A Surprisingly Busy Xmas

Well, we're back in lockdown for at least 3 weeks, but we managed to squeeze in some Christmas celebrations. There was an outdoor social distanced get together with my lot and then, following guidelines, the hubbies family came to visit for Xmas itself.

Missy was pleased to see Ruby again, although the novelty of the 18 month old pup quickly wore thin! There was lots of presents, lots of elbow bumps and waving of arms for social distance hugs and everyone's souls feel very topped up and ready to weather through the next lockdown. 

This lockdown, hubby has been furloughed, meaning for the first time in the 13 years we have known one another, we'll both be off fit the festive period. Sad as it sounds, it's one of the best gifts I've been given this year. Between redeployment and working from home, I haven't had the authentic lock down experience, so I'm looking forward to us all spending time together.

This week for #leadthewayatoz was the dreaded letter Z. After scratching our heads for a bit, we decided on petting Zoo. The Almond Valley Heritage Centre is closed, owing to lockdown, but you can follow the river and pass the fields with the horses and alpacas. The alpacas were clearly too cold to bother with us, but this horse was pleased for some company and came over to say hello.

And last (but not least), is my latest complete project. Ironically, this has been stitched for ages, I've just been waiting on the hoops to arrive to frame it! 

It's a house warming gift for a friend who used to work in the Haunted Mansion ride in Florida - I'm sure she'll love it! 

Well, this is officially the last post of 2020. Its been a year, I'll admit, but I can't say it's been all bad. I got to Disneyland Paris. My garden is years ahead of schedule and I grew carrots for the first time. Missy won us a holiday to Durham, and won an Honourable Hound award with Dog Furiendly. It's had its lows, redeployment and continental shifts are something I do not want to repeat, but that's as low as it got. I feel like I've gotten lucky all things considered with the virus, and I'm hoping that in the dark winter days ahead my luck will continue to carry on. 

So, I raise a mug of tea to all, for 2020, a year we want to forget but will be remembered in history, and to 2021 where hopefully we can start to truly celebrate this new decade. 

Online Festivities

It's less than a week until Christmas, and the festivities have begun. In keeping with the theme of the year, they've all been online. I've had my works night in (another one in keeping with the year, it was a quiz! ) and then Friday we saw one set of friends virtually and then I had my Christmas Dinner (virtually) with another set of friends Saturday.

Whilst everyone is trying to remain upbeat, it's clear that this year has started to wear folk down. Hopefully the winter is kind and quick and with Spring we'll get back to something akin to normal again. I'm not asking for my much, I'd just like to go out on a walk and stop at a cafe to have cake and tea with friends and family. Nothing much. 

Missy is doing well with her exploring with Dogfuriendly - we got the Honourary Hound accolade in November and the new badge arrived in the post. I'd hoped to get out and photograph her outside with her sash, but the weather has been far too grim for that kind of nonsense! 

Sewing wise, that's the last of the big projects out the way. I am rather pleased with this Wonder Woman quilt for the brother in law, I finally braved pinwheels and was surprised that they weren't nearly as bad as I expected them to be! More shots, as always, on the insta @missdaisysewing 

Just started on a new cross-stitch, although I will confess in that my sewing break has lasted all of three days - I've just purchased the the Hamilton Spencer Jacket which is definitely going to be my New Year project for myself!

Wishing you all a lovely Christmas, no matter what you do!

A Struggle to Find Santa Paws

Well, last week was a disaster. The boiler broke Friday and it wasn't until Tuesday that I had any hot water or heating. So I was far too cold and in an absolute humbug to write up a blog post.

The week had started off really well, despite experimenting with a veggie diet for a month (more to see if we could manage it, the hubby being the kinda guy that doesn't view a meal complete unless something dead is on the plate) my iron levels were good enough to let me give blood. (I always coast about the 125mg/l limit, so was shocked to get 150mg/l, albeit from the arm after failing the finger prick). So I got my twice yearly tunnocks teacake, got the house dressed for Christmas in our usual low-key kinda way, played my new Dolly Jolly Christmas CD and the three of us cuddled up on the sofa to watch Dolly's Christmas on the Square (if you need some warm hearted Christmas themed cheese, I recommend it). 

Then, prepped for a weekend of fun and adventure, the heating went. 

And we had snow. 

Thunder snow. 

Engineer was to come out Sunday, got cancelled as someone decided not to reveal they were covid positive until after they had been visited, so my engineer had to self isolate for the rest of the day. 

They came out Monday, the propeller had gone, so the part wouldn't arrive by Tuesday. All this time I couldn't have Missy sleeping in the hall (which at best we could warm to 12C with an oil heater) so she was in with us, meaning all three of us were under slept, tired and cold in the bones. 

Humbug to all those seasons greetings. 

Then heat returned, and we could have hot baths. I don't think the poor boiler engineer had ever been thanked so enthusiastically as the radiators hummed to life!

This weekend we moved out from teir 4 and down to teir three (which really, apart from the shops opening, has changed nothing) and I was determined to get myself feeling Christmassy again. I was two weeks into December and felt less Christmassy than I had last month, that needed fixed. 

So off to Santa Paws. 

We had planned on coupling the visit with a walk round Beecraigs, but it's rained all day and I've gotten a terrible cold from my chill last week, so hubby insisted on cream scones and tea and then for me to get back inside and warm and he'd do the afternoon walk. 

Honestly, I don't deserve him sometimes. 

In bake off news, it's been gingerbread men and pupperoni pizza - the later of which turned out perfect and Missy was very pleased with! Here's a recap of our bake off adventure, and my absolute low key trolling in trying to get Missy to pose exactly the same for every shot! 

Craft wise I haven't been idle. I lost a lot of sewing time last week on the account of it being too cold (trying to thread a needle with raynauds is absolutely impossible) bu I was pleased to complete my eldest neices stocking:

It is quite possible that she is more obsessed with backpacks than I am, so I know she'll love it. I wanted to do something fun and bright, but she's moved to that phase where it's all pretentious pouting and black.

Here's a sneak peek of my current, very bright and loud project:

One more post until Christmas! 

Seeking O in the Frost

It's still lockdown so it's been another quiet week in the household. Lots of cuddles on the sofa, listening to books or podcasts whilst sewing away the dark evenings. It's gotten pretty cold too, but thankfully some frost never stopped Missy from enjoying herself. 

Todays #leadthewayatoz was the letter O. It's a hard letter at the best of times, and being unable to leave the council area, we ended up coping out and going with Orange leaves:

Perhaps they're more accurately described as copper, but needs must! 

All these quiet evenings have allowed me to really tank through some of the big projects on the to-do list, including (but not limited to):

A super king quilt for the in laws. The wings were originally flappy, but I had a panic about Ruby chewing them off, so went back and tacked them down so they are less tempting to a 1 year old vizla pup! 

Something super tempting for my pup was the peanut butter and popcorn flapjacks for this weeks #greatdoggybakeoff. I'm resigned to the fact that we won't win, but it's all about participation for us, and Missy loves it regardless of how it looks!

Christmas plans are afoot and I'm starting to feel a bit less stressed about it - I suffer from chronic over-organisation, so having to wing things gets me very anxious. Needless to say, that sums up this year for me, but we're getting somewhere, so I'm starting to look forward to the festive season. 

Here We Go Again

It's beginning to feel a lot like Lockdown...

Well, we've been moved into Tier 4 lockdown which means that everything is closed and no one is quite sure what's going on. Despite being furloughed previously, hubby is working through this time as his store is trialing a click and collect service. No one is very sure if it'll take off, so we're waiting to see what happens. 

For today's #leadthewayatoz, we got the letter D and, bearing in mind we are not allowed to leave our council area, I went with Door and we visited the Herman's Beechwood. It was nice to have something to distract us from the lockdown, and I enjoyed brainstorming an idea to get today's letter. 

The weather has been pretty grim, so we timed it well between rain showers. It's a nice little woods, but is more of an add on than a walk in and off itself. 

In craft news, I decided to get creative with my Enter/Do Not Enter sign on my office door. Hubby is generally rather good at not wondering in when I have a meeting, but you can never be too careful! 

Just a short post today, I'm wrapping up on a rather large project to share next week.

Excited to announce E

This week on the #leadthewayatoz, Missy was in charge of the takeover. 15 weeks ago when the Dog Furiendly was setting up behind the scenes, they asked for volunteers to do weekly take overs with their assigned letter. I signed up and, with the caveat that I couldn't do Armistice, was assigned the 15th November and the letter E.

Hubby is way better at this than me and I was dumbfounded. E...? An Egg maybe? Eldritch horror - no, no, no, that won't fly. It was pointed out to me, somewhat slowly, that we live in Edinburgh. Known for its world class Educational institutes. And year round Entertainment. We could Explore something touristy. He was very Easy-going on the whole suggestion and I decided, 15 weeks ago, we would do the Camera Obscura and bag a unique word of "Eye-popping Illusions". 

15 weeks. It all started hunky dory. Then Wales went into lockdown. Then England brought in the teirs system. Ireland into lockdown. Scotland went into tiers, Lothian at teir 3. England went into lockdown and now the West of Scotland is being threatened with one.

I panicked and we filmed last week. 

Turns out I didn't need to panic, but seeing as it's likely the central belts going into lockdown very soon, I'm pleased I did.

We had an Excellent day (OK, OK, I'll stop now). We got there just before opening, did all the filming, and patiently queued for the door to open. Missy, in her usual Excited way (last one, promise) skipped in and was met with a wall of "aww". I genuinely heard someone say "my day just got even better!" as I followed behind Missy and someone had already produced a bag of dog treats. Missy knows what Pedigree looks like so ensured that was our first stop before we signed in at the till and we got the full covid health brief.

Then we were on our way. In the whole time we were there, we saw two other families, it was like a ghost town which was brilliant. We finally got to play on the things that always have tons of kids about them (cleaning wipes were provided) and just took our time to enjoy the day. 

So that was E. I spent the mid morning online today posting photos and chatting with folk asking about the Obscura and I'm pleased it's all gone so well. I hated the filming bit, but despite obvious nerves, was happy with the outcome.

I've managed to raise the stakes on the crazy dog parent this week by joining in the Great Doggy Bake off - this week was banana pancakes. Hint, these are more banana omelettes, you'd not going to toss these! 

Missy loves banana, so these were met with great enthusiasm. So much so that it was a real struggle to get a photo with her! 

I'm hoping for a biscuit next, we might do a bit better with that! I've managed to talk Rens mum into joining the contest so I have some friendly rivalry! 

This weeks sewing is part of the ongoing Christmas makes - who wants an oversized sock when you can have a Marvel backbag as a stocking instead? For my oldest nephew - I've got a few wee bits to go in it and some sweeties too. I only have 2 more things left on my to make list (although I am forever adding to that list, so that's subject to change!).

Until next week! 

A Quick Week

It's been one of those weeks where I'm not very sure where it went! It's been productive though, I've managed lots of dog walks and ploughed through my craft to do list.

My brother has had the week off work, so has met me after work twice this week for a dog walk as Maisie has needed the distraction from the fireworks. It's worked quite well and we've abided by the rules (although Missy and Maisie certainly didn't!) Unfortunately Missy had started to limp a little so we put her on short walks and some pain killers and, four days later, she's as right as rain. 

I also managed to catch up with a friend at the weekend and we revisited Laurieston Castle (well, being honest, we humans wanted to revisit the Mimis!) Missy got a black pudding pupcake and loved it. 

I then managed to swing round and see my mum and we spent a nice half hour in the garden catching up. The weather hasn't been great with a heavy mist that has covered the Lothians pretty much since Friday!

 

On a crafting front, keeping in mind the date, I made a new wreath for the window. I've mentioned previously that the purple poppies represent animals who served during wartime, so I used both on the wreath. Missy too has been wearing her poppies and I've had a few queries on the purple ones. 

I'll leave you all there - next week has the promise of some very interesting adventures! 

it's beginning to look a lot like... Halloween?

Well, after last week's adventure at the pet cemetery, I thought we had done pretty well for festive fun, but we managed to squeeze in a trip to a Maize Maze and see my older sister and her family at the same time. 

Ordinarily, Cairnie Fruit Farm doesn't allow dogs in the maze itself, but with it due to be cut tomorrow (and the fact we were about the only ones there) they let us go in with Missy and Wee Ben.

We had all dressed up for the event to inch out the very last of the Halloween theme before November takes hold, and despite some rain and the wind, all had a nice time. Missy was best at leading us through the maze and we're all very tired now.

On a craft front, it's not sewing! I bought myself a little wooden advent house and did it up as a House of Mouse themed jewellery box. Very pleased with it, but I can't pick a favourite door! 

Trick or Treat!

Well, when your haunted woodland walk with your dog buddies from the walker, and the letter of the week is T, what else are you gonna do?

It was a last minute decision this week to join in on the walk. My sister had originally planned on visiting this weekend, then Scottish lockdown happened, so we agreed to a day trip midway and then Manchester went into teir 3, so that got cancelled and I've been a bit bummed out this week (post holiday blues haven't helped either!). The dog walkers usually have a Halloween party, but restrictions have put a brake on that, so they decided to organise a woodland walk and outdoor training session.

So where did we go? A pet cemetery! We had no idea the place existed, and it fitted in perfectly with the theme of the walk. There was some recall training and lead etiquette training (Missy, having passed her level 4 training last year thought this very beneath her, but she enjoyed the fuss all the same).

Everyone stuck to social distancing and dogs were to stay on lead as we had a reactive pooch leading the way, but we still had plenty of opportunity to chat with the other dog owners. 

In other news, today was a nice break from the rain we've had all week. Poor Missy was absolutely soaked yesterday and was in a huff for the rest of the day. She's prone to getting a bit of a chill in her old age and had cheered up substantially this morning after getting to spend our extra of the day in bed having a cuddle.

In sewing news, I have finished Project Christmas Part 1, which I will share after the event, so in the meantime I will share this little stitch:

I got the opportunity to do some test stitching for Acid Panda Crafts and was rather pleased with how this turned out. Its perhaps a little too accurate for the household!  

An Unexpected Week Away

 

Its been a bit of a crazy week! As I've mentioned previously, Missy is an Explorer for Dog Furiendly and, owing to changes in restrictions in different parts of the UK, the opportunity for a last minute staycation in Durham was offered. Having the week booked off and, with nothing to lose, I put her forward and Missy was fortunate enough to be chosen!

We didn't have a lot of time to plan, and with the threat of new Covid restrictions in the North East, decided to keep planning relatively minimal and wing the week.

 

On our drive down we decided to stop in an see the High Force Waterfall. I'd found mixed reviews online about the best way to see it; either going to the Rabys Estate and paying, or going to Bowlees Visitors Centre and taking the free walk. With time of the essence, and some pretty harsh weather, we opted for Rabys. It was certainly an expensive 20 minute walk with £3 parking and then the £2 per human, but if you are short on time or have mobility issues, then this would be a better option than Bowlees (spoiler alert, we did that at the end of the week).

After checking in to the Heather View Leisure Park, which as explorers we were to officially review, we explored the local village and scoped out the route that would double up as the morning walk. Time to make the battle plans, we had a whole County to conquer.

 

Our first full day was designated to Beamish: The Living Museum. This has been on our to-do list for years, and we finally had a base of operations near enough to it that it was a feasible option for us. We had to pre-book, as most places do these days with Covid, which as unfortunate as it was the wettest day of our holiday. Saying that, we all had rain coats and umbrellas, so werent put off and we managed to find shelter for the worst of the squalls.

Beamish, whilst very dog friendly, does not allow dogs in the buildings, so we had to take turn about with Missy, however there is so much to look at that we never really felt like we were idly waiting about. There is reduced staff and some areas have had to be shut owing to the current way of the world, but it was still a really enjoyable day for us - we arrived for opening and were there until it was almost time to close, with a stop of course to enjoy our afternoon tea in the 1950s area.

Being a bit of a Downtown Abbey fan, the Edwardian village was probably my favourite bit, although Missy would say the Georgian farm was her favourite, owing to the pigs and the horses. The gift-shop at the end does allow dogs in, and despite being soaked, the staff were all very pleased to see Missy and she was much fawned over.

 

Our second full day was in the village of Barnard Castle. The castle there, unsurprisingly called Barnard Castle, is an English Heritage site. Having held our Historic Scotland passes for more than a year, we are eligble into these sites for free (and I'm certain the reverse is true for those thinking of a trip North of the border), so it made sense to bag a few of these sites whist in the area. Missy is a master of the spiral staircase and has been nosing around castles for years now, and this one did not disappoint.

Again, we had to prebook, and the staff were great with us. We were told were the hidden gems were and got the back story of the ruin before being left to find a sunny picnic spot and then explore. The staff also told us about the walk from Barnard Castle to Eggleston Abbey (which was a general free to visit site and didnt require prebooking) and, emboldened by the bright sky, we went for it (after a stop at the Ringtons cafe for lunch were we sat outside - there were plenty of dog friendly cafes, but they were all busy, which I like to see).

I'll confess this now, we are terrible ramblers. Spoilt after years of Scottish Heritage walks where there is a sign every 10ft, we inevitably get lost. So, if anyone wishes to follow this walk, read carefully: after getting to the river and following the sign to the Abbey, you end up in a caravan site. Do not panic. Follow exit signs and then go through the fields following the direction of the river. Eventually you come to a very narrow gate, just squeeze through and follow the road a few minutes and you are there. We, and another couple, all got lost in the caravan site and thankfully got directions from a visitor.

The Abbey is a quaint ruin and worth a stroll about, although we felt some more signs about it would have been nice. There are no facilities at the Abbey, so we didnt stay too long as the weather had turned and decided to risk retracing our steps.

Quote of the day, from yours truly, "But sheep are really intimidating!"

 

Our last full day was a revisit to the waterfall. We had done a touristy thing, we'd done a historical thing, so it was time to enjoy some of the nature that is considered part of the North Pennines Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty. We went with the Bowlees Visitors Centre route this time so we could compare the two. The visitors centre is dog friendly (though not in the upstairs gallery) and the staff were keen to explain the routes available to us. Armed with a map, we decided to go and see all three of the waterfalls available.

The Low Force Waterfall was first in line and we had the surprise of a film crew setting up a fallen bridge prop across it. They were very friendly and had left plenty of space for us tourists to go and awe over the falls. Then we followed the very nicely marked path up to the High Force waterfall. There was two viewing platforms, one literally across the river from the Rabys viewing post, and another literally on top of the drop.

To compare the two options, we preferred the second route - Missy is a dog that needs a lot of walking (she did 15miles and was still ready for an evening walk), and we were well equipped to handle the rough paths, however, as I said earlier, the Rabys option is perfect to allow those who may struggle on uneven paths or simply don't have a few hours to spare, so I'm not going to discredit the option.

After admiring the falls, we decided to give rambling another go. We had a map this time that clearly outlined the other half of the circular route, so what could go wrong? We went over to the Rabys Estate, grabbed some hot chocolate after deciding it looked too busy inside (dogs were welcome, but given the current situation we decided to avoid it), we set off.

It went well to begin with, there was one turnstile we had to pick up Missy and pass her over, but we found the right sign and were emboldened. I'm not sure when we ended up in the wrong field, but have to stress that at no point where we genuinely lost, we were just a field too far over. Eventually we could go no further and had to admit defeat and follow the road. Missy was disgruntled to be picked up and once more handed over a fence like a sack of potatoes, but accepted it with grace and as much dignity as she could muster.

We were only 5 minutes from Bowlees at that point and accepted that perhaps we should give up rambling for another year. In order to redeem ourselves, we made our way to the last waterfall: Summerhill Force and Gibsons Cave. I'm pleased to say we didnt get lost!

 

And that was us. There were plenty of ideas and options for dog friendly stops on the way home, but with all the castles needing pre-booked, we decided to just pack up and get up the road again. Its safe to say though that we found so many things to do that we are going to have to come back again.

But, perhaps, we're best to leave the rambling to the experts next time!

Autumn leaves

Not along post today - it's been one of those odd weeks where I have been very busy, but don't have very much to show for it!

It's been one of those bright and sunny weekends that's cool and crisp. The kind of day where you start with a jumper, your coat, hat and scarf on mum long about the chill and then an hour later your stripped down to your jumper wondering if it really is October. 

The main highlight of this weekend has been catching up with friends. Saturday Missy and I enjoyed a 10km stroll along the canal with one friend, and then today the hubby and I caught up with friends we haven't seen since February. With the new restrictions, we decided on a picnic in the garden with them and it was a lovely day. So nice to see people in the flesh and not on a screen!

On a crafts front, I'm very pleased with this spooky dreamcatcher inspired spiders Web thar I put together to add to the growing window display. Missy isn't all that worried about Halloween (unlike Christmas) so it's been fun to dress the house up a bit and enjoy it without worrying about her anxiety.

Well, that's all for today, we have some pretty exciting stuff to share with you all next week, but I won't spoil the surprise! 

Prancing about the Pineapple House

It's been another funny week. I've been in a flump, and then I've gotten frustrated at myself for feeling a bit blue which puts me back in a flump. We officially canned hopes of going away for our upcoming annual leave (we had never planned anything ambitious, but with talk of a circuit breaker lock down and restrictions getting more severe in other bits of the country, even a midweek break to Perth seems risky). 

So I've decided I'm going to embrace Halloween. I'm building a window display (expect some Halloween crafts next week) and we're adding some spooky embellishments about the house. We have some creepy audio books lined up for the evenings and have a list of classic horror (well, gothic, I don't like gory horror) movies lined up to watch at weekends.

There was another storm this weekend so yesterday was an absolute wash out of a day. You know it's bad when Missy doesn't want to go out! But that was OK, I spent some time prepping up some craft projects before getting the Halloween decorations up. 

Then today was the next letter for the #leadthewayatoz. I'd already decided on the Pineapple House for when P came up (I have a list of some fun places that will work for certain letters) so gave my older sister a call and a puppy play date with Wee Ben was put together. 

I love her to pieces, but I find it hysterical how different my sister is to me, from her atrocious time keeping to her wonderful optimism that the weather will be fine. Noting the rain from last night, I'd brought wellies to wear - at least my sister had trainers, but my eldest neice was in converse. There was much scuttling about the edges of paths and a few gallant leaps over puddles whilst I waded through it all and laughed at the shrieking. It was all taken in good humour, though I do not envy my sister and the laundry she will be doing tonight! 

My neice also got stuck up a tree, and then my nephew (I think to prove her wrong, as younger brothers are prone to do) also got stuck in the same tree. I got photos of it all, but alas, I am not permitted to share, so you will just have to imagine the awkward shrieks and many bottoms up in the air. 

I've been scrap busting again (in a bid to stop it getting as out of hand as it once was) and I was pleased to put together these tote bags. They are in preparation for Christmas as I am hoping to go a bit more eco friendly and try not to use lots of wrapping paper. 

Well, that's all for now. I have webs to spin and spiders to decorate!