Day 273 of 365

** Time for a haircut **

Those curls have got to go!!

Day 272 of 365

:: Yellow roses for my Anniversary ::

We're going out with friends on Saturday for a meal to celebrate.

Day 271 of 365

:: Maple and Pecan Danish - my favourite ::

15 Years ago.....

John and I got married.

Where has the time gone?

What are you reading?

After reading my first Dorothy Koomson - Goodnight Beautiful this month I thought I'd go for another one. The Chocolate Run - something about chocolate not being the cure for all ills!! We'll have to see about that :0)

I also took out the No1 Ladies Detective Agency by Alexander McCall-Smith. I know it's been made into a TV series but apart from that I don't know much about it.

And at the bottom is Lauren Weinberger - Last Night at Chateau Marmont. I've read Finding Harry Winston and seen the film The Devil Wears Prada so I'm hoping it will be a good read. My 3 year old Nephew sent it to me for my Birthday!!

Day 270 of 365

It turns out that poor Moss is allergic to dust etc and that is what is making him itch and scratch all the time. He now has a spray and shampoo for his feet and ears so they don't drive him mad because they're so itchy. Hopefully it will stop him rolling about all over my new carpet!!

He's feeling sorry for himself just now as I took him for his booster today too.

Day 269 of 365

:: 50 down, 51 to go ::

Almost half way

Day 268 of 365

I am one very lucky girl.

For my Birthday yesterday John and Samuel bought me a Pandora bracelet. It's absolutely beautiful and I love it. They went into town last weekend to choose the beads (some of which I had absentmindedly marked in the booklet!!). John picked the gold bead with the hearts and black diamonds and Samuel chose the silver heart. It's very heavy and I'm still getting used to fastening it but it's something I'll treasure forever.

Day 267 of 365

:: Early Birthday Presents from the lovely girls at work ::

A bottle of red and a voucher for my local craft shop....perfect :0)

Thanks Girls

Day 266 of 365

:: A note left in my hangbag by John ::

Just in case I'd forgotten

Day 265 of 365

Day 264 of 365

:: This little fella keeps popping up all over the house!! ::

He has relatives who live at Camera Obscurer in Edinburgh too!

Day 263 of 365

:: An unwanted guest in the spring greens at tea time :

Day 262 of 365

:: The living room floor! ::

Day 261 of 365

:: Oat and Cranberry Cookies ::

While the boys were out and about this morning I baked. One order of chocolate chip muffins for the Boy and one batch of cookies for................................ME!!

Oat and Cranberry Cookies
Ingredients
• 85 g butter
• 75 g soft brown sugar
• 1 tsp vanilla essence
• 75 g dried cranberries
• 50 g plain flour
• 75 g porridge oats
• 1/4 tsp bicarbonate of soda
• 1/2 tsp salt

1. Preheat the oven to 180C/gas mark 4.

2. Cream together the butter and sugar until light and fluffy. Stir in the remaining ingredients until completely combined.

3. Shape into walnut-sized balls and flatten them slightly by pressing down with your hand onto a lightly grease baking sheet.

4. Bake for 12-15 minutes or until golden. Cool on a wire rack.

Day 260 of 365

:: Crochet catch-up ::

Day 259 of 365

:: Honeysuckle ::

The Battle of Britian

Photo taken on our trip to London - July 2009

"Seventy years ago this date was the turning point in the Battle of Britain. By the end of October the Germans had stopped coming. Hitler’s invasion plans where on indefinite hold. The ‘Few’ had prevailed."

Today is the 70th Anniversary of the Battle of Britain and my brother has put together a little bit of history over on his blog Retro, Air and Track Go and visit it's an amazing post about some of history's most amazing men and women.

And just because my sister and I read this poem at our Dad's memorial 15 years ago, here is

High Flight

Oh! I have slipped the surly bonds of Earth
And danced the skies on laughter-silvered wings;
Sunward I've climbed, and joined the tumbling mirth
Of sun-split clouds, — and done a hundred things
You have not dreamed of — wheeled and soared and swung
High in the sunlit silence. Hov'ring there,
I've chased the shouting wind along, and flung
My eager craft through footless halls of air. . . .

Up, up the long, delirious burning blue
I've topped the wind-swept heights with easy grace
Where never lark, or ever eagle flew —
And, while with silent, lifting mind I've trod
The high untrespassed sanctity of space,
Put out my hand, and touched the face of God.

— John Gillespie Magee, Jr (9 June 1922 – 11 December 1941)

Day 258 of 365

Bashed and bruised after coming off his bike on his way home from school. Thankfully he's not badly hurt and I am grateful to his pal's Mum who stopped her car and gave him a lift back to school so they could phone me. His other pal took his bike back to his house for safe keeping and then dropped it back to our house later. It's nice to know that there are people about who are willing to help your family even if they don't know you.

He's got a bashed knee and face, a sprained wrist and he'll have a black eye tomorrow!! BOYS!!!

Day 257 of 365

♥♥ It's the little things in life that make you thankful ♥♥
Samuel made me a cup of tea yesterday morning - with no prompting

Day 256 of 365

:: Can't get fresher than this ::

10 very fresh, free range eggs from the "Chooks" of one of our lovely teachers.

Holding Hands for Heroes

This afternoon the people of Moray were asked to Hold Hands for Heroes.

Organised by the Rotary Club of Elgin, Holding Hands for Heroes is a tribute to the Armed Forces currently fighting in Afghanistan and elsewhere and also as a fund-raising event for Help for Heroes. At 3pm on Sunday, September 12, it is hoped that 6000 with link hands to form a human chain from the gates of RAF Lossiemouth to Elgin Town Hall. Participants of all ages were asked to buy tickets at a minimum of £1 each for five colour-coded areas of the route.

http://www.northern-scot.co.uk/news/fullstory.php/aid/10210/Come_on_readers,_join_hands_for_heroes.html

Day 255 of 365

Today has been fabulous and not a day to be missed. It has been bright, sunny and warm and a perfect day for attacking some of the Speyside Way.
We started off walking around the back of our house, down the lane and along to the Big House before taking a lane....... just to see where it went!
It took us past harvested fields and across farmland before bringing us out onto a main road.

Across the road we walked through a leafy wood full of lovely ferns, that would look great in my garden, and onto the river........
where we sat in the sun and had our lunch. I had decided during the week, that as John has been working so hard lately and Samuel and I seem to have seen less and less of him, that we would take a picnic somewhere, relax and watch the world go by.

From his pocket John produced an old dust sheet, we use for decorating, and tried to put it down on the wet grass. Unfortunately the wind had other ideas and as you can see Samuel had great fun trying to help!!

Day 255 - Tig you're it!!

After lunch the boys had great fun playing "Tig" on the rocks at the edge of the Spey. It was hard to tell which one was the teenager!!

Then it was back home to make chocolate muffins and sort out tea. A great day out that didn't cost a penny. They're the ones I like best :0)

Day 253 & 254 of 365

Day 254 - Target practice
Day 253 - Three little treats from my friend who finished work yesterday

Merlin

You can tell when it's time for the BBC's Autumn schedule to begin as all the good programmes come back on on a Saturday night. In this house Merlin has to be top of the list. It's something we can all sit down and watch together (albeit not so comfortably at the moment due to no living room furniture!!).

A quick card

One of our lovely teachers is leaving tomorrow to take up a job near Aberdeen. We're going to miss her as she's one of the "Good Guys" so I made her a little card from us all. Just something simple but says a lot.

Day 252 of 365

The view from my bench in the Biblical Garden, Elgin, at lunch time where I was sitting reading my book in the sunshine. Peace, quiet and sunshine.......what more could you ask for?

That's the ruins of Elgin Cathedral in the background.

Day 251 of 365

:: Do you think he's trying to tell me something? ::

Day 250 of 365

♥♥ Reunited ♥♥

Day 249 of 365

:: One of the neighbours!! ::

You need to enlarge the picture to see it better.

Day 248 of 365

:: Caught unawares - Lossiemouth beach ::

Day 247 of 365

:: A trip to the wax shop for an eyebrow tidy-up ::

I like to have two!!!

As it was just me this morning I treated myself to a tall, skinny, vanilla latte and it was delicious.

Then before heading home I popped into the Outdoor shop for some pigs lugs to take home for Moss. What an exciting life I lead!!

Day 246 of 365

:: Trying some of the fruit salad the Boy made in Home Economics ::

It's in a Chinese bowl that's been in the family since we lived in Hong Kong in 1971. The three of us (me and two siblings) were given a bowl of sweets each by our Chinese cleaning lady called Ah-Lin ( not sure of the spelling!!) one Christmas.

Day 245 of 365

:: Some new reading material from the library ::

Wolf Hall is still waiting, patiently, to be read.

Day 244 of 365

:: New shiny shoes for work ::

Day 241 to 243 of 365

Day 243 - The boys made their own catapult!!

Day 242 - Blooming well.

Day 241 - Looking for colour inspiration for the lounge.