ramblingbloke

What's keeping me in employment as a Gardener just now? Leaves, and lots of them, all to be cleared up! Thank goodness for leaves (and weeds), that's what I say.

We ventured out this evening for a meal at the Royal Hotel in Tain. Very good food. They must have an excellent chef. I had a chicken dish in a Tarragon sauce that was very tasty. We have grown tarragon (Russian and French) so I was interested to actually taste it in a sauce. I have no idea if it was the French or the Russian kind but it went down well all the same.

Latest Rural Rambling appears in the Ross-shire Journal tomorrow - a tale of bicycles, ornamental perennials, elderly gardeners and broken windows. It will appear on the web at some point in the future.

Now back to the leaves: raking leaves this morning in someone else's garden when the garden owner appeared flourishing a catalogue in a most excited state - he had just ordered a leaf blower that also works well when it comes to clearing snow, due to arrive end of the month. Fantastic. We are both looking forward to it's arrival!

The latest Rural Rambling to 'hit' the web can be found here.  Dogs, winking, rainfall measurements and much more!

On the gardening front I have moved from the grass cutting season into the pruning season and the importance of chainsaw safety came to the fore yesterday when I was lucky to escape the fury of a falling willow tree (it took my hat off but luckily nothing more than that). The reaction of my companion at the time: "there's nothing wrong with your reflexes"

A summer in the Scottish Highlands - looking back: "Autumn Reflections" , the most recent Rural Rambling.

My gardening guru-ness continues at the garden website for subscribers only. It now has 4 members.

An interesting week as always. Ice on the car window this morning, and a couple of days ago as well. Autumn seems to have arrived. Grass cutting is coming to an end and the pruning season has begun in full force. Hedges, trees, shrubs, all in need of a good cutting. Should keep me going until Christmas, that and a few other gardening activities. I look forward to the dark nights at this time of year because it means my working day is cut short by lack of daylight and I can read a book or two by the fireside in the evenings. That' s the plan, anyway.

We have a visitor tomorrow so we should be out and about the cafes of Ross-shire this weekend. A sunday lunch is planned for sunday! A well known sunday lunch place on the A9. Looking forward to that.

Latest article for the Ross-shire Journal is nearly complete and looks closely at the relationship between education and cheese, as well as the pitfalls that can befall exacting scientific research. Never take statistics for granted.

I have recently become a website gardening guru - answering questions and advising on certain garden matters. A subscriber only site. Very exciting. As of today it has two members, me and the guy who set it up, so not much call for advice yet. Time will tell how things progress. It can only get better. And it will.

"Two good, Two Bad" as Adrian Chiles says on Sunday's BBC2 Match of the day.

The tv reception via freeview changed for the better today and we now have access to Channel 5, as well as the tv rception being (so far) unaffected by trees moving about in the wind outside the house! Excellent.
A regular garden customer with a hospitalized husband and unable to get about much herself has found great kindness in the local postie who is doing her shopping for her. She puts her shopping list out in the morning (half way through her letter box) and the 'postie' delivers the goods the following morning. Now that's a heart-warming story if ever I heard one.

Colder weather has arrived and the thermal socks and thermal gloves were worn today.
Can't think of a second bad thing, so that's got to be good.

Last weekend we went to Glasgow - the West End, and Renfrew. A very tasty pizza consumed at Braehead Shopping Centre.

Returning from Inverness the other day I saw a poster advertising a Highland band called Shaker. I am tempted to check this musical phenomenon out. Will they play Ullapool next year, I wonder?

This weekend is the Loopallu Festival in Ullapool. Some of us are going and some are not , so the dogs will not have to go into kennels this year. They may even get a walk or two on Saturday. So no weekend holiday for them, then.

A potential situation seems to have arisen his year for the Loopallu Organisers with respect to ticket prices for folks taking a caravan (and there are a lot of caravans normally). There is an additional charge that doesn't appear to have been posted on the website when purchasing tickets - an over-sight of some type. Not too sure what the problem was, but as I handed over the extra cash  (£30!) this evening on arrival at the campsite to deposit the caravan, the general feeling seemed to be that I was taking it all very well. And so I was. Tomorrow the main bulk of the festival goers arrive. Do caravan people cause a 'scene', I wonder? Even a riot? Time will tell. And who gets that cash?
Unfortunately I am left feeling that I may have been ripped off somehow by someone and that is not a good way to start a weekend of music. I suspect I shall not be the only one. Next year's annual trip to the Loopallu Festival in Ullapool already feels under threat.. Shame that. Glastonbury beckons. On another note, when unhitching your caravan from the car, always ensure the caravan hand brake is on. Mine wasn't, and the the caravan moved substantially. Luckily it didn't end up on the beach but it was a close call.

A new hedge trimmer arrived in the post a few days ago. I have already started on the backlog of hedges in Ross-shire and should be kept busy pruning/cutting for a few weeks at least.

The latest Rural Rambling appeared in the Ross-shire Journal today - Loopallu, "The Man in the Cupboard", Paris and a snooze beneath a well-known Paris landmark.  Will "The Man in the Cupboard" read it, I wonder? I hope so. I never ceased to be amazed at how interesting everyday life can be. I was in Aberdeen briefly this week and had an extraordinary encounter with a couple of folk at Aberdeen Railway station - I may even write a Rambling about it. Who knows?

The latest Rural Rambling (in the Ross-shire Journal, August) can be found here

An interesting week. The hedge cutter is still to be repaired and the new one ordered via the internet has yet to arrive. Hedge cutting job are stacking up.

I travelled from Aberdeen to Inverness on the A96 on Friday afternoon. It was very wet and some flooding on the roads. Listening to the news about the flooding incidents on the radio I became aware that I was actually in the middle of it all. Quite exciting, unless you happened to be one of the many whose homes were invaded by water. Not so exciting then.

The latest Rural Rambling article is complete and should be in the Ross-shire Journal this week - tales of a shopping trip to Inverness with a difference.  It will also be up on the Rural Gateway Scotland website sometime next week when I get round to sending it. off.  It's been a busy week.

We had a short holiday in Paris the other week (seems like a long time ago now) and stayed in Montmartre near the Sacre Coeur. Great city, very hot, very expensive but a great holiday all the same. Met up with my brother and sister in law for a meal whilst over there. They just happened to be on holiday in Paris at the same time.

Met a lady today who was most distraught that her 40 year old rose had been savagely cut to the ground. For one horrible moment I thought I might have done it, but no, it was someone else. Thank goodness for that.

A most welcome gift arrived in the post on Saturday morning - a signed copy of David Lee's new book about Stoke City. Brilliant. I really must get myself some reading glasses (most seriously) to ensure I enjoy it to the full. I have discovered that if I put my wife's reading glasses on as well as my own I can read very well, but it looks a bit odd, probably doesn't do the eyes much good and is not really to be recommended. Spec-Savers, here I come.

Just returned from Paris. very hot over there. More on this to follow shortly.

Hi-Arts website features "Highland New designers", with a piece on a Highland new designer called Hannah Vickery! Take a look.

The latest Rural Rambling that appeared in the Ross-shire Journal last week, Friday July 24th, can be found here

Hedge cutting season has begun and tomorrow sees me and my trusty helper in such 'hedge cutting matters' tackle a good sized one. I am investigating getting one of those ladders with a platform on top to stand on - makes life a lot easier. No doubt they are expensive. I must find out. I expect they have a fancy name too.

I have been asked to prune a small hedge in Tain next week - no problem, I said, only on reflection I suspect it may be full of wasps so it may not actually happen.

Latest Rural Rambling in the Ross-shire Journal this evening - markets, plants a 'man in  kilt', a one hundred pound note, that sort of thing. Link to follow at some point.

Veg update - we are now eating our home-grown spuds. Just brilliant. And watching the cauliflowers grow (nearly big enough to cut and eat). Courgettes are doing well also.

The weekend is nearly upon us and brings with it a spot of handyman painting and decorating (our own place, not anyone elses) and a Sunday Barbeque in someone else's garden: looking forward to the latter, not the former.

A mixed week of gardening, last week, with some strange weather. Giant hailstones on Tuesday, very wet on wednesday, and a spot of thunder and lightening thrown in for good measure at some point. My waterproofs (gifted by a pipe smoking retired 'seadog' ) stood up to the weather well, but - my word - it can get hot wearing them in the summer months!

We went to Aberdeen for our eldest daughter's graduation at the end of the week and a very good graduation it was too. Aberdeen has become one of those places that we have got to know quite well over the years - well, the centre of Aberdeen anyway - and with another Aberdeen student in the family we shall continue to visit for a few more years to come.

The latest Rural Rambling is winging it's way to the Ross-shire Journal for this Friday's edition via email (sent just a few minutes ago) and has mention - amongst other things - of a one hundred pound note. Have you seen one of those, I wonder?  Big in size as well as in value.

We are off to Paris in the near future and look forward to a continental 'break', meeting up with my brother and wife who happen to be in Paris at the same time, croisants for breakfast and some attempts at speaking the French language. The French never seem to understand what I am saying but it's great to have a go anyway, is it not?

On the plant side of things, we have a plant stall at Tain Pottery (great pottery there if you have yet to visit) and are in conversations with The Store House at Foulis for much the same sort of thing. Folks can be most helpful and pleasant. The Cake at The Store House cafe is excellent and highly recommended, indeed it is listed on the Rural Gateway Scotland Website as one of the top 100 cake places in Scotland, or something along those lines anyway.

Finally. It's about time the football season recommenced. Saturday nights without match of the day is not the same in the summer months. Inverness Caley Thistle have been relegated to Division One, of course, so i look forward to the local derby (Inverness v Ross County) and games with higher scorelines. Excellent.

We had a visitor for the week. We have been to the Storehouse at Foulis Ferry (great cake), Tomich by Invergordon for supper (now open until 9pm) and a trip to Nigg to look for dolphins (we didn't see any this time)

On the gardening front: The pumpkins are doing well, lupins have bee re-potted and fennel chopped. A new gardening outlet for the sale of plants has been identified and the plant 'empire' continues to expand (though at a snails pace).

The heatwave continues and I find myself getting through a lot of water during the day. Today, however, was Dornoch Market day so I spent the morning sitting in a very comfy chair behind a barricade of plants on Dornoch High Street scoffing egg sandwiches and drinking coffee whilst having a good blether with all and sundry.

Next week we have a visitor so I shall curtail my gardening activities considerably to visit a few cafes and eating places in the district instead. Great. I look forward to it.

The future holds a trip to Aberdeen, a trip to Paris and possibly one to Glasgow too. Nothing like a bit of vareity to spice up your life!

We have decided that Glastonbury Festival should be on our agenda next year (about time we did that one) so the next stage will be to register for tickets. Glastonbury is on the telly just now, of course, and it's pleasing to see so many folk much older than ourselves enjoying the music. We shall feel positively young.

Dolphins spotted off Balintore this morning, I am told, fifteen of them. Roe deer spotted by me just up the road earlier, and something is rustling down by the polytunnel again - hopefully not a re-emergence of Adders!

Finally I have been gifted pumpkin plants by a certain notable of the district   (mentioned with regard to croquet and the Flintstones in this article here) and I feel a "who can grow the biggest pumpkin" competition coming along. Him or me. I am plotting already to see what I can come up with to make mine gigantic. Watch this space.

The latest Rural Rambling that appeared in the Ross-shire Journal today can be found  here

The latest Rural Rambling is complete and appears in the Ross-shire Journal this week, June 26th: Dean Owens (great music), Gobbolino (great fictional character, ask your kids), the Flintstones (Fred and Barney), Croquet, Vivaldi and chewy music.

As befits this time of year, gardens are growing and I am racing about Ross-shire attempting to keep everything uder control.

We went to the Tain Vintage Car Rally today. A good day out with unexpected good weather. A good blether was had by all.

Music of the moment: Dean Owens.

We have just returned from a very pleasant trip to Aberdeen, attending the Grays School of Art Degree Show - what a fantastic collection of innovative works on display and one in particular was of most interest, our eldest daughter's creative designs and creations. She did well and we are very proud parents.

A quick link here to the Horticulture Week magazine article about me in June 12th called 'me and my job' - note the wooly hat 'look' in the photo. Eagle-eyed folk may notice that some of it has a familier feel, the odd sentence having been cropped from previous Ross-shire Journal articles.

The next Rural Rambling Article is just about complete and again I have enlisted the help of Tomas from Skye to translate one word into Gaelic for me. Most accomodating, that guy. Cheers, Tomas.

The latest Rural Rambling appeared in the Ross-shire Journal on Friday June 5th - an entomologist came to visit! The next Rambling is nearly complete and features a hen called after me. I am honoured.

Today went something like this: Hoe, Hedge cutting, Strimming, more Strimming, Weeding, Grass Cutting and a spot of sawing. Doesn't sound very exciting, I know, but it passed most pleasantly and  a good blether was had along the way. Tomorrow I have a day off (I just decided that myself, and why not?) and also tomorrow, Friday, I have a piece in Horticulture Week magazine called 'Me and My Job'. Excellent.

Have a good weekend wherever you might be! I shall certainly try to have a good one myself! (oh, and as an after-thought, visiting Alness Allottments on Tuesday evening I had a most pleasant chat with the camera lady from BBC Alba. No idea what particular program she was filming for , but as camera person, interviewer and researcher, everything in fact, she seemed to be on the ball and doing a very good job.

Music: Paulo Nuttini (have I spelt that right) - I have a signed CD bought for my birthday by one of my daughters, Dean Owen and still Amy MacDonald! I must fish out something different for the car music system soon - a bit of Bowie perhaps, or Al Stewart maybe.