David's early birthday present and "the first of the summer wine"...

Above is Dave's new toy - a massive BBQ. We got it at a bargain price in the end of summer clearout at the local garden centre! He loves it. I think it makes him feel more manly cooking big chunks of meat on flames outdoors or something. We had great fun getting it home from the store as it was a display model too so was already built up - thank goodness for the Subaru! The bottom photo is the first bottle of chataux Hartnett 2007 elderflower reserve - it was surprisingly good for a first attempt!

Watching butterflies...

Isn't this just so cute...

Went for a hike up a local hill with a monument on top that we had spotted from the road a couple of times and wondered what it was. Dave was busy with stuff in the house and didn't much fancy the walk so I just headed out alone. Quite a steep hill from the Strathmore valley up to the trig point (334m) and monument (turns out it was built in 1774 and used to house an observatory), but the biggest hazard had to be the field of cows and large spikey gorse bushes I had to treck through!