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Shipping by...

Let the old year sink away, and may you float smoothly in the new!

HAVE A SAFE AND ENJOYABLE HOGMANAY DEAR BLOGPALS. THANK YOU FOR YOUR SUPPORT AND COMMENTS THROUGHOUT 2019.

MAY 2020 BE ALL THAT YOU HOPE OF IT!!!

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Monday's Critters

A doe, a deer, a female deer...

...and a suckling fawn! A little bit of awwwwwsome to end 2019's critter showings.

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MOONdays

New moon, new year rising...

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Saturday Symmetry

As we walk into another year, may it be paved as beautifully as this!

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"Be at war with your vices, at peace with your neighbours, and let every new year find you a better man."
(Benjamin Franklin)

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Last Thursday of the last (for this year).

A stand of toadstools got YAMerised...

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Said the Cocky to the Kooka!

It was coming up to barbecue time and territory was being established. We had a family of six Kookaburras who held their ground. There was Peter, Piper, Pickeda, Pieca, Pickled and Pepper.

No. I am not kidding.

HAVE  A FUN DAY EVERYONE!!!

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Shipping by...

I saw three ships...

Well... three wee boats in Newhaven harbour, North Edinburgh.

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Monday's Critters

The subordinate stag of the Torridon herd. No red nose...

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SUNdays

The central panel of the chancel window shown in yesterday's post. One of the most lovely stained glass features I have ever seen ... and there have been many.

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Saturday Symmetry

The large chancel window of Inverness Cathedral. It is truly magnificent. Come back tomorrow for a close-shot.

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"The hardest years in life are those between ten and seventy."
(Helen Hayes)
In response to enquiries yesterday, I went in search of more about the Rondello violin. This short article and image are interesting. There are several lengthier and more academic items if anyone cares to do their own search. There are no musical items available for listening, sadly.

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Third Thursday of the last.

One of only six 'rondello' violins ever built - right here in Scotland!

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Wings on Wednesday - 

YAM's take on the good, the bad, the ugly and the downright hilarious in photographing birds.

second of the archival scans showing the cockatoos which would visit our yard in Turramurra (Sydney). This was shot from my bedroom window, at quite an angle, hence the 'warping'.

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Shipping by...

another taken from that speeding bus (hence the lettering at lower edge). That looks like a digger of some description on the deck - your guess is as good as mine!

(Look closely in backgroung - that's the Dumbarton train headed for Glasgow!)

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Monday's Critters

To see out the three weeks of the Festive Season, a series of shots from the deer park at Torridon. The dominant stag kept his distance but definitely wanted us to know he was watching the watchers! They are red deer.

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SUNdays

This is the full image from which I created this year's seasonal blog header. The three kings (or wise men, if you prefer) offering their gifts, and the departure from Bethlehem.

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Saturday Symmetry

The second in the mini-series of sacred windows.

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I'll remind you all, however, that for government, existence is a privilege, not a right.

(L. Neil Smith)

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Second Thursday of the last.

A Nairn fishwife.

Okay. A bronze cast representing a Nairn fishwife. 

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Wings on Wednesday - 

YAM's take on the good, the bad, the ugly and the downright hilarious in photographing birds.

Another of the scanned shots from thirty years back: and the first of three of the Sulphur-Crested Cockatoos who used to frequent our backyard!

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Shipping by...

This was taken from a fast-moving bus, so I'm delighted I got anything to show you at all! This is the Glen Sannox. A ferry under construction for Caledonian MacBrayne, it has been the source of much agonising in the ship-building industry fo the Clyde. The government has now taken over the yard in the hopes of finally getting the thing completed and the sister ship done as well. It's been on the go for over four years now... This is Ferguson Marine at Port Glasgow.

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Monday's Critters

Last offering from the taxidermy series at Inverness Museum. This is Felicity. An elderly puma who was caught in Cannich (in the hills above Loch Ness) in 1980. Not a native of this land, but of the Americas, she was almost certainly an escaped (or abandoned) pet. She saw out her days under the care of the Highland Wildlife Park.

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SUNdays

Taken from the car as we passed it in Nairn.

Not particularly sunny, but very much fitting second Sunday Advent.

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Saturday Symmetry

Windows can be relied upon for symmetry. Cathedral windows every bit so - this is the first of three from Inverness to see us up to Christmas week.

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"You forget that the fruits belong to all and that the land belongs to no one."
(Jean-Jacques Rousseau)

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Thursday. First of the last.

The river runs through it... the city of Inverness.

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Wings on Wednesday - 

YAM's take on the good, the bad, the ugly and the downright hilarious in photographing birds.

From the archives... taken on the old Minolta thirty years back! This print was scanned so lost even more integrity, but still very recognisable as a juvenile mountain Lowry (aka Crimson Rosella)

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Shipping by...

I gave you the close-up of this wreck and Rose asked to see more. Well, here it is. The story goes that 'Captain Disaster' (as he was known after this), a fisherman of Dialbeag, got 'well-oiled' one night and decided he needed to take the boat out despite the storm. His crew protested, to no avail. They were scarcely a mile from the harbour before getting blown right back to the spot you see here, with obvious consequences. No loss of life, but definitely loss of face...and livelihood. Now Captain Disaster goes around the Torridon area as the 'fix all' handyman.

Would you want your plumbing or carpentry 'fixed' by Captain Disaster?

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Monday's Critters

Another of the taxidermies at Inverness Museum. This was the alpha (breeding) female of a pack of Mackenzie river wolves which resided at the Highland Wildlife Park. None of that original pack remains. Scandinavian wolves are now the pack in the highlands.

This picture does her no justice - she was HUGE!
As tall as a great dane and two times the mass.

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First SUNday in Advent.

A close-up of the rood cross above the choir screen seen in yesterday's image.

The design of this and the screen was by Sir Robert Lorimer, who was also responsible for the Scottish War Memorial in Edinburgh Castle. The cross and screen were erected in 1923 as a war memorial to local fallen.

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Saturday Symmetry

Last week you saw outside the door, this week, I bring you the vista inside the door of Inverness Cathedral.

It is the Cathedral of St Andrew - very fitting for today!!!

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"We are addicted to our thoughts. We can't change 
anything if we can't change our thinking."
(Santosh Kalwar)

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The penultimate Last Thursday for this year.

St Andrew's Day on Saturday 30th November... No reason not to celebrate early!


Alba gu bràth!

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Wings on Wednesday - 

YAM's take on the good, the bad, the ugly and the downright hilarious in photographing birds.

A slightly more successful Black Kite in Flight...

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Shipping by...

when I first moved to the Hutch, I was agog with all the busy-ness on the Clyde firth. Sadly, in that first year, the old Nik was starting to show it's age and overuse. The Eilidh Anne is one of our local shrimping craft.

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Monday's Critters

It is the week of St Andrew, patron of the Bonny Land - so a heilan' coo or two seemed appropriate.

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MOONdays

Archive: The Moon from Mumbai

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Saturday Symmetry

Today, and till the end of the year, symmetry at Inverness Cathedral.

First, the grand entrance.

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"Don't be pushed around by the fears in your mind. 
Be led by the dreams of your heart."
(Roy T Bennet)

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Penultimate Thursday.

Inverness Cathedral, from the street angle.