I'm back. K and I had a lovely few days "up north". As you may remember from my last post, one of the reasons that I wanted to go up (apart from seeing family) was to take some pictures. The idea was to create some Moo cards for my Brother-in-law. Actually my sister would like some as well but one set at a time please. With a birthday coming up and the spring light at its best I snapped away in the garage and poked around in the shed. Isn't it amazing what you find in sheds....
I wanted the cards to reflect his interests, hopefully he will agree. Here is a selection of what I came up with. I didn't think you would want to see them all as I took full advantage of the different image on each card offer..... They are displayed pretty much as they will be on the cards as I really like the mini cards, very cute and a bit different.

Spring really does get going a bit later on Royal Deeside which is great as we can see it all again. The displays of daffodils in Aberdeen are ledgendary but these were on the road-side just outside the house....

The garden pond has a real spring in its step too. There were literally hundreds of tadpoles, tiny newts, pond skaters and new plant life abound....

K and I came home "over the top".. past Ballater and Braemar. The roads weren't too busy as the tourists are probably waiting until any chance of snow has gone, there are still wee pockets up on the tops. The weather was fabulous and we stopped a couple of times to admire the view (and visit cafes)...

This cottage is in Braemar, just look at the view....

The burns up this far are still quite high with melt water although further down the rivers looked less full as there hasn't been any rain for quite a while (in Scottish terms I mean).
The last stop on this part of the journey was to call into a house that I stayed in when I was very young. The owners were out but as the gardener was there, no pictures.. I thought it might seem a bit odd. There was no gardener when we stayed there and I have to admit it looks a bit sanitised now. The trees have been replaced by lawn and flower beds. The grass has been taken over by a swimming pool. (In a wooden house, probably a bit chilly for an outdoor one). Don't know what was wrong with the woods and burn personally but there you go....