yet with the most amazing organic shop and café. And all set in lovely surroundings. So we played frisbee in the fields and had adventures in the woods. Toasted marshmallows on the fire and ate far too much cake. And then off we finally went to bed, full of all that’s good about being outdoors.

The next morning I woke to a message from my friend Colin. “Could I tempt you to join me in Gair Loch tomorrow to celebrate Dez’s 50th on the beach? Will be driving up tomorrow morning, back Sunday lunchtime.” Now Gair Loch is in the far north of Scotland, about 4.5 hours from Falkland. There were many boring practical reasons why I should have said no – no tent, no clean clothes, too far etc etc but I felt the urge to say yes. So after a bit of debate and an agreement for him to pick me up and swap his car for our van, my mind was made up. Carpe diem and off we went. Bless Tanya and the kids, we didn’t have anything planned but they went back to Kirky without me in Colin’s car. All very spur of the moment but it was a great trip. The weather was stunning and standing on the beach looking over Skye and Harris with Torridon round the corner I knew I’d made the right call. It got dark at midnight and I stumbled to bed a little after that – full of merriment, great chat and more than a little beer. Long drive back the next day but that’s the price you sometimes pay to make the most of it.

Lady Emily of Falkland

Lady Emily with suitor Tan

Lady Nigella

The campervan life at the Pillers of Hercules

Famous Four go adventuring

DDU found love at Gair Loch

The Beach Boys

Good night to Harris on the horizon

Sunshine and Smiles…

"Keep your face always toward the sunshine—and shadows will fall behind you." (Walt Whitman)

It’s so nice to have a bit of sun. We seem to have somewhat leapfrogged Spring a little this year with a prolonged spell of wet, windy and cold weather. But as the sun emerges all that is quickly forgotten as you start to navigate through a landscape of lush green with the sun on your face.

I feel far behind where I should be in the gardening calendar and the mild winter means that the plants are ahead of themselves. But it's good for the soul to get out there and feel the earth in your hands. We’ve a new potting shed and patio area to focus my attention, and hopefully a good spell of weather will mean we are firmly back into the garden. The battle of the weeds has commenced and the first edible offerings are starting to emerge. Fingers crossed for a good growing season as we’ve much to look forward to.

Emily is in mid-flow for her Wizard of Oz rehearsals and Niomi now has weekend swimming lessons, so our normal hectic weekends away in May and June are somewhat curtailed this year. But that means we are open for visits and we’ve just spend a lovely weekend with Tanya’s parents – enjoying sunshine and dining al fresco. Saturday was a trip to relatively unexplored parts of Mugdock Park in amongst bluebells in their prime, followed by a Sunday at a Medieval Festival at Duncarron Hill Fort. And on both days we were blessed with lovely weather, so we filled our boots with it and with fine experiences. Picnics were the order of the day, as well as evening dining outside courtesy of Nana and Baba, and then Ly and her friend Le (pronounced Lay). And if all that wasn’t enough it was topped off by the Aurora Borealis in all its glory, a touch of Eurovision, and an almighty thunderstorm for some added excitement. It truly was sunshine and smiles all the way…

Al fresco is the way to go

Growing up fast

Mugdock madness

Famous for 60 seconds

The Jester

Ye Olde Knights of Yore

Falcon stroking

Arise Lady Catherine

Nana battling our new 5* bird feeding station

The Aurora Borealis

Bat crazy...

It’s not every day a bat appears at your back door. But that’s who made an unannounced visit whilst we were having dinner recently. Just around 6.30pm Niomi calmly announces “there’s a bat” (like it happens everyday), to which the rest of us rapidly turn and express far more shock.

Seems the poor little mite couldn’t fly. It was just sitting there trembling and occasionally stretching a wing. Is it dying? Is it stunned or sick? All questions without answers. Quick consultation with www.bats.org.uk gave us a helpline number which was shut for the evening. Try a vet was the advice. It was nearly 7pm by now and our local vets were all closed. We found a 24hr vet hospital in Glasgow and called there.

Some discussion on the call – not a baby bat as it had fur and they’re normally seen in June, July and August. You should bring it in, but before handling it into a suitable container (plastic box with holes in lid) you’ll need to don PPE. So Daddy was just getting himself mentally prepared for his bat handling challenge, when it seems the little furry mouse with wings took the air. It flew round the garden, a bit unsteady for about 5 mins, then seemed to recover properly and was away.

We regularly see bats flying about in the evening, but never sitting on our back porch for half an hour. It all added an interesting change to the evening routine. Bat crazy indeed.

Videoclip: Bat Crazy

Or you can watch the video here