Recently...

A mostly recent but rather random collection of photos...

I managed to have a clear out of the bedroom during the school holidays. The job is not quite complete, hence just the one view. A vast improvement though. As you can see, we have very slopey ceilings upstairs. I like them for the character they add, but during winter time the room does become very cold as there's no insulation. Brrr.

Black headed gull at the loch.

 A favourite farmhouse on the far shore of the loch.

Umbellifers at the loch.

 I always forget the name of this wildflower, sorry.

Some of the garden produce from August. Our raspberry bushes have been really productive this year. I've made quite a few crumbles, Eve's puddings, cakes, muffins etc with them as well as just eating them straight from the canes (the best way!).

I tried them in a streusel cake with some blackcurrants. It was a little dry, probably better to use a jar of cherries like the recipes is originally for.

 Back to the loch another day, this time we cycled.

 Sparkles.

 More umbellifers.

Back home again now. The birds love to perch in the little hawthorn tree as it's near the bird table.

On this day there were lots of sparrows making use of it. It's fairly close to the back door, so good for taking photos without the birds noticing me.

 Now to a recent day trip.

The Falkirk Wheel...

...and the Kelpies. We took the bikes and cycled along the canal from the wheel to the Kelpies. It's not the best cycle path - there are a few roads to cross and at one point you need to carry your bike up and down quite a lot of steps.

I took loads of photos! I'll only include a few. We met one of my brothers here, he stays quite nearby, it was nice to catch up.

Back home again. This is the only non-white butterfly I have seen in the garden this whole summer. It's a peacock, my favourite, but this was the best photo I managed before he flew away, he didn't stay long. Normally we have quite a decent amount of butterflies visiting the garden during August (we have several buddleia bushes for them) so it's a little concerning.

And now we've caught up to last weekend. Hubby was away so no bike ride for me, instead I was supposed to take the kids to swimming lessons. However, the weather was glorious and there were lots of local events running. We decided to go to the Largs Viking Festival.

Viking food. I didn't take many photos in the village, the views over the Clyde were much more tempting. After lunch at the festival (doughnuts and hot dogs - not very traditional!) which we ate watching the yachts and ferry from the beach we headed on down to Portencross.

Normally we spend quite a long time at the beach at Portencross but it was looking a little dingy and there was a terrible smell (something very metallic) so we spent most of the time at the rocks beside the castle. It's a beautiful spot.

Well, there's no bike ride today either as the weather is minging. Nevermind, it's given me a chance to get my photos sorted, now for some catch-up blog reading...

Enjoy your weekend.