• tell tale signs of Scottishness ..

• giggle for the visitor to Scotland ... when a little tartan creeps in and the famous loch ness monster makes an appearance there is no more escaping the fact that Scottishness is to be embraced from herein forward ...







• Scottie dog ... I don't actually know the history behind that one ... why is scottie dig Scottie dog ? Anyone ?




• some beautiful handpainted pottery at the green welly stop cafe




• Maya lo ed these individual ceramic pieces of the Loch ness monster , famous for having said to have appeared at Loch Ness or even in Loch Ness near Inverness ...



• 2 girls just having a scottish giggle .. aye

... milliande

• crystals and fossils in Fort William

• we stumbled upon the crystal and fossil museum in fort William on our way to mallaig and could not resist taking a peek ...



• some large specimens of selenite crystals




• some truly magnificent crystal specimens on display ... Rose quartz, rock crystal , amethyst, desert Rose in XL size




• Maya was particularly taken with the bismuth crystals / metal



• crystals that glow in the dark
here displayed under Uv light




• without the uv light :)




• a T-Rex head fossil




• the fierce sabre tooth tiger one of Maya's favourite animals ..





• beautiful hand painted illustrations around all the galleries



• the crystals were beautifully displayed with lots of them available for hands on handling .. and such friendly people .. really stood out .. Maya fell in love with a tigers eye crystal but it was only available as an earring ... so the lady split the pair of earrings ... added a fixing to turn it into a pendant all there and then ... Maya was sooo happy :)





...Milliande

• fauna and flora of Scotland encountered

the natural colours of scotlands fauna and flora ,at the end of summer as autumn is starting to creep in at the edges, is breathtaking .









• a highland cow grazing happily..







• foxgloves nestlings amongst the purple heathers







• fly agaric in all it's beauty







• Scottish Heather in bloom







• a cone from the mighty fir trees in the forest







• wild fungi everywhere







• moss and lichen covered magic pathways into the deep, dark and very mysteriously inviting forest .... :)







• bolder and stone Walls







• a baby toad






• a baby fir tree




















• little fishes in the loch, which we were told also played home to many a trout ..




















• spotting a bird of prey circling the sky .. we could hear it's call but could not make it out ... the area around the Galloway Forest is known for it's red kite population




• settling down for today



... milliande
blissfully happy in Scotland

• foraging for wild mushroom

The beauty of travelling through Scotland at this time of the year are the foraging forays in the forests for us ... having left beeswing we headed for Galloway forest and found this tiny little loch with a rambling brook and a forest full of edible fungi ...




• found one :) ...



• yummy edible mushroom, I am glad My father taught me well and I can now hand it down to Maya who loves foraging with me ..


• found lots mama ...




• taking a knife and cutting the stem carefully, leaving the roots of the wild mushroom in the ground so the spores remain intact for next year ...




• whilst really beautiful to look at especially with the sun peeking onto it through the forest canopy this fly agaric is definitely not edible !







• half an hour later and we have foraged enough for our lunch ...



• cooking up a wild mushroom feast with a dash of melted mozzarella whilst Maya is taking a dip in the loch ...




• my little fish ...
well it's a Bernese mountain dog retrieving a stick actually ... giggle



• lunch is served ...



• wild mushrooms with mozzarella and a side of stew


• employing hundreds of tiny little fish in the brook to "do the dishes"

...life doesn't get any better than this ...

...milliande

• sunset at castlerigg stone circle

• sunset at castlerigg stone circle













• until another day


... miliande