A Scarily Good Time at Duncarron

It's that time of year! The most wonderful time where there's parties for hosting and pumpkin seeds for toasting and guising out in the gandigow

There'll be scary ghost stories
And tales of the glories of
Halloweens long, long ago

No, sorry, sorry, got carried away there.

Well. Halloween this years been a bit odd. My eldest neice and nephew are too old to have family parties, and this year have made plans with friends. There was a brief glimmer of hope I may have seen the youngest ones, but alas, circumstances beyond anyone's control squashed that hope.

So. What are two Xennials that refuse to grow up supposed to do? (I finally found a generation category I fit into. All the rubbish stuff that's happened to millenials that I've experienced, whilst still having an Internet free childhood).

Well, we decided screw it, kids or no kids, let's dress up and go have fun anyway.

Duncarron were having a Halloween event that had been chalked up as a possible idea for all. So, I made Missy a new hat to complete the pirate outfit, we donned our own and away we went. 

We got there good and early before the worst of the crowds (read kids), so we could do the axe throwing and the archery without feeling like we had to hurry. We also did the pumpkin carving and (I at least) did the ghost house as Hubby hates them and won't go near one. There were nerf wars against the undead that were very popular with the kids that we didn't participate in (well, we all know its more fun being the zombie!) 

And it turns out Missy has a following from the pirate event last year. Cries of "Pirate Dogs back" followed us everywhere as we went about chatting to the employees and volunteers. It's safe to say we're becoming regulars! 

Although Missy needs a more effeminate pirate costume. Everyone assumes she was male! Perhaps some pink trim? Or a purple wool to the coat? 

On the theme of making things, I also managed to make my eldest neice a Monster High costume (Frankie Stien, specifically). 

Pop over to Instagram for the full look! And not a bad outcome seeing as I had the two dogs! Wee Ben went back on Thursday, he'd lost his target weight of 0.2kg and apparently has stopped begging at home. I'm waiting to see if it's because he's in a huff or if he's actually turned over a new leaf! 

Well, that's all for this weekend. We have a nice walk planned for tomorrow as well as seeigg friends, hence the early post. 

Till next week! 

Sailing for Adventure

Yesterday was agood day - not only was I spoiled for my birthday, it was the Pirates event at Duncarron Medieval Village (well, for this weekend it was renamed Port Carron!). As you can see, we went all out in the costume department. Whilst hubby and I were dressed up (more on that later) Missy was quite rightly the absolute centre of attention with cries of "pirate dog!" following us through the day. 

We arrived for opening. There was no plundering and pillaging as we were escorted up to the village but we were immediately greeted by two Jack Sparrows, in full character, sashaying over to us, stealing hats and posing for photos when we were able to stand up straight from all the laughter. They decided hubby, in his royal blue coat, looked like a young Gibbs, and he was henceforth called as such. 

I wanted to get Missys photoshoot done quickly (those little white sleeves didn't stay white for very long) which meant a quick tour de force around the Port where we were corralled by a dozen people desperate to say hello to her. Honestly, it was like handling a celebrity. 

I'm still shocked that she was the only dog dressed up - Missy has a store bought pirate dress and a pirate jumper that have been used for Halloweens past, so I expected to see a few of those! 

Nonetheless, my mother was insistent that there be photos of me and hubby on my birthday, so she had us pose too and I got nice photos of her as well. Being away from the bulk of the visitors, and more than happy to chat, our photos were quickly filled with other pirates and we were given basically a private tour of a weapons armament and a ships surgeons table. 

We were photobombed by LARPers (one pretended to be about to strike my mother's head off with a sword) and we started the next lap of the port, looking at stalls and chatting to anyone who would listen. Hubby had decided that he wanted to try some walk about magic and, after cheekily dashing up to offer the pirate band some sweets following a joke they made, decided to take the plunge and give it a go. He never comes across nervous, but I can always tell. He preformed for stall holders and LARPers, for the mermaids and for Jack Sparrow 1 (who took a shine to us after we hid from the rain in the LARP weapon store together. 

Boy did it rain. 

Once the squall passed my eldest sister arrived with eldest neice and nephew and on went the shenanigans. 

Hubby was approached by Jack 1 as we were leaving. 

"Have you been commissioned for here? The tricks and whatnot?" 

Hubby - "No, it's all voluntarily." 

"Well you've got everyone very excited and talking about it - that's really cool, appreciate it." 

And just like that, he was back in character. 

"Gibbs! You me throw me hat." 

We had an absolute blast. Missy was fawned over by everyone (she even had a song dedicated to her by the band: Dogs and Freaks by Golden Apple for those on Spotify). The Mermaids (in human form sneaking off for tea) joining in on a magic trick and seeing the look of absolute astoundment on thier faces was a highlight. Having a go at throwing knives. Joining in on a sea shanty; honestly, it was the best way to spend a birthday following three lockdowns. 

I feel a need to take a moment in the sewing part of the blog. My pirate costume is a well established costume - my long koi coat, a captain Hook hat and other embellishments and I'm ready to theatrically sail the seven seas. Hubby I've been chasing for months about a pirate costume, suggesting fabrics and cuts and he kept declining, saying he'd just wear a Jacobite shirt and be done with it. Fine. I'd focus on Missys instead. 

As you can see, her little coat is designed to look like a waistcoat and, whilst I knew those sleeves wouldn't stay white, I honestly couldn't resist (spoiler, they were black by the end of the day, but bonus, once it was off Missy, she was spotless).

I just finished up, pleased to have it done with a week to spare when hubby shuffles in. 

"So, you know how I said I didn't want a coat?..." 

He got into a conversation about Monkey Island at work, and was told he should cosplay as Guybrush. His argument was that he didn't want me to go through the effort to make something he would wear once. This he could cosplay in, go to fancy dress party's in (party? What's that?!). 

I looked at him. There's always one important thing to ask a magician. 

"How many pockets?" 

"... How many can you add?" 

I gleefully took the challenge and, after 5 days, finished the coat. Its both piratey and yet he could dress it up as an admirals coat. A pair of stockings and he could even be a Prince. Detailed photos will go on insta next week, I didn't have time to get any before the event! 

I shall leave on a rare note in this blog, a family portrait:

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: