August News

The August highlight was the visit of my two grandsons with their parents. At least, their dad delivered them and collected them, staying overnight each time, but between times got the train to London for a friend's wedding and to spend some time with old pals. His journey back to the Boggy Brae was a little disrupted as some problem on the West Highland line meant all the trains westwards out of Glasgow were cancelled. Toad came to the rescue and drove to Queen Street Station – something that would terrify me and, in any case, I'd probably lose my way. Minibus taxis must have got plenty of custom that evening.

Manny, who will be 4 this September, wanted to go on a boat so one morning we trooped down the hill to catch the bus to the pier and we took the ferry to Gourock. Manny fizzed all the way in the bus. The boats on the loch were pirate ships. Then he fizzed on the ferry.

Fizzing on the bus

Fizzing on the ferry

 Once at Gourock we searched for a cafe and as luck would have it found one just across the road from a kiddies' play park:

Howie (6months) enjoyed some frothy milk
off the top of a latte

Manny played in the park while I wheeled Howie around in his buggy till he fell asleep. We visited the lovely Gourock wool shop, Once a Sheep and when we arrived at the pier to take the ferry back home, the ferryman took Manny to the wheelhouse. Manny then fizzed all the way home. 

(Pictures above all by Toadlet)

On less sunny days than the boat trip day we went down to our local beach and did some beach treasure hunting. You can see what treasure I found in my blog posts here and here. Meanwhile here are two daughters and two grandsons

plus one grandson and a sea monster

Another fun activity was duck racing in the burn

Space duck in a jam

Arty duck and Stardust Duck

And, of course, feeding the baby. He enjoyed some fromage frais by sucking it off a champagne cork

Grandson Howie and the DerbyshireDaughter

The champagne cork I've forgotten to tell you about! On the evening of the Derbyshire family's arrival we opened a bottle of champagne to celebrate DerbyshireDaughter's degree success with the Open University. Then, on the evening of the Springboard Diver's overnight visit, we opened another bottle that she'd brought to celebrate that again but also because it was her first meeting with her younger nephew. Champagne goes very well with sausages (various varieties) baked in the oven with shallots and then eaten off a fork or fingers.

Grandson Howie and the DivingDaughter

Late in the month I met my friend, KintyreAnnie in Lochgilphead for a lovely lunch at The Smiddy. We sat by this window for our lattes and a shared chocolate chip cookie which was perfectly crisp and buttery. Then, after we'd blethered enough to get properly hungry, we had a baked cheese, avocado and breadcrumb dish with salad. I brought my date slice home but Annie forced hers down there and then. It was certainly very good, all of it, the food and the chatter between good friends. I'm only a few years older than Annie's eldest son but the years between us are nothing because we love the same things in life.

I always love the drive through Argyll via Rest and be Thankful. That day flurries of smirr (soft, fine rain very typical of western Scotland) were blowing through all day, some heavy, some light. The misty clouds floated over the mountains in beautiful drifts and the damp air picked out the early autumn colours on the trees and the late summer flowers in the verges: meadowsweet, wild angelica,  purple loosestrife, rose-bay willowherb, himalayan balsam. The road between Lochgilphead and Furnace has been resurfaced in the not too distant past and the cambers on the curves beautifully done, making the driving quite enjoyable.
On the way I listened to the Vermont band Atlantic Crossing on their 1998 CD Wind Against Tide. We have Full and Away too. Peter MacFarlane, one of their number, was an enthusiastic member of Oxford University Scottish Dance Society at one time, and came to play fiddle (brilliantly!) at one of the OUSDS Ceilidhs during the time when I was teaching the class.
On the way back I listened to Quimantu – a superb and varied collection of South American folk music. Since there was no-one else in the car, I sang along both ways.

The next evening Toad and I went to hear The Outside Track who were absolutely superb! A good way to end the month.


And now I must let Toadlet get back onto the computer where she was having a conversation with other Potterheads on a virtual journey aboard the Hogwarts' Express from Platform nine and threequarters at Kings Cross Station.