Willy Graham

Willy Wendy

Willy Graham

I'm recently retired (early) - have waited a long time for this trip - ever since taking a temporary job in mid seventies which was supposed to pay for next trip then came family and other commitments. Main interests - the natural world, eco build (we plan to build our own house on our return)and people.



North America » Canada » British Columbia September 6th 2015

We're now in Victoria staying in very nice hotel with view of harbour and the sunshine has returned - we had a very pleasant picnic lunch in park looking over Juan de Fuca straits to Washington state. It's labour day weekend here so very busy. Victoria, or at least the centre is very British and has much more character than most American towns/cities. We stayed in Pender Island with Yvonne, who Willy met in Toronto in 1972!! We went to a leaving the island party for her son, who is off to Quebec for training and went whale-seeking. Didnt see anyuntil we were on the ferry back to Vancouver Island, then we saw a group of orcas, but they didnt leap out of the water in spectacular fashion. We have eaten well. Canadian portions aremassive. We ... read more

North America » Canada » British Columbia » Pender Island August 28th 2015

Now on Pender with Yvonne. Here are some pics from the last week. We were in Banff for 5 nights, then did a 2 day train trip from Banff toVancouver. Then 1 night in Vancouver where we visited a chinese garden, the across to Pender where we have been for few days.... read more
up high
Leaving Vancouver for Pender Island
on the boat

North America » Canada » Alberta » Athabasca August 20th 2015

Made it toBanff after a very long afternoon flying. We relived 3pm to 4pm several times, leaving Iceland at 4.45 and arriving in Edmonton at 5.10 after a 7 hour flight across time zone. Got to Calgary and got on a shuttle to Banff. In addition.. lceland Air don't feed you on the plane, so we were tired and hungry when we landed.... and one of us hadn't had a c7garette for awhile, o was grumpy tosay the least. Got to bed at 6am our time, having got up at 6.30. Having said that, every leg of our 7 stage journey was on time and we didn't miss a connection anywhere. Pretty amazingg really! Am using Willy's dad's tablet not a laptop and I an not good with it, so aplogies for typos and bizarre punctuation. ... read more

Europe » United Kingdom » Scotland » Perthshire » Aberfeldy November 5th 2010

Then the rain came - the latter part of October (in fact most of October) was Wet!. Despite our best efforts work on the garden ground to a halt and I, for one, contemplated using the raised beds as paddy fields. Rachel moved in until her own place (West Byre) is finished - hopefully by the end of the month. Wrote the above at the end of October now 7th December, having a small party tonoght to celebrate our wedding anniversary (20 years!). Meant to get away for a few days but on the way south yesterday hit gridlock at Stirling - the who;e of the central belt was at a virtual standstill because of snow. We eventually managed to turn and came home. Roads around here not to bad. Incredible weather with over a foot ... read more
Raised beds ready for next spring
View from up the hill
25th Oct - House at 7am

Europe » United Kingdom » Scotland » Perthshire » Aberfeldy July 13th 2010

Well midsummer has come and gone - for once the weather held up and so lots of people came. There was music, fires, food and drink etc and I think a good night was had by all, including the bunch of young German lads who'd heard about it in Killin and came along to investigate. They seemed to get into the swi(n)g of things and had a night to remember. Meantime work progresses outside. The main patio is finished, we've had lettuce, huge cabbages and lots of potatoes from the garden and have planted flowers round the patio/terrace and some hedging, which the horses have tried to eat. Very few words to cover hours of labour digging over the garden and removing literally tons of stone/rock and countless dockens, nettles, thistles buttercups, couch grass etc. We ... read more
jun 16 -my birthday
june 16 my birthday with the neighbours
jun 19 006

Europe » United Kingdom » Scotland » Perthshire » Aberfeldy May 25th 2010

The answer according to the song is "another day older and deeper in debt". However although the deeper in debt doesn't apply digging rocks out of ones new garden certainly lets you know that your body aint as youing as it once was. I don't know if we've excavated 16 tons of rock quite yet but by the end of the day my back feels as if we have. The main project at the moment is getting our garden together while awaiting the stone for the patio/veranda (due next week all 100 sq mtrs of it). Progress is slow mainmly due to the abundance of stones and the effort required to extract and remove them. We have managed to get a small part of the garden planted (lettuce, peas, cabbages, onions and potatoes plus the first ... read more
Keith and I digging the field
mad dogs and other lunatics
May 22 004

Europe » United Kingdom » Scotland » Perthshire » Aberfeldy May 10th 2010

Nothing to do with the diggers and levellers of history and a lot to do with JCBs wielded by a man with artistry in his soul. The digger came back and built up a terrace along the front of the house and then shaped the garden, including building a wall to hold the terrace in place, with a broad path along the bottom of the terrace. Then the hill at the bottom of the garden, which was actually all the top soil from the site was levelled, and spread over the garden. Willy is now digging it over by hand and removing the large boulders which were inadvertently hidden in the topsoil. He's probably overdoing it and is full of aches and pains... everyone say "aah!". ... read more
Digger levelling the hill
Finishing off levelling garden
Wall to retain patio

Europe » United Kingdom March 23rd 2010

Wrote this back in March so you can just skip to the photos. Last entry I said something about being well into winter, well winter has lasted longer than expected and may last longer still. There is, however a touch of spring in the air, few signs of much growth yet but you can feel it. Anyway the one thing the cold weather and snow did provide was lots of opportunities to go out for walks (we couldn't get the car up the track for a couple of days till Andy cleared it using the little digger). Haven't really done much to the house over the winter, been in a state of semi hibernation, but always wakening up whenever a party popped up, which they seemed to do with a welcome regularity through the dark nights ... read more
22nd Feb 007
22nd Feb 008
01 March 005

Europe » United Kingdom » Scotland » Perthshire » Aberfeldy February 1st 2010

Some pictures of heating controls and some labels that seem to be mis-matched... read more
Pumps and other stuff
All the controls
Jabels on the equaliser

Europe » United Kingdom » Scotland » Perthshire » Aberfeldy January 12th 2010

So its goodbye to 2009 and welcome 2010. Like the rest of the UK the weather has been the main event of late. We haven't had the volumes of snow suffered by most of the UK. In fact since the first snows, a week or so before Christmas, we've escaped with no more than the occasional light shower. The roads between here and civilisation have been kept clear but access to the farmyard has been impossible other than by 4x4. So all other vehicles are left at the road end. We're still without our own car which still in the garage while Peter, the mechanic, tries to source a replacement fuel pump (either reconditioned or from a scappy). Meantime we've the use of an old (N reg) Peugeot 105. Hogmanay was a bit quiet as Tombreck ... read more
and again
dec 20 2009 007
dec 20 2009 012




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