alvason’s blog

I lived in this building between the ages of about 5 to 8 years old.  This is in Sauchie, in central Scotland. If you look closely at the picture, you will see the name Adam Arnot (my name is Adam Arnot Pearson, named in the Scottish tradition - I was the second son so I was named after my mother's father) - he was my grandfather, had a sawmill and timber business across the road and used the bottom front of the house as the office.  Later my grandparents moved to the adjoining town of Alloa and my family moved here.  Where we lived was at the back of the house, up the little lane which was called Arnot Close.  The little building next door housed Fusco's ice-cream shop when we lived here.

This picture dates from the late 1930s.  So we moved here about 6 years later. That is probably my grandparents' car and caravan, they were keen on going on little trips.  My grandfather closed the sawmill and timber business some few years after this and moved into the motor trade. Classy car, huh?

I am not sure I can afford to put on any weight this festive season.

This is our verandah, at the back of the house and our view across the paddocks of the farm next door.

The verandah faces east so we get the sun all morning and now we here in Australia are into summer, the wonderful relaxing atmosphere of the verandah is spoiled by the heat of the sun.

The openings have fly-wire (of course!) and the blinds that you see rolled up are outside the fly wire and are made of heavy clear plastic - our wet weather/storm blinds.  So we are OK for insects and rain, now we must try to fix the heat.

The next picture tells the story. The roll of green stuff on the chair near the bottom of the picture is the shade cloth I need to hang from the frames, inside, but up at the top where the storm blinds (outside) hang from.

That clear?  Good, I will post a pic of the completed work when it is done.

... corellas are great fun to watch - this guy was seeing what could be done with an empty soft drink bottle.

Little corellas are common over most of Australia. They form rowdy bands, often large numbers, locally we see them in flocks of 20 or more. They are very playful, will roll on the ground, wrestle each other, wrestle a suitable stick ... their face markings are beautiful.