Puppy Parkour

It's been a very strange week. Back in the labs, I've been busy trying to refresh months and months of training I last used years ago in a few days, so I've been exhausted.

With lock down, hubby has been running Missy 5 or 10km each morning and, after work, I've been walking her in the afternoon. The park gets stale after a while, but we're behaving and not driving places, so I've been venturing further afield and up random paths. I'd heard there was a skate park in the area, so after blundering upon it, decided Missy just had to have an Urban Lock down photo shoot.

Isolation is making me a little peculiar, I will confess. 

I've managed quite a few Skype calls so I haven't been completely isolated, and hubby and I have managed to get a good start on the garden. I've also been working on various large craft projects, and in between finished this little wreath:

I'm sure we've all seen the rainbows in windows, and this was my little attempt. I'm rather pleased with it.

I won't lament about the current situation as we are all experiencing it. I've decided to focus on those about me and what's going on with them. The news has been relegated to a check in the morning and evening, and that's it. 

I will continue to explore the area in the meantime and hope I find more places and I didn't know exist!

A Very Odd Week

I think I am not alone when I say this has been a very strange week.

I will tell it from Missys perspective. 

Monday: Mother was doing that strange thing she sometimes does where she stares and talks at the laptop. She's a bit stressed out but that's OK, Father is home early! And he's getting to stay home all week too, or maybe all month, they don't know, but that's great. I don't know why Mother is upset about that. 

Tuesday: Father was keeping busy in the garden, he doesn't want to distract Mother from the laptop. It's got nice now so I can sleep in the garden. 

Mother should have a longer break from her laptop, so I lay on her feet to try and stop her. It didn't work, 

Wednesday: now mother is on the laptop at night too. First to Grandpa and Ruby, then next with Granny and the cat Elvis. She's doing lessons, she says we all need to keep in touch, but that's silly. Why can't we just visit them? I haven't seen the cat in ages. 

Thursday: I'm not sure I like this routine. Father avoids mother so as not to distract her, and mother clearly needs someone to cheer her up. I tried bringing her a squeaky toy as she was talking at the laptop. She laughed and took it off me so my work is done. 

Friday: Father is much happier today. He says he's going to get paid until the end of the month, and from there the company will see what the government is planning. Mother was happy, but then spoke lots and lots at the laptop and now isn't happy. She's not staying at home like father anymore and says she has to go back to her old job. I don't much like this all. Everyone is being very upset and strange.

Long story short, hubbys work has closed due to Covid19 and I've been redeployed back to the labs - making me a front line worker. After a week complaining that I missed my colleagues and wanted things back to normal, karma bit me hard. Be careful what you wish for. Can't say I terribly want to go in, but the better part of my nature tells me that it's for the greater good.

We decided on Saturday to practice our social distancing and visit Penicuik House. It's a nice little gem of a walk - the old Manor suffered a fire that completely destroyed the internals but left the exterior building intact. It was too expensive to repair so was basically abandoned. 

We had planned on going to Flotterstone, but I think the rest of Edinburgh had that idea so we took one look at the car park and declined. Still, we had a lovely walk and a picnic by the river and my spirits were improved. It was nice just to get out and go somewhere a little different. Missy certainly appreciated it and is in better spirits herself. Whilst I'm sure she appreciates the company, she's always been very sensitive to our moods and knows something isn't quite right. 

I don't have a big project update, but I'm keeping myself very busy with a lot of hand sewing. Here's an in progress shot, any guesses on what it's for? 

I imagine next week's post will be a bit of a ramble too, and for that I apologise in advance. I think it's important for history, and ourselves, to make note of the current situation and record how we feel and what's happening. 

Keep safe everyone. 

Everythings Gotten Real

No big surprise as to what I'm referring to, the big bad Covid-19. But let me wind back a week, and I apologise in advance for the rambling nature of this post.

The week started off with Missy playing Goldilocks in the in-laws bed. They had kindly volunteered to look after her whilst we had a sneaky trip off to Disneyland Paris. My sister was due to meet us there and we were all super excited about it. 

Monday was a laugh. Tuesday was hysterical, my husband managed to goad Captain Hook and Mickey mouse into a play fight in Cafe Mickey. Wednesday we joined the dark side and did all the star wars parades and events. Thursday, parades were cancelled and the hand san was replaced with medical grade stuff. Friday Disney announced it was going to close on the Sunday and staff were cleaning tills every five customers, were no longer taking fast passes off guests and we're having them put directly into a bin - in short, things escalated very suddenly.

My boss text me, telling me to work from home Monday. We were all in a fluster, had something happened? BBC news were reporting more of the same stuff, nothing seemed particularly crazy. We were anxious as to whether we'd even get home the air was so charged with unknowns and worries.

We got home absolutely fine. The in laws told us about the panic buying and I spotted a few silly posts on Facebook, but didn't think too much of it. 

Once we were home and actually had to do a shop, I did lose my temper. No rice, no pasta, no noodles, no potatoes, frozen section completely raided, practically no cheese and obviously the cleaning section was non existent. I do one shop a week and, being sensible, had run down the stock in the cupboard and freezer before going away. I actually needed these items. 

It's an eclectic menu this week. 

Nonetheless, we'll be fine. A work colleague messaged me today to explain my bosses cryptic text - everyone is to work from home if possible for the foreseeable, they didn't think I was some plague carrier and were separating me as a precaution, as I had feared.

Got to look on the bright side, all this time stuck at home will give me more time to focus on crafts (as well as cuddle Missy)! I was in a disney mood before the holiday and put together this cute project bag made with an old jumper that had shrunk in the wash on me.

Right, my rambling rant is done. Not sure how things are gonna pan out over the next wee while, my calender has suddenly cleared as all the events I was planning on attending have been cancelled. I'll have to look into some new places to walk Missy, that's one thing I can say that's definitely positive, the weather has started to turn to spring and its actually beginning to warm a little. So expect some new walks and a lot of craft bits! 

Getting ready for Spring

Either we are in the eye of the storm, or spring is starting to wake up and ease us into the year ahead. The temperature high this week has crept up from a balmy 7C to an almost tropical 10C!

Nicer weather, and the ground beginning to dry, means nice woodland walks! Missy is pleased to with the improvement too, bunnies and squirrels are peeking out thier winter hidey holes and she has enthusiastically greeted them.

Whilst she has been chasing small furry things, I've enjoyed all the late winter flowers as carpets of snowdrops have been popping up. I've also started to get the calendar filled up with dates for interesting events and our explorer to do list is getting pretty long.

Its still chilly in the evenings, so I've managed to get a good dent in my project to do list. I've got mother's day sorted for the MIL and I'm pretty certain she'll love it:

There are some bigger projects on the machine, which hopefully I'll share soon! Until then, we shall be enjoying the respite from winter. 

Leaping into a New Month

It's been a rather odd weekend. We've had the unwanted Storm Jorge battering down on us, so it's been another weekend of grand plans put aside for another day. Not to say that we didn't have a good weekend, just that we kept things closer to home!

Saturday we really put into action our plan for Lent (not that any of us are religious) but the aim is to put a bag of things together each day to give to charity (we stretched this to include my mums school, my dance schools tombola, upcyling projects and passing forward to friends). It's kicked us into action to get the loft cleared out and boy the things we have found that we don't even remember owning. Long overdue! 

Today was a an eclectic day of plans made, plans cancelled, other plans made and last minute, oh, OK, let's do that! Long story short, I got my mums summer holiday booked for her, we baby sat Wee Ben (who was far more thrilled about it than the photo makes out!) and we managed to get out to Dechmont and go ghost hunting. It was very soggy, but both dogs had good fun and it was nice to catch up with my older sister and her family. 

Ah, dechmont. It's soon to be a no go walk. They have officially started building on it and have made a small carpark around the side of the buildings for dog walkers for the time being. I must organise my younger sisters Addams Family photo shoot we'd been planning forward to her next visit! 

I've been busy craft wise! In order to keep out the storms, I've been getting creative and pushing on through the odds and ends of the up cycling bag. Lo and behold, some very retro draught excluders! I was aiming to make them as vintage and retro as possible and was super pleased with the outcome. 

There's plenty more projects in the works, so expect some odd peices next week!

And hopefully nicer weather. I think we could all do with a break in the weather! 

Four Seasons in One Week

Well, not exactly four seasons.

Wait, very wet with a high of 10...thats a Scottish summer! So yes, all four seasons in one week!

It started with snow:

And then rain:

And lastly, in a brief respite from storm Dennis, spring is arriving:

So we haven't managed much in the way of adventures, but after last week, we all needed a bit of a holiday from the holiday! 

In the down time between going out for what is supposed to be considered a walk, but this week has resembled either an Antarctic exploration or swimming the channel, I have managed some sewing. After coming in soaked so often, I figured Missy could do with a quilt that had some water resistance to it:

Bonus points, it's completely upcycled. The main fabric is some old jumpers that were too well worn to donate and then the batting is actually an old waterproof mattress protector. We bought one thinking it a great idea and then, because they don't breathe, my husbands excema completely broke out and its never gone back on the bed...

So a win win! 

Just a short post this week since we're all still recovering from our bumper week down south!

Razzle Dazzle with the Fab Four

Part 2 of our holiday away! When looking for things to do in our designated Liverpool day, I happened across the Mersey Ferries River Explorer Cruise. Not only was it dog friendly, it had a port based in the Wirral side of Liverpool (a convenient 15 minutes from our friends house who we had planned to visit that night) and it was one of the last weeks she would be sailing in her Dazzle colours. Why the Razzle Dazzle? Created as part of the First World War commemorations, designed by Sir Peter Blake (more famously known for designing album covers for the Beatles) and inspired by the dazzle camouflage of the time, the ‘Everybody Razzle Dazzle’ is a sight to behold. 

The explorer cruise is a 50 minute loop with an audio tour of the landmarks of both sides of the Mersey, and the ticket acts as a hop on, hop off day pass. After enjoying free entry into the U-boat experience (complimentary as part of the ticket), we headed over to the Albert Docks for a stretch of the legs, a wonder and some lunch. We knew it would be a long day, so kept the plans low key. 

Missy met these four guys, who were fab (had to be done!) and we really enjoyed listening to buskers all playing Beatles covers. The day was bright and clear and was pleasant for a wander about before we found an eccentric double decker bus-come-burger van where we had lunch. They kindly gave us some water for Missy and a we were back on the boat. The plan from the outset had been to visit friends for dinner and a catch up and we managed a quick walk together. Ren, another fur cousin, is now 2 and has learned his manners, so both dogs played very nice (although Missy did hump him a little when she'd had enough playing!) 

Didn't get many photos, was too busy enjoying good food and chat! 

And then it was Friday. Going home day. Well, we couldn't resist enjoying our holiday a little longer and stopped in at the National Waterways Museum. This was an absolute gem of a find. Completely dog friendly, Missy could go anywhere and everywhere with us, and again a beautiful, if cold, day for it. I have a huge soft spot for canal boats and recently, through work, have found canals quite fascinating places in regards to construction. For the hubby, who loves a good audio tour, they had brand new tech - a tablet with AR installed that brought the people on the information panels to life. It was a lovely change for me, who usually reads and summarises aloud all the boards, to have them read to be in wonderfully over the top Mancurian accents. 

There was plenty to look at, from the construction of the canal, the mechanism behind the lock keys and even a little terrace of houses each done in a different time period. It made me think of New Lanark and I immediately recommend it to my sister and her young family. Missy was a star attraction amongst the school groups visiting, and she even had a brief flash mob where they all took turns patting her (I made sure she wasn't feeling crowded, but as usual she just lapped up the attention). The cafe, also super dog friendly, provided us with some warming food before we decided to get back on the road and go home.

Overall a wonderful trip! With all the wartime themes, I picked up the Make Mend and Do booklet and was actually surprised that there are some very useful hints and tips as well as some fun upcycling ideas. Keep an eye out for some inspired pieces in the near future!