Wow! This was just a small part of the free light show we had last night, one of the finest displays of Northern Lights we have ever had up here and the first time Isobel and Ellie have seen them. It went on for several hours, we got a bit chilly after and hour and a half!! Although some of Jura's finest did help thaw me out! The picture sadly does not do it justice, the colours were more vivid with intense reds and crimsons as well as the green and purple hues seen here.
Its been a busy old weekend. An early start on Saturday for both girls to catch the coach down to Madras College in St Andrews, Isobel playing for the A team, Ellie in goal for the B team. Isobels team won 10-0, she never actually touched the ball and by her own admission spent most of her time in goal watching the S4 boys rugby match on the next pitch! Ellies team drew 0-0 against Madras A team and unlike her big sister she actually made some saves, one of which involved flattening the opposition attacker!
Julie cooked an absolutely fabulous orange cake for us, some well earned calories!
Sunday morning saw another early start for Ellie and I although the sound of the wind in the trees made me question whether it was worth it. The drive up Donside did nothing to dispel the doubts, the River Don looking rather too full to be good for the skiing! When we got there things were no better, the snow was wet and there were streams coming off all the runs with wet patches of slush appearing at alarming rates. Gordon skiers are an intrepid bunch however and it takes more than that to put them off! Malcolm, ellie's coach got them onto snowblades (little skis about 2 feet long) and they had a great time.
The weather perked up in the afternoon and the sun even made an appearance late on. Ellie's turns are definitely improving and she made light of some tricky heavy snow conditions (which was more than can be said for her father!).
Just had to call in to Aonach Mor on our way home, had a great mornings skiing although the light was a little flat. Skiing great, spent the morning racing Ellie down the Fairway, I have to admit it is starting to get a bit tight at times but dad still managing to hold the upper hand!
And just to finish off, just to prove I am not the only one that falls over...............here is Ellie upside down on the last home run back to the top gondola station!!
Ellie and I went to Nevis Range at Fort William today and had an absolutely awesome day. We were there for the first lift up and enjoyed some fabulous powder snow in the Goose Gully. Spent the day skiing the quad chair. There was wall to wall snow,you could ski anywhere on the mountain with all the snow fences buried, the snow depth must be several metres in places.
Here are a few pictures of our little ski racer!
A tired but happy Ellie on the way down in the gondola
Its a pretty wild half term as the picture shows, a brisk northerly wind and no shortage of snow up on the hills. Had a lazy day today, went over to the shop, did the recycling and popped over to Ellenabeich where we were met by the view above.
Went out to Piazza for a meal this evening, then came home for pudding of Julie's lemon and poppy seed cake and ice cream.
Forecast is better for tomorrow so Ellie and I are heading to the ski slopes, either Glencoe or Nevis Range, we'll make our minds up in the morning.
Wow, what a weekend! Started off with an early start on Saturday, Ellie keeping goal for the S1 B team, they won 3-1 against Aberdeen Grammar A team, a really good result.
Sunday was up to the Lecht for Ellie and I for Gordon skiers. It was seriously windy to start off but thankfully the wind dropped and the sun came out to give a fabulous day's skiing. The only down side was the queues were a bit long as the Lecht was the only ski area that managed to open the rest being buried under tons of snow and stormbound! Never the less the skiing was great both on and off piste, Ellie getting her first introduction to off piste skiing!
One exhausted skier at the end of the day!
Fabulous conditions at the Lecht seen here at the end of a long day.
Saturday saw Isobel baking again, this time coffey and chocolate cupcakes, the chocolate ones are the ones with the chocolate lattice work on top, the coffey ones are those with a maple leaf in coffey sprinkled on the top. Both were delicious...............although Isobel did have to admit that they would have been even better had she remembered to add hte baking powder!
Went to Monymusk film club on Saturday evening, a great turnout for "The Angels Share", which we all enjoyed, highly recommended.
Ellie and I have had a slightly frustrating morning. All of Scotlands ski areas are closed due to snow and high winds so skiing was cancelled today...........and there were the two of us with nice new skis to try out! Guess we'll have to make do with watching ski Sunday instead.
Julie cashed in her Xmas present, a voucher for Nick Nairn's cookery school in Aberdeen. Went to a class on cooking lemon sole with a nutty butter sauce, beans and crushed potatoes..... and the odd glass of Shiraz!
"What a fab way to spend jury duty, wasn't required on the Friday so booked myself onto a two hour late lunch course. We were shown how to skin and fillet flat fish and prepare a lemon sole for cooking on the bone. It was so interesting and Simon our Chef made it all look so easy. When I asked where in Aberdeen you could buy good fish a voice behind me chipped in how awful it was that there were no good fishmongers, that voice was Nick Nairn himself. I am pleased to say he has matured since his heady days of first fame and is definitely not that arrogant so and so I met at the Good Food Show some 20 years ago! As there were only 5 of us on the course I was working on my own so Simon would come over for a gossip and use my fish as the example. So far this is my third course, the next one I'm hoping to do is a classic Indian course but since the date for that one is the same as Isobe'ls hockey match against Watson's from Edinburgh, I will have to wait for the next one!"
Great weekend. Started with Isobel keeping goal in a 6-0 defeat of local school St Margarets. She was actually called upon to make 1 save so not totally redundant and looked very smart in her new goalkeeping gear.
Saturday evening was spent at the Alford Bistro celebrating our 19th Anniversary, complete with the girls of course!!
Ellie had a great day skiing at Glenshee today. She was moved up a group so was very happy with that but it was a long hard days skiing and a rather stiff Ellie by the end of it! The weather was a million times better than last week with some fabulous views as you can see.
The aches and pains were of course eased by the site of one of Isobel's finest cakes. A rum and lime flavored sponge cake.
"What a fab way to spend jury duty, wasn't required on the Friday so booked myself onto a two hour late lunch course. We were shown how to skin and fillet flat fish and prepare a lemon sole for cooking on the bone. It was so interesting and Simon our Chef made it all look so easy. When I asked where in Aberdeen you could buy good fish a voice behind me chipped in how awful it was that there were no good fishmongers, that voice was Nick Nairn himself. I am pleased to say he has matured since his heady days of first fame and is definitely not that arrogant so and so I met at the Good Food Show some 20 years ago! As there were only 5 of us on the course I was working on my own so Simon would come over for a gossip and use my fish as the example. So far this is my third course, the next one I'm hoping to do is a classic Indian course but since the date for that one is the same as Isobe'ls hockey match against Watson's from Edinburgh, I will have to wait for the next one!"
