Autumn in Scotland

Mine woods bike ride, early Nov 08
We had a lovely autumn with amazing colours on the trees as you can see in the photo below taken in the woods between Bridge of Allan and Dunblane.

Mind woods bike ride - lovely colours on beech trees.


Me by the Allan Water river in Mine Woods

Perth and beyond
We had a drive up through Perth and Blairgowrie one weekend exploring since Michael had a job interview up that way and we wanted to check out where the office was. We found the oddly named village of Stanley where the intevriew would be- a small somewhat depressing village north of Perth then went on up through the lovely back roads towards Dunkeld where we sat in the car and had our lunch since it was wet. On the way we saw 2 red squirrels feeding on beech nuts- one ran in front on the car but we were going slowly so stopped to watch it. They are quite a lot smaller than grey squirrels and apparently that is one of the reasons they are making a come back in places- pine martens prey on squirrels but the fatter, heavier greys can't escape to the ends of thin branches where pine martens cannot follow in the way that the lighter reds can. We also saw a large flock of red-legged partridge feeding in a field which then took fright and flew over our car.

We had a brief drive around Blairgowrie (close to Glen Shee ski area and known for its raspberries) which used to be known for having the highest rate of crime per head in Scotland (largely because of vandalism and anti-social behaviour by a particular group of residents) - it wasn't the most attractive or uplifting place so we moved on. On our way back south on the A93 we passed the enormous beech hedge - the tallest in the world. It's called the The Meikleour Beech Hedge, and is 600 m long and 30 m high - it was in spectacular bronze autumn colour.

Hallowe'en Party

A friend, Roser, from near Barcelona offered to host another party in her flat in Bridge of Allan 2-3 miles from Stirling. I spent ages carving a pumpkin to take with me- I'd wanted a turnip which is more traditional than the US pumpkin but couldn't find a big enough one anywhere- only to find that Roser had about 5 or 6 already!

Sonia in lovely stripy socks and Sergi (Danger Mouse)

Having just been on a trip home to spain, Roser had brought back lots of lovely food with her including some traditional Catalan cakes, vatious cured meats (which I didn't eat of course) and delicious Manchego cheese which I love!

Roser (devil), Tom (Austin Powers), Sonia (witch) in kitchen

There must've been about 25 people there at its busiest and almost everyone came in costume- those that didn't were taken to the bedroom for a make-over involving lots of face paint! We started in a very civilised manner which eventually deteriorated into party games both inside and outside in the communal back garden around 3am - a sort of egg and spoon race. I can imagine the neighbours weren't too impressed with us clomping up and down the stairwell and shrieking out in the garden.

Axe man and Super Mario

Disco dancing - yes it's me!

Loo roll mummies - seasonal party game!