Bard at the Beach

It was a very busy Saturday this week - the garden was cleared and made ready for the start of the new growing season (yes, it's January, but my new book (and basically garden bible) "Ministry Of Food: Thrifty Wartime Ways To Feed Your Family Today", encourages potato planting and seed sowing (in the greenhouse) in February. Whilst I'm joking about it being my new garden bible, it has provided a month by month resource of what to plant and when in the British garden, something I've struggled to get a solid answer on in my garden experiments.

After that, it was setting up new fire alarms for my mum (to be explained below), measuring the kitchen, and gathering up all of the random treats and accessories we wanted to donate to the Edinburgh Dog and Cat Home. If you recall back to our Holyrood #leadtheway walk, we were gathering donations for the EDCH, and Burns Pet, who sponsor the walks, gave us a big goodie bag to pass on. 

It was overdue getting to them! 

Scotland has new fire alarm legislation coming in at the end of the month, so I'd volunteered to sort my mums out. They have to be interconnected (which we set up at home just in case there was a problem with them, no worries, all good), so I'd organised a mini Burns night with her to give more meaning to the visit. 

Scope creep.

Thise two words are defining my 2022. Oh, if we're going to Edinburgh, let's pop in and ask about the kitchen (a baffling experience that somehow ate almost 2 hours of my day without actually speaking to a designer, that's next weekend!). We really need to get those donations away, how about a trip to the beach and we'll pop in and do that too? 

Then comes the rest of the family adding to scope, sister and family invited, only eldest neice comes along (she's embracing being 17 and an adult who can get the train and go where she wants; oh the reckoning she has ahead of her). That's fine, it'll be after the walk and - Oh, she's bringing Wee Ben. Thankfully we have the spare harness packed! 

It all went very well, we got everything on the list done, and it was exactly the pick me up my mum needed. I even pandered to her wanting a wee photoshoot on the beach, making sure we caught the golden hour and the best spots for backdrops. Missy is just like my mother, and she happily posed with her - whilst my neice stood for some photos, it was obvious she wasn't in the mood, so it was good my mum had one grandchild eager to join in the photos! 

We joined in the spirit of the Bard with linguistic games, although I'm not sure dear Rabbie Burns would have approved of Poetry for Neanderthals...! 

Talking of spirits, it's finally done: my Grim Grinning Ghosts SAL:

More detailed shots at my Instagram: @missdaisysewing 

Very. Very. Pleased! 

And today we booked our next grand adventure, but you'll have to wait and see what and when it is. All I will say is that I'm definitely embracing the quintessentially British vibe this year. 

Looking for Vampires

So, on last weeks ghost walk, the story of William Henry Millar and his truly bizarre burial was brought to our attention. Buries in a lead lined coffin, in a shaft 40ft deep, was this man who had a huge collection of occult books afraid of grave robbers, of vampires or...was he a vampire himself?

Set in the middle of Craigintinny, near to Portobello, the Craigintinny Marbles, a 30ft tall monument, towers over the little council built bungalows and bowling green that surround it. There were  no information stands nearby, so I was glad I had done my homework before my mother and I went looking for it. Millar had requested to be buried away from the population of Edinburgh and, in the 1860s, this would have been farmland so it would have completely dominated the landscape. Whilst interesting, I was disappointed at the way it has mostly been ignored, like a large inconvenient rock, and built around. I felt it deserved perhaps a small grassy park and some trees, not a high fence and a car park.

Either way, it's an impressive monument, and it's peculiar situation fits the peculiar man it was made for. 

I had suspected it wouldn't be a long visit at the monument so had already organised that there would be a trip to the seaside. Portobello was only 5 minutes away and, despite the chilly day, there were plenty of dogs out walking their humans. I always love the visual juxtaposition of a blue sky and sand with people in wooly hats and thick coats. I don't know why, but it makes me smile.

Despite best attempts, I could not coax my mother into having an ice cream on the promenade and so we headed back to where I had parked the car. I have walked that beach a hundred times and lo and behold, yesterday was the first time I had noticed the absolutly ginormous pottery kiln, neatly tucked away behind some flats. 

Clearly a day for finding odd giant things in bizarre places! We detoured off and had a look at it (I had originally thought it was perhaps an old grain silo from when Portobello had a proper harbour, but the sign corrected us as to the rich history of pottery making in the area. News to me, but fascinating nonetheless.

I've been making Christmas the last few weeks and prepping an army of doggy bows and bandanas for a craft fair I have next weekend. Don't let the photos fool you, there has been so much Christmas fabric that I'm almost bored of the season and it hasn't even begun!

I've been putting together squeaky heart toys too, so will get a more festive photo later. Having lots of little things on the go at once has worked well as I can easily pick them up and put them down again, although I am looking forward to getting my teeth into a bigger project soon!