A good decision. Or not?

So Gail has apparently been going round telling her friends how she made a bad decision staying in Torridon for one extra day, how we should have left before the bad weather set in, and how it was a scary drive across blizzard hit northern Scotland on Tuesday this week, with the car skidding all over the snowy roads while at the same time being buffeted by gale force winds.

To be honest, if Gail's fingers were gripping the steering wheel with more than the usual strength during the white knuckle drive back across the Highlands to Aberdeen, I hardly noticed as I was comfily curled up in the back of the car, daydreaming about the two lovely short walks we'd enjoyed the day before. (The day we would have missed if we'd come home earlier).

Friends, do look at the pictures below, and let me know if you think we should have gone back home early, rather than relish being out and about around Loch Torridon, soaking up an all too brief episode of winter sunshine.

Happy Nature Friday! And thanks to our LLB Gang friends for continuing to host the blog hop despite their 'blogging break'.

Bad decisions and delusions...

Today, Nature Friday, I want to return to the perennial topic of how humans (mine in particular) so often make bad decisions. 

I would of course hope this week to be bringing you photos of the glorious Deeside seasonal colours, the wooded landscape resplendent in the soft glow of the October sunshine, blah, blah, blah...

But all I have on offer is a city street, and fallen leaves swept into the gutter by yet another autumnal downpour.

Oh bad luck Gail and Bertie, I hear you thinking, it's obviously been raining all week in your part of the world.

However, this is not actually the case. Take for example Wednesday. The day dawned mild and bright. So the first thought of any caring owner would surely be to take their beloved pup for a nice long walk in the countryside. Not a difficult decision. Except...

Gail blithely announces that her Thursday cycling ladies, having carefully studied the weather forecast, have altered their routine and are heading out a day early to make the most of the sunshine.

How could they enjoy themselves while knowing me to be alone and pining? 

Gail eventually came home, all rosy-cheeked and cheerful from her pandemic-compliant bicycle ride (apparently these days her friends have formed themselves, as per current requirements, into an 'organised group' with proper affiliations, a 'Covid officer' and appropriately documented Covid-specific risk assessment). 

She told me how three of the cyclists had earlier in the week taken advantage of another rare window of fine weather and ridden from Montrose down the North Sea coast to Carnoustie then back via Forfar, and how they said it had "felt like they were by the Mediterranean".

MONTROSE "LIKE THE MEDITERRANEAN"!!!!

Hmmm. As much as the experts insist exercise and congenial company are good for our humans' mental health, I have to question if that is the case when said company includes folk deluded enough to see a resemblance between Montrose  (a drab little town situated on one of less enticing stretches of the Scottish coastline) and the Med...

I'm hoping Gail will henceforth decide that going for walks with her very sensible and mentally stable WFT is the better option on a sunny day.

Happy Nature Friday friends! And thanks once again to my delightful friends Jakey, Arty, Rosy and Sunny, for hosting the blog hop.

 

Decision making 101

 Do you ever have one of those days...

...when you really can't decide whether you want to be in or out?

OK, time to commit!

Turns out it was a good decision 'cos I scored treats by posing handsomely in the front of the orange potentilla.  

And then enjoyed a lengthy session of barking at my next door neighbours Stroma the cocker spaniel on one side and Ruby the Briard on the other.  

Have you made any good decisions lately?