There’s a pheasant in my garden

pheaasant 2Walked out to fill the bird table earlier today and nearly had a heart attack when something relatively big and fast ran into the bushes. I was just in time to see the streak of brown and the long tail. It was a female pheasant. I don’t know what she was doing in our garden, but I threw down some seeds for her. She was really shy and flew off when I tried to take a pic so I’ve had to borrow a pic of what she looked like from the web.

We get quite a lot of different types of birds in our garden. Apart from the usual crows, rooks, the odd gull, blackbirds, tits, finches and robins, we also see the odd bird of prey, ducks (in the stream running down the back of the garden) and herons. More recently, what we think was a peregrine falcon used our back fence as a resting place.

falconIt’s really nice. We’ve also had hedgehogs, neighbours’ cats, our guinea pigs and the odd feral child in the garden too!!

Anyway, how’s your week been? Busy getting ready for the festive season no doubt!! I’ve been the same. I’ve been finishing a lot of projects up for work and also completing various home-made gifts. I haven’t taken pics of them yet (apart from the bears and the hat), but I’ll do that before I give them. So there’s been a fair bit of knitting and sewing going on. I’ve also been getting food etc in for Christmas. I don’t know about you, but I hate Christmas shopping…it’s always too busy, too hot and too full of very rude people. I do most of my shopping online and in October!

This week has been interesting weather wise. We were hit by what the press are calling the ‘weather bomb’ earlier on in the week. That meant we had everything the weather could throw at us: heavy rain, very strong winds, hail, sleet, thunder and lightening (a new one for me – I’ve never known it to do that in winter), low temperatures, ice and sun. Thankfully it’s died down and it’s just very cold and icy here. Makes me glad we’ve got a cosy warm house to go into. We’re lucky.

I’ve had one of those weeks where I’ve been forgetting a lot of things. I think it’s because we all have a cold and it’s making my head a bit woolly.

Went to the boy’s nativity during the week. He was one of the singers being one of the older children. The actual nativity play was called Baubles and was a take on the Christmas story. It was enacted by the Primary 1 pupils who were all incredibly cute and very good. All of us parents, grandparents and carers really enjoyed it. Well done P1-3. You all did very well.

Next week the girl is doing a carol concert, so I’m looking forward to that. I like attending these, it really starts off Christmas for me.

Anyway, I’m off to have a little read of my book – Elizabeth Hunter’s  A Fall of Water – before I start dinner.

Til next time!

Dawn xxx

A riverside walk and that tricky ceilidh dress

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We took a walk along the riverside last Sunday and it was lovely. The sun was shining, it was quite mild and there were signs of winter everywhere. I love all the seasons for different reasons…for autumn (this feels more like autumn to me, not yet winter), it’s the changing colours, the low sun, the feeling of everything going to sleep for the winter. It’s also getting home to a warm house and snuggling up on the sofa with a good book.

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The things I don’t like about this time of year: how dark it gets at 3.30pm and the fact the kids can’t get out playing after school (they love getting out).

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For winter, I love the snow and the dark, stormy skies and hurrying to get out of the ice cold rain and into a warm house.

Anyway, enough of my ramblings. How are you all? Hope you’re well. What have you been up to? I’ve been working hard getting my Christmas knitting finished…I am nearly there. I just have three gifts to complete and that’s me.

Talking of Christmas and the kids are already getting a bit hyper about the big day. The wee man keeps counting down, asking me if I know how many days left they are and then telling me. It’s getting to the annoying stage, but at least this helps him with his maths.

I’ve been doing a fair bit of running around, taking dresses back for the girl. Sigh. I bought her a dress online, it was too small, I took it back. I bought her a dress from Frasers, it was lovely, but she didn’t like it. I took it back. I have now ordered her a third (and final) dress from Next so she’d better like it cos it’s not going back!! I should know to let her pick her dress herself from the word go. She has her first ceilidh coming up (pronounced kay-lee for our none Scottish readers – it means a gathering, but nowadays it’s more about a dance with a ceilidh band and everyone doing Scottish country dancing. It’s great fun and often a bit wild!) so needed the perfect dress. Hopefully this one that’s coming is it! I don’t think I could take any more. She’s not even ten yet, God help us when she’s a teenager and really into fashion!!

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Am currently reading Elizabeth Hunter’s third of her Elemental Mystery series The Force of Wind. Am totally hooked on this series. If you like fantasy and supernatural with a bit of romance thrown in, these are the books for you. I am racing through them. Still got the fourth to go…A Fall of Water…having read books one and two: A Hidden Fire and This Same Earth. After I’ve finished these I’m on to the Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins. I love the films, so am thinking the books are bound to be even better!

Right, am aff! Got things to do this morning. Got piano practise, housework and yet more ironing (the bane of my life, I hate ironing with a passion). Until next time!

Dawn xxx

Happy St Andrew’s Day

Today is St Andrew’s Day, the patron saint of Scotland, and I just wanted to mark it because, despite it being our saints day, as a nation Scots aren’t great at celebrating it.

Here's the man himself, St Andrew.

Here’s the man himself, St Andrew.

There’s also this thing whereby the Scottish Government designated it a bank holiday, but I  only know of one person who’s off on Monday (the nearest Monday to St Andrew’s day) and that’s because her kids are off not because her employer is letting her take it as a Bank Holiday. Hey ho.

Of course, I am a bit biased when it comes to today cos it’s my birthday too!

So happy St Andrew’s Day everyone! Hope you have a great day! I certainly will!

Dawn xxx

PS click here if you want to know about our flag, the Saltire.

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Confessions of a writer, Elizabeth Hunter and the Hedgehog Who Froze

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I cannot believe it’s only four weeks until Christmas! Where did this year go? My parents were right: life does speed up the older you get! Just goes to show you should enjoy every minute if you can.

Anyway, how are you all today? What’s been happening in your world?

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I’ve been busy getting things ready for Christmas. I am almost there with my preparations…just got Christmas cards to write and a couple of wee things to buy and that’s me. I hate Christmas shopping, there’s nothing pleasurable in it so I like to get food etc in well before the big day so that I only have to drop round to my local shop to pick up the necessities (bread, milk, veggies etc).

I have a confession: having signed up to Nanowrimo, I have been unable to keep up with it. I simply have too much on and am too tired at night when I have any free time. I’ve decided that I’ll just write on the days I’m not at work…it’s the best I can do I’m afraid. I feel a bit guilty, like I’ve let myself down, but I have to be realistic about what I can do. I’m not superwoman after all. I’ve written around 30,000 words, so that’s still an achievement.

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Does anyone know anything about the winter habits of blackbirds? We have a mating pair in the garden and normally I’d still see or hear them around at this time of year (especially as I’ve been putting seed out on the bird table), but I’ve not see a single feather of them. I am worried one of the cats that live around here have got them. They’ve been with us for years (well the family has, not sure how long they live for). I am hoping they turn up again. Maybe they’ve just moved to warmer climes. Hmmm.

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Talking of winter visitors, the squirrels and crows (can’t say that word without thinking of Ygrit in Game of Thrones!) still raid the bird table. I also saw a hedgehog taking an evening stroll down the middle of the road the other night. I was out walking with friends when I spotted the little creature frozen in the road. My friends thought it was dead, but I’ve seen them do this before…if threatened, hedgehogs seem to freeze and pretend they are not really there in the hope that you go away and leave them alone. It barely moved a muscle apart from the almost imperceptible twitch of its nose. We left it there worried it would be squished by a car, but we didn’t want to terrify it any more. Hopefully it got home safely.

I love hedgehogs.

What else have I been doing? Knitting socks as Christmas presents. Have also a started a new book called A Hidden Fire by Elzabeth Hunter. She’s a self published, this is the first of four books and is really good. It’s supernatural, mystery and romance all rolled into one book. I am really enjoying it. Recommend it if you like a well written romantic adventure with vampires. It was my mum who put me on to her (I’ve borrowed all four books from her), so thanks mum. This book comes hot on the heels of Bleak House by Charles Dickens, which I loved. In saying that, I have loved nearly all of the books of his I’ve read (I haven’t yet read them all): the Pickwick Papers, Oliver Twist, A Christmas Carol, David Copperfield, Great Expectations. The ones I didn’t enjoy as much were Little Dorrit (I found Little Dorrit too insipid for my tastes) and Hard Times. Don’t get me wrong, I still liked the books, I just didn’t like them as much as the others. Still have a fair few to read, but I will.

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Right, I suppose I’d better be off and do my housework. I am procrastinating, hoping the housework fairies will come and do it for me. Sigh. Still, I’ll just put on some good tunes and have a dance and a singalong while I do it.

Til next time.

Dawn xxx

 

 

 

 

It’s been a while since my last post, but lots of things have happened!

lake district

Hello! How are you? How’ve you been? What’s been happening in your world? There’s been lots happening here…so where to begin?

Well, a couple of weeks ago, we all piled down to the Lake District to stay in a tipi at Ullswater. It was great. We stayed at the Waterside Farm – they supplied the tipi and we supplied ourselves. The tipi was bigger on the inside that it looked on the outside – a bit like the Tardis! – and had a double futon (for me and hubby) and two single blow up beds (for the kids) plus a cooker and a whole load of cooking utensils and cutlery etc. We spent two nights there. Luckily the weather was really good for most of the time we were there so we were able to cook sausages outside on the camping stove and toast marshmallows in the firepit. The kids were in and out of the lake, paddling, feeding ducks and generally having a great time. It was a lovely place and I’d recommend Waterside Farm for somewhere to stay – the staff couldn’t have been nicer and the place was just lovely.

The Lake District itself is simply stunning and I loved it…it reminded me of the Highlands except not quite as big. Yes, I loved it there and could see why Beatrix Potter fell in love with it all those years ago.

Talking of Beatrix, we didn’t just stay around Ullswater, we also drove around Lake Windermere, drove through Grasmere and stopped off at the Beatrix Potter Experience in Bowness. What a lovely place to visit and the kids really enjoyed it…it’s full of little scenes from her books and we had fun peeping through windows and identifying the characters. The kids, of course, were desperate to buys something from the shop, but I think they felt the things on sale – although lovely – were a little too young for them what with them being an ancient 9 and 6. They got to spend a bit of money in Keswick, where I also picked up some Star Wars (original films) fridge magnets. 🙂

It was a great couple of days away and we all enjoyed ourselves. The only two things spoiled it for me: I couldn’t get to sleep and woke at 5.30am every morning due to the light. Also our last day was so wet that we just left early…there was no point hanging about. It was torrential.

Anyway, to celebrate our little holiday, here’s a couple of pics I took at the Beatrix Potter Experience. We all enjoyed it, the little scenes were lovely, but I would have liked more on Beatrix herself…

Beatristuff from tablet 483

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My favourite...Mrs Tiggywinkle!

My favourite…Mrs Tiggywinkle!

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Talking of the weather, it’s generally been really good…which makes a change. Of course, it’s helped that the weather has been so good because this whole area is buzzing about the Commonwealth Games. I live within an hour’s drive of Glasgow city centre, but I haven’t been to any of the games…I’m not a lover of sport. Hubby and my dad, however, went to the Rugby 7s at Ibrox and had a great time. My friend attended the opening ceremony and loved it (I’m afraid you either loved or hated it…I watched it on telly and loved it) and various other friends have been going to other sports. I’ve not heard one bad word said about the Games, in fact everyone has been raving about it.

Last weekend, my dad also celebrated his 68th birthday so we all piled round to my parents house for a fab home-made curry (including pakora, naan and some really nice puddings). What a laugh! Was a really good day. Also celebrating their birthday last week were my father-in-law (86!) and my nephew (3)! Happy birthday all of you!

This week we’re having a quieter week. I’m off from work to look after the kids. We’re just relaxing, popping down to the shops or the library and generally taking it easy. In the mornings, I’ve been watching White Collar on Netflix…am now totally hooked!! Thank goodness for telly that you don’t need to concentrate too hard on because I’ve been knitting away…I made the girl a mermaid and the boy a robot (both Alan Dart patterns…I love Alan Dart’s stuff!). I’ll put a pic of them both in my next post. In the meantime and as promised, here’s a pic of the cake I made my friends who recently had a Civil Partnership in Edinburgh (also an Alan Dart pattern).

stuff from tablet 374 (2)Anyway, must fly. Am currently reading a biography of Albert Einstein (interesting man) and Robert Louis Stevenson’s Kidnapped… they are calling! Til next time!

Dawn xxx

A wedding, Bannockburn and loving the re-enactment!

How are you all? How have you been? Sorry I’ve not been around so much lately…had a wedding on June 21 (congrats George and Raymond!) in Edinburgh and we (me, hubby and the weans) trooped off to Stirlingshire on Saturday to celebrate the 700th anniversary of the Battle of Bannockburn!

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Bannockburn Live weekend was a great event despite the long queues for everything but the toilets!! We arrived about 10am with half of Scotland it seemed. The queue to get in went back a good half a mile, but everyone was in good spirits so none of the stewards got hassled.

Anyway, we got in, went up to the stage to see who was playing. We stayed to listen to a band I never got the name of…sorry band, but you were good. We then went exploring…apart from craft stalls, there were also stalls from various clans and a whole host of quality food places…we ate buffalo burgers and they were excellent.

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The whole event was held up at the Bannockburn visitor centre/monument/Bruce statue. One area was the band/clans/stalls/food and another (which you had to queue – quelle surprise! – to get into) was where the re-enactment was taking place and included a mediaeval tent village where Clanranald re-enactors were showing people how they made weapons and food and clothing etc. It was really good.

My favourite bit was the re-enactment of the battle itself. The guy narrating – an historian – was good with the banter and had the crowd cheering The Bruce and booing King Edward. It was a laugh. The costumes were excellent as was the information given out about the historic event. The narrator took us through the two day battle talking about all the skirmishes and explaining what happened when and what various things meant/how things worked (eg the Chiltern…below).

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The kids had a ball. They loved it and went away with a tabard each (in the Bruce’s colours of course!) and a wooden sword (the girl) and wooden spear (the boy) respectively.  Anyway, we stayed about four hours and the rain started to get heavy so we went back to the car just as the heavens opened. Was an excellent day!

I got myself a hand thrown mug which looks like it wouldn’t take much tea in it, but is actually bigger than it looks (a bit like the Tardis!!).

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Funniest part of the day – the actors forgot their mikes were still on. There were a few choice words from them when things when wrong (a horse got spooked, the rider swore much to the amusement of the crowd). The guy playing The Bruce also had a very interesting conversation about ‘where’s the wee lassie who has my car keys?’ which also got a lot of hoots from the crowd!!

It was a good weekend, thoroughly enjoyed it. Unfortunately, I forgot my camera, but got some shots on my phone which then ran out of juice!! Hope you enjoyed the pics anyway.

The kids stopped for their summer holidays on Friday there, so I’m off for the next two weeks to look after them. Today, I’m just catching up with bits and pieces around the house. Been watching The Darling Buds of May and thoroughly enjoying it.

Anyway, I am going to go now and get on with the ironing! Oh the glamour!  Til next time!

Dawn xxx
PS if you’re interested in learning more about Bannockburn, BBC 2 did a great series called Quest for Bannockburn.

Why does it always rain when I want to garden?

rain

What is it with Mother Nature? Does she know that the only time I am inclined to garden are the same times she decides it’s going to rain…hard? I’m having a bit of a long weekend due to the fact the kids are off school. I don’t actually get these bank holidays at my work, so have taken them off as annual leave. However, our local school does get them. Anyway, I’m off and had different plans for the days:

– Friday was socialising day with my friend Tracy coming round for tea and buns, and my friend Mac coming round for a double dunter of Game of Thrones (she doesn’t have Sky so she comes to mine to watch it…it’s “torture” for me having to watch it all over again…NOT!)

– Saturday was visiting my parents day and eating the ginormous lunchtime feast my mother always puts on…I love it. I feel totally pampered and her cooking is ace. She makes her own quiche, pizza and bread which are just amazing. I didn’t even cook last night, my darling husband went out for a sausage supper for us. I know…bad for the waistline, but so good on the lips!!

– Sunday was to be sowing seeds day, but it’s a bit soggy outside. I did go out anyway, but the rain has driven me back inside. I did manage to finish weeding the drive and some of the plant pots. I sowed the potatoes, salad, carrots and spinach and sorted out the little plastic tunnel I have for my plot. I didn’t manage to get my other greenhouse (which is plastic) out from its winter lodgings in the garage, but maybe I’ll manage it tomorrow. Apart from the rain, there’s also been a bit of thunder!! Anyway, today hasn’t been a total loss. I woke up really early and went downstairs where I baked two loaves, made pancakes, emptied and filled the dishwasher, put the dryer on, put the washing on and generally tidied up. I managed a good hour of reading quietly on the sofa before everyone else got up…hubby first and the kids second (they were driven downstairs by the tantalising and all too appealing smell of the pancakes I was making!!)

Currently reading: Dodie Smith’s The New Moon with the Old. Am thoroughly enjoying it. The only thing that’s spoiling it is the amount of typos in the book….come on Constable Robinson, you can do better than that in future! Have someone read it over before you print!! One to three typos are acceptable, but I must be on about eight by now. Anyway, excellent book and I’d recommend it.

Right on to why boys can be disgusting. My boy had his friend over for tea on Thursday night straight after school. Thursday was school sports day and, although it threatened to chuck it down all day, it didn’t rain. We mums (and a couple of dads) sat together, dished out way too much picnic food, drank tea and chatted whilst cheering our offspring on. After it finished, the boy and his pal joined me and my girl in the car and we went home. Anyway, to cut a long story short, the dynamic duo went out into our estate and came back all elated holding something in their grubby little mitts.

My boy said: “Look mum! Look what we found!”

He held out his hand. His friend held out his hand. Between them they had part of the shell of a teeny tiny crab. My boy had a claw. His friend had part of the body and a claw. Ew! At least it wasn’t the squashed dead mouse my nephew brought back to his mum when he was four!!

Talking of nephews, my littlest nephew (aged two) was out playing in his garden and presented his mum with a pocketful of live snails!!

So, there you are: proof that boys can be disgusting!

 

Not great picture quality!

Not the actual crab, but something like it!

Anyway, on that note, I must fly. Am in desperate need of a cup of tea and maybe one of the Anzac biscuits I made on Friday. Mmmmmm.

Til next time!

 

Dawn xx

 

Mulling things over, getting “Back to the ‘Fruit-ure'” and seeing a double rainbow

Colour

Watched this rather disturbing documentary last night called Zeitgeist. It’s all about how the wool’s been pulled over our eyes regarding religion, 9:11, the threat of terrorism and the control over finance. Anyway, I went to bed last night and couldn’t stop thinking about what it was saying. Very interesting points made. Had a good discussion about it over tea and cakes with some friends earlier today.

I saw Zeitgeist on Netflix and it has some really interesting documentaries. Normally, I don’t both with documentaries because I often find them depressing. However, this afternoon, after lunch I decided to have a look at Fat, Sick and Nearly Dead which is the story of Joe from Australia who goes on a 60 day juice fast to lose weight and reboot his body. He goes to the US to journey across the states, mainly, I think, to take his mind off his task and give himself something to do – although he does come across a whole load of poor food en route, but sticks to his juicing. Anyway, he meets this guy Phil who is obese and really, really unhappy. They both have the same skin condition and bond right away. Joe says he’ll help Phil if he wants. Phil contacts him after Joe’s juice challenge is over. They both lose weight and become much, much healthier. Their skin and other health problems disappear and it’s a good feel good documentary movie. Really enjoyed it and it just proved to me that eating real foods is the way ahead for health. By real foods, I mean meals made from scratch and lots and lots of veg and fruit. It’s encouraged me to be healthier.

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I learned to cook because I was brought up largely on home cooked meals and when I moved out to live on my own I initially embraced the ready meal culture. Within a couple of days I couldn’t stomach them because I could taste the chemicals and rubbish in them. Yeuch!! That’s when I started to learn to cook for myself. I could already make the basics, but after a few phonecalls home to my mum and the purchase of several cookbooks, I was off. Don’t get me wrong there are days when I can’t be bothered cooking, but generally I enjoy it and hopefully will mean my kids grow up healthy. I don’t understand why people don’t cook…it tastes a million times better, is healthier and is cheaper too. I do get the ‘fear of failure’ thing with cooking, but it’s really not that difficult, especially things like home-made tomato pasta sauce which is pants easy to cook.

Anyway, back to the documentary. It’s made me stiffen my resolve – AGAIN – to be healthier. I don’t want to go on a 60 day juice diet, but I could be eating more fruit and veg, which I like so there’s no difficulty there. I also need to exercise more. I have taken up walking for an hour twice a week and am back at swimming once a week. I just need to make sure I do something every day. Because I work at a desk all day it can be difficult to get enough exercise, I just need to make time for it.

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Anyway, once the film finished, I got the kids wrapped up and we walked to our local shops which are less than a mile away and our local pharmacy, which is about a mile away. It’s quite blustery weather today with lots of wind and rain showers. We got caught in one shower, but it didn’t stop us. We picked up the things we had to pick up and came back the river way, which is muddy, but the kids really enjoyed it. I feel like I’ve blown away a few cobwebs too! We were all muddy returning home, but that’s part of the fun. That and seeing a double rainbow!!

Hark me wittering on!! Hopefully I’ll stick to this. I have a wedding to go to in June, so I want to lose a bit of weight before then…a stone would be good. Wish me luck!

So how have you been? What’s been happening? The girl turned nine this week, which is a bit of a shocker for me and hubby because one minute she was a tiny wee baby and the next thing she’s tall, lanky and with the confidence of a teenager. Her grandparents and one of her aunts (plus kids) came to lunch to celebrate, which was great.

This week has been relatively quiet. The kids are off school, so we’ve been catching up with tasks around the house and the kids have been out playing when the weather permitted. I managed to finish my Tsh Oxenreider book Notes from a Blue Bike: the Art of Living Intentionally in a Chaotic World which is full of tips for slowing down. Interesting book and very readable just from the point of view of someone dipping into someone else’s life. Have now taken up J R Tolkien’s The Fellowship of the Ring, which I am ashamed to say (as a lover of fantasy) I have never read. It’s good. It’s very good.

Anyway, that’s been my week. Not terribly exciting, but interesting none-the-less…to me at least. Been nice not having to drive through rush hour traffic or rush the kids to school or generally be a bit mental.

Right, am away. The kids are demanding me to do stuff again. No rest for the wicked!! Til next time.

Dawn xxxxx

Back to normal…early mornings, early nights

Lovely pic by German photographer Andreas Krappweis. It's called Dandelions.

Lovely pic by German photographer Andreas Krappweis. It’s called Dandelions.

I am finding getting up for work difficult this week. On Monday, I got up at 6am, did the full day and was back in my bed sleeping by 9.30pm. On Tuesday, it was the same except the lights went out at 9pm. Last night, I managed to stay up til my normal time of 10pm. I was just exhausted earlier in the week. I think it was a combination of dark, early mornings, the horrible weather and the long, long drive to and from work. The kids didn’t fare any better, especially the boy who just loves his bed and hates getting out of it in the morning (unless it’s 4.30am on Christmas morning that is!). Anyway, I suppose it’s just a question of us all getting used to it again.

Anyway, how have you been? How’s your week been? Busy?? Today, the sun is splitting the sky and it’s a very welcome relief after the weeks of heavy rain, flooding and gale-force winds we’ve been experiencing in Scotland. Still, at least it’s not as bad as the poor Americans…can’t imagine what it’s like dealing with minus 50 temperatures!! Brrrrrr! We’ve been lucky here, we’ve not had bad flooding – just the back garden – but our neighbour’s parents had flooding under their house. The water didn’t rise, which meant none of their stuff was damaged, but it was touch and go there for a while.

Am looking forward to seeing the publication of the third DarkIsle book soon. Not got a publication date yet, but it’s all been set out and the artwork is being done, so we’re nearly there. As soon as I know when it’s due out, I’ll let you know!!

Also, watched a great film last night. It’s called The Heat and stars Melissa McCarthy and Sandra Bullock. This film is not for those who find swearing offensive, but as myself and my hubby do not we really enjoyed it. It’s funny, clever and…yes, I’d recommend it.

Anyway, I feel I am just wittering on here. I have lots to do. Set out a new workplan for myself in relation to writing, so am determined to start writing again. My other plan is to see if I can get Dusting Down Alcudia and Ham – Memoirs of a P****d off Mother published. Wish me luck!!

Right am off to practise piano as I have a piano lesson today with Diane, my lovely piano teacher.

Til next time.

Dawn xx

Long lies, stunning views and ‘there’s been a murrrderrr’

Ah the wonders of a long lie and not having to get up early for work. I woke naturally this morning – well that’s not strictly true: my husband nearly gave me heart failure kissing me goodbye earlier on (I got a bit of a fright – then enjoyed the kiss!). However, once my heart stopped racing I went back to sleep and then I woke naturally about an hour later. So nice. The kids and I are off this week – their October break – so we’ve got a few wee things planned, but not a huge amount. I always book too many things in and then don’t get the break I need, so I’ve got a couple of things planned and the rest of the week will be spent chilling out.

This is just one of the lovely views I see on the walk.

This is just one of the lovely views I see on the walk.

So how are you all this week? I’ve surprised myself by going out walking again last week with the girls (some of the mums I know from school). I did it, enjoyed it and didn’t find some excuse to miss it! Result! The walk is at least four miles up in the hills overlooking the River Clyde and it’s stunning no matter what the weather. However, I managed to get a great pic on a lovely day (see above). Stunning.

I haven’t been writing much this week. I just can’t seem to get into it. I know I should, but I’m doing everything but. Sigh. Instead, the knitting needles are back out and the crochet hook and I’m sitting watching Miss Fisher Investigates, The Glades and reruns of Murdoch Mysteries clicking away on the sofa. Ooh let’s not forget Downton Abbey. What did you think of last week’s episode? Bit of a shocker, eh? Poor Anna. Can’t wait to see this Sunday’s episode! I just love a good period drama and if there’s a detective and a murder thrown in there (not Downton, but Miss Fisher, Murdoch et al) then I’m all the happier!! I think that’s why I attempted to write a wee romantic crime adventure through Dusting Down Alcudia. I’m thinking I may throw in a murder in the sequel…we shall see (she says mysteriously).

Currently reading Diana Gabaldon’s Dragonfly in Amber, the sequel to Outlander. Oh it’s good. Am totally hooked. Bang goes my plan to spend autumn reading Game of Thrones. So many books, too little time!!

Right, I’d best be off. The girl is twitchy. She’s going to spend tonight at a friend’s house and has already packed. She’s desperate for the girl’s mum to come and get her. It’ll be strange not having her in the house tonight…strange, but very quiet!!

Til next time

Dawn xx