Crathes.

Woke up earlyish with M, who trains with the lifeboat on Saturdays. When M had left, I got myself ready to meet some of the girls from work for a walk at Crathes Castle. We met up in Banchory and took the longest route we could find on the map. It was only 6km but it was a lovely walk through the snowy forests, and we had a very peaceful lunch sitting in a line on a snowy felled tree. This photo is SOOC, taken at random when I noticed the blue sky through the branches. Don't be fooled; it was freezing. It clouded over a little later and began to snow - somehow it made the forest even quieter. It was a lovely couple of hours, and we ended with a coffee and a scone in Milton of Crathes, where M met us for his lunch. M drove us home, and after discovering we had a few hours before our dinner reservation, we played the first game of golf of 2013 at Balnagask. I'm not proud of my score, but I'm going to record it anyway, because I'd like to hope I'll improve over the year. I was at 21 over, M at 18 over. Yes, on a 9-hole course. And it's a short course. Hmm.

Moving on, we had dinner booked for M's parents' 30th wedding anniversary this evening at La Boheme, a gorgeous wee French restaurant on Windmill Brae. There were only 4 starters and 6 main courses on offer, but all looked delish. I had pigeon with bourginon risotto to start, then duck. Yum yum! It was a lovely night, with M's Mum, Dad, three children and their partners... So nice that we all get on well. We went back to M's parents' house for a dram (of Drambuie, for me - I'm not sure that counts) before M and I crashed out at home. Bliss.