marking Seven Years

It's been seven years since Missy chose us, and time has flown when I think back to the excitement of bringing her home and all the mischief she caused and love she brought. In seven years she has built herself a place on honour amongst the wider family, so much so that there was genuine sadness that we would not be hosting a party for her this year, what with the pandemic and all.

The week didn't start great - it's one of those weeks where its been tough for everyone for different reasons, and by the time Friday rolled round I had gotten through my melancholy and was keen to get the rest of the family out of it. 

Phase one, let's get silly:

Let's be honest here, find me a dog that wouldn't love a chicken as a cake? (Disclaimer: hubby was on hand in case she was too tempted and went for it, and it was carved before she was given a small amount. She acts like chicken is crack cocaine, she only needs a little bit!) 

Missy spent the rest of her Adoptiversary cuddled up on the prime spot of the sofa sleeping off said chicken. 

Phase 2:

Random acts of kindness. OK, officially Random Acts of Kindness Day is next week, but it's hardly random when a day's been set aside for it, right? So, what to do when your lockdown and can't leave your council area? Get things delivered!

Big sis likes baths to the point she must have been a mermaid in her past life - bath bombs. 

Little Sister has a sweet tooth to rival a bumblebee and misses home - gourmet shortbread and fudge.

Brother who works backshift, regularly misses mail and has a dog that will still go for packages sometimes, uh, an IOU with an explanation (he's so laid back in the world, he didn't feel any need for a gift and didn't understand what I was trying to achieve, so he's fine, just didn't want to leave him out).

Mum - flowers. But maybe not the sort that will die. But also Hardy enough she won't kill them with her black thumb. A bromeliad. 

I eagerly awaited through Saturday. Little sister got hers first and a thank you was messaged. Mission accomplished. Oh, she's keeping it off the family chat, that raises the stakes for big sis. Delivery time rolls by. I get an automated message that it's been received. No call. No text. Huh.

She rings and tells on about her MIL. 

I break and ask - any deliveries today?

Pause. Is this...did you send the bath bombs? 

Yep! You've had so much on your plate, I felt you needed to be reminded I'm here for you. 

Happy gasp followed by uncontrolled laughter. 

There should have been a slip with my name on it? 

We try not to touch the packaging - Neice was claiming they were hers! And when I pointed out that it was in my name, BIL said he bought them for my Xmas, but they must have been lost in the post. Mystery solved! 

Instantly on the group chat. Little Sis chimes in about hers and I damage control brother (who seemed confused about the whole idea) and mum. 

The bromeliad. That wasn't getting posted. I'd already organised a walk with a friend at the boundary of my council district and, wihh some essentials for friends who are vulnerable, I made my way to mums. It had started to snow, so we exchanged a brief minute of conversation whilst she was absolutely dumbstruck to see me and I retreated back to the cars heating. I rang her on the drive home (hands free) and she was delighted. She was shocked I'd turned up on her doorstep as I'm very much aggressively following the rules, and I explained about our vulnerable friends and that she was a detour on an essential journey. 

Job done. 

Today marks the end of #leadthewayatoz, and the letter W. We had a Wintery Walk by the Water. It's bitter sweet to see it end, there was definitely some fatigue with the difficult letters at the end, but it's really been a highlight for me during lockdown and adding some purpose to the weekend walk. 

We also won the monthly Waggiest Wanderer through #leadthewayatoz, and on the explorer front we got our Pioneer Pooch badge and won explorer of the month!  I cannot wait to see her little cartoon emoji when it's done. 

Its fair to say Missy has had an excellent week for her Adoptiversary, and we hope we've sent some of that joy out to the family. 

The Longest Month

I don't know what it is about January, but it's a never ending month. It's not been a bad one, hubby and I have gotten into a good routine with him being on furlough and me working from home. Missy seems to have figured out the new routine and has settled again too. I had always assumed that she would have loved having company all day everyday, but it seems that routine is more important to her. And a sunny window - she will abandon us all in favour of sunbathing at the French window in the kitchen. 

Despite the cold, it does feel a bit nicer. The sky is blue again and the sun had been out and about. All good things. 

This weekend has been a busy one. I know it's been mentioned before, but hubby is a magician. He and one of the fellow magicians have been doing Zoom magic shows for carers and young adults with disabilities over the various lockdowns, and he finally caved in to me pestering about a friends and family show. That was Saturday, and it went brilliantly. We managed to get a good mix online and people got to see faces they wouldn't have asked to see, but were pleased to see doing well after the year we've had. 

I'm sworn to secrecy on the hows and whys of magic, but I will say the routine had a perfect mix of laughs, magic and good old fashioned now-hang-on-a-minute, what happened there? I will confess that I do take great enjoyment in watching him perform for an audience, there's nothing better than to see someone create joy, especially in this dark, cold lockdown. 

Today was K. Its the penultimate week of #leadthewayatoz, and I do think I will miss it - its breathed life into old walks and encouraged us to get out and explore, even when it's cold and miserable out. We had planned to do the Kelpies for K, but it's outwith our council area, so we went with the Korean War Memorial instead, and honestly, I think it was a better choice in the end. The walk around it is quite steep, so we spent an hour laughing and shrieking whilst sliding about in the snow. I had to give up a few times and just sit down and slide down some parts. Missy, with her nimble paws and mountain goat ancestry trotted about with no issue and was bemused as we blundered about. 

I had a bit of a mercy dash with the sewing this week - my neice who I am homeschooling on Skype keeps chickens, and one has lost a bunch of feathers. I had a lesson where my neice spent most of it lamenting about the timing being the worst possible for an outdoor animal, and promised her I'd look into jumpers. I was shocked at how easy it was to find a pattern and assembled 4 of them (I imagine they'll need washed daily). No sooner had I sent a photo of them to her and she'd pestered her dad to drive over - her chickens welfare is absolutely an essential visit.

It would have been nice to have seen her longer than the 30 seconds she shivered on my doorstep, but the jumpers exchanged sanitised hands and were put to use. The feedback has been good, and I've kept the drafted pattern just in case I get a request for more again, you never know. 

I think I can safely say that chicken jumpers are the weirdest thing I've been commissioned to make! 

X marks the Spot

This weeks letter for #leadthewayatoz took on a pirate theme as we hunted down the letter X. I think these crossbones will do very nicely! 

It's been a strange week. I've hit groundhog day. With hubby being furloughed and me working from home, every day really does feel the same. I was horribly confused when Thursday turned out to be Wednesday and I realised there was plenty more of the week left! 

Hubby wasn't very well Friday, so as a result this has been a very slow weekend. Although we did manage a family Burns Night (he passed on the haggis and, to be fair, I always pass on the haggis, so it was a wise move). 

I'd organised an online get together and had split our favourite Burns poem: Tam O Shanter, into peices that everyone would read. Despite the whole family being Scottish (with the exception of my BIL), my mum and eldest neice (16) both opted for the English translation of the poem as opposed to the Scots (so did BIL, but seeing as it was possibly the first time he'd seen Scots written down, I don't blame him for deciding to play it safe). I had eldest neice start as she was nervous about it, then my mum and then, at the point the story actually starts, I took over in Scots, followed by hubby and sister. BIL read the last part, with youngest neice (7) delighting us with the last four lines.

BIL was apparently very nervous, but I couldn't tell and the whole thing went without a hitch. The meal time set up worked really well - I stole the idea from a friend who virtually had Xmas dinner with her family, and thought it a good way to include the very young neice and nephew without them being bored or feeling like they are being paraded about.

And that was that. The weekend done. I managed to get a little sewing done with this great little upcycle. This jumper was one of the casualties of hubby's weight loss, but I couldn't part with it and I don't need more cushions. The solution? A new jumper for Missy (modelled throughout this post). 

I'll finish on a laugh, here's the before picture:

Leaping Lemurs!

It has been another week of sub zero temperatures, with us being greeted one morning to - 6C, so we didn't have much planned for the weekend except doing our best to keep warm.

Then I saw that the Five Sisters Zoo was allowing non reactive dogs in as part of thier "we're allowing local folk in for free to have some exercise, please please donate on your way out" policy. This was an opportunity I could not allow to pass me by. We pegged it for the weekend in a "when the best gap in the weather comes" space. 

Saturday was a write off. More snow. Sun zero (again) and, despite my best efforts, my arthritis was kicking in with a vengeance and I was hobbling about. We ended up doing the food shop and got a new fleece jumper for Missy (which I plan on using as a template to upcycle some jumpers with). 

Then Sunday arrived. It was above zero! And the snow was melting, meaning the ice now had a lovely wet slippery film all over. Glad we had no plans to drive today! And the #leadthewayatoz letter? L. Could the fates not have smiled on us more? 

We wrote a hit list of all the animals we could begining with L and hit off lucky pretty quick when the Lar Gibbon (second photo) came down to say hello to Missy. Content that my goal was a success, we carried on. 

It was interesting what animals were curious of her. The monkeys all came to investigate. The cats - fisherman's (above) and Scottish Wild Cat (sorry the snow leopard was to far away to make the cut for the photo challenge) would watch and follow her, then hide away if she looked at them. I know from past experience birds of prey dislike dogs, so we kept away from them, but the song birds, parrots and emus were completely disinterested. 

The bears and lions were asleep, as was the Fossa, although his enclosure smelled divine to Missy who would not leave it alone. We stayed clear of the badger in case Missy wanted a rematch after meeting the wrong end of one many years ago. Then the wolves, which were fascinating. They wouldn't approach Missy, but instead followed us all around thier enclosure. They stopped when we did, and casually moved away into the undergrowth, and would then come back out anew when we moved on. 

It was the only time people made comment about Missy, to marvel at this strange dance where the wolves, clearly unthreatened by her, where still making sure she would not cross into thier territory. 

We finished at the lemurs. And what a show we had as first the brown lemur came out to curiously watch her. He bounced back and forth, singing away whilst the rest of the family curiously watched from the door of thier bedroom. We moved on before Missy could be accused of taunting them, and had the same song and dance with the ruffled lemur. Ring tails stick as a pack, and decided to observe this strange animal from their indoor enclosure. Like with the Gibbon, there was no defense or caution, and instead they moved in closer to figure out this strange new breed of spectator. 

What a day we all had! 

As a final note, I want to take an aside, and point out the first photo. This was the real objective of the day. 

That old, half tailed lemur is Stumpy, who my sister very fondly remembers from a summer placement at Edinburgh zoo almost 17 years ago (I had the pygmy hippos!) And yes, we have verified, that Stumpy, is HER Stumpy. Everytime she visits, she has to go see him. And cries a little bit. I think he is a rare tie in the world to her of the sunny memories of that summer, rose tinted from a time when we were safely protected from all the world by our youth and yet it was the first time we were free of our parents to be adults, and invent ourselves anew to become the people we are now. He doesn't know how special he is, and is simply older and wiser, the Great great grandfather of the bachelor pad he commands.

So I had to. I had to get a photo of Stumpy and all he means to her, with Missy and all she means to me. Past and present. Creatures unaware of the live they have captured. 

And I know it is special only to us, but isn't that the wonder of life and the stories we weave? 

So, on that warm fuzzy note, I will leave you all until next time. 

Following the Yellow Brick Road into 2021

Well, lockdown 3. 0 (for those on the western side of the central belt) has just been upgraded, and we're only 4 days in - my haphazard joking of the zombie apocalypse may yet come into fruition.

Jokes aside, I'm trying to remain optimistic and upbeat as we sail from 2020 into horizons unknown. Looking back at 2020, at the dumpster fire memes, at the bemoaning of a year wasted and a record breaking summer of sunshine lost, and... It wasn't all that bad.

I am very lucky. Whilst I know several people who have caught the virus, they have pulled through the other sides and, whilst recovery hasn't always been quick, they are all on the mend. This year we travelled to Chester, to Disneyland Paris, to Perth and our gorgeous shepherds hut and our surprise getaway to Durham. My husband spent an idle summer building me the wartime garden I've always wanted and, between shifts, we grew that beautiful garden together. He also beat a personal goal and lost 2 stone, the bugs bit him and he's determined to carry his good habits into this year.

Redeployment sucked. And it didn't. Seeing people daily whilst everyone lamented loneliness made me realise I was lucky. I got to feel valued. I stepped up and did something important. Of course there was frustrations and long days, but Missy was always ready to greet me with a smile and the hubby a hug. Honestly, they were my rock. 

Homeschooling on Skype wasn't easy either, but that has paid off in ways beyond what I could have hoped. My neice, a girl recommended not to do science, now has her teacher urging her to aim for a higher grade next year.

So I enter 2021 with optimism. Of course this new strain worries me, I look at my whole family, and my extended branch of close friends, who have weathered the year and sit like a house of cards around me, and, as always, I will endeavour to protect that stack in any way I can. So expect more random adventures and photos of Missy either looking like a badass heroine or an absolute goof ball, and expect more ramblings as I try and process the is strange new world. And stitching too, one mustn't forget to take time for thier own mental space.

Enough rambling. My Christmas/New Year break was quiet and refreshing. I slept, a lot. I ate sweets and chocolate, a lot. I crafted and stitched plenty and most of all, enjoyed the company of hubby and Missy. 

I feel refreshed and content. 

I had a really enjoyable Skype call with mum and sis building the family album (I may have got them over keen by enthusiastically pointing out how important 2020 would be in years to come) and today managed a social distanced walk out with my older sister, her hubby and eldest neice and nephew. This weeks letter for #leadthewayatoz was Y, so credit to my nephew who found us a Yellow Brick Road.

We also found some Yellow Girders too! It was very icy underfoot so we bravely skated our way around the Manuel Fire Brick and Refractory Works, abandoned in 2006. Missy looked pimp no matter where she posed and we all laughed about how the photos looked like a zombie apocalypse, and then our phones all went and we realised lockdown had been ramped up. That walk was the last time families could meet outdoors until, hopefully, February 1st. Two people from other households can meet, but not groups.

So a well timed get together! 

In other news, I managed to complete one project between Xmas and New year, this lovely sewing machine cover. It's retro and twee and has baby Lady in her hat box on it and I honestly love it to bits. My plates very full with 3 rather large projects, so it might go quiet on the craft front for a bit!

Well, I've rambled enough. I hope 2021 brings you all everything you wish for, and I wish you all luck and good health, and a dose of optimism. 

A Surprisingly Busy Xmas

Well, we're back in lockdown for at least 3 weeks, but we managed to squeeze in some Christmas celebrations. There was an outdoor social distanced get together with my lot and then, following guidelines, the hubbies family came to visit for Xmas itself.

Missy was pleased to see Ruby again, although the novelty of the 18 month old pup quickly wore thin! There was lots of presents, lots of elbow bumps and waving of arms for social distance hugs and everyone's souls feel very topped up and ready to weather through the next lockdown. 

This lockdown, hubby has been furloughed, meaning for the first time in the 13 years we have known one another, we'll both be off fit the festive period. Sad as it sounds, it's one of the best gifts I've been given this year. Between redeployment and working from home, I haven't had the authentic lock down experience, so I'm looking forward to us all spending time together.

This week for #leadthewayatoz was the dreaded letter Z. After scratching our heads for a bit, we decided on petting Zoo. The Almond Valley Heritage Centre is closed, owing to lockdown, but you can follow the river and pass the fields with the horses and alpacas. The alpacas were clearly too cold to bother with us, but this horse was pleased for some company and came over to say hello.

And last (but not least), is my latest complete project. Ironically, this has been stitched for ages, I've just been waiting on the hoops to arrive to frame it! 

It's a house warming gift for a friend who used to work in the Haunted Mansion ride in Florida - I'm sure she'll love it! 

Well, this is officially the last post of 2020. Its been a year, I'll admit, but I can't say it's been all bad. I got to Disneyland Paris. My garden is years ahead of schedule and I grew carrots for the first time. Missy won us a holiday to Durham, and won an Honourable Hound award with Dog Furiendly. It's had its lows, redeployment and continental shifts are something I do not want to repeat, but that's as low as it got. I feel like I've gotten lucky all things considered with the virus, and I'm hoping that in the dark winter days ahead my luck will continue to carry on. 

So, I raise a mug of tea to all, for 2020, a year we want to forget but will be remembered in history, and to 2021 where hopefully we can start to truly celebrate this new decade. 

Seeking O in the Frost

It's still lockdown so it's been another quiet week in the household. Lots of cuddles on the sofa, listening to books or podcasts whilst sewing away the dark evenings. It's gotten pretty cold too, but thankfully some frost never stopped Missy from enjoying herself. 

Todays #leadthewayatoz was the letter O. It's a hard letter at the best of times, and being unable to leave the council area, we ended up coping out and going with Orange leaves:

Perhaps they're more accurately described as copper, but needs must! 

All these quiet evenings have allowed me to really tank through some of the big projects on the to-do list, including (but not limited to):

A super king quilt for the in laws. The wings were originally flappy, but I had a panic about Ruby chewing them off, so went back and tacked them down so they are less tempting to a 1 year old vizla pup! 

Something super tempting for my pup was the peanut butter and popcorn flapjacks for this weeks #greatdoggybakeoff. I'm resigned to the fact that we won't win, but it's all about participation for us, and Missy loves it regardless of how it looks!

Christmas plans are afoot and I'm starting to feel a bit less stressed about it - I suffer from chronic over-organisation, so having to wing things gets me very anxious. Needless to say, that sums up this year for me, but we're getting somewhere, so I'm starting to look forward to the festive season. 

A Coco Comatose at Laurieston Castle

So, before I start my weekly rambles, before you guess this weeks letter for #leadthewayatoz, just stop the bus. Go check out this:

Roxy has made a wool that is legit inspired by Missy. She hand dyed and hand spun actual wool in tribute to Missy. This must be a first in the canine world and, having been privvy to the month's of experiments behind the scenes on this (including but not restricted to a very odd call asking exactly what shade of tan she was (unwanted answer, it changes depending on the season and light)) I am awed at the effort that has gone into this. I'm almost intimidated by the task of what to make with it... 

And now back to regular programming!

This was a week of two halves. I won't lie, I've been rather blue this week. Plans for Perth visits have been cancelled. Plans for my sister to visit have been cancelled. And, after a brief high looking at places to stay for our upcoming annual leave, hubby and I decided it was probably best we shelve it for now and cancel any hopes of going away. Whilst the joy of an 8 hour day will never wear off after 11 hour shifts, I legit missed seeing and being about folk (safely, of course) this week too.

Roxy, also blue at her cancelled trip, suggested and organised an island play date on Animal Crossing with my avatar popping over and the kids showing me about. We had a call on loud speaker and hearing them babble away happily really cheered me up.

My virtual call that was meant to replace this months Perth visit didn't cheer me up as much as I'd hoped. My Inverness freind is struggling - she hasn't seen her mum since last Christmas, and with the new restrictions her trip has been cancelled again. Her brother is shielding, so she can't and won't take chances. The distance between us has honestly never felt greater. 

I woke up bummed out. Hubby is working all weekend, and wasn't really in the mood for coming up with something clever for this week and at first the #leadthewayatoz letter of J just annoyed me. Jupiter Artland was fully booked. A Jet from the Museum of Flight would be pimp, but it was frozen this morning, who wants to take turns going in and out of hangers in weather like this? And I would need someone to come with there. 

I googled for some ideas and struck upon it. Japanese Garden, who knew we had one in Edinburgh and, better yet, it allowed dogs! 

I messaged my friend on the off chance she was free and, hooray, the day was afoot. The drive was easy enough, parking a bit tight as the day was now glorious and it was clearly a popular spot. The Kyoto Garden of Friendship is just one part of the grounds and we had a leisurely stroll about them. Missy was in the mood to pose for me and we quickly got some nice photos for the competition. 

There's a Mimis Bakery on site too, and after a oreo slice and a hot chocolate in the nice sunny courtyard I was ready to fall asleep. We walked off our respective chocolate comatoses with another lap of the castle! 

Whilst my friend thinks I'm mad for the length I was prepared to go to for the competition, I think it shows that it's doing what it set out to do; whilst it certainly reinvigorates old walks, it's also to encourage people to go and find new places to enjoy. 

In sewing news, it's my neices birthday and I thought these dungaree dress inspired culottes were exactly what she needed. Apparently there is a little confusion as to what they are exactly, but when it sinks in that it's a dress she can run about and climb trees in, I'm sure it'll become a firm favourite! 

Feeling more upbeat for the week ahead! 

The Natural Nemorivagant

If you haven't guessed, this weeks letter is N. 
Nemorivagant is a rarely used word to describe someone who enjoys walking in woodland, and its a word that perfectly summarises Missy. So sit back and enjoy seeing her enjoy her favourite place in Nature, the woods.

Its been a busy week; the hubby took his brother to Alton Towers for a few days, so my first week working from home was really an alone experience. Missy kept me company, dozing away on the spare bed whilst I battled against IT and all the teething problems long term home working causes. I ordered a new monitor and keyboard through work and took Missy on a walk around Eliburn Park so that I could pick them up (which was handy) and then I lost hours due to IT just settling in.
But I got there. I had to borrow a chair from the office (I spent longer having to read the 8 page health and safety guide, watch the demo video and then provide contact details than I actually spent in the office) as I'm too old these days to hunch over a desk for hours. My sewing space has been completely dismantled and dispersed about the house, so every project seems to take twice as long, but my intention is that as I make a new space, I'll have it organised perfectly. I just need to persevere a little longer!

Sewing has gone well - I have completed two Christmas projects and finished my nieces birthday gift over the last two/three weeks. I have plans for another three Christmas makes, possibly four, depending on time. I cant share any of them just now as I don't want to spoil any surprises!

Hubby and BIL both survived Alton Towers in one piece and I think they've managed to get away with one of the last holidays again with the new restrictions coming in.
I'm not gonna lie, its wearing me down. But then I look at Missy and realise that perhaps I should think more dog, she's happy. She gets to go on nice walks and enjoy nature. She is surrounded in love and attention within the four walls we live in, more would be nice, but she's happy to just have us. And she lives in the forever now.
I suppose what I'm trying to say if focus on the little things that make you happy as we weather the big problems. And here's a picture of Missy being cute if you need help on a little happy thought.

A Unique Getaway

In these unusual times, the idea of a holiday is a bit too good to be true. We were fast approaching our birthday week time off and decided to see what was doable as a holiday bearing in mind I didn't want to be anywhere close to crowded, Missy would be coming and both hubby and I really needed a recharge, so no long distance driving.

We decided on Perth. Its only an hour away should the worst happen (ie a lockdown) and has lots of options for walks and things to do. We found a beautiful little shepherds hut at Greenhill Farm Glamping and decided to wing it. 

Storm Francis had other thoughts. Our plans of a stroll around the Falkland Estate was cut short (although we managed to find shelter under the canapy at the Pillars of Hercules cafe and warm up with some soup). Being based in Dunning, we tried there to kill some time to find out the only cafe didn't allow dogs and the pub didn't open till 5.30pm. So we just went for the Shepherds Hut and hoped they wouldn't mind us being 10 minutes early.

Once the stove was lit and we had begun to dry out we saw the humour of the day and our good moods and optimism returned. We returned to Dunning for our dinner and found another log fire - this we could get used to!

Our second day was dedicated to Perth itself. With Perth being the main place I meet my friends these days, hubby was insistent we go to the Brew and Chew at the least, and that he also wanted to see where we typically walked Missy. We walked South Inch and then found an adorable cafe called Milas Bakery and stopped for breakfast. Then we went to our intended destination of Branklyn Gardens. The weather was drizzly, but dry enough it was pleasant to walk, so we wondered about the plants and flowers before stopping for some tea in thier tearoom.

The staff were fantastic. It was very quiet and we were the only people out in the courtyard under the canopy and they were keen to chat. They insisted on saying hello to Missy and, after we discussed her unknown heritage, made light talk of the world with them and discussed the building and gardens. 

By then it was time for more tea. We had a wander about the high Street which was pretty quiet and stopped in at the Brew and Chew, as requested. Missy was recognised and fawned over and then we went for a walk around North Inch and found the Black Watch Museum. Dogs are permitted on the grounds, but not inside, so we enjoyed the buildings exterior before calling it a day.

Our final day ticked off the last bit of the truly Scottish summer weather we had yet to encounter: fog. We had booked in Arbroath for the final day to meet up with the in laws who we haven't seen since March, way back before lockdown and when Covid was just begining to be a thing.

Remember those times? It's beginning to feel like a lifetime ago. 

Arbroath is always lovely. It's a quaint fishing/tourist town which offers a rocky beach and more ice cream parlours and fish restaurants than you can shake a stick at. We had a lovely time. It was great to catch up and watch Missy play with Ruby. Despite her years, Missy is still a touch faster, mostly due to her better cornering, but I don't think it will be long before Ruby figures her feet out and overtakes. 

There was beachcombing and a lovely fish restaurant before we went for another walk and had an ice cream on the shore. I'm not sure I really could have asked for a nicer finish to the holiday. 

For my mother in law, I made this adorable tea cosie. Everyone is stitching and embroidering these days, so I was goaded into picking up the needle again by my friends. I used to cross stitch prolifically as a teen. Then I discovered knitting where I could make toys and things to wear. Then I discovered sewing, where I could make anything I wanted.

Either way, it was nice to revisit the hobby, and have something I could quietly work on whilst listening to a book, and I was pleased with the outcome - not bad after a 15 year hiatus!

And lastly, for those wondering, today's letter for the #leadthewayatoz was U. Ironically, it's the perfect letter for our holiday - unique in many ways, whilst hiding under our umbrellas!