Isle of Dogs

The sun is out and spring feels like it's here - the washing is out drying, squirrels are roaming in abundance and it's a pleasure to be out walking. Snowdrops are peeping through the ground once more and the crocus flowers are even poking their heads out for all to see. Even the threat of Beast from the East: Part 3 seems ridiculous and a long way off...

So...naturally the highlight of the weekend was being sat in the dark! The Cameo Cinema chain decided to run a dog friendly preview screening of Wes Andersons new film, Isle of Dogs, and naturally we had to go along with Missy. It was incredibly well organised. We arrived for 11am and were handed a fleece to put over the chair so that Missy could sit between us for a cuddle whilst we all watched the film. There were water bowls all along one wall and the lights were kept on (very dim of course, but it wasn't total darkness) and I'm fairly certain that the soundtrack was a little muted.  

All of the dogs (and there was plenty of dogs!) were incredibly well behaved and, apart from the odd woof or bark, didn't disturb anyone at all. It was really nice to be with so many like minded people and to chat away before and after the film - the unanimous agreement was that dog friendly screenings should just be a thing, its perfect for those wanting to catch a movie but feeling guilty about leaving the pooch alone yet again during the week.

The film itself was brilliant. I preferred it  to Fantastic Mr Fox, which was the last Wes Anderson film I've seen and, although the animation etc was very similar, I liked that this was its own unique story and it really celebrated the loyalty of man and dog. Well worth catching!

In other news, I did it! 6 days in total and I managed to make my full-length wizards coat. Hubby had it in time for his magic show and he was the envy of the Magic Circle. There was a lot of new techniques to learn (Thank goodness for youtube with those welted pockets!) but I'm really pleased with the end result - as always the photos never do it justice. The show itself was brilliant, its really nice to see people taking pride in hobbies, especially one that brings joy.

Well, that's all for now. Its been a busy week and with Easter around the corner will only get busier. I managed to get my bonnet made yesterday for our family bonnet contest, so next update, I'll be able to show it off and say who won!

Longings of Spring

Well, one good thing about all the snow and poor weather (because yes, we've had yet more snow) is that there's plenty of time to fit in some big craft projects and not feel like I should be out doing something. Missy is fed up with the ghastly weather too, but I suspect that has more to do with a lack of bunnies and squirrels to chase than longings of spring.

This is a bit of an off-the-cuff project as the fabric was a whim buy (on a very good deal!) when in Ramsbottom. I adore Peter Rabbit (the classic stuff, but I'll settle on the movie print since it was so reasonably priced!) and spent a lot of time playing about with ideas on this king size quilt before deciding that keeping it simple was best - the sheer scale of it was a challenge alone. I'm glad to say that I'm really pleased with how it turned out, and it's brought a touch of much needed spring into the house.

I've also been looking at ways to start using up my scraps and cobbled together these cute coasters - practical and stash busting! It almost justifies my need to keep every pretty bit of fabric more than a few inches big...

In the wings, I've been working on this years bonnet contest entry for Missy. I intend to keep hers simple and classic, but for myself I'm having to up my game and produce something truly over the top! I wont divulge details just yet, but with my sister coming up for Easter, everyone is making sure that our first full-family Easter in some years will be well remembered! I was also terribly pleased that I managed to make an Easter wreath with all the left over bits from bonnets past, so at least I can pretend spring is here!

In other sewing news I've been working on some pressies which I will reveal later and its a race against the clock to make a wizards coat for the hubby for the show that the Magic Circle are putting on this Friday - its my first shot on welted pockets so fingers crossed all the youtube videos I've watched has paid off!

Camera Obscura and World of Illusion

With it being Year of the Dog, I've noticed a few places advertising their dog friendly status online, including a few that I had absolutely no idea would welcome our furry friends. One of these places was the Camera Obscura and World of Illusions - a popular tourist attraction and just the kind of place that the hubby and I love. We used the excuse of Mothers Day to get a small gang of us together and made our way up the Royal Mile in the chilly rain.

Yep, we've gone from the Beast from the East to the Pest from the West - I don't know if these PR people should be shot or given medals, either way, it was dreary and chilly and an indoor activity was exactly the right kind of thing we were looking for. Whilst the hubby and I are used to just ignoring the weather despite how miserable it is in favour of the dog, my mother and brother are not so well hardened!

It was an eventful day from the start - after joining the queue outside the building and being supplied with wonderfully bright, and well branded, purple umbrellas (great marketing idea right there, and a well appreciated one as they kept the worst of the drizzle off) the fire alarm sounded. As a fire warden at work (I know, how sad) I appreciate a well executed evacuation, and the crowd control was remarkably well done. The fire crew arrived swiftly, it was a false alarm and they were off and we were back in the queue.

I like to always state "X number of adults and one well behaved dog" when going somewhere unconventional as I think it puts everyone on the right foot - I have a dog, yes, but I expect her to be behaved and calm, so lets not stress about it. And from the moment we entered the building the staff were absolutely brilliant. It was explained to us that we could come and go, if it was too busy for her it would be quieter later in the day, she was allowed everywhere and the only exception might be the show if there was someone afraid of dogs in the group (a fair enough exception in my opinion, forcing terrified kids to be next to dogs doesn't cure phobias, and it usually just stresses everyone out, including the dog).

And then we were in. This is exactly the kind of place the hubby and I love - it's unconventional, it's unashamedly good fun and we both just adore the whole art of optical illusions. You start off with a bang doing the mirror maze and the 'bewilderworld', a large rotating drum of lights that disorientate and make you feel dizzy in all the best ways. Whilst I was in hysterics at my mother getting completely lost in the maze, the bewilderworld was not to Missys liking due to the grating on the walkway. She managed to get across but wouldn't pose, so unfortunately no pictures with the beautiful whirling lights! We did however get some fun photos on the illusions floor that she was very happy to pose for, so clearly she did enjoy the rest of the visit.

Missy, being the only dog in the building, was an instant celebrity and, as we skipped the next few floors to be sure we arrived for the show on time, we were stunned to be greeted by the waiting staff with a "Oh, is this the Missy we've heard about?" Clearly her reputation proceeds her! Again, the staff were great as they explained to us again that Missy might have to sit it out (no one objected at the sight of her, so clearly not a problem) and that if at any point we felt she was uncomfortable, we were just to ask and they'd let us out. It wasn't a problem at all, she did take a moment to settle as the hubby and I split up and she didn't know who she'd rather sit with, but once I sat with her she just curled up and enjoyed the down time.

The show is the camera obscura itself, and it's like a periscope that uses ye olde technology to magically project the streets outside onto a round table. With the weather being so poor it wasn't the best I've seen it, but I would hardly consider it grounds to complain about the day (we were told that if we were unhappy we could request a free ticket for another day, but no one controls the weather so I felt that would have been absurd). Everyone still had fun 'picking up' the cars and people so it was still worth seeing.

After that we finished looking at all the other floors and went to the gift shop. Missy had outdone herself with her good behaviour and quickly endeared herself to the staff. It was quiet and they had fun looking for excuses to pet her and pointing out special pet candles to us (we picked one up, Missy seemed to like the citrus best as I let her sniff them all) and we explained how we had come to find out they welcomed dogs and that it wasn't actually stated on the website.

We all headed for a nice dinner at the Whistle Stop Barber Shop (I've eaten there previously and knew they welcomed dogs). My family always find it a novelty being out with Missy and just the amount of attention she gains by sitting nice and quietly. We all agreed to take advantage of the pop-in-and-out ability with the Camera Obscura, its its very generous late night opening, and headed back again - I was really pleased about this as my brother wasn't originally keen on the idea of the Obscura, so he had clearly been won over.

All of us were surprised that it was still relatively busy. It didn't stop us all having fun, and all four of us spotted something new we hadn't seen the first time round, which in my opinion definitely makes it worthwhile. It was also nice to each point out our favourite bits to one another as we passed, and I was pleased that we all liked and enjoyed different things. As we left (via the gift shop again, my mum wanting to get a postcard) we were remembered by the staff and were assured that they were going to definitely update the website. Missy got some photos taken which will hopefully go up on the Facebook page, which, to me, makes her famous! 

With the rest of the family now saying they'll have to go and visit, I can see Missy and myself going back in the future, and I'm really pleased to say that my mum had a wonderful day - which was really the whole point! 

Till next time!

Beast from the East

Well...I was clearly speaking too soon last week with my hopes that a hint of spring was just around the corner, that the long dark winter had finally been broken...

Or I am just a massive jinx.

Whatever the case may be, I think it's safe to say that everything this week has been completely dominated by the "Beast from the East" and it hit us in the central belt hard. Tuesday was grim and I managed to get myself home safely from my abandoned dance classes, but I won't lie, it was tough going and I didn't get above 25mph. And then Wednesday arrived. I did actually think about going into work, but then I thought about all the other people on the road being frustrated at not getting to work and...nah. Not worth it.

So glad to have made that call. The hubby had work and braved it in only to get sent home at 2 (the shopping centre was shut down, that shows you how bad it was) and I spent 45 minutes having absolute kittens and desperately trying to clear the drive as he made the journey that we can normally manage in under 8 minutes. The worst. The absolute worst. My sympathy extends to everyone who's family got stuck out in the traffic, I think being the one waiting is worse than being the one in the car just about.

We did the altruistic thing of handing our number out to our elderly neighbours - and stressed that even if it was just for milk, to call us. There's no way an ambulance was gonna get into my estate and I'd never forgive myself if they fell in the snow for something silly. And then we took Missy for what's normally a 40 minute walk that, in all the snow, took us more than an hour (and from which most the photos were are done, I wasn't going to wrangle the dog and the camera at the same time). I had done two short walks earlier with her, but she likes the snow and the cold far better than her humans, so was keen to go again!

On Thursday I was sick fed up of the snow. All I could see was snow - out the window, on the news, on my social media - they wouldn't stop talking about it on the radio. We knew I advance that we were all havibg snow days again so I made the most of my improved "office" view and took some photos of the birds on the feeder during my tea break and insisted on doing the lunch walk in order to battle the oncoming cabin fever. Once the red warning clicked off there seemed to be more snow than there was during it. It just wouldn't stop. By this point the novelty had worn off for Missy and she was fed up wading through chest deep snow and being cold. She merely lay on the sofa staring out at the snow, her eyes clearly bemoaning the terrible state of affairs that prevented her from her life long squirrel destroying quest.

My improved view

Then Friday was another snow day. I'd made the call the night before as, even if conditions meant no more snow, it was so cold that it wasn't going to go anywhere and the car was going to need dug out. Hubby walked to work and it seemed like another day trapped in some bizarre apocalyptic zombie drama but without the zombies and, as I was finishing up for the day, I noticed a JCB rolling past my window - lo and behold, the community was rallying together. I soon joined the rest of the street in digging out what was left behind and the bad mood broke. Everyone was suddenly up beat and talking again. I got out with Missy and even she had a spring in her step, taking the time to play with every dog we met and bounding through the snow.

The weather warnings are back to yellow and it feels like we're through the worst. An odd week, not exciting but I feel its worth writing down. After all, its not every year that I get 3 foot of snow in two days.

*stops and anxiously peers through window as a lone snowflake falls past*

Perhaps I will leave it that and say no more, just in case...

Treasure Hunting in Linlithgow

This is actually our second attempt at the Linlithgow Treasure Trail - we were snowed off the first time after 6 questions and decided to go sledging instead!

For take two, we had the in-laws through for a visit and, as it finally felt like spring was on the cards, we decided to give the treasure trail another go. As I've said before, we always do the kids quizzes when visiting places, so the idea of following a list of directions and clues in order to solve a puzzle at the end was right up our street. Getting to walk around and really explore Linlithgow for the first time was also an added bonus.

We all started just outside the palace and followed the directions given to find the solutions to each question. The trail took us up to the canal, back to the old courthouse, across to a church none of us knew existed before going around the peel (giving both Missy and Flash a chance to stretch their legs) and finishing up where we started. At a little over two hours (we did stop to read all the signs ) it made a very good dog walk for us all that was a bit more interesting and different. The company makes loads of them for just about everywhere, so expect more of them in the future!

The rest of the week has been taken up with a trip to London and then straight back into work and off to see friends! Speaking of friends, Missy is to have another 'cousin' - some very good friends of ours are getting a shiba inu puppy and I absolutely cant wait for the play dates! At 8 weeks old, we're going to have to wait a bit first, but I'm already super excited about it. Missy is terribly good with puppies (she just lets them wriggle all over her and mostly ignores the attention) so I'm looking forward to it.

Not much else to say this week, just a quick post. Was at a 'stash clearance' craft fair and may have bought some fabric and very old dress patterns from the 80s, so I think I'm going to start putting together a new project before the day is done!

Hmm...perhaps a puppy blanket...

A Wee Trip South

With some holiday time due to us, the hubby and I decided to pop down south and see my sister before she goes back to work from having her baby. With her menagerie (3 cats, 1 tarantula, 1 snake and 2 small children) we did discuss about bringing Missy and, based on her good behaviour on her last visit, we decided to give it a try and stay for a long weekend.

We decided to spend our first full day together at the East Lancashire Railway - they were running a steam event which is always a fun day and, being dog friendly, meant that we could wear Missy out. We all enjoy steam trains, Missy is always made a fuss of, both the men are engineers and kids just love steam trains.

We may have accidentally brought the bad weather with us. No one expected snow so our plans of the adventure park on route were canned and we settled for trundling up to the end of the line before coming back and stopping in Ramsbottom for a wander and lunch. We found some craft goodies (sister is an avid knitter and I got some nice fabric) before we found an absolutely wonderful pet shop where we were recommended a pub that was both dog and child friendly (often easier said than done!) Then it was back on the train and a trundle back home.

Dust bunny cupcakes

We are all massive geeks and our evenings once the kids had went to bed were spent either playing on the Switch or trying out a role-playing game called No Thank you Evil, which I picked up for my sister to try with my niece. They wanted to trial it before playing with her and the hubby and I agreed to be guinea pigs and give it a go. As she normally does cthullu type role play, I did my absolute best to make it saccharine sweet - I think a purple two tailed fox called Sugar-Star who manically produces cake from her hat and makes people cuddle just about broke my sister, but she managed! My hubby settled on being a lost sock with his dust bunny companion - since the characters had been mocked up in advance, I put together some dust bunny cakes and 'compassion cookie's' from my character - both game and treats went down very well, I'm pleased to say!

With the poor weather, we decided on the Blue Planet Aquarium for the other full day. Missy was tired from her day on the train and so I gave her a good long walk in the morning before she was safely locked into the conservatory. I need to stress here that it's actually the cats picking on the dog that was the concern, so for her own safety we picked a room that could be securely shut!

The aquarium has been on my hit list for a while now, and I was very pleased with it. There was lots of exhibits and tanks for the wee ones to run between, and plenty enough in them to satisfy the adults who are actually looking at the tanks. I think the aquatheatre was the highlight for me - you could actually appreciate the size of the fish and sharks without them being distorted by the acrylic tunnel. My neice decided that the sting rays were the best bit and nephew appeared to just like all of it!

Tuesday was pancake day - so before setting off home we had to do pancakes. Brother in law is diabetic, so as I had commandeered the kitchen, we decided on savoury crepes and just ran with it from there. I'm a traditionalist and it has to be sugar and lemon juice, my sister and neice dabbled with chocolate spread and bananas and the boys had bacon. Brother in law invented the Elvis pancake (peanut butter, banana and bacon) and I think Missy was the only other one who fancied it! My nephew slept through his first pancake day, but there will be plenty of opportunities in the future!

Certainly, the trip went well enough that I think we'll be down again in the future!

Time Flies

Four years! This week marks four whole years since Missy waltzed into my life and decided to make herself the centre of it. I had a look through my previous adoptiversary post, and even on the very first post of the blog, and realised that I have never actually relayed the story of how Missy chose us.

The hubby grew up with greyhounds and lurchers and, whilst I have a soft spot to mongrels owing to the little mutt that was my childhood pet, I liked the idea of getting a dog and knowing what I was going to get. There are several rescue greyhound centres about the place, so we decided that the time was right and we'd go window shopping at some dogs and see if there was anyone who would fit into our lives perfectly. Of course, I over analyse everything, so by this point I had put more thought into this greyhound that I was going to own than most people do about having children - I'd scoped out dog walkers, I'd decided on what would be the best local walk and the nearest nice bigger walks, I had a short list of names and had exactly where I wanted the bed and the bowl to go.

So we looked at the greyhounds, had a very nice chat with the people running the place and they effectively matched us to the dogs. We took a lovely black pair on a walk and said we wanted to think about it before committing, but I didn't get that feeling of window shopping. I remember vividly the day my sister and I walked through the kennels staring at all the puppies before we were struck the need to have just that one there, the wee one with the diamond...

And I never got that feeling. The hubby too, I could tell something was up and relayed my thoughts. I was surprised at his response.

He wanted to go get a real rescue. Something from a pound. Did we have one of those? He too recalled walking through kennels and looking at all the sorry dogs wanting homes, but rather than that element of finding the right one on sight that I had longed for, he wanted to find the right dog he wanted to rescue.

So to the Edinburgh Dog and Cat home we went. I laid down ground rules on route, knowing my hubby is a complete sap and would pick the most flea bitten thing he could - no projects, I understand whatever we pick will have issues, but no long term projects, we did not have the time to train an aggressive or mentally upset dog, we needed one we could trust near children and other animals.

And so we walked through the kennels. First the boys and then the girls. There was dozens of excited little faces and wagging tails. The noise was terrific and then, in all the chaos, sitting peacefully on her own and just watching us calmly, was 515. Fresh off the streets and not yet named.

She's friendly. We were assured. The rottie that shrunk in the wash was the joke. I was smitten already and didn't want to get too close - I hadn't thought until just then that we might take to different dogs. The hubby popped his hands through the bars and the little stray looked at him before hopping onto her back feet and gently putting her paw into his hand.

Yes, you two will do, was written plain as day across those little brown eyes.

I think it's safe to say that none of us have looked back since!