Since it is Fathers Day here in good old blighty, I thought this ‘Cat Carrier’ would make a great gift for any fathers (or anyone else for that matter) who happened to own a cat. A very useful device*. Happy…
Just outside of Campbeltown, on the Beinn Ghuilean circuit, lies a small cemetery, known locally as The English Cemetery. Listed on the Argyll & Bute Council Asset Register as Tomaig Road English Cemetery Tomaig Road,Campbeltown,PA28. According to the Places of…
A change from the colourised photos of recent posts. It’s 1920 and postwar Britain was slowly recovering from the horrors of the ‘War to end all wars’. They were also enjoying the peace and for some, the prosperity. This is…
Some more old images from around the area. This is a scene from a booklet of postcards showing a very busy harbour in Campbeltown. Lots of people and two steamers at the Quay. Another postcard from the same booklet. This…
This began as a curiosity to see how some of these amazing photos would look colourised. It is heading towards an obsession now. Original unedited Images can be viewed in the Macgrory Collection, Argyll & Bute Council.
An old advertising card for the passenger train from Campbeltown to Machrihanish, c1912. What a lovely, unhurried way to travel the short distance from Campbeltown to Machrihanish. The Train waits for the Steamer Passengers and the Steamer waits for the…
Kilmartin (Cille Mhàrtainn) an area that is steeped in history and is known as having one of the largest number of historically important sites and prehistoric monuments in Scotland. Christmas shopping trip bonus; so fortunate to live only a short…
…, well not mine, Jamie’s 🙂 Well worth a follow folks. Just go and read it, you can thank me for sharing later 😉
Stone balancing, we have all seen them or tried it at one time or another. Wikipedia calls it Rock balancing (or “stone stacking”) and says it is an art, discipline, or hobby in which rocks are naturally balanced on top…
… I sits and thinks, and sometimes I just sits. Quote altered slightly and used by A.A. Milne although originally it was from an edition of Punch magazine from 1906; From a cartoon featuring a vicar’s wife talking to a…
By Robert Burns – 1783 To the Tune: I had a horse, I had nae mair. Now westlin winds and slaught’ring guns Bring Autumn’s pleasant weather; The moorcock springs on whirring wings Amang the blooming heather: Now waving grain, wide…
Sunset at Machrihanish Bay, Machrihanish, Kintyre, Argyll, Scotland. The famous line from The Wizard of Oz (by L. Frank Baum) is actually quite appropriate although in my case the wicked Witch and her Flying Monkeys would have been back in…
A favourite children’s poem. Wynken, Blynken, and Nod By Eugene Field Wynken, Blynken, and Nod one night Sailed off in a wooden shoe,— Sailed on a river of crystal light Into a sea of dew. “Where are you going, and…
One of my favourite Edgar Allan Poe pieces. Alone – A Poem by Edgar Allan Poe From childhood’s hour I have not been As others were; I have not seen As others saw; I could not bring My passions from…
Editing some of my photos taken last July and loved this one of the old Corphin Bridge not too far from the Mull of Kintyre, Argyll, Scotland. Edited the photo to make it look like it was taken 100 years…
Another favourite of mine by Robert Burns.. My Heart’s In The Highlands By Robert Burns – 1789 Sang to the tune of Failte na Miosg. Farewell to the Highlands, farewell to the North, The birth-place of Valour, the country of…
Something the great Sherlock Holmes never said! For the discerning Sherlock Holmes fan…The Sherlock Holmes Woven Blanket Product Information: Woven blanket can be used as a soft and warm blanket or as a wall tapestry. Dimensions: 48″ x 57.5″ Material:100…
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A Man’s A Man For A’ That – By Robert Burns – 1795 Is there for honest Poverty That hings his head, an’ a’ that; The coward slave-we pass him by, We dare be poor for a’ that! For a’…
…thousands of folks trudging out in the cold. Their hands and feet frozen, the wind in their eyes. they scrambled to get to the last few Mince Pies The slow and infirm were trampled in the scuffle to get to…
October. O hushed October morning mild, Thy leaves have ripened to the fall; Tomorrow’s wind, if it be wild, Should waste them all. The crows above the forest call; Tomorrow they may form and go. O hushed October morning mild,…
I could have sworn there was only two when I put them in the loft! Long before internet trolls appeared, the troll was a supernatural being in Norse mythology and Scandinavian folklore. In origin, troll may have been a negative…
An old carriage from the Campbeltown & Machrihanish Light Railway Company. After the closure of the railway line, many of these were left dotted around the countryside in Kintyre. A few remain…held together by the rust 🙂
A fantastic glimpse of Kintyre circa 1955. Includes one of the simplest and best descriptions of Kintyre; “It is 40 miles long and every mile is beautiful” The film takes a trip along the Kintyre Peninsula, Argyll, Scotland and includes…
… You could spend your life looking for one, and it would not be a wasted life. With the blossoms fast falling from the trees around here I thought this was appropriate. Everyone feels grief when cherry blossoms scatter. Might…
Probably one of my most favourite places…ever! Just round the corner from Machrihanish. “Here in the scree, grow great quantities of a large rhubarb-leaved looking plant – the butterbur – from which the name “Gauldrons” is derived and has mistakenly…
“Such is the claim. I think it is open to dispute. Indeed, my experiments have proven to me that he is the Unreasoning Animal… In truth, man is incurably foolish. Simple things which other animals easily learn, he is incapable…
Like many other phone boxes throughout the country, this one has been turned into a small library. What a fantastic way to make use of a great British icon.
The Bluebell is the sweetest flower That waves in summer air: Its blossoms have the mightiest power To soothe my spirit’s care. There is a spell in purple heath Too wildly, sadly dear; The violet has a fragrant breath, But…
… there is nothing – absolutely nothing – half so much worth doing as simply messing about in boats. Kenneth Grahame, The Wind in the Willows (Should be on the list of books all children should read or have read…
It covers seven tenths of the terrestrial globe. Its breath is pure and healthy. It is an immense desert, where man is never lonely, for he feels life stirring on all sides. Jules Verne Beach Huts at Lyme Regis, Dorset…
… I believe I’ll go canoeing. Henry David Thoreau
Spring is nature’s way of saying, ‘Let’s party!’ Robin Williams
The more often we see the things around us – even the beautiful and wonderful things – the more they become invisible to us. That is why we often take for granted the beauty of this world: the flowers, the…
The tree which moves some to tears of joy is in the eyes of others only a green thing that stands in the way. Some see nature all ridicule and deformity… and some scarce see nature at all. But to…
Quick snap of the snow covered bush in the front garden the month before my life was turned upside down. Taken in November 2012.
September 1st 2014 sunset.
August 2013 at Beer August 2013. Breakfast at Beer, Devon, on the Jurassic Coast while out on the Kayak. I call this picture ‘Waiting for Summer’ 🙂
July 2014 Sunset
June 2014 at West Bay. Location for Broadchurch series.
May 2014 May 2014, Skye and Callum helping Granddad in the garden.
March 2014 Skye and Callum beachcombing after playing Pooh Sticks 🙂
February 2015
January 2015. Hoping to post a photo every month 🙂
Our Cherry tree in early April 2013…
To Autumn Season of mists and mellow fruitfulness, Close bosom-friend of the maturing sun; Conspiring with him how to load and bless With fruit the vines that round the thatch-eves run; To bend with apples the moss’d cottage-trees, And fill…