My Blog

Category: Family

  • In the Hall of the Mountain King

    Back home from our epic eclipse cruise on Boudicca, to Norway and the Faeroes.  We saw the Aurora Borealis and the total solar eclipse.  We lined up in the ocean beside two other ships from the Fred. Olsen fleet, Braemar and Black Watch.    We went to a concert in the Ishavskatedralen in Tromsø which was…

  • Si vis pacem, para bellum.*

    A maxim which applies to all areas of life, not just the battle field, IMHO.   Jings, where to start?   Where did I leave off?  February 4th, apparently.   Since that time we were made aware that the Russian Consul General in Scotland was to award Dad with the Ushakov medal, at home, in honour of his…

  • Wintry discontent

    A Slumber did my Spirit Seal By William Wordsworth A slumber did my spirit seal; I had no human fears: She seemed a thing that could not feel The touch of earthly years.   No motion has she now, no force; She neither hears nor sees; Rolled round in earth’s diurnal course, With rocks, and…

  • Redding up

    Janus is the Roman god  after whom January is named; he had two heads, one for looking backwards and one for looking forwards.   Harbinger of change;  turns out that is going to be quite appropriate for 2015, of which more anon. So, to Townhill Loch, north of Dunfy yesterday, to see some new birds and…

  • Jaunty

    We have been around a bit in the last week, in fact I have to look up the calendar to remember it all.  Suffice  to say highlights were our time in Slaley, much blethers, some swimming and loads of shopping;  a visit to the zoo with Rosemary to meet the pandas and seeing the Cooks…

  • Degustation

    Ah, foot cramp.  Such an effective way of waking up, I really should market it. Just checked my last post, October 10th, crikey, we have been busy celebrating Mr Holmes’s significant birthday.  As you might expect, there was a food theme here.  We met John and Yvonne in Berwick, at Foxton‘s, and had lunch with…

  • Shining forth

    Right, today we are going to attempt to insert pictures one by one and make the text flow around them, not as easy as that may sound, although if you have ever tried to format a Word doc in three minutes flat, just before you need prints for a meeting,  you will share my pain…

  • IIC

    Dad was 98 yesterday.  The sun shone on our wee party.

  • Half term

    Solstice again, and it looks like being a very, very busy day. Last weekend we went to Vane Farm, not been for ages, and oh happy joy, the flowers are out in the bumblebee meadow and beyond.  Not only that, but in the furthest hide we saw male and female Little Ringed Plovers, nesting on…

  • #dingding

    Busy day yesterday, we met our friends the  White family for lunch at Cafe Andaluz , then Team Holmes boarded an  Edinburgh tram for the very first time,  and rode in style from St Andrew Square to Shandwick Place.  For those of you unfamiliar with this transport farrago, they are massively over budget and put a…