Returning to Old Haunts

I'm gonna start with that this weekend, well, the 3 of the 4 days rota off I have, has been a really good one. 

On Friday the hubby and I had booked into the 5 Sisters Zoo for a afternoon slot. Ordinarily I hate late starts, especially 4pm (the earliest slot we could get) but it worked out perfect. I got a lie in (if 6am is considered a lie in), took Missy out on a nice walk around Murieston which neither of us have done for ages and then I baked some cake and totally chilled out for the bulk of the day.

By the time 4pm rolled on round, I felt energised enough for the zoo and was in a super happy mood. We got lucky with the animals too; the otters were out and putting on a show, the lions were showing off as usual and the wolves made a guest appearance:

An awesome afternoon, and it put me on the right foot for the rest of the weekend.

Yesterday was a long overdue girls trip to Perth. I met my Inverness based friend alongside my more locally based one and we went to Brewdog for some pizza and then to the Brew and Chew, which we have decided is our Perth haunt. We always end up there - but the cake is just so reasonably priced, how can you resist?

Despite forecasted thunder and lightning, it was a beautiful day and we sat outside at both venues (which we were more comfortable doing, to be honest) and then enjoyed a nice stroll along both North and South Inch. It was a good day for dog spotting, which always makes a great day perfect, and we all had a really nice time. 

The evening was spent with a social distanced party as another friend celebrated her birthday. There was Say Anything, Jenga and Throw Throw Burrito - so a good day all in all! The cake (because there must be cake) was this Haunted Mansion inspired piece:

Which went down very well! 

Today has been a sewing day. I've gotten quilt fatigue, so I've put the Christmas one aside for now and decided on a single day make:

It's loud, but I'm loving this Lion King backpack. It's really a test run of the pattern as my eldest neice wants to make a drawstring backpack, so I wanted to make sure the pattern was within her abilities. It was easy, it's fun and quirky, and best of all, it's deceptively huge in the inside.

I think we may see some more of this style of bag in the future! 

Roses and the Wall

Its been a really quick week - both in and out of work. My trainee is on holiday so I've been running the station myself, which makes the day go by much faster bringing my working part of the week to a close. For my weekend, which is 4 days, I spent the first day having a quiet one to recharge and then went out to see my mum on my day two.

After the success of the last visit to the Saughton Rose Gardens I decided to give it another go and my mum was very impressed at the changes they had made since I was little. We both lamented the loss of the greenhouse and fish pond, but agreed that in general, it was looking far prettier than it ever had a decade ago. She was particularly taken by the physicians garden, and we spent a lot of time reading all the little signs and discussing how this was a lost art, most of the plants being toxic in the wrong doses or preparation.

And that was that. Yesterday was the start of a actual weekend off with the hubby, so yesterday we decided to walk Missy around Beecraigs and stop in at Dobbies on the way home. Beecraigs was heaving. I've never seen it so busy. We had to park in a different car park from usual and then we went in the opposite direction of the crowds to find a quit place to walk.

Ice creams in hand, we met some lovely collies who were of the mild mannered sort and we briefly traded dogs with their owners, cooing over the fluffy dogs whilst they cooed over Missy. All was set to right when we went our separate ways again and Missy spent the rest of the walk seeking small furry things.

Our Dobbies stop was successful as we picked up two reduced price black current bushes. I was given a garden voucher for Christmas and finally got the opportunity to spend it. The bushes are looking much happier today having been repotted, and I plan to relocate them at the end of the season into the planter the leeks are currently growing in. My neighbour (who calls us The Good Life) was laughing as we explained the plan with them and we spent a while complimenting one another's gardens. Whilst we are officially drowning in kale and I had a moment of sheer joy at finding a pair of teeny tiny courgettes, my neighbours garden is awash in colour and flowers. We both lament that we'd love to have a garden more like the other, but at the same time, like our own too much!

Today was another revisit, this time to the Antonine Wall. We wanted to go somewhere we hadn't done in a while and, I'll be honest, it was a shock when I checked and realised it was November 2016 when we were last in the area! Needless to say, they've done a lot of improvements to the area about the Falkirk Wheel, and the advertised "Selfie Trail" to the Kelpies has us planing to return another day. As it would have been an 8 mile circular, we stuck to our original plan and managed a lovely picnic in the sunshine.

On the sewing front, I completed my second quarantine quilt. Missy approves, as you can see! It's a scrap buster as well, and I have officially made a debt in the scraps. They no longer overflow from their bag in a messy tangle, they are neatly packaged up in size and look lost in the bag. 

I'm sure it won't be long until its overflowing again! 

Onwards to Adventure!

I'm feeling a bit more upbeat about life in the pandemic this week. We got out and about on some adventures, saw family and friends and life is slowly getting a little more normal. 

We started my four days off by finishing Jupiter Artland. The weather was much fairer for us and we enjoyed a picnic at the Lovebomb art piece. Whilst it as good to finish the works of art, it was also fun to redo some of the other sculptures and see how they changed with the different weather. I particularly enjoyed the Cells landscaped sculpture (above, with Missy), in the better weather. The contrast of the green grass and deep blue water was more profound, and it was nice to see kids playing about on them, enjoying their early taste of freedom.

After that my days off were spent on my own as the hubby was called into work to get the store set up and ready for Mondays opening. I spent a day in to myself, which was a real novelty, and then spent my last two days going out. I met my brother at Harperrig Reservoir one day (Maisie has now been groomed and looks much better for it, though wouldn't sit still for a photo for me!) and then I met a friend at Harlaw Reservoir.

We got lucky with the weather at Harlaw. It was bright but not too hot and sunny. Proper Missy weather! She was on form posing for me and we spent two and a half hours catching up and making plans for life after lock down. 

Sewing wise its been a bit slow. I have a few projects running in tandem but they are all at that lengthy assembling stage. Perhaps next 4 off I'll finish one of them!

Jupiter Artland

With lock down now easing, some Scottish venues are begining to open. The zoos opened on last Monday (and I would definitely have gone except that they've been fully booked out!) and other outdoor places including Jupiter Artland.

Set across 30 acres, this outdoor art installation has been on our radar for years, however, they didn't allow dogs. There was an annual "Dogs love art too" day where they were permitted, but guaranteed we were working, so had never been. It was actually an article in my works weekly cares pamphlet - a guide of ways to keep good mental health across the pandemic, with resources for things to do and places to seek help and reassurance, it coined a phrase I have used often during lock down which is "that it's OK, to not be OK" - that put me onto it. The article was about what was starting to open, and there it was in print, dog memberships. Instantly taken by the idea of Missy ha ibg her own membership to a place, we looked into it and decided to risk it and get ourselves passes. We are resigned to the fact that day trips will be restricted for a while to come yet, and that any holidays we take will be last minute staycations.

And I am pleased we took the risk. We prebooked our time slot, checked in at tge gate and arrived to find 2 other cars in the car park. Despite the dull drizzly day, we spent almost three hours there and only managed half of it - and boy did we have a laugh at the notice that said it would take 2 hours to do the whole thing! We have booked in again next week to finish it!

Some exhibits were visually stunning, like the Living Cells (first photo), some are emotive and are designed to create conversations and others are quirky and fun. The Dr Who-esque weeping girls gave us the heeby jeebies, but the kids seemed to love them. 

As a critical worker in the water industry, the above 100 years of water tickled me. Each volumetric and flask is from a different river in the UK, we'll, apparently. They were very clean rivers otherwise, most in Scotland are brown from organic carbons and humic acid! 

A grand day out!