Countdown to Downton

Hooray for Countrywise: The Real Downton Abbey..

Hooray for Downton! 

Hooray for Sundays and late Summer.

Jetting off

"After all, the best part of a holiday is perhaps not so much to be resting yourself, as to see all the other fellows busy working."

- Kenneth Grahame, The Wind in the Willows

The holiday is very close and i could not be more excited!!  I get to see some of my family and i get to do a big fat nothing for two whole weeks.  Can't wait to share all of the news and pics when we get home.

x

From a Railway Carriage

From a Railway Carriage

Faster than fairies, faster than witches,

Bridges and houses, hedges and ditches;

And charging along like troops in a battle
All through the meadows the horses and cattle:
All of the sights of the hill and the plain
Fly as thick as driving rain;
And ever again, in the wink of an eye,
Painted stations whistle by.
Here is a child who clambers and scrambles,
All by himself and gathering brambles;

Here is a tramp who stands and gazes;

And here is the green for stringing the daisies!
Here is a cart runaway in the road
Lumping along with man and load;
And here is a mill, and there is a river:
Each a glimpse and gone forever!

- Robert Louis Stevenson

This is our old station, i think i took this picture I went away by myself for the first time.  I was exceptionally grown up and heading away for a Cadet related thing and had to travel down to Wales.  Now where this car park used to be is a very large coffee shop and some more shops, its a very big shopping mall and is probably much nicer to wonder around while waiting for the train to get going!

We're getting closer to our departure and we just can't wait to be away from the fuss, the rotten old weather we've been having and the day to day grind.  Summer this year hasn't been that great, we've had an awful lot of 'rubbish' thrown in our way and wading through it gets a bit tough after a while.  So to get away from it for two lovely weeks-and not to mention see my family-is going to be great.

We'll rise early one morning to get the train to our airport, we'll stock up on lots of coffee and lots and lots of sandwiches and nice little snack things and head off on our own teeny tiny adventure.

Edinburgh Love

When we went to Edinburgh an awful long time ago The Husband had to go off to work and Daisy Dog and I got to go exploring....

 This is just a car park...its the car park right below Arthurs Seat and across from Holyrood Palace and Parliament, therefore, much more exciting than just a car park! 

Up, up, up we go all the way to the top of Arthurs Seat!

So pretty, in a busy capitol city, but a place for Daisy to run about! 

Aaaand back down again.  Looking over at the Balmoral Hotel, which used to be called The North Britain hotel...named an awful long time ago after the Act of Union. 

 

The beautiful palace...just having a wee look in!

Just round the corner, i think i only took this picture because i liked the lamp post!

Our lovely Parliament...um, maybe the building isn't to everyone's taste!

A lovely bookshop, its just round the corner from the National Library...a must see...

I love this city..... 

It's full of so many pretty buildings to look at... 

We had a good nosey around everything, poor little Daisy Dog and me, snuffling and rummaging about everything. 

Oooh we're back to some good viewing!

The Great British Bake Off!

Back to some very good TV!  Welcome back cupcake envy...

Edinburgh trip part two!

I've been a bit all over the place recently and haven’t been updating as much as I’d like to. Whenever it’s a teeny bit sunny I go outside in the garden and whenever it’s a bit rainy I make my way out to the caravan to paint and do it up. TH has been a bit ill recently and so I’ve been taking on more of the caravan related work. It’s all well and good but I'm not very DIY minded to its been a massive learning experience.

I haven’t even had the time to update this blog and I’ve been meaning to share the Edinburgh trip TH and I went on a little while ago.

This is my very first little step….so as to ease me back into blogging….will be lots of pictures!

Caravan

I haven’t been online in an awful long time, I wish I could say it was because it’s oh so sunny outside, but that wouldn’t be the entire truth.

Our family now have a caravan! I posted on here a little while ago saying how much I adore the things, well, TH posted up on freecycle that we wished for one and it was our lucky day.

We found out on the Saturday and were able to collect it by the Wednesday. The very kind owners helped us set it up and TH towed it home!

It was their beloved and with four big kids plus Mum and Dad in a four berth it all got a bit much for them, so there it sat, just a little bit unloved until they spotted our advert.

The list of things it needs is pretty much a mile long at the moment, however we’ve been working away on it and it’s all coming together. It is old, but mostly just needed a good clean, and we’re changing certain things because its our preference, although I have to say that we could have just picked it up and went on holiday.

There are scuffs etc, but nothing major. We’ve already cleaned it down inside and out. We’ve already covered all ‘wooden’ surfaces with cream melamine paint, and the walls are going to be lightest lilac. It was completely gas, but TH has used his skills and has made it all electric, and we’re planning on just putting throws over the chairs for now. I want to get out as soon as possible and I easily grow impatient.

I've been dreaming of trips to The Lakes for too long, I'm telling you right now, even if its rainy we’re going out! When I was very little we’d just call those domino days, as we’d pull out all the board games and play until our little hearts were content. I hardly think it would be a bad situation if we went out and about in the rainy weather anyway, as we could get cosy again in our caravan.

I'm going to be needing a bit of inspiration, so I've been looking at lots of nice blogs, pictures and books!!  I can't wait to get to the fun stuff!!

Summer in our village

"The Mole was bewitched, entranced, fascinated. By the side of the river he trotted as one trots, when very small, by the side of a man who holds one spell-bound by exciting stories; and when tired at last, he sat on the bank, while the river still chattered on to him, a babbling procession of the best stories in the world, sent from the heart of the earth to be told at last to the insatiable sea."

Kenneth Grahame, The Wind in the Willows

I could watch the boats and children playing for years and years.  I sit and listen to the calls of everyone, hear the sea and families and birds and all those noises in between for years.  The only noise to interupt is the siren call of the ice cream man chugging along in the ancient van.  Ques descend the white van covered in pictures of treats and cartoon characters, children orbit and barter for funds from parents and grandparents, pound coins are pushed in to palms of chubby hands and closed secretly with a kiss.  Grandads and Grandmothers have successfully sneaked the extra pennies into little fists which trot off happily into the middle of the throng of people.

All is well in the world.  At least for now.

My home

I love my home because of its proximity to the sea shore. I love walking out of the front door and smelling the salt. I love knowing what the sea is like before I reach it. I want to know what sort of day it is because of how the air smells.

I like that I can smell peoples fires. I like that there are roses and sweet peas outside of my front door. The window boxes outside the front door and our window are filled with lavender as well. I liked planning those boxes, I dreamed of those boxes for so long before we got them.

It doesn’t seem like much but it can instantly make you happy. I smile as soon as the scent hits me. It’s my home, its how I planned it and I’ve always wanted it.

I think it’s not very wrong to want lots of things, it just depends how you go about getting them and how attainable they are.

I want lavender and sweet peas. I can get them easily and it’s a very good goal to want those. It’s in the same respect I think about little children. I know when I have children I’ll want to give them everything I can, I already want them, and part of the way we run our home is about the planning for children. I will give my children everything-but by that I mean good food, days in the garden and books. Walks down the beach and shell collecting, warmth and hot chocolate. Blankets to make forts with and patience. I will give them tiring days and the scent of sea at bedtime, lavender outside of their window and lots and lots of love. It doesn’t seem like much, but it will be everything I have, and what keeps me going-when wishing alone doesn’t always work, is that I have more time to prepare and gain patience.

Welcome Summer

Hello!!

 It’s so bright and lovely here right now. I've been drooling at all of the garden posts on the old blogging sphere at the moment.

Well, actually, they’ve been going for some time. We haven’t had the sun that the rest of the UK has had and only now are buds appearing outside. It is most certainly an exciting time.

It's so bright and welcoming, and fills me with hope.  The joy that comes with planting tiny little seeds and then seeing them come up in a variety of leaves dotted all over the garden!

We didn’t have a garden this time last year, and we’ve only been able to potter about for a wee while. I went a little wild in the aisles buying seeds and after a couple of early problems-notably the ex-gardener raking up my first two attempts at planting-we are on our way. It’s a little bit haphazard for two reasons. First the gardener issue. And the second is that I like a country cottage garden look. I didn’t really know how to achieve this and so decided to empty all the seeds I had out into a big bucket, mix said bucket with compost and throw over raked soil! Something tells me Monty Don isn’t shaking in his boots!

The garden is a mixture of grass with various borders around it. One side of the garden had really high bushes, and the part closest to the cottage has great big ugly slabs. The back garden looks to the west, and so the sun passes right over it casting all sorts of shadows at different times through out the day. The back border was empty except for a tree and a rhododendron. I am glad to say that I have changed that!

Their were two other little patches of sad empty soil which I originally planted scented flowers in, however these were destroyed and the scented flower seeds only survived if they happened to be near bulbs poking through or the lavender seedlings. The second chance I had at planted resulted in much of the same. However by the third time I came to planting there I had decided on herbs.

This is the garden last year as we found it.  Lovely all the same, but with much more colour this year!  Sadly the camera died half way through my trip outside to get all the pictures i could and so here we are with a reminder of last year!

Quite a lot of the bulbs are well and truly leafy and I can see little buds, and the bushes are doing all right. I'm a tad disappointed to not find any poppy seedlings as they are my most favourite flower and would have done well is my sandy soil.

I guess time will tell how well things are going. I just want a garden full up of colour and scent. I want bee’s and butterflies to hover around and get well nourished. I want to be able to cut away at whatever I like and bring it inside-even if it does make me feel like I'm robbing nature!

I can’t wait for long days lying in a beautiful garden, The Husband getting the BBQ on, and lighting the fire pit. I love Summer!

Bed in Summer

Bed in Summer



In winter I get up at night
And dress by yellow candle light.
In summer, quite the other way,
I have to go to bed by day.

I have to go to bed and see
The birds still hopping on the tree,
Or hear the grown-up people's feet
Still going past me in the street.

And does it not seem hard to you,
When all the sky is clear and blue,
And I should like so much to play,
To have to go to bed by day?

-Robert Louis Stevenson

What’s the first book you loved?

When I was very little, oh my goodness did I hate visits to the library. I did not want to be taken into town to visit that branch. I did not wish to be dragged along to the mobile trundling down the road. I did not like sitting quietly or getting into a story. I, for some reason or other, did not want to hear more about whatever I wanted. The most magical places created on paper did not mean a jot. I wanted to play, I ran around outside until I was tired and then I fell asleep.


My poor Mother would read to me, drag me to these places, take me on trips, and it went clean over my head! How awful, I bet I have a child exactly the same and it will teach me!

This was most certainly the case until about primary four. We moved three times in that one year, and with it I moved school. I was quite obviously in a low reading group and was given The Dragon in Class Four to read at home. Like normal it was thrown in my bag and only retrieved when my Mother asked if I had homework-I replied no-and very untrustingly delved into my bag to recover homework.

Like always I was sat on my Mothers lap and she listen as I read out from the book. Something really quite magical happened, my Mother had read the note accompanying the book stating that I was to read to chapter one. When I turned the page to get to the end of said chapter I kept going. This was a massive moment. Whilst moving schools I was given this book a couple of times to read and I read and read.

It took one very special little book to get me to love reading. I wanted similar books and so read Through The Dragons Eye as it seemed like it could be similar, it really wasn’t, but when I was found reading that by my teacher she handed me The Chronicles of Narnia…and so from there I kept going.

Isn’t it lovely how some books just change everything? They mark out a specific time or moment. My shelves are packed with books and pictures. But really they do the same job. I know where I got every single item; I know what it meant and what I was into at the time.

I really started thinking about this the other day. Whilst tidying a small section of children’s books the other day I came across The Dragon in Class Four. I just held the copy for a moment and opened it up to read a few lines. I think I'm going to have to get a copy from somewhere, not to read now, but to have in case someone visits the house. My two nephews are getting bigger by the day, and I want to give them everything I can.

Can you remember the first book you loved? I bet because I learned to love reading so late its very easy for me, I’d love to know what you fell in love with.

Summer is about being outside. Busy or still, it’s about feeling the warmth on your skin.

I tend to think of Summer and Winter as still months, while Autumn and Spring are busy.

 Spring is sowing and organising, it’s all about tidying up inside and throwing all of the windows open.  Autumn is about gathering the bounty, but the months before and after are about enjoying the peace.
 

We are in Summer now; we are feeling the benefits of the work in Spring.  We are clear and clean inside.  We are already tidied away and at peace in the house.  The clutter has been cleared-the very best a hoarder can clear away things.

Right now I feel I need the peace and the quiet and the flowers in the garden.  Right now I need to sit, bare foot staring out at the bumble bees.  I need the still, still summer.  The long days, the bright mornings.

Things are changing-the seasons as well as in our home.  We’re making decisions and facing tough choices so we are welcoming all that can bring calm.

I hope you are surrounded by the ones you love and having a much more peaceful existence in your own homes.

x x x

The CK sale!

When the CK mag dropped through the door a couple of days ago i nearly screamed out with joy!
So first thing this morning i started adding things to the shopping basket...

I've ordered up the little blue bunny for a friend of a friend who is having a little boy.  We have only quite recently met up, and i normally forget Birthdays and the like, however with little ones i think you really should remember, so I've got this and a little bib and booties set.

This is so utterly adorable-and also another present.  Its for my little nephew-his Birthday is in October, but i love this so much and if you have the spare pennies and love it....why not buy it now and put it aside?

Also for my little nephew-his Daddy is a farmer, but his Grandparents on my friends side are both bikers.  I thought i better keep them both happy!

Um, i can't pretend its a present, well, unless you count me?!!  Its a seaside theme and we live by the sea, what more can i say?!

See above!  The kitchen needs brightening up and napkins are a very cheap and effective tool in brightening up any place setting.

OK, this is better, also for a friend, I'm just putting it by until their Birthday roles around.

I can't wait for it all to come through in the post, I am in serious need of some cheering up!  Hmm, come to think of it, i wish i ordered more than one of a couple of things.

Have a lovely weekend.

x

A trip West

A teeny wee while ago i posted about a trip my Uncle, Aunt and myself took westward for an event.  They were very kind in asking me if i'd like to go with them as i was a teeny bit lonely what with The Husband being away from home and working on the other side of the world!

My uncle was doing something or other and my Aunt and i decided to head to the church and then over to the Lonach hall.  You may have heard of this tiny place as its where Billy Connolly lives.
Its such a beautiful part of the world.  I love it as its really hilly which is something we don't have here.

We met up with such lovely people and the church service had three of my favourite hymns in it-What a Friend we have in Jesus, Glory, Glory Hallelujah and Then Sings my Soul.  I really love the louder and faster hymns!

We met up with my Uncle after a lovely afternoon tea and tumbola-in which i won a can of cola and a tub of hand cream-and we all had a little walk with Daisy Dog.

It was a lovely day and i was so happy for the company and chance to meet up with some old friends and meet lots of new ones.

The worth of books?

I guess if you’ve followed or read this blog for any length of time you’d know either that I'm a librarian or that I love books. The book thing is pretty self evident, only if you’ve known me for mere moments, you’d catch on pretty quickly.

Before heading to work the other day I caught a little bit of the news-I always keep either Chris Evans or BBC 1 on in the morning so I can see the time as I run about trying to iron things or find accessories. Anyway, I will get back to the point! I heard a little segment all about reading and so thought I would give myself five minutes to actually SIT and listen. I was so upset to hear that one in three children come from a home with less than ten books. Now I don’t know if that was only in England and Wales-because it was about the curriculum which is different in those countries, or if it was the UK, or in fact GB, but the fact remains the same.

In no way at all do I mean that I was thinking of children from homes where parents don’t collect all the ‘stuff’ that I do here, and I certainly wasn’t upset to think of little ones that have so many visits to various libraries that they just don’t bother buying books. I instantly thought of little ones not encouraged. Not the ones that it’s hard to pin down, just the ones left to their own devices, flailed about, failed and didn’t try again.

I feel lucky that I work in an environment where the children are already brought in, either because they do have encouraging parents or the children do want to read or learn. We, at that point, haven’t fought the battle. We have these little sponges eager to learn, they are placed right in front of us, and we give them whatever they want. I am so lucky that we aren’t fighting a loosing battle once I attend work. It’s the meetings and what not that we have to prove our worth, but once we’re in the building we are instantly thought highly of by little ones. We give them all the time in the world to find exactly what they want-no matter how odd sounding the request is. We’re the ones that give their grown-ups the stories that get read to them at night time.

I know I don’t have any little ones, and boy is it easy to make promises when carrying them through isn’t going to happen any time soon. But I certainly pray that I will always have the energy to give a child attention when it comes to books. I think the world of any people that trudge down to their local library in the pouring rain. The grown ups that escort their little ones down in the snow, tugging them in little red sledges, piled up with books to return and replace. YOU are heroes to me! Not only do you keep me in a job-thanks for that too-you actually make me think the world can be an ok place for the children brought into it!