If it’s not one thing… it’s another!

The view from my windows this morning!Well, I suppose the forecasters did say it would snow.  We  just didn’t expect them to be so right!  They often aren’t!   As if we haven’t had enough of the stuff.  However it seems to have hit right across Scotland and Northern Ireland, so we’re not alone.  In fact it has been really bad in some areas with at least one fatality.   At least one consolation is that the snow can’t go on for months now.  Actually it’s already turning to rain.

However, what else happened this morning?  I turned on the hot tap in the kitchen and let the water run a bit to heat up… but it didn’t – heat up, that is!  I just presumed it would need no more than a climb up to the attic to reset the button on the boiler  - which was serviced just three weeks ago – but it wouldn’t reset!  I read the manual, checked that I was doing the right thing – which I was.  Tried it again, and again nothing!

A call to the service company resulted in an appointment being made for…… Saturday.   SATURDAY!  So until then, I have no heating or hot water… again!

and no fire either of course!

Talk again soon. 

Drawing with Pastels week 4

On Thursday after another shift at the charity shop it was time for art class again!  I missed last week’s class because I was having my eyes tested, so I was looking forward to seeing what had been tackled. 

They had made a start on a sunset picture, and were continuing it this week by adding a reflection in the sea.

 

This is my picture, done in just the one session.  Spot the deliberate mistake?  It’s not great, but not bad for a first attempt, eh?

 

Then we had a chance to do something else.  

John had a post card view of a lighthouse which he copied – he’s good at this!!  His choice of colour paper was perfect for a start, and his technique is excellent!

 

Beth, our American, had brought a picture from a newspaper.  It was a portrait.  

See what she did with it!  Amazing! 

These two are the stars of the class!

I didn’t have a photo with me, but Hazel gave me a picture of clouds and I had a go at those.  One was fluffy white clouds  and the other rain clouds!  Hmmmm!

Next week is our last for this session, and we all have to take a photo to draw.  Now, what will I try out?  I have a couple of ideas…..

Talk again soon.

We’re cooking with gas again!

All seems to be going well again, so fingers crossed!  I spent well over an hour or so conversing with Shrey in Delhi by phone the other day, but by the end of the call he had sorted my internet problem, with great patience and good humour.  I usually complain bitterly about call centres in India, but Shrey was great.  I explained to him early on that I was unfamiliar with his accent so I might have to ask him to repeat himself several times, and I did, and he was OK with that.  So, I should think it would be a miracle if he was ever to read this, but thanks Shrey!

Well then, you know the saga of my gas fire and the gas leak?  Well the other day I drove over to West Linton where I bought the stove a few years ago, to order a new control valve to replace the one the gas fitter now reckons is causing the leak.  It turned out to be a bit more complicated than just giving the make and model.  I’d need a serial number.  And where would that be?  Well, by now, back home and speaking on the phone, I was told it could be under the front of the fire.   Under?   How are you supposed to be able to get at it there?   Well no it wasn’t there.  I couldn’t feel any plate  or a label stuck on.  The back then?   So, I moved the oil lamp and the clock that sit on the plinth either side of the fire and knelt on the slate to look over the top of the fire.  Yes, there was a label, but being in the corner I couldn’t get  to the back of the fire to see it!  You’d need to be a contortionist!  I had to put the phone down, and find a torch and a mirror before I could at last see the serial number in the mirror.  Are you any good at reading mirror writing?  I used to be, but the writing on the label was quite faint, and the label was fixed at a right angle to the back of the fire.  I would need my glasses on before I’d be able to decipher it!  Another trip followed to the bedroom where my specs were, and I got back to the fire once more.  A good deal of twisting and turning later – and that was just the mirror – I finally managed to get me and the mirror at the right angles to be able to read the number.    It is just as well the fire is no longer where it used to be, enclosed within the old fireplace, as there would have been the snowball’s chance in hell of reading the label, or of even finding it!!   So now I take it that the correct control valve can now be ordered, and that I will have my fire working again by the end of the week!  Of course, it might not be the control valve that is leaking……….

Talk again soon.

Problems!

Had a few hiccups with my internet connection, but it seems to be working again now, so I'll be back soon.

Take care.

East Lothian

I met Linda for lunch on Friday.  Her car was in the garage for an MoT so I picked her up in Edinburgh and we headed out to East Lothian. 

I love the manyEast Lothian houses with their red  pantile roofs, and had to stop in the village of Drem to take photos of some pretty corners.

 

 

These cottages were all looking onto the village green,

 

 

while these were tucked away around the corner.  It’s such an attractive village.

Not much further on is Dirleton where we had lunch at the Castle Inn at the top of the village – in the dining room where Mandy and Richard were married towards the end of last year. The inn takes its name from the ancient castle on the other side of the road.  You can see a turret in the outer wall on the left of the photo.  Turning to my left from where I was standing, the castle itself stands on a mound behind the wall.   The crocuses have taken a bit of a bashing from the wind, all leaning downhill.

Next stop was North Berwick on the coast, and a view of some of the islands of the Forth estuary – the Firth of Forth. 

 

First though we took a close up look at the sea and the renowned Seabird Centre.  Pity we didn’t have time to go in. It has CCTV cameras on the Bass Rock that relay amazing views of the huge colony of gannets on the island, back to the centre.

  I’ve never seen the tide so high at North Berwick.  When I was a child my sister and I often came with our parents to the beaches here, and there are lots of memories, but such high tides are not among them!  Maybe I’ve just never been there at the right time before.

It was a nice drive along the sea front, past big houses that I am guessing were once guest houses for holiday makers from the likes of Edinburgh in the 19th century.  All are private homes now, with perhaps the odd self-catering holiday house here and there.   The road passes the mound where North

 

 

 

Berwick’s ancient  castle once stood, and ends at the golf course where the view back to town is wonderful.  From Berwick Law to the islands in the Forth and round to the Bass way off to the right, these are the relics of a prehistoric volcanic area. 

Too soon it was time to head back to Edinburgh, but it had been so good being down by the sea, even if for just a short time.

Talk again soon.

A Mission

I got an email from Graeme, one of my readers, the other day.  “I've grown up in Canada,” he wrote,”but my mother is from Peebles.  When taking a trip back to Peebles with my parents a few years ago  I remember my mother getting weepy and commenting on the "lights of home" as we came around a corner approaching Peebles when we first arrived.”

Graeme asked me if I could take a photo of the view coming into town, for my Peebles blog,  so on Saturday afternoon Morag and I took a walk up the road towards  Neidpath Castle so I could take some photos.  I started with photos of the castle itself, a tower dating back to the 14th century.  I love this castle.   It has a small Great Hall with wooden panelling and a beautiful fireplace, and a couple of floors of what would have been bedrooms, before you reach the top floor with access to the balustraded ramparts.  There are great views from up there!  Below the entrance hall level is the dungeon and the guard rooms … and the huge well.  Pity it’s closed for the moment. 

Found some aconites along the driveway.

Turning back towards town again, I took a photo looking back into town – not such a great view, with too many sign posts and lamp posts, but I think this is the view Graeme is thinking of.  The tower at the bottom of the road is St Andrews tower, all that remains of the old church, with the graveyard round about it. The wall on the right is called Campbell’s Dyke – a dyke is a wall in Scotland, a ditch in England – but who Campbell was, I haven’t discovered yet.  On the left behind that fence is the new Kingsland School, just opened about a month ago.  Take a look at my other blog, Peebles for Pleasure for more about the school.

I have a lovely couple of  pictures to show you now, taken on Friday when Linda and I made our first visit this year to a garden centre!    This dunnock was perched on the helmet of a Japanese Buddha statue, and seemed quite unperturbed as I edged closer. 

 

In the end I was less than a metre away and was beginning to wonder if he/she was maybe injured, but after allowing me a great photo he/she hopped down to the ground behind the statue and disappeared.

Talk again soon.

Awards!!!

Not just one, but three, from Polly of Angels in my Garden!  She said I’d find a surprise on her blog and so I did, once I found it!  There are conditions attached though so bear with me.  Here are the awards first.  Thanks so much, Polly.

The first means just what it says, "you're going places, baby." Recipients of this award have to tell where you see yourself in 10 years.    Still here!  I think is the answer to that one!

Second award I am supposed to tell you 7 things about myself so here goes: 1. I have several carrier bags full of books that I want to read. 2. I am a hoarder!  I cannot declutter!  3. I’m going on two lace-making holidays this year. 4. I love my Crocs!  Worn nothing else on my feet for almost three years – except for posh occasions!!  5. I am hopeless with houseplants!  They die either from neglect or too much water!  6.I loved school dinners!  7. I’m addicted to Farmville on Facebook!  Want to be my neighbour?  There!  That took some thought!

For the third award I am meant to pass it on to 12 other bloggers I like, but if you don’t mind, Polly, I won’t do it just now, till I think who they’ll be.

Talk again soon.

I need a diary!

I have to carry a diary about with me these days!  I never had to do that before I retired!!!  It’s true what they say about wondering how you had time to go to work!!!

So, Thursday, I worked the morning at the BHF shop and in the afternoon drove down to Melrose for our second lesson in pastel drawing.  After a bit of technique teaching, Hazel got us drawing tulips she had bought that morning!  Oh dear! 

 

 

 

Well, all I can say about mine is that you CAN tell it’s a tulip – I think!

Then  we started to get to grips with a still life – the jug of tulips.  I would say I take a better photo! Of course I was sitting when I was drawing, and took the photo after I stood up, so the angle’s a bit different!

On Friday morning the BHF team did our 50,000 steps Stepathon to raise funds!  Five of us set off on a walk through the town, up the hill to Haylodge park.  Following the high wall that separates the park from the road we came to the far end, and descended a rough path by a burn (Scottish stream!) to the bank of the river Tweed. 

With the river on our right we walked by these beautiful old trees, mostly lime trees (not the fruiting type), to reach the Fotheringham footbridge, where we stopped for a photo shoot!!!

Our route then took in the bridge and the path along the opposite bank, to the road bridge over Tweed, passing the controversial natural island that has built up

over the last 30 or so years.  Crossing the road, and down the other side to the riverbank again, we soon reached Priorsford footbridge, and crossed it, but instead of turning left and back to the town we turned right, past the allotments,  turning along by the Gytes sports centre and its floodlightable rugby pitch to return towards town where cups of tea and biscuits awaited us back at the shop.  Meanwhile those left behind in the shop had been doing their bit by measuring their steps on pedometers.  Even when standing tagging and pricing stock in the store room they were marching on the spot to add their quota to our total – and didn’t we do well!!!  Now to collect the money pledged!

Talk again soon.

The sagas continue

I haven’t mentioned the dental situation all week….. yep, problems!  The socket where the tooth came out of has throbbed constantly all week, and my jaw has really been hurting.  I’ve even got a yellowy bruise on my chin !  Painkillers helped to keep the pain down but I thought the gum might have got infected.  Yesterday I decided to phone the dentist.  The receptionist reckoned it might be a dry socket, and gave me an appointment for this morning.

Well, yes, it was a dry socket that was a bit infected, so the dentist poked around at it – ouch, ouch -  washed it out –ouch - and packed it with some antiseptic stuff  - ooh ouch - that should stop it hurting and stop “debris”  getting in!   There must have been some anaesthetic in it too as it numbed my mouth a little, but at last it has settled down – and guess what?  It doesn’t hurt any more!  Don’t know if that’s just the anaesthetic but what a difference!  However, maybe I should reserve judgement till tomorrow!

I told you a while back about the gas leak I reckoned I had in the living room after the fire was moved?  After a day or two I began to smell gas when I came into the room so called the gas services, who came and told me there was a leak where the inflow pipe joined the back of the fire.  I called the gas fitter back who tested the meter and could find no drop in pressure that would indicate a leak.  A few days later I was calling him again, but again the test showed nothing.   This time though, he fitted an isolation valve so I could turn off the gas supply to the fire and still have the central heating and the cooker working, but there’s still a smell when I come into the room.

Well, today I have the man here who does the annual service on the gas boiler and the fire.  I explained the history so he has tried to test the supply with a machine that bleeps when gas is detected.  It showed nothing.  “Just to show you it does work,” he told me, “I’ll switch on the gas but not light it, and show you what happens.”  So he did, and what happened?  ….Nothing!  Not a single bleep!  Nowt!  Not a sausage!   So he tried it on the gas cooker.  Gas on, not a bleep!  Well not a bleep from the machine!  One or two from the mannie himself  though – &%^*$ !   It seems his bleeping machine is broken!!!  However, he is now servicing the boiler that heats the water in the radiators and taps, so here’s hoping he gets that right!  I just don’t have a lot of faith in him.  He’s a bit of a Jack the Lad, a cocky beggar.  I remember last time he was here he fell down the attic ladder and broke its fittings and also the light in the hall!  He was being cocky then!

Now he’s testing the meter, and muttering to himself.  He was singing “I’m forever blowing bubbles” earlier….  and he’s just told me he reckons I do have a miniscule leak, but it might be in the fire itself.  I feel a few bleeps coming on!  Apparently there is a tiny drop in pressure at the meter but in normal circumstances that would be quite acceptable in a test.  However, because I have said I can smell gas, it is no longer acceptable, and he has to turn the fire off and put up a warning notice not to use it!  Now I am going to have to get in touch with the guy who sold me the fire and see if I can get the agent to do some checking up! Oh, bleep! bleep!!  I can still use the central heating for warmth though!  Thank goodness for that!

To be continued….

Talk again soon.

Scrapbook page

I should have been doing lots of work in the house today but I played instead!  First I did a bit of family history research, then I did actually start moving the books out of my bookcase in the bedroom so I can move it – just didn’t keep at it!  I came back to the computer and decided to do something about scrapbooking some of my snowdrop pictures from Saturday’s visit to Kailzie, so that’s what I’ve uploaded today.

I also found a poem.  Enjoy!

Talk again soon.

The snowdrop

Three softly curved white sepals veined with light,
Three green-lined petals, guarding frugal gold,
And all so strong to fold or to unfold!
Snow thunders from the bending pines. How slight
This frail, sheathed stem! Yet all unbent it springs,
So swift in stoopings and recoverings.

In the pale sunshine, with frail wings unfurled,
Comes to the bending snowdrop the first bee.
She gives her winter honey prudently;
And faint with travel in a bitter world,
The bee makes music, tentative and low,
And spring awakes and laughs across the snow.

Mary Webb

Spring has sprung?

Today was a gloriously sunny spring-like day, so when Linda and I met for lunch we decided to drive out into the country.  We thought of visiting the cafe overlooking the Loch 0’ the Lowes, next to St Mary’s Loch, but when we got there it was closed – opens next weekend.  Oh well!  Moffat wasn’t so far away.  We’d continue along the road by the loch- still frozen over - and through the valley beyond; down the gorge past the Grey Mare’s Tail waterfall, quite full after the snows, and eventually into the town of Moffat – where some of my ancestors came from, in fact.  Some of them lie in the old churchyard.

There’s a cafe at the top of the town, almost opposite the  famous Moffat ram statue, where we decided to eat.  It was well worth it and at very reasonable prices too.

I’ve  told you before about the ram statue.  If you’ve been with me long enough you’ll maybe remember that the ram, although he has wonderful horns, has no ears.  The designer of the ram took such flak for the omission that he finally committed suicide!

After lunch we took a wander round the town, looking in shop windows, and just enjoying being out in the sunshine.  The second-hand bookshop was closed, but there was an emporium of antique and second-hand goods to be wandered round.  I am looking for a globe for an antique oil lamp that belonged to Colin’s mother and possibly grandparents, so I had my eyes peeled!  There were actually a few globes, but not as beautiful as the globe I had inadvertently broken.  I did think of haggling on the price of one.  However, even if I was to get his best price I didn’t think the particular globe was worth it so I left it on the shelf,  hoping to be able some day to find a globe more like the one I lost!

In Old Well Road there is an “ancestral home”, though which one is unclear.  The rest of the family lived in Eastgate, nearer the top of the town. 

This is the street leading to the old spa well.

Back to the main street which was at one time a huge rectangular market place.  Now there are trees and car- parking  in the middle, dividing the wide area into two parallel roads. This picture is looking down to the bottom of the town towards the road we had come down from Peebles while this next one is looking towards the top of the town and the road that winds uphill round the “Devil’s Beef tub”, and on towards Edinburgh. That was the way we returned, cutting off the main road eventually to get back to Peebles.

The sun was low by the time we were nearing home, and the long shadows, and light on the hills against a background of dark looming skies, made the landscape look rather fantastic.

The photos just don’t do it justice!

So hoping for another beautiful day tomorrow.  I have work to do at home, but if it’s another exceptional day then who knows what I might think of doing!

Talk again soon.

Snowdrops

The snowdrops are out in their thousands at Kailzie Gardens right now.  The Gardens are only about a couple of miles out of town, and used to belong to a beautiful house.  Unfortunately the house basically rotted over a period of time, and was demolished in 1962.  Sad!  From pictures it was rather lovely with a large porch and conservatories out to the side, etc.  The views to the back would have been wonderful, looking across to the Tweeddale hills, while the front would have overlooked the gardens.  Whether the gardens were as they are now, when the house was still standing, I don’t know, but in this picture you can see the bridge and a tree to the right of the photo that you will also see in the first photo,  though somewhat taller now.. 

Lady Buchan Hepburn who owns the gardens now has put in a lot of work to make the gardens look wonderful throughout the year – well, maybe not so much in the dreary winter months - but she has planted hundreds of snowdrops over the years and as they naturalise they spread and spread forming carpets of white each year.  Beautiful!   Showing them to the public is the start of the Kailzie year.

They were everywhere, even growing through last year’s un-gathered autumn leaves,

 

 

 

and popping up in the crevices of the roots of trees.

 

 

 

I couldn’t stop taking pictures…..

Aren’t they just so gorgeous?

 

 

Talk again soon.

Calling Polly!

Hi Polly, I can’t get access to your profile to find your blog.  Can you email me?  Thanks!!!

Gardening

Well, it wasn’t such a bad day weatherwise, after all!  Just as well really, as this afternoon the U3A Gardening group came to my garden to give me advice as to what I should do with it!   We met first this afternoon at Rosemary’s house for a talk by Ailsa on garden design.   She gave us tips on how to get started on garden design, e.g. thinking about how you want to use your garden , and what you want in it; what kind of style do you want it to be; what atmosphere do you want to create…...

Drawing a plan is important, thinking about the formality or informality and the balance of the plan, the use of different zones…..

After questions and discussion we had a cup of tea in Rosemary’s beautiful period house, once the house of the old British Linen Bank’s manager, and then the group split into two so that only a few people could come down to my garden at once!  I had loads of advice and suggestions from both groups, so I have a lot to think about.  Afterwards I sat in the garden – it wasn’t warm – and looked around, thinking and planning!  Could I do this?  How would I do that?  There’s one thing!  I’ll need a strong man to do some of the heavy work!  Now where can I find one of those?

Talk again soon.

A new experience

This afternoon, I went to an art class!!!  Not in water colours this time -  That was too delicate for me – but in pastels!   Hazel, who does the beautiful pet portraits, is doing a five week course at her shop and gallery in Melrose, Thursday afternoons for a couple of hours!

There were seven of us, most of whom had done no pastel work at all, and we began by playing with the pastel sticks and seeing how they work on different types of papers, including sandpaper!!  Hazel had unloaded some fresh fruit and veg on to the table, and got us to have a go at drawing them, basically looking at where the highlights were!   First we only used a white pastel on black paper, then we used colour, building up layers and blending colours together. Now, I will show you my pics, but I must tell you they look much better in the photos  than in the originals!    Oh I know they’re not great, but they’re my first attempts and I’m quite proud of them!

This is the green apple, the first attempt at colour on the black sugar paper background!

Now I really thought I was going to find this easy, but it’s nothing like it!  The next attempt was a cherry on sandpaper!  Hmmmmm!  I can’t remember which one I did first, but I think it was the one on the right, that turned out more like a plum!  The left one doesn’t look too bad.  Then I tried the yellow pepper.  It wasn’t finished but probably is as good as it’s going to get at the stage I left it.

Next we went on to draw on another type of paper that  is made for pastel drawing.  I think I kind of got the hang of things with the banana, though it has a strange bulge near the stalk!!!  That was on the light paper.  The

 

 

 

 

next one was on a coloured paper - my red and green apple  masterpiece!  (Not!)

It was a fun couple of hours and interesting to see how the others worked – some good artists there!  I loved the apple my neighbour drew, and told her I’d be happy to hang it on my wall any day, but she wasn’t convinced it was any good!  I think Hazel said we’d work on shapes next week, but maybe I’ll have another go at the fruits with highlights before then!

Just before I finish off, this was the western sky on my way back to Peebles around 5.45 p.m. 

Red sky at night…. well they generally say that’s a good sign for the next day, but I don’t think so!  In my experience the following day is usually wet.  I’ll let you know.

 

Talk again soon.

D-day (Dentist-day)

The day I have been dreading arrived!  Despite going to bed late last night I was awake at about 7.45 ,which for me is early because of course you know I’m a night owl!

However the tooth is gone, and without pain - eventually!  It took 3 loads of anaesthetic again.  I’m sure she didn't believe I could still feel the tooth after two lots, but when she jabbed into the supposedly numbed jaw for the third time and I felt it, she must have realised because I tensed up and squawked!   Anyway, that one did the trick and she managed to get the old roots out with a bit of a struggle but no pain at all for me!  In fact I was surprised when she said she'd done it and to rinse my mouth out!  I was expecting to feel…. no, I’m not going to tell you what I expected to feel!  However, I was still a little shaky afterwards, and she said she'd had to use the anaesthetic with the adrenalin for the last jab!  She tried some other kind for the first two because I had been so shaky afterwards last time – but it wasn’t as bad as last time.  That was awful!

Wouldn't you believe it though!  After driving back into town - the surgery has moved to an industrial park on the outskirts of town - I parked the car, started to walk the few hundred yards home,  and bumped into a male friend  I haven't seen for ages!   Of course he wanted to chat so I had to explain why my mouth looked like I'd had a stroke  and I couldn’t speak properly.  Anyway we had a long chat before he had to get back to work, but then I  got home and David phoned, so the explanation again and another conversation,  words getting stuck  and falling over the numb gum! 

The anaesthetic has worn off  now.  I can talk again but feel more than just a  tinge of discomfort!  My jaw aches terribly.  Where are the pain killers?

Talk again soon.

Another wee jaunt

It was trying to snow again this afternoon, in occasional dreary flurries and although this morning I had thought of going for a walk around Kailzie Gardens, a couple of miles along the Traquair road, to look at the snowdrops, I kind of changed my mind and decided on a cosy afternoon beside the fire, with my book – I’m reading the second of Carol Drinkwater’s trilogy about her olive farm in Provence.

1210 Text message from Morag: “We’re going to the organic place soon. Wanna come?”  I wasn’t sure where she was talking about, but I agreed all the same!  It sounded interesting.

1215 “Meet you outside the bank at 1.00.” she texted back. 

So, just after 1.00 she and I, driven by her hubby Mike, were on our way heading west out of Peebles in the direction of West Linton.  The snow was only on the hills at first but as we got a few miles out of town we had snow along by the roadside and when we reached the Organic farm and shop it was quite deep and still snowing, as the farm sits on the edge of the Leadburn Moor, the highest point between Edinburgh and Peebles.  A brand new building confronted us as we pulled into the car-park, a purpose built replacement for the very small old byre that had served as shop to begin with.  As well as selling their own organic products, pork, beef, lamb and veggies, they sell cheese, paté, yoghurt and other goods they get locally or import from various different countries.  We had a good look round as we contemplated lunch! There is also a gallery selling paintings, sculptures, and jewellery – at great expense, I may add.  Loved this little bronze toad, but not its price tag – and the fairly large tearoom we had decided to try but which was full when we  arrived.  We got a table eventually and ordered soup and bread for lunch.  Nice flavours but not very hot!

So, after a bit of organic shopping we climbed back into the car amid a heavy snowfall, and headed back home, seeing the snow gradually get less and less again.  It may get frosty tonight but the forecasts seem to indicate that the next few days will be bright, so here’s hoping!

Talk again soon.