Was v. confused today. Kept hearing a bird chirping faintly. Looked outside to see if there was one at the bird table. No. Still the chirping. Looked up to see if there was one at the window above. No. Walked into study. Still the chirping. At this point realised that it was my own nose whistling ..

Up the hill again today. Was tough. More snow than yesterday. Some melty areas though where I saw:
A pheasant
A mole
A face in profile with South America as its body
A squawking vulture with a dinosaur above it

A traipse up the hill again. Walking on overnight snow & descending in a snow flurry that stormed in. Weird flakes landed on me - microscopic ice cubes, miniature pompoms. I listened to a podcast as I walked - that worked well. Maybe I've finally found a good way of listening to them at last!

I was thinking about the Wombles earlier and singing the theme song. It struck me that N would make a good Womble. He even recycled the potato water twice - cooking the broccoli in it then using it to make the gravy. "What would your Womble name be?" I asked him. "Uncle Lucifer" he replied .....

Bought yesterday! For 1st time ever we could have steak pie at New Year! Australians had real one but ours pretty good too. Also made a Tipsy Laird trifle for 1st time - whisky instead of sherry, no jelly & (defrosted) local rasps. Plant cream & custard. Late photo - spoon had already been in!

New Year's Resolution is to get "Eigg Fit" so I can climb An Sgùrr. So Jan 1st saw me trudge up the hill behind the house. Haven't been up there since Lockdown II. N had already gone up in the morning, I went at lunchtime & K went up in the afternoon. Poor hill must be wondering what was going on!

Hogmanay saw us slipping into the static caravan for a sloe gin homemade by the Australians. They also seem skilled at stacking wood. This reminded me of some kind of geological section.

Wishing you more double yolkers for 2025!

Lots of caravans and caravanettes (I still like this old fashioned word) on the A9 yesterday. There was one called "Pageant" which we thought would be a good collective noun for these vehicles. On looking it up though the collective noun is: A caravan of caravans!

Was sitting looking out into N's sister's garden yesterday morning. Two pigeons landed on the fence and every time the wind blew, the feathers at the base of their breasts would ruffle out making it look like they were wearing tutus.

Part of a fountain visited yesterday in Bridge of Allan with lichen like a pair of Minion glasses.

Set off for a day trip to Stirling on Sunday to see N's sister & family. Ended up staying the night. Visit was bookmarked by fountains - this fine one was in King's Park where we had a quick stop to let the auld pooch have a stretch before the official visit commenced.

Gave N a mushroom kit a few weeks ago but he's been a bit neglectful of it. On the other hand .....this is meant to be a chestnut mushroom but is more like a parasol. It's like all the mushrooms have flowed into one.

Cracking eggs for bread & butter pudding today and I got a double yolker. 1 in a 1000 chance apparently. Don't recall ever having one before so guess this might have been a once in a lifetime moment.

I kept "Gavin & Stacey" till the 27th. Wanted them to myself. J away home. N pottering outside. Poured a wine, got a tub of crisps then settled down on the sofa. N came in two-thirds through so I'd to share my weeping with him. I cried so much my glasses steamed up. Still crying thinking about it ❤️

Short walk in Tomnavoulin yesterday. Stretch of trees dripping in lichen and a pretty patch of British soldiers Cladonia lichen with festive looking red fruiting caps.

I can see a sentinel meerkat from my house window at the moment. Ok it's not a meerkat, it's just an old post that looks like one but my word how good would it be if it really was a meerkat and there was a mob of them in a burrow underneath it.

In the garden yesterday, the young silver birch trees looked like giant webs - concentric curved branches covered in dew. Didn't check to see if there was a Darwin's bark spider in there (weaver of the world's largest web - can pan over 25m & can catch over 30 insects at a time. Is that all?!!)

The Curious cider from Kent has gone down as well with N & J as it did with C when we visited the brewery back in July. The 12 pack has been imbibed over the last 48 hours. Order more! #curiousbrewery do not charge more to post their wares to the north of Scotland & I applaud them for that too.

Oh so tricky to find a film that all of us might enjoy. What was Boxing Days choice? "The Damned United" as N had been speaking about Brian Clough earlier in the day while J was watching the football, and quite frankly I will watch anything with Michael Sheen in it. It proved a winner for us all!

J loves Yorkshire Pudding & is sure we used to have them with Xmas dinner but I insist we didn't. Maybe I did give him them though as it would've been another thing he'd eat. Anyway, now we have it on Boxing Day. I forgot to buy some this year & had to make it from scratch for the FIRST TIME EVER!

(a) Birds Eye Potato Waffles with our cooked breakfast
(b) sweetcorn with our Christmas dinner.

Christmas Day food-based traditions established when J was little and a very fussy eater.

I bought J a gift that also tracks a sloth. He set up the app & looked to see where "Esmeralda" was. Seems she'd been in the middle of a road in Costa Rica for the last 4 days. We think she might have been run over!! Good job I bought him some other presents too other than a potentially dead sloth!

"What would your spirit animal be?" J asked me last night. Hmm. "A cuckoo" I eventually said. "Why a cuckoo?" he quite reasonably questioned. "Because they let others do all the hard work" .....

Gobsmacked by my presents this year. Highlights: a book from N - 1st gift ever in the 8 Christmases we've been together (too anti-society's norms) plus J got me a pair of the same bee glasses that I'd delighted over when we were in the fabulous Curfew cocktail bar in Copenhagen back in October.

"Twas the night before Christmas, when all through the house
Not a creature was stirring, not even a dog who looks a bit like a Springer Spaniel but whose long legs might indicate that there's some other breed in there somewhere"

Christmas Eve & over to Huntly to collect boozy mincemeat croissants & a cognac soaked fruit & nut bread from the Culinary Kiwi. Short walk taken at Cleanhill Woods, Aberchirder with 20+mile views south (PeakFinder app told me that the snow-patched hill in the distance was Carn Allt a'Chlaiginn).

Monday brought a visit to the cemetery. Mum was a fan of Christmas wreaths on graves. She had several plastic ones which went on various graves each year. Since she died in 2021 I've made one for her on a willow frame. Rustic & rough but I think she'd laugh & be proud-pleased at my annual attempts.

Still playing catch up with my days. I drank this last Sunday. Long ago gift from a now ex-colleague with rich relatives. @ £80 a bottle. Never drank any wine that price before but if not now then our lodgers might just help themselves to it not knowing its value. Good? Very! £80 good? Not sure!