We're Back!

Hi, we finally have an OK-ish Internet connection yehaa! What a year it has been at the cabin site -just catching a few days off before the Christmas rush so will catch up with the blog eventually! The newly refurbished cabins are great and the reception even better now that we have a shop, coffee, pizza and booze! Somehow we managed to win an award from Hoseasons for best cabin site in the UK for customer service, despite the building works, awful pot holes in the road and team numbers down - worth all the extra hours then.

I'm off to catch up on some sleep then, but here's a little pic' of a recent get together with our friends from Cobleland campsite at their end of season do....

Imbolc or Groundhog Day

It's Groundhog day.... again! Well, we are supposed to be getting an earlier Spring this year up in the Trossachs as the sun was not shining, so neither a groundhog, badger, hedgehog, snake or a hag could have seen their shadow. Punxsatawney Phil, didn't see one either apparently!

These poems worked out right for Scotland last year;

"If February give much snow

A fine summer it doth foreshow"

"If Ash (leaves) comes before Oak, we're in for a soak

If Oak comes before Ash, we're in for a splash!"

Here the loch is finally thawing, but could we get more snow yet? Otherwise if its a mild February stormy weather is to be expected!

The Forestry Commission picnic table at Lemahamish obviously decided to go for a swim during the floods after the great thaw!

Full Moon

How amazing was the full moon this month! January's full moon is the Wolf, Cold or Winter Moon and apparantly, if you want to know how long it will be before you get married, then look at the first full moon of the New Year through a hankerchief. The number of moons showing through it it represents the number of months of single life! Darn it, I read this too late, I'll have to wait until next year now!

Happy Hogmanay!

Arthur the piper, piped in an early new year for us so we all giggled the night away with mulled wine and a ceilidh - great fun as ever! Best wishes to you all for the New Year!

Merry Christmas

A white Christmas then, although it didn't actually snow today. Daisy enjoys her present opening, sorry Lesley and Graham, she opened the whoopee cushion and destroyed it thinking it was hers when our backs were turned. She must have smelt the plastic and thought it was a squeeky toy! Never mind, I still have Will for sound effects!

Santa has Arrived at Strathyre!

Merry Christmas to all! Santa popped in for some mulled wine at the cabin site and joined us for a while where we told Christmas stories and various traditions around the fire. The tree outside had some solar lights which had been out for two weeks, but decided not to work until tonight - magic!

Local faery, Kee, from Doon Hill also popped in to put wishes on the tree for the kids. Everyone must have been good boys and girls as Santa had come back during the night and left a stocking for all the cabins.
Me and the boss are dressed as Celtic Druids for the old stories, myth and folklore tales where I revealed just what makes a bearded fat man dress in red and white and deliver presents around the world and how his reindeer fly using a toadstool! The Celtic Tree month is birch, so we made birch pendants with the Celtic ogham signs. Birch signifies cleansing of bad thoughts, so new beginnings, love, good fortune and changes in luck can be invited, together with the promise of light as the days get longer again.
Apologies to everyone that had a candy stick from the tree, they turned out to be plastic, eek!!

Perfect and Clean

Perfect and clean, except why do people think that you can chuck and leave rubbish and dog mess under the snow??? Idiots!

Ice Crystals

The snow has stayed all dry and fluffy, but we've had so many cold, clear nights that there is surface hoar everywhere - lovely! The hips are frozen in time for a while too.

Frosty Loch

The loch has started to freeze over, so it will soon be making those wierd sounds during the night!

Perfect Chilly Days

We have managed to miss most of the bad snow, instead our snow has stayed fluffy and the skies a perfect blue :-)

Quinze/Shovel Ups

Will thought he would try building a shovel up to stay in. Needless to say he didn't sleep in it, although it was nice to hear that two young lads built one of their own and slept in it until 3am!

Snowy Sunrise

Look at it!!!

Snowed in Again

Oh well, snowed in again and a bit earlier than last year!

108 Sun Salutes

The first of the snow arrived today but we still managed to get to the David Marshall Lodge to complete the 108 sun salutes for a local wildlife sanctuary. I can't take Will anywhere though, he blew off during the session in a room full of ladies and put us all off! Will's excuse was that there should be more men at yoga...

Motorcross

Will has an everlasting 40th birthday! This was a present from Daisy, as she hates motorbikes! An interesting character from 'Fun in the Mud' taught the lads and fun and muddy it was. What's with the spare tyres though boys??

All Hallows Eve

Happy Celtic New Year everyone! Another chance to let go of unwanted habits and start a fresh with your dreams :-). We did a Halloween 'Trick or Treat' party at the cabins where I told everyone where all the little traditions of Halloween originate from and we played both new and old games, including; wrap the mummy, apple bobbing and fortune telling - great fun.

Here is Will and I dressed as Druids, well, Will is more of a Celtic warrior (although they fought naked, oh er), but traditionally they wore animal masks to confuse mischievous faeries or non ancestral spirits on their festival of Samhain. They then feasted with and remembered their ancestors and practised divination, being easier to achieve on this night. I tried to do some, not sure if it works yet, I'll have to wait and see.....

I've never seen a frog here before until today, only toads. Here he or she is, fat and full up for the long winter hibernation ahead, barely flopping itself across the slate path.

The weather is definitely changing, lots of mist in the mornings on the loch now - lovely :-)

Crannog Centre

At last, we have managed to get to the Crannog Centre on Loch Tay. It was really interesting and gave us lots of inspiration for our own ranger activities. They even helped me to pronounce Samhain properly (the Celtic end of year festival), ready for our Halloween 'old and new' party at the cabin site.