"Autumn Leaves" by Nat King Cole

Autumn has arrived here in Scotland, but what an autumn. It has been an Indian Summer so far with clear blue skies for most of each day. The nights are drawing in and soon the clocks will be changing back to Greenwitch Mean Time that will mean long dark nights ahead.

We were out walking in Haddo Park today and here are some of my photos to enjoy, before leaves fall off the trees and the cold winter days keep us indoors.

"On the Road Again" by Canned Heat

.... CLICK HERE ... to view my Porsche Corsica road trip blog.

"Golden Touch" by Razorlight

We were visiting the RSPB Reserve at Loch of Strathbeg yesterday when a very small bird flew into the glass of a window stunning itself. One of the wardens was able to find the wee bird in the long grass and held it in his hand until it came to its senses. Then it flew off again on its way. It was a female Goldcrest. The warden thinks that it had flown all the way from Scandinavia on its way to a winter feeding ground in the UK. The Loch of Strathbeg is the first bit of land it would encounter on its long journey south.

What surprised us all was how small and beautiful it was and how such a creature can fly so far without rest or food. One of God's true miracles of nature.

"(Anesthesia) Pulling Teeth" by Metallica

I saw this in today's paper and thought it worthy of posting it here.

Malaysian pulls train with teeth in world record bid

KUALA LUMPUR: A Malaysian nicknamed "King Tooth'' pulled a seven-coach train using a steel rope clenched in his mouth Thursday, a feat that organizers said was a new world record for the heaviest weight pulled with teeth!



He did it in conjunction with the nation’s 50th Merdeka celebrations.


Link to article from here and here



I cannot believe anyone would want to attempt to do this but well done to him.

"I am a Rock" by Simon & Garfunkel

We visited Craigievar Castle near Alford in Aberdeenshire today. This is one of my favourite Scottish Castles as it is not too grand and was still used as the family home up to about 1980. The castle sits on an eastern slope of the hill from which it derives its name; Craigievar, from the Gaelic, meaning "the Rock of Mar".

It is an excellent example of the original Scottish Baronial architecture, the great seven-storey castle was completed in 1626 by the Aberdonian merchant WilliamForbes, ancestor to the "Forbes-Sempill family" and brother of theBishop of Aberdeen. Forbes purchased the partially completed structure from the impoverished Mortimer family in the year 1610. William Forbes nickname was Danzig Willy, a reference to his shrewd international trading success. The Forbes family resided here for 350 years until 1963, when the property was gifted to the Nation Trust for Scotland.