This is the only decent photo we have of the Lodges' visit last week. We took a wee stroll down to Cramond Brig too see the wee ponies, visit the playground and wander up the Almond to towards Cammo. This is the car park of the Cramond Brig Hotel, but the house in the background is Jock Howieson's house apparently.
Monday, September 29, 2008
Sunday, September 28, 2008
Oh Dear, What A Waste!
Louis, bless him, used to enjoy removing bottles of wine from the rack and taking them through to the living room. He would put them all in a row, and then (sometimes) start to put them back. All very endearing until - perhaps inevitably - he dropped one.
It had to be a red, of course. A whole bottle's worth of red wine stain. We tried pouring white wine onto the stain. Nothing much happened. We tried salt. Nothing much happened. We tried more (cheaper this time) white wine and more salt and made some progress.
Suffice to say Louis doesn't get to play with the wine any more...
It had to be a red, of course. A whole bottle's worth of red wine stain. We tried pouring white wine onto the stain. Nothing much happened. We tried salt. Nothing much happened. We tried more (cheaper this time) white wine and more salt and made some progress.
Suffice to say Louis doesn't get to play with the wine any more...
Saturday, September 27, 2008
Fraser's Birthday
Good grief, another year seems to have passed, and I am now the answer to the ultimate question of life, the universe and everything plus one. Helen and I both had the day off work, and we spent a nice family morning at EICA Ratho. After Louis' nap we revisited some old haunts in Victoria Park, then headed down to Pizza Express for dinner, where I appear to have turned into a grinning buffoon. Earlier in the week, Holly took a nice picture of Louis at breakfast, and on Friday Helen, Louis and Holly visited deepest East Lothian for a bit of clambering.
Monday, September 22, 2008
First Day Of Autumn ptII
Back at home in the afternoon, Holly scaled the apple tree to pick the few remaining fruits, while Louis sat in the gravel and painstakingly dropped wee stones into a plastic pot, one at a time. We stewed some apples for tea because we now have *millions* of the things.
First Day Of Autumn
According to Google, it's officially the first day of autumn. We didn't know that when we set out for the botanics on the bike this morning. Neither did the weather gods evidently, because it was glorious and summery. We explored, we got told off for climbing trees, we had a picnic near the redwood grove, we looked at the building site for the new visitor centre, and we came home. I arrived back at the house with two sleeping kiddies in the trailer.
Sunday, September 21, 2008
Simple Country Folk
With the best weather we've had for weeks, we headed out to Hopetoun House for the Edinburgh Game and Country Fair. We hung out by the arena and watched falconry, gun dogs and sheep herding. Except there were no sheep (or other livestock) because of bluetongue, of which Scotland is apparently free, so it was goose herding. We had ice cream and beer, we saw archery and clay pigeon shooting. Holly had her face painted, and we all (your correspondent excepted) had a go on the carousel. It was, in short, a great family day out, helped enormously by the unseasonably glorious weather, and the wholesome, outdoorsy vibe. Strange mix of people mind you - a mixture of middle-class townies, posh country folk in the standard uniform of moleskins, check shirts and wellies, and more than a sprinkling of familes of chavs with jack russell terriers in tow. Dogs everywhere of course, which excited Louis enormously. Everything with four legs is a dog to Louis mind you. It was nice to see dogs in their - for want of a better word - natural environment, rather than being walked along the cycle paths of the city... we ended the day careering towards Helen, perched on the edge of the reflecting pond:
Saturday, September 20, 2008
Pirates and Princesses
Saturday, and we head off to Leo's "Pirates and Princesses" birthday party. Much fun was had, and the kiddies were great with a crowd of kids they didn't know that well. Back at home, after Louis' nap we took the bikes down to the wee playground at Cramond Brig before heading back for dinner and pre-bedtime frolics.
Friday, September 19, 2008
The Queen's Back Garden
Blog posts are like buses. You wait ages and two come along at once. Checked my phone today, lo and behold here are a few pictures from Monday, when Holly, Louis and I had a play date with Skye, Jasmin and Sarah. It was drizzling lightly and muddy underfoot, but we headed out to the Queen's Park to feed the ducks and swans. Louis got very excited about this indeed. Then we hiked up to St Anthony's Chapel for a sit down and a tasty biscuit. Sarah gave us all lunch, and then Holly didn't want to leave! Skye didn't want her to leave either so I left Holly there, took Louis home for a nap, and picked Holly and then Helen up at teatime so it all worked out very nicely indeed.
Saturday, September 13, 2008
Oh Dear
I've been terrible remiss in my blog updates lately. In fact, I've been terribly remiss in my photographic coverage, so there hasn't even been anything to post! Here's a couple of snaps from last weekend. One in the park, and one of Holly sporting a rather fine toothpaste beard.
Monday, September 01, 2008
Apple Monday
Monday, and in between showers and hail storms, Sarah came round with Skye and Jasmin. The apple tree's been looking ripe and ready to go for a week or so now, so we decided to start the harvest. We've got about half the apples off the tree, of which about half were good and are now in storage. The rest were nibbled or scarred or providing homes to bugs, so we trimmed them and juiced them right out there in the garden, ending up with 3 litres of home-grown apple juice! The kids had a great time and it was all very good and wholesome and natural. In other Apple news (ahem), Holly's mouse skills are coming on apace, as she showed this morning when she spent a good chunk of time colouring in butterflies on Charlie and Lola's web site.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)