From endings to beginnings…

And as summer holidays ended, a new cycle began. Niomi to P5 and Emily making the step up to S1. Emily left nervous but totally rocked it as I knew she would. Equally Niomi jumped right in to P5. Good luck with this year girls….you’re both growing into fine young ladies and I’m very proud of you both...

Emzo S1

Nomski P5

Endings...

After Italy I worried we’d land with a large bump. But fortunately there was no time to mope about as next came the great changing of rooms in the Rooke house. Emily was always promised her own room for when she started secondary and time was running out. So firstly I moved out of my man cave and Ly moved in downstairs. Then I dusted off my paint brushes and with a quick lick of paint/trip to Ikea later and Emily moved in to Ly’s old room. And finally we took off the upper bunk and Niomi had the place to herself. All change and the ending of the Emily/Niomi sharing era.

And then it was on to the end of summer holidays with a couple of lovely trips to Banchory and North Berwick. Banchory highlights included a dip in the Dee, getting lost at Tilquhillie, a curry at Echt, the Johnshaven Fish Festival and the obligatory trip up Scoltie and to Crathes. We had a really lovely time. Quick change, and then the girls were off to North Berwick with me joining later in the week for Fringe by the Sea. Normally I don’t get to see much but I managed some cracking bands this year – Dean Owens and the Sinners, Tom Maguire and the Brassholes and the Jit Jive Duo – plus John drumming it out in an awesome masseoke. It was great having a few days to soak up the atmosphere and enjoy North Berwick's finest. Thanks to all the Gediks and Gurneys for their generous hosting! 

And so ended the summer holidays. We had a blast but boy did it fly by. 

A dip in the Dee

Oysters at Johnshaven Fish Festival 😛

The Crew

The Festival Raft Race

Roses in the rose garden

North Berwick

Fringe by the Sea

Videoclip: FTBS

Or you can watch the videolip here

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