Sandy's 1st day at school and Olivia's 2nd birthday...

Monday 20th August was a big day in the Purves household... Sandy went for his 1st day in Primary 1! He went for two hours in the morning, and seems to have loved every minute, which pleased Anna and I very much. I'm actually writing this more than a week later, and so he has now settled in fully to his school life. It's funny, as he was saying that he was learning about the number "2" at school today, Tuesday 28th August. Funny, as he can count up to several hundred, and has been able to do this for a long time already! This evening, he got his money from his piggy bank, and we sat down and he counted it all out. He had a 50p, a couple of 20ps and lots of very small change including 2ps and 1ps. Well, he counted it all up without making a single mistake, announcing at the end that he has £2.46! He says he's saving up till he gets £8. I asked why. His reply?
"Because then I can buy a colour ink cartridge for the printer, and print all my own train pictures from the computer!"

(He said this because he is forever asking if he can print pictures, and I tend to complain about the amount of ink being used!)

Monday 20th August was also very important, as it was Olivia's 2nd birthday! Our little Princess is getting older rapidly, and she is a great source of happiness to us all. Olivia's speech, though slow to develop, is improving a bit now and I am hoping she progresses rapidly over the coming months.

Summary only...

Some more photos from Boris and Ludmilla's visit.

Summary only...

Gifford and Haddington with Anna's aunt and uncle...

Boris and Ludmilla, Anna's uncle and aunt are here staying with us from St Petersburg for 10 days. It's their first visit to Scotland- a big thing for them, as until last year when they travelled the relatively short distance from St Petersburg to Kotka in Finland, to stay with us, they had never been out of Russia!

We have been letting them see East Lothian, and they have been really enjoying seeing a totally different way of life...

Near to Gifford, with Boris and Ludmilla.


By the River Tyne, Haddington, with my mum and dad.


Anna and Olivia by the Tyne.


Sandy, next to a totem pole!

Summary only...

Some photos from our Valencian holiday...

Tip: Click on "View All Images" and you'll see the photos in a new window, in a much better way!

Summary only...

The importance of nature....

Sandy with his building blocks...

Above and below, our little hedgehog visitor....


Sandy and the snails...(and Hamish too!)

Since my last post, the weather here hasn't improved. In fact, it's got worse! Each and every day, we now get downpours, thunder, lightning and more rain. Summer? It's hell!
Anyway, we have turned to nature to get some respite! Recently, a hedgehog has made itself at home around the house. It has been spotted in most of the neighbouring gardens over the past couple of weeks, and the other afternoon I took some close ups of the wee fellow! More recently, last night, he actually came into our garden and spent an hour wandering around, even coming right up to our conservatory door and looking in!!

Sandy has also been collecting snails, as the photos show. And finally, a picture of our Skoda, which I sold today. Yes, I sold it to the Skoda dealer in Edinburgh, Chathams, and tomorrow I hope to pick up our new car- a 7 seater for when Anna's Uncle Boris and Aunt Lucia arrive next month.

My best ever car, Skoda Octavia 2.0TDi PD - now sold....

Summary only...

Summer? You must be joking!

Who said it was summer? This past week must rank as one of the worst in the history of mid Junes in the area of Dunbar...
The nearby strawberry farm, which was supposed to open on May 31st by the Thistly Cross roundabout on the A1, is still unable to offer its customers the chance to pick their own strawberries. We know, as when we went in today, a sign on the run up to the car park informed us, " No sun, so no strawberries, but have an ice cream on us!" No thanks, as the past week's weather has been truly awful here. Mist, fog, low clouds, rain, and plenty more rain. I feel sorry for the owners, who must be praying that each new day brings them the long awaiting warm sunshine...and the revenue that they must surely need to keep them going.

Yesterday, when I took Sandy down to Eyemouth for his weekly swimming lesson, I could hardly drive above 45mph due to the haar and mist, not to mention heavy rain. But I suppose we should be thankful, as it's not as bad as it was last week in England, as this video from BBC news shows! Also yesterday, we were looking forward to heading off for the school fair, an annual fund-raising event that usually has lots of stalls out in the playground. This was due to take place directly after the Nursery class were leading the Dunbar parade, marching around the town at the end of the Civic Week. While we decided it was far too wet, it actually went ahead. Crazy!

Anyway, we did go to the School Fair, where Sandy had the chance to pose with a very striking bird of prey- a Red Tailed Hawk! Unfortunately, I forgot my camera, so this is a very poor quality picture, which we had to pay for. It wasn't dark, though you'd think it was taken at midnight!

I also took a picture of Sandy playing me a Battleship- a game he bought at the Fair!

Summary only...

Woodpeckers in the garden...

Yes, we had some very interesting visitors to our back garden yesterday morning. Anna shouted me to come and look out the back window, and when I did, I saw we had first one, then two, then four woodpeckers sitting on the fence at the back of the garden. By the time Anna had got our camera ready to take some pictures, three of them had flown into the trees just behind, but one was still sitting there. It was certainly an usual sight for us all!
Also yesterday, we went to a barbeque organised for all the residents in our street. Unfortunately, the weather has been rather grey and cloudy all week, and so it wasn't the warmest BBQ we've been at, but nonetheless, it was good fun. Olivia certainly enjoyed the bouncy castle!

Summary only...

Olga's wedding photos, and some from the garden here...

Anna's sister Olga was married in St Petersburg on Friday 25th May, the day that I was returning fom Benmore with my class. Although we were invited to be there, it proved impossible for both Anna or me to get time off work. Today however, Olga phoned us to let us know that a slideshow of pictures showing her and her new husband Nikolai were available for us all to see on the net. Anna was delighted to see them, as we all were, and so we have saved a few for here. It all seems to have gone very well- and it was nice for us all to see Kolya (Nikolai) for the first time! Sandy immediately asked when Olga will come to see us, so we have urged him to ask her personally the next time he speaks to her on the phone.
One of the pictures shows the group who attended the wedding, including Anna's mum and dad, although Aunt Lucia and Uncle Boris were not in the photo. Olga explained to Anna that Boris could not tear himself away from playing snooker to come to be photographed!!






Meanwhile, here, Sandy was intent on flying his toy helicopter that he won at the fair in Haddington yesterday. We had a go at launching it this morning, and took these photos of him and Olivia.

Summary only...