January 15,
2014.
I wish you
all a happy and healthy 2014.
You will
have had a lovely Christmas and New Year, I’m sure.
Ruah and I
spent Christmas in Edinburgh. Sam had
travelled here for a few days at the end of his term, so we travelled south to
sunny Edinburgh (I joke not!) on a dreadfully stormy day, when the main route south
(A9) was blocked by crashed lorries and the only other route, via Fort William
and not familiar to us, had snow in places one foot deep – on the road – and we
were in a long convoy, staying on the tyre tracks of the vehicles in front and
seeing lorries simply stuck where they were on the long descent to Tyndrum,
about half way to Edinburgh. The normal four and a half hour journey took two
hours longer that day, the last two in the dark.
Edinburgh was a different world and we had sunshine over Christmas. It was a lovely time and Moira and Catriona produced wonderful festive meals! The boys were very happy and engrossed with all their presents, Catriona and her friends went shopping with their vouchers, while Sam stole quietly away, to study for his exams, beginning on Monday first.
Catriona
came here for New Year – marvellous…..
On New Year’s Eve we went to “35”, the family home, where Dolan’s sister
and brother were for a few days. As the
house is on the main street, and the main bay is just across the road, we all
had a perfect view of the bonfire (lit by rocket from the shore) on the island
and the very noisy colourful fireworks display.
Besides all us Plocktonians, there were probably two to three hundred
visitors watching – some here in holiday homes, some in from outlying areas.
We visited a
few houses on the way home and were glad to get here about 1.45am – early by
some standards, as a dance in the village hall would go on for hours and some
house parties would be the same. The
beauty of living here is that one can go into any house and know one is
welcome!
We did just that on January 1 and 2, visiting relatives and friends – all of whom Catriona has known for years. And the next day Catriona had to go – her first solo journey south by train, from Inverness. We motored there, the train left on time (and got to Edinburgh on time too), I filled the car with petrol, which is so much cheaper than here and drove home. The house has been so quiet since all the excitement and activity……
I’m taking
Amber to the vet tomorrow. We were there
last Thursday. She seemed to have
forgotten how to jump up to my knee or to the place where her food is, away
from greedy Ruah. Well, her eyes seem to
have deteriorated very quickly and she is on a course of Loxicom, a
non-steroidal, anti-inflammatory drug, with perhaps other beneficial properties
too. How much does one understand when
reading the leaflets enclosed with veterinary medicines?
Amber has
always come to visit during the night and is still doing that, in the complete
darkness. But she will not/cannot jump
from a chair to the surface higher up, where her food is….. Yet, once there she can jump down again,
using the chair…… There is a major
problem in bringing her food down to floor level – Ruah will just enjoy it too…… I must work out a solution…… Amber was going to come to Edinburgh with me
next month, but she’ll stay here where she knows the place. Ruah will be farmed out in friend Molly the
collie’s house. They will visit Amber
daily.
I am going gallivanting
with Moira, Catriona, Sean and Daniel, during the February school holiday. I’ll let you know all about it next time I
write!
Bookings for this summer are coming in nicely – I’d enjoy meeting you too!
Ann
Amber holding on to Ruah in case Ruah falls off their shared bed, in front of the Rayburn!
