Happy Days

04/12/2005

A strong southwest breeze brings the temperature tumbling to eight degrees, dry and pleasant in the morning, but wintery showers in the afternoon and it feels chilly. Thin snow appears on the tops once more, but it will not take much to shift it. Feeling guilty about lack of exercise makes me endure a day of logging, chopping firewood and planting trees. More than ever, I believe that I must turn more of the land and my time to supporting wildlife in the glen. I have to smile to myself as the siskines reappear in strength to devour even more food; they are so aggressive that I can put my hand within inches of them while they gorge on the nut feeders before they take flight. As dearest Dottie and I sit with a light lunch, we watch a young pine marten moving around the buildings and garden as inquisitive as any cat, such a rare sight in daylight, but so satisfying to think that our efforts in Glen Trollaigh make such a wild wood animal feel secure within our boundaries. I will miss the peace of the glen over the next days as my responsibilities take me to Edinburgh with Diana Drummond and the Country Living Spring Fair. Dearest Dottie, Mhairi and Lachie will keep things on an even keel here; they will probably manage better without me! Speaking of Lachie, there seems to have been some doubt about his status in the Glen. Lachie is short for Lachlan, the name he shared with this father and grandfather who have all severed us in Glen Trollaigh. Although they have all worked outwith the Tower and Farm, our present straightened circumstances mean that “my” Lachie is a general factotum, Stalker, Woodsman, Shepherd, Handyman and occasional Butler. I regret that he has failed to find a mate, and so at his age I can now assume that he will be the last of the line, as indeed I am myself, so Lachie old friend, raise a glass with me to the future of Glen Trollaigh! I hope that my diary will restart next week, if I am to be spared. Yours Aye, Archie, The Baron Trollaigh.