set for September

Collar de Pilar – with long sleeves

Read More

working through winter

It is that time of year in Scotland when the clocks are about to “go back” (when our time reverts to GMT, rather than BST). My bipolar has always had seasonal triggers (generally in very early spring, and then following the autumn equinox) and for me, as for so many other people, this time of…

Read More

November

It has been a busy start to November. We’ve been working really hard finishing our new Milarrochy Heids book, and I have been preparing for a special event taking place later this week. It is a huge honour to be invited to speak at this event by the Federation of Small Business (from whom we…

Read More

season of mists

I’ve probably said this a few times, but it often strikes me as curious how, in the past few years I’ve been transformed from someone for whom Autumn was her most detested season to genuine enjoyment of this time of year. As a city-dwelling lecturer whose mood disorder had developed seasonal associations, I utterly loathed…

Read More

November sun

The weather really was glorious today. So, leaving Tom liaising with our printer, and muttering about gutters and crop marks, I decided to take the afternoon off. I took a camera and headed out to Loch Lomond with Bruce and walked for a few hours. This was just what was needed to blow away the…

Read More

around the loch

The October weather continues to amaze. I think the landscape where we live perhaps looks its very best on a golden Autumn day. This is the morning view from our house, across the small loch which sits just behind us to the south. The loch supports an abundance of wildlife and is full of trout,…

Read More

A Day in Autumn

It will not always be like this The air windless, a few last Leaves adding their decoration To the trees’ shoulders, braiding the cuffs Of the boughs with gold; a bird preening In the lawn’s mirror. Having looked up From the day’s chores, pause a minute, Let the mind take its photograph Of the bright…

Read More

Up Dumgoyne

A gorgeous day! And a good one to climb Dumgoyne – the hill that dominates the landscape behind our new home. There’s been snow on the tops of the Munros for about a week now, and it seems to be rapidly creeping down to lower altitudes – so I wanted to get up there before…

Read More

out walking

One of the very great pleasures of living here is that the West Highland Way is on our doorstep. I walk out of our steading, and about a hundred yards up the way is a glorious landscape, at the far edges of which (on a really clear day) Ben Lomond and the Trossachs and the…

Read More

Lauder morning

We got up early, and drove down to the Borders. It was a beautiful crisp morning. When we arrived in Lauder, the sun was already turning the frost into a magical, dewy haze. Today, the Autumn colours seemed even more deeply saturated. I want to knit everything in these tapestry blues and golds. While Bruce…

Read More

Wovember colour

Gold Orange and Green Russet Flame A wine-red haze of hawthorn (the birds are going mad for it) Silver Black Marigold (He found it in the woods. He was so pleased with himself that I had to let him keep it. . . then he chewed off and devoured one of the fingers. Now it…

Read More

ready for autumn

The leaves are turning. In the hedgerow, just a few berries remain . . . . . . and there is a decided nip in the air. But I am ready for Autumn. I have a new hat . . . . . .and mittens. These lovely things were not knitted by me, but by…

Read More

Herbsttag

Herbsttag Herr: es ist Zeit. Der Sommer war sehr groß. Leg deinen Schatten auf die Sonnenuhren, und auf den Fluren laß die Winde los. Befiel den letzten Früchten voll zu sein; gib ihnen noch zwei südlichere Tage, dränge sie zur Vollendung hin und jage die letzte Süße in den schweren Wein. Wer jetzt kein Haus…

Read More