August 31st, 2012.
It is
already over two weeks since I met Moira in Inverness and handed over Daniel. He was the last of my summer holiday family
visitors. In the previous month Sam,
Sean, Catriona and her friend Nicola, Moira and Colin had all been up and the
weather was consistently wonderful. I
was so very pleased about that as Edinburgh had had an unbelievably wet Spring
and Summer.
Moira and
the children spent many hours rowing and fishing in “Piglet”, our Pioneer 10
boat. In the end, Catriona, Sean and
Daniel were all proficient with at least one oar! The best fishing was still from the pontoon,
where the crabs must have quaked when they heard the children’s footsteps!
Sean did
level 1 of his sailing training, along with three other would be Ben Ainslies! Malcolm, their instructor, has the patience
of a saint - and four lovely Pico single
sail craft. Daniel, while here at the
end of the holiday, also did half a day in a Pico and his “Dinghy Taster”
certificate has nicely whetted his appetite!
I’m hoping that Catriona at least will do level two in October, weather
permitting – she, however is leaning towards rowing and canoeing at present.
Sam crewed
with Malcolm in all the regatta races, in Saranna C. We were all delighted when he helmed and won the
Youth’s race, for skippers between the ages of 16 -26. It was the first trophy Saranna C had
won! On Regatta Saturday, the children’s
Ragamuffin race was run and Catriona was in charge of a young crew with a tendency
towards mutiny, I felt! But they all did
very well and finished a creditable third, out of nine boats. The front lawn still has signs of the paints
used to decorate the sail!
In the two
weeks since the family left, Ruah, Amber and I have enjoyed meeting guests from
many countries including Belgium, Holland, Germany, Italy and Canada. Thank you Dale, for coming back after many
years. I did enjoy meeting you all and
playing Colin’s CD’s! Do not leave it so long before returning……
At present I
have visitors from Denmark and Belgium /Mexico. Great fun! At the weekend I had a Scottish couple (quite
rare!). They were here for a 60th
birthday of an ex-colleague of mine, younger by a good few years! There was a party on Calum’s seal trip boat
then a meal at the Shores Restaurant.
The fun continued with a ceilidh in Achmore village hall – stamina
needed up here when you reach the age of 60!!!
The nights
are drawing in already and it is dark around 9.00pm. I’ll be busy for several weeks to come and I
have the visits of friends to look forward to – and Ian’s arrival in mid-October. He’ll be here for nearly three weeks, which
will be just lovely! I am sorry that Alison will not be here this time.
The garden
has been very easy to manage so far, with the drought keeping weeds at
bay! However, they are growing well
now….. I am delighted to say that one
lot of Australian seeds have come up – identified by Ian and Ros as Agapanthus. If they grow even nearly as tall as the ones
in Blue Hills Drive, I’ll be delighted!
I think I’ll pot them up for the first year anyway and divide them so
one lot will enjoy the indoor temperatures and one the outdoors. Any advice very welcome, please……..
The grapes
are ready to eat – about a month earlier than usual. There are many more bunches too, thanks again
to the very hot sunny weather in May, June, July and early August.
I am still
struggling with photos and the blog – this is disappointing as it was easy to
me, with Windows XP – but not Windows 7.
It must be just as straight forward I know, but…… In the winter months I’ll have time to work
it out – perhaps before that, actually perhaps when a computer literate brother is
here!
Have you
been on holiday yet? If so, I hope you
had a lovely time. Why not sample the
North West of Scotland next? Pop in to
see Plockton, Ruah, Amber and me!
Ann
PS : Grete and Mai-Britt – thank you for not
wanting to leave and extending your stay at Heron’s Flight, taking Ruah for
walks and being such very good company!
