Highland Line No. 51

We can hardly believe that it is December 1st already and that Channukah is upon us with Christmas not far behind. Soon it will be Hogmanay (New Years) and we'll be in 2008. Where has this year gone?

November was a month of fewer posts than usual. Were we that busy? It was a month of:

Finishing up home improvements:

• We had new tiling put up in the kitchen on November 5th, which looks ever so good.


• We had the shower room ceiling paper replaced and repainted that same week, which looks ever so much better!

Attending musical entertainments:

• With Helen and Gordon Rae, we saw Annie Grace in concert on the 10th with 2 members of the Old Blind Dogs in Comrie's WRI Hall--another wonderful performance.


• On the 21st we attended a Strathearn Music Society concert featuring the Sacconi String Quartet and featuring David Campbell, Clarinet, for 2 numbers, the most wonderful of which was Mozart's Clarinet Quintet.


• We have been entertaining ourselves as well as each other with musical instruments of our own. I bought Don a cajon drum for his birthday in May which took the rest of the year to locate, try out, order, and receive. He plays it well and has great fun playing along to Dixieland CDs. Meanwhile, I asked Father Christmas for an electronic keyboard and he delivered it early. I took piano lessons as a child but never played very well. It was strictly for my own enjoyment. I am having fun reading through a couple of music books but will not be entertaining others! This is mostly so that I can learn and practice my chorus music. We'll put photos up tomorrow.

Entertaining probably our last house guest of the year:

• Katherine Farquhar was with us from the 18th to the 20th for a short but very sweet visit. She and Don were colleagues and friends at AU and now I am pleased to say she's my friend too. The three of us had a really good time despite the November rain and cold.

Doing other entertaining and socializing:

• On the 23rd we were invited to coffee at the home of Pam and David Thowlis who live around the corner from us. It was nice getting to know Pam and David a bit better. Don sees David at golf but I rarely get to see either of them so that was fun.


• Later that same day we went to the White Church Community Centre for a wine-tasting given by our local deli. I'm afraid I must confess that we had too good a time! Fortunately we were on foot that night.


• On the 24th we went to Crieff for a Thai dinner with Peter and Robbie Innes who had just returned from 5 weeks in Australia. We enjoyed hearing all about their trip and are starting to plot a trip to Australia and New Zealand for ourselves sometime in the future.


• The big event, however, was our Thanksgiving Feast at which 6 friends and we enjoyed all the traditional fare plus NFL football. (Yes, we're still eating turkey!) We held ours on Sunday afternooon the 24th and you can see the report on the blog for the 25th.


• Last night we were invited to The Achray House Hotel in St. Fillans for dinner with Val and Bill Campbell who are having a weekend getaway from Arbroath. We had a smashing time and look forward to hosting Val and Bill for lunch tomorrow after Don and Bill play golf and Val and I go for coffee to the Rapha Centre in Braco.

Remember you can see photos and read more details in November's blogs by clicking on the Archive for November 2007 on the right side of this Web page. (You may have to scroll up to get to the Archives.)

Don's golf has been up and down this month but he's been working hard, taking himself out fairly often for practice sessions which are paying off. Why, today he came in 4th in the St. Fillans Senior Mens' Tournament and last Tuesday he came in second at the Comrie Senior Mens' weekly match, winning prizes both times.

After some long dry spells with quilting and waiting forever for a food mill, I've been very productive here at the end of the month. Today I finished 2 days of applesauce-making which I then turned into apple butter for canning. I converted 4 dozen apples from our own tree into 10 jars of apple butter. It's delicious, if I do say so myself. I also have produced two art quilts recently and have a third taking shape on the design wall.

It's quite ironic that no one, including Don, ever thought he'd become a golfer, much less be so avid about the game. And no one, including me, would have thought I'd be making jams and sewing after failing Home Ec twice in high school (I had to take it 3 times to graduate!). It just goes to show that you never know who or what you will grow up to become.

We hope you enjoyed your Thanksgiving and are looking forward to some good times during the upcoming holiday season. We wish you all the very best the season has to offer.

Love,

Lynn and Don