2016 - Happy New Year!

I went to Edinburgh for Christmas and it was just lovely to be with the family! Sam was working on Christmas day so we kept the meal (with difficulty!) till he got to the house, at 8.30... Sam’s now working for eight months at the Western General in Edinburgh – long shifts, but expected ... He will be there till about August and will then move elsewhere, to start his second year in hospitals.

Catriona, Sean and Daniel were all very pleased with their presents – as they grow up, the presents shrink! For example, I gave Catriona, Sean and Daniel a smart watch, which I am assured, will be used all the time.So the children had a present about four inches by four inches from me, instead of a huge box containing perhaps a model ship, or aeroplane or jigsaw, etc.! How times change! But then maybe not completely, as Sam asked for a Harris tweed jacket!

I came home for New Year – accompanied by Moira and Daniel!  I was delighted…… In Plockton for their first New Year, was the Sweenie Family, staying in their relatively newly bought house, less than a hundred yards from here! So we introduced them to a Plockton New Year – bonfire, fireworks, visiting friends and having others call…..

Moira and Duncan left too soon, but we shall meet again next month, when the schools have a mid- term holiday. I do not if I’ll go south, or family will come north – yet.

So 2016 is well and truly under way! We have been luckier than other places with the weather, missing flooding, in particular… The last few days have been very cold (mid-January) and there was a slight covering of snow and ice - the postman slid helplessly getting to and from the house one day, while I got to the car on hands and knees! I only wanted to shift the car up the drive, in case the conditions got worse – which they did not, happily!

I am beginning to think of the longer days and warmer weather when I shall again welcome visitors to the North West corner of Scotland. Have you been up this far? If not, do come – and come again if you have been before! I should love to meet you…. And so would Ruah, my Cavalier KC Spaniel, now eight years old.

Ann