Alison's diary.Byline: Alison Monday School shut for a week. No tattie picking these days so we're off to Dingwall to stay with pals the MacDonalds. It is a glorious day. Who needs Majorca? The leaves are turning, the air is clear so we gather their three spaniels Parker, Spider and Basil along with our two mutts and head out for a good stomp. Parker is 14 and almost blind so has to be watched in case he goes off-road, never to be seen again. We eat what is caught, shot or grown which means tonight we have grouse grouse, common name for a game bird of the colder parts of the Northern Hemisphere. There are about 18 species. Grouse are henlike terrestrial birds, protectively plumaged in shades of red, brown, and gray. . The kids eat the same as the adults and it is delicious. Soon the kids slope off leaving us catching up and sampling some rather delicious wine. Hic HIC Habitat International Coalition HIC Health Insurance Commission HIC Head Injury Criterion HIC Health Information Center HIC Health Insurance Claim HIC Humanitarian Information Center HIC Hydrophobic Interaction Chromatography HIC Health Informatics Conference . Tuesday Another sunny day. We make a picnic and eat it outside. In October! Don't tell anyone or Scotland will be full of tourists. I speak to Mum on the phone who is staying with her pal Aileen in Aberdeen. They came in last night only to see a mouse run across the kitchen floor. Being brave, Mum leapt on to a chair and screamed as Aileen dug out her new pink Ikea brush and tried to bash it about the face and neck. It got behind the fridge. Rather than do an all-night vigil, Mum and Aileen left it there in the hope it wouldn't savage them in the night. It didn't, they lived to tell the tale. So does the mouse, we presume. Watch out, it must be in the mice almanac almanac, originally, a calendar with notations of astronomical and other data. Almanacs have been known in simple form almost since the invention of writing, for they served to record religious feasts, seasonal changes, and the like. as it is happening all over Scotland. Wednesday Unbelievably, while retelling re·tell·ing n. A new account or an adaptation of a story: a retelling of a Roman myth. the story in the MacDonalds' kitchen, a moose meanders towards the bin. 'Eeek, a moose,' shouts Joanna as Flora - halfdog, half-womble - gets it in her toothless jaws. I am not sure who was most surprised - her or the mouse. She drops it, picks it up, then drops it again, looking confused as the mouse with cricked neck shuffles behind a unit. Five dogs and Flora the gummy gummy an old sheep that has lost all of its incisor teeth. sausage is the only one who moved. She now only responds to the name Mouser mous·er n. An animal, especially a cat, that catches mice. mouser Noun a cat or other animal that is used to catch mice Noun 1. and has a haughty haugh·ty adj. haugh·ti·er, haugh·ti·est Scornfully and condescendingly proud. See Synonyms at proud. [From Middle English haut, from Old French haut, halt air of arrogance. It's taken her 10 years to do something vaguely useful. Mind you, it took me a darn sight longer. Thursday As a thank you to the lovely MacDonalds we buy them lunch at a place in Inverness, the Rockpool Hotel, to which Albert Roux has given his name. There are eight of us - four adults and four kids. We eat an exotic meal of rabbit terrine ter·rine n. 1. An earthenware container for cooking and serving food. 2. Any of various dishes prepared or cooked in a terrine. [French; see tureen. and fish. We are all stuffed after lunch so go walkabout walkabout a dummy syndrome in horses; usually pyrrolizidine alkaloses caused by crotalaria poisoning. Affected horses walk compulsively, head press, appear blind and walk into objects. They do not respond to usual external stimuli or commands. and fan Flora the Mouser as Joanna lobs a huge leg of lamb into the oven. Pals Trish and Hamish arrive and as soon as the mouse stories start Trish takes to a chair. Another farmer's wife who cannae stand the wee beasties. Am considering renting Flora out on an hourly basis. Friday Shaun shows us round the farm. There are lots of lovely coos. I am going to stop eating beef as I love cows. I think I was one in my past life - no jokes about this life. We see a lorryload led into a large new paddock. They've just been separated from their mums for the first time. That night as we eat a great meal accompanied by Shaun's magnificent Yorkshire pud, I hear the cows cry loud and balefully bale·ful adj. 1. Portending evil; ominous. See Synonyms at sinister. 2. Harmful or malignant in intent or effect. bale . After a couple of glasses of wine I ask if there is a guitar in the house as a wee serenade serenade [Ital. sera=evening], term used to designate several types of musical composition. Opera and song literature yield numerous examples of the serenade sung or played by a lover at night beneath his beloved's window; outstanding is might cheer them up. Luckily there is no guitar so I wish them goodnight from a distance. Saturday Cheek. I find a guitar in the lounge. Dave says the cow protection league begged him to hide it. The thought of a few dozen suicidal cows was too much for him. Shaun takes us to see the father of all coos in the shape of this bull. He is 12 years old. 'How long does he have left as a productive bull?' I ask. 'This is about it really'. Oh. 'He must be like an old friend having served you well (well, not you so much as the coos ),' I sigh. 'So will you let him live out his days meandering round fields eating grass and snoozing in the sun until he passes away?' Without missing a beat Shaun simply says, 'Nope. Burgers,' and walks on. |
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