Loch Ness not snowed under yet

Friends of ours from the south of England moved into the area last month, and are just amazed at the weather! still working in the garden wearing only tee shirts, (and pants of course)They were expecting to be wearing winter fleeces by now. They bought the house several years ago and we have managed it as a holiday home for them since they bought it. They have now moved into the cottage to live.
The house is a fabulous cottage called Easter Boleskine, high on a hill above Loch Ness and overlooking Boleskine House, former home of the infamous Aleister Crowley, and later, the home of Jimmy Page, guitarist for Led Zeppelin, and now owned by who knows! from Holland, I believe.
Anyway, our friends, like many people south of Watford, believed until now, experiencing it for themselves, that we in the Highlands of Scotland are snowed in from October to April every year and that the only form of transport is by sledge or rescue helicopter.
I suppose in some ways that is not a bad idea to perpetuate, as it is during these winter months that our roadside verges have time to recover from all the tourists so unused to our single track roads. Passing places are inserted every 50 yards or so to permit passing, AND OVERTAKING! nothing worse than to follow a car at 25 MPH for 16 miles unable to pass. Many drivers, (bad ones)unfortunately think the verges are good for passing on but this just results in all our beautiful wild primroses and bluebell filled roadsides deteriorating into a muddy mess by the end of summer.
Our own cottages are, surprise surprise, booked throughout the year. Many of our winter visitors, mainly Scots along with a sprinkling of brave English folk, relish spending time in South Loch Ness during the winter because it is easy to find solitude at low levels, while also being able to go into the hills for skiing and to have fun in the snow. Snow is easier to find at altitude - the higher you look the better your chances of finding it, or avoiding it, whatever your case may be! But here on the shores of Loch Ness it is more or less the same as anywhere south of Watford, except that here, the whole world doesn't descend into chaos whenever an inch of snow falls, and I say that from experience. My partner and I arrived here 15 years ago from Kent, carrying everything we owned in our rucksacks, but that's another story. Sorry have to dash, just noticed a blizzard blowing outside - must get a stock of logs in for the fire!

Our old dog

Just had to tell someone: we have (had) a dog, very old, stone deaf and with failing eyesight, her limit for walking is only a half mile or so, (did I hear, "my kinda dog")
We found her two and a half years ago on the side of Loch Ness all alone and miles from anywhere, and no one claimed her, so she made her home with us on the banks of Loch Ness.
She is a happy girl and always loved going for walks, but preferred to go for a drive in the car, (couldn't see the point of walking when you can get a lift!)
She went out two nights ago, as she has done hundreds of times. We live right out in the wilderness so we know she is safe to go out unsupervised, and with failing eyesight, she always stayed in the pools of light given out across the lawns by the house lights. That night she didn't come back inside. We began to look for her 2 minutes after she went out but we can't find her anywhere. She seems to have disappeared into thin air just as she appeared out of thin air when she first found us! but that's another story.

Two days since our Suki left us. We've searched everywhere, several times over, and now the house is empty. I still go out last thing at night, and race to open the door first thing in the morning as I have for the last two and a half years to let her out........... Must try and do some work.

We are just beginning to get used to the idea that she's not comming back almost 3 weeks since we saw her, just so bad not knowing where she went.