Laura’s Life

On a few of icy mornings, I have been taking the small trio on a drive along the canal between dropping Aidan at school and going to nursery.  The reason for these jaunts are that a herd of Highland cattle are grazing in that area and the kids love seeing them.  Annoyingly, I did not have my camera on the day that they were literally next to the car but I did manage to grab a few snaps one morning last week.  (I did, incidentally, stop the car before taking photos - I don’t multi-task that ridiculously).

This is how the canal looked in the morning mist:

A cow grazing on the bank of the canal:

There was a low-lying haar that morning that wafted across the road and licked up the side of the hills:

There is no way to segue into this next photo (which is why the title is “random photos”) so here it is: a dead caterpillar inside our packet of celery:

Evan was fascinated by it:

The boys and I went to a jumble sale last weekend and they, of course, stocked up on more weapons since they will not be satisfied until our house is transformed into an arsenal.  Here is Orin going up to bed with his sword:

I shall end on a sweet photo of Arlo fast asleep sucking his thumb:

Last Saturday was our town’s annual Lantern Parade followed by the bonfire and fireworks display.

We had a bit of faffing about with gloves so I managed to miss seeing the first lanterns in the parade.  Anyway, the theme was “Heroes” this year and these are snaps of some of my favourite lanterns:

Watching the bonfire:

Spiderman lantern:

The organisers had built the bonfire in the shape of a Wicker Man.  Way to break down stereotypes about rural communities, people!  The boys thought it was hysterical when the head fell off:

A zillion photos of fireworks because they were so spectacular:

Chris bought the boys flashing lightsabers, of course, so here is Aidan playing in the back garden with his new toy:

This is the effect of Aidan twirling the lightsaber in a circle.  I thought it was cool:

Like the subject line suggests, here are some short bursts of video footage taken during the lantern parade, fireworks display and the walk home:

Arlo had his first solid food last week.  It was oatmeal and he seemed to enjoy it.  He did not appear to really consider it as food and was as interested in munching the spoon as he was in eating the porridge but it was a successful start:

These photos were taken on one of our morning walks to nursery.

Evan is going to nursery two mornings a week now and seems to be really enjoying his time there.  Here he is on the way there:

Every morning, Orin insists on purloining some green fennel by reaching through this fence.  It is like a compulsion.  He also runs off ahead to grab and munch before I can stop him, cheeky wee besom:

Arlo:

On Saturday, Arlo and I travelled to the Cameron House Hotel on Loch Lomond to meet up with three other women I had been in contact with since losing Tottie and becoming involved in the charity Sands.  Jac, who is Scottish but lives in France, was visiting the area and that prompted a group of us who live in the west of the country to meet up.  It is always a bit nerve-wracking to meet people for the first time I was also a little anxious about meeting them because the nature of what brought us together made it a very emotional get-together but actually it was just like meeting old friends and, having been through so much in the past year, we all felt like we had known each other for years.  The hotel itself was incredibly swish.  I have never been in a hotel so posh and it was even more glamorous because there was a large wedding taking place, complete with bagpipes and a string quartet.  Arlo and I had a lovely time and only wish we could have blown a heap of money on staying there overnight!

Jac holding Arlo:

Hazel holding her baby, Mirren; Angela, whose baby Thomas was asleep, despite the pipes; and Jac holding Arlo:

Hazel, Me with Mirren, and Jac with Arlo.  Mirren and Arlo seemed to be smitten with each other: