Ceud Mìle Fàilte

Photography Nature Technology Food
Movies Music Politics

and life in the Highlands.

Fàilte

Thank you for dropping-by, I hope you enjoy your visit. The main content is to be found in the blog where I discuss everything and anything but topics including photography, nature, technology, food, movies, music and politics make regular appearances.

I commonly write reviews of movies (or films, if you prefer). Some movie reviews are short, others will be discussed in more detail. The scope covered will be mainly mainstream English language movies from the 1930s until the present day.

About me

My name is Iain MacDonald and I live in the Highlands of Scotland (although I have lived elsewhere in the past). I am a big fan of Free & Open Source Software which I use both professionally and at home.

Computing and technology tend to infuse themselves into my other interests, as once you learn some skills in one area it is convenient to use them to solve problems in other spheres.

When not tinkering with computers, I am likely to be found repairing things because living in the countryside you learn to be resourceful.

Of course, man doesn't live by SSH tunnels and kerosene vapour burners alone so food, as a subject, makes regular appearances too. Did I mention I used to work in hospitality?

Latest Life articles

My most recent ramblings.

  • Eurovision

    I'd like to apologise, publicly. The poor woman went for some peace and quiet, and what did she get? Two eejits rolling-up in a campervan, blaring out the Eurovision song contest. [Read more...]

  • Feeling sheepish

    I went for a walk along a forestry style track, yesterday. Ahead of me was a ewe, with two lambs. The ewe felt nervous about my approach, and started to trot away from me. The lambs were, of course, following her closely. However, the sheep didn't trot away uphill or ... [Read more...]

  • Regatta Hydrafort Matt Jacket

    I needed to buy a waterproof jacket for use when working. I also have a Gore-Tex jacket from Craghoppers, which is excellent, but I didn't want to ruin that jacket by using it for working every day. I have a few other Regatta products which are well made, so, for ... [Read more...]

  • Highland Life and the Coronavirus

    It is quite extraordinary, I've never experienced anything like it. We are now a couple of weeks away from Easter, which is normally the time when the summer tourist season starts. The roads would see increased traffic, and the tourist hotspots would start to be busy. Not this year. [Read more...]

  • New Manual Coffee Grinder

    I was without my vintage wooden Zassenhaus, so I rushed out and bought a new manual coffee grinder. The one I got is from Maison & White, and it is amazingly good. It is adjustable from very fine to coarse. Grinding is done with ceramic burrs, and the rest of ... [Read more...]

Click here to view the whole Life section.

My latest Mastodon posts

Mastodon is a microblogging app that is part of the decentralised web known as The Fediverse. See this article for more details.

Fitheach (@fitheach@mstdn.io)

Thu, 21 Oct 2021 10:02:29 +0000

For reasons of discoverability I've always been tagging my dog posts with . When I first started on Fedi, it was a popular tag.

I just checked the tag. 99% of the posts are mine. So, that's a bit pointless.

Thu, 21 Oct 2021 09:45:31 +0000

For the avoidance of doubt, Gruoch *is* a dog.

Thu, 21 Oct 2021 09:41:14 +0000

It's a dog's life.

always gets an egg for supper, at bedtime. Afterwards she has a big drink. Immediately upon finishing, she comes running, at full-pelt, and jumps into bed. We then have 5 mins of rough games, and she gets belly rubs. After this she settles, with her back against my legs. Time for sleep.

When Gruoch senses me waking in the morning, she does a doggie crawl to the top of the bed. She nuzzles me, and licks my face. Time to rise.

Wed, 20 Oct 2021 23:21:58 +0000

I've never looked for trouble
But I've never ran
I don't take no orders
From no kind of man
I'm only made out
Of flesh, blood and bone
But if you're gonna start a rumble
Don't you try it on alone

Wed, 20 Oct 2021 13:55:31 +0000

Well, that was lucky. It was raining when we left in the car. It was raining when we started the return journey. For the whole duration of the it was dry. The sun was even shining.

Gruoch heard noises in the trees. Both of us thought it was deer. Just as well I still had her on the leash. In the photo, she is trying to spot them.

Media enclosure type (image/jpeg)

Wed, 20 Oct 2021 10:18:34 +0000

After Midnight

I stayed up late, last night, to complete my coffee roasting, despite my previous intention of going to bed early.

However, I'm reaping the benefits now. ☕