There’s lots happening at the moment but the big news is grandad is visiting which is fantastic. Daniel is keen to catch up to grandad’s height and he’s getting close! Daniel is still growing and grew almost 1cm just in the last month so he may yet make it. Yesterday was the last day of school for the children and students in the high school were invited to perform for the final assembly. Elizabeth volunteered to dance and she did the Blue Bonnets. I asked her whether she felt nervous before dancing in front of the entire high school assembly and she said a little bit but not as much as when ..read more

Daniel participated in The Kilt Walk this weekend to raise money for Charlie House, a local charity that supports children in the north east of Scotland with life-threatening of life-limiting conditions. He raised £258 and walked from Aberdeen to Banchory which is almost 19 miles. He had blisters at the end of the day but nothing worse than that. We weren’t allowed to wave him off because we’re embarrassing to him now so instead all I got was this photo before he left. Elizabeth danced at a church for their summer fair. She performed three dances. This one is the Barracks Johnny. And we have ..read more

Elizabeth performed the opening dance for her school’s international festival last night. This is the Highland Laddie which is danced to the tune of the same name and is a renowned regimental march. Indeed the dance steps were apparently choreographed by soldiers in the first world war ..read more

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