Gardening question: Is this outside? I’ve been given 4 of these and I am nervous about putting them out just now. Do you think I should wait until spring and then put them out? Kay says:  This lives outside all the year round – it’s a Christmas Hellebore ( I think). Dies down on in … More SPRINGTIME IS JUST AROUND THE CORNER

After all that rain, we deserve some fine weather in Dumbarton. Carolynn Bowman has been out and about walking near her home in Kirktonhill this evening. She brought home the goods in the form of these terrific sunset photographs and watched some ships pass on the River Clyde. The weather forecast on BBC CountryFile is … More RED SKIES OVER KIRKTONHILL …

Dumbarton High Street – I think that’s my Auntie Betty McDermott/Doyle (Oor Lizzie) with the coat over her arm. The guy in the bunnet was way ahead of his time. Mobile phones were never even invented then and saft hats were like hens’ teeth. Love the hairstyles of women at the bus stop. Across the road there was quite a queue at the Store Butcher’s, as always. Big demand for black pudding, links, a pun of mince, tripe, potted hough and square sliced and plain and pan loaves. Wonder what the occasion was that they put the flags out for? … More BUSY DAY WITH THE BUNTING OUT ON HIGH STREET

This nostalgic picture submitted to Facebook by Donald Chisholm brought back lots of memories and comments. Christina Hill said: “Great photo although I don’t recognise the houses to the far right” I was able to help there by telling her :  “That’s Oxhill Place. I used to know nearly every family who lived in Brucehill. But then I was the paper boy for Hart’s Shop on the Brae, Big Jake’s as it later became known. Fair bit of Castlehill there too. The exiles will love this picture. And the Ashy, the Coos’ Park, the Sawny and the Cliff. There were never that many cars in Firthview or any other street for that matter around Brucehill in the Fifties.
Bill Heaney … More DUMBARTON WEST END IN THE EARLY 1980s …