Tuesday July 7th.

Freya's birthday today. The final birthday treat long agonised over turned out to be a very painless trip to the pool in Dumbarton which has a small flume and a wave machine. A couple of hours was idled away reading and chatting to Toby back at home on facebook via the phone whilst they cavorted, splashed and even swam a bit. . Freya was supremely satisfied with the day which is always a plus! We came home and ate lots of big pink cake...perfect.
The “Then” blog. For details see entry for March 7th 2009. In brief the restoration of Claonairigh House
Tuesday July 7th
Cloudy but warm
More tree felling today. The mill can actually be seen now as can the back of the house. Met the architect, very nice enthusiastic man but a little too forceful in some areas. Still, he is working hard for us and is willing to proffer help and advice as required. Made compost heap.

Absence makes the heart grow fonder

...so any readers of this must really like me!! Sorry the lack of entries but over Easter the vital choice between computering and sleep came down heavily on the sleep side! I am well caught up now so here are some snapshots of our Easter courtesy of Cousin Jess, a whiz with the camera. All more or less self explanatory. The simnel cake was Toby's creation and went down well, all in one meal in fact (well, there were between 9 and 11 of us most nights). I have included the other cake as an example of how horribly wrong things can go when one gets hysterical...this believe it or not is supposed to be a tribute to Snowy the dog of TinTin fame and gave me several of those marvellous moments when giggling progresses to full-blown hysteria and a truly happy bubble forms around your head. It was for Nigel's birthday which we celebrated in style with champagne and a meal at the George (rounded off with sad looking cake at home).

Vegetarians avert thy gaze.

A fast and furious night out last night at Brenfield, home of friends one of whom has reached that big 40...I wonder what that feels like. I guess I shall just have to wait a few more years to find out........ The celebrations were held in a barn, with bar and the biggest cooker you have ever seen welded together by the birthday boy and friends,large enough for a whole cow. They know this for sure as they had one in there for a wedding recently but we were more modest with merely three sheep. The burners beneath blazed and kept the ceilidh dancers warm. There is nothing like a good old scottish dance with the kilts swirling, the boots stomping and the pipes skirling away. The bar was busy all night but less busy once the dancing started as you just canny twist and drink. The dancers were far too fast to get many photos of but here is one and the magnificent cooker.

Happy Birthday Toby (yesterday)

July 7th...Freya's birthday

The big "one" "oh" for Freya today.The designated birthday treat was a trip to Braehead to see Prince Caspian, we have all read the books and this has been long awaited and did not disappoint. I have now been made the most unpopular person to sit next to and have to sit at the end due to a tendency to get over excited at the battle scenes (Toby did not appreciated the sword thrust and rousing cry of "For Narnia and The North" either in the cinema or re enacted in the Shopping Mall afterwards.)There was also dissent amongst the lower ranks as I had to take a few minutes out at the end of the film to recover myself, even then when I managed to stagger out of the darkened theatre long after everyone else I got smirks from the cinema attendant (I don't think that they are called ushers anymore? This one did not do any ushing that I could see)and a "enjoy the film then?!" as the tears came unbidden once more at the memory of the emotional ending and just how I would feel being ripped from a fairytale land and thrust back into war time London......ahh well...I shall visit it in my dreams.
pS The Cake is "The Monster Book of Cakes" from HP.