Well, the river has been back where it should be for a few days, but the weather has been appalling again, so I wouldn’t be at all surprised to see it flooding again.
Morag, her husband Mike and I went through to the Glasgow Exhibition Centre on Saturday to a Christmas Shopping Fair! I bought a few bits and pieces - a coffee-frother gadget for one thing, which I will probably keep for myself - not that I drink coffee but a frothy milky hot chocolate doesn’t sound half bad!. I also bought a superior type of secateurs that can tackle quite thick woody stems with very little effort indeed – it will be very useful on my buddleia/butterfly bush - and a kit for making a couple of felted flowers! They were also for me!!! Morag and I have both fancied taking up felting as a hobby! At least she has done a little already but I have done none at all, so I am going to have a first go with the flowers.. The kit has photographic instructions, and the girl - the designer - who was selling them said they were foolproof, but I have yet to pluck up the courage to get started!
There were some lovely things at the Fair - lots of foodstuffs and bottles of boozy stuff too, kitchenware, books, Christmas decorations, pottery, knitwear etc. Oh the knitwear! Some of it was just fabulous - but expensive, so I just took note of a few ideas instead. I might try and make something out of the cheapie scarves and pashminas they sell in a new shop we have here in Peebles! Morag has my old sewing machine but says I can have it back any time I want! Now if only I can remember how to fold the scarves into shape!
We came back to Morag's for tea and and then watched TV till quite late! There was a documentary on, about the Race to the Moon, which was really interesting. It took me back to the days when my dad ushered me out onto the garden path to look up at the dark heavens where Sputnik, the first spacecraft, was orbiting the earth, and then I remember watching the moon landing in 1969 in a small village on the west coast! I was working up that way at the time and was visiting a friend who was working at the hotel in Port Appin.
On Sunday I drove down to near North Berwick on the coast of the Firth of Forth to see Jean, sister of my friend Edwina who now lives in the south of England. Well, Jean has become a friend in her own right and is not just “Edwina's big sister” as she was all those years ago when the pair of us used to go and visit at weekends. 
Her elder daughter Mandy - who I have known since she was only about 7 - and her partner Richard are getting married this weekend, and I have been invited to the party in the evening! Mandy's in her thirties now. Actually no! She’s older than I thought – and she has an 18-year-old daughter. I got a sneak preview of the dresses that Mandy and Ashleigh are going to be wearing on Saturday. My lips are sealed! They both look great though! Jean has made Mandy’s dress. She’s so clever at sewing.
* blether - (Scots) verb and noun. to chatter about all sorts of things, a type of conversation.
Edwina is coming up from England for her niece’s big day, so that's great, as we don’t see each other all that often these days. Her husband will not fly and Edwina said she was NOT driving up - Barney is unable to drive these days (health problems) so it means that Edwina does all the driving, and on our roads it’s quite a journey from the south. She does it in summer but is sensible not to do it at this time of year because of the weather, so Barney is staying at home and Edwina is flying up for a long weekend! I'm going to stay overnight on Saturday at Jean's place too, which will be nice, rather like the old days!
Later on we decided to go out for tea and walked up the village to the local Inn, which has been refurbished since I was last there - which I have to say was a long while ago. It actually looks very nice indeed and we had a good meal -a Goanese (Goan?) chicken curry, followed by sticky toffee pudding for me and chocolate tart for Jean, and before I finally left for home we walked back down the village and had another cup of tea, looked at some of my Canada pics and blethered some more. What a lovely afternoon and evening!
Well, hardly a picture this time! Makes a change for me! Hope the lack of them hasn’t stopped you from enjoying this though.
Talk again soon.
1 comment:
secateurs...what a good purchase for your New Year project...!!! Looking forward to seeing those photographs.
Post a Comment