Gale force winds in Scotland

Most of Scotland and other parts of the UK and Ireland had strong winds today.  Up to 90 mph were predicted for our area, with higher winds measured in other areas.  Schools and businesses were closed.  Ferries cancelled.  Bridges closed.
Video in front of our house:

Winds reached up 165 mph in some areas.  

Newspaper - lots of storm photos

BBC Storm video

New blogs

I have recently added two blogs  I thought might be helpful.  

The first is How I quit smoking.

The other is How I got fit and healthy at 60.

We are getting ready for our trek to Michigan for the holidays and leave next week.  We're looking forward to seeing family, but not really anxious to see the snow!

Some blog readers ask where my photos are kept.  I have a link in the sidebar of this blog but if you only get updates by email, you won't see it.  Photo collections

A sunny day

Lovely, sunny day today with temp around 50F/10C, so grabbed my camera on my way out to do a 4 mile power walk.

Holy Loch - around the tip of the peninsula from our house

'Doon' the road near the pier

Lots of big Victorian houses on our road

The pier

A lonely-looking boat and garden

Updates

Danny and I are going into Glasgow tomorrow for an overnight trip which will include a classical concert featuring the Scottish Symphony Orchestra.  Danny's birthday is on the 21st.  

I'm quite pleased with myself as I've reached my goal weight after lots of hard work and calorie counting.  My intentions are to never need to diet again, so I still need to work hard, forever.

Our trip to Michigan for the holidays is in less than 4 weeks and we're very much looking forward to it!  Not the snow - the family.  

Part of my exercise today was a hike:

Wise words

Morocco

Finally made plans for my big 6-0 the end of February.  Going to Agadir, Morocco with friends for 10 days.  It should be sunny with highs around 70 degrees.

Visit Agadir in Morocco

Sunrise

Ralph Waldo Emerson quote

embedded in a photo I took on the Isle of Barra....

Quiet

Very quiet here.  I quit the 365 project (photo a day for a year) at day 201 as I found it was taking too many hours a day with taking, choosing, editing, sorting and uploading shots, viewing others photos and commenting on them, etc.  365 very definitely helped me improve my photography skills and forced me to become more creative.  

Been concentrating on working out, eating healthily and losing weight, meditating, catching up on reading, and planning future trips.

Going to Glasgow next month for an overnight outing for Danny's birthday and we'll attend a concert.  Mid-December we go to Michigan for 3 weeks.  End of February for my 60th birthday is as yet unplanned but I'm leaning toward a few days in Barcelona.  More travel later in the year and probable trip to Uganda in January 2013 for Doreen's graduation from Makerere Univerisity.  

Liked the golden glow on top of this hill across the loch yesterday:

Royal Navy with our breakfast

We sit up in bed and have our breakfast every morning while we look out on the loch.  This morning's entertainment was a bit out of the ordinary, to say the least.

This is the ship we saw:   RFA L3008

Chinook helicopter landing on ship

Taking off from ship

One of many sets of paratroopers

New words

Since moving to the UK I have slowly picked up many British English and Scots language words.  I'm listing them as I remember them, but I'll be adding more in the future..

A Change in Vocabulary

Submarines and such

Our loch gets very busy with all types of boats, including nuclear submarines from the Royal Navy Coulport not far from us.  Recently there was this one...

Pics of boats, ships, subs and tugs on our loch

I've been tracking the growth of our Gunnera manicata....
Click on slideshow on the right

A sunny Sunday

A few pics from today....
I'm missing all the flowers we had through spring and summer!  Autumn colours are next though.  A trip to Benmore Botanic Gardens is in order for this week.

Take from the front garden

Out front

A friend came to visit

My very favourite gardener!

Japanese Anenome

On the side of the house - magnolia tree

Photos and other stuff

The end of August is the Highland Games and the one in Dunoon is the largest.  A couple of shots :

In town - no, don't know what they wore underneath

In town where a band was playing

Checking out the tuning before the competition

A couple of days ago we went on a hike near our house. 

A few years ago I bought a book about Eleanor Roosevelt as I know what an amazing woman she was.  I have finally begun reading that book (volume 1) and quickly became totally engrossed in it.  I ordered volume 2 and just received it today.  

Nearly the end of August already!?

We are booked for both our Michigan trips - christmas and May/June.  I've yet again changed my plans for my 60th birthday in February.  We have several trips next year so I think I'll go for a late deal city break.  Any place that's not freezing.  Leaning toward Barcelona.

Taking a break from my 365 project.

One of our apple trees

Sunset down the loch

Playing around with editing one of our roses

Flowers & birthdays

A few more of my recent shots.  Hit the 6 month mark on my one year project!



Clematis

Dahlias



Dahlia

Today we had lunch for Uncle Hugh's birthday.  We were joined by

Hugh's brother, Dan, and Dan's wife Ellen.  A very enjoyable time, as

always. 



Last Post pub, Paisley

Uncle Hughie aka 'Shug' on his 84th birthday

Museums

Danny and I took an overnight trip earlier this week so we could visit the newly refurbished National Museum of Scotland in Edinburgh.  We were impressed!  Since it's school holidays now for both Scotland and England, it was very crowded. 

Inside the NMS

We travelled back to Glasgow to spend the night, and the next day visited the brand new Riverside Museum of Travel and Transport.  I enjoyed it but Danny thought it wasn't as good as the previous Transport Museum.  I'd never visited so couldn't compare. 

One of the tram cars

The outside of the Riverside

We walked the pathway to the Kelvingrove Art Gallery and Museum which is fantastic. 

A painting depicting a war in Papua New Guinea

The strange hanging heads in the Kelvingrove

More photos of the museums here:

Photos of the museums