Christmas Eve and Christmas Day

At last I have some time to sit down and do a few blogs in a place where there is some workable broadband.  The broadband at the cottage grinds to a halt if more than one person uses it and as for uploading photos?  Not a hope!

Needless to say Christmas was spent over at the cottage, Weather was mixed but we managed to get out for plenty of walks as most days there was a dry spell. Christmas Eve was spent doing our now traditional jaunts to the Chocolate Factory in the morning and then back into Oban to go to Piazza in the evening.

  Christmas day was , as usual an orgy of present opening although there were a few IOUs as things had not arrived! Isobel's joy at receiving her special tickets for the womens hockey world cup was a pleasure to behold!

Inverurie Concert Band Xmas Concert

Saturday was the Inverurie Concert Band Christmas concert.  Many thanks to all those who came along to listen to us. We hope you enjoyed it as much as we enjoyed playing it! Highlight of the concert was an arrangement of Prokofiev's Peter and the Wolf .  Below are recordings of a couple of our other pieces, A Celtic Christmas and Meditation.

Winter Has Arrived

Well winter has definitely arrived.  Came back from spending the weekend down in Glasgow with Isobel to find a very wintery Ramstone.  By the time we cleared the drive there wasn't really time to go sledging in the local fields so Ellie made do with the garden!

Some of the azaleas and rhododendrons did take a bit of a beating!!  Did seem strange not having Isobel as well, she would have been the first person out playing in the snow!  We are all looking forward to having her home next weekend.

Ellie was also baking last week.  As ever her baking was extremely colourful and artistic!  Tasted pretty fine too! As you can see, it didn't last very long!

Isobel's Jazz Band

Had a lovely evening down in Glasgow with my girls!  Went down for Isobel's Jazz Band winter concert. Fabulous concert with some great music, finishing off with Skyfall, the theme tune from the James Bond movie of the same name.

After finishing at the concert we went along to the Xmas market in  George Square in the centre of Glasgow and enjoyed the lights and where pancakes were consumed!

Baking

An absolute triumph by Ellie, her big sister has some real competition on her hands, while the cat is away at university the mouse is enjoying a little play! Tasted as good as it looks!

Busy Weekend

We have had a busy weekend. Isobel was at Edinburgh University's sports ground at Pefermill for a trial for the Scottish Universities hockey team so I went down to meet up with her on Saturday evening and then took her along to the trials before dropping her off for the train back to Glasgow.  Lovely to have a meal together on Saturday evening.

Meanwhile it was Ellie's 5th year dance so Julie was taking her to the dance followed by a somewhat late pick up!  Below are Ellie and her friend Hannah round at Hannah's house before heading off to the ball.

And to cap it all, a lovely weekend with a some beautiful weather and light, took a few photos of the house in the afternoon sun.

Cycle With Ellie

Lovely cycle with Ellie on the mountain bikes this afternoon, up to Chapel of Garioch,, down to Burnhervie then back up to Monymusk.  Managed to avoid all the showers.