Thursday, August 16, 2007

Photos?

Yes, I know I`ve been on holiday. I`ve been on holiday twice, in fact. Photos? Well yes, lots, some even fibre related. But can I blog them? Nope...because when Hubby last did an upgrade to my PC he did something funny to my photo software or something. I`m just going to have to wait till he both gets a moment spare and the spirit moves him to fix it.

Second holiday? I was in Aberfeldy last weekend, camping. Lovely place, if damp. Proper Highlands...well, enough to impress this Lowlander, anyway! The sort of place you feel you might like to go to live...in the summer, that is. I would think it would be a bit dreich in winter, and the nearest Tesco is a 60 mile round trip, eek!

We were up there because one of Hubby`s work friends was having a joint stag/her party with her soon to be husband...this wasn`t your normal boozy knees up, you understand, but a weekend full of outward bound activities. Pity it rained so much, but Hubby took our ten year old Duncan out on a canoeing trip in a double kayak...Hubby was a mad keen canoist when he was younger. he told me though that he rediscovered muscles that hadn`t been used for 25 years on that trip! Duncan took to the canoe like the proverbial duck to water (doesn`t surprise me) and was soon paddling himself around in a solo. I can see another expensive, time consuming but oh-so-worthwhile hobby coming up, methinks.

(Imagine here photo of Duncan solo on loch, paddling around like a pro and grinning from ear to ear. In the rain....)

We also had a family trip to The Scottish Crannog Centre, a very interesting day out if anyone is going up that way. It`s a reconstruction of a Loch Tay crannog dating from 600BC. There are the remains or sites of 18 crannogs in Loch Tay, so it must have been a bit of a busy place back then!

There was a lot of textile stuff in both the exhibition and in the reconstructed crannog....fibres and yarns from plants like nettles as well as sheep wool, natural dyeing, several reconstructions of stone weighted looms and of course stone whorl spindles. There was also a place at the end of the tour where you could try your hand at Iron Age activities such as fire making, stone drilling, grinding corn and of course spinning. Guess who made a beeline for a stone whorl spindle and then proceeded to show off? Well, it`s got to be done!

Good weekend, really. This weekend is going to be quiet, however, as Hubby and Duncan have gone to Wales. Not quite sure why Mairi and I didn`t go along, now I think of it, but we`ll have a nice girly weekend here. We`ve already been to Ikea to look at kitchens and rugs and curtains etc, as part of the planning for the Great House Redecoration.

3 comments:

JustApril said...

Sounds like a really great time. I would have loved to see the stone whorl spindle demonstration, that must have been fun.

yvette said...

Have a fun girly weekend, I can't wait till Ikea opens nearer us.

zippiknits...sometimes said...

ooo a girly weekend. It sounds fun, really.

More and more, I think Ikea is going to redo our kitchen. They really do have nice stuff.