Oban, N. Argyll.

Although small, Oban is one of the largest towns in the west highlands. It's situated in north Argyll. Oban is a very popular place with visitors to the area. Tourism is the town's main asset, and the town describes itself as The Gateway to the Islands. Oban is the main port for Caladonian MacBrayne, who run car ferries out of the harbour to most of the islands in the Inner and Outer Hebrides. The town is also popular for yachting, with a number of marinas in and close to the town. We prefer Oban to our nearest town of Fort William, the sole reason being that Oban's supermarket is bigger! The photo above was taken from the harbour, looking across the shore to the south end of the Esplanade.

Oban Harbour.

A fishing trawler moored in the harbour.

Oban harbour.

A Caladonian MacBrayne car ferry moored in Oban Harbour. The ferries are not just for carrying the millions of tourists but a lifeline for those who live in the Inner and Outer Hebrides.

Oban Bay.

Looking across Oban Bay from the esplanade. At the end of the headland on the right is St. Columba's Cathedral.

Mc.Caig's Folly.

McCaig's Tower, or folly as it is more commonly known, was built by a local banker called McCaig in 1897. His idea was to provide work for the local stonemasons and craftsmen and also for it to be a lasting monument to his wife and family. It was never completed, a common happening in the highlands! It's worth a visit for the fantastic views across Oban bay.

On the esplanade.

Two of the most popular places in Oban. McCaig's Folly centre top, and Oban Distillery below it on the right . What a shame some stupid town planner allowed an ugly modern shop to be built in front of a fine building! It's unusual to find a distillery in the centre of a town. It's great place to visit, they give guided tours at a wee entrance cost, and you get that back if you buy a bottle!

Oban.

Still travelling south out of the town but unfortunately we were not about to escape, we were on our way to the supermarket! A wee church in the centre of the photo with a tower that seems to have outgrown the rest of the church.

Oban.

The roundabout at the south end of Oban's main street, with the flagpoles that fly a number of national flags from around the world. I wonder who decided which countries were worthy of such an honour! Maybe the town worthies drew lots, or perhaps it depended on where they had been for that year's holidays!

Oban's high street.

This is George Street, Oban's main street. If you ever decide to visit Oban in the summer, be prepared for very slow traffic and no parking to be found! It's a nightmare!

Castle Stalker.

Castle Stalker, like many of the castles in Scotland, is inhabited. It is open to the public on certain days of the year, and as you can see from the photo is accessible only by boat when the tide is in. The castle is situated just off the shore of Loch Linnhe at Appin, north of Oban. If you wish to learn more about it , then there is an excellent website http://www.castlestalker.com/main.htm

Scottish recipe. Brandy Wafers.

The close historical relationship between Scotland and France meant that brandy was a well known alcoholic drink in the home of whisky.

INGREDIENTS:
2 ounces golden syrup (Light corn syrup is the nearest US equivalent)
2 ounces butter
2 ounces flour
2 ounces caster sugar (Fine granulated sugar)
Half teaspoon brandy
Half teaspoon ground ginger

METHOD:
Preheat the oven to 450F/250C/Gas Mark 8 and grease a baking sheet. Melt the butter, syrup and sugar over a gentle heat and then stir in the flour, ginger and brandy. Keep stirring for about five minutes. Drop small teaspoonsfuls onto the baking sheet, keeping them well apart. Bake for five minutes or until they are a pale golden brown. Using the greased handle of a large wooden spoon, roll the wafers round the handle while they are still hot - take care not to burn yourself! Allow to cool before use. They are excellent on their own, or filled with whipped cream, or sticking out of ice cream.

Garden visitors.

Who is this?

It's Mr. Mole, taking a stroll in the sunlight, it's very unusual to see one above the ground!

Who ate all the seed?

Greedy guts!

Garden visitors. Red Squirrel.

Garden visitors. Red Squirrel.

A Red Squirrel eating peanuts from the bird-feeder in front of my living-room window. The window is absolutely filthy with splattered food from the hundreds of birds that visit every day and the gigantic slugs that feed from the nuts during the night. Red Squirrels are very rare in the UK now, and can only be found in a handful of locations, my garden being one of them it seems! They are a protected species and the race is on to save them from extinction. They are the only squirrel native to the British Isles.

Garden visitors. Chaffinch.

Searching up above for inspiration? No! It's springtime, and this handsome male Chaffinch is singing his heart out in hope of impressing a future wife!

Garden visitors. Robin.

A male Robin in the snow. A poor photo taken through a wet and steamy window.

What have we here?

It's Mr. and Mrs. Mouse! They are a pair of Long-tailed Field Mice, their other name is the Wood Mouse. The Wood Mouse is getting rather rare in the UK now, and they are a protected species. They're not very rare in my garden though! They're all over the place, but we only see them at night as they're nocturnal. The photos were taken through my not very clean kitchen window.

Garden visitors. Blackbird chick.

A blurry photo of a newly-fledged Blackbird chick, taken with a zoom lens.

Garden visitors. Chaffinch chick.

A Chaffinch chick, newly-fledged and has been guided to the bird-feeder by his parents. They keep a close watch from a respectacle distance while their chick experiments with finding her own food for the first time. She seems puzzled by the feeder and is wondering how to get at the peanuts.

This is strange-looking food!

Where has it gone?

It's rolled down there!

Getting the hang of it now!

No bahookie shots please!

That was tiring work! Time for an after dinner snooze.

Garden visitors. Siskin.

A female Siskin chick looking rather unsure of herself. It's a big, scary world out here!

Garden visitors. Chaffinch.

Is someone watching me?

Garden visitors.

A male Chaffinch wondering if it' safe to eat his lunch.

The Appin Mystery.

The Appin murder: who killed Red Fox?
BY IAIN LUNDY

FOR 18 months the body of James Stewart - James of the Glen - was left to hang on the gibbet at an elevated and highly visible spot on the south end of the Ballachulish Ferry. Battered by the winds and rain of the west Highlands, Stewarts's body rapidly disintegrated. When only his skeleton remained it was held together by chains and wires. Guarded night and day, the grisly spectacle served as a stark warning to the restless Highland clans that this was the fate awaiting anyone who harboured murderous thoughts.

It was a sinister aftermath to one of the most shameful episodes in Scottish history - the Appin Murder. It claimed the lives of two men - one killed by sniper fire, the second "judicially" murdered after a rigged trial which paid no heed to justice, only the needs of vengeance and political expediency. The gruesome public display of the hanged man's remains was one of the final flourishes of the bloody maelstrom that was clan warfare in Scotland.

Stewart unquestionably went to the gallows an innocent man. His own clan family knew that from the beginning but refused to turn in the guilty man. Instead, in one of the best kept secrets in history, the identity of the killer was passed down to selected Stewarts through generations before being revealed - apparently - only four years ago.

The Appin Murder happened in May 1752, six years after the Battle of Culloden. The dead man was Colin Campbell of Glenure, Argyllshire. Known as "The Red Fox", he was the factor of several estates which had been forfeited from pro-Jacobite clans and his challenging task was to collect taxes from clan leaders

It has been claimed that on the day he was shot Campbell was about to indulge in a spot of "ethnic cleansing" by evicting Stewart families from their houses on the Ardsheal estate and replacing them with Campbells. That claim has never been proved but post-Culloden, anti-Campbell sentiment was rife in the west Highlands. The Campbells, living in the heart of clan country, were however loyal to the Hanoverian monarchy and deeply unpopular among those who had fought with Charles Edward Stewart, the Bonnie Prince himself. They had also been seen to "do the bidding of their English masters" at the Massacre of Glencoe 60 years earlier.

Colin Roy Campbell was 44 and ambitious. His work was distasteful but the more fair-minded regarded him as a decent man who made the best of a difficult job. At Ardsheal, James of the Glen helped him collect Stewart rents and the two men often consulted.

On 14 May, Stewart and four others had just crossed Loch Leven on the ferry and were passing the road at Lettermore Wood when a musket shot rang out. Campbell lay dead and the killer disappeared into the rugged countryside. Within two days James of the Glen had been arrested and taken for trial to the Campbell stronghold of Inveraray Castle. The trial was a travesty. Eleven of the 15 jurors were Campbells and the presiding judge was the Duke of Argyll, the clan chief. Not surprisingly Stewart was sentenced to die.

It is said that on the day of the hanging, the real man who fired the shot had to be held down at a house in Ballachulish to prevent him giving himself up. One of those who fell under suspicion was Stewart's half-brother, Alan Breck Stewart, described as a vengeful young hothead who had stirred up anti-Campbell hatred among his clansmen. Robert Louis Stevenson became so fascinated with the story that he based the novels Kidnapped and Catriona on the episode - with Alan Breck as one of the leading characters.

In 2001, nearly 250 years after the incident, an 89-year-old descendant of the Stewarts of Appin, Anda Penman, claimed it was time to break the family silence. She said the murder was planned by four young Stewart lairds and that the gun was fired by the best shot among the four, Donald Stewart of Ballachulish, who had been elected assassin. Penman died soon afterwards and no member of the Stewart family has substantiated her incredible story.

Back in 1754 the sight of the remains of James Stewart was too much for a local half-wit known as "Daft Macphee". It is said he uprooted the gallows and threw it into Loch Linnhe and that it then floated into Loch Etive before coming to rest further south near Bonawe. The wooden gibbet was used as a bridge across stream and the bones of James of the Glen were carefully gathered and buried - by none other than young Donald Stewart of Ballachulish.

Our furry and feathered family members. BrianBunny!

Here's the famous BrianBunny! Isn't he a handsome Bunny! BrianBunny is a Dutch rabbit, and he is a rescued rabbit. He is the elder statesman of our bunny family, being almost 12 years old! This photo shows him enjoying a sunny day in the playrun on the lawn this summer.


Here he is again in his wee blue hoose! Because of his great age he is a housebunny, and just goes outside to play when the weather is warm and dry. I'm not sure whether BrianBunny thinks he's a pussycat or whether Lucy thinks she's a bunny! The birdies just keep themselves aloof from such lowly furry beings!

ConnorBunny.

This comical old man is ConnorBunny! He's a floppy-eared bunny. He's kind and sweet and very loving. He is almost 11 years old, so he needs tender love and care in his old-age.

HeatherBunny.

This bonny wee lassie is HeatherBunny! She is a jet-black dwarf lop-eared rabbit. She was very tiny wee and was just a few weeks old when she came home to live with us. She's an elderly lassie now, she's 8 years old.

SolomonBunny.

Here is SolomonBunny. He is a large, lop-eared rabbit. He is a few years old, still in his prime, and extremely lively, loving and playful. In other words, quite a handful but so adorable! He came to live with us by chance! He "escaped" from a neighbour and was found by another neighbour who knew we had rabbits and he brought him to us thinking he was one of ours. He was soaked through as it had been raining incessantly, and he was hungry and exhausted! We asked his original owner if she was wanting him back and she said she didn't! So he's now in his forever home here with us! Please don't be tempted to give a home to any living creature unless you are as sure as you can be that you are going to want them to live with you forever!

Lucy.

Here is Lucy, our beloved pussycat. Yes, my American friends, we DO call cats pussycats in Scotland without being rude! Lucy is almost 18 years old, the last in a very long line of cats that we have been fortunate to share our family home with. She is in poor health but still active and happy, and we take it one day at a time and enjoy the love she gives us each day.

Golly MacGreencheek.

This cheeky wee laddie is Golly MacGreencheek. He is a green-cheeked conure, the quietest member of the conure family and one of the smallest. He is 7 years old. He came to live with us when he was a wee chick of 6 weeks. He has a vocabulary of about 6 words. We call him a "he", however he surprised us last year by laying eggs! But we cannot refer to Golly as "she" as he has always been and will always continue to be our cheeky wee laddie!

Darling Freddie MacCitron.

This handsome laddie is Darling Freddie MacCitron, we just call him Darling! He is a Citron cockatoo, and is about 12 years old. He is showing his annoyance at the camera flash!

Pepe.

This is Pepe, my African Grey parrot. He came to live with us a few years ago after his first human mummy died. He is 21 years old and never stops talking! He has a large vocabulary and talks in context. Like many parrots, he has his favourite human. He adores my husband and just tolerates my presence!

Scottish humour.

A Scotsman was shipwrecked and finally washed ashore on a small island. As he regains consciousness on the beach, he sees a beautiful unclad nymph standing over him.
She asks, "Would you like some food?" The Scot hoarsely croaks, "Och, lassie, I havnae eaten in a week and ah'm awfy hungry!"
She disappears into the woods and quickly comes back with a heaping helping of haggis. When he has choked it down, she asks, "Would you like something to drink?"
"Och aye! Yon haggis has made me awfy thirsty and I wuid like a drink!" She goes off into the woods again and returns with a bottle of 75-year-old single-malt Scotch whisky.
The Scotsman is beginning to think that he's in heaven when the unclad nymph leans closer and says, "Would you like to play around?""Och, lassie, dinnae tell me ye haff a golf course here too!"

Flowers in my garden.

The photos below are close-up shots of some of the many flowers in my garden. As I have hundreds of different species and varieties of flowering plants and shrubs, I cannot remember off-hand all their names. But if you specifically want a name or to know more, just leave a comment under the corresponding photo and I will try my best to give you an answer.

Scottish recipe - Stovies.

INGREDIENTS:

2 lb potatoes.

1 onion.

1/2 pint of hot water or stock.

Leftover scraps of roast beef or lamb.

2 oz butter and oil, mixed.

Salt and freshly-ground black pepper.

METHOD:

Melt the butter and oil in a pan. Peel and thickly slice the potatoes and onion and add to the pan. Toss in the butter and oil for a few minutes. Add the stock or water, and salt and black pepper to taste. Cover, and bring slowly to the boil. Then simmer gently, stirring occasionally to prevent burning, for 1 hour. Add the scraps of roast meat and cook for a little longer until the potatoes are slightly brown and the meat is hot. Serve and sprinkle with fresh, chopped parsley.

Rhododendrons and azaleas.

The photos below are all close-up pics of some of the many dwarf rhododendrons and azaleas growing in my garden. They are many different species, from the Himalayas, Japan etc. They thrive in the west highlands because our soil is peaty and acidic, and of course they don't like too much hot sun!

Scottish recipe -Tattie Scones.

INGREDIENTS:

1 lb mashed potatoes.
4oz plain flour.
Salt.
Butter for spreading.

METHOD:

Boil, then mash the potatoes until smooth, adding a little salt. Knead with flour to required thickness.
Cut into triangles.
Brown both sides on griddle or in frying pan, pricking with a fork to prevent blistering.
Serve hot, spread with butter.