The crying sky.

This picture is of Mormond Hill which you can see from the rear of our house. The rain clouds shedding rain created a spooky vision.

I am also shedding 'rain' - my annual bulldozer of a cold has knocked me flat. Boiling hot one minute and teeth chattering the next. Thank goodness we have no guests booked in till Monday when hopefully I will be upright again.

After a week of fabulous weather we have rain teeming down, grey skies, all matching my mood.

Ever optimistic!

My baby grapevine.
I have begun to put outside the hanging baskets and planted flower pots. Mike has been transplanting the vegetables I started in the greenhouse, so there was a bit of room.....
On a down note we lost a duck. In the middle of the night we heard a quack..shot outside.. nothing there, not even a feather. The one night we forgot to put them to bed. The other two are still quite nervy and not laying. So both hen and duck flock depleted. I am on the hunt now for some replacements from the Rescue Centres. And considering buying a gun.

Happy and Sad.

The picture is of some of the members of our Best of Banffshire and Buchan Bed and Breakfasts having had lunch at Kildrummy Castle, one of our familiarisation trips last year.
Sadly, Janice, the lady in red, died suddenly. Yesterday we went to her funeral. There are only two crematoriums in this part of Scotland. A long drive with the sea on our right all the way there. So beautiful. The crematorium was in what had been a small, pretty church. I was struck with the cleverness of transforming, what would have been turned in to goodness knows what, into something still useful to the community at large, Christian or not.
Reminiscences from the back of the car came thick and fast. Talk of other funerals at this church. How one had so many cars parked in and around, brought the comment, "Aye he was way too well known." Not a bad epitaph!

Phoebe is a female!

Phoebe has laid an egg! The one on the left of the picture, to its right a hen egg and on the right a duck egg. We have had Phoebe since she was three months old, which was about 12 years ago. So is parrot puberty the same as human?!

Everything growing - including my hair.

Lots of crops in and out of the greenhouse. Broad and runner beans, mange tout, courgettes, broccoli, tomatoes, and lettuce leaves. Tulips replacing the daffs in the garden, the Rogersii ready to launch its rocket of a flower, and the rhodedendrons just beginning to bloom. Isn't May lovely! At the back of the house all the cherry trees are in bloom, just in time for our first visitors from Japan. Our other visitors are from Belgium . They have the shooting rights for an area nearby. The results of which are a deer corpse hanging in our shed. Although I love venison I am not going to have any of this one......

The final picture of this posting is me all ready for my weekly Rotarian meeting. In early June we have a black tie do, which has totally thrown me as I haven't the faintest idea of what to wear. Any suggestions? My fellow female rotarians have suggested a cocktail dress as I am 'small', what the hell does one of them look like? A Harvey Wallbanger?

And a busy week later....

Just the skirting boards to go back. We have had a busy week and guests have been very understanding - and suitably appreciative of the new floor.

The poorly hen became poorly again. A friend has diagnosed what it is and we feel very stupid as it turns out to be worms, the cats get done regularly, but I have kept hens for years and never knew one had to worm hens....

What's happening?

We are replacing the floor in the sun room. We have a small 'window' with no guests and decided to get on with the floor, especially as there was a very good offer at the diy shop.
Mike used to be quite good at jigsaw puzzles....