Staying Local

Just a short one today - the weather's been too miserable to really adventure far! With amber warnings for rain and wind, I cancelled plans to meet my neice for an outdoor photoshoot and stayed in the dry. 

In a breif gap, we revisited the Dechmont UFO walk and were treated to the sight of several deer running by. Missy oddly prefers this wet stormy weather to the negative 8C we had earlier in the week and has been chasing squirrels again, which is enjoyable to see.

And that's really us. I've been focusing on finishing odds and ends on jobs and projects and have started to make progress in my hexigon quilt. I also finished a commission:

His working name is Cinnabar and soon he'll be in the arms of a 4 year old who loves red. I'm pleased he's going to a good home! 

And that's it. Hopefully the weather breaks and we'll have more adventures to share soon! 

A Spooky Pause

It's been a crazy run but it's been epic. But first, the photoshoot we did a few weekends back:

Of course I had to do the viral dog photoshoot. I saw it and knew Missy would happily put up with a sheet over her head if there was enough bribery involved! We decided to go to Dechmont, the old insane asylum, with the purpose of getting nice photos and it's sad that every time we go, the construction has crept in and it's smaller and smaller. 

And we did the photoshoot. Missy got all the biscuits. Hubby got enough footage that there's even a tiktok and we had a lovely day which really go us in the mood for the spooky shenanigans planned for the month. 

What spooky shenanigans you ask? 

Halloween in Disneyland Paris!

It was just me and my sister this run. Dressed as alternate Cheshire Cats (me in pink and she in blue - when the post comes up about the outfits she made I'll pop a link here) and it was a blast. There was a lot of travel drama - trains being cancelled, planes being mislaid and flights being delayed, but we got there and it was amazing. The characters loved the outfits, we had some amazing wild meet and greet moments, and overall would 100% do again. 

One brief highlight was our Cruella meet and greet:

Cruella striding about with her handlers barely able to keep up with her, clocks us and grinds to a halt. 

Cruella: Did you make those yourselves? 

Me: (indicates sibling) All hand knit! 

Cruella: (grabs hold of one hand of each of us and tows us along) I'm in need of new minions since Horace and Jasper left - how does that sound to you both?  Join me as fashion designers?. 

Me: We'd be honoured! 

Cruella: but I prefer dogs. And spots.

Me: Oh, of course, cats are so last season! 

Sibling: (cogs finally catching up after being utterly overwhelmed) totally last season - spots are definitely coming in.... 

We spotted her again later and she asked for a progress report on the dog hunt, which just added to the hilarity of the day. 

But, alas, no rest for the wicked, it's back at work with a very busy run of more spooky fun booked! 

So I'll leave you all be with one last photo of Missy being adorable:

La Fête des Mères

 

Another Disneyland Paris trip down - so I'm feeling decidedly French at the moment! 

Its been a busy few weeks - the leadership course I've enrolled on at work has kicked off and I found myself shortlisting candidates and coordinating interviews for a summer intern position. Then I had my niece round Friday afternoon to sort out one photos for her art project and to make a start on her prom dress. I shall update progress reports on that accordingly! 

Following that, I had a very quiet Saturday before going to my friends on Sunday to crash over in preparation for an early morning flight. 

Key notes of the holiday:

Friend 1 is cursed. She broke her toe 3 weeks ago and both flights were delayed, our return journey had to undergo safety checks having struck a bird. 

Friend 2 is as bad for people watching as myself. Her favourite past time quickly turned out to be watching the character interactions as we waited in the queues. She also had an overwhelmed mini meltdown meeting Stitch for the first time. She was more composed for our second attempt, and managed to get some photos where she wasnt crying out of sheer overwhelmed happiness.

There is no such thing as too many layers. I peaked at 5. Just because the forecast says 11C, doesnt mean its warm, the parks are awful for windchill. But saying that, if you find a sunny spot, practise your best cat impression and bask. It will be glorious. 

We clocked in a whopping 11 meet and greets, covering 17 characters in the 3 days. Friend 1 did not do well with the rides, so we fell back on meet and greets and had a whale of a time. 

Following a very late return, I was glad to have Saturday to myself. Hubby was working and, though that meant both dog walks, I was quite happy with that arrangement. We'll, at least until Missy decided that she had got over the excitement of my return and gave me the cold shoulder/side eye for the day. 

She forgave me this morning and arrived from her morning walk with a card and malteasers for me, as is tradition. We followed the day up with getting some errands done about the house before going to explore the Banchory Village (aka the abandoned insane asylum). It's slowly getting smaller and smaller as the developer is progressing with rearing down the original buildings. I will be quite sad to see it go. 

We popped by Dobbies to get some new fish and adopted a new tree for the garden. I was told 4 fruit trees meant an orchard, so I'm 1 down with 3 to go! (it's a cherry tree, which brings us full circle to Disney for those in the know) 

Time to get organised for a busy work week! Until next time!

School Trip to an Asylum

Well, the title sounds like a Goosebumps level horror novel, but I assure you, a good day was had. 

Long story short, my neice had to do an assignment for her high school photography portfolio - the theme of which is nature reclaiming old ruins. She was technically late on the project and my mum had offered to help her out, which actually meant that she wanted myself to help out. I was a bit salty about it originally, as I felt obliged to give up a planned quiet day (well, a trip to the vampires at Scotblood and a movie type quiet day) in order to prevent a falling out. 

However, I can't say no to my neices and nephews. They are my Achilles heel. And photography. On a cool dog walk? Well, so long as I survived the ghosts to get to the vampires on time, I was game.

Hubby and I trawled the internet to see if we could still access Banchory Hospital, the abandoned asylum. Its featured here a few times as the perfect place for a spooky walk that was injury and bad weather friendly. Well, we discovered that the planned demolition was on hold until March 2023, so we had time for visit.

I love my photography, so we discussed framing and leading lines. My neice didn't have her camera, and so borrowed mine which, whilst a little dated these days, is a bit more high tech than what she's used to. Or perhaps too old school as she really struggled with a manual zoom and having to look through a viewfinder. I'm not averse to crawling about in mud for a perfect photo, so it was funny to watch her try and work around not having a screen to get those shots without crawling about. Strangely enough, the tripod was also a highlight for her.

Whilst digital is a brilliant thing, the phone camera generation have really missed out on the basics. 

It wasn't all work and no play, as you can see with the ghost shots. I got my mum and neice to stand in as my ghosts whilst Missy waited perfectly still. My neice, who has played about with the effect before, loved the outcome whilst my mum was just amazed at the whole thing. My mum took a lot of "behind the scenes" photos and in them I'm in full director mode. Even as stills with no sound you can see me pointing out shots and indicating details to try and capture. 

Misson successful.

And yes. We did get to the vampires on time. 

Today was a wee trip to Perth to see the girls. No photos. Just lots of tea, cake and good company. The perfect sort of day.

That's all, been a busy weekend, but a good one. 

Almost Back to Regular Programming

This weekend was almost like normal, and it's been a breath of fresh air for that reason. We got to lie in on both days (it shows my age when one can consider 7am as a true lie in) and we didn't have to yeild a paintbrush or caulk gun for two whole days!

So yes, the kitchen is (for the most part) complete. We've decided on another shelf, and some things still need homed, but it can all wait for now. The rest of the house needed some TLC, so Saturday morning was spent giving it a thorough clean and a tidy. We then rewarded ourselves to a lovely walk around Dechmont before going for a serotonin boost and doing a PAT visit with Missy at the carehome.

Its very rewarding for the soul, and Missy loves cuddles and biscuits, so she was quite happy. We saw some familiar faces and some new ones too - everyone loved her bowtie, so I'm tempted to try and schedule a visit for Halloween and have her dressed up properly.

We then had a friend visit and board games were played - which was just what we all needed. 

Today was very much a quiet one. We saw DC Superpets at the cinema and attempted to look for that extra shelf before deciding we couldn't be bothered.

Hubby and I are both working on the Christmas crafts, although I did finally get to finish this lovely backpack, which I started in June and have only just finished. Quite fitting that one of the first projects of the summer has seen the close of the season.

All in all, a rather good weekend! 

Until next week! 

Some Time off to Recover

After the chaos of last week, we decided to use the remaining time booked off to recharge the batteries and get some jobs done in the house.

It's still spring cleaning, even in October, right? 

Despite the more laid back plans, adventures must still be had. Blackness Castle seemed a good idea now its open again - although we did laugh at the fact that we've seen plenty of the castle this year with our Bo'ness to Blackness walks! It's a favourite of ours; oddly quirky with its boat shape, a grim dungeon and, in times before plague, lots of events (sadly, I think it will be some time before they host the seige again).

This was the moment that hit us with the difference between Scotland and Englands restrictions. After a week of being the odd ones out in our face masks (even in places like Beamish which asked for masks to be worn indoors, no one except the tourists seemed to be donning them), we were grilled about our health and then reminded 3 times to wear masks in inside areas. Not a problem for us, it just came as a surprise to compare the difference!

From there we did the favourite walks for the week and tried to avoid the sudden bad weather. 

The poor weather was looming on me a bit. Yesterday was our first shot at leading a group walk as Explorers at the UFO walk. One person messaged me to say they couldn't make it as the dog had an injury and that was fine. As we stood in the pouring rain however, I just knew my worst fear had come true: No one was gonna show. Everyone who parked up we queried if they were for the walk and we were either ignored or politely declined.

At 20 past the hour, just as I had given up, a car pulled in and out popped a gigantic fluffy German Shepherd and a Norwegian Elkhound.

"Dog Furiendly...?" I asked whilst getting kisses. 

"yes! Thank god you haven't left yet - I got lost coming in." 

One person and two dogs, fine, i could do that. Hubby and I gave them a personal tour of the area, including the UFO site, the Law and some rambling in the fields. Missy made firm new friends - how else does one cement their friendship without ganging up on a squirrel? I will confess to a moment of panic when said squirrel fell out of the tree and nearly landed on the dogs! Thankfully in the chaos it got back up the tree and was fine. 

Our guest turned out to be another Explorer, which was cool (we're secretly everywhere!). We bounced ideas for other walks in locations that may be more appealing to people (we're thinking of trying again on a Christmas walk at Arthur's Seat). The hour walk turned into two since all the dogs were happy together and then we headed home.

So, it could have been better, but I think we all still had a good time! 

Lastly, whilst there has been much sewing, it's the Christmas gifts that have been started on, which I won't share here. I'm feeling very autumnal today, the gloves and wooly hats are out and the garden is almost entirely put yo bed. Except for this glorious pumpkin, which I am very pleased with!

Now, do I eat it, or carve it? 

Until next time! 

Seeking UFOs in Dechmont

Its been a quick week. Firstly, allow me to introduce Missys new siblings:

Meet Rowntree, Cadbury and Fry (L-R). They are not the whim they seem to be as hubby and I have discussed keeping birds for years and, looking into ideas for my eldest nephew who has decided he wants a pet, I found these three seeking a new home. They were with the SSPCA and their previous owner had passed away.

Its no secret that the SSPCA is bursting at the seams with unwanted animals, but I was still shocked at the speed we got these guys. I filled in the application Monday (kudos to the SSPCA, the questionnaire was very focused on life after covid, they don't want these poor animals coming back) and two hours later they called asking for a letter saying the vets were able to accept them and that they wanted to see a video of the set up. So, I purchased the cage and emailed the vets.

Tuesday we got the OK from the vets. Wednesday the cage arrived and we assembled it (its a flight cage, I was panicking it wasn't big enough for three budgies but, seeing the boys in it, realise my fear was completely unfounded). Thursday morning I sent the video in and at 10.30, half an hour after the rehoming office opened, we were officially approved and could we take them today? 3.30pm and they were in the cage, startled and a bit bewildered, but safe.

Missy on Thursday was obsessed. She watched them with great interest, although not in a predatory way - I've seen her stalk enough rabbits and squirrels to know when that instinct has come to play. Anf on Friday she couldn't care less, choosing to sunbathe in the window rather than see them. An arrangement that suits me fine. They sit in my office with me and have already delighted half my colleagues with their chirping. Once they are out of their shells a little bit, expect more updates on them!

And a note on names, yes, chocolates. Not just chocolates, but the original British Quaker families who I consider the founding fathers of chocolate as we know it. 

In other news, I couldnt risk Missy feeling left out, and so we scoped out some new and interesting walks. We had visited a friend who I needed to measure up for a waistcoat (goodness knows what his neighbours thought, us all in masks in the garden and me with a measuring tape!) who recommended the UFO walk. I've been in West Lothian almost 8 years now and had never heard of it - proof that you never know every secret in your area!

The Dechmont UFO walk was the perfect way to start the day this morning. The story goes that, on November 9th, 1979, Robert Taylor, a forestry worker, walked along a forest path up the side of Dechmont Law with his dog. He reported seeing what a "flying dome" above the forest floor in a clearing about 500m away from his truck. He was then seized by small spheres that dragged him away until he lost consciousness. Sceptics think it was an epileptic seizure, but lets not let that get in the way of a good story.

Regardless of the history of the area, it was a lovely woodland walk - just the kind of place that Missys like best. It was good to see her running ahead of us and sniffing out rabbits. We didn't climb Dechmont Law, deciding to save that for another day, and have added it to the roster of local walks to do with friends and family.

Its just begun to snow. It feels more early March than near mid April!

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! 

Puppies and Poltergeists

Well, despite best efforts, we did not find a poltergeist on our puppy play date around Bangor Village Hospital. Both Missy and Maisie put in a good effort in their hunt for one but returned empty pawed. At almost 7 months old, Maisie is past the worst of puppy hood and Missy is much more inclined to the notion of spending a day together.

It was a trip out to Dechmont to enjoy the spring sunshine. The site was also chosen as it's not too bad mud wise (unless a certain someone wants to chase bunnies under the rhododendrons) and my brother didn't want to waste the time and money spent the previous day on Maisies trip to the groomers.

They certainly did something right, Maisie was so brilliant white she was almost glowing! We spotted a sign saying that the site was officially bought and set to be developed, so I don't know how much longer we'll be able to hunt for ghosts amongst the abandoned buildings. I'm glad to see it being developed, but think it a pity it's becoming housing - the local community will really miss not just the dog walking spot but the place were all the kids seem to learn to ride their bikes and enjoy the rarity of a large open space.

We all had lunch together at mine and then the hubby and I were gearing up for our second shot at Nerf battle at Icombat Glasgow. The place has had a big upgrade and everyone got lost trying to find the new entrance, but once we got there we had an absolute scream. I prefer the new layout and felt that I managed to hold my own this time, so must be improving! And only one huge bruise this time and (touch wood) my legs don't hurt from all the sprinting about - very pleased!

The weather today has gone back to a miserable wintery wind with showers, although when the sun graces us it's rather enjoyable. Missy has enjoyed a relatively quiet day being snuggled on the sofa with me or sunbathing in front of the French windows in the kitchen whilst I've been sewing. My current project is coming along swiftly, but isn't ready to show off, so I'll share a different project I finished this week instead.

A dancing skirt! Long story short, for national dancing I wear an Aboyne outfit and, when practising, we pretend to hold the skirt whilst doing the arm movements to the dance. At our last set of exams (I just did Highland this time) a lot of the feedback was that no one was actually touching their skirts. They were standing pretending to hold one whilst their actual dress sat limp. So the dance teacher has suggested a practice skirt, but why buy one when I have so much fabric stashed away? And so here we are, a monster high themed circle skirt - not bad for a self drafted pattern eyeballed off my official Aboyne skirt!

Just a short post today, it's set to be a busy week and I've barely begun getting it organised! Hopefully I should have some craft projects to show off next post!

A Busy Weekend

Well, I've hit the ground running for the year with two very busy days.

Firstly it was up to Perth for a girls catch up with my Inverness based friend. Owing to the hubby working Missy came along for the adventure and we managed a nice day first having lunch at Brewdog and then, after a wander along the high street, some tea and cake at the Bark and Chew.

Missy got some cake too as we all agreed that this was definitely the way to cater (or pander to be more accurate) to dog parents. Firstly Missy was given a blanket to lie on and then her own water bowl with a complimentary gravy bone before I ordered for her the puppy cake. As we waited for our cakes, we admired a spaniel (very bouncy) a dachshund (very dapper) and openly enjoyed the large GSD who could howl 'I love you' in response to his owners declaration of affection.

The cakes were absolutely delicious and I'm not sure what kind of doggy cake it was Missy got, but it certainly didn't last long!

Yesterday was a proper puppy play date - I'd offered to look after Maisie so that my brother could take our niece out as a belated birthday gift and,since they were dropping her off, they decided to bring Ben along and the three dogs enjoyed a walk around our old favourite haunt of Dechmont.

I don't have any photos of the walk as I was too busy puppy wrangling. Missy enjoyed chasing rabbits and Ben had a rare chance off the lead and bumbled along with us, keeping a safe distance from the puppy.

After saying cheerio and heading back to mine, both dogs relaxed and it was nice to see Maisie taking a reflective moment simply gazing out the window. A novelty I suppose for a dog living in a first floor flat, but she was very content and wasn't worried about going out when I opened the door for her or playing with all the toys I put out.

Chaos ensued when my brother turned up and she was suddenly a naughty little puppy again and jumped on the table! She then started barking and jumping on Missy and playing with her toys. He didn't believe me how calm and relaxed she'd been, so I'm fairly certain he's completely wrapped around Maisies little dew claw!

Sewing has taken a bit of a backseat. I'm dabbling in three separate projects based on how much time I have available and haven't made as much progress on any of them as I'd have liked. Hopefully I'll have a quiet evening or two and make a good push on some to have something to show for next week.

Overall a good weekend, but tiring! However there is no rest for the wicked and next weekend is booked out too for adventures. Perhaps one day I'll learn to slow down!

Playing with Photography

Just a short one today. I start my new job tomorrow and I'm busy panicking over all the silly little things (Is there a microwave for heating up lunch? Should I wear the company polo shirt or a proper shirt? etc). I have managed to keep myself busy to try and stop fretting about what I know are silly things, and as a result its been quite an eclectic week!

My last day was Friday and I'd already organised it to be a half day. It went really quickly - one of the instruments was being difficult (clearly its going to miss me!) so I helped out with that in the morning and then took a really long morning break as I was handing out homemade shortbread to everyone. My new role is still in the same company, but its a completely different department and a different building, so I wasn't sure if I was going to get the big cheerio from the wing. 

I did get the big send off - the entire wing crammed into one of the labs and, despite trying to hide behind one of the instruments, I was presented with a card and some gifts (a multicoloured, multi-tool - is that not the best?! And a porg mug! And magnetic poo, but everyone gets poo, that's what happens when you work for the water industry!). Whilst I certainly didn't get upset or cry or anything, I could feel the emotionals trying to get me. I think its good to move on from a place before you grow to hate it, but I know I need a new challenge - still, there's a few faces there I am really going to miss.

Friday I also hosted Burns night for the family (sadly not many photos) and despite the fact that I despise haggis in any form, managed to pull together a feast that went down very well. As always, dessert is important to me and the crowning glory of the night was the apple and bramble pie I made. The hubby did the Haggis Hunting poem, which went down far better than Ode to a Haggis (which I always felt was far too long!) and I think we managed the right amount of tradition that it felt like a Burns Supper and not just a get-together.

Is it still #NoFilter when the filter is an external sheet of glass?

Yesterday I met up with a friend who has just gotten herself a D-SLR (canon, so sadly we cant share lenses etc as I have a Nikon) and we took Missy out on a photography walk around Dechmont. I've talked about the abandoned asylum before and its a great place to get some weird and wonderful photographs. One of the things she brought were glass filters that slot into a holder in front of your lens (I got to play with these as she needed the 58 clip on ring, and I was a 55), so we had tremendous fun seeing what colours did what. I knew previously that a yellow filter actually adds extra depth for black and white photography, so we put that to the test amongst other things.

It was quite fun to see that we both had a different eye for a picture - whilst effectively taking the same shot, we would frame things differently or spot different little oddities to focus on when going around the same building. Missy also showed off how good she is at having her picture taken, happily going were asked and patiently waiting for her reward. She did burn off a lot of energy chasing squirrels and bunnies too, so the whole walk wasn't spent bumbling about after us!

Today has been a sewing day - I have my next dance exam in February (Highland and National) and the Hornpipe outfit I'd picked up second hand was just all the wrong sizes, so I've dropping hems and nipping in seams for most of the day. I'm in a distracted mood, so really the job shouldn't have taken as long as it has! But I'm happy with it now, so its just a case of trying to get some practise in!

On a side note, I've been tagged in that 7 day black and white photo challenge thats been doing the rounds on Facebook, so I'll put them all together on here next week with an explanation for each of them!