The Purves Adventure

Sunday, May 01, 2011

St Abb's, near to Eyemouth

It was a stunning morning today, so we headed off to have a walk around the headland at St Abb's, close to Eyemouth.

I decided to film a little, and have been playing around with my new Macbook, and particularly with iMovie, trying to see what it can do. It's great fun, but if you watch this short video, please appreciate that it's a first effort... I am only learning what iMovie can do at the moment! Once I get to grips with it, I am going to be able to have a lot of fun, I am sure, making some cool videos!!

St Abb's..a visit on 1st May from Michael Purves on Vimeo.

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Sunday, March 13, 2011

Hockey tournament

Sandy took part in an all-day hockey tournament today at the astro-turf pitches in Haddington. His team, Dunbar U10s won their group and were presented with a nice trophy afterwards.

posted from Bloggeroid

Sunday, February 27, 2011

At Smeaton Gardens, East Linton.

Yesterday we spent an hour or so walking around our favourite wee lake at Smeaton Gardens in East Linton, where snowdrops were everywhere!
Taken by Android phone and posted directly to this blog.

posted from Bloggeroid

Spring is not far away!

Saturday, February 12, 2011

Sandy and Olivia

Friday, August 13, 2010

A run down of our wonderful holiday in Finland, 2010.

We have had the most amazing holiday in Finland this year. You can read all about it
and see all the photos and videos here.

Saturday, June 26, 2010

A walk in Innerwick!

Innerwick is a beautiful village, full of interesting houses and lovely gardens. We were there this evening, to see our French pals from Florentin, who are staying in the Outdoor Education Centre there. There are 24 pupils (our Schoolovision partners) and their teachers.

Olivia poses in the dining room at the Centre.

Another close to the Centre.

Near to the Outdoor Centre
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Tuesday, March 30, 2010

Easter pictures

Sandy and Olivia pose with daffodils and willow catkins!
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Sunday, March 28, 2010

Preston Mill

This morning, we had a lovely walk in the sunshine around Preston Mill, at East Linton.
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Friday, March 26, 2010

March 2010

It has been a while, I know, but I promised Anna this morning that I'd add some new photos to the blog today! I know that Anna's parents in St Petersburg will look at the blog tomorrow, with Olga, so here we go, with a few of the most recent pictures of Sandy and Olivia!

A week or so ago, we went for a lovely walk in some woods, around 3 miles from Dunbar.
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Olivia and her ballet!

Olivia loves her ballet lessons, and she has been practising really hard for a show that she'll take part in tomorrow, Saturday 27th March!
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Watch that cat!

You have to keep your eye on Hamish. Each morning, at breakfast, he waits patiently until Olivia finishes her cereal, then he decides to have a look for himself to see if she has actually eaten everything. If she hasn't, then he's straight up there to finish it off!
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Sandy, as Tom from Beast Quest!

Sandy, dressed up as Tom, the main character from the Beast Quest set of books.
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Gypsy princess!

Liv, early March 2010.
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Some new pictures!

These were all taken in February 2010, along by the seafront.

Liv loves this hat!

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Sunday, February 14, 2010

eTwinning Conference, Seville

Schoolovision wins its biggest prize!

I was in Seville last weekend with 17 of the 30 teachers who I spent last year working with on the Schoolovision project. We were there as the project had been shortlisted for a major prize, and indeed, it won the special category of "Creative Use of Digital Media".

It was very special, as I had hoped to win something, and also I had hoped to be able to meet many of the partners, so it was a successful "double-whammy!"

With team members Larisa (Latvia), Svetlana (Bulgaria), Kolbrun (Iceland), Ingrid (Estonia), Eva (Norway) Steffen (Germany), me, and Dana (Czech Republic). Front row Katja (France), Oleflemming (Denmark) and Marek (Poland).

With Felix from France (not a Schoolovision team partner- just a friend)
Part of the team after the award was given: Marek (Poland), Steffen (Germany), Katja (France), me, Dana (Czech Republic) and Anna-Lena (Sweden)
More of the team after the award ceremony: Marek (Poland), Ilaria (Italy), me, Steffen (Germany) Eva (Norway), Corina (Romania), Dana (Czech Republic), Katja (France), Ingrid (Estonia), Carla (Portugal) and Anna-Lena from Sweden.
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Thursday, January 14, 2010

Flip video test

This wee video was made using a Flip Ultra HD camcorder, which I am testing out. It's a tiny camcorder, and making and editing movies is very straightforward.
Olivia enjoyed showing off her maths skills- she's 4 years and 5 months at the moment, and loves working on addition and subtraction in the books that her Baboushka has sent her!
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Monday, December 21, 2009

We've had snow!

Sandy hurtles down the hill on his sledge!

At the weekend, we went up into the hills nearby, after we had some snow here. It has been very cold for several days, and though a lot of Britain has had lots of snow, in Dunbar, as usual, we have only had a very small amount.

However, in the hills near to Gifford, there was enough to sledge, as you can see!

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Friday, December 11, 2009

Some early December photos...

My dad, with Olivia, after watching Sandy perform in the school nativity play.

Sandy was a shepherd in the school's nativity play today!

Another picture of the shepherd, with my mum and dad.

Sandy and Olivia pose with the trophy I won from the eLearning Awards, along with the cheque for 1000 euros. Unfortunately for me, the real cheque is payable to the school!

Olivia, reading about Finland, with me.

Sandy, at the recent school ceilidh.

And Olivia, at the ceilidh too.
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Wednesday, November 18, 2009

Our lovely children!

Sandy and Olivia together.

A serious looking Sandy!

Our wee Olivia!
I'm sorry I haven't had time to post anything much here for ages. I have so many other blogs, connected to school, that I just don't have much time to keep up to date with our own family. Shocking, I know!
Anyway, here are the most recent pictures of Sandy and Olivia, taken at school over the past couple of weeks, and also one from a photo studio.
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Finland

In 2006, almost be chance, we ended up holidaying in Finland after problems obtaining visas to go to Russia, and this started an ever deepening love affair with this truly beautiful country far to the north of Europe.

Who would have thought that it would be such an attractive place to spend the summer? Who would have thought that this land of nearly 200,000 lakes would be so warm? Who would have thought that we'd have found spending time in the sauna so intoxicating?

This fantastic country is well worth a visit. For us, we look forward even more each year now to our trips there, to relaxation and sunshine, and a way of life that is so tranquil and different from that here in Scotland!

The weather...

Many of my friends have recognised my obsession with the weather. It has been going on for many years. Why? I'm not really sure, but I do know that there is, historically, a link between my inclination to observe the forecasts and any upcoming speedway matches, which could of course be directly affected by poor weather.That's possibly how it all started, many years ago. Now, I like to see what's going on in various places around the globe. I am also very interested in the relation between the weather patterns and global warming. Nothing unusual in that- we should ALL be concerned about it, if you ask me!

Blueberries...

Speedway...

Where do I start with my favourite sport? In July 1976, my dad took me to Berwick speedway on a warm Saturday evening, to watch my first speedway match. I insisted on standing right on the 1st bend, despite my dad's warnings that it wasn't a good idea, and was promptly showered by wet mud and shale as the four motorbikes hurtled around the corner. I hated it! What's more, my usual Sunday evening bath had to be brought forward to get me clean when we got home..

On Friday 15th April 1977, we returned, this time to the now demolished Powderhall Stadium in Edinburgh, to witness the rebirth of Edinburgh Monarchs, after a 10 year absence from the city. This time I loved it, became hooked, and returned on a weekly basis to watch my newly adopted team. I've been going ever since, and have spent more money than I care to think of following the fortunes of the Monarchs, home and away.

There have been very many highlights over the years. The biggest though, was in 2003, when Edinburgh after a 55 year wait, finally won the Premier League. I was a very proud supporter!
What's more, they repeated the feat in 2008, with an even better display, with what was surely the best Monarchs team ever!

Ferries...

In 2002, when Sandy was only a few weeks old, we travelled on the new service from Rosyth to Zeebrugge and thus started a series of really enjoyable ferry journeys. Since then we have been on DFDS's service to Amsterdam, Silja's wonderful ferry from Stockholm to Helsinki and this year, and have driven to and from Finland on the Finnlines service from Travemunde in northern Germany right up the Baltic Sea to Helsinki and back. Ferries are such a comfortable way to travel on holiday, with your own car, though our last trip was in 2011, as prices have become pretty expensive since then. Still, one day, I certainly intend to drive once again to Finland and back using these great ships!

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