Where does time go?

Time is faster than Peter Pan's shadow at disappearing.  Though I have searched everywhere over the past few weeks it never seems to be in the same place as I left it last. 
I've looked under the beds and even took the hoover with me as it is good to be able to multi task if you run a B&B business but only a stray feather there which was quickly sooked up.  Thought for sure it would be in the den, lurking behind the computer, but no joy there either, but checked all the e-mails just in case it had slipped inside one. 
Of course that made me think of the pillow cases (mind like a grasshopper I have as you can tell if you ever read my blog - don't think anyone does though as there are no followers yet).  The ironing press is in the den too - strategically placed so that I can do some bird watching as the sheets and pillow cases have their wrinkles smoothed away. A young Great Spotted Woodpecker helped me look for a wee while as he was intent on getting the peanuts but time eluded  me again.
That took me out to the garden where time has so many places to hide the whole day can go by searching for it and that can be very rewarding as Roslin Cottage won 2nd prize for Best Kept garden this summer from Callander Community Council.
 I did find some lovely Shetland Black tatties which our guests enjoyed for breakfast.  Pity it was not nearer Hallowe'en as they cooked up truly black, and no that was not the chef taking his eye off the pan. Talking of Sid it is time to go and give him a hand - maybe we will have more success in finding time if we look together.

Blackbird breakfast

Why is the camera never handy when you see a perfect picture?  Mother blackbird feeding a worm to her baby just beside the well - but no camera to hand!

Hwever, next day she was busy again, this time both were perched on the cherry tree stump and I got a couple of photos.

Working Well

When I was little where I lived on the croft at Buldoo we had a well in the back field where we dropped the pail in to collect the water - I don't remember ever drinking it though as by that time we had mains water in the kitchen.  It was more of a novelty.
 Here at Roslin Cottage we have a working well where the water is pumped up.  It is beautifully made inside with bricks spiralling round.  When we first came here Sid wanted to go down to see how far it went but was 'persuaded' not to - actually threatened would be more true.  Anyway his life insurance had just been set up, only joking :)

We have talked about getting the water tested to see how good it is for drinking as there are many wells in the Callander area where the water is used but we have not yet got round to that.  I do use it to water the plant pots and in the garden.   Visiting children enjoy splashing it in to the bucket too!

Another way to enjoy the water here in the Trossachs is to have a cruise on Loch Katrine and if you can combine that with some music as you can on Saturday 21st July then you are in for a special day -www.lochkatrine.com for more details.

Breakfast and left overs

We had our Quality Assurance visit from Visit Scotland recently and were advised to put a photo of our breakfast table laid ready on to our website page on www.visitscotland.com  as it seems it has the wow factor.  Many of our guests have taken pictures of the breakfast platter as Sid sets it out on the table.  We keep meaning to but it seems more important to make sure everyone is enjoying their breakfast than to disturb our guests in their conversations by taking photos. One of these days...

The Scottish breakfast, is served on a platter for two, so that guests can take to their taste,  but people  do get concerned about the waste of food if they cannot finish everything.  We do assure them that we do not force feed guests at Roslin Cottage as we have many ways of using up their left overs.

 The birds, or low flying aircraft as Sid calls them, get the toasts, mixed well with the fat that would have gone down the sink had we not set up 'a fat pot' to collect it.  Bacon scraps, sausage and other meat food scraps, including the haggis, are sometimes added and appreciated.  All the veg scraps and eggshells go to the compost or to our wormery, wherever it is needed most. 

We set up the wormery two years ago as our garden had no worms to be found.  Apparently it had been visited by the New Zealand flat worms who soon decimated our native species.  Gradually we are re-introducing the worms and their casts back in to the soil when the trays of veggie left overs are mixed well with the compost from the wormery. 

 The milk carton is set to collect the worm 'tea' which can be diluted and added to the garden.  When bairns visit us they can be fascinated to see how the wormery works but it is a bit like Marmite too, love it or hate it.   I have not added any photos of the worms at work - yet! :)
Anyone for a Marmite sandwich?

When is a pond not a pond?

I was hanging out the washing today when the heron flew over, they are nesting in the woods at the back of the cottage.  Lucky for him (or her) the River Teith is just across the field from the cottage as there would be lean pickings in our pond, for it is dry.  Actually it was built as a dry pond on purpose because we occasionally have wee bairns staying with us, at our bed and breakfast, and the thought of a little one falling in to a real pond was not something I could cope with.  So it was a compromise when I saw the article in our local paper, the Stirling Observer, on how to create a dry water feature, if that makes sense.

The base is the top from an old coffee table, built round the edges with stones, 'floating' on the top are glass pebbles, stones and bits and pieces added from our walks.  There are a few coloured beads from necklaces long out of fashion,  a glass penguin which has survived temperatures as low as -10 and bits of driftwood from Reay beach. 

The green glass float has never seen the sea for well over 60 years that I know, as it came as a gift from Aunt Janey when she was moving from her Edinburgh home to live up North.  The wee lobster creel is nearly as old.  Dad made it for me when I was a student teacher.  It has told the story of the fishermen to many a child. 

Sitting at the back wall, the mirror reflects the seasons as the beech hedge opposite changes from the bronze coat of winter to the fresh green of spring.  Sometimes, when I am doing the ironing I watch the comings and goings of the birds in and out of the hedge. A belligerent chaffinch spent ages challenging its' reflection the other day.  He made me smile.

Thrifty, recycling or good common sense?

I think my blogs are going to be like men and buses - none for ages then 3 at once.  For the next few blogs I am going to tell you how we use, reuse and recycle to put what we do at Roslin Cottage and in our garden into modern jargon.  I call it common sense but then I am 'off the croft'.

 This comes as a request from some of our visitors who have enjoyed a walk around our garden and commented on what we have done in it over the past 8 years - can it be that long? 

The coldframe was one of the first things Sid made.  If you look closely you will see the top is made from a shower door which otherwise would have been crushed when the chalets next door to the cottage were being demolished to make way for the new Bellway housing estate Forest Walk.  The seedlings are coming on nicely in a selection of vegeware coffee cups and kitchen roll tubes.  Mushroom trays from the market are ideal to keep the pots together especially when the whole lot can be immersed in the old tin bath for a good soak.  To be continued...

Where does time go?

We often hear our guests around the breakfast table discussing how fast their holiday is going, it must be something to do with being busy, as we certainly have been here at Roslin Cottage B&B.  Over the past weeks between guests and garden it has been all go but mustn't grumble.

Many of our guests have come by pedal power using Route 7 sometimes assisted by using www.saddleskeddadle.co.uk  to bring on their luggage to us which I must admit would be the way I would do it if I was cycling from Glasgow to Inverness.  It is a beautiful route by car and until the A9 is dual carriage way all the way probably a lot safer too.

But British Rail don't make it easy for folks wanting to bring their own bikes as it seems there is only space for 2 or 3 bikes on each train and even then you cannot book online when you do your ticket.  To book your bike on at the same time means phoning to their call centre in India which does not seem the most time or cost effective way to go about things. The days of the guard's van and bikes loaded on are long gone - but perhaps an  enterprising person could arrange with the railway companies to get something similar set up.  As they say we have managed to put men on the moon so maybe we can get bikes back on the trains.