I must be getting old. Even though we enjoy the journey
north very much indeed, it does seem to take us longer to get over it each
time. Still, we've caught up on our sleep, got the stiffness out of our knees
and are starting to pick up the reins of life in the chilly north.
Now the rain has stopped and we can get outside without getting
soaked, DH is happily occupied filling his new shed with all his ‘stuff’. I on
the other hand have been to my first Knit and Natter of this visit, where I finished
yet another pair of socks for him. I’m also tackling the garden, as our few shrubs have grown wildly
since our last visit. When we arrived, late on Sunday, we almost had to hack
our way through the enormous buddleia outside the kitchen window to get to the door.
 |
| A view to wake up to - the Kyle of Tongue from the bedroom window |
The weather today has been cold, but brilliantly sunny, and
the landscape is looking breathtakingly beautiful. It’s definitely soup weather,
so I tried a new recipe today and am feeling wonderfully replete. Small, inconsequential details of a very quiet
life, but oh, so satisfying.
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| Socks - for Rubye J |
Glad you've arrived safely and are recovering from the long trek. We wondered how your journey was progressing. I'm having to use BH's computer for now as mine's still out of commission - will e-mail you an alternative email address. Lovely pictures - and 'specially the socks! If you're short of some to do...... (I take size 5 1/2 -ish shoe!!):-) Love to you both.
ReplyDeleteLovely to hear from you, Helva. You just caught me before I switched off and went to bed. :-) Sorry to hear your computer is still out of action.
DeleteI've just started another pair of socks (for myself this time) but am sure I can add you to my list of would-be owners. They are made to measure, you know. :D
You do realise that I am now quite green with envy ... that view!!!
ReplyDeletePoor Annie. The mountain is Ben Loyal and the photo was taken from the front garden. It's what keeps us coming back despite the long journey.
DeleteNow I know why you make the trek - the view is wonderful.
ReplyDeleteI know, Susan, just a picture or two says it all.
DeleteWonderful colours of Scotland. Thank you.
ReplyDeleteI am never homesick, but have so many happy memories of holidays and of hill walking with my father that that photograph brought back so many pictures in my mind.
We do take longer to adjust as we creep on in life..but it is always worthwhile.
A new shed is in the offing here....under the pretext that it will be a sort of extra utility room for me...I am not deceived.
I thought you would enjoy the colours, Fly. The heather is long over, of course, but the trees are russet and gold and the grass is turning dun. Wonderfully muted beauty.
DeleteI think you are wise not to expect much benefit to you from the new shed. There is an irresistible attraction between men's clutter and any shed. :-)
When I first saw your post I was thinking that I wonder how hand-knit socks would feel on the feet. Would they be bunchy or itchy? Would you feel the loops or would they somehow be made soft and comfy? And then there they are a group of socks that look just as perfect as can be. They are so cool Perpetua!
ReplyDeleteIt looks like beautiful country and I can see why you travel there.
Glad you enjoyed them, Rubye. :-) Actually I found hand-knitted socks did take a bit of getting used to at first, as the loops are more noticeable after fine, machine-made socks. But they are so warm and comfortable, as they are made to fit your particular feet, that soon you (or at least we) wouldn't want to wear any others.
DeleteAs for the landscape, it is truly magnificent.
What a beautiful view to call yours for part of the year! So you feel equally at home in both places?........or is it three places?
ReplyDeleteTha sock photo is great - my sort of art!
Are you a knitter too, Pondside?
DeleteIt is a wonderful view and we love it very much, which is why we make the effort to keep coming back. To answer your question, it has got to the stage where we feel very much at home wherever we are, Scotland, Wales or France. Ultimately Wales is truly home, as it's where we worked for many years and brought up our children, but we do feel at home in our other places.
I love your last line. Who could ask for more in life.
ReplyDeleteHello, Retired English Teacher, and welcome to my blog. In the past I might have asked for much more, but now contentment is enough and I am very contented.
DeleteHow content you make me feel with your Knit and Natter, your views and soups and socks. A quiet life is so very nice and a bowl of soup only makes it more so. Glad you arrived safe and sound, Perpetua.
ReplyDeleteThanks, Penny. A quiet life is all I ask nowadays, though I do realise that our life in transit might not sound so very quiet to others. :-) But once we arrive wherever we're going, we live very simply and just enjoy each day as it comes.
DeleteDefinitely soup weather and such a lovely view. Your quiet life is simply the best!
ReplyDeleteVery definitely, Kathy. :-) We never tire of the views, as they change so much with the light and the seasons. Today we have sunshine and clouds, so it looks quite different from yesterday.
DeleteHa, I made soup yesterday too - celery, with lovely chicken stock. There's nothing like soup when the weather gets chilly.
ReplyDeleteYour view is beautiful, such softness in the colours despite the tough-looking wildness.
Mine was a version of Scotch broth, Sarah, with rather more barley and dried veg than intended, as I misread the recipe. :-) It tasted great, however, and was beautifully filling!
DeleteThe autumn colours in Scotland are wonderful, as I said to Fly. Every possibly variant of brown from almost orange to almost purple, but still with a little green and gold thrown in.
What a glorious view! Made vegetable soup yesterday as it was pouring rain--just the day for it. Small details yes, but collated together they form a lovely tapestry :-)
ReplyDeleteThanks, Niall and Antoinette. Sorry to hear about your rain when we were bathed in sunshine. You were probably warmer, though. :-) As I get older, I'm becoming more and more aware that it's the small details that really matter.
DeleteWonderful photos Perpetua - One of these days we must visit the very far north of Scotland. Ullapool is as far north as we've ever managed. Dare I ask with what is DH filling the shed?????
ReplyDeleteThanks, Ricky. I think it must be hard to take a poor photo of this glorious landscape. You would enjoy it so much, as would Sybille with her photographer's eye, so you must make the effort one day.
DeleteAs for the shed, don't ask! Along with his tools, it's the same kind of "might come in useful one day" stuff that fills the barn back in Wales. DH is a hoarder, pure and simple. :-)
The tiredness from travelling is well worth it for that view. I love the socks. I'm thinking about taking up knitting again but I'm not very good. I've attempted simple jumpers in the past but they never turn out very well. I can do scarves though!
ReplyDeleteYou're so right, Ayak, tiredness is a price well worth paying to see it all again.
DeleteOh, I do wish we could meet in person! I'm sure I could teach you to knit socks, as DD taught me, but it's so much easier to show than to tell. In the meantime, scarves are good too. :-)
It all looks and sounds wonderful Perpetua....nothing, nothing, is better than contentment. I dont knit ( well, I can technically do it, but everything I've ever attempted has been a disaster )...but my crochet hooks and some rather gorgeous shades of cotton mix yarn will be accompanying me on my trip to hospital on Tuesday.
ReplyDeleteI hope the weather continues to stay cold and crisp and sunny for you both, and long may contentment reign. Jx
It really is lovely, Janice, even when the blue skies disappear and the rain clouds start lowering over the mountains (as they have today) The top of Ben Loyal is dusted with snow, but the grass is damp and very green again.
DeleteCrochet sounds just as good a tension reliever as knitting. I can vividly remember sitting by my bed, waiting to go down to theatre for my mastectomy and quietly kitting away at a sweater for one of the grandsons. Well, they wouldn't let me have anything to eat or drink, so I had to do something! :-)
Dear Perpetua - I know what you mean about taking longer to recover from travelling. However, I think that the same goes for everything - cleaning the house, doing the garden!!!
ReplyDeleteI have just looked up the Kyle of Tongue as I wasn't too sure where it is. Now, I realise that you are right up in the most northerly spot of Scotland. I have never been that far north, Ullapool is as far as I have ventured.
It is no wonder you feel tired after the journey that is a long distance.
About 560 miles from Mid-Wales, Rosemary, but we do break the journey overnight at least once. We still think it well worth he effort, even if it does take us longer to recover. :-)
DeleteIf you like wild, beautiful and totally unspoiled landscapes, you can't do better than to continue north from Ullapool, then round the north-west corner of Scotland and along the coast eastwards to the Kyle of Tongue. Unforgettable.
What a beautiful view from your window. Looking forward to more pictures of Scotland. You do lead an interesting life.
ReplyDeleteQuiet, but interesting, Bonnie. :-) While you're waiting to see more photos in new posts, you could do a search for Scotland in the search function on my sidebar and you'll find quite a few.
DeleteHello Perpetua:
ReplyDeleteWhat a wonderful landscape in which to be living. And how we so much like that 'crispness' which is suggested in the photograph from your bedroom window and which is, or so we feel, very typical of these autumnal days in the far north of the country. Well worth the journey - but such a distance!
Yes, it was distinctly crisp yesterday, Jane and Lance, with frost lingering all day on the grass in the shade. Today is milder and damp again, but still beautiful in a grey and mysterious way. To misquote Dr Johnson, a man who is tired of the landscape of North-West Scotland is tired of life. :-)
DeleteWhat lovely photos. We have visited Scotland at this time of year and it's so beautiful, even if the weather doesn't co-operate. The last time we went the journey was so long and exhausting, but it was worth the effort - I can well understand why you love it.
ReplyDeleteThanks, Jean. Yes, it doesn't seem the most propitious time of year to be visiting somewhere so remote, but we always enjoy it and sometimes have the extra excitement of snow! You obviously understand very well that the balance of journey length versus destination comes down decidedly on the side of destination. :-)
DeleteDefinitely, definitely soup weather. And those cosy cheerful socks are sure to be much appreciated. Enjoy your stay.
ReplyDeleteLet's hear it for soup, Molly! The socks are two-thirds mine and one third DH's, as he doesn't go much for pink or turquoise, though he does have a couple of pairs of striped ones. :-) The pair now on the needles are for me.....
DeleteI like those socks! I'm knitting beanies by the box full. They're for Franklin Graham's Christmas Child shoe boxes...I might start on socks for next year though...getting very tired of beanies. Have fun in the cold north :)
ReplyDeleteThanks, Astrid. Socks are great fun to knit, but unless you want them very thick, they take much longer to knit than beanies - finer yarn and very small-gauge needles. Still, kitting them keeps me out of mischief. :-)
DeleteI almost would have preferred a print-only reference to the Kyle of Tongue so I could imagine it myself, but then again the photo is nice too.
ReplyDeleteLOL, Murr and thanks for visiting. Sorry to have punctured your flights of imagination. :-) This is actually a very tame photo of the Kyle. I have others which show a backdrop of mountains and then wow!
DeleteIt does look so wonderfully tranquil. And the socks - oh the socks - not only beautiful to look at but matched pairs!! How I long for finding matched pairs of socks after the washing marathon.
ReplyDeleteAnd though it's not chilly here, it is damper than of late, so soup it will be today - chicken and leek. Mmmmm!!
Axxx
It's beautifully peaceful here, Annie, which is one of the reasons we love it so much. As for the matched socks, adult socks in bright colours do tend to be easier to keep track of, especially when there are only two people to wash for rather than five. :-)
DeleteI'll be making more soup tomorrow with the stock from the chicken we had yesterday - chicken and rice. Yum!
What gorgeous pictures... and the socks look wonderful. Here in the central belt the sun is breaking through after the rain and life is good. I love this season of porrige, soup and cosy socks!
ReplyDeleteThanks, Catrioa. It's sunny again here today and the mountains can be seen in all their glory, whereas yesterday they were shrouded in cloud. Porridge is all the year round with us, but I agree about the soup and socks. :-)
DeleteWhat a view! And I reckon those socks are pretty good too - my grandmother used to knit me socks, always with 'double thick' heels and toes - the very best they were.
ReplyDeleteINdeed it is, Mark. I make socks with double thick heels, but modern sock yarn, with 25% artificial fibre, stands up to sharp toe-nails much better than the all-wool socks of your childhood. :-)
DeleteDear Perpetua, I don't knit nor does anyone I know, so I'm wondering if I can find/buy socks that have "double thick heels." I'm going on line to explore. I made a fine soup on Thursday when it was chilly here. It's a potato-leek-cheese soup that is pureed. Delicious. I hope you enjoyed yours.
ReplyDeleteAnd thanks for sharing the socks and knitting with us. I think I'll retrieve from the plastic bin the afghan I was crocheting several years ago and finish it. A good winter project. Peace.
It would be worth search for them, Dee, as they do wear very well. Your soup sounds wonderful, and I like cheese in soup, so I'll save the idea for the next time I buy leeks.
DeleteYou can't knit, but I can't crochet, though I love watching others do it and admire the lovely firm fabric they create. A cosy afghan to keep you warm in winter sound like a great project.
Dear Perpetua, let me know if you'd like the recipe. It has several ingredients plus some condiments. Peace.
DeleteOh, yes, please, Dee.
DeleteI love the quiet and beautiful serenity you gather about you, Perpetua! It must be truly delightful in all way...share what you're reading sometime! :-) That's what I think about with such a good retreat...reading time!
ReplyDeleteQuiet is what we both enjoy most of the time nowadays, Debra, with just enough liveliness from time to time to stop us vegetating completely. :-) As it happens most of my reading this week has been blogs and also the news online (no TV here) as I always take a keen interest in the US election.
DeleteIn between there have been all the usual activities of everyday life (I was patching DH's jeans this afternoon) but at bedtime I will be continuing with one of Carola Dunn's lighthearted mystery stories.
Don't think we are basking in Mid-Wales late autumn warmth in your absence, Perpetua - this morning we had ice on the roads! No bike ride for us today!
ReplyDeleteThis shed thing and men - has anyone done a study of the phenomena? Perhaps 'the home' is the woman's domain, and the shed is the man's territorial response? :)
How many books did you take with you? Is there a library in your town? enjoy!
Spindrift51
I can well believe it, Spindrift, as I've been following your weather forecast as well as our own. No ice here, but a dusting of snow on the tops of the mountains.
DeleteThe shed thing is hardwired into them, I think. The only reason I got to keep my garden shed to myself in Wales is that he has a whole barn for his stuff. :-)
Without going through to check I think I brought 8. If I run out we have plenty more here....:-) No library within miles, but a library van visits, though I haven't yet tried to use it.
Deeply satisfying. It is the little things which make us happy. I'll be travelling North to Inverness next week. I checked out the snow gates at Perth last week - but they remain open. The snow had dusted the hills beyond Stirling when I was there on Friday. It can be an exhausting journey North for some reason - despite the improved road links. But I love it.
ReplyDeleteAbsolutely, Yvonne, every time. The snow gates were open all the way north last Sunday and we've only seen the very tops of Ben Loyal and Ben More with snow so far and even that has been light. But, as you know, the weather can change very quickly up here, so I hope you have an uneventful, if tiring, journey to Inverness next week.
DeleteDear Perpetua, as I read your posting today, I pictured you building your sentences and paragraphs as you described in the comment you left yesterday on my blog about writing.
ReplyDeleteSo often a sense of serenity and calm regard for the beauty and mystery of our world pervades your postings. I suspect this must reflect your whole attitude toward life. There is a wisdom and a maturity to your blog that speaks to all of us who follow you. Thank you for sharing your view of the world. Peace.
Dee, this is such an extraordinarily kind and generous comment. Thank you so much for these words. I'm glad that what I write speaks to you in this way, as your blogs do to me.
DeleteI should confess, however, that in real life calmness isn't always one of my attributes, as DH could tell you. :-)