A busy May Update

It's been a busy run. Once we got back from Dundee we discovered a new lump on Missy's leg which she has decided to give a really good chew.

Our day playing in the tulips was cut short for the emergency vet appointment (no point sitting waiting all day, was good to get all our minds off it).

And if course lumps mean surgery. We decided to remove a few others whilst she was under as a precaution so we have been pretty much out of commission for the last few weeks.

Good news yesterday in that everything was benign, so we can all breathe a bit easier. To make things even better, the stitches came out today and, whilst she still needs the cone as the leg is still healing a little, we decided to celebrate by playing in the flowers at the House of the Binns. Hubby had a photoshoot as he has a magic gig coming up, so more on that soon!

And that's us! May is the start of busy season, and we have some nice adventures planned for the end of the month which I'll be sure to share with you all!

Until then!

let's get Camping!

First camping trip of the year! Well, an overnight stay in Dundee, but we took the tent and slept outside, so that's a win to me!

We had to road test some new equipment (a car backpack, new camp beds and magnets for the flags) so decided on a quick overnight not too far from home. We also had another bit of kit to road test:

Yep, the Missy-mobile! Does she need a buggy? No, she is still fully mobile, but we've noticed she is getting tired very quickly, especially on full day excursions. The plan is to have her used to the buggy (which converts into a bike trailer) so that when she genuinely needs it to get round, it's not a big learning curve. And in the meantime, we have a nice cosy bed with us for her to nap in our of the sun or the wind or rain. 

It's a learning curve for us all. Neither myself or my hubby have gone down this route with a dog, so we're taking our time and doing everything we can to make sure Missy is happy and can enjoy adventures to the full.

I digress. The kit all worked. The back pack safely remained on the car. The new beds and sleeping bags were nice and cosy (despite the sun zero temps, don't worry, Missy was all snuggled up in her crate with the cosy - my glasses actually steamed up when I opened it this morning!). And the magnets for the flags stayed put, with the added bonus of providing some spare hooks to hang up some lights.

We spent Saturday getting to Dundee, setting up and then just enjoying the site. Sunday we went to Canines at the Castle and joined in the dog show. As you can see, Missy did well and placed first in fancy dress. She slept off her success as we had a late lunch with a friend.

And then it was back home. A wee whirlwind adventure.

Not a lot to write, just trying to get back into the swing of things here! 

Until next time!

Happy National Pet Day

The weather has been all over the place recently (a white Easter followed by 17C and then back to freezing again) but we decided to risk it and go out for an adventure.

It's been a number of years since we last visited Jupiter Artland and we decided to go for an annual pass as a lot of people have expressed interest in going with us throughout the year ahead.

It was chilly, but a good day still, and busy, which was nice to see. Also a lot of dogs, they have now added a dog ticket, so here's hoping that continues as it keeps options open for us. We went with my eldest niece (now 21, just how did that happen?) who brought Wee Ben and honestly, it was a nice chill day. We had a good catch up and overall it was a pleasant day, which we've all kinda needed.

Since my last update we've had Easter:

Which didn't entirely go to plan. Not least the aforementioned snow, but because my sister was meant to visit and had to cancel owing to car issues. Safe than sorry, but sad nonetheless.

We did do the greyhound Easter walk, which was good fun. I think we've found a nice wee community there, so expect to see more of them in the future!

Just a short update today, been planning lots of adventures,

Until next time!

Champion of Champions

It has been a hot minute since the last update. So let me speed you through things:

2025:

July: P in the Park, heatwave

Aug: Finland, Missys in-off limp has returned 

Sept: Missy on significant bed rest, no improvement. I've been sick since Finland.

Oct: Disney trip, more scare acting. Cold I got rid off? Caught COVID in flight home

Nov: Still sick. Missy still limping. Showing symptoms of loss of night vision as won't go down stairs in dark.

Hubbies bike stolen

Bathroom flooded

Dec: 

Neighbour passed in a house fire. Still (March 2026) not sleeping right after rushing into my own home to get Missy out not realising neighbour was in. Confirmed Missy is losing hearing as she was asleep despite the alarms going off.

2026:

Jan: Damage to our property minimal, but still mid Jan before it's properly cleaned from snake damage. Still sick, caught a new bug during Christmas 

Feb: Missys limp being treated with massages, improvement comes and goes, but at least it's something.

The Romans believed that Jan/Feb, whilst they existed, was a time between years. New year was March, those months before were dark and nothing growed and simply were days to pass and survive.

That's my approach to this year. March 1st, I crawled out of my slump, took Missy to the Muirfield riding therapy dog show and decided to get over it.

And she came out Champion of Champions. On her 13th birthday, Missy finally won the best in show. Limping and half deaf, she cuddled up to the judges and shone like the little star she is.

Y'all, I actually cried. Never thought the day would happen, I was delighted that she has won Dog Judge Would Most Like to take Home. My husband actually laughed at me, apparently the shock was evident on my face when she was called.

If that's where this year peaks, I'm gonna be happy. Honestly. This time last year Missy was about to undergo surgery to remove what we later discovered was cancer. Talk about the come back kid.

Following that was a trip to London where I presented at a conference (that makes me an actual professional now, doesn't it?). I was terrified and psyched in equal measure.

Then I had friends staying, hosted a games night with work colleagues and then we got off to our first doggy adventure of the year.

Wales was the destination and we had planned nothing. Despite being very ad hoc, we managed to get Missy into Caernarfon Castle before it closed to dogs for the high season.

Then we managed the Great Orme Tramway the next day before rounding the trip off on the world's fastest zipline (Missy chilled in the doggy day care) and a walk down Bangor Botanic Gardens and then the Pier.

It was cold, very wet (hail, seriously?) but we made the most of it despite coughs and colds.

So, what's the plan here? I absolutely dropped the ball last year. I spent most of it sick, Missys health really took a knock (she's never fully bounced back from the last surgery) and there's a lot going on in my family life I am not privy to share here. I dropped this, I dropped her Instagram and her tiktok. I did manage to maintain the sewing vlogs, mostly thanks to the fact I keep a good buffer and that they basically make themselves. Crafting is how I stay sane.

But back to the plan. I don't intend to write here weekly. But I do want to keep a rolling blog of happenings, so I will report in when I have nice things to share. Same with the tiktoks and and Instagram, schedules be damned, I will upload if and when I want. And that's it. I know this is gonna be another difficult year, the family is rumbling and I am in the eye of the hurricane, but so is my husband and, for however long she determines to stay, so is Missy. Our adventures may be slower than they used to be, but I still want to share them.

Until next time

A weekend of two halves

We kicked off this weekend with a 1940s event at the House of the Binns. With Scotland in the throes of its first official heatwave of the year, we were a bit anxious about having Missy out. The work around was to go right at the start of the day and stick to the shade, with Missys cool coat being brought along just in case. 

The tactic paid off as we had a lovely day. It wasn't too busy - the spy trail doubled up as our walk and between the shade and the breeze, Missy was absolutely fine. 

The day itself was good fun with a coulple of reenactment groups doing demos as well as the aforementioned spy trail. Lots of folk got dressed up to join in the "best dressed" competition, so it was good fun and generally good vibes

The heatwave continued into today, although it was a bit cloudier and a little cooler (21C instead of 25C), which meant that I had made the right choice for P in the Park.

The morning was cool and, honestly, it wasn't until we hit noon that I brought out the cool coat. Maisie and my brother joined us, and we had a great time browsing the stalls and watching the demos. An unexpected highlight was the dog dancing - my brother loves a really good dog trick, so I was surprised he'd never seen heelwork before. Needless to say, he was very impressed!

We did leave early after Missy competed in best rescue (alas, no ribbon), bit both felt that we had definitely got the best of the day.

And that's it! We're now hiding indoors and resting up after 2 busy days. I do wish they'd spread these events out more!

Until next time!

Joust about there

It's officially the summer season and that means it's dog shoes and days out galore!

This weekend we had our first dog show of the year with Bravehound and I am pleased to say that Missy placed second in Still Game and sixth in dog udge would most like to take home - not a bad start to the year!

Wee Ben joined in and placed second in waggiest tail, so a good day all round! Always lovely to have my sister join in on a dog show - although she is starting to get competitive, clearly caught the bug for it!

We then dashed over to linlithgow for our next camping adventure and the jousting on Sunday!

Before the day got too hot, I got some photos of Missy in her Redwall armour (in which there is no coincidence that it matches Sir Checkmate!). We've done the joist loads now, and whilst the plot changes a little each time, I'm always heartened to cheer on my favourite pantomime villain!

We did banner making, had a go at medieval calligraphy and just overall had a lovely day. It was great being right beside the campsite and being able to walk to and fro and next year we're thinking of doing the same for the Caerlaverock joust.

And then we got back home and the rain came. It's been a great year for the garden, although a dry spell, even a few hours would be appreciated to get everything picked!

There's a lot booked on in July, so I'll keep you all updated as and when I can!

Wandering Whitby

A bit of a delayed post! 

At the start of the month we did our annual holiday with my Manchester sister and her two little ones. As always, it was a packed trip, so I'll give you the quick run down:

Monday was a travelling day and, once we all arrived, we had a short walk about the waterfront and scoped out some fun things to do.

Tuesday we started with the Black Pearl boat trip, a pirate themed barge that definitely got us in the mood for the day. My sister isn't keen on water and, despite clinging on for dear life, did enjoy herself!

And then it was up to Whitby Abbey (pictured top). We did go looking for Dracula, but alas, he was nowhere to be found.

We finished up looking for the Whalebone Arch, and we're treated to splendid views

Wednesday was a day trip to Scarborough. Firstly to the Castle and then onto Peasholm Park. You can tell the animals are used to dogs being on the lead, I've never seen a squirrel approach Missy, let alone stand within 2 feet of her! Needless to say, I was holding onto her collar with all my might just in case, but fortunately she was far more interested in the sandwiches! We finished the trip with a go on the dragon boats, to finish that Edwardian picnic experience, and overall we had a lovely day.

Thursday was a change of pace, we exchanged hostages and hubby and I took the kids for a day at Flamingoland whilst my sister had a quiet day enjoying the calm of a senior dog as they pottered about the abbey again. After being sent many selfies of them both, including one of Missy dressed in a vampire cape, I knew she was having a delightful time.

The kids loved Flamingoland. This was their first ever theme part - and the location was hubbys idea owing to there being a zoo if the kids hated the rides. Honestly, I had to drag them away from the rides to look at the flamingos! They both had a whale of a time! We officially have a new pair of adrenaline junkies in the family.

Friday was the slow day. Hubby and I went round the museum ourselves before we all had some lunch and then headed to Boggle Hole. Fossil hunting was the key thing the kids wanted to do and we let them look for dinosaurs whilst we enjoyed a woodland walk over to Robin Hoods Bay. Missy enjoyed being in forest for a short while, she being a dog more inclined to trees than sand, and it was nice to get a bit of proper walking in.

Boggle Hole has a YHA associated with it, so we enjoyed some dinner there before heading back to the cottage.

Saturday was our last full day. We first visited the Whitby Aquarium and what it lacked in size, it more than made up for in fantastic staff. We were given a guided tour, had the hatchery process explained to us and Missy was made an absolute fuss of. Which was good, as the weather had finally turned on us.

There was enough of a break to sail about th Bark Endeavour - which was strangely less terrifying for my sister. I'd have thought the bigger drop to the ocean would have been worse, but apparently being further from the sea was a better thing!

We finished the holiday with a walking tour, and the guide was fantastic, dancing perfectly between the macabre and keeping things family friendly.

And then it was off home

Needless to say, we were exhausted after that! It was a fantastic holiday, but I think we all needed a break to recover from it!

Gnome-ing somewhere?

With the lovely weather, we finally had the energy to get out and about on a lovely day trip.

We've done Incholm before, I was going to say not that long ago, but looking through the archives - it was 2018! Let me start that again, it's been some time since we visited Incholm Abbey, and I was looking forward to seeing it at its most picturesque in the sunshine 

We had a fabulous day. The seagulls were being (quite rightly) very protective of their nests, so we didn't venture too far out on the island after a couple swooped at me!

Still, it was perfect for a picnic and an ice cream in the sun and there was a stiff enough breeze that Missy wasn't going to overheat. I did walk her to the water but she wasnt interested.

Following the boat trip, we went to our friends for a BBQ, the first of the year, and overall it was exactly what was needed for the soul. Sunshine. Good company. Friends and loved ones. 

Perfect.

There's a lot going on in my private life at the moment, so it's a short post today. I want to focus on the nice and happy things and will fill you all in another time.

Until then,

Cheerio!

A Magical May

Let's not talk about April, eh?

Well, it's happened. Our first real health scare (tumour was benign and removed with a good margin). Still, her recovery wasnt great and it took a solid 4 days before she was really back to herself again. 

Then we found another lump literally 2 weeks later, but the needle biopsy was clear in the end.

She's worth every grey hair, but here's hoping we're done for now.

So on to May. Beltane came along, seared off the bad mojo and now we're back having adventures. Specifically, our first camping weekend of the year:

A festival of pagans and witches!

It was slightly colder overnight than expected, but lessons well learned. I had a jumper and spare socks, so survived the rest of the time well. The festival itself was grand, we attended the viking feast (hubby was chosen to be Thor in the storytelling, and he then had to pretend to be Thor pretending to be Freya to try and get his hammer back from a giant (read 7 year old child)). Absolutely fantastic.

There were workshops about folk tales and goddesses, we did mask making and listened about the history of trolls. We also saw my sister in her first combat battle as a viking. She did so well, even if she came back bruised and a bit sore. 

And then we travelled home and have spent the rest of the time recharging. Missy is almost back to herself fully, the sun has helped cheer her up, as did a couple of puppy play dates this week.

Perhaps I haven't recharged as much as I intended!

I'm gonna leave things here with a snapshot of my festival outfit, and Im hoping to get back into my blogging again this month.

Blessed be!

Marching through March

Oh my, I've just realised it's been almost a month since our last update! It's been a busy one with not much to show, to be honest.

At the start of the month I was in London for a conference, which meant that the post holiday cold I had almost shaken off returned as a post London cold. If you know, you know.

Then it was a run of seeing family and friends and just trying to recover before having my nephew over for the weekend. We played lots of games and worked on his kimono and then that takes us up to this week.

It was another week off, this time to get some adulting done; deep clean the house for spring, start the next big project in the garden and generally all the boring things. We did sneak one nice day out:

The seabird centre! Gotta love it. The weather was beautiful too for us.

Then hubby was off to Manchester with his brother for Transformer con and I got to have a few quiet days to myself to mostly drink tea, eat biscuits and sew.

I also saw an old friend and Maisie wasn't going to let my brother have a day off and not include her favourite cousin:

I think it's obvious who tired out who!

And that's been it. Lots of seeing people and adulting, but not many adventures. But soon, the season is on the horizon!

Until next time!

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!