The 'R'-Tribe at Home: 2017

Last night we watched our December super moon around midnight. The Lakota Sioux Indians of the the Great US Plains call this Wanicokan Wi; "the moon when the deer shed their antlers". Below over the field opposite us sparkled a neighbour's Christmas garden lights.

So another year draws to a close. Our tribe is well & we hope that this is also so with our family & friends. Here is our picture round up of the year:

No you are not rolling on a boat or plane, but with a little artistic licence, here is Colin's Jeep on a training session with 4x4 Rescue. Later in July, Colin was busy for two days helping folk at Kendal Calling, a Cumbrian music festival.

After visiting the RHS Show in Chatsworth in June we visited Jamie at work, in the ITV archive in Leeds. Jamie was delighted to take up a substantive post with ITV in March. We hope to give him a little help to get onto the property ladder soon.

We celebrated our 30th Wedding Anniversary on 27th June with a day trip to the fabulous & rather eclectic Bowes Museum. As you can see we've not mastered the selfie technique!

We've been uncharacteristically romantic. Nine years ago we brought back eight small diamonds from Cape Town. Three of the diamonds are now incorporated in Colin's wedding band, one for each decade of service! The other five have been made into a bespoke gold brooch representing the Southern Cross. My late father, Ian, often used the Southern Cross to navigate when driving at night through the bush in Botswana in the 1940s /50s.

Again in June, I had a wonderful trip down memory lane when my school friend Suzanne contacted me from Perth, Australia asking if I'd like to visit our Alma Mater, Ayr Academy, which was to close as a secondary school and become Ayr's primary school.

We had a wonderful day as 16 / 17 year olds, meeting folk, recalling names and stories which have been lost in the mists of time. We were amazed to find the school hardly changed in 39 years. Suddenly the war memorial in the hall & pictures in the dusty cabinets had a relevance and poignancy as never before.

And a visit to Ayr is never complete without a visit to Alloway.

The Burn's Monument Gardens are now open for visits.

I can't remember the name of these roses but they looked lovely, not red but such a reminder of the bard,

"O my Luve's like a red, red rose,
That's newly sprung in June:
O my Luve's like the melodie,
That's sweetly play'd in tune."

(1794)

In August we had a two week trip to the US. Nicky & Rob came with us. We visited Colorado, Wyoming, Montana, South Dakota & Nebraska. We loved our 'fully loaded' GMC Yukon. It was good to also to catch up with our Billings friends, Alex, Lucy & Sally.

Yellowtone's Geothermal Magic

Nicky & Rob at Jenny Lake, Teton National Park - a favourite spot

Metallic Statues of Chief Joseph overlooking the highway, named after him, in Wyoming. Chief Joseph of the Nez Perce, guided his tribe through this vast wilderness to safety in Canada in 1877.

We joined friends Linnea & Kent
near Boysen State Park,Shoshoni on Monday, 21st August for the

Total Eclipse of Sun

... a transient but outstanding

natural wonder...

Below is a picture of an unknown family, anticipating the moments before totality.

No mashed potatoes towers were created during the visit to this US
National Monument -

The Devil's Tower, Wyoming.

"According to the Native American tribes of the Kiowa ans Lakota, a group of girls went out to play and were spotted by several giant bears, who began to chase them. In an effort to escape the bears, the girls climbed atop a rock, fell to their knees, and prayed to the Great Spirit to save them. Hearing their prayers, the Great Spirit made the rock rise from the ground towards the heavens so that the bears could not reach the girls. The bears, in an effort to climb the rock, left deep claw marks in the sides, which had become too steep to climb. Those are the marks which appear today on the sides of Devils Tower. When the girls reached the sky, they were turned into the stars of the Pleiades / Seven Sisters."

Source:Wikipedia

Back at home we have been busy too. Despite the summer being a bit of a 'damp squib' we got lots done.

In late winter our final Pacific Redwood was taken down piece meal, as you can see from this photo. Earlier in the winter while taking down the larger tree, our tree surgeon fractured his spine after cutting through his rope (unnoticed) & then abseiling in to thin air; falling some 35-40 feet. Poor guy had to go to Newcastle for treatment and is still in pain.

Our First Ladies are doing well. We still have two from our original flock from 2013. They love to sun bathe whenever possible & bring much life & activity (not always appreciated) to the orchard.

Here is Colin with Mr Soot. Mitsy is 10 and poor old Fritz is in the 'slippered pantaloon' phase, but enjoys his food and a walk.

My latest garden ornament has been in the form of a homemade 'Straw Bogle' (Old Scots for scarecrow). As you can see her head is enormous, so I've had to make a large frill for her hat to try & get some proportion back!