Grand Family Gathering

So we're back from a magnificent week in an Edwardian shooting and fishing lodge in Scotland, about half way between Inverness and Aviemore. It was a bit cold, which I put down to altitude, but most of the rest of the country wasn't that hot either apparently. We saw dolphins, salmon leaping, red squirrels (had a conversation with one on a branch 10 feet above my head), golden eagles, deer, wolves, reindeer, a wildcat and bison (have to say the last 4 were at the Highland Wildlife Centre), but no monsters, even in Loch Ness (see awful photo below). Rosebay willow herb in great swathes at the roadside, heather giving a pinkish tinge to hillsides, like those old tinted photos, wild blueberries, and on the hill slopes around the house, masses of juniper bushes, like those in the foreground with the River Findhorn in the view down the valley from our bedroom.
Silver birches are everywhere. The ones round the house were short, twisty trees, looking very old, but these are in a forestry plantation at Rogie Falls.
The grandchildren managed to dig sand and get wet and have a great time on the beach of Loch Morlich in spite of the lack of summer temperatures. I like the contrasting strips in this pic, and the shapes made by the children.

Back to stitching again, didn't get any done while away, but I did make small books with the kids, and helped them thread necklaces.