The week that was

This is a really random collection of photos from the past week.  I rarely go anywhere without my camera, and in a busy week I will just take a snap of something that grabs my attention.  

On Thursday we went into Edinburgh by train, to meet up with our youngest son, on his birthday. Walking back into Waverley Station, I enjoyed the shadows cast by the old railings on a staircase, and behind, the geometric pattern of the new roof structure overhead.

Tilly and I came across these two scallywags on our Friday morning walk.  They leapt off into the wood as we came closer.  This track runs along the top of the huge field I really enjoy walking around in the morning.  We walked back along a tractor track, right through the middle of the field, and I stood for a few moments to take in the view across to the Lammermuirs.  There was a group of seven deer down in the left hand corner of the field, a handful of hares scampering around below us, curlew pecking away at the ground over to our right hand side, and the strange call of the lapwings as they swooped down and skimmed over the field, before zooming up again, to join the twittering skylarks above.  Magic!

Back in the garden the wispy clouds were rather lovely, high above the still skeletal trees.  But the leaf buds are fattening!

On Friday I stopped at a garden centre which I have driven past countless times.  From the train it has always looked a bit scruffy, but recently I could tell that they have been trying hard to get the place up and running.   You can't see the nursery from the road, just a towering, sandstone ruin, which sits alongside the polytunnels.  Redhouse Castle is an ancient, tower house castle, with its origins in the 15th century.

In 1670 the castle was sold to John Laing, Keeper of the Signet.  The Laing family motto is carved into the pediment is "Nisi Dominus Frustra", translated from the Latin as "Lords not in vain".  Wikipedia says that it is more accurately translated into "Not (nisi) the lord of this household (dominus) without a reason (frustra)". 

The building looks more like the setting of a Daphne du Maurier book, really quite spooky.  The garden centre didn't hold my attention for more than five minutes, but Redhouse Castle did.  It's an impressive ruin, and the black crows flying in and around the eyeless, empty windows seemed quite fitting.

Lastly, the hellebores!  They have been blooming for weeks, and still have some beauty left in them, especially with the late afternoon sun shining through them.