Urr Valley Honey - mmmmmm :) - we sell this delicious honey which comes from Parton, just near Castle-Douglas. Over the years, we've met up with Mr and Mrs Turnbull in a variety of locations as they deliver honey around Scotland. Once or twice, we've lunched together at the Monkton Lodge Brewers Fayre. Last Wednesday, I headed south from Helensburgh to Prestwick to meet them there - and we had a lovely meal. The Turnbulls chose a beautiful gammon steak with various accompaniments and I chose the chilli con carne. I must be becoming forgetful because this chain of restaurants has an "order at the bar and pay before you eat" system - and so Mr Turnbull treated us to lunch. I managed to buy the drinks - I really wanted to pay for lunch, though. I'll have to do it next time. During the week, there is a special deal for lunch - main meals for two can be £9 - so that's not bad, in this day and age.

I decided that I would continue my escape to the country by driving to Stewarton (I have family there) - and I hoped to go on to Dunlop and then Beith, to check out more of the family connections. However, when I called on my cousins, I found myself still there till mid-evening after we caught up with events over the last few months. I truly enjoyed the time away from the shop.

Wow - two stunners in one pic! The Clyde Bar has got a new glow - and the impressive Ferrari parked outside just added to the bling!

Since we stopped opening our shop on a Sunday, we suddenly find ourselves free to do the housework, catch up with the gardening, iron the laundry and, yes, even accept invitations which would otherwise be out of our reach. This is what we did last Sunday.

To be more accurate, since Sandy was full of a horrible cold, I was the one who had the away-day excursion to our friends' holiday home on the southern shore of Loch Tay. (I apologise that I don't have photographs of the journey but the rain was fairly heavy and I couldn't encourage myself to get out of the car and take photographs of the scenery.) I wish I had stopped on the road between Kippen and Callander because the blossom on the trees (mostly hawthorn, I suspect) was absolutely magnificent. I'm fairly sure it will all have been washed away by now.

I arrived at Fiddler's Bay and joined the party; Jean and Reay had invited friends and family - and most folks were there by the time that I arrived. The house is large - and I don't think my photos do it justice. There are two double bedrooms (they currently have washbasins in lovely vanity units) and a small bedroom with bunk beds and a single bed. There is a large family bathroom and a separate toilet/shower room, a beautifully appointed kitchen and a huge lounge with a dining area at one end.





The property is accessed along a single-track road; it is almost six miles from Killin and only two miles from the local hotel. The road itself seemed fairly quiet apart from people of cycles or off-road trail bikes. The house itself sits on the edge of the water with beautiful views over Loch Tay; it is set in it's own land - although no-one ventured far from the house to explore the terrain.

I'd love to spend a holiday there - it's just our kind of holiday home; remote, comfortable and yet still close to civilisation should we decide to be sociable! Find out more at Loch Tay Holiday.

I've just received details of a new version of Hebridean Jewellery's Celtic Cross - this one, in 9ct gold, is set with a diamond -



This cross costs £345 - and chains can be supplied, should you require.

... sorry about the quick note, but the sun's shining in Helensburgh and this is keeping us busy!

M

Don't you just love the summer (ok, that's a slight exaggeration in Scotland just now because the weather's been colder than usual!). The summer fruits are starting to taste really good and so it's time to make pavlovas. Several years ago I was given a tip on an easy pavlova recipe and I decided to share it -

I use the whites of three eggs and a full cup of caster sugar; a tiny pinch of salt; a teaspoon of vinegar and a teaspoon of vanilla essence or extract.

To make the meringue, I place half the sugar in a very clean bowl, add the whites of eggs and the tiny pinch of salt (actually, it's more like a few grains of salt on a teaspoon). Whisk these ingredients together to form stiff peaks of meringue (it's possible to turn the bowl upside down and the meringue stays in the bowl!) After this stage, add the rest of the sugar slowly, making sure it's incorporated evenly. Finally add in the vinegar and vanilla essence.

I usually make individual pavlovas - placing a tablespoonful of the meringue on a greased paper. Make a little hollow in the meringue so that you can later fill it with fruit and cream. Depending on how generous you are with your portions, you can get 8/9 portions of pavlova. I cook mine in an electric fan oven at 120C for approximately an hour. Allow to cool. You can store these for several days so this is one great recipe you can do in advance of a dinner party.

Be creative when you decorate the pavlova - strawberries and/or raspberries are traditional, but all sorts of other fruits make a great accompaniment for this. I try and add a dash of strawberry or raspberry sauce for some additional color - but plum compote would also look dramatic.

Since 1989, we've been developing our range of Celtic Jewellery and have found that Celtic Cufflinks are a particularly popular gift for the best man - or indeed the groom - for traditional Scottish weddings.

We stock Celtic Cufflinks, mainly in sterling silver - but are happy to accept orders for them in 9ct gold.

Over the last few weeks, the weather on the west coast of Scotland has been dry and sunny, in the main. However, this weekend has been the warmest so far - hopefully we are leaving behind the frosty, cold conditions of January and February.

Stornoway (Steòrnabhagh in Gaelic (Gaidhlig)) is a burgh on the Isle of Lewis, in the Outer Hebrides of Scotland.

The town's population is approximately 9,000 out of a total population of 26,370 for the whole of the Western Isles. The civil parish of Stornoway, including various nearby villages, has a population of approximately 12,000.[2] Stornoway is an important port and the major town and administrative centre of the Outer Hebrides. It is home to Comhairle nan Eilean Siar (the Western Isles Council) and a variety of educational, sporting and media establishments. Christian observance of the Sabbath is an important aspect of the town's culture.


Hotels in Stornoway - book early to get the best deals available.

... oops, and I haven't even touched the sherry yet! I hope everyone has a relaxed, happy wonderful time at Christmas. My Christmas wish would be for peace on earth to all men, women and children and that all conflicts were resolved. It would be lovely if just writing this wee prayer down and saying it to myself at the computer would bring resolution to wars, squabbles and potential disputes - but I know that this may be a forlorn hope.

Man's competitive nature is destined to ensure that we all want to get to the top of the heap; you only need look at the competitive world of internet marketing to know that the person whose web site is at the top of the search engines is going to be able to cream off the best of the sales online. Darwin spotted this many years ago and if you ever wanted to study a model of evolution, you only need watch the top search engine results for a given search term and see how achieving a top results increases the chance of survival and financial success while eliminating the threat from imitators. Wars and rumours of war are all about positioning countries or groups of people in the top spot so that they can get the cream of the crop and ensure their genes are passed from generation to generation.

You might ask - what am I doing writing a blog post on Christmas Day? Well, sorry, I didn't really mean to get all philosophical on you - I just wanted you to know that I would love to live in a peaceful world where we combined our energy and resources to help people out of poverty and distress. I'd love the next decade to be more settled than the last. That's my wee Christmas message.

With love and best wishes from Scotland
Margaret

Measuring Clarity in Diamonds by Collin Harvey

Clarity is a measure of the number of the flaws in the diamond as well as how visible they are and their affect on the diamond's overall quality. The characteristics that determine a diamond's clarity can affect its sparkle and brilliance. The flaws that diamonds can often have are often referred to as inclusions. The inclusions of a diamond range from white and black dots on the surface of the stone to small cracks within in the stone and crystalline growth within the diamond. If you are searching for something such as diamond stud earrings where the diamonds will most likely be even more visible than that of a ring, a higher clarity on the diamonds may be wanted to achieve a brighter sparkle.



The GIA has a grading scale regarding diamond clarity, and it goes off specific criteria that are used to differentiate between grades.



FL: Completely flawless.



IF: Internally flawless; only external flaws are present, which can be removed by further polishing the stone.



VVS1-VVS2: Very Very Slight Inclusions. Only an expert can detect flaws with a 10x microscope. By definition, if an expert can see a flaw from the top of the diamond, it is a VVS2. If an expert can only detect flaws when viewing the bottom of the stone it is a VVS1.



VS1-VS2: Very Slight Inclusions. One can see flaws with a 10x microscope, but not easily.



SI1-SI2: Slight Inclusions. Inclusions are easily visible under 10x magnification. These stones are often "eye-clean".



SI3: Slight Inclusions - This grade is only recognized by EGL and is not recognized by the GIA or other gemological institutions and may be graded by GIA as either SI2 or I1. SI3 diamonds never have any black inclusions or cracks visible to the unaided eye, but may have some very minor white inclusions which can be seen.



I1: Inclusions visible. An I1 clarity graded diamond will have a visible flaw which can bee seen with the unaided eye, but most of the time will only have one major flaw which will not be too obvious.



I2-I3: Inclusions high visible. These diamonds will have inclusions visible to the unaided eye and will have many black spots and appear cloudy.



Most of the flaws of a diamond are tiny imperfections that do not affect a diamond's brilliance. If you are on a budget, it might not be worth it to get a higher graded clarity diamond, such as a VS1, rather than an SI2 grade because both are more than likely going to look the same to the unaided eye. You are only going to start seeing the imperfections under 10x magnification. If you are getting some new diamonds in addition to a diamond ring, such as diamond stud earrings, or vice versa, it is important to get the same or very similar clarity on the added diamonds to make sure they will match better and sparkle the same.


Learn about anemone crab, beaver teeth and other information at the Interesting Animals site.



Article Source: Measuring Clarity in Diamonds