Monday in Cornwall

Started off the day with some Strawberry picking and the off to the beach for some more body boarding.  Great waves and a beautiful day as you can see from the pictures, Ellie having a great time with her cousin Anna.

Sunday In Cornwall

Woke up to a fairly drizzly overcast morning however the forecast was for it to clear up about lunchtime so after a lazy morning we headed off to the south coast at 12 and went for a walk around the Trelissick estate, the weather clearing up as promised.  Spotted this wonderful carving of an old man on a bench by the King Harry Ferry.

Cornwall

Ellie and I made it down to Cornwall yesterday.  Stopped off to pick up a new wetsuit for Ellie on route back to Polzeath.  Was a gorgeous afternoon/evening and surf was up so after a late lunch it was down to the beach for a quick surf for Mike and Anna and a quick body board for Ellie Sarah and I.

Italy Pre-Tour Concert

Isobel is off to Italy on Saturday to play in the Senior Concert Band's music tour.  The parents were given a preview concert on monday evening.  Here are a few of their pieces.  Enjoy. Personally I have to admit to being just a little bit jealous, it looks such fun!

Kyaking

Whilst Ellie and Julie were away down in Glasgow ski racing, Isobel and I decided to have a weekend chilling at the cottage.  Weather was fab.  Saturday did a few jobs in the morning including some mowing and strimming whilst waiting for the right state of tide to go up under the Bridge over The Atlantic and round to Puilladobhrain.  We left at 2 and the tide was just turning against us as we went under the bridge but by sticking to the side of the channel we were able to get up the narrows and round into Puilladobhrain.

Ski Racing

Been a busy couple of weekends for Ellie with consecutive weekends ski racing.  Last weekend was Twin Peaks weekend with Saturday at Firpark in Tillycoutry near Stirling and then on to Hillend in Edinburgh for Sunday.

That was swiftly followed this weekend with the GB and Scottish Indoor Champs at Braehead indoor slope.  Ellie is clearly improving and having been well off the pace last year is now rapidly catching up and much closer to the rest, beating several girls in her age group on both days so well done Ellie.

Ramstone Rhododendrons

Not a great spring for the rhododendrons this year.  Just as they come into bud a frost has come along and burnt them all.  The low temperatures have also held back the flowers.  The beds at the front of the house with the dwarf rhodies were all hit by the snow at the start of May.  The bed at the side of the house was hit in mid-May.  At least some of the later rhododendrons in the back wood are flowering OK and have been sheltered by the latest frosts.  Here are some photos of the rhodies in the back wood taken this week.

Nick Nairn Course

Julie and Isobel had a day at Nick Nairn's cookery school last weekend, a day baking bread.  Foccacias, Soda Bread, Chapattis, Strombolis and Caramel and Pecan buns!  A serious carbo-load! Here's a few more photos of the day.

Dry Slope Training

Now that the snow season has finally ended its back to the dry slopes and Ellie was up at Alford today getting some training in in preparation for the twin peaks at start of June.  Her skiing has certainly come on a lot over the last year!