Life Within Four Corners – July 2017

Welcome to the July instalment of ‘Life Within Four Corners’, where I share some of my favourite Instagram photos, and the stories that went along with them, from the preceding month. You can find out all about Life Within Four Corners here, and I’d love it if you joined in by sharing some of your favourite monthly photos and stories too! You can also get involved on Instagram using the hashtag #lifewithinfourcorners, and at the end of each month I’ll pick a few of my favourites to post up on my feed (thanks so much to those of you who’ve already been joining in!)

The Summer holidays are in full swing here in Caithness and July has been a busy month with holidays, visitors and lots of friends and playdates in the garden. We’ve had some lovely weather and some not-so-lovely weather, but virtually every day has involved at least a little bit of sunshine so we can’t complain really (but of course we still will!). The Scottish weather always gives us something to talk about, and it’s changeable nature really keeps us on our toes. We can be out in t-shirts one minute and waterproofs the next, certainly teaching us not to take anything for granted! I don’t think I’d have it any other way though – without a bit of variety, life could really be quite bland. Besides, the drama of the changing seasons often gives us sunsets like this one from a couple of weeks ago. As the year progresses, I’m sure the Caithness skies get more and more intense!

We were very lucky to have good weather – and a distant lack of midges – for our trip to the Outer Hebrides at the start of the month, during which we visited ten islands in the space of seven days. I won’t bore you with too many more of my holiday photos – if you’re interested you can see lots of them here in a post I wrote all about our trip. I will pop in this one of a six spot burnet my youngest and I found on our travels though, we hadn’t seen one of these close up before so it was really rather something of a treat! My son was a little concerned that it was poisonous, which made for a very funny commentary to a video of it I was taking.  I think he’s been watching too much Deadly 60! Seeing this bright and colourful beauty really made my day.

And what about this lovely bunting we saw in Ullapool? I love a bit of bunting – it always makes me think of summer, street parties and fun. At home we have bunting draped around our treehouse and in the kids’ bedrooms. It’s one of those things that never fails to raise a smile.

I have a thing for taking photographs of doors, and ordinary objects in general – I think they make for quite artistic pictures and remind us that there is beauty in the most simple parts of life. I liked this blue door we saw while we were on our travels, and I also liked the fishing creels that were stacked beside it. There’s a bit of a blue theme going on here, isn’t there? Blue doors, blue skies – anything pastel coloured really and you can count me in!

And I did say I wasn’t going to post any more of my holiday photos, but here’s a final one: a pretty scene at a harbour in the Hebrides from earlier in the month. Out of shot of this picture was an artist who was sitting on top of a small hill painting the scene before us. I could almost feel that sense of calm he must have been experiencing (until we turned up, at least). We didn’t stay too long in this spot, I really didn’t want to disturb him! He must have felt very lucky having a chance to paint this secluded spot on such a lovely day.

Back to home, and we also enjoyed a lovely beach day while my brother and his family were up visiting. There’s nothing quite like that feeling of the sand between your toes (and in your sandwiches), to make you feel that summer has arrived.

We’ve had lots of fun in the garden this month and have taken the opportunity for a few barbeques and lots of fun with bubbles. We’ve also been enjoying playing badminton with a bargain starter set we bought in our local supermarket (and when I say ‘playing’ I mean that in the very loosest sense).

I posted this photo about my son’s penchant for ‘juicy apples’ along with a caption about my getting ready for a family party and being told by said son that the fake tan I had been applying made me smell like Playdough. Playdough, you know, that eau de parfum all women aspire to! I think I’ve had better compliments, but my boys certainly know how to make their Mummy laugh.

Continuing the food theme and I did manage to rustle up a little bit of baking this month – a birthday cake for my husband and a batch of scones I made mainly because I didn’t have the ingredients in to make anything else for lunch! It’s amazing what I’ll do to get out of going to the supermarket (and yet despite this aversion my local Lidls store continues to feel like my second home).

And on to walking – walking has been a big part of our summer (just as well considering all that eating), and the kids have been very good this year at not complaining on our daily excursions with the dog. It’s getting easier every year to get them out on the 1-1.5 hour walks our dog Brody needs to keep him happy. Thankfully we have managed to get out most days in the dry!

And so that was the month that was, I think our entry in the July visitors book will be pretty favourable, what say you? Please come back next month to find out more about what we’ve been up to in squares and stories, and if you like what you see here, do pop over to my Instagram for lots (and lots) more!