Wandering Whitby

A bit of a delayed post! 

At the start of the month we did our annual holiday with my Manchester sister and her two little ones. As always, it was a packed trip, so I'll give you the quick run down:

Monday was a travelling day and, once we all arrived, we had a short walk about the waterfront and scoped out some fun things to do.

Tuesday we started with the Black Pearl boat trip, a pirate themed barge that definitely got us in the mood for the day. My sister isn't keen on water and, despite clinging on for dear life, did enjoy herself!

And then it was up to Whitby Abbey (pictured top). We did go looking for Dracula, but alas, he was nowhere to be found.

We finished up looking for the Whalebone Arch, and we're treated to splendid views

Wednesday was a day trip to Scarborough. Firstly to the Castle and then onto Peasholm Park. You can tell the animals are used to dogs being on the lead, I've never seen a squirrel approach Missy, let alone stand within 2 feet of her! Needless to say, I was holding onto her collar with all my might just in case, but fortunately she was far more interested in the sandwiches! We finished the trip with a go on the dragon boats, to finish that Edwardian picnic experience, and overall we had a lovely day.

Thursday was a change of pace, we exchanged hostages and hubby and I took the kids for a day at Flamingoland whilst my sister had a quiet day enjoying the calm of a senior dog as they pottered about the abbey again. After being sent many selfies of them both, including one of Missy dressed in a vampire cape, I knew she was having a delightful time.

The kids loved Flamingoland. This was their first ever theme part - and the location was hubbys idea owing to there being a zoo if the kids hated the rides. Honestly, I had to drag them away from the rides to look at the flamingos! They both had a whale of a time! We officially have a new pair of adrenaline junkies in the family.

Friday was the slow day. Hubby and I went round the museum ourselves before we all had some lunch and then headed to Boggle Hole. Fossil hunting was the key thing the kids wanted to do and we let them look for dinosaurs whilst we enjoyed a woodland walk over to Robin Hoods Bay. Missy enjoyed being in forest for a short while, she being a dog more inclined to trees than sand, and it was nice to get a bit of proper walking in.

Boggle Hole has a YHA associated with it, so we enjoyed some dinner there before heading back to the cottage.

Saturday was our last full day. We first visited the Whitby Aquarium and what it lacked in size, it more than made up for in fantastic staff. We were given a guided tour, had the hatchery process explained to us and Missy was made an absolute fuss of. Which was good, as the weather had finally turned on us.

There was enough of a break to sail about th Bark Endeavour - which was strangely less terrifying for my sister. I'd have thought the bigger drop to the ocean would have been worse, but apparently being further from the sea was a better thing!

We finished the holiday with a walking tour, and the guide was fantastic, dancing perfectly between the macabre and keeping things family friendly.

And then it was off home

Needless to say, we were exhausted after that! It was a fantastic holiday, but I think we all needed a break to recover from it!

Gnome-ing somewhere?

With the lovely weather, we finally had the energy to get out and about on a lovely day trip.

We've done Incholm before, I was going to say not that long ago, but looking through the archives - it was 2018! Let me start that again, it's been some time since we visited Incholm Abbey, and I was looking forward to seeing it at its most picturesque in the sunshine 

We had a fabulous day. The seagulls were being (quite rightly) very protective of their nests, so we didn't venture too far out on the island after a couple swooped at me!

Still, it was perfect for a picnic and an ice cream in the sun and there was a stiff enough breeze that Missy wasn't going to overheat. I did walk her to the water but she wasnt interested.

Following the boat trip, we went to our friends for a BBQ, the first of the year, and overall it was exactly what was needed for the soul. Sunshine. Good company. Friends and loved ones. 

Perfect.

There's a lot going on in my private life at the moment, so it's a short post today. I want to focus on the nice and happy things and will fill you all in another time.

Until then,

Cheerio!

A Magical May

Let's not talk about April, eh?

Well, it's happened. Our first real health scare (tumour was benign and removed with a good margin). Still, her recovery wasnt great and it took a solid 4 days before she was really back to herself again. 

Then we found another lump literally 2 weeks later, but the needle biopsy was clear in the end.

She's worth every grey hair, but here's hoping we're done for now.

So on to May. Beltane came along, seared off the bad mojo and now we're back having adventures. Specifically, our first camping weekend of the year:

A festival of pagans and witches!

It was slightly colder overnight than expected, but lessons well learned. I had a jumper and spare socks, so survived the rest of the time well. The festival itself was grand, we attended the viking feast (hubby was chosen to be Thor in the storytelling, and he then had to pretend to be Thor pretending to be Freya to try and get his hammer back from a giant (read 7 year old child)). Absolutely fantastic.

There were workshops about folk tales and goddesses, we did mask making and listened about the history of trolls. We also saw my sister in her first combat battle as a viking. She did so well, even if she came back bruised and a bit sore. 

And then we travelled home and have spent the rest of the time recharging. Missy is almost back to herself fully, the sun has helped cheer her up, as did a couple of puppy play dates this week.

Perhaps I haven't recharged as much as I intended!

I'm gonna leave things here with a snapshot of my festival outfit, and Im hoping to get back into my blogging again this month.

Blessed be!

Marching through March

Oh my, I've just realised it's been almost a month since our last update! It's been a busy one with not much to show, to be honest.

At the start of the month I was in London for a conference, which meant that the post holiday cold I had almost shaken off returned as a post London cold. If you know, you know.

Then it was a run of seeing family and friends and just trying to recover before having my nephew over for the weekend. We played lots of games and worked on his kimono and then that takes us up to this week.

It was another week off, this time to get some adulting done; deep clean the house for spring, start the next big project in the garden and generally all the boring things. We did sneak one nice day out:

The seabird centre! Gotta love it. The weather was beautiful too for us.

Then hubby was off to Manchester with his brother for Transformer con and I got to have a few quiet days to myself to mostly drink tea, eat biscuits and sew.

I also saw an old friend and Maisie wasn't going to let my brother have a day off and not include her favourite cousin:

I think it's obvious who tired out who!

And that's been it. Lots of seeing people and adulting, but not many adventures. But soon, the season is on the horizon!

Until next time!

A Swift Month

How is it almost the end of the month? Spring is still teasing us with one day that's almost mild, only to be followed by a hard frost of wind coming from the side! So with that in mind, of course we decided it was a great idea to book a staycation!

Well, buckle in, it was a week!

So we decided to go away primarily to spend some time together. Both hubby and I had fallen into the pattern of "I need to do this job first, then we can do something nice..." To the point we did lose one of the few days we've had off together literally taking turns to wait on the other, get bored and start a job, just as the other finished. I floated the idea of a hot tub and, I won't lie, I set up the search parameters and went for the nearest one that had good reviews whilst still being cheap.

Probably a wise choice, despite 4 nights, we got in the hot tub all of two times! On the first and then the last night, which were the only 2 dry evenings we had! And by dry, I mean, it wasnt tipping buckets.

Our first proper day was out at Dundonald Castle, a partnership site with Historic Scotland, so we finally got a chance to use our passes. The visit came with a guided tour (as we 3 where the only ones there, a private tour!) and Missy had access to the castle, the cafe and museum. A good choice as it was an on-off drizzle sort of day. The castle itself was lovely and in enough repair you could imagine it as a stronghold. And the lady doing the tour was smitten with Missy who apparently looked like a rather long legged version of her Jack Russel! Another tally on the jack-weiler theory for Missy!

This will age me. All morning as I was making a picnic, it was nagging me that I'd looked at visiting Dundonald before. And then I remembered. It was the closest historic site that allowed dogs to one of the very few Wimpys left in the UK. If you know, you know. So yes. We packed the sandwiches up and put them aside for dinner as we were getting a wimpy one way or another!

Our second full day was a bit of a disaster. We were technically staying in Darvel, if one can count a 5 minute winding drive to the foot of a wind farm as part of a town. It wasn't the best weather to start with, but there was a promised reprieve in the forecast for 2-3pm. So we went to Darvel, birthplace of Alexander Fleming, he of terrible microbiology practices, to find absolutely nothing. 4 barbers. 2 funeral homes. 6 takeaways (all shut). The only nod to Fleming was a slightly creepy bust on a pillar in the town square.

Problem was, we'd booked lunch for 1pm, and had a lot of time to kill. We went on a quest for fuel, found a crystal shop in a neighboring town and then went to Loudounhill Pizzeria for no other reason than they had a dog menu. It was the highlight of the day. Missy got scrambled eggs, was treated like the queen she is, and we had some absolutely amazing pizza.

Then came the allotted "break" in the weather. A drizzle, we could cope with, so off we went to Loudoun Hill to see the Sprit of Scotland monument. Missy had her photo taken and then 5 minutes later she decided to hell with the now sideways wind and torrential rain, and turned around back to the car. We followed, thankful for a fairweather dog.

The weather decided to do it's best in asking for forgiveness and gave us spectacular weather the next morning. I could tell when I woke up that something was wrong with my eye, so blaming my blepharitis (my eyelashes are too cold, so don't correctly secrete the oils we need for the eyes) I donned sunglasses and went on for the day.

Culzean Castle is like a fairytale. With palm trees, a coastal setting and an exterior straight out of the 18th Century Mediterranean, we could have been in a pirate movie. Honestly, it was amazing. We had our first picnic of the year and just wondered the grounds for hours. There was a deer park, a swan lake, pagodas and a walled garden. Almost too much to see and do!

A fantastic end to our wee holiday. You might ask about the final day when we usually find something to do on route home? Well, by this point my eye was swollen shut. I risked a romantic sunset in the hot tub to see if the damp heat would help and, although it relieved it for a few hours, by Sunday morning I was ready to get home again.

Eye was fine Monday morning, still not sure what set it off! Missy slept all of Sunday, and the weather was awful again, so we made the right choice to have a quiet day on the sofa at home.

Our run into March is very busy, so I shall see you in the 3rd month!

Sneaking through the Snowdrops

I know time goes faster as you get older, but how are we mid-February already?

Long time readers will know that Valentine's is not the most special part of February; Missy's adoptiversary is the most important day of the month! This year marks 11 years that Missy has been part of the family and that number does not fail to shock me every time I see it. She's 12 now, how did that happen?

We celebrated early this year owing to schedules. Like the queen, Missy had two events, one as a photoshoot in her new jumper with the most delightful "cake" (sugar and dairy free waffles with dog friendly chocolates on it) and then again last weekend where we did a nice walk and she was spoiled with her favourite "dead things".

The cake did not last long.

The weekend before last, we managed a trip to the circus with my mum (always a good day out) followed by a really chill Sunday with lots of snuggles for Missy.

And this weekend we managed a quick trip up north to the in laws for a quiet recharge and a play in their campervan - after many years, they have decided we can be trusted to take it for a wee holiday. First of all though we had to camp on the drive, just to be shown everything, all the buttons and dials and trays and hidden compartments (I did not appreciate how much storage their actually was!) Next step is for us to join them at a site (we'll camp) but to be shown how it's set up and how to cook etc in it. 

I feel some of these steps are to encourage us to see them more, but it's always a really chill visit seeing them, so I don't mind!

 

Missy has been removed from the set up team though, after this attempt of tidying up! I think she's best lounging about as foreman and queen than continuing to "help".

One can't forget Ruby who, after her initial excitement, proved she remembered her manners and was very well behaved. Missy has a sore ear at the moment, and her dislike of the winter cold has made her less willing to put up with nonsense from other dogs than usual! We are all very eagerly awaiting spring.

Perhaps we will see a mythical "doggit"!

We have some exciting things lined up for the next update, will see you then!

Through the Stargate to February

We did it, we survived January - the longest, crappiest month of the year! The days are noticeably longer (I mean, still dark before 5pm, but I'm not chasing the sun on the dog walk now) and the weather is ripe for adventure.

This weekend Missy was joined by Maisie and my brother as we explored the Abandoned Fife Earth Project, Scottish Coal ran out of money before completion. If it looks similar to the Crawick Multiverse or Jupiter Artland, well, it should, it's the same artist! It's free to wander about and we clocked up 3 miles in our slow meanderings.

It was very windy (as an abandoned coal mine/quarry should be) so we were quickly chilled to the bone, but otherwise would probably have spent longer there. Missy was tuckered out by the time we got home, which is always nice to see.

I am a month down on my cross stitch journal, and as you can see February is already started. Lessons have been learned, I pivoted too hard on the small stitches, so January almost feels a bit gappy at points. I'm not precious about the segments touching, so the gaps at the edges will get filled in later.

But why is February snow leopard print, not all hearts and cutesy?

It has taken literal years, but I finally got the perfect snow leopard photo at the zoo when we went on Saturday, so of course I had to commemorate it!

I expect February to be a busier month, and we're now in adventure season, so I'll hopefully see you all again soon!

Weathering January

Well, I'm not gonna sugar coat, January has been a bum month. After the initial excitement of snow and sledging, the novelty wore off with a 2 week deep freeze. I have never been more thankful in my life to see the green grass again.

Then came COVID. At least, it's uncomfirmed, but my husband and I definitely had it. No cold or flu leaves you with effectively jet lag for weeks.

Missy bounced back from her injury quite swiftly, although she has hit brumation point. Each year I see her enter a sleepy phase, where she eats like a horse and does nothing but sleep and demand cuddles, preferably in our bed. I used to panic about this, that she had some form of malady, but it's normal for her, normal for a lot of dogs according to the vet, and so I have designated Missy my new barometer. She'll let me know when spring is here and we can be excited again.

The photos, if you haven't guessed, are the aftermath of Storm Eowyn. After the rattling we took last year (14 named storms!), I think anything that was gonna break would have done so. There are some wobbly fences and the greenhouse, though intact, took a rattling and has upended everything inside, but overall I'm pleased to say we got very lucky.

Dog walks will be interesting for a while, each photo is of a separate tree I had to find a new path around.

And that's us for updates. We survived the once-in-a-generation storm and are on the mend from our illnesses. I actually managed to bring myself to get the sewing machine out, so definitely feeling better!

Hope all's well with you, dear reader, stay warm and stay safe!

Until next time

Hello 2025!

Let us not start as we mean to go on, at least, on Missy's behalf? 6 days in and we're nearly over the worst of a paw injury. It's partly my own fault, I was caught out by the bad weather and hadn't shaved her paws in time, and I know from past experience fluffy paws attract salt and grit and cause sores.

Still. Thorough washing and bed rest and she's almost as good as new. So a minor hiccup to he new year.

It's been good otherwise. We started the year sledging. And I've finished my first project of the year - I put the rest on hold for a "me" project and, whilst quite loud, I am pleased with how it's turned out. 

Here's a little sneak peek:

I've almost finished rewatching the classic 90s Gargoyles and I've blown the dust off my knitting needles and have started a jumper for Missy. If I am to embrace my inner grandma, then my child needs knitwear!

And that's me. I've also started a cross stitch journal, that I aim to share on here each month as a way to hold myself accountable. I feel a good crafting year coming up!

And hopefully a good year for adventures too, we have lots of plans in motion - but let's wait for the snow to pass first!

Until next update!