I'm back!

I'm afraid this is as close as I got to photographing the sights and signs of Elgin as promised: some bagpipers in Forres on Saturday and a bee (with its very yellow pollen stored on its back legs) in my mum and dad's garden.

I had a busy week of charity shopping, car booting, eating and sewing, and spent lots of time in the role of Auntie Laura (splitting my time between reading stories, breaking up fights, playing hide and seek and carrying people - just the bigger two - round by their ankles) with this lot:

Kim and Angus

and baby Ruth.

They are all very sweet and lovely and fun but also HARD WORK. I don't know how my sister does it...

I also got to hang out with Patch who is getting very old but is still as lovely as ever. You might (or might not) notice from this photo that he only has three legs. He got one amputated when he was just a youngster after he got hit by a car. It didn't slow him down much (shortly after he lost his leg, he appeared over the garden wall dragging a rabbit he had caught!) but nowadays he is a bit stiff and spends more time relaxing and getting his tummy rubbed. He was actually our neighbour's cat but he was always hanging out in our house and moved in permanently a couple of years ago when the neighbours moved.

I got to spend some time with my parents, sister and brother-in-law too, which was nice, but I didn't photograph them :) My mum is my new favourite (psychic) person. Halfway through my visit she suddenly remembered she had bought me a present. She appeared carrying a plastic bag, saying, "You might not like it. I didn't notice what the pattern was until I got it home but I thought the neckline was very you. If you don't like it, you can take it back." I peeked in the bag and what do you think I saw? The horse top! How good is my mum!? I hadn't even mentioned it to her because I'd phoned the shop in Elgin and they told me they'd never had the top at all. Lies! Lies, I tell you! Ooh, I love a fun coincidence, I do!

I'll try to be back with a less random post soon - I just wanted to pop in and say hello.