Thank you so much dear Ismath for my nomination for the ‘One Lovely Blog Award’, big wags and hugs for you!
Ismath is an avid reader and poet who lives in Dubai and if you are not familiar with her writings please go and check out her wonderful blog mychoice360.

The One Lovely Blog Award is an award given to bloggers by bloggers. It is given to “bloggers who are positive and creatively inspire others in the blogosphere.”
The rules for the award are as follows:
- Thank the person who nominated you and provide a link to their blog.
- Display the award in your post and on your blog.
- List seven facts about yourself.
- Nominate seven bloggers and let them know you nominated them.
- For those of you who did not know already, I live in the Scottish Highlands with my husband and two adopted rescue whippets.
- I was born in The Netherlands and speak four languages.
- Many family members and friends have died young and this has taught me to enjoy life and live in the moment.
- I enjoy reading poetry more than anything else, especially on those long winter nights in front of a roaring fire.
- My interest in creative writing developed after I became involved in a narrative medicine project whilst working as a complementary therapist.
- Spending time in nature is now part of our daily life and is where a lot of my inspiration comes from, especially when we encounter wildlife.
- In addition to hiking with the dogs and spending time in nature I have always been a great lover of live music. When we lived in London and in Edinburgh we were spoiled for choice and could watch all our musical heroes play live. Here in the Highlands it is very different. Those big names do not come here and what we have here instead is something very special. People make music themselves, they gather in pubs and in parks with their instruments and play sessions. Many young Scottish musicians travel the country to the smallest village halls and bars to play a gig. Their audience is sometimes really small, yet very appreciative and there is a lot of magic in that. Just to give you an idea of a typical Scottish band journeying to play for a small audience I am including a ten-minute video below from Roddy Woomble and his band filmed in Easdale Island, Argyll. It shows some Scottish scenery and weather, the type of cottages we live in and the general bonhomie when the music is played. Please note that as of 2019, this video is no longer available.
And here is the list of bloggers I would like to nominate for the award:
- Subhash Chatterji‘s blog with photographs and loving words.
- The lovely poetry blog The New Leaf.
- Yasmin’s beautiful poetry blog.
- The wonderful Marie and her poetry blog The Syllabub Sea
- Young writer, poet and musician Jesus Garcia II and his blog Setting Words Alight
- Miriam, the animal loving freelance writer and her blog Out An’ About.
- The heart-warming blog The Blessing Of Animal Companions.
You are under no obligation to accept the award, just know that you and your blogs are loved and appreciated!
A special big thank you to Eivor and Pearl, who make me write down their thoughts and without whom this blog would not exist.
We send lots of love to all of you who visit here, you are all lovely bloggers to us!
Eivor, Pearl and Xenia xxx

Photograph by Xenia Tran, edited in windows photo editor.
Camera: Lumix Panasonic FZ38, setting: Outdoor Action
Daily Prompt: Elusive
Congratulations to all!🐾🐾
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Thank you so much dear friend, love and wags to you xxx
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Congratulations Xenia and thank you again for the nomination. Lovely to find out more about you here. Seems we have even more in common than just our dogs, I also love live music. Hugs to you. xo
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Thank you so much Miriam and so lovely to meet another music lover! Congratulations to you too, I love reading your blog! xxx
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Thanks Xenia, you’re so kind. Yes I really do love live music. We saw Mark Wilkinson live in the city a couple of months ago, up close and personal and he was just fantastic. xo
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Fabulous! :o)
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Aah congratulations and well deserved it is too! I love reading your blog, admiring the stunning scenery in the photos you take, and of course, the wonderful whippets Pearl and Eivor xxx
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Thank you so much Samantha, it is always lovely to see you here and we love reading your blog about your wonderful cats and crystals. Much love to you xxx
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Congratulations to you and to everyone else you’ve nominated too! Your blog is indeed lovely, and with some lovely pictures of lovely whippets too :). And so nice to learn more about you 🙂 ❤ Enjoy your day
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Thank you so much for your kind words dear C. Much love to you and enjoy your day too :o)
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Congratulation on the award. I really enjoyed reading the seven facts, and especially the video. It gave me a real taste of what Scotland is like beyond the cities and the ports of call.
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Thank you so much for your kind words Charles and I am glad you enjoyed the video too. The scenery is what we came here for and the way of life in rhythm with nature and the seasons. Thank you for stopping by and we send you lots of love from the Highlands xxx
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My heritage is from southern Scotland, near Hadrian’s wall. I would love to see more of the highlands. I got a peek on our Fjords and Highlands cruise in 2010.
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Southern Scotland is beautiful too, we lived just south of Hadrian’s wall in Cumbria for eight years before heading further north. The Highlands are very unspoilt and when you prepare for all kinds of weather when you come here you will be fine.
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Loved learning more about you, and MORE great pictures!!!
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Thank you so much for your kind words and thank for stopping by! Much love to you and we wish you a wonderful rest of the day :o)
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So very much deserved! Much love to all of you.
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Thank you so much dear Lois ☺. Love and wags to you 💜💜🐾🐾
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Congratulations 🙂
and the little whiff of Scotland and the music was lovely
Turtle Hugs
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Thank you so much for your kind words and so glad you enjoyed the video.☺ Thank you for stopping by and big hugs and love to you 💜💜🐾🐾
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Thank you 🙂
Have been a bit absent , missing your lovely posts
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Hope you are well dear turtle. Sending love your way 🌹🌹
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Thank you for your care , I am well , just a bit of rocky seas to surf lately 🙂 it will all calm down sometime , your love thoughts are much appreciated 🙂
Turtle Hugs
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Stay safe in the seas and always know that this too will pass. Much love to you from all of us here 💜💜💕
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Yes , I am ready to weather the storm (is that how you say it ? ) and thank you very very much .
Love to you all from me and my three rescues 🙂
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Thank you so much and hang in there turtle! 💜💜💕 🐾🐾
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Congrats!
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Thank you ☺
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