Looking for Ghosts in Dechmont

Well, the weather is finally improving and of course Missy has injured herself! The vet is fairly certain that her kneecap has become mobile and as it locks out of place, causes her to limp - not painful but a bit uncomfortable. So, its anti-inflammatory's and lead walks for the next two weeks and she has already become rather unimpressed at the situation.

Bearing in mind the vets advice, the hubby and I decided to do some exploring of the more local area which should provide Missy with some new sights and smells and not be quite as boring. Her need to annihilate the local squirrel population will have to be put on hold.

Missy in front of the main building

Dechmont Law is locally the highest natural area and as such has lots of dog walking and fields and that was Saturdays morning outing. When looking into the area, we discovered that we had an abandoned insane asylum literally around the corner, so of course we armed ourselves up with all our Lovecraft quotes and went out to see if Missy could find us a ghost!

Bangour Village Hospital has had an interesting life - originally built as an asylum, it was commandeered in both wars as a military hospital and then returned back to its original purpose before being abandoned in the '90s and the last of the buildings went out of use in '04. It is a vast area of land that has now been commandeered by the local dog walkers and occasionally visited by vandals (hence all the security fences).

We did our best to stick to the no trespassing rules, but did poke our heads through some of the rotten and damaged doors and walls. I had expected an air of quiet restlessness, some sensation of a presence to coincide with the history of the place, but with the song birds enjoying the first real flutter of spring and the bunnies scurrying under the rhododendrons, there was only an element of sadness that such beautiful buildings had been left to rot.

The area has been proposed for redevelopment, so I'm not sure how much longer the hospital will be in the area.

We finished the walk and Missy was rather pleased with herself - after getting tied up beyond all hope amongst brambles, she dashed off the moment she was unclipped to the rhododendrons and attempted to reduce the rabbit population.

Although, with a smile like this, I cant be cross with her!

All seasons for the Otter Party

Well, it is Scotland.

I think we can all conjure to mind at least some version of that classical postcard that shows that as a country, its always raining, or snowing, and that all four seasons in one day is not uncommon. Well, this week started with the promise of spring:

The snow drops are out and the crocus flowers are coming up in swarms. That promises good weather, right?

No. 

Forget Winter is Coming, it just wont go away!

These photos were legitimately taken 2 days apart. Whilst unwelcome to myself, the snow proved to be a great hit with my 3 year old niece who, living on the opposite side of the border, very rarely gets anything that amounts to actual legitimate snow. Whilst she had fun, I think she was rather surprised at the fact that we have many kinds of snow, including, unfortunately, the horrid, driving, soggy stuff that met us on our first outing out! Our second outing was more successful, as it had frozen a bit and wasn't driving down as hard.

With a baby on the way, this visit is the last one we're expecting from my sister before she pops in June time. To make a fuss and celebrate for the sake of having a nice time, I organised an "Otter Cuddle Party" - the idea of course belongs to my niece (I got her the Finding Dory pyjamas with the cuddling otters and a cuddly otter toy for Christmas, which she has now decided is the best thing ever). I don't think my sister expected me to actually go ahead and have one, but we did and it went down brilliantly.

To start the day we got all the cousins together (meaning a 3, 7 and 12 years old respectively) and took them swimming at the local pool which is really a glorified water park. Otters like swimming, right? And I wanted to get those kids tired out!

Next we had an otter magic show which my hubby had organised - as the wizard of the clan, we felt he should do something fun and silly and we picked a trick specifically for each child. The classic egg bag was for the 12 year old, we had some magic appearing (and replicating!) pikachus for the 7 year old and finally the 3 year old got to help make an otter magically appear in the special box (after some difficulties with a floppy wand)!

By which point it was time to eat. I had previously asked my youngest niece what kind of cakes otters like, to which she replied kelp cakes, like the ones in Octonauts. 

My sister sent me this as reference:

And I pulled off:

I will admit to a certain smugness about those otter cakes. The squids were slightly more splats, but you cant win everything. And all the biscuits were rolled, cut and decorated by my niece, and she was very pleased with them. 

After the food it was time for everyone to leave and go on and do other things. There was lots of washing up to do, but it was worth it!

Till next time!

Adopt-iversary

Well, I'd hoped to get posting sooner, but nonetheless, better late than never!

Yesterday marked three years since we got Missy and she has gone from this nervous and unsure little thing:

To this completely spoiled rotten little thing!:

I'm not normally a fan of these mashed-up expressions, but I do like adoptiversary. As Missy was a stray, we'll never know her birthday or even an exact age (her estimate was 11 months to a year when we got her, so for documents we just use the first of March, meaning next month she will be approximately 4 years old), so its nice to have a day that's for her. We took her for some of her favourite local walks and I made her some cookies.

I found this recipe and it ticked all of Missys favourites: peanut butter, banana (I opted for 1 banana instead of the apple sauce) and chicken stock. Cant say they appeal to me, but she loves them! Whilst Eating Bird Food doesn't have much in the way of dog recipes, after the success of these, I have earmarked their pumpkin and peanut butter cookies for Halloween!

In other news, I've been sewing away quite the thing. I made myself a SpiderGwen costume and the hubby an Agent Venom one for a 30th party we had been invited to (I'm waiting on the photos from the official photographer before posting any) and its now time to get started on all the baby quilts for my soon-to-be niece and nephew.

My step sister (who is about to have a girl) lives over in the states, so us 'Scottish Aunts' are putting together a care package (the quilt being my contribution). I'm also tempted to put in some Irn Bru and other Scottish goodies for the mother to be!

What do you guys think? I imagine it'll go down well!

Hello 2017

Well, that's Christmas firmly packed away and in the loft for another year! I had hoped to get some posts done in December but life, the earth and the universe did its best to stop me. 

Christmas itself is a mixed bag for me - my hubby works in retail so I never really see much of him in December (in his more humbug moments he complains that Christmas is merely a day off between the two busiest days of the year for him) so we've been ships passing in the night. Missy also hates all things to do with Christmas. We know she was originally abandoned at this time of year and the whole tree-going-up debacle triggers off her anxiety. This year was quite bad as she had a bit of a melt down over a paper snowflake decoration (I will not be buying those again!) which she barked at and then hid in the spare room from. Despite the temptation to just not bother with the tree etc, its something we hope she'll just get used to over time, so we do our best to make the whole thing fun and treat-filled for her.

Are you positive this Christmas malarkey is necessary?

On the plus side - my family managed to congregate together (I shall spare you all the family politics, but the fact that everyone (my siblings significant others included) was able to sit in the one room and play nice is a big deal) and the day itself went great. Typically we all overate and Missy was spoiled absolutely rotten as everyone insisted she get one of the treats they'd brought for her! All the bits I'd sewn went down very well (I'm happy to report my eldest niece adored the dresses for her and the doll) and I managed a few other crafty bits that went down well too:

An apron for my Brother-In-Law

And a matching mini-apron for my niece!

A kimono styled dressing gown for my sister

Family "sigils"

The little shields was a last minute addition to the Christmas pile - like a lot of families, we have a group chat that's usually pinging away with utter nonsense, but occasionally some fun useful bits pop up. I wont into details, but we decided to make up our own Games of Thrones-esque family crests and mottos. I used the ideas everyone came up with, made them a bit more interesting/practical and handed them out. With two of my three siblings buying houses this year, they went down much better than I had expected. For those interested, mine is the one with the three grey dogs - no surprises there!

New Year was spent at the in-laws (we try our best to rotate the two families) and we danced in the bells at the village ceilidh. They live in very-rural Aberdeenshire, so Missy enjoyed lots of walks in the woodland and fields, whilst I did my best at bird spotting (I had a few firsts - a partridge (aptly festive) and a handful of long tail tits).

Like many, I'm quite looking forward to 2017 and what it will bring. Last year was very much a mixed bag of a year. There were too many lows - I had to say the final goodbye to my grandfather, and my last surviving grandparent has been diagnosed with terminal cancer, so we have ticking away slowly in the back of our minds. There has been some great highs too - Japan (back in May before I picked this up again) was the holiday of a lifetime, bridges are finally being built and mended between family members I thought would never speak again, and I have the wonderful news that I have not one, but two new members of the family joining us in the big wide world at some point next year (one niece and one nephew respectively, providing the scans are right!)

So, to all those reading, I raise a mug of tea (well, I am terribly British after all) and wish you all the best for the year to come!

Advent is upon us

Well, that may sound a touch more gloomy than it meant to...

The Christmas songs have started, lights are appearing in the gardens around the estate and I've bought the advent calendars for us all (I'm so happy that Wainwright do biscuit ones, Missy isn't allowed dairy so its always a bit of a struggle to get one for her!). I've also been ploughing on with my Christmas crafts.

I would show off a lot more of the bits I've made, but just as my sis (and knitter extraordinaire) has been lamenting, it would spoil the surprise for a lot of people! So here is one of the peices I can show off:

front

For my eldest neice - she wanted a dress that was both sparkly and purple. I promise that here is much more sparkle in real life, the camera really doesn't do it justice! As she is at the awkward cusp-of-tweenhood age, I really tried to make something that would appeal just as much to a young teen as it does to her sparkle-obsessed current self. (I kid you not, I've seen the sassy eye rolls and pouts and sighs, any day now and those hormones are gonna hit her hard, and anyone else in a subsequent 20 mile radius!)

My other big craft project is for Missy and some of the doggy relatives in the family. She had a giant of a vizla for a daft old uncle (I stress the daft in that comment) and a little tiny King Charles for a cousin and the plan is to make bathrobes for them all. I made one for Missy a while back, and I can safely say it is the most useful thing I have ever made - she's one of those dogs that stays damp for hours no matter how much you towel her. Now I just wipe the mud off, pop the bathrobe on and let her sleep on her pillow by the radiator and no harm done to anyone!

I've even modified it into a little fleecy pyjama set for her! The nights are getting very cold (its set to hit -5C this week) so she needs a little something to help stay warm at the moment.

Well, hopefully I'll fit in a nice interesting walk or two and post again soon! 

Craigmillar Castle

This is actually a take-two for this castle. Last time I tried to go to this one, it was shut for renovations! But nonetheless, Craigmillar Castle is finally off the hit list!

Deemed a 'romantic ruin', this castle is regarded as one of the best preserved castles in Scotland. Tucked away behind a hospital and a housing estate, it literally pops up out of nowhere when your trying to find it. 

A 10k was underway in the large field/forest area beside the castle, so we decided to just go straight in and do a proper walk afterwards. The hubby picked up the kids quiz and we were off. As it was one of those very cold still days, there was only a handful of other people in the castle, and for the most part we had it to ourselves. Missy has become a master of the spiral staircase and, with it being so quiet, we simply let her off the lead to come up and down (one of us went ahead first, so she was never left unattended).

The big historical draw for this castle is that Mary Queen of Scots visited here, and this was where the "Craigmillar Bond" (a pact made by her close followers to murder her husband, Lord Darnley) was written up and signed - with or without her knowledge, no one knows for sure. The coop was successful, although it proved to be the start of the slippery slope that led to her execution.

Once we were done in the castle, we took Missy for a walk along the grounds. The race was still going (the men where now running, the ladies who we originally saw having finished) and we did our best to keep out the way. I cant say the same for Missy - whilst she wont chase runners, she seems to delight in taking up as much of the path as possible and wagging her tail at them! 

After that the day was pretty much done - I must confess that I am terribly looking forward to spring and the days getting longer again!

In other news, the first batch of baby plecos have been rehomed and I'm now growing the next batch on a little more. As I suspected, the adult plecos in the main tank have decided not to use the lovely pots I've given them and proving more difficult than ever to spot! My Christmas sewing list is slowly being worked through - hopefully I can get some photos up soon of the non-spoilers!

Till next time!

Antonine Wall

Well, the nights are drawing in and the days are starting late, autumn seems to be swiftly passing into winter - complete with a snow warning in place over the next two days (which hopefully will come to nothing). 

We decided that we wanted to fit in a few 'bumper' walks for Missy as (thankfully) she dislikes miserable weather just as much as I do. I had been looking about on the Scottish Heritage website and spotted the Antonine wall. Its the less famous cousin to Hadrian's, and is perhaps less a wall and more a very deep trench and turf mound.

The "Wall"

Despite the low impact visual of the area, there was plenty of information about the fort stationed there and its history. We were at the Falkirk side of the wall (at 37 miles, there was never any thought of trying to walk it all) where the Rough Castle Fort used to be. Interestingly, it was manned by the Nervii, a Belgic tribe who were conquered by the Romans and held in high regard - we had a good giggle at the Asterix cartoon that Historic Scotland used for describing them!

As an aside, to access this part of the wall, you park at the Falkirk Wheel and then walk over to it. I plan on revisiting the wheel in the warmer weather (after 3 hours wandering all around the Fort and the wall, even Missy was ready to call it a day), so will do a more in depth post later, but it certainly looks like a good day out for the whole family! Perhaps an Easter doggy play date...

I wonder if the Romans had wellies...