Greetings to all who follow my blog regularly and to those who visit only occasionally. It is always a pleasure and a source of amazement that you seek me out from all corners of the world. What an extraordinary institution blogging is.
This year, I'm posting a series of winter photographs of Scotland to bring good wishes. My husband and I took them around Braemar during a visit to Aberdeenshire at the end of October 2018 during two days of crisp winter weather following a freak early snowfall.
I hope you enjoy this glimpse of the homeland of my husband's family in the Dee Valley west of Aberdeen. The cottage we stay in has been lived in full time by members of his family or, more recently, has been at the heart of holidays for us all for almost 100 years.
It is a welcome focus in a world where we move around and live apart from one another most of the time. Over the 46 years of our marriage, we have spent so much happy family time here, with our children and grand children and with friends, swimming in rivers, walking, talking and climbing mountains, exploring the many castles and the history of the area. We have many traditional places that have to be visited each time we go. The area is part of the fabric of our lives.
Yet, although we visit several times each year between March and early November, till this visit, I had never seen it covered in a blanket of snow. It was a new pleasure for me.
My husband and I created these cards together. Working in this way has become traditional for us at Christmas. We both took photographs during our visit and chose three each for the cards. They were then adjusted slightly in Photoshop (I couldn't restrain myself), printed out and mounted with a greeting.
The photos we included range from bright and sunny to cloudy, bleak and moody and perhaps even threatening. I'm not sure which I prefer or which sticks most in my mind as I write. Each gives a particular flavour of the place. The small selection is, perhaps, a sample of what makes this area so special to us.
I hope that you spend Christmas and the New Year in whatever way you choose, with family, friends or alone, and that it brings you joy and companionship if you want it.
Good wishes and thanks to you all.
This year, I'm posting a series of winter photographs of Scotland to bring good wishes. My husband and I took them around Braemar during a visit to Aberdeenshire at the end of October 2018 during two days of crisp winter weather following a freak early snowfall.
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It is a welcome focus in a world where we move around and live apart from one another most of the time. Over the 46 years of our marriage, we have spent so much happy family time here, with our children and grand children and with friends, swimming in rivers, walking, talking and climbing mountains, exploring the many castles and the history of the area. We have many traditional places that have to be visited each time we go. The area is part of the fabric of our lives.
Yet, although we visit several times each year between March and early November, till this visit, I had never seen it covered in a blanket of snow. It was a new pleasure for me.
My husband and I created these cards together. Working in this way has become traditional for us at Christmas. We both took photographs during our visit and chose three each for the cards. They were then adjusted slightly in Photoshop (I couldn't restrain myself), printed out and mounted with a greeting.
The photos we included range from bright and sunny to cloudy, bleak and moody and perhaps even threatening. I'm not sure which I prefer or which sticks most in my mind as I write. Each gives a particular flavour of the place. The small selection is, perhaps, a sample of what makes this area so special to us.
I hope that you spend Christmas and the New Year in whatever way you choose, with family, friends or alone, and that it brings you joy and companionship if you want it.
Good wishes and thanks to you all.
Happy Holidays to you as well, dear Margaret. And a wonderful new year! ❤❤
ReplyDeleteLovely to hear from you. All good wishes for the holidays and for New Year.
DeleteMerry Christmas, Margaret, and thank you for the beautiful photos. Our snow has mostly melted except at the top of most mountains so this is a treat.
ReplyDeleteMany thanks for commenting and leaving greetings, Sheila. Christmas here has been snow-free and mild - not like these photos at all!
DeleteI hope you will have a happy New Year full of good things.
Did I ever tell you Margaret that I adore snow scenes ? Well, I do, and these are so lovely ! Snow scenes and scenes from Scotland ... couldn't please me more ! Great photography on both your parts ;)
ReplyDeleteSuch a lovely story about your husbands family home, and that you all continue to go back there.
My husband is 1st gen. Canadian, family originally from Caithness. I am 4th gen. Canadian ... family originally from southwestern Scotland. We hope to win the lottery one day and visit 'the homeland' ;)
Anyway, keep on blogging ... I'm still with you !
Thank you for your comments, Sharron. I am so glad we have managed to link up successfully again.
DeleteI hadn't realised that you and your husband both had family links with Scotland. There is so much to see and enjoy and I hope you both manage a trip one day. We all love the country and, as you will realise, visit several times a year. Do let me know if you ever plan a visit.
Happy new year. Margaret
Beautiful photographs!!! and I loved to hear your family connections to this amazing place. Thanks so much for sharing. It is a dream of mine to one day visit Scotland. Best wishes for a wonderful 2020!
ReplyDeleteGood to hear from you again, Kim. I visit your blog from time to time and am always delighted by your work and by the wonderful scenery in your photos. We revisited Western Canada about two years ago but never got further north than Port Hardy and Alert Bay in BC. We had hoped to extend our trip to include Yukon Territory and Alaska but other thoughts got in the way!
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