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!