Garden(s) and Greenhouse – Page 3 – Matthew McKinnon's Blog

My photographic Review of 2021

Another year of travel restrictions due to Covid has resulted in us spending almost all of the year at home, so most of the photographs this year have been taken locally or on ‘day trips’ from Glasgow. However as we look back on 2021 it’s amazing to remember all the interesting places we visited, some for the very first time, and the joy and peace we had in doing that. So here’s a picture or two per month!

January

February

March

April

May

June

July

August

September

October

November

December

Reflection: This year started with some optimism as vaccines were being rolled out, and the slogan ‘we will beat this together’ sounded more plausible, but then along came the variants!

Thankfully the latest Omicron variant is reported to be less severe than those that have gone before, so we pray that this downward trend will continue in 2022. A visit to Glasgow city centre just before Christmas told its own story. Gone was the sound of laughter and the bustling Christmas market in George Square. No ‘big wheel’, ‘flying chairs’, ‘helter skelter’or ice rink, fun and joviality had given way to just a few families with kids who had come to see the lights and the nativity scene, plus some folks handing out food and drink to the poor and homeless.

But hold on a minute, is ‘families with kids who had come to see the lights and the nativity scene, plus some folks handing out food and drink to the poor and homeless‘ more in keeping with the Christmas story, than a ‘lets eat and drink and be merry‘ lifestyle, especially in the current circumstances? The British Prime Minister caused outrage recently when it was disclosed that last winter some government departments were partying while people were self isolating and others mourning the loss of family and friends to Covid 19.

This Christmas I was caused to stop and think again about the reason for Christmas, which this new carol, so beautfully sung, challenges us to do. Take a minute to listen!

I hope you enjoy the photographs, and like me are challenged by the new carol.

Hope to see you again in the New Year. Every blessing to you and yours.

Matthew

Autumn’s coming on!

The electric blanket is on the bed, the central heating has been turned on for a few times in the evenings recently, and there is condensation on the car windows early in the mornings, so we can expect to be scraping the ice from the windscreens anytime soon! Yes Autumn is here, and the greenhouse has now been emptied of its plants, the leaves are changing colour in the garden, the apples are starting to fall and the picnic season is almost over for another year.

Saturday was a damp drizzily day, so we headed for Glasgow’s Kelvingrove Museum and Art Gallery, which is always worth a visit, but with far too many exhibits to see in one day. All Glasgow museums are ‘free of charge’ although in fact we contribute to their upkeep through local council tax.

There is a huge variety of things to see and no matter your taste, you are sure to find something to catch your interest.

The galleries themselves are a work of art and provide the perfect backdrop for the paintings and sculptors. I think how amazing it must be to have the gift and talent to create things of beauty, just starting from scratch! Here are just a few of the paintings I admire.

Dutch Men-of War beating Windward – Gerrit Pompe?
1680-1705

So now it’s time to get the daffodils and tulips potted up for Spring 2022 , and hopefully I can get started to that this week. When we arrived home from Kelvinside the rain had stopped so there was time for a quick look around the garden to see the flowers and plants still showing colour. Here are some pics.

Reflection

Thinking about art and gardens, don’t you think Autumn wonderfully displays the artistic hand of our great creator God? There are also a number of songs and poems written about “Autumn coming on” which highlight how swiftly life passes. I remember ‘the Gaithers’, singing this one which is rather sentimental and filled with pathos, but none the less captures the moment, especially as in life we face trials and sorrows.

Through changing seasons, We’ve shared life’s little days, It seems unreal, Our souvenirs still look so new! We reminisce, And must confess that this is true, We sang lullabies to babies cries, In the springtime, Oh, how the time seemed to fly, We had scarcely put the crib away, When, like magic, We looked up the aisle, And beheld a lovely bride, We waved goodbye as, one by one, They joined life’s parade, Then at a bugle call, He stood proud and tall, There went our baby! Tho’ seasons change, Hand in hand, we’ll travel on, Still in love, Tho’ autumn’s coming on. by Bill & Gloria Gaither

The writer of the book of Ecclesiastes finishes his dialogue in chapter 12 with the well known words: “Remember your Creator in the days of your youth, before the days of trouble come and the years approach when you will say, “I find no pleasure in them”. He then brilliantly goes on to poetically describe old age, by speaking of a time when legs shake, there is a fear of heights, eyes dim, teeth are few and hearing is a problem. I always smile when I read that chapter, for even although the message is to be taken seriously, I am so grateful for our National Health Service which provides health care free at the point of need. Now old people here are provided as needed with ‘Zimmers’ to help them walk, cataract operations to implant new eye lenses, false teeth and hearing aids! And am I glad! 🙂

But in spite of our National Health Service life moves inexorably on! At Church recently we were looking at a verse from 2 Samuel 14.14 which says “Like water spilled on the ground, which cannot be recovered, so we must die. But that is not what God desires; rather, he devises ways so that a banished person does not remain banished from him.” So what plan did God devise that we might escape banishnent from Him and the finality of death? One word answer – JESUS! His name you see means ‘Saviour’. By His substitutionary death, the sinless Saviour bore our sins on the cross at Calvary, was buried and rose again to God’s right hand. Now he offers forgiveness and new life – FREE. That’s why He said, “I am the resurrection and the life. The one who believes in me will live, even though they die; and whoever lives by believing in me will never die. Do you believe this?” John 11:25

It’s good to remember our Creator while we can, it’s never too late!

Matthew

‘Garden’ please come in!

I was given a new arrow shaped notice by some of the family that simply says ‘Garden‘. So all that pass by are being encouraged to have a look. So no pressure, but we’d best keep the bit nearest the gate looking tidy 🙂

This year I tried growing different varieties of fruit and vegetables in the greenhouse with varying amount of success. Cucumbers, and tomatoes, in spite of early misgivings, have all produced a very good crop, tomatoes in fact a bumper crop. The coloured peppers have been ok, but the fruit has been a bit on the small side. Potatoes and carrots grown in bags and bucket have been fun to grow and I think the results were amazing. Cropped 100 potatoes from the ten sown, and the carrots yielded 22 from the bucket and plant pot. (See the video below)

After a promising start and much care and attention my bags of strawberries produced an abundance of leaves and shoots but only a handful of small strawberries. So what did I do wrong? Perhaps they were fed too much with a strawberry fertiliser bought online? Help please. My two small gooseberry bushes produced their first fruit this year, but not enough to make jam. The rhubarb also produced its first decent crop this year enough for some rhubarb crumble on a couple of occasions. The apple tree is looking good, but too early yet to pick them.

In my last garden report I was able to show you some of the flowers that were enjoyed earlier in the year, so here are some pics of those that have appeared since.

Now here’s the wee video on Carrots – ‘From Seed to Freezer‘

Reflections

Today I spent time again in the garden and greenhouse. But yes, today has also been a day of deep reflection. As I sit here writing this blog infact, thoughts that I had earlier, have come flooding back, causing me to stop and ponder. After breakfast I was reading from a magazine a short report regarding life in the country of Northern Macedonia. I consider myself quite well versed in geography, but I knew little or nothing of this relatively new country in the Balklands, which was previously part of Yugoslavia. So that kept me busy for a while doing some research, looking at pictures of its people and countryside online and reading of the diversity of its people and its economic poverty. It is evidently amongst the poorest nations in the world, where people have suffered so much in my lifetime.

Then like everyone else we were confronted again on our tv screens by the chaotic scenes at Kabul Airport in Afghanistan. The sense of fear and desperation was palpable in people’s voices and faces, as thousands make every effort to flee from the threat posed by the Taliban, after they so easily over-ran the country.

We have been recalling the promises made by Western Nations just a short 20 years ago, saying that we would never abandon the Afghan people. They must ring hollow in the ears of the Afghan people now.

We often say that the world now is a global village, but how helpless we feel in these situations to do anything which we feel would make a difference.

I was recounting that Jesus was in Israel at the time of the Roman occupation and oppression. There is the lovely story in Matthew’s account of his life, where it says ‘Jesus went through all the towns and villages, teaching in their synagogues, proclaiming the good news of the kingdom and healing every disease and sickness. When he saw the crowds, he had compassion on them, because they were harassed and helpless, like sheep without a shepherd.’ What an apt expression of people in Afghanistan and in so many parts of our world today, ‘harassed and helpless, like sheep without a shepherd.’

Last night our Church was praying especially for the situation in Afghanistan, and for all those ‘harrassed and helpless’, perhaps in the near future we can help be the answer to our own prayers. Meantine the message of Jesus’ love and compassion continues to be beamed around the world. His death and resurrection make fulness of life to all who will come to him a reality.

How blessed to have a garden, and to live in a country that has known peace for the last 75+ years.

I trust your garden has flourished in 2021.

Matthew

Sunny Morayshire – the place to be!

We took the 200 mile drive from Glasgow to Elgin in Morayshire recently, and enjoyed a week of relaxation and of visiting places of interest along this lovely coastline in the North East of Scotland. We travelled from Glasgow to Perth, where we took the A9 road, which is a very scenic route, but was as usual busy, with many roadworks. We returned via Aberdeen, Dundee and Perth and then to Glasgow at the end of our holiday, completing a 400 mile plus circuit.

Elgin has a number of places of interest, and on our first day we visited the ruins of the 13th century Cathedral, and the ‘Biblical Garden’, which is just next to the cathedral. We had hoped for a tour of the cathedral, but were told on arrival that you have to prebook on line! The Biblical Garden was free to enter.

Work on building this cathedral started during the first half of the 13th Century, and the cathedral eventually became known as ‘the Lantern of the North‘. It was destroyed during the Protestant Reformation around 1560. Photographs were limited without access, which was a shame. The ‘Biblical Garden’ was lovely to wander around in the peace and quiet of the place.

Later that day we visited Duffus Castle. We had driven past it many times, it was great to have the opportunity to explore it on this visit. There was a mobile cafe next to the car park, where we enjoyed some ice cream and a cool drink, before starting our walk.

We never come to this area without visiting the nature reserve and bird sanctuary at Spey Bay. It was strange this year to see the river Spey with so little water, but we had just experienced an unusual long dry spell of weather. The millions of stones the river has deposited over the years is a sight to behold. Just once over the years were we fortunate enough to see an osprey catch a salmon here, but there is a monument which captures such an event.

No time to tell of all the other places we visited during the week. However here are some photographs which illustrate the beauty of this area.

The following is a 1.5 minute video I made of our day in Burghead, which we fell in love with this year. Just watch how busy the beach is!!

Click on photo to start video

Reflection

It’s so good to get out of the city for a few days. We have enjoyed many holidays here over the years, and revisiting brought back many memories of the fun and laughter we had in the past with family and friends, as we swam in the sea, picnicked, climbed, walked and cycled. This year at Finechty we heard someone calling us from the beach, and were hugely surprised to meet Sarah and her husband and young son, (the great grand-daughter of my late brother), who were following in the family tradition with a holiday at Sandend.

We also had a ‘catch-up’ dinner with my ‘sister in law’ and ‘niece in law’ at ‘The Galley” in Whitehills. They both had lost their husbands in recent years, but it was encouraging to see how they were both moving on with their lives having their faith and trust firmly set on the promises of God.

People Make Glasgow is the marketing brand of our city, but I think that is true in all of life’s situations, and was certainly true of our holiday. The joy of interacting with others, family and friends for sure, but also people from all different ethnic backgrounds and cultures.

Heaven is going to be an exciting place, not only will JESUS be there, but the Apostle John describes in his book one scene that says:

And they sang a new song, saying:
“You are worthy to take the scroll,
And to open its seals;
For You were slain,
And have redeemed us to God by Your blood
Out of every tribe and tongue and people and nation,
Revelation 5.9

It’s good to book your holiday well in advance, but I think infinitely more important to ensure your place is secure in that heavenly land, especially in this day of pandemic. And the cost? FREE to us, because we have nothing to offer in payment, it’s a gift from God! But we need to accept it. How do I do that? Read the book of Romans chapter 10 verse 9 and then speak to God in prayer, confessing your need for forgiveness and acknowledging Jesus as your Saviour and Redeemer, and committing your life to Him.

Have a great holiday

Matthew

Early Summer in the Garden and Greenhouse

It was a very cold Spring here in Scotland, but in early May the weather started warming up at last. Here is an update on the garden and greenhouse –

Daffodils were a bit of a disappointment this year as a spell of frost and snow arrived just as the flowers were about to open, but amazingly some did survive, and the tulips coming on a bit later more than compensated as they seemed to go and on!

It’s nice to see the rhododendrons and clematis in flower again, without too much effort from me, and also the shrubs and bushes bursting into life, not to mention the apple tree and lilac, which shout out to you ‘summer has come’! I’m afraid I haven’t done too much this year in the way of planting ‘annuals’, but I have however planted from seed some french marigolds, sunflowers, tom thumbs, coleus and cornflower, and some begonia corms.

The greenhouse is doing fairly well, and this year I’m trying to grow quite a few different fruits and vegetables. Cucumber ‘F1 Socrates’ is proving to be fantastic, the cucumbers are smaller in size but delicious in taste and are cropping very well. Tomatoes are Tigerella, Shirley F1 and Ferline F1. The latter is one I’m trying for the first time, it seems to be struggling a bit, but it may come away yet. There is a variety of peppers, three bags of potatoes, one bucket of carrots (Autumn King 2) and two bags of strawberries, and lots of ‘tom-thumb’ lettuce. So between cutting the grass and keeping everything in trim its enough to keep me busy. Here are some photographs of progress so far.

Reflections

With the wonders of camera, computer and the www, I have been able to show you the best of my garden and greenhouse. What I haven’t shown you are the plants some slugs have eaten, the parts of paths that need weeding, or my Spring plant pots that have yet to be emptied and cleaned. In a small garden it is difficult to find a spot to hide them away 🙂 I guess if you are a gardiner you are in much the same boat!

Got me thinking, ‘social media’ is a bit like that, we (including me) tend to emphasise the positives and try and bypass the negatives. The ‘about me’ section on Facebook usually paints a glowing picture of the person we would like others to believe that we are, and seldom do you find folks telling you how they have messed up! But of course we all do at times.

I’m reading a book this month entitled ‘Gentle and Lowly‘ by Dane Ortlund, concerning Jesus Christ he says, ‘in the four gospels accounts given to us in Matthew, Mark, Luke and John there are 89 chapters of text, but there is only one place where Jesus describes his heart. (The heart in biblical terms is the centre of who we are, what defines and directs us) So what will this man Jesus, who claimed to be the Son of God say? He says, ‘I am gentle and lowly in heart’. Ortlund goes on to say ‘The posture most natural to him is not a pointed finger, but open arms’!

You can read the full words of Jesus in Matthew 11 v 28-30. Jesus said – “Come to Me, all you who labour and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Take My yoke upon you and learn from Me, for I am gentle and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For My yoke is easy and My burden is light.” Now there is an open invitation, but folks are so loathe to come.

So I’m thinking, what two words would you or I use to truly define ourselves on social media? Mmmm, let me get back to you on that …..

Happy gardening!

Matthew

REDWOODS, RHODODENDRONS and more!

We have continued our ‘holiday’ day trips around the West of Scotland, and are thankful that so many beautiful places are within easy driving distance from Glasgow. The weather has also heated up now, with plenty of sunny summer days.

The Royal Botanic Garden in Edinburgh has a number of ‘outposts’ around Scotland, the nearest to us being in Dunoon, so we made a trip there to visit the Benmore Botanic Garden, which is a magnificent mountainside garden just a few miles out of town. It has a spectacular avenue of Redwood trees, and a rhododendron collection said to be one of the finest in the world.

There were fifty ‘Redwoods’ in this avenue but one was blown down in a fierce storm in recent years. In contrast it was lovely for us to walk here in the quietness on a warm sunny day and to take in the majestic beauty of the place.

Here are some more photos of parts of the garden which takes in fifty hectares.

There is a section of the garden set aside for rest and contemplation, and it too was situated in the middle of some magnificent trees including redwoods.

We next made our way to the ‘Dolphin fountain’ and pond, and admired the wide range of plants and flowers.

The afternoon passed all too quickly, and soon it was time to head back to the entrance, over the little wooden bridge. Then, on our drive back towards the ferry, we drove through Ardentinny and found a few beautiful spots along the way for our proverbial picnic!

Reflections – A visit to a garden is so good for our souls, and for peace of mind. It’s amazing how many words have been written about the beauties of God’s creation. Here are a few selected verses from Psalm 104 speaking about the ‘garden of life’.

Praise the LORD, my soul. LORD my God, you are very great; you are clothed with splendour and majesty. He set the earth on its foundations; it can never be moved. He makes springs pour water into the ravines; it flows between the mountains. They give water to all the beasts of the field; the wild donkeys quench their thirst. The birds of the sky nest by the waters; they sing among the branches. He waters the mountains from his upper chambers; the land is satisfied by the fruit of his work. He makes grass grow for the cattle, and plants for people to cultivate—bringing forth food from the earth: wine that gladdens human hearts, oil to make their faces shine, and bread that sustains their hearts. The trees of the LORD are well watered, the cedars of Lebanon that he planted. There the birds make their nests; the stork has its home in the junipers. I will sing to the LORD all my life; I will sing praise to my God as long as I live. May my meditation be pleasing to him, as I rejoice in the LORD. Praise the LORD, my soul. Praise the LORD!

I hope you enjoyed our trip as much as we did, and that you too are able to get out to explore the beauties of God’s creation wherever you are.

Matthew

Time for Strawberries?

Well they are not quite ready yet! The ‘bare rooted Karona’ strawberry plants only arrived this weekend! So thoughts of strawberries and ice cream, strawberries with morning cereal and evening salad, and strawberry jam, will just need to wait a wee while, so stop licking your lips! 🙂

I’ve grown strawberries a few times in the past either from seed, or from plants bought at the garden centre. This year looking on line I came across a nursery selling ‘bare rooted’ plants so thought ‘that sounds interesting’ but what like are they and how do you plant them?

The plants arrive by post – two bundles with elastic bands!

Not quite ‘love at first sight’! Is this the right time of year with snow around and temperatures below freezing? and what’s the procedure? Thankfully with the wonders of the internet I found the answers to these questions, time will tell if they are the right answers!

Separate the plants and soak overnight in water.

I had already ordered a couple of strawberry bags as strawberries featured in this year’s ‘garden plan’ so it was good I had these ready in stock. Here are some pics of the planting.

Watering and fertilising tubes, the felt keeps the tube from clogging while planting! The top of a lemonade bottle makes the perfect filter funnel for watering tube!

So working from the bottom of the bag and filling with compost as you go the plants were put in place making sure the crowns of each plant were above the compost. So now its time to call in the ‘boss’ 🙂

Greenhouse is currently unheated, apart from a 80 watt tube heater.

I only scored 9.5 out of 10 for missing one of the planting holes 🙂 So will these strawberry dreams become a reality? Watch this space, but I have every confidence in the Creator.

Other signs of life in the garden

So time to look out the gardening gloves and the spade and trowel, Spring is on its way!

Happy gardening!

Matthew

PS: After one month the strawberries are all showing signs of life!

2020 LOCKDOWN ESCAPES to the great outdoors!

It’s easy to look back on 2020 and think of all the restrictions that we lived under, but my photographic record seems to tell a different story. We did in fact enjoy some beautiful weather, and made many escapes to the great outdoors – either in the garden, the local vicinity or further afield. I’ve picked a photograph for each month as a review of the year, that tries to sum up our outdoor activities.

In early January we headed for Arrochar at the top of Loch Long

Arrochar is the ‘half way’ point in a popular drive from Glasgow, known as the ‘The Three Lochs’. Loch Lomond, Loch Long and the Gareloch. It’s a great place for a picnic, and we often stop here before travelling on to other destinations such as, Invergarry or Dunoon.

Irvine is our nearest point to the sea, so hardly a month goes by without us being here, either for a walk on the beach or for a read in the car if the weather is inclement! In my ‘boyish imagination’I think looking at this photo, that I’m standing on the deck of a submarine as it heads out to sea from the clyde 🙂

In March, just before lockdown we visited Balquidder on a stormy sleety March day. This is the Churchyard where another popular Scottish folk hero is buried, Rob Roy MacGregor, known as the ‘Robin Hood’ of Scotland.

Stay Safe, stay local, so we did! This is the housing estate where we live

The weather in April was amazing for this time of year, so almost every day we walked around enjoying the budding trees and hedgerows. We now know more of our local area than ever before!

May – Apple Blossom in the garden, daffodils and tulips in decline, YES! summer is around the corner

The garden and greenhouse played a major part in our outdoor activities this year, and it was a real blessing to have them.

In June daytime in Scotland extends to 11pm and beyond, so it was nice to drive around the area close to home one summer evening. There I spotted this unusual cross on top of a Presbyterian Church, which seemed to me to still have the ‘crown of thorns’ hanging on the cross. With the moon in the background it was for me a very emotive scene, hence the photo and the text.

Girvan beach and ‘Ailsa Craig’ on a warm summer July evening!

In July restrictions were eased, so having already cancelled our holidays, we made most of the opportunity to make day trips here, there and everywhere!

With lots of sunshine and much care and attention the greenhouse produced a bumper harvest this year, and we are still enjoying the benefits of it yet, from the freezer!

September saw us having a short autumn break in the Scottish Highlands at Inverness. We have many memories of beaches, castles, battlefields and memorials. One of our finest memories was walking on the beach at Dornoch on a glorious sunny day.

October we were back at church with social distancing, no singing and a maximum of fifty persons. It was great to be there again, for although zoom has been an alternative and a blessing, nothing beats meeting together with fellow Christians to worship and praise God, in the quietness the church building provides.

Glasgao Necropolis – Glasgow Cathedral in the background

November we visited the famous Glasgow Necropolis for the first time, to view the grandoise tombstones of the past, and to enjoy amazing views over old Glasgow, and also Glasgow’s ancient Cathedral

December and the first signs of ice on the local pond!

Yes, winter is here, lockdown is back to level four, and on a few mornings this last week we have been scraping the ice from the car windows. But the central heating is on, and we have every comfort, and the good news is that a vaccine has been developed for Covid 19. So we are thankful for everything we have enjoyed in 2020 and look forward with faith and hope to 2021.

Matthew

Green Grows the Garden – but how green?

Summer is almost over for another year and the garden is starting to show the signs. The heather is out and the apples are ripening on the apple trees, just in time for the apple and bramble jelly, and the flowers are just past their best.

Summer coming to a close for another year!

This year we spent more time in the garden due to the virus pandemic, and as always we derived much pleasure in watching everything grow and flourish. The weather was mostly dry and sunny from mid March to mid June, but then reverted to a typical Scottish mix of rain, followed by sunshine and showers, and at times blustery winds.

Here are some of the flowers and plants that we grew this summer.

This seemed to be ‘the year of the Gerainiums’ as they have been flowereing profusely in pots throughout the summer. My ‘Cosmos’ were rightly called ‘Sensation’ as they grew over five feet tall and were like bushes. Still the bees loved them. A new plant for me was Gaillardia, and they seemed to take forever to flower! Some are very beautiful, some quite dramatic and others seemed a bit odd! Ive got mixed feelings about them, so they are on the ‘maybe ‘ list for next year!

The greenhouse was also in full production as floweres were mostly grown from seed, along with three types of tomato (Shirley F1, Tigerella and Sweet Success) and four or five types of peppers. (Golden Bell, Antohi Romanian, Frigitello, Red Cherry and Hungarian Hot Wax)

All the plants produced well, and we have been eating the fruit from the beginning of June, now the small cherry tomato plant is the last one which is still cropping, well named – ‘Sweet Success’.

It was good to have some visits from our grand-children and great grand-children as the lockdown was eased, they are always keen to help ‘GG’ in his garden 🙂

I hope my fellow gardeners have been encouraged in their gardens, its been good to see photographs from other friends and bloggers.

This year our visits to National Trust gardens and properties have been curtailed, but we may manage to squeeze in a vist even yet!

Matthew

PS: Talking about ‘brambles’ we got these today from ‘God’s Wild Garden’ free of charge, and just across the fence!

Turn on the sun!

It’s been the sunniest May on record here in Scotland, which has been a blessing during lockdown. It’s also been encouraging in the last few days to hear the announcements regarding a gradual release from lockdown, as slowly the number of casualties and infections from the corona virus decrease.

One thing this unprecedented period has taught me, is to open my eyes and ears to the beauties of God’s creation, to be seen and heard all around us. We have blackbirds in our hedge that seem to be singing non stop, and we have blue tits and coal tits, sparrows, ring necked doves, crows and the ‘not so loved magpies’ all coming to our garden’s bird bath. I have not photographed them or recorded them, but here are some photographs I did take of the land and hedgerows within a few hundred yards from our home

Then of course we have the garden, which is always a delight at this time of year, even although it does now and then remind you of your age! 🙂 Having breakfast outside is unusual for this time of year.

Now that we can travel 5 miles from home, we have also enjoyed driving again on the network of small single track roads not too far from our house, in the southside of Glasgow. We even took the flask and some biscuits for a picnic one afternoon!

Turn on the Moon!

With all these cloudless skies in the past months I couldn’t resist pointing my camera upwards as well, it’s always good to look up! So here are some pictures of God’s creation looking heavenward!

It’s easy to become despondent in times like these, especially when heartache and sorrow touch us, or those that we love. We so often ask the ‘Why’ question, why me? But Jesus invites us in our despair to turn to him, he knew what it was to suffer, it was said of him ‘he was despised and rejected of men, a man of sorrows and acquainted with grief‘ but still he pressed on to Jerusalem and Calvary to die on a cross to purchase our freedom! Freedom from sin and despair and to give us new life and a hope of heaven, where there will be no more suffering and tears and sorrow. If we come to Him as he invites us, we can then slowly start to move on to ask not the ‘why me?’ but the ‘what now?’ question. Here is the last photograph for today. If you are weary may you find your rest in Jesus. Matthew

As always, I am happy to hear from you, or to try and answer any questions you may have. matthewmuriel@aol.com

Curtailed, but not Contained!

Sadly we had to cancel our planned visit to Oban and the isle of Tiree, which we were very much looking forward to during the next month or so. Caledonian MacBrayne have promised to refund our ferry charges, and also the cost of a day trip we had booked with them to Mull and Fingal’s Cave, but we may need to wait sometime for that to happen. Hopefully we can re-arrange the trip later.

Here in Scotland we have been experiencing an unusual spell of dry sunny weather for almost the whole month of April, so for those of us with gardens it has been a great blessing during this time of lockdown. The greenhouse is always busy in Springtime and there is never enough room for all the plants that are growing. Soon it will be time to replace the daffodils and tulips with other summer flowers, and of course there are a variety of tomatoes, lettuce and different types of peppers growing as well. Today my grandson Lewis arrived and helped by finishing off the power washing of our drive and patio he started last week, for which we were very grateful. Here are a few pictures.

Recent Travel: Some of you will be aware of the fact that my wife and I try and get away regularly for a day trip to some of Scotland’s beauty spots, but that has not been possible since mid March, so much more time has been in the garden. One trip that we did make just prior to the lockdown was to Killin in Perthshire, and Balquidder in Stirlingshire, on a rather cold and at times wet / snowy day, but none the less we did see something of Scotland’s beauties in spite of the weather.

We stopped at The Falls of Falloch just north of Loch Lomond and before Crainlarich for a coffee.

At Crainlarich we turned right and headed towards Lochearnhead, and watcched out for the Killin turn off sign on the left.

The village of Killin and the Falls of Dochart – Killin is at the western end of Loch Tay.

Inchbuie Island on the river Dochart – and the MacNab ancient burial ground!

We stopped here for lunch, unfortunately the Long House was not *yet* open!

Balquidder Church and churchyard, where Rob Roy MacGregor was buried and also David Carnegie

Balquider Churchyard – the cross and snowdrops speak of new life!

Muriel at Rob Roy MacGregor’s grave.

We travelled home via Calander and Aberfoyle enjoying some magnificent scenery along the way. Total distance travelled approx. 140 miles. We left Glasgow around 12 noon and were home for dinner by 6pm!

In spite of the lovely weather and garden however, our thoughts are never far away from those on the NHS front line, doctors, nurses and carers, ambulance drivers and so many others, who are battling this virus. Perhaps especially our prayers are with those who grieve the loss of one they loved. Some of our friends are in these categories and perhaps your friends are too. At this time of trouble, I love the verse of an old hymn that says,

‘Have we trials and temptations? is there trouble anywhere
we should never be discouraged, take it to the Lord in prayer
Can we find a friend so faithful, who will all our sorry share
Jesus knows our every weakness, take it to the Lord in prayer.’

Take care, and God bless
Matthew

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Turn on the Moon!

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