In the great scheme of life you never have enough. Of course there are protective measures you can take with socks. They can be assiduously flyped before hitting the laundry bin. You can hang them on the line Ark style, pegged neatly two by two. In the end, if push comes to shove, Asda doContinue reading “Time and socks”
Tag Archives: birds
The lure of the infinitesimal white dot
An unfortunate brush with a butter burr on the way home from a tramp around the fields recently necessitated some unscheduled canine hair brushing. Lyra must have realised the dreadful consequences of her decision to explore the undergrowth in the little wood almost immediately as, rather than linger chatting to the coos with me atContinue reading “The lure of the infinitesimal white dot”
Pigeon post
Mum is now confined to barracks. Under extensive forensic cross examination she finally admitted that the sore ankle previously designated as “fine” was actually extremely painful. As she refused to lie on the sofa eating violet creams in the required manner, I gave her the much ignored (other than by moths and one of theContinue reading “Pigeon post”
Snowdrop time
As the snow dwindled, the frost set in with the melt reforming overnight into hardened pools of ice, grey and strangely rounded, like melted candles. The paths around the fields set into uncomfortably frosty ridges. Mum and I trudged on stoically in the quest for extra steps and fancy camera angles and the family soupContinue reading “Snowdrop time”
What counts
January always seems to bring drifts of numbers. I gather them up into neat daily stacks and string lines between the peaks to observe the trend. The daily kilo count (I stick to metric as it feels less real than imperial) hovers minutely up and down, refusing to transform to a downhill slide. My tallyContinue reading “What counts”
A dryish white season
As we waved off the last visitor of the festive season the members of Team Ruthven all felt a rest from Bacchanalian practices might be in order. Approaches differed. Keith declared the commencement of “Dryish January” and then promptly took Lachlan to the pub for a last hurrah. Mum and I took the moral highContinue reading “A dryish white season”
Low Noon
A little overnight snow brought the temperature up a touch yesterday and today there are signs of a slight thaw. The crackle and crunch as we pass has been replaced by a soft shoe shuffle. Evidence of overnight revels abound. One of the compost heap bunnies has dashed across the frozen pond top, pursued byContinue reading “Low Noon”
We are not alone
We have had two days now of hard frost, following the weekend’s snow. Keith is trudging stoically up and down with barrows of logs, manning the fires and the cats are, as ever, keeping the bed warm. With Lachlan in Edinburgh, filling in time til his exam by acting as our remote shopper (today IContinue reading “We are not alone”
Winter is here
This week has finally brought winter. A sunny walk in the woods at the weekend had lulled me into a complacent confidence that Christmas would be mild and balmy and the lifting of the dahlias could proceed at dilettante pace. The tissue paper whisper of the grass on Monday told another tale. The first ofContinue reading “Winter is here”
Windswept and interesting
Friday was Lyra’s third birthday. It is hard to think we’ve had her for such a short time so embedded is she in our lives. Mornings without a sleepy snuffle when you come into the kitchen must have been a sorry thing indeed and what did I do for exercise before the daily field yomp??Continue reading “Windswept and interesting”
Live from Ruthven 