Showing posts with label tartan. Show all posts
Showing posts with label tartan. Show all posts

Friday, 24 July 2015

and breathe........ fresh air, a wedding in Braemar and a visit to Balmoral



I can say it now.

We had a wedding.

My beautiful daughter got married.

It was in Scotland. In the middle of nowhere where the midges roam, and the temperature is around 10C in mid July.

It was a long drive from south London, carrying a car full of pine cones, assorted stationary, clothes for wet weather, hiking and partying, a steam generator iron and a wedding dress. Not to mention three baby fawns and the hand crafted 'confetti cones'.

three baby fawns

We covered more than a few service stations, where we bumped into Lochs and Glens coach holidays, and partook of fine dining.


Lochs and Glens







obligatory service station cone picture







old blue car getting some free parking

Overnight in Moffat for a gentle ease into a very different way of life.


doing the tartan thing

the first of many deceased animals encountered on our travels

We breakfasted on haggis and made our way to Braemar.

The weather was very Scottish, with an 'unseasonal' amount of rain. While waiting for beautiful daughter and her tall dark and handsome fiancee to arrive we decided to be tourists and visit Balmoral.




Balmoral


The queen arrives in August. Everything in the garden is geared to her arrival. Vegetables and flowers all designed to be ready for one month of the year. Fresh flowers in every room, every day. Vegetables from the garden.


Balmoral garden in action

the vegetable garden

the vegetable garden cone




red squirrel at Balmoral gatehouse

Beware - squirrels crossing

does the Daimler have a leak?



Scotland is very green right now. 

Ancient birches and pines in abundance.






And then there was the wedding.

A joyful affair.

I even enjoyed the ironing. I will probably never again iron tablecloths ON the table, using an extension lead and my trusty steam generator.

I will probably never again even iron a tablecloth anywhere.

And I will never again iron a brides train or three bridesmaid dresses.



My face was subjected to brushes and attention that it has never experienced before. 

I was 'made up'.

OH said I should do it every day. I thought I looked pretty odd.

It will never happen.

make up brushes

make up 

It took three attempts to wash it off at the end of the day.

The day was perfect.

It even stopped raining for the photographs.

We danced and laughed, and danced and smiled and talked and danced and were filled with joy.




Normal service was resumed the following day, and I was allowed out with my camera between family meals and parlour games.

The foxgloves are rich and and the grass lush and wet.






Ferns and buttercups in abundance.






Lush clover and long wet grass






It was a wonderful weekend in a wonderful place.

I will be back soon.


Wednesday, 20 August 2014

Scotch pies, caramel cakes, haggis and chips; it must be the Nairn Highland Games



I have been up in Scotland, eating for England; at a wedding and the Nairn Highland Games.

My diet for three days consisted of cake, pies and haggis, followed by macaroni pie, cake and then more cake and some Scottish tablet.

It was good, but I have come home with a renewed love of all things green on the food front.

The Nairn games are special for me, as they are set in my ancestral home, and because I can't resist a piper, preferably in a massed pipe band.


Marching to the highland games in Nairn




If you want to make me cry, just make me listen to the Scots Dragoon Guards playing Amazing Grace. It works every time.




The games are traditional; you know exactly what will happen as every year it is the same. Steeped in tradition. Tossing the caber, highland dancing, tug of war, pipers, and plenty tartan and kilts.


In full regalia before the procession commences

technology and tartan



Nairn Games 2014

Nairn Games 2014 at the Links

Right next to the show ground are the 'showies' -  a funfair for those less attracted to traditional pursuits. The contrast within a hundred yards is quite surreal. Blaring music and people having fun spending money on the penny falls and dodgems. All you need to do is walk past the toilets and you enter a completely different world. Not everyone seems that happy to be there.


all the fun of the fair

no softy cissys or cry baby's


I met Darth Vader in a kilt



he seemed quite pleased to see me


And a levitating child running with her eyes closed.......


levitating child

The most popular ride is the 'limbo dancer' which bears no resemblance whatsoever to its title.



the Limbo Dancer

more fun at the showies; waiting for the ride...........

a happy punter


stall holders have very traditional prams for their children

There is no shortage of food at the games, day or night.


jumbo hot dogs



Burger palace


Burger



But I limit myself to Ashers cakes, as they are what I have eaten for the last 40 years and more.


Ashers cakes


Mine is the one on the top. A caramel tart.