My Mum’s Wedding Ring

Kerry was recently chatting with me about the shape of wedding ring that she would like, and it sounded very similar to my Mum’s wedding ring, which is a simple rounded gold ring. I didn’t want her to feel obliged to have it, so I had a word with Jamie and said that they should discuss it. A few days later, I got a lovely phone call from Kerry to say that she did indeed love the ring and would like to have it if that was okay by me. Of course I said yes and posted the ring (recorded delivery) to New Zealand. It arrived there safely and surprisingly quickly, and I’m very pleased that Kerry likes it. I think my mum would be very pleased as well, because she loved Jamie so much and I think it would appeal to her that Jamie‘s wife will be wearing her wedding ring. Needless to say, Ally and Davie will receive similarly sentimental and valued items for their girls when they get married. 
Until I posted it, I wore my mum’s wedding ring on the middle finger of my left hand. The ring mark is still there for now and I think I will be a little bit sad when it fades. However, I am glad that the ring will continue to be loved by future generations of Andersons. 

A flying visit to Cambuslang

I’m back in Ullapool after a whirlwind weekend in Cambuslang. The house was very quiet without the cats, who of course stayed with James and Ullapool. However, I did have a companion; Alasdair. He has just arrived for a few weeks in Scotland where he is helping Davie to renovate the nursery for Baby Anderson. He will also catch up with a few of his Scottish friends, do some hill-walking, and plan his travels around the world over the next year. Understandably, he doesn’t want to set off until he has met the baby. It’s going to be nice to spend some time with him before he sets off on his adventure. 
Ally, me, Davie and Chanel met at our house for a curry and a catch up on Sunday evening, and then after my Children’s Panel on Monday morning I had a catch up with Alison T. Ally joined us when he arrived back from decorating the nursery and we all had a good chat. Chanel and I went out for brunch on Tuesday  to The Hidden Tearoom in Bothwell. I had a Bakewell scone which was absolutely delicious and we had some good girly chat. And then I set off north, listening to Comanche Moon by Larry McMurtry on the way. It was a quiet and straightforward journey and when I arrived back in Ullapool James had made his famous asparagus risotto which was a lovely welcome back. I also got a nice welcome from both cats! When Flora rubs her face against my cheek for ages and presses her forehead against mine it makes me so happy. And I feel the same when Tom offers to let me rub his tummy by rolling on his back, and speaks to me with his silent miaow. 

A History of Paper

I set off from Ullapool to Cambuslang today; I have a Children’s Hearing to attend on Monday in Hamilton. Last night Kenny and Cornel arrived to go hill-walking with James; we had dinner together and a nice chat. 
This morning I drove to Susan W’s house in Blair Atholl. She made me a delicious lunch including fresh vegetables from her garden when I arrived. Her house was formerly the local bank, and the front part still has the door to the vault. It’s very pretty and is set in large gardens. Susan has renovated it since her Dad died a few years ago and it is absolutely gorgeous. 
Susan then drove us to Pitlochry Festival Theatre; the first time that I have ever been there. It’s really smart and we got ourselves coffees before the performance started. We had excellent tickets in the front row. The play A History of Paper was performed by Alan Cumming and Shirley Henderson. These two excellent Scottish actors have known each other since they were young and they interacted very well together. I hadn’t realised that the play is actually a musical, which I liked. It was all about the paper that we collect during our lives and how that kind of tells the story of our lives. Near the end, there is a real twist which I didn’t see coming, and which was very sad and moving. I’m so glad that I went to it and I look forward to visiting Pitlochry Festival Theatre again. 
Back at Susan‘s, we had a cup of tea and a nice chat and then I set off to drive the last hour and a half to Cambuslang. 

Summertime

The UK has experienced its hottest day of the year and fifth hottest day on record, as a heatwave that gripped much of the country peaked at 38.1C on Thursday, the Met Office said. 
Kew Gardens in west London recorded England's top temperature
This all somewhat passed us by in Ullapool, where it was still cloudy; however it certainly was warm even though it didn’t reach the dizzying heights of the south of England. It was muggy and hot all day, and when we went for a stroll down to Tea by the Sea it felt almost too hot to sit outside! 

Back at the cottage I enjoyed lying in my hammock and reading my book. I do love the summer! 

Not a Total Eclipse for us

We didn’t see the solar eclipse from Ullapool (it was not quite total in the UK but total in Europe) because the sky was cloudy. James had prepared by making himself a pinhole viewer, but there was no opportunity to use it. We did think that the light got noticeably duller around the time of the eclipse and then brightened up again. However Jennifer and Russell got good views of it in Buckinghamshire and sent us great photos; Jennifer told me that it was eerie to see. She said that since the sun was not completely eclipsed, it did not get at all that dark outside and was only really noticeable through the special solar glasses which have sold out all over Britain in the last few days! Ally and Cat also sent photos as did Davie and Chanel; they had (separately in Limehouse and in Uddingston) used colanders to focus the light onto a piece of paper and then the tiny circle of light became partially eclipsed. Gordon and Morag saw the full eclipse from Mallorca and from their photos it does look as if it got markedly darker there. Their photos were the best of all, they had driven around to find a good viewpoint and saw it very clearly. 

Cawdor Castle and The Odyssey

We have had a great time with Jennifer and Russell, the weather has been mixed, but we still went out for a walks as well as reading our books, chatting, and playing Sequence. As ever, they were great guests and seemed to enjoy themselves. Russell of course drank lots of cups of tea and when I realised that we had not stocked up on his favourite Yorkshire teabags I bought some for him despite Jennifer’s protests. When Jennifer jokingly told him that he shouldn’t have mentioned getting different teabags, he replied, “It’s not my fault - you’ve made me into a monster!” Which I thought was very funny! 
The other thing that Russell enjoyed saying with a mischievous look was “Susan, you’ve done it again!” every time I served up a meal, which he had already told us was a way of say of seeming to compliment a meal without actually doing so! 
This morning we drove through to Inverness, walked along the river in the sunshine and had a light lunch up at the castle. Then we dropped Jenn and Russ at the airport for their flight home, where they will be arriving to another 35 degrees heatwave! 
James and I decided to visit Cawdor Castle. I have been there many years ago with my mum and the boys, but James has never been. It was looking very pretty in the sunshine and the gardens were lush with beautiful flowers. We had a nice couple of hours there before going to see the film of the moment, the Odyssey. It was certainly visually stunning but I found it a bit long at three hours and may have dozed off during the battle scene near the end! 

A Robert Burns evening

Last night the four of us went to a concert in the Ceilidh Place Venue. The performers were Liza Mulholland and Hamish McDonald, both based in Inverness. They were both excellent musicians and singers. The performance had a Robert Burns theme, although only a few songs were his. There was a variety of Scottish songs on Burns themes, some of them I had heard before and some never. Some songs were very humorous others had a deeper meaning. It really was a tremendous performance, but I did think that it was a shame that there was only a small audience for such a fantastic event. In the second half quite a few more people drifted in from the pub, which I think was much nicer for the performers. They gave us just as good as show both before and after the audience increased.
Tonight Rona’s son Duncan came to dinner; he has joined Ullapool rowing club and had been practising with them. Again I was impressed by his cheerful and polite demeanour. He’s 23 with a degree in geology and will probably move to a job in Canada next year. Meanwhile, he is enjoying being in the north-west of Scotland which does not lack in geological features! 

The Rock Stop and a relative

Today we did a pie run to Lochinver (of course!) First we visited the Rock Stop near the Kylescu Hotel, a small Geology museum with attached café. I asked if our cousin Rona’s son Duncan was there, because she recently told me that he was volunteering there. The manager told us that he is still in the area but was working at the Kylescu Hotel that day, so after lunch we went there for a coffee. I haven’t seen Duncan since my cousin Doug’s funeral in 2018, when Duncan was only fifteen years old. However we recognised him straight away; he had a real Rennie / Whyte look! He looked a bit like a much younger Roddy! What a pleasant and friendly young man he is.
By this time we were cutting it fine to make it to Lochinver for pies before the shop closed at 4 p.m. My enthusiastic and slightly speedy driving got us there five minutes before closing time, but unfortunately had result that Jennifer felt a bit nauseous. We chose our pies and Jennifer soon perked up. It was a beautiful day and we strolled around Lochinver, we had drinks sitting outside Delilah’s in the sunshine and went up to the pottery to get some great views of Suilven. 

Dolphins at Fort George

Jenn and Russ have arrived for a visit to Ullapool! We collected them from Inverness Airport and then went to Fort George. We had soup, scones and coffee in the very pleasant wee café there. We walked right round the walls of the fort, peeking over the walls to spot dolphins, of which we saw a few. There was a really interesting weather phenomenon while we were walking around the ramparts of the fort; we were enjoying warm sunshine, but with very dark rain clouds in several directions. We could see rain falling in sheets from the clouds only a few miles away. Sure enough the rain started to fall on our way past Inverness, and it rained very heavily in bursts on our way back to Ullapool. A convivial evening in the cottage ensued. 

Ally goes to Ukraine

James and I have been enjoying a quiet time in Ullapool, enjoying the house and garden, sitting outside on the benches with the cats a lot. I have been doing some watercolour painting. 
Ally and Cat have been on holiday to Slovakia; Andrew joined them and then Cat went home while Ally and Andrew continued into Poland.
Ally had told us that he and Andrew have been planning to do a day trip to Ukraine while they are in Poland, but I wasn’t sure exactly when. Today I was thinking about it and I sent him a message to ask if he had been there yet. He messaged straight back to say that he was in Ukraine right now, having lunch in the beautiful city of Lviv. As Ally’s mum, I must admit that I’m not thrilled to think that he is in a war zone but he is 32 years old and it’s not my place to tell him what to do. Lviv is in the west of Ukraine and does not get a lot of attacks but they still do get some shelling at night. However Ally and Andrew were there during the day and all went well. He messaged us again later to let us know that he was safely back in Poland. He found the Ukrainian people to be very friendly, but you could see signs of the war; there were windows sandbagged as were many of the statues around the city. Lviv did look lovely with elegant buildings and squares. I was glad to hear that he was back in Poland.