Well, I've been busy, busy, busy for the last wee while. Lots of Christmas shopping done, courtesy of the internet! I have done a bit of shopping at the local shops and various other ones, but I've managed to get lots of stuff online, which is good. I've even ordered a couple of things from America, and hopefully this year they'll arrive on time.

The weather the last couple of days has been pretty rough, to say the least, so LucyLu and MickeyBlue didn't really get out for any decent walks, coupled with waiting in for deliveries and the central heating not working properly. So, today we took them up to Dechmont Law (where the guy saw the UFO about 25 or 30 years ago) and they had a great run around there, and had lots of fun. As usual, they came back home tired, mucky and happy. I also returned home tired, mucky and happy.  We were very lucky cos we just missed the rain.

As the central heating has been playing up a bit, we're having to wait in tomorrow morning for the engineer to call and hopefully fix it (they've already been out three times in the last few weeks). The last three mornings we've got up to no central heating, which has been pretty rubbish.

Also tomorrow, I'll have to go out for some grocery shopping and I'm planning on getting the ingredients for making our Christmas cake. We've decided this year that we're going to go out for Christmas dinner, at a local Chinese restaurant. They do a Chinese buffet and they'll also put out some traditional Christmas dinner food. Then, on Boxing Day we're off through to Fiona's for a wee while, and that should be good fun.

This Friday I have my annual Christmas cards and jewellery party, and there will also be some handmade bags and hand knitted scarves. I'm hoping I'll have a fairly good turnout.

Anyway, gotta finish this off as I have some course work to do and also a couple of folk to phone to see if they'll be coming along on Friday night.

Night all..................................

Been a while

Well, it's been a while since I updated my blog. Been busy, busy, busy.

We went down south for a week or so at the end of September there. Fortunately, we picked the week that we had the amazing summer weather. Pretty fantastic huh? We had a lovely week, and visited a few museums and generally just had a relaxing time.

Our Lucy went to her new petsitter and from what we can gather she had an absolute ball. One-to-one with her petsitter, making new doggie friends and chillin' out of an evening with a full body and head massage (yes, LucyLu, not me!). The petsitter has fallen in love with our LucyLu and is happy to have her back any time she wants to visit.  We've met up with the petsitter a couple of times since, so Lucy hasn't missed her too much.

Well, since my last blog, we have a new addition to our household (a four-legged addition!).  LucyLu has a new big brother called Mickey, he's 7 years old (or thereabouts) and he's a black lab. Big guy, but pretty friendly.  He's settled in well, and loves eating, eating, eating, sleeping, playing with toys and, well, eating some more.  He has a very good appetite and the tub of dried dog food that would normally last me about 7-10 days is now lasting me barely 2 1/2 days.

Unfortunately Mickey had a bit of an upset tum last week, and a couple of mornings we had a major clear-up operation (actually, that should say I, not we) but enough said of that.  His first trip to the vet and a few quid lighter we now have a settled tum (and Mike paid the bill!).

We had him off his lead today (not intentionally, he slipped his collar!) and he zoomed straight over to play with Lucy and her Zinger (yes, she's a good girl, she shared her Zinger).  They had fun running around at Bankton Mains for a half hour or so and then we continued our walk, came home, had a cuppa and some lunch. 

Oh, and today I did a pirouette in the mud and came home all mucky and muddy.  All mucky clothes are now in the wash and I'm now going to head for the shower.

I've been a bit under the weather lately, and am still a bit tired and headachy so tonight I'm going to have an early night with my lovely new Kindle and read some books and enjoy a bedtime cup of tea. I've been struggling to get up in the morning, so hopefully an early night will get me sorted out once and for all.

Mike suggested that I should take it easy and take a little time out to relax. So, I suggested that he pay for a nice spa day for me ('cos I'm worth it) and even sent him a link for a local Spa (in Broxburn) and even gave him the link for a couple of nice treatments I'm sure I would enjoy.  So far, he hasn't even mentioned having opened the email.

Oh, the news here is that we have a nice new Hobbycraft shop opened up in Livingston. So, I've been sussing out all their jam-making equipment cos this winter I fancy making some home made jams etc. I've suggested that I draw up the list and Mike buys it for my Christmas. So far I haven't had a very positive or encouraging response from him, but I'm still working on it.

Now that winter's almost upon us, I've been making some home-soup.  I made some leek and potato soup at the weekend and tonight / tomorrow I'm going to make some yummy lentil and bacon soup (I just pick out all the bacon and dump it into Mike's bowl). And I thought later in the week I'd make some tomato and veg soup which is always nice. I also fancy making some tomato soup. I'm not awfully keen on cream of tomato (but Mike loves it) and several years ago I had some very nice tomato soup, which was home made (not by me) and I'm going to try to give that a go. I'm still going to make a Christmas Cake this year, and also a Christmas Pudding. I also fancy doing some other stuff, but not sure what exactly.  I'm also planning on stockpiling some tins of food (soup, spag bol [yuk! but Mike likes it] and stuff) just in case we have a bad winter again.  At least this time I won't have to go to work in the bad weather ... shades of the morning I was driving along the Craigiehall road with no other tyre tracks to guide me, the same day that they closed the camp just before lunchtime (I finished at 1 o'clock) and I thought I wasn't going to get home from work ... that was the same day that Bob insisted I take his huge army jacket home with me (came down to my knees) just in case I got stuck en-route!

I've been getting stuck into my parapsychology course and am really enjoying it. Helping me to get my favourite subject into perspective.  And it's nice to communicate with like-minded people who don't look at me as if I'm a bit weird.

Because I haven't been up to much lately, on account of not feeling good, I've been cracking on with my crochet. For those of you who don't know, I'm making a huge wooly blanket for the bed. I reckon that by the time it's finished it'll have cost me about £100 (haven't told Mike that yet). Only problem is that when I'm working on it, it lies over my lap / legs and I end up getting very, very hot.

We've got the fence in the garden finished off (courtesy of Mickey climbing the 6' fence at Dogs Trust) and hopefully the garden is now Mickey-proof.  We've also had some builders round and we're waiting for estimates for the new room we hope to put on at the back of the house, at the kitchen.  We're hoping the work will be started in the spring and finished for the summer ... fingers crossed please!


Well, as Forrest Gump says ... that's all I've got to say about that!

Bye for now folks and happy reading..............

Summer is over ... Autumn is here! (and my usual weekend ramblings!)

Well, been trying to get around to typing up my blog for a wee while, but as many of you may know, I've been busy, busy, busy decluttering.  Now, this is good news cos I can now actually use the end bedroom (Ken has been down to stay, and then the following weekend Laura came to stay for the weekend and Lily will be staying over sometime in the near future). So, it'll still be busy, busy, busy.  I've also got the home office sorted now and for the first time in probably 6 - 12 months I can actually use the desktop PC! YAY! It's so much easier to type using the desktop and keyboard than it is using the laptop (or even my phone!).  So my first task has been to update the blog.

Clearing the rooms has been a bit of a mammoth task, however, it's all done and dusted now.  We've dumped lots of stuff up at the recycling centre, I've got one box of videos and four boxes of books for the charity shop, two boxes of papers for shredding (in addition to what's already been shredded) one box of papers for the recycling bin (two bins going out tomorrow, absolutely stacked full of papers, shredded papers and ordinary household recycling stuff). My work here is done, as the lady on the PaddyBingo (!?!) ... (who invented that name?!?)  advert says. That said, my work here is done, but poor Mike still has some stuff to look at in his filing cabinet and four boxes of folders and stuff which he needs to find somewhere to 'file'. But, as I said, my work here is done .......................

We're hoping to go away sometime in the near future, so we went to see another petsitter. We bumped into Caroline when we were walking up at Linhouse Circular walk and her dog ended up walking with us and Lucy simply raced between Caroline (who was walking faster than Mike and I) and us. Back at the cars we struck up a conversation and as a result Lucy will be going to stay with her sometime for her autumn holidays.  I didn't have problems with the previous petsitter, but some people I'd chatted to had heard various stories etc (including one dog going awal), so I decided that I'd start looking for another sitter. Caroline visited us here at home yesterday and clearly Lucy thought she was just simply wonderful! So, today we visited Caroline at her home and Lucy just made her wee self right at home ... has decided on her seat, and even talked the petsitter into putting her bed (Lucy's bed, that is!) beside the livingroom window (and radiator) so that she can look out the window as and when she wants to. 

So, all we need to do now is sort out when we want to go away, hopefully sometime before Christmas would be useful. But that's Mike's  task ... sorting out suitable dates, locations, etc, etc. I'm also hoping he picks a week when the weather is ok, cos I understand that it's supposed to turn wintery around mid-October. We could be going away with our winter clothes, snow boots, parka etc, not an ideal situation.

Cos I'm on the desktop PC, I now have access to some old photos.   

Here are a couple of photos of our Wee Holly.  These were taken down at Yellowcraigs a few years ago. That's Holly sprinting along the sand, through the muddy bits and some seeweed and stuff.  She didn't actually go into the water ... those who knew Holly will know that she didn't do water!

 This photo was taken when we were down at Exmouth a few years ago. The weather was beautiful (as it usually is when we're down there).  When we're down there, Mike tries to get a chance to meet up with some of his extended family. More often than not when we're down there, we use the caravan, or nowadays when we don't tow the van any more, we use our motorvan.  Over the years we've stayed in the van, occasionally at the travel inn at Exeter services (only a few miles from Exmouth, and right beside Harry Ramsdens (which suits Mike just fine), sometimes at an old cob farmhouse at Woodbury, along with a herd of dairy cattle.

One a couple of occasions, however, Nigel has kindly put us up at his hotel, The Ashton Court Hotel, on the seafront.  The room we were in had a fantastic view over the estuary and in the moonlight it was a pretty amazing sight. Being a true Glaswegian lass, I felt that I was in somewhere exotic like Costa Del Sol. (Apologies to anyone who likes Costa Del Sol ... I've never been there, so I can only imagine it looks like Exmouth at night. The view was amazing, and it was lovely to get up early in the morning, watch scene with early morning joggers, dog walkers etc. All good fun.

Now these two photos of our Lucy were taken at Nairn when we had our first motorvan. Lucy loved it there as the site was right beside a wood, and she loved walking through the woods, with all the smells, sounds and stuff that little puppy doggies like.

 Of course, whilst on holiday Lucy had to try to find exciting ways of passing her time. She would sometimes just look around watching what was happening, hoping that a passing camper would toss her a slice of bacon, or an odd sausage (or pizza, or anything eatable ... anything, except for dry dog food). So she'd sit or stand around just waiting for things to happen.  Then when nothing exciting happened, she made her own excitement.  In these two "diggin' it" photos, our lucy is wearing a very snazzy and fetching blue collar.  It was a new collar, just bought for her shortly before we went off on holiday.

Well, Lucy being Lucy, shortly after these two photos were taken, she broke her lovely blue collar (clearly she actually wanted a pink one, and was making a point that Mummy had got the wrong collar!). Anyway, to cut a long story short, Lucy made her own amusement. She's a very intelligent and industrious wee doggie, and clearly in these photos she had decided that she'd had enough of Nairn and was, in fact, going to try to dig her way to Australia.  Or perhaps she was trying to dig up the tree that her wire rope is fastened too.  I'm not sure which, but suffice to say, she didn't succeed with either reaching Australia, or digging up the tree!

In contrast to Lucy being a rascal and getting up to all sorts of mischief.  Our wee Holly is showing just what a wee angel she was by lying quietly just minding her own business and watching the world go by.  She was a good wee lamb (unlike Rascal Lucy!), and she just spent her days lazing around, occasionally allowing passing campers to give her a pat or a cuddle (now sweeties please!), going for short strolls to sniff around the trees, blades of grass. Eat an occasional sweetie (only if given to her by either Daddy or Mummy please ... don't take sweeties from strangers, thank you very much!). She just lazed arouond and when the going got tough, or when it got to hot / cold / windy / wet, well then, she just headed back into the van and got herself comfy on one of the seats, with her superior and "I'm an old lady and I can do as I like" look. 
Oh, and of course, she had to have her daily weetabox to keep her strength up!

And finally, here are a couple of photos of Mike and myself. These were taken by Ken up around the Aviemore area, so far as I recall. I think that this was the day we went up the funicular railway.  And yes, this was summer and it looks like we're off camping in winter. You'll notice that Mike is holding down the motorvan and also holding me just is case we were to get blown away. It was a good day, and it was nice to get a chance to meet up with Ken and Kath. And as I recall we had a meal at the restaurant.  I think I even bought a couple of souviners until Mike took my purse off me!

Fortunately for Lucy and Holly, they were both cuddled up in the van, and so didn't have to brave the wild summer weather. 
That said, it had been a good day, and it was really good to get to spend some time with Ken and Kath, even if the weather was dreadful. It could have been worse, I'm sure it could have been.
In case anyone is interested, that's our old Roller Team van, and we traded that in last year for the Chausson(sp?)Welcome 72 that we now have. Better van, better layout, more space etc, etc. And we no longer have to make up the bed on account of the Chausson having an island bed! Yay!

Well, clearly I'd better go and get the dinner on, or Mike and Lucy will starve! But before I go, for those who're doing the Pay if Forward 2011 Project, I have started on my gifts (Perfectly Pink or Pretty Purple) and I do hope that you're not disappointed.  Suffice to say, there's a lot of work going into the gifts, but I plan on having them ready for my Christmas Cards / Jewellery party at the end of October / beginning of November.  Failing that, if they're not ready by then, they'll be ready by Christmas!

Anyway, grumbly tummy calling ... and as Forrest Gump says ... that's all I've got to say about that!

Yes sir, I can boogie ...........................

Yes sir, I can boogie, but I need a certain song………………………………

Shootin’ the breeze … blowin’ in the wind … gone with the wind……….

Autumn is here and it’s a pretty breezy day out there today so I’m settling down to do some stuff around the house.  However, before starting on housework I thought I’d spend some time updating my blog.  So, as usual, here are some of my ramblings about things that I like.

The words of a nice song:

     I say goodbye to all my sorrows
     And by tomorrow I'll be on my way
     I guess the Lord must be in New York City

            (Harry Nilsson – I guess the Lord must be in New York City)

And another nice song:
     Dreams are nothing more than wishes
     And a wish is just a dream you wish to come true

          (Harry Nilsson - The Puppy Song)

I like listening to music, particularly the oldies but goodies.  Timewarp 60s is my favourite, but I also like the 70s music, some of the 80s stuff and lots of the 50s stuff.  I sometimes wish I could sing quite well, but sadly I don’t.  I remember quite a few years ago, Arlene was visiting us with a friend. I was in the kitchen doing stuff, and singing along to the music on my little cd player.  Arlene’s friend asked what the strange noise was and Arlene replied (with a straight face I believe), “oh, that’s just Isobel singing”. Clearly Arlene was used to the noise and thought nothing of it.  Not sure how long that young man remained in her life, but I think my singing must have scared him off!  In my mind I’m a superb singer, at least opera standard if not better, but clearly this is not a belief shared by others.  Fortunately Mike doesn’t make comment when I sing along, but then his singing voice is probably worse than mine! Well, I think it is anyway, and that’s about all that counts…………….

And now for some words of wisdom:

Thinking is the hardest work there is, which is probably the reason why so few engage in it.  (Henry Ford)

In a dream you can do anything … Veronica M Hay

And a couple of nice words:

Ethereal :

Extremely delicate and light and may seem too perfect for this world.

Heavenly, spiritual, otherworldly.

Intangible, of the celestial spheres.

Intangible:

Unable to be touched or grasped.

Not having physical presence.

Not able to be perceived by the senses.

Memories:

 Mr Blue by Mike Preston … the first single bought for our first record player (probably around 1960 but Ken or Fiona could confirm the year).

Back in the summer of ’69 … those were the best days of my life.

There’s an awful lot you can tell about someone by their shoes.   (Forrest Gump)

The purple dust of twilight time…………..

And now onto other ramblings: 

Well, onto other things now!  Yesterday I decided that I was a bit fed up with my hair being grey.  So, I decided to use a home colour that I bought a while ago.  My hair now looks a bit of a strange colour.  I’m sure Jennifer and Sarah would think it’s quite chic and modern, I think it looks a bit orange, or maybe it’s like the inside of a Crunchie bar.  Suffice to say that I had difficulty with the whole process.  It was one of those kits which has the bottle with the little nozzle that you use to put the colour in at the roots of your hair.  Now, I thought this sounded really, really easy … how stupid was I?!?!?  It would be easy if you were ambidextrous and had an extra pair of hands.  Oh, and it would also be helpful if you didn’t wear glasses.  In an effort to make sure that I didn’t get gunk and stuff on my glasses I decided it would be prudent to take them off.  And it was.  Unfortunately it meant I couldn’t really see what I was doing.  Coupled with being totally unable to get the stuff in at the roots at the back of my head … well, enough said about that.  So, to sort it all out, I just squirted the colour all over my hair and sort of squished it all in.  Overall, bearing in mind my ability level,  I’d say my efforts were fairly successful, however, I’m not too sure about the colour.  At least I did have the good sense to use a semi –permanent colour which washes out after something like 24 washes.  Which means that I won’t be too embarrassed when I next go to the hairdresser cos it should all have washed out by then!

The other day, Lucy was charging at the dining room window to see whoever had dared to ring the doorbell. On the way, Mike put his foot out to slow her down, but Lucy took appropriate evasive action and starting jumping onto the foot stool early … sadly she overshot and her little nose bumped right into the window. But she’s fine now, squashed up nose, but fine and dandy. She still jumps up at the window, so clearly no lasting damage or harm done (apart from to her pride).  Then the other night (Sunday evening) Lucy was charging around the house trying to see the little black cat that lives next door.  This little cat hasn’t yet learned that Lucy is quick on her feet, but unfortunately for Lucy she was inside the house and the cat was outside. Anyway, I digress. Lucy was charging around the house from window to door, to window, to door etc (we just stand out of the way in case she charges into us) when she must have tweaked her wee leg . So, she limped a bit, got cuddles, got extra sweeties and more cuddles and stuff.  She then had selective limping (similar to men having selective hearing) … she limped when appropriate ie, when passing the sweetie cabinet.

So, she had a quiet evening, bedtime sweeties and then tucked up in her wee beddies.  Yesterday, I decided she’d have a quiet day, so she didn’t go out zinger chasing, we went for a quiet walk at Linhouse water.  

(Lucy, my beautiful puppy ...
in a world gone made you have the ability to make everyone smile)

Lucy charged around at a sedate pace (when compared with zinger chasing speed), and all was well with her world, until I tossed the zinger … zoom, zoom, zoom, and then wee limpy-dan Lucy came limping back. Then to make her day worse, she was a bit poorly yesterday evening (well, she will go out eating grass) so she was cuddled and at bed time she only had one sweetie, and cuddled and snuggled into her  wee beddies.  So, today, she’s having a day of enforced rest and will only be out and about in the garden (after I carefully check for hidden cats) and she can go for a quiet and sedate walk (without zinger) tomorrow and if all is well, she might get going out zinger chasing on Thursday. 

As most of you know, I got a Kindle for my birthday. I’ve got lots of books on it, and lots of them were free (I always wanted to read the classics, and all of them were free!).  I’ve also got some weight loss books there too and I got one which is a life-coaching weight loss book. I've got some meditation and visualisation books and also some psychic books.  It's great having one little item which has LOTS of books on it. I have to say that I LOVE MY KINDLE. Anyway, I digress ... as I said, I've got a little life coaching book on weight loss and I'm aspiring to follow the advice and guidance provided in this little book.  Read on ......

So, I’ve got myself a pretty little notebook (from Tesco) to write down all my motivational stuff.
I started writing the notebook yesterday but this new-fangled system hasn’t worked too well so far as I finished off a packet of chocolate covered fudge that I bought on Saturday and also had a couple of crispie cakes  … oh, and a glass of wine! But, I did walk Lucy and use my treadmill AND today I feel very positive and motivated.

So, this little book that I bought got me to thinking.  Perhaps now that I’m retired I should think about becoming a life coach.  I’m sure my words of wisdom could be useful so maybe I’ll look into it. I wonder if people would pay me to give them advice?  I think this idea warrants me looking into it a bit further.  I could couple it with something like colour therapy and stuff (I like stuff).  I’d be interested to hear everyone’s thoughts.  Now, I think it’s something that might make me a bit of money, and that’s gotta be good, don’t you think?

 Or maybe I should write a book with all my little thoughts and inspirational / motivational quotes and stuff.  That could be a good idea.  I could sit out in our little summerhouse and write away all day, supported by calming fruit teas and the occasional glass of wine.  Now, that really sounds like a good plan! 

(summerhouse framed in the weeping cherry tree : spring 2011)

 

I do need to think about a grand plan so that I don’t vegetate now that I’m retired.  I really need to think about what I’d like to do.  I’ve had lots of ideas … online business (crystals etc), start sewing stuff for my online business, write my novel, write a psychic development workbook, motivational book, run a psychic development circle, parapsychology course, learn some therapies to complement my Reiki, learn hypnotherapy, card / ribbons readings etc.  Lots of ideas, but I really need to get started on what’s to do.  I don’t want to waste my early retirement by just blundering around each day without focus or plans and stuff.  I’m sure there’s lots I could be doing, I just need to get my thinking cap on and get started.

Yes sir, I can boogie, but I need a certain song.

You know, I’m just sittin’ here shootin’ the breeze and wondering about life.  If I was sat here 100 years ago (ok so I’d be 156 years old) I wouldn’t have my nice pink laptop, my Kindle (in a nice pink leather cover with integrated light), my iPhone sitting in the iPhone docking station and playing timewarp 60’s music on the iPod app of the iPhone, I wouldn’t be sat beside a nice warm radiator, listening to the TV playing in the living room (where Mike’s sat watching informative TV), planning what I’m going to do with the rest of the day, my life and other stuff. What would my life have been like if I was still 56, but living 100 years ago? Would I be worrying about the possibility of war that was to become a reality within three years … the war to end all wars that would be over by Christmas, and would eventually become known as The Great War. Not only that, but by the time that war was over, would I realise that there would be another war starting in just over 20 years’ time? Would I have liked that world? Would I live through it all wishing I was living 100 years in the future?  Would I be able to comprehend the changes that would happen in the world over the next 100 years?  I’ve always been fascinated by both world wars, but I have to say that I wouldn’t have liked to have had to live through them. I like the easy life I have now, and I appreciate everyone and everything in my life and that all is well with my world.  I think this is the main reason why I feel I should be doing more with my life than I am just now.  It’s not really a case of “is this all there is” it’s more a case of “the truth is out there” and I should go and find it. I just need a plan … doesn’t need to be a great or perfect plan … it just needs to be a plan!

I need to sort out what my legacy to the world should be………………… it’s important to leave my mark on the world.

Well, better get this blog uploaded and get on with some stuff today. 

Yes sir, I can boogie, but I need a certain song …..  and that’s all I’ve got to say about that!

Some more ramblings

Well been a wee while since I updated my blog.  I had hoped to upload some photos, but for some obscure and unknown reason the photos are uploading upside down, wrong way round etc so I may only manage to add one photo the right way round.

Well a couple of weeks ago Fiona and I met up with our cousin Eileen in the Willow Tea Rooms in Buchanan Street in Glasgow. It was fun to meet up with a member of our extended family that I don't think I've ever met before.  It didn't seem strange, as I thought it would, it seemed as though we'd known each other for years!  One of the nice waitresses even took our photo for us:

 From left to right : Eileen, Moi, and Fiona.  

After a bite of lunch and a cuppa, we went strolling around Glasgow looking to see if we could spot Brad Pitt who was hanging around Glasgow shooting a movie, sadly I can't remember the name of the movie though. But, I did take this photo of a SWAT van ... all rather exciting stuff for a little countly bumpkin like me ...

It was all rather exciting stuff and seeing the SWAT van made up for not seeing Brad Pitt ... at least for me anyway, perhaps Fiona and Eileen would disagree.

So, what else has been happening round here? Well, my birthday BBQ was good fun, even if it was a bit chilly and damp. A little vino was enjoyed by some of us, in particular me.  Not that I had much to drink, but what I did have I enjoyed.  We had lots of yummy birthday cake and I had hoped to upload some photos, but they're all turned every which way but the right way. So, apologies if you have to look sideways:

Lucy and Zinger birthday cake courtesy of Sarah:  

Ooh ... there's a surprise, it came out the right way round! Yay for me!!!!! 

Yummy GIGANTIC cupcake birthday cake courtesy of Valerie:

Clearly I'm getting the hang of this uploading photos the right way round thing ... smart eh?!?!?

Last week we had Ken down to stay for a couple of nights cos he had a hospital appointment in Edinburgh.  On the night he arrived I made a most excellent shepherds pie and it went down a storm.  Lucy had a little bowl of mince that evening for her dinner and the following evening she had the leftover sheppie pie for her dinner.  It was nice to have a couple of days with Ken, even if it was overshadowed a bit by the stress of his hospital appointment.  That said, on the Friday morning before he went home he came along with me when I took Lucy for her daily constitutional ... Ken's comment during the walk was "cor, look how fast she is!"  Clearly he was very impressed with Lucy's Zinger chasing and catching skills and Lucy was in her element showing her speed and expertise. So, a good time was had by all! 

Anyway, now that I'm on a roll with this uploading photos thing, here are some photos of our Lucy modelling her new handmade Willow's Wisps Doggie Scarf :

Oh what a beautiful wee lass she is!

Now ... doesn't she look smart! She got this yesterday at the Dogs Trust Open Day when she came along for the last hour or so. First stop was to say hello to Auntie Fiona and cousins Eileen and Jennifer as they manned (or should that we womanned?) the Willow's Wisps table. Then she made her way along to see Siobhan at the DG table and then on to me at the tarot table.  No doubt as Mike walked around with her she would have got some very admiring looks.  I'm hoping the she'll now appear on the Willow's Wisps web page.  Of course if anyone would like her pawprint, well then, that could be arranged. 

So, yesterday was a pretty cold day, and I spent three hours in the afternoon sitting outside in the cold giving tarot cards readings to help raise funds for the West Calder Dogs Trust (where we got Lucy).  I'm quite pleased that I raised about £80 for the Trust.  But I did get a nice bunch of flowers and a DG baseball cap so that more than made up for it. I also got a lovely little thank you note from the Dogs Trust doggies and that's been put on on the fridge so that I can read it as and when I want to.  It's just a bit of a pity that the first year Willow's Wisps had a table there, it was probably the coldest it's been.  Last year was so warm that I eventually had to unzip my fleece!

After I got home yesterday afternoon from the open day, I was pretty well chilled to the bone. My little tootsies were like blocks of ice ... pretty bad for a summer's day, don't you think?  So, I got all snuggled up with my fleecy slanket and had a nice cup of hot chocolate and a little cake and watched the most excellent of all musicals GREASE.  The greatest ever musical.  Graeme, Eileen, Jennifer and Sarah will all tell you what a fantastic film it is ... mind you, they may not have watched it since the last time I babysat them all!

Here are a couple of other nice photos, which I think you'll all like.  The first one I took yesterday evening from the back door.  It was a beautiful sunset (after a cold, wet and miserable day) and although it's a good photo, it doesn't do the actual view justice.  But here it is:

 

And finally, here's a picture of a little fridge magnet I got whilst I was in America:

And I think that about says it all!

So, in true Forrest Gump style, and until next time  ... that's all I've got to say about that!

Abstract ramblings for a Saturday Afternoon

Man is but a product of his thoughts. What he thinks, he becomes. 

Life isn't about finding yourself. Life is about creating yourself. (George Bernard Shaw).

Make the most of yourself, for that is all there is of you. (Ralph Waldo Emerson).

Happiness is a perfume you cannot pour on others without getting a few drops on yourself. (RWE)

It's impossible to speak highly enough of the virtues, the dangers and the power of shared laughter. (Francoise Sagan) 

  What a delight it is 

      When, of a morning, 

  I get up and go out 

     To find in full bloom a flower 

  That yesterday was not there

(Tachibana Akemi)

Well, it started off a beautiful morning.  Lucy and I went our for our daily constitutional. I strolled around Bankton Mains and Lucy raced about stretching her little leggies and showing off that she's truly earned her middle name of 'Born to Run'. She raced about the field, running and hiding in the trees, losing her beloved Zinger and retrieving it again from its' hiding place.  She's a smart wee cookie at finding her Zinger (usually, we'll ignore for now the incident at Luce Bay where there's a Zinger Ring riding along on the crest of a wave).  We got back home safely before the rain came on. 

We had another Circle meeting yesterday and I think it went very well.  Next month it's going to be a week early (on the 26th) and we're going to do some psychometry. At least that's the plan, so long as everyone remembers to bring something along with them.  Julie and I enjoyed a bottle of wine afterwards, and Siobhan had a nice cup of tea.  Unfortunately, Fiona had to leave sharpish (mind you we ended up finishing later than we should have!). It was a good evening and many of the things picked up were quite relevant.  Siobhan has kindly offered to take over leading the meditation etc, to allow me to sit in Circle.  I'm quite happy with this idea cos it gives me a chance to take part in the actual Circle itself. Meanwhile, Sarah seems to have noticed some perfume in her flat ... hmm, interesting. Could be a useful training session for the Circle, or maybe we need our 'Ghostbusters' team of experienced mature ladies! 

There is a saying:;

There are two kinds of people: 

Those who say, "I will believe it when I see it."

And those who say, "To see it, I know I must believe it."

While I'm on the topic of mature ladies, I quite like this t-shirt and matching bag (I suppose that this would be the modern version of twinset and pearls!). I wonder if anyone will buy me them for my birthday?

What do you think? Pretty nifty stuff! And they're yellow. I like yellow, its a happy little colour, don't you think? 

I was clearing out some of the boxes of stuff we brought home with us from when we cleared out Mike's mum's house.  There are lots and lots of good sheets which I can use in the motorvan. There are some pyrex plates and things that I can use, and I've also unpacked some of the ornaments.  I came across a westclox clock, still in it's box and in working order. Sadly, we're no longer used to listening to the tick-tock, tick-tock, tick-tock, of a wind up clock, so I wound it up once and now it's just sitting on the sideboard looking retro-chic and pretty.  But, I also came across this interesting little gem:  

It's clearly been well used, and I wondered if perhaps I should use it for the basis of a Julie & Julia type blog. Only problem is that I'm slightly fussy about my food. I don't really fancy (in fact I won't be) trying things like: 

bloater paste; bloater toast; dried haddock(???) in milk; fried smelts; digestible (EH???) fried sausage; bone soup; Delhi broth (gotta be kiddin' me man!); marrow soup; prune puree; hamgoree; dog fish pie (yeah right!); and butter beans with fried suet pudding. Delhi broth??? Delhi broth??? Are they kiddin' me??? A sure fire way to end up with Delhi belly I think! YUK! YUK! AND DOUBLE YUK!    I DON'T THINK SO!!!!!!!!! And, there's other stuff in there that I wouldn't even type the names of ... clearly designed to put you off food for life! Hmm ... maybe the J&J blog isn't such a great idea after all. I think if I lived way back in 1935, I'd be very, very slim and also very, very hungry. That said I'd fit into all those fabby retro 1930's and 1940's dresses which I think looked absolutely super-fabby!

I'm hoping to go through to the market thingy in Glasgow that Fiona's going to be selling her bags at.  I'm hoping to talk Mike into running me through there. He's got a better sense of direction than I have and it's been years since I was driving around the Glasgow area. The streets are all changed into one-way, no-way, pedestrian and stuff and not only would I probably get lost, but I'd probably run out of petrol as well.  Yes, as it's almost my birthday, I reckon that Mike should run me though there.

I think I'm being taken out for my birthday lunch on Tuesday. Not sure where, but so long as I'm able to have a small glass of wine and a pudding, then I'll be happy! Happy, happy, happy!

Well, I think that's probably about all for now folks ... feel free to comment on my blog (lets me know that someone's actually reading it!) ... happy reading!

Oh ... Almost there ... ... ... 

Birthdays are nature's way of telling us to eat more CAKE!

Birthdays are good for you. Statistics show that the people who have the most live the longest!

I believe in loyalty. When a woman reaches an age she likes, she should stick with it. (Eva Gabor)

The older I get, the better I was.

A grandparent is old on the outside but young on the inside.

If you don't learn to laugh when you're young, you won't have anything to laugh about when you're old!

Retirement can be a great joy ... if you can figure out how to spend time without spending money.

The simplest toy, one which even the youngest child can operate ... is called a grandparent. (Sam Levenson)

And finally ... my personal favourites:

Grandmothers are just antique little girls. Yes ... Old Gals Rule!

   ***   Do not regret growing older. It is a privilege denied to many.   ***

That's all folks ... see ya next time!

Or, as Forrest Gump would say ... that's all I've got to say about that!

Been a while ..........

Well, it's been a wee while since I updated my blog so I thought tonight I'd get that sorted. It's been a fairly busy couple of weeks. Last week we took the van to the caravan site at New England Bay down Stranraer way. We had fairly good weather. Sunny most days but fairly breezy pretty much all of the time. We really just bummed about the van and took Lucy for walks along the beach. Lucy had a super time, playing with The Zinger and chasing the waves as the tide was coming in and going out. Now Lucy found this chasing waves game really, really, really good fun, catching the wave and swallowing as much as possible. Even better was to chase the waves with The Zinger in her mouth, and catch the wave without losing The Zinger. She had a whale of a time. Unfortunately while playing the chasing the waves game, she put The Zinger down in the water and it's now floating around Luce Bay! Oh well, I guess some other we doggie has got a new toy and is enjoying playing with Lucy's Zinger!

I read three books while we were away. Charles Street by Danielle Steele (it was ok, not one of her best efforts), Untied which is Meredith Baxter's autobiography (interesting) and the Stephen King book of short stories (it was ok but I've read better). So, basically we had pretty much of a chillin' in the breeze sort of week. I did enjoy the occasional glass of wine.

I'm working on the planning and organising for my birthday BBQ on the 13th. I just hope it's not too windy and that it doesn't rain! Sarah's making my birthday cake and I'm really excited about that and can't wait to see what she comes up with. Mike is being ever so organised about my pressie this year. He's already been out and bought me TWO pressies. AND I didn't have to order them online myself. I know what both pressies are and I'm really, really pleased with them both. We were through at Costco the other day to check prices of burgers and stuff and I've bought lots of paper plates and plastic tumblers and stuff. I'm really looking forward to the BBQ and I just hope we remember to check out that it works ok. So it's starting to become organised.

It's been a busy week this week. Today a I met up with one of my friends from Lloyds (Lesley, who does my annual Christmas cards and jewellery party) at Frankie & Benny's in South Queensferry for some lunch. I was really good and DIDN'T order pepperoni pizza and I DIDN'T have a sweet. Mind you, I did have a LARGE glass of wine. We had a nice lunch and a nice catch-up chat. It was good to see her.

On Friday I'm meeting up with Irene, who's home from Spain for a few weeks. We're going to catch-up over a morning of coffee and retail therapy. Should be a pleasant few hours. I may even buy myself a new pair of shoes and a new handbag. It'll be nice to see Irene again cos I haven't seen her for a while.

Well guys, it's half 10 so I'm heading off to bed. So g'night all!

Down New England Bay Way .....

Well we're down here in sunny New England Bay.  It's a lovely wee site (we were here last year for the shake-down with the new motorvan) and it's nice to be back. Today has been beautiful and sunny all day. If the fresh (chilly!) breeze had dropped a bit it would have been a beautiful summer's day. 
Tomorrow we're going to go to a lighthouse and later on we'll go to a castle. Now for those of you who don't go motor-caravanning, you won't appreciate that days / trips out have to coincide with the days you have to fill up with fresh water and empty the waste water tanks. Hence the reason we're going out tomorrow. 
I have to say that it's been rather nice to sit at the van and just relax and read a book. Although, it's not all about sitting around doing nothing! Li'll Lucy-two-shoes has her regular 4 or 5 walks along the beach kickin' up sand and generally havin' a good ol' time to  herself. 
I'm hoping that I'll get a bit of time to work on my book and also work on some stuff for the circle. Of course I'll also have to make some time for drinking wine and eating chocolate. 
I think the weather here has to be quite good over the next week. It would be good if the breeze would drop, but more importantly, I hope it doesn't rain. Much as I love caravanning / motor caravanning it's not pleasant with a soggy wet pooch on board and you have to live with 'eau de smelly wet dog' as the air freshener!
Will write more soon ... meantime ... that's all I've got to say about that. 

Some abstract ramblings about a beautiful Saturday here on Planet Earth!

Saturday Morning:

It's Saturday morning and we had a Circle meeting yesterday evening. Only the three of us but it was a good evening. I always sleep well after the Circle. So today I'm feeling chirpy and cheery, positive and inspirational.

Whilst we were in Chicago, Diane and I  had a wee jaunt along to Border Books (yes, they still have a couple of BB stores in her area). I bought myself a little book called Whispers of Blessings and have picked out a couple of nice little verses from it, and thought I'd share them with you all. Apologies to those who've already read them on Facebook, but if something's worth reading, it's worth reading twice!

In the Valley of Love:
'Tis a gift to be simple, 'tis a gift to be free,
'Tis a gift to come down to where we ought to be -
And when we find ourselves in the place just right,
'Twill be in the valley of love and delight.

Count the Good Things:
When we start to count flowers,
   we cease to count weeds;
When we start to count blessings,
   we cease to count needs;
When we start to count laughter,
   we cease to count tears;
When we start to count memories,
   we cease to count years.

 Borders Books:

That's me in the photo on the left just about to go into the Borders Books at Orland Park.   You know, I do miss Border Books.
It was always such a treat to go along and browse the shelves, picking out a book here, a book there. Just browsing and touching the books was such a wonderful way to pass a couple of hours. Oh, chocolate heaven for book lovers!
And they serve good coffee. Mike has spend many an hour supping their coffee whilst I browsed the shelves for the perfect, but elusive book, to add to my collection. I also bought many a pack of Tarot Cards there as well.

Later in the Day: 

Well it's now late afternoon and we've had Lucy 'Born to Run' Lyman down at Cramond. Now for those of you who don't know, Cramond is one of Lucy's favourite stomping ground ... she knows exactly where all the good watering holes are, and she insists in supping and slurping mucky water from all of them!It didn't take her long to get from the car to the grassy bit where she waits for the first throw of the Zinger. We had quite a long walk today and so she was running around for about an hour and a half.


The weather was nice and it was warm enough to walk without my jacket on but I did wear one of my new baseball hats.  The rain started shortly after we set off to drive home and not long after we got home we had some thunder and lightening. The photo on the left is of Oberweis the Ice Cream Restaurant and the photo on the right is the baseball cap Mike bought for me whilst we were there purchasing my nightly supply of yummy ice cream.

So, onwards to Saturday evening:

So after our walk and after lunch I went to Sainsburys cos I had a voucher for triple points which expires today. I got myself some books and I plan on reading one of them this evening whilst enjoying a small glass of wine. I'm not sure what the wine will be like. I won it in the raffle at the spooky church on Monday night, but it is in a nice blue bottle.

I like the colour blue.



Well I think that's about all for now folks ... will write more soon.

That's all I've got to say about that!

*~*~*~*~* CHICAGO *~*~*~*~*

~~~~~~   My Kinda Town   ~~~~~~

Chicago at night.  These were taken the second Wednesday of our holiday when we spent the afternoon at Navy Pier and stayed on till the evening to watch the super fireworks display.  We spent the afternoon browsing around the pier. There was a super stained glass window exhibition that I thought was really good. Clearly though, neither Mike nor Peter felt the same ... kicking their heels and looking bored ... until the offer of coffee, when they both perked up.

I also managed to get a few souvenirs and after two weeks of searching I managed to find some car stickers, and some key rings, and some fridge magnets, and some other souvenirs. I also saw a couple of amazingly fantastic Blues Brothers t-shirts but I didn't buy them cos they cost $25+tax and were a rip-off cos the quality was appalling.  I also found some Blues Brothers type hats, but there was clearly no way I was going to be able to bring them home, unless I wore them, and then I would have looked silly wearing shades and a Blues Brothers hat whilst travelling Posh Class. Mindful of not giving a bad impression of Scotland, I decided not to buy the hats, even although Peter said I suited them. Whilst browsing the shops and stalls at Navy Pier, I experienced that unique feeling of being an 'alien in New York' (or an alien in Chicago as was the case) where no one could understand my Scottish accent (despite them all loving my accent and always wanting to visit Scotland). I frequently got that nice, but knowing, little smile that says to me in a very kindly way ... you're a strange little lady, I don't understand a word of what you're saying, but you're Scottish, and I like you, so I'm going to smile nicely to you ... just cos your Scottish and I like you. I suppose I started to see this little smile as a modern day variation on the old American saying ... have a nice day!

~~~~~ Run Forrest Run ~~~~~

That evening, before the fireworks display, we had dinner at the Bubba Gump Shrimp Restaurant, yes, Bubba Gump of Forrest Gump fame! Mike had a mega plateful of shrimps ... I had, as usual, a chicken dish (this was probably one of the few days that I didn't have either donuts or ice cream). I also got myself some nice Forrest Gump / Bubba Gump t-shirts and once I've lost the 10lbs I gained whilst on holiday, I shall model them for you all to see. You might notice the Run Forrest Run and Stop Forrest Stop US style number plates that I am  holding in the two photos. These are used to tell the waiting staff if you need assistance. Run Forrest Run means that they can continue going about their business serving and waiting on other diners (ie running around), and Stop Forrest Stop means that we are requesting service and therefore they have to stop at our table as soon as they can.  I have to say that I found the whole Downtown Chicago / Navy Pier / Forrest Gump - Bubba Gump Shrimphouse / Chicago at Night thing a wonderfully exciting experience (OK I'm sad, I don't go out much at night!). It all just seemed so vibrant and cosmopolitan and terribly exciting.  It was just a super fantastic experience. It just doesn't happen like that over here. 

 LongHorns Steak House

Before and After

 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

On the middle Friday and last Friday of our holiday, we went to a LongHorn Steakhouse for dinner (Mike's treat for all of us each time). They serve you HUGE meals and after the HUGE starters (for sharing!) I struggled to eat my meal.  The first Friday I managed not too badly, but still managed to save  some chicken for Raleigh. On the second Friday, well we had starters for sharing, as usual. I then ordered chicken tenders and baked potato. I have to say that the baked potato was surprisingly small. As for the chicken tenders (all 12 of them!), well what can I say about the portion size. I managed two forkfuls of baked potato and two of the chicken tenders. The photo on the left is the 'before' photo and what the nice waiter (I'm Sean and I'm your servant for the evening) served up to me. I actually thought that this was a starter that they'd forgotten to deliver, but nope, not to be, this was my dinner. The photo on the right was taken when Sean brought me a LARGE doggie bag for me to take my dinner home with me. You know, I was the littlest (and youngest) person at the table and they brought me the BIGGEST meal. Mike, Peter and Diane all had piddly wee steaks (well, actually they were a fair size, but compared with the plateful they served up to me ... well the steak just paled into insignificance) and their whole meal barely covered half of their dinner plates. Mine covered the whole plate and some. Sadly, and much to my disappointment, we didn't have pudding (you didn't eat your dinner, so you're not having pudding). However, my buddy Peter whispered in my ear as we were leaving the restaurant, "don't worry, I'll stop off for ice cream on the way home". Now you may not know this, but it's amazing how an extra 15 minutes can make all the difference to whether you can manage two HUGE scoops of ice cream or not.Well, believe me, it makes all the difference.

I should also say that I understand that Raleigh ate very well whilst we were in Chicago. Single-handed, I supplied his additional food rations and I believe that he only finished off the chicken tenders on Wednesday of this week. I also understand that he didn't have much doggie chow in the whole time we were there.  

House-hunting US style (only kiddin' - honest!)
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

During our stay in Olympia Fields, we decided to have a look at a very snazzy looking show home just along the road from where Diane and Peter live. It's a very nice looking house, and I have to point out that it was about the smallest house in the estate. That said, by our standards it was fairly huge, and cheap. It was only around $350,000 (£220,000 approx) and I reckon that over here for this standard of house you'd pay around the £500,000+ mark. Keep in mind that the house also has a full size basement area, which covers all of the house, except for the garage area. The master bedroom is the area with the two sets of windows above the garage. 

It has a HUGE walk-in wardrobe area, and a HUGE HUGE ensuite bathroom (in comparison the family bathroom was absolutely poxy and was barely as big as our bathroom is). The walk-in wardrobe is the little white bit you see tucked in behind the left hand side of the upper floor of the house. The ensuite bathroom is the window at the top left hand side of the house (see photo to the right). So, it was pretty, pretty impressive and I would like a bedroom like that. And I could have it too, but it would take up all of our house! And I would have to sell both Mike and Lucy to help pay for it all! Don't think that would go down very well!

And the piece de resistance of the whole house was ...... DRUM ROLL ...... the amazing kitchen / dining / family room area. See the photo on the left. This was taken from the far side of this HUGE room. The kitchen was amazing and the family / dining area was ginormously HUGE. The only two things about the whole house that I didn't like were the downstairs toilet was off of the kitchen / dining / family room rather than off of the hall area and the small family bathroom (bearing in mind it's a 4 bedroom house, and all the bedrooms were double bedroom sized, and the smallest was probably bigger than our bedroom).  It was very, very, very nice and it was close to the train station. The nice lady did try to talk us into going to see a house she had available on another site and was sure she could give us a good price (Peter explained that this meant that she'd probably had the house on the other estate on her books for a long time and had been unable to sell it and was therefore prepared to do a deal and make minimal profit on the house in exchange for getting it off of her books). We declined her kind offer.

Once I get some more photos onto my PC, I'll upload some more for you all to see. But for now, well, that's all folks!

And ...... in true Forrest Gump style ...... that's all I've got to say about that.