Extra bits

At the beginning of February mole hills began to appear in my lawn. At one point I looked out of the window to spot one that hadn't been there just half an hour before. Moles are so cute, but I didn't really want them digging up my garden! Then Michal told me he had found a little mole running around in daylight in the garden, so he caught it and released it a few miles down the road from the house. We thought it had surely been a success, but just two days later another mole hill appeared. I've just got to rub along with the local wildlife here, and on the most part it's what I signed up for.

At the end of February I looked out of the kitchen window one breakfast and noticed that the fields along the glen were flooded. The river Ruel had burst it's banks overnight due to the heavy rain we had had over the previous week. Thankfully it was gone by the next day. It seems to be the way with the water levels here - a spell of heavy rain can make the river level rise by several feet and it's over within a few hours.

Mid-March there was a maker's market in Inellan, just the other side of Dunoon. It was quite a way to go but I was invited by Elisha so I thought it would be nice to go together and see if I could pick anything up for Mother's Day. There were some lovely stalls, but nothing that I thought Mum would appreciate. However, I did pick up a cute handknitted hat for the new Baby Burkinshaw that was due in a few months. We had a coffee and cake from Planted by Sai - she makes amazing cinnamon rolls. We were treated to some live music too, which was a bonus. A nice little excursion. I stopped at Elisha's for coffee afterwards - turns out she is an ace knitter too, so I bought an extra hat from her too. It's a shame she doesn't intend to stay in the Glen as she is a great addition to the community.

April saw some lovely weather, but not on the day of the skiff taster session. The skiff is a six seater rowing boat and there are several boat clubs locally, and each year they hold interclub boat races. They usually go out for two hours each Saturday morning and row to somewhere, stop on a beach or island for tea and cake break and then row back. It sounds delightful, and it was, depsite the rain, quite easy for the 15 minutes that I rowed for. Whether I coudl do 1.5 hours or so in bigger swell or stronger winds or lashing rain and still enjoy it woudl be anmother question. The nice thing was that I bum,oed into several poeol that I already knew. And the follwoing day I also saw Rowena, who said she had truned up to try it out a biut later in the session and may also join up. They are a lovely group and it seems fairly relaxed in that people just go when they can.

Straight after the skiffing I changed out of my damp clothing and went to meet Colin and Sue for lunch at the Blairmore Cafe. It was a lovely little place with a menu that was a bit different from your average cafe and of course Colin and Sue knew one of the girls working there - they are good friends with so many people, and rightly so - you can't help but be happy and warm in their company! I had a southern fried chicken and salad wrap which was delicious, followed by a slice of white chocolate and raspberry cake. Ordinarily it would have been a lovely view across the loch but today it was obscured by the drizzle.

That night I was out again at the Inver Restaurant to experience their Michelin Green Star fine dining, taster menu experience. A green star is given to restaurants who combine culinary excellence with outstanding eco-friendly commitments. The Inver forage a lot of their food and only serve local and in season items. I was joined by Grace, who made the suggestion, and I was so pleased as there aren't many other people who would go for the £115 meal and actually enjoy it. We had a really lovely night - Grace is a bit older than me, slim and attractive and came in a lovely dress paired with a leather jacket, but she's also very direct which makes it funny when she says something that seems out of character. We ate small portions of truly delicious and surprising things from oysters to duck gizzard to potaot handkercheifs and tiramisu (but they didin't call it tiramisu obviously!). There were foams and kombuchas and emulsions and so many beautiful things. My absolute favourite thing of the evening was a small square of ginger toffee that came with the coffee at the end of the meal. The atmosphere was lovely too - staff who could recite every item on the plate for each course, but also friendly enough to talk to, relaxed music, a small fire going in the log burner. It was just perfect.

Then at the end of April there was an event in the Glen village hall to showcase the things that were currently on offer and things that they were planning to offer going forward. Along with badminton and nordic walking there was also going to be resistance training and maybe a drumming workshop, painting classes and cake decorating. Foraging was also billed but they hadn't got someone in mind so I recommeded Mark from Galloway Wild Foods who's course I had done a few weeks prior. I am also slowly being worn down to put on a tai chi class in the future. I still haven't done any practice since we moved but, coincidentally, had that morning started to get myself organised with some refresher videos on youtube and moved the furniture to one side so I could practice in the liviing room during the rainy weather. Perhaps I'll get there at some point in the near future...