Wee Angus of Adinaken Sh. CM.

Adnamashan One In A Million JW "on the table"

..and on the move.

Northlyte Timeless At Bonmeshay JW Sh. CM.

Leeds Championship Show - Part 2.

My own dogs, Nuri (Joneca Next Edition) and Swallow (Meerwings The Swallow Tale at Pyatshaw) were both placed VHC and Carole's Emma, (Meerwings A Butterfly Story) whom I was also showing, came 4th in the Open Bitch class so we didn't exactly shine at this show but neither did we return empty handed. There is always a big entry in the Papillon classes.
We started off showing outside but ended up showing bitches in a big marquee after a heavy shower of rain, whereupon it it stopped raining and stayed that way for the rest of the day.
It was lovely, after the show, to get back in daylight (just!) on the coach to Forth Road bridge, about 10pm, as Leeds is one of the closer English Champ. Shows.
I missed taking photos of some of the dog classes due to my preoccupation with the Red Kites and attempting to snap them!

1st Puppy Dog and Best Dog Pup......Burghbridge Ur Solid Gold Skyvana

1st Post Graduate Dog...Volpecula Study In Scarlet.

The Challenge for the Dog Certificate.

The judge, Mr. Stephen Randle Goodwin, examines Wee Angus of Adinaken Sh.CM.

!st Limit Dog..Lafford Fly Me Too Farleysbane JW

2nd Limit Dog...Papplewick Perfect Pitch JW Sh. CM

2nd Open Dog.....Abbeyton Isle B Willin To Tri at Bankshill

Red Kites at Leeds Champ. Show.

During the judging of the dogs I was distracted by the acrobatic display by a pair of Red Kites. These magnificent birds had been widespread in Britain at one time but, due to the mistaken belief that they were killing young lambs, they were hunted to distinction. They have since been re-introduced to several areas throughout UK, the best known being in Wales. They have a distinctive forked tail, which can be seen in the rather bleary, cropped, zoomed photo, and white patches on the underside of the wings, with the remainder of the plumage being mainly chestnut.
I must have shot about a dozen photos, which , when viewed, were of just sky and not a bird to be seen, as they soar, dip and twist in flight. I tried zooming but then couldn't find the bird in the viewfinder! These, I'm afraid, were the best of some very hazy photos. You'll probably have to click the picture to enlarge it to see the bird as it appears like a speck of dust in the first photo!

The zoomed photo showing the forked tail.

Leeds Championship Show--Part 1.

!st Minor Puppy Bitch.......Sunshoo Imasun Arise (NAF)

Jubilation ............ or about to eat her after coming 2nd in Minor Puppy Bitch..Kenf's Celtic Star?

2nd in Puppy Bitch...Petitchien's Over The Moon

1st Junior Bitch......Frasermar Sunset Kiss

!st Post graduate Bitch......Ablazzor Three Wishes at Ancojo JW.

1st Novice Bitch......Ringlands Alexie Belle of Tricianbri.

Reserve Best Dog..............Lafford Fly Me Too Farleysbane

Reserve Best Bitch and Best Pup in Breed.......Gleniren Mannelisa Sunshoo

Best Bitch........Ch. Gleniren Starlight Kisses

Best Dog and Best of Breed...NL Ch.Powdermill Sweet Touch Spinillons

Sky through the Acer.

This was taken on a beautiful day at a local garden centre, in the Japanese Garden area, which was in a sunken, sheltered part. I have a very small acer in a pot in the garden but unless I am very careful its leaves become burnt with our chilly winds.

For more "sky" photos click here.

PS I've just realised I'm a day early! Oh well, as I'm off tonight till very late Friday night, better early than never!

Old Wartime Photos.

My parents', Tom and Jessie, wedding photo, in 1939. My mother made her "outfit", a tweed coat. There was never anything frivolous about mum. The coat would be very serviceable and hard wearing and should last her a long time. My aunt is wearing a pair of woollen Fairisle gloves-(for a wedding?) She told the story of how her sister, (mum), who had raised her, as their mother died young, made her a pair of flannel knickers for school wear. They were the most uncomfortable, itchy things she ever had to wear!

The bridesmaid was mum's sister, Bunty, who was to be working on the farm in the Land Army. These ladies have, just this year, been presented with medals in recognition of their war effort. My aunt died aged 88, shortly after receiving it.

After the short wedding service they had to rush home to do the milking. My father was punctilious about milking at the same times, morning and afternoon, every day! There was no honeymoon.

This is Landgirl Bunty Ross, with me and elder brother Ross, with a group of airmen who had come to see to the recovery of an aircraft which had had to ditch in the loch (Leven) beside the farm. Lucky devil...all those uniforms!!! Bunty had, as part of her uniform, a pair of breeches, which my father said I could wear as jodhpurs when I wanted, in later years (about 14!),

to try show jumping at the local agricultural show..don't your parents give you a red face!

Some of these airmen were friends for years after this.

For more reminiscences from others with old photos visit here.

I've been sitting up in the loft searching through lots of the old black and white photos and having a good laugh--don't they look old fashioned!!!

Another dog has his day, in Fife!

The Rosette

Mo looking rather pleased with himself.

Last weekend was another back-to-backer with dog shows both days (great!); Dundee on the
Saturday and Fife at Kirkcaldy on Sunday. We ended up with very mixed fortunes. Saturday was a day of yellow rosettes (3rds) but Sunday--well, that was different!........different day, different judge and all going to show that beauty is in the eye of the beholder! Not every one of my dogs excelled. This was little Nuri's christening into dog showing. He seemed to enjoy it and was not at all phased by the noise and bustle but only came 3rd out of 3 pups in his class. Better luck next time.
Mo, on the other hand was the star as he came away as Reserve Best in Show!....no money on offer but a BIG rosette.

More of my world in Abernethy, Scotland.

One of the small "wynds" running between houses.

Top end of Kirk Wynd.

Looking east down Main street from the centre of the village.

Looking up School Wynd with the old school,(now a housing development) on the right and the ancient round tower where king Malcolm III and William The Conqueror signed the Treaty of Abernethy stating that Scotland was indeed, subserviant to England!!

There has been a settlement here from very early times as the unearthing, during building work, of a pictish stone bearing symbols proves. A Roman fort has remains on the Law (hill) at the back of the village and at one time it was an ecclesiastical centre with a cathedral!...and the name has absolutely nothing to do with Abernethy biscuits, but probably more to do with a corruption of two gaelic words "Obair Nechtan" meaning the work of Nechtan, who was a Pictish king.

The "Main" street runs through the centre of the old village and was certainly never designed for large vehicles as it twists and turns through the old houses. There is now a newer, wider , straighter road which avoids this part.

In 1909 there were 2 bakers, 7 grocers,1 butcher, 2 drapers, 2 tailors, 4 dressmakers and 3 boot and shoemakers.

Tradesman were well represented, with 5 joiners and cabinetmakers and a blacksmith.

Also present were 5 coal merchants,1 miller to provide corn, 3 cattle dealers and 6 spirit (liquid) dealers!

To find out much more detail click here.

Now we have 1 newsagent, 1 general store and a visiting Post Office van, which doesn't sell postal orders! There are 2 pubs. and probably several tradesmen of various types.

The village itself has grown considerably in size with several new housing estates and the new primary school is still not big enough for the influx of children from all the additional housing.

To see more interesting stories of the world of other people farther afield click here.

Blast from the past.

When I posted the photograph of Benarty Hill on Thursday, little did I suspect what it would throw up. I "googled" Benarty to see if I could find anything of interest about the hill and I saw one of the sites headed "Benarty Hill Suit of Cards". Now I do remember playing as a child in woods, named after 3 of the 4 suits of cards, on the hill, so of course I took a closer look and was able to add a comment, almost 2 years after the first had been posted.

My brother found an old black/white photo he had taken with his little Kodak Brownie, showing the woods (they have long since been felled). It was duly scanned in and sent to me. Oh, the wonders of modern science!

Little did my father, on the tractor, think he would ever be appearing on the internet. He'd never heard of a computer, let alone the internet.

The money from the sale of the timber was used to start the dairy herd, which was his main source of income on the farm.

To visit the site click here.

Dad on his Fergie "sweeping" the hay into heaps before being built into ricks, in the early 1950s, with the Diamond (highest) and Spade on the hill in the background. This seems to be the only photo we have showing the trees and it has turned out quite historic!

Clouds above Loch Leven.

This is my contribution to SkyWatch this week. Over the loch, Loch Leven of Mary Queen of Scots fame, to the south, is Benarty, sometimes called " the sleeping warrior". The farm where I spent most of my childhood is at the bottom of this hill at the left hand side of the picture. We now live about 15 miles north of here over the county border in Perthshire. The loch takes up most of small Kinross-shire.

Another view of Loch Leven, this time looking west towards Kinross with the Ochil Hills in the distance.

For more views with interesting skies visit http://skyley.blogspot.com/

My World Tuesday--1.

I've just come across this interesting site with views of other people's own little corner of the globe. Other places always interest me and this is my own village--Abernethy in south Perthshire, Scotland, with the river Earn joining the river Tay and the Firth of Tay just beyond. It was taken earlier in the year.

To see more visit http://showyourworld.blogspot.com/

T in The Park

Well its over for another year, better than it's ever been (according to the organisers) weather was brilliant (except for several hours rain on Sunday) and not a lot of trouble (according to the local police presence) with few arrests for an estimated 80,000 pop music fans assembled for the weekend and it all took place about 15 miles from where I live.
This morning many weary fans were still making their way home, waiting for transport in the 2 small local towns. They're quite easy to spot. All seem to sport some sort of brimmed hat, a T shirt with an outrageous slogan, shorts (girls), jeans (boys) and .........wellies and huge rucksacks either being carried or trailed on a variety of trolleys! The wellies would hardly be required this year on site and the easiest way to carry them is on your feet.
We had to step over bodies on the pavement to get in to the icecream shop, which was doing a roaring trade. So it's an ill wind, as they say!
The nearest we ever got to a pop festival, back in the 50s, were a few of us teenagers on the farm sitting around in the byre playing our breakable 78s on the wind-up gramophone. It seemed fun then. You could really impress people if you could recite the songs in the "Hit Parade"(10), then later, if you were really into pop, the "Top Twenty", never mind what's happening now in the top 100!
It's called progress.

Summer Holidays.

Up, up and away.........that's what many people around here seem to have done as the surrounding towns and villages are very quiet with plenty of parking spaces available, always a good indicator, and why not, as all the schools are out on holiday.
This balloon floated across the sky above our back garden yesterday morning about 6.30am. Nuri had spotted it and was causing an uproar at this strange creature. The basket appeared to be full of people and they must have had a glorious view of the Perthshire and Fife countryside as they floated on high on such a beautiful, sunny morning.
I have added a few photos of some of the garden flowers as they, too, seemed to be turning their faces towards the sun!

Cosmos.

Close up of one of the blooms on the Rose of Sharon bush.

A favourite of mine, a "baby" fuschia I am nurturing and trying to create a standard bush. They always seem to get broken in the wind, so I'll try to take better care of this one!

My Skywatch 8

A varied array of high clouds in the sky above Seaton Park in Aberdeen, Scotland, on a beautiful , HOT(!), day for the dog show.
If you would like to see more national and international skies go to
http://skyley.blogspot.com