FOUR GAN DENNY AGAINY.

It seems a good while since I have done one of these blogs. It isn't that we haven't been away, just that the trips themselves weren't really about food.

We had a nice weekend with friends in Glasgow for the Cup Final at the beginning of June. We met up with cousins James and Hope in Aberdeen later that month. We also had visits from Sharon's niece, Karyn and family in July and a flying visit from Celine and Antoine from France at the beginning of August.

However, this trip to Forgandenny was a bit more food oriented. We had been asked by Sandra and Chris to look after their dog, Blue, whilst they went cruising in the Americas. We were part of a procession of people arranged to keep Blue walking, fed and watered for an extended period of time. Our stint was to last a week.

Before we left home, I took the culinary precaution of picking some tomatoes and padron peppers, all ready for our time away. That may not be that exciting, but it was actually the only photograph I had for the first day, so I had to get it in somehow.

The peppers look good, though!

Our journey down was reasonably uneventful, setting aside the usual erratic driving that is commonplace on the A9. Sandra and Chris were gracious hosts as always and the Orlando beef dinner was very good indeed. We had never had Beef Orlando before and Sandra did not divulge the recipe, but it seemed to be slow cooked stewing steak, onion, tomato, spices, vinegar, and some sweetness from a chutney or a jam, perhaps. Whatever, it was good. The Vienetta ice cream and strawberries hit the spot as well. We haven't had Vienetta for years.

We had a relatively early night as Chris and Sandra were leaving reasonably early the next morning.

The Thursday morning was a bit dull and grey and our hosts managed to leave only 20 minutes later than they had said they would the night before. The lateness was compounded by a Wallace and Gromit moment when Sandra got into the car to discover that she was wearing the wrong trousers! She soon sorted that, and off they went.

After they left, we did our dog chores, had a quick bite to eat and then went to the fruit farm to get some fresh berries for ensuing breakfasts. Perthshire and Angus produce the best soft fruits in the country, and arguably, in the world. About 2200 hectares are given over to soft fruits, with the bulk of these (56%) being strawberries. Surprisingly, raspberries only account for 11% of production, well below the 19% of blackberries. We've been buying berries from Leadketty farm for a number of years to make our own jam and their eating berries are excellent fare, so we bought strawberries, raspberries and blueberries.

The fruit was for breakfast but we had things to do before we got to that. 

We had invited, with permission from Sandra and Chris, our friends Susan and Robin to join us for a few days. They arrived a bit after lunchtime.

After  tea ,coffee and biscuits, we went across the road to the park and played boules. Astonishingly, the girls won the duel in the sun 10-9!

So worn out were we by our sporting endeavours, that we needed some bubbles and nibbles to revive us. This is where the padron peppers made their appearance, sprinkled with a little black garlic salt, some marinated olives and a few choice crisps.

Whilst Robin, Susan and Sharon walked Blue, I repaired to the kitchen and made our dinner. Unfortunately, I forgot to take any photos, so you will have to believe it was magnificent!

We had a platter of griddled nectarines, Parma ham, mozzarella, olives, tomatoes, rocket and an oil and white balsamic dressing to start. This was followed by crispy duck leg, with sweet and sour plums and little fried gnocchi, which I had made at home and frozen for the occasion. We cleaned our plates with a green salad and a hazelnut dressing. It was all eaten, so it must have been good.

The next morning promised to be dry and warm at times. So, after a breakfast of luscious fruit from Leadketty and scrambled eggs and salmon, we set off for Perth. We had decided to follow the Perth Sculpture Trail along the banks of the Tay in the city.

After we parked up, it was but a very short step to the nearest sculpture Torse de Femme, a work by J D Fergusson. This stands outside the Fergusson Gallery, which used to house a huge collection of Fergusson's work. He lived between 1874 and 1961 and was the leading Scottish Colourist artist. On his death, his partner, the dancer Margaret Morris, set up a foundation to curate and display his work. His family had strong connections with Perthshire, although he was born in Edinburgh, and Perth and Kinross Council successfully bid to house the works. The gallery has now closed down and the works have been moved to another gallery in the city. The sculpture is credited to Fergusson, but also to Bill Hepworth. Bill Hepworth was actually the founder of the Alyth Art Foundry and, I assume, this is where the statue was cast. I cannot be sure, but the sculpture seems to be a copy of an original work by Fergusson, but on a much larger scale. I can trace a work that is very similar, but only 15 inches high! Whatever, the piece is quite striking. I'm not sure that I could say the same about the models posing beside the sculpture.

After such a perky start to our artistic wanderings, the next step was to cross the river Tay via the railway bridge. This certainly allowed for fine views of the river and the city. It is strangely reminiscent of Inverness!

Sculpture number 2 for us was found after only the merest of wrong turns and some advice from a wise old, one eyed man.

This is The Vortex, although one guide appeared to give it a different name. Indeed, it may have been a different piece of work, but who can tell. I would have to say that the information that I could find about the trail and the individual sculptures was scanty at best. The trail was really good and interesting, but it could have been so much better with some good descriptive materials online or on paper.

Next up was Insight, but we didn't have much insight into what it was about or what it might really signify. There were other sculptures of a similar nature on the trail, so I assume they were part of a series and they were linked in some way, but the lack of information, made conclusions a bit difficult. However, I came across a website that gave some information on some of the sculptures. This series of pieces were inspired by Patrick Geddes, who was the father of Town Planning. Among many beliefs, he thought that the inner world of the spirit should be more familiar to us than the outside world that we inhabit. We need to be more in touch with that inner world, as it would help us better to understand and shape the outer world. He was a great advocate of the theories of ecology - everything is connected to everything else. From the basic household unit of the family, grew society and dealing effectively with the spatial needs of families would lead to better cities and living environments.

This sculpture was not actually called Insight, but is Outwith Within Leaf. This is interesting inasmuch as Geddes railed against specialisms disappearing up their own arses to the detriment of the wider view. He illustrated this by saying that specialists were too absorbed in the detail of a single petal of a six lobed plant, that they seize firmly on it and pull it apart from the whole plant. To this day, most planners are educated and trained to be generalists rather than specialists.

The next piece had the appearance of a toilet from Game of Thrones, but, in fact, turned out to be a flamboyant litter bin! When I wrote the previous sentence, I hadn't found the website about some of the sculptures. The litter bins were actually designed by Phil Johnson and they are tall so as to be seen from a distance. This one was called Deschampsia Caespitosa, which is a species of grass represented in the top of the sculpture. It also makes reference to a cesspit, which might be where people once disposed of refuse and waste, and, of course, they were designed to look like toilet pans!

This monumental piece in granite was called River Arch by Doug Cocker. You can, obviously walk through the arch, which is designed to signify the Tay and the two main crossings of the river. The river is represented by the undulating form and the bridges, by the harder, geometric form representing the man-made bridges.

I suspect this is the most accessible of the sculptures as it is obviously a picture frame, and everyone can recognise it as such. It is called Millais Viewpoint. John Everett Millais was one of the founders of the Pre-Raphaelite brotherhood and was an astonishingly famous and successful painter in the mid 19th Century. Everyone will know his paintings, even if you don't know the artist. His Ophelia is the archetypal Pre-Raphaelite painting. - you know. The one with the girl, Ophelia, lying in a flower surrounded by a river. Ophelia was a Shakespeare character in Hamlet and she is singing in the river before she drowns. She was modelled by a 19 year old girl and was required by Millais to lie, fully clothed, in a bath full of water in his studio. It was winter and he had lit lamps under the bath to keep the water warm, but they went out and the poor girl caught a dreadful cold and her father eventually sued Millais for her medical bills!

Millais also painted Bubbles, which everyone knows from the Pears Soap adverts. In allowing his painting to be used for something as vulgar as an advert, he was accused by many of selling out.

Anyway, back to this sculpture. Millais had a Perth connection because of his wife Effie. Effie was formerly the wife of another famous painter of the time, John Ruskin. He and Effie had been married for 8 years, but Effie was still a virgin. Through her parents, she had her marriage to Ruskin annulled and she married Millais, whom she had fallen in love with when she posed for one of his paintings. She seems not to have been a virgin through choice as she had eight children with Millais. Her family home was in Perth and she and Millais visited Perthshire annually. The sculpture frames one of the views he had painted. There are references in the sculpture to many of his paintings. The sculpture also frames the old graveyard, where Effie is buried along with one of her eight children.

Wow! I know this was a bit lengthy, but it is a fine tale, is it not?

Another of the Geddes inspired sculptures - Outwith Within Seed.

Looking at the Millais sculpture from below. This wasn't too easy because someone who didn't appreciate Geddes had put a lamp post in the middle of the frame, so a bit of contortion was necessary on my part.

Here they are, sitting obliviously in front of the scandalous Effie's resting place.

We ventured into the graveyard without any idea of the importance of the place.

There are some very fine memorial stones ,but we did not know to look for Effie, but we did see the ferryman's stone from 1782, which is enthusiastically carved. It was an interesting cemetery and we could have spent some time there.

Nearby was an empty building, that once belonged to General Accident, but is now surrounded by some very attractive gardens, tended by an army of volunteers.

This was a Peace Pole erected to commemorate a visit by the Dalai Lama

Within the gardens was an other monument to Patrick Geddes, who was educated at Perth Academy, although born in Aberdeenshire.

The walk took us close to the Tay, with views across the river to some fine neo-classical civic buildings reflected in the silvery waters.

Benchmark is a sculpture by John Creed. The spirals represent the opposing forces of river and tide. Perth has a port, which can be reached by cargo vessels as the river is still so tidal this far inland. The benches positioned up the slope refer to datum points (or benchmarks) used on Ordnance Survey maps.

We thought this might be about eggs, but it is, in fact, a sculptural totem pole representing the rhythms of life. It is called The Dance Within and is by Paul Eugene Riley. It sits in Norrie-Millar park, which was gifted to the city by Sir Stanley Norrie-Miller who joined the company founded by his father - General Accident.

This a big sundial. As the sun was not really shining, we couldn't tell if it was accurate.

One of the bridges - remember the River Arch sculpture and you can see some of the inspiration for that, maybe. The swans are an added extra.

We were getting a bit peckish now, having missed out on morning coffee and cake!

Sharon had the felicitous recollection of Kisa's, so that was where we went after a close call with another place. Kisa's was just what we wanted good food, atmosphere and a delicious rose Rioja. Here are Susan and Robin gazing longingly at said Rioja.

Robin had an open sandwich of smoked salmon and prawn in lemon and black pepper cream.

I had a chicken Caesar salad, which had strawberries in it, which was a really fresh addition.

Sharon and Susan shared garlic and parmesan potato wedges, grilled halloumi, garlic and chilli prawns, sourdough bruschetta with avocado, feta and strawberries.

They were all delicious, exactly what we needed and well complemented by the wine.

After our lovely lunch, we wandered back to the car, taking in more sculpture and graves on the way. This one was of a duck under water by the side of the river.

Quite clever and open to different views.

The Cream of the Well. Easily missed, this sculpture, refers to the first drink from a healing well. Taken at sunrise, it was supposed to be the best time to make the most of the healing properties. I can't find any trace of a well hereabouts, but there is evidence of a Monk's Tower nearby, which might be related.

The Tay is, of course, a very famous salmon river. These salmon were cut out of the backing of seats and framed Susan and Sharon nicely as they visited our dinner venue for tomorrow to check if we might have a drink there before our dinner booking tomorrow, if necessary.

Another gravestone in another graveyard. This yard was the site of a Greyfriars Monastery and grounds, first mentioned in 1496. There was a graveyard extension in 1795. Many of the older post-medieval, such as this one, were protected by a new shelter, built for the purpose. This one dates from 1745.

The last sculpture of the day was a fish and a boy.

Not obvious ........

but....if you walk around and look again, here is the boy somersaulting on the fish's nose. If fish have noses, that is.

From the fish boy it was back to take Blue for a walk.

Then we had a fine lamb curry prepared by Robin, preceded by a tasty dahl dish. Unfortunately, everybody was too busy eating to take a photo, so you will have to believe me that it was all very good indeed.

The next day was a bit on the grey side, so we decided that a trip to Scone Palace and Gardens would be a good idea, and, it was.

It is quite big and impressive, it would have to be said. All we really knew about it before we visited, was that this was the place where lots of Scottish Kings were crowned and from whence the Stone of Destiny was stolen by the English.

What we see now, is, of course, not the way it always was. The current Palace is from the early 19th Century and really recast the older 16th Century Bishop's Palace on the site. That Palace had, itself, been rebuilt by the then owners, the Ruthven family in 1600.  Bishops used to live in Palaces near Abbeys, hence the current house retains the Palace name. The Abbey and original Palace had been destroyed at the time of the Reformation in 1559 by a mob led by John Knox. The Ruthvens fell out big time with King James VI and the estate was given to The Murray family and they have lived here for over 400 years. They were elevated to the peerage and adopted the name Mansfield and successive Lords Mansfield have played important roles in state affairs.

The Palace Gardens are extensive and have many fine trees, including this - The Douglas Fir. This was actually grown from seed brought back to Scotland  by David Douglas in 1825 and this species is named after him. He was born in the grounds of the Palace and became one of the greatest plant hunters of the age. He also discovered, the Noble Fir, the Grand Fir and the Sitka Spruce. Of course, the Native American peoples knew about the trees well before Douglas, but nothing existed in the New World unless it was "discovered" by someone from the Old World.

Near to the Fir is an old graveyard, which served the village of Old Scone, which Lord Mansfield completely removed as it spoiled his view and the setting of the Palace. He built new homes for his tenants, so it wasn't all bad.

This particular stone caught my attention because there is no punctuation and no spacing between words, almost as if the buyer of the stone was paying by the column inch! The mason couldn't spell hir either.

Some stones are being swallowed up by growing trees.

Our next point of interest was the Murray Star Maze. This was planted in a star shape with green and copper beech hedging designed to replicate the Murray tartan colours. Naturally, we split up into boys and girls to see who could get to the middle first.

It was a fairly daunting prospect as all you could see was the impenetrable hedge.

No! This is not what you think. Robin was just navigating his way past a puddle.

By now, the girls were well and truly lost. Robin and I were not.

We took no time at all to work our way around the outer part of the maze to reach the centre.

I don't know what attracted us here. 

It may have been the statue of Arethusa, who was a nymph in  Arcadia, beneath the sea. She was pursued by the river god Alphaeus. She eventually took the form of a water fountain, emerging on an island near Syracuse, Sicily. 

She was clearly a younger nymph than her two companions.

Susan is famous for thinking her breasts are the biggest in the world, but she seems to be a bit doubtful of that in this picture!

We walked a little more in the gardens and then went to find something to eat inside the Palace. It being Scone, Sharon and I were cultured enough to have a scone in Scone.

Robin and Susan had an altogether more vulgar Caramel Yum Yum!

Clearly my chat was not too riveting!

In an attempt to work off the cakes, Susan and Sharon ran up and down the stairs a few times.

We chapped on the Palace door and were admitted to go and wonder at the treasures within. DVS means David, Viscount Scone. I was expecting some fancy Latin phrase, rather than just the name of the householder!

Unfortunately, photography is not allowed, but take my word for it, the place was packed to the rafters with some very nice stuff.

You can even get married in the Long Gallery, where Kings have walked and where there is a replica of the organ from York Cathedral given to his wife by the then Lord Mansfield. As you do. I noticed that there was no price for a wedding on the website.

Once back outside, we just had to go and see the Replica Stone of Destiny on a low hill where all the Kings were crowned - well at least 42 of them.

Scone was always an important place and was once the capital of the Pictish Nation. When Kenneth MacAlpin united the Scottish peoples, he decided to be crowned at Scone, due to the history and tradition around the place. He apparently provided the stone for his crowning in 843. He was already King of Dal Riada and King of the Picts, so this was a big step for him and it needed to be done properly, so he needed a powerfully symbolic throne.

Eventually, it was accepted that you could not be King of the Scots, unless you were crowned at Scone. The hill where the stone throne was was called the Moot Hill and is said to have arisen as each King, before and after Kenneth MacAlpin, brought soil from their home turf and scattered it here, so that they were crowned, standing on their own land. The nobles did the same and so, the King could be said to be crowned while standing on the whole of Scotland.

Clearly, the Stone was immensely important to Scotland and when Edward I was trying to conquer the country, he decided to steal it away to Westminster. It is said that the Bishop of Scone knew of this plan and hid the Stone and replaced it with an imposter, which Edward took away. It was incorporated in the throne at Westminster and used in coronations up to and including Charles III. Famously, the Stone was stolen back by some Nationalist students, but it was recovered. Of course, nobody knows if the stone at Westminster is the real one or not.

All this history would normally mean that you couldn't change things, but the First Lord of Scone had his memorial housed within this small 17th Century chapel. On the place where Kings stood - the ego of it all.

His memorial is quite grand, though.

There are Peacocks everywhere, but none of them were displaying tail feathers.

Some were even white.

So, that was our visit to Scone Palace, which was really interesting and well worth spending the day. So much so, that we might well go back in the future.

Back to Forgandenny we went, walked the dog and then got ready for a meal out in Perth at 63 Tay Street, where we had all been once before.

Given the certainty of alcohol consumption, we got the bus into the city. We had, of course, all checked that we had our bus passes with us whilst we were having a glass of something cold at the house. Well, when I say all, I meant all except for Robin, who assumed that his pass would be where it always was, but, it wasn't. 

He had forgotten he had left it at home and was not allowed to forget that he had forgotten it.

He did get on the bus, though he had to pay. Which meant he could join us for a gin and tonic at The Venue, which was not exactly what we were looking for, but it had started to rain.

Luckily, the rain abated, allowing us to get to the restaurant in the dry. They serve a tasting menu with accompanying wine flight. It was outstanding. Again.

First up was some delicious, warm out of the oven bread and a Beurre Noisette. Beurre Noisette is more commonly seen as a sauce of melted butter with fish and meat dishes. If unsalted butter is warmed in a pan, it separates into butterfat and milk solids. The solids sink to the bottom and further heating will turn them brown and give them a nutty flavour. It can then be allowed to cool and the two components can be mixed to give you what we got to spread on our delightful bread.

This was soon followed by crispy oxtail. An oxtail broth with melting crispy oxtail, chanterelles, pickled shallots and a garlic croute, topped with Tarragon mayo, capers and tomato concasse. It was delicious with a glass of  Kelleriei Kalternn Kalterersee Schiava, which is a very light, cool Italian Tyrolean red wine. It was a revelation.

Our next course was a Smoked Salmon Risotto with allotment vegetables from an island in the Tay just outside the restaurant window. This was another very fine course and the white Grenache that came with it was excellent and unexpected - who knew you got white grenache? It was called Clos del Pinell, a bit like Sharon's Nana Pinnell, only different.

More fish - this time cured and pickled mackerel with a preserved lemon and quinoa salad and a strawberry gazpacho. This was really good and went very well with a French Syrah/Grenache rose from the Languedoc.

The main was corn fed chicken with pancetta, roast and pureed sweetcorn, chilli polenta, paprika popcorn and popcorn shoots. This really was outstanding and it came with a rioja  - Dominio de Berzal.

Delightful.

Pudding was called Cranachan, but it wasn't you know it.

Raisin and oatmeal cookies underneath raspberries, honeycomb ice cream, Scots Pine foam and Honeyberry Sherbet. It was fabulous with another grenache. This time a chilled Le Clot L'Origine Maury from the Rousillon. Not quite what you expect - a red wine with dessert, but it worked really well.

We decided we hadn't quite had enough, so we shared some cheese with some Tokaji for three of us and, just to be different, I had a Gewürztraminer, which I enjoyed, but Sharon said was not as good as the Tokaji.

In all a splendid meal and one we won't forget for some time. I know we will be back.

We took a taxi home, settled down with a night cap and then headed for bed. 

The Sunday morning was very pleasant and warm. We had a simple but tasty bacon and egg roll breakfast, before Susan and Robin headed off towards home.

Once we had sorted out a few things, we headed towards Leadketty to get some more fruit. Before doing that, however, we went for a nice walk in the woods. Kincladie Woods to be exact. They are just outside Dunning and they are a very nice semi-natural ancient woodland. Hardly any conifers or exotic species, just good natural old native trees.

I'm sure we saw them all.

We weren't far into the woods when we were surrounded by a myriad Long Tailed Tits, chirping away in the tree above us. We watched them for a while, before carrying on. You can just see one in the middle of the photo. They were very fidgety.

It was a very pleasant little wood.

It wasn't always like that. This long, straight ditch and bank is the remains of a Roman Marching Camp. It was huge - as big as 65 football pitches and it dates from the 1st and 2nd centuries. It was used for overnight stays or for longer periods by the Roman army on campaign. Archaeological evidence suggests the camp was used and re-used over decades.

Not only was the area used by the Romans. In the 17th Century, three witches and a wizard were burnt at the stake in the woods. Luckily, I only had the one witch with me.

We thought we might give Broadslap farm a look for fruit, but it had all gone by the time we got there. They did have tea and a chocolate and blackberry scone, which I felt was too good to miss. I was right, it was excellent.

We got our fruit at Leadketty and then went back to Forgandenny. Later in the afternoon, it was time to take Blue out for his second walk of the day. This is just to prove that we did look after him and that I actually did go on one or two of the walks as well.

This almost suggests that Sharon was running up the hill. Almost.

Then it was time for more food. I made a wee salad of griddled nectarines, olives, rocket, parmesan shavings and crispy prosciutto to start.

Then mixed pasta and Italian sausage, chilli and mixed peppers, with a white wine and parmesan sauce. The sausages are the real deal that I always buy when I'm in Perth from Provender Browns Deli. You can't get them in Inverness.

On  Monday morning we did a bit of housework, changing beds and stuff. Then in the afternoon, we took Sharon's mother, Bunty out for a cup of tea and some cake.

We went to Glendoik Garden Centre, which she likes. It would have to be said that the Rhubarb and Cherry cake was very good indeed.

We all had a slice of that and I'm pretty sure Bunty enjoyed it because there was none left for me to scavenge.

Once we had taken Bunty back to her home, we were back and it was soon time to think about dinner. Chris had somehow managed to catch a nice rainbow trout, so I filleted it and pan fried it with a shallot, caper, courgette and tomato salsa and some nice new potatoes from our garden that I had taken with us. It was delicious.

Tuesday morning was very warm and pleasant, so after Blue was walked, we had planned to visit the Japanese Garden near Yetts of Muckhart. Whilst the gardens are supposed to be well worth a visit, I have always been taken with the name of the place. Muc is Gaelic for pig and Muckhart is a pig yard. The yetts are from an old word for gates, indicating a narrow valley entrance near Muckhart. Luckily, I spotted that the garden was closed on Tuesdays before we got into the car! Who shuts on a Tuesday? I will have to wait for another day to get to the Yetts of Muckhart.

Plan B involved a trip into Perth and a visit to Branklyn Gardens instead. It may have been Plan B, but it did not disappoint.

We parked up next to this Buddleia bush, covered in bright Peacock butterflies. A good start.

Branklyn Gardens were created by John and Dorothy Renton a hundred years ago to surround their new Arts and Crafts House. They cover two acres and are filled with unusual plants grown from seed collected by various plant hunters. There are important collections of Meconopsis and Cassiope here and the gardens are well known for their rhododendrons and alpines.

The planting provides a fine setting for the lovely house.

The rhododendrons are well past, but there was a big range of Phlox, such as this one.

Whilst there is a lot to admire within the garden, it also affords fine views over Perth and beyond.

This is Kirengeshoma, an East Asian plant related to Hydrangeas.

Chinese astilbe, another east Asian plant generally found along river banks and shady streams. It thrives in shade, which might be handy for some parts of our garden!

Fuchsia magellanica Alba, a bit different from the more common brighter pink and purple fuchsias we are used to.

This intriguing thing is the fruit of Magnolia Fraseri, which is native to the Appalachian mountains of south east USA. The flower is large and white, but the fruit is bright red. It is named for John Fraser a famed botanist who lived from 1750 to 1811. He was the botanist for Catherine the Great! Even more amazing, he was born in Tomnacross, near Beauly!

Hydrangea, native to China.

Another Phlox.

Coincidentally, we arrived back at the house just as a shower began. Time for tea and cake overlooking the delightful lawn and garden.

A tea cosy! When was the last time you saw one of these, especially in a café? And, bone china!

Even better, it came with a very tasty cherry almond tart.

After another wee wander about, we left to do a bit of shopping and then we had a picnic lunch in the Greyfriars graveyard that we had visited a couple of days before. It was naturally very quiet and peaceful sitting in the sun.

Then it was back to the house to attend to Blue.

Afterwards we had a little snack in the garden with a gin - a spicy salsa with the remaining poppadoms from Robin's curry.

It really was very pleasant in the sun.

Dinner was a chiili I had made previously at home and brought down. I always make a salsa of avocado, shallot, tomato, chilli and pepper to top off my chilli. It brings a bit of freshness and zing to any chilli. I recommend it.

The next day was a bacon roll for breakfast and then it was time for us to go home after a really good time looking after Blue and entertaining Robin and Susan.