What’s been happening lately? It was my birthday yesterday and I spent much of it at a highland dance competition with Elizabeth. She got third place overall which was a wonderful birthday present as there’s nothing better than seeing your child happy. The last two competitions she entered she came away with nothing so I was naturally worried about possible disappointment. Her trophy is so old it has names going back to 1992. The way it works is you get it engraved with your own child’s name and in a year when they hold the competition again you return it for the next person. There’s barely a ..read more

Lots has been happening here. Last Saturday was the European piping championships in Duthie Park which saw some 150 pipe bands playing. It was very loud and our brains continued playing bagpipe music long after they’d finished. There was also highland dancing, lots of activities, and a dinosaur trail in the winter gardens. I do love a good pipe band but with so many of them all playing different things simultaneously I was glad for some quiet at the end of the day. Here’s 6 seconds of music. Elizabeth was looking fabulous in her national outfit. I loved the dinosaurs in the winter gardens ..read more

Where did the weekend go? It’s nearly November and autumn is in full bloom. I wish I’d taken some photos today as Aberdeen is looking very pretty in its autumn clothes. My tomatoes are just about dead but there are still a few fruits ripening. Two weekends ago I picked this from the greenhouse. And Ben picked a heap of apples from the ground on one of his walks. It’s apple season! I turned them into a blackberry crumble using the last of the wild blackberries. It’s nice to have some overlap between apple season and blackberry season so we can combine the two. Elizabeth’s highland dance kilt ..read more

Daniel wrote a game in Javascript. It’s a re-creation of the snake game. You’re the snake and you move around the screen consuming fruit. Each time you eat a piece of fruit you get longer. If you touch the edge or yourself you die. Movement is via the keys W, A, S, D on your keyboard where W is up, S is down, and A and D go left and right respectively. Go to Snake Re-creation to give it a try. I discovered yesterday that the Aboyne Highland Games is one of only a few that are unregistered with the Royal Scottish Official Board of Highland Dance (RSOBHD). This means there are no categories belo ..read more

Elizabeth got to dance in town today and yesterday for the launch of the Umbrella Project in Aberdeen which is a nationwide campaign to celebrate neurodiversity or different ways of thinking. One in five of us have a condition like ADHD, Autism, Tourette’s Syndrome, Dyspraxia, and Dyscalculia and the umbrella project seeks to raise awareness of the strengths these different minds bring to our communities. The event was held in Shiprow in Aberdeen beneath lots of colourful umbrellas. I filmed a video of one of the dances. The pipers are from Robert Gordon College. We also saw a Stormtrooper i ..read more

The finale for Elizabeth’s school of Highland Dance end of year show was last night. We went to the opening night and it was fantastic. Yesterday I was wishing I’d bought a second ticket so I could go and watch it again but they’d completely sold out. Never mind, we’ll get the DVD when it comes out. Elizabeth was feeling a bit depressed yesterday that it was the last night. She’s really enjoyed it. They only put on a big show like this once every two years because it’s so much work. We’ve had to wait three years for this show because of the pandemic. Elizabeth was in four dances plus the final ..read more

Elizabeth got to perform at Craigiebuckler Church yesterday for the Queen’s Platinum Jubilee. I took lots of photos and some videos. They really put on a good show at this church as in addition to the dancing there were pipers and singing and crown making and that was just in the 1 hour period we were there. Elizabeth is middle row on the left. I forgot to take her shawl which is meant to drape over the shoulder. She was not happy with me about that but it didn’t matter in the end. Everyone loves watching highland dance and the audience were delighted. She’s front left in this next one. Prou ..read more

Elizabeth competed in her first highland dance competition at the Newtonhill Highland Festival. She did very well and came 3rd in the Highland Fling and 4th in the Lilt. Well done, Elizabeth! No photography was allowed at the competition so I couldn’t photograph or film her there. She says she enjoyed it and may participate in some of the summer games over the holidays. She has a very full plate right now; I don’t know how she manages it all. In addition to the competition she’s got dress rehearsals for the big end of year highland dance show which is just a couple of weeks away, plus the per ..read more

Elizabeth did her highland dance exam today and she thinks it went well but she won’t get her results for at least a few weeks. She got highly commended in the national exam she did last year. Thankfully the socks arrived in time along with the kilt which we sent off to have the hem lowered. She’s had this kilt since 2018 so it has lasted well. I bought a second-hand jacket off eBay last weekend which arrived on Tuesday and was a tiny bit too big so we took it to be altered and by Saturday she was all set. Her teachers asked her today how she managed to get a pair of socks so quickly. One doe ..read more

Daniel is on a school trip. This is one of the nice things about being back at a regular school: he gets to go on trips with his classmates. On one of the evenings they were planning to go to the ballet and we were told a jacket and tie would be required. Daniel was not in possession of these things so we invested in a suit. He then spent last weekend learning to put it on and most importantly, tie a tie, the instructions for which he got from YouTube. Here he is all dressed up and looking quite dashing. The very next day the ballet got cancelled thanks to Putin because it’s the Russian balle ..read more