Christmas arrived and at last we could be together as a whole family. I love cooking, especially cooking for friends and family, so Christmas is an ideal time to cook, try new recipes and enjoy the togetherness of family. On Christmas eve we had all my boys, middle son Jamie's partner Natasha and Granny. A great time was had by all before Granny went home and Natasha left to visit her own family. We had mulled wine, mince pies, cakes and sweet when everyone arrived. Then a two course dinner of Festive sausage meat wreath, baked onions, kale and pinenuts and potato stacks. Desserts were fig cake or pears poached in wine with cinnamon, star anise and lemon.
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Christmas eve dinner  family wonderful to be together |
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| Sausagemeat Chrismas wreath |
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| Fig cake drizzled with golden syrup |
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| Pears poached in white wine with cinaon, lemon and star anise |
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| Family |
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| Poppy cat was spoiled with all the attention |
Merry Christmas, what a great day we have had
Ben, Jamie, Daniel and I went for a walk through the woods while David was picking up Becky and Adam. A chaos of present opening then the massive Christmas Dinner.
We bought balloon animal crackers, seriously where have these been all our lives 
how to fill time between courses
how to fill time between courses We reckon this is the first time in 8 years we've been able to have all 5 kids with us on Christmas day
family 
It doesn't matter what age animal balloons are very entertaining!
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| Mulled wine trifle |
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| Brandy Christmas pudding |
The house is so quiet now everyone has gone home. We've had the best Christmas. Poppy has been spoilt as to who to sit on and we've had lots of lovely gifts. Time to chill.
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| Poppy in her new comfy place |
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| Snow on the hills! |
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| Clivia in full flower |
Clivia make striking plants for the house and conservatory. They are grown for their bold strap-shaped, dark-green leaves and trumpet-shaped red, yellow, orange or cream flowers which appear in groups on stout stems. These plants are evergreen with bulb-like bases and originate from low-altitude woodlands in South Africa.
Clivia are frost tender and can be damaged by temperatures below 5°C (40°F). They should be grown as a houseplant, in a conservatory or heated greenhouse and do best in bright, filtered or indirect light. Avoid direct sun in summer, which may scorch the leaves, and place pots away from radiators or other sources of heat.
I grow mine in a large pot on the floor of the greenhouse under the canopy of a massive yucca, a grape vine and kiwi fruit. It flowers every year with the bright orange flowers as you can see in the photo above. After flowering it produces bright red seed pods which I leave on for more colour interest. This plant is a family heirloom as I got given it from a great Aunt. It was an off shoot of hers which she had had for many many years. I've had mine for nearly 30 years, she was in her 80's when she gave me my plant, so its getting on quite a bit and still growing well. It rarely gets potted up, maybe every few years when it gets pot bound.
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| Stormy skies over a corn field |
Monday spent getting the house back under some sort of order after christmas, a wee walk up the woods and some painting. The weather has been unseasonably warm this week, which doesn't bode well for plants but it looks like normal winter weather will resume at the beginning of January.
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| Walking up the falls of Bruar |
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| Enjoying a day out |
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| Baked Camembert for dinner |
On Wednesday we had a lazy day at home hiding from the wet weather, some nursery admin done, painting and other bits and pieces on the to do list. I have tried very hard to really take time off this winter and though I have done necessary nursery work and admin, I have tried to not be on my laptop doing admin every day, I may regret this if I fall behind!
On Thursday we went down to St Mary's Loch again for a different walk this time. My goodness is the weather crazy warm or what? 13C today 
Anyway we went up to St Marys of the Lowes graveyard which sits on a flat bit of hillside on the north of the Loch. Great views up and down the loch and the ash tree that was nominated as a potential tree of the year (it was a runner up in the end). This graveyard is steeped in history, thought to be the place William Wallace was handed the Guardianship of Scotland and it was also a place of worship for the Covenantors. Today it is a peaceful place with grand views of the loch. We extended the walk by following part of the Ring of St Mary's walk to Cappercleuch and back to the car.
Anyway we went up to St Marys of the Lowes graveyard which sits on a flat bit of hillside on the north of the Loch. Great views up and down the loch and the ash tree that was nominated as a potential tree of the year (it was a runner up in the end). This graveyard is steeped in history, thought to be the place William Wallace was handed the Guardianship of Scotland and it was also a place of worship for the Covenantors. Today it is a peaceful place with grand views of the loch. We extended the walk by following part of the Ring of St Mary's walk to Cappercleuch and back to the car.
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| Walking up to the cemetery |
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| The view over St Mary's loch |
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| Approachng the cemetery |
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| This ash tree was nominated as a tree of the year this year, sadly it didn't win |
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A road in winter using 2 paint colours - Burnt Sienna and Cobalt blue.
So.....there is lots I'm not happy about in this one......... but I'm putting it here as this is all a big learning curve and hopefully I can look back and see I've improved sometime in the future.
Perspective is always tricky and something I struggle with in art (and real life 
) so I knew the road would never be good. I like the right hand side, that worked well and especially the tree canopy texture. The right was a real @~$ I need to work on not wetting the paper too much, less is more as they say and knowing when to walk away and to stop trying to improve it.
) so I knew the road would never be good. I like the right hand side, that worked well and especially the tree canopy texture. The right was a real @~$ I need to work on not wetting the paper too much, less is more as they say and knowing when to walk away and to stop trying to improve it.Onwards.....
So long 2021, you've been a year of amazing highs and very difficult lows. From Awards, amazing success and growth in the nursery and many many new customers, seeing our family and friends get through another challenging year unscathed to disasters with fallen trees, the continuation of covid, the uncertainty of the whitmuir farm sale to the heart break of having to say good bye to our beloved wee dog Bracken. Life truly is a roller coaster.
Life is a journey, it's challenging, if you can do it with like minded people and those that love you and support you in your best and worst times, the journey seems easier.
Tonight we enter another year. Who knows what we will all face in 2022. But if we have folk that walk along side us and have our backs then we can face the challenges knowing we are not alone.
So 2022, we are ready, let's get on with it.
Happy New Year to you all and I hope 2022 is kind to you xx
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We brought the new year in with our neighbours Gary, Carolyn, Dod and June around a fire at the top of Gary's garden. Great chat, drink and food. We will miss Gary and Carolyn when they move at the end of January, they are great neighbours. Here's to 2022!
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