The Tiree Pages this year’s CalMac adventure to the island of Tiree The countdown to this year’s Big Summer Holiday has been a long one. As soon as we left Islay last summer, the discussions began about which Hebridean island to visit next, how big the ferry would be, would we get to eat breakfast […]
Treasures this one is for the collectors We pick up treasures, me and the kids. We stuff them in our pockets (to be found days or seasons later), or carry them in soft palms, flipping them over and over. “Can you carry this for me, mum?” the kids say, and I almost always do (except
Midwinter Pages from advent through to my birthday in the middle of January January is gathering pace, is she not? We’re over half-way; I’m enjoying the cold, blank energy. (Clean) slate grey skies, deep lungfuls of cold air, freezing drizzle clogging up my eyelashes. I think that with each passing year I am becoming a
Midwinter Pages: from advent through to my birthday Read More »
November to Hogmanay Finishing up 2024 with a roundup of sketchbook pages from the final two months of the year. I was all set for my usual monthly journal post at the end of November, and then I got the flu, or something flu-ish, on the 29th. A long fever followed by the most vicious
November to Hogmanay: finishing up the year Read More »
September & October 2024 It got a bit hectic back there, so I’ve bundled these two golden months together… Well, September was a lot. No drama, just very full days. I launched the 2024 Wildlife Calendars at the start of September and OH MY GOODNESS you guys were completely wonderful. It is such a thrill
September & October 2024 Read More »
August 2024: Full Hearts and Calendar Launch! It’s all go in my studio and my life… So, the last few weeks of the summer break turned out really lovely. The kids were each other’s best friend. Stablisers came off a bike with GREAT EXCITEMENT and my poor nervous system took a beating watching the boy
August 2024: Full Hearts & Calendar Launch Read More »
July 2024 Part 2: Soggy Summer It just keeps on raining. I’ve been struggling a little with the expectation of the summer not quite matching the reality. I was so excited to have Piglet home all summerlong. I was excited for how BLISSFUL it would be to not have to stick to the school-day schedule and
July 2024 Part 2: Soggy Summer Read More »
July 2024 Part 1: Seaside to the beach! We started July, and the school holidays here in Scotland, with a week at the seaside. The absolute best way to start our six weeks of summer. We returned to the beautiful Budle Bay in Northumberland for a second year: back gate onto the beach, the most
July 2024 Part 1: Seaside Read More »
The Iona Pages the sketchbook pages from a very special Easter trip to one of our favourite places Iona is a little island off a bigger island off the west coast of Scotland. Scotland is also part of an island, so I suppose Iona is an island off an island off an island. I first
This blog post is an ode to the turnstones in Campbeltown harbour. When the tide was high the turnstones grouped together, huddled and impatient, just above the water line on the harbour wall. Looking down on them from the harbour wall, their chestnut brown summer plumage looked like camouflage against the stones. They were wobbling
Bird of the Month September: Turnstone Read More »
