Staying at my daughters cottage
So…….after staying with my friend in her cottage and visiting the galleries, the standing stone and the beautiful Glens, I had a couple of days back in my own house before staying in my daughters cottage for a week.
My daughter lives just outside Carnoustie in a little cottage that was once a farm workers cottage. She was on holiday for the week and I agreed to act as chief house and dog sitter.
Outside her kitchen window is a space where, in the summer, she invites family and friends to BBQ’s. There is giant home made BBQ made from an old drum cut in half and mounted on a frame.
This little area is briefly hit by the sinking sun just before it disappears from sight. At this time of year the afternoon sun hangs so low in the sky it hurts your eyes, you can’t see, it throws this penetrating golden light over every thing.
The sun casts long shadows and the bits the long shadows miss, are covered in reflected light bouncing off of every surface Most evenings I missed it, you turn your back for a couple of seconds and its all over until the next day. This little light show is brief, but worth waiting for, another month or so and the light will be different. Until this time next year………and then the show starts all over again.
Her home is surrounded by open fields, with the sea in the distance to the south and the hills in the distance to the north.
The week I was there coincided with the harvest, the tractors were out every day from daybreak to dusk cutting, bailing and stacking the hay. As soon as the hay was cut the field was ploughed.
The colours are wonderful, it’s quite magical to watch as the field changes from the swaying gold of the crops to the deeply furrowed red and brown earth.
I saw robins in her garden and for the first time this year I saw the Canadian Geese arrive. They fly so high all you can see is the big V formation in the sky, there is nothing else around here that flies in a V formation. Once you see the Geese, you know its going to start getting cold. 
The day before I left sunset was particularly spectacular, it was natures grand finally to round off my weeks stay. I felt like standing outside and giving a standing ovation.
While staying in that lovely little cottage, we spent one day driving around Glen Prosen. There is nothing I can say about that day that the pictures don’t say a hundred times better. 
Our first stop was the tiny village church. Some people think it’s ghoulish. but I like old graveyards. I like the old grave stones and the history that can be found there.
Sometimes there are three or four generations buried in the same plot. In the eighteenth and nineteenth century it was not unusual for women to die in childbirth and the legacy of this is the number of young women found buried with infants. Sometimes, a man is buried in the same plot as his first wife, his second wife and even his third wife, testament to the fragility of the lives of women back then. 
After the church, we headed for the hills. I think this is the best time of year to see the hills, I like the autumn colours better than the bright greens of summer, the autumn hues are more subtle.
It looks good in winter too, the whole area is covered in snow for much of the winter and that can be quite spectacular but for me, it’s the autumn colours that stand out.
We stopped by the river and ate a picnic, it wasn’t very warm but it wasn’t exactly cold either. At this time of year the temperature drops after about 3 in the afternoon and the sun sets between 5 and 6.
We ate and then walked a little way along the river bank. Most rivers around here are that golden colour. I think the water is stained by tannins as the river flows through woodland and the riverbed is covered in leaves and woodland debris.
It was a great day………….I’m very lucky to live here
Home again at last.
I’ve spent the last week house and dog sitting while eldest daughter was on holiday. In fact I’ve been multi-tasking; while house/dog sitting for the eldest, I’ve also been helping middle daughter with lots of application forms. She likes her job well enough, in fact she’s very happy there, but the pay is so low she has to work far too many hours and has very little time left for her children. Some weeks she puts in 60 hours (she works for Asda, owned by Walmart, no surprises there then). But, in one short week, we have completed and sent 10 application forms for different jobs, all with the local authority who offer much better pay and conditions. Middle daughter is bright but dyslexic and I always figure if I can help her with the applications and get her as far as interview, her ability and personality will shine through and then it’s up to her to sell herself. Multi tasking doesn’t end there, middle daughter and I have been out to view four houses this week because youngest daughter is desperate to move back into this area, we miss her and she misses us. Finding a suitable house is proving very difficult but we all hope she will be back here by Christmas.
I think I already mentioned I was away staying with a friend the week before. This means in the last two weeks, I’ve only spent about 4 nights in my own house. By this morning, when eldest daughter arrived home from holiday, I really wanted to be in my own house and sleep in my own bed. I needed to be at home and it’s that ‘I want to go home feeling’ that’s inspired my music collection for the week. It’s a mixed bag of music, all about going home, hope you enjoy.
Van Morrison - Into The Mystic
The Beach Boys - Sloop John B
Dory Previn The Lady with the Braid
The Stannin Stane of Kirriemuir
The town of Kirriemuir is the smallest of the seven towns of Angus. It is known as the gateway to the Glens because it is the last town you pass through before leaving towns, houses and people behind and heading out to the Glens.
Very little is known about the town in prehistoric times, but a few remnants of those days still exist. One of the town’s well known features is a standing stone on Kirrie Hill, known as the ‘Stannin Stane’. The erection of this stone possibly dates to the Bronze Age, although this will probably never be known for certain.
The Stannin Stane at the top of Kirrie Hill, overlooks the town of Kirriemuir and the valley of Strathmore. From here you have wonderful views of the Grampian hills and surrounding area. 
No one knows for certain why the stone was put there, no one even knows if it was always a solitary stone, or if it was originally one of a pair or even part of a prehistoric stone circle.
There are remnants of other stones lying at its base and there are legends about the stone, but nothing is known for certain. There are authentic records of a second stone or part of a stone lying next to the Stannin Stane but this second fragment had disappeared before 1910. 
My intuitive response to the stone is to think of it as a marker or beacon of some sort. It looks like an observation point, a place in the landscape where the surrounding low lying land can be observed for many miles in all directions. I can imagine how, as an iron age person, this spot could seem like the center of the universe with clear uninterrupted views in all directions. 
Outside her kitchen window is a space where, in the summer, she invites family and friends to BBQ’s. There is giant home made BBQ made from an old drum cut in half and mounted on a frame. 
Her home is surrounded by open fields, with the sea in the distance to the south and the hills in the distance to the north. 
The day before I left sunset was particularly spectacular, it was natures grand finally to round off my weeks stay. I felt like standing outside and giving a standing ovation.
