Frosty Sunday.

Good afternoon its a lovely day now but bitterly cold it was -7c that's 19f and that's cold even for here when we got up this morning, everything is covered in white frost the likes of which I have not see for a few years. I walked round for the paper this morning and I only saw one other person usually I see quite a few others round at our local shop.I think everybody must have been staying indoors or using their cars. It was like this yesterday too but maybe a tad warmer if you can call 0c warmer. There is not much going on here all very quiet and settled in for this cold weather . I am glad we managed to get the heating fixed before this cold weather set in, one thing this just proved you need an alternative to you central heating.  We had our gas fire in the lounge and a fan heater for our bedroom that warmed up these rooms just fine.

I have sore fingers just now I sliced the top of my ring finger on my mandolin while I was cutting cheese it's not all that bad but I keep hurting it and cannot get it to close up at all. On my other hand I have a small burn must have caught in on the oven about two weeks ago and that too is still bothering me is so annoying trying to keep them both dry.

I think that's about it for today other than my picture of the day. You have heard me mention our big tree at the bottom of the garden well this is what it looked like today covered in hoar frost and it is still like that yet and it is after two in the afternoon now. Till next time Love Joan.

Happy Thanksgiving.

Good Morning, just popped in to wish everybody in the US Happy Thanksgiving. I took this picture a couple of weeks ago and thought it would be very appropriate for today. Have a lovely day. Love Joan.

Its the Pump.

Good evening, I thought I would update you on the heating situation. Stuart called our plumber this morning he is a great chap and was with us by 11 o'clock seemingly our pump has packed up and we need a new one. He (the plumber) is going to pick up a new one later today and it will be fitted tomorrow.  Fortunately the weather has been a bit milder today so we have been ok. We have a gas fire in the lounge which we do not use a great deal but it is handy when something like this happens.  We have lived in this house for 18 years now we fitted a new pump just after we moved in and that one lasted 15 years we fitted another one 3 years ago and that's the one that burned out yesterday.Seemingly they are only guarenteed for one year not very long considering the price they are.So hopefully by tomorrow night all will be long.

Had Ellen for tea tonight and she was trying to play Mahjong she is not the most patient person but she was very good she managed the first level of the game I have, so she will be anxious to get going when she comes next week.

Think I have stretched this out as much as I can so till next time I will leave you today's picture.   The picture below was taken today as we waited for Ellen coming out of school we were parked in the school car park Stuart was watching the under 9's playing a rugby match looking down to Perth and the snowy hills beyond.  Love Joan

Tuesday happenings and Live Writer.

 

 Good Evening, I have downloaded Live Writer Stuart over on Specimen Days says it is so easy so I am giving it a go to see how I get on.I have already done a trial entry in my practice journal and it turned out just fine hope I have the same success now.

We have not been out today as it has been very cold again. We were at St Andrews yesterday and it was perishing in the north wind. Did get a bit of my Christmas shopping done just two or three odd and ends but still its a start.  All is now well with Amazon order book on Friday here on Monday and that was free delivery what more can you ask for.

Our heating has decided to die on us tonight don't know what it is it was working earlier in the day but it has gone off now for some reason so we will have to phone the plumber tomorrow to see what's what.

This seems nice to work with and you get paragraphs which is great. I think that's about it for tonight don't want to do too much in case it does not go over to blogger so I will leave you with today's picture.

Knott Hamlet on Sky.

Snowy Sunday.

Good Afternoon, we had a big surprise this morning when we looked out to about 2 inches of snow. It is now after three o'clock and we still have it all and there is still not signs of a gritter road or pavement . I have not ventured out today as it has been looking very slippery for walking and as we were only needing a Sunday paper I did not bother going. Stuart cannot go out walking in this kind of weather at all to it has been a day indoors for us. Fortunately we have plenty of thing to occupy us. This is about our usual time of year for our first fall of snow I remember on year it snowed on this particular Sunday in November and it stayed on the hills around us for three weeks. When I see the snow like this I wish I could be out sledging like I did when I was a child. Living in Dundee there were plenty of hills for sledging on we used to play down a road (well on the pavement) that was very steep we had great fun the only thing was people trying to walk up or down the hill found it a bit slippy to say the least and we got in trouble but we were only young lol.I suppose I would be the one complaining now oh dear I am getting old. Don't like that at all.
That's about it for today have been struggling with this entry for some reason another and am still not sure about it having problems with photo bucket and the html thing once I paste it into my journal here's to what this will be like this time but if it is not right you have my apologies but this is my last attempt today.
Till next time. Love Joan.

Will I or Won't I.

Morning, when we watched Countryfile last Sunday morning the guy that does the weather said it would be snow on Friday wow he got it right it is just starting here a bit of a mix of rain and snow. Further north the road is blocked short of Inverness and beyond there things are said to be chaotic. Had a lovely day in Perth yesterday bought myself a new pair of trousers bought the wrong length so they will have to go back silly me. The town was buzzing yesterday as M & S had 20% off everything folk were passing me with armfuls of things they must has taken in a fortune yesterday. I did not know about it we just went out because it was a lovely day and because of the weather forecast was so bad for the next few days. Ellen had a busy day on Wednesday she was at a big Scottish Country Dance Festival for local schools 1000 children were taking part . She had a great time and was as high as a kite when we picked her up she really enjoyed herself. She used to do ballet but Ellen is not the ballet type but she loves doing here Scottish dancing. She has been doing this at school for the past three years and it is more her thing. Am really going to have to get on with my Christmas shopping I don't have many to buy for but all are great problems to me. I ordered a book for Stu yesterday on Amazon its the first time I have bought anything online by myself so I was very careful typing everything in but I have had an email back saying there is something wrong with my credit card it's the first time I have used it for anything at all so I will have to start again and try that. I went into the World of Warcraft website yesterday and have the offer of a weeks free trial, have never tried a roll playing game before so not sure if I should have a go or not everybody seems to think it is great so maybe I will. That's about it for today so till next time I will leave you with my usual picture.





This is Railbridge over the River Tay. You can just see the remains of the pillars that were left after The Tay Bridge Disaster in 1879 the bridge was blown down with the loss of 75 lives.

All is calm now.

Good evening so here I am none the worse of the wear after my PC lesson this morning so glad I persevered, at one time I was going to give up but with a help from Yasmin last night which I printed off for future reference I did it, you do get a feeling of accomplishment getting something new done.I had a dentist appointment this afternoon so I think that was adding to the tension this morning. Still all well that ends well.We had a trip to Perth yesterday I had an appointment at Audiology for a bit of a service, we had intended to stay in Perth but the weather was so awful heavy rain mist and cold we just had a bacon roll and a coffee in Tesco and then came straight home again enjoyed the roll, but the roads were terrible with the mist and the spray. Been much nicer today sunny and fairly mild but the rest of the week does not sound so good with snow forecast, so we will see. Hope it's OK tomorrow as we collect Ellen from school. So I think that about it for tonight so till next time I will leave you with a picture of Ardvreck Castle on Loch Assynt Sutherland. Love Joan

It was a miserable day when I took this but there is a bit of a rainbow.

Award.

Good Morning yesterday when I was reading journals I discovered that I have been given an award. I have been trying for the last couple of hour to pass this award to the journals of my choice I think I have now figured out how to do this but first I would like to thank the people you chose me they were Yasmin and Pam thank you both so much it meant a lot to me.

the award is for people who write about real things and the world about them so I would like to pass it on to some of my favourite journals many of my friends have already been given The Marie Antoinnette so I hope I am not duplicating

Blue Ridge Bommer

Jannette Welcome to my travels .

Bunny Even Further over the hill.

Angie Can you hear me at the Back

Ally Life with Ally

Sugar The Sugar Shack

Cris Cabs Creations and Chit Chat

Marie A Year from Oak Tree Cottage

There I think I done it if not I am very sorry I am just about an nervous wreck after that, here is to what my blood pressure is I have been so terrified that I was going to lose this half way through so I am going to post it without more ado will be back later.If you are not followers of any of the journals please call in I am sure a coffee will be ready. Love Joan.

Quiet Peaceful Sunday

Good afternoon, beautiful day up here in Scotland nearly clear blue sky and not to cold. We were out for our walk this morning and for our Sunday paper. The trees around where we are still have some leaves and the Larch trees are still a vibrant orange are at their best just now. Watch our for Waxwings just now as there has been a big influx of these beautiful birds this last week or two all over the UK. We were not fortunate enough to see any today maybe tomorrow.

I have been really enjoying the drama series of Merlin that is on straight after Strictly Come Dancing on a Saturday evening (repeated Sunday BBC2 11-30am) the cast has been superb Richard Wilson is playing Giaius the Camelot's pharmacist John Hurt as the voice of the spectacular dragon. It has been a superb series and I do hope they make a follow up. If you have not seen it Merlin is very young in this and Aurthur is only coming of age so it puts a new slant on the story. I hope you get the chance in the US to see this if your TV stations buy it from the BBC. Enough about the telly other than to say who will go out tonight in the dancing I think it will have to be John.

We are now going to watch a movie about Akhenaten's tomb, sounds good we will see it's supposed to be a Indiana Jones type movie and while I am watching I have a pair of jeans for Stuart to shorten, we bought them in the summer and I have been forgetting to do them all this time. Time to get to it. Till next time Love Joan.

A Big Thank You

Good Evening don't really have an entry to make tonight just popped in to say thank you for all your comments last night and in the past they mean so much to me. We had a lovely day yesterday we went out to lunch just the two of us and had a really nice time. Not much happening today Stuart was at his art class this morning and I was down the village this afternoon it was an nightmare. For some unknown reason there was not a parking space to be had , I can usually get parked no problem but today was different. We have two small car parks but with all the houses that have been build in the last few years they are not adequate but there is nowhere else to build one.
Nothing much planned for the weekend will just play it by ear so till next time have a good weekend. Love Joan.







St Andrew's Castle.

Friday the Thirteenth 1959.

Good Evening a few weeks ago Jeannette asked us to write how we met our husbands so here is my story. It is fitting that I write this today as it is 49 years ago today that we started our long romance. I first met Stuart on the day I first started working at a Printing Works in Dundee that was 6th January 1958. On the first lunchtime I was introduced to Stu by a older lady workmate and I thought straight away how nice he looked (dishy in todays language) he was 18 at the time me a mere 15 a big age gap at the age. All the girls knew how I felt and used to make excuses for me to visit his department but Stuart always says he never knew ha ha. After I had worked there a year I arrived one morning to find the printing works had burned down. I found another job straight away as my parents thought I would have been out of a job, it turned out I could have stayed as everybody was found work in other print shops. I did see Stu now and again during 59 at the dancing and did dance with him once or twice but that was all. On the evening on Friday the 13th November 1959 I was going to a cycling club supper dance that I knew he would be attending so I made a special effort that night but the weather was dreadful it was foggy and raining (just the same as it is today) and I had to walk with my friend to get to the hall where the dance was to be held. I had a new home perm at the time an it went frizzy with the damp so I did not like myself very much that evening. Have you heard of a Paul Jones. Gents on the outside of the circle ladies on the inside circle going in opposite directions well I got Stu on the first turn and that as they say was that, he maintains to this day he planned it with all his cycling buddies and I suppose after all this time I believe him. He asked to take me home that night and that was the start of our life together. We celebrated our 46th wedding anniversary last month so here we are after all this time retired very happy (most days) and still together. Don't have a good picture of us together as they are usually taken by a waiter in an hotel or on the timer and that always makes me laugh. (this is the second time I have made this entry and I think this time is it so different from the first time and I am still fizzing at loosing the first one. Till next time. Love Joan

Just us today as it is very special.

Tuesday Ramblings.

The lovely graphic above is of the Moon Goddess as we have a lovely full moon this week. I have a great fascination with the moon it never ceases to amaze me the way it just seems to hang there. Sitting alone at the moment because I managed to get Stuart to make an appointment at the doctors today about his breathlessness it seems to have been getting worse this last week or two. When I am on my own these days the house seem so very very quiet. Yesterday we had a nice run out in the car to our usual Monday haunt of St Andrews, boy was it cold and windy. I have been looking for photographs that I downloaded from my PC last year to use as my picture of the day it take forever to edit what I wanted as I went and put 600 on one of the discs and 700 on another. Better go now that's Stuart back so will go and hear the news. Till next time Love Joan.





Stac Polliadh (Polly) Western Highlands.

Thank you sugar for this lovely graphic.

I have been wondering what to write about today on Remembrance Sunday and thought I would mention Stuart's Dad and my Dad who both fought in WW2.

Stuart's Dad was in the Merchant Navy and the Royal Navy his ship was assigned to escort duty with the Russian Convoys in Arctic waters. He was a Petty Officer on board. He survived the war. He never spoke about it but we do know that his ship ran out of cigarettes which must have been awful with the strain the men were under.

My Dad volunteered as he was exempt and was in the Home Guard till then When he joined up he was in the The Royal Corp of Signals, he was a dispatch rider first then a Morse key operator. I remember the delight he took in teaching me Morse when I was in the Girl Guides.

Both Dads are fondly remembered today and always.

That's it for today I have written the tale of of the Hooded Merganser in my Bird Watching Diary if you are interested. Links in the side bar there is aso a new entry in my Bookcase. Love Joan.

It's Five Years Today.

Five years ago today I got up out of bed put a nicotine patch on my arm and stopped smoking. I had tried many times before this and failed. I knew this time I would have to do something about my bad habit. I was smoking in excess of 25 a day while still working what was I going to be like when I retired in 12 months from then with all the time in the world to puff away what would I be like. Health wise my blood pressure was off the scale nearly so something had to be done. I went to our stop smoking nurse at our surgery and she was a great help. The first time I saw her I had to blow into this contraption that measured the poisons in the lungs and she said I was the worst she had seen, I was in tears but it did spur me on when I stopped. Financially it was a must too with the price of ciggies I would not be able to afford to smoke and do all the things we wanted to do. Stuart had stopped after his heart attack in 1997 and I had been promising to do the same it just took ages for me to make up my mind. I have put on a bit of weight more than I would have liked and am having bother trying to shift it. I have become one of those ex smokers that hate the smell of cigarettes they say we are worse than people that have never smoked. I am very proud of myself for doing this and thanks to the patches the nurse and Stuart for all the help ,I did it.

We have been out bird watching today there was a rare bird in our area that had arrived from the USA so we took a run in the car to see her. Will write up all about her in my Bird Watching Journal now the link is in the sidebar. Will leave you with a picture of the town of my birth that I took today as we passed on the other side of the river Tay the town is Dundee. I have not doctored it this is the way it was that is why we stopped to take it. Till next time Love Joan.

Bonnie Dundee 8th November 2008

Poppies

Good Evening, there is two reasons today for choosing poppies for today's header. First it is Remembrance Weekend and Stuart new painting. First of all Jeannette's entry today reminded me of my late Uncle Will who fought with the Scots Guards in WW1. He was severely wounded at Ypres, was left for dead and was not found till later when the medics were checking. He lived on with his injuries till he was in his eighties although he did lose both his legs. I will always remember him as a very gentle old man who stayed with my Mum and Dad and played with our son for hours, and smoked Woodbine.





Stuart started a painting of a of meadow of poppies (not the one above) a few weeks ago at his class. They had a week off last week for the big draw and he finished it today. Normally I love Stuart's work but this painting is awful he says the the same thing. It was an exercise for his teacher and they were doing it a bit at a time being shown another bit then doing that, nobody seem to like this but like children everybody did what they were told. Hopefully next week everything will be back to normal and I will be admiring hubbies paintings again.I think that's about it for tonight will go and look for a nice picture for you. Love Joan.

I took this picture from The Isle of Skye Golf Club looking North.

Joan Being Controversial!

The Last Rose of Summer!

Good Morning, I never like to be controversial in my journal but today I just might be. Your remember my entry on Tuesday about my birdbath in the garden well the story continues. Yesterday morning I was standing watching the birds on the bird table feeding and there was a Collared Dove sitting on the roof of the table when an other one landed along side him he flew of and landed on the birdbath for a drink he had just bent his head to drink when a black cat jumped up on to the birdbath grabbed the collared dove by the wing and jumped over the fence trailing the poor bird along with him the bird was still alive it was so upsetting to watch as I felt it was my fault for inviting the birds into our garden. I have never been a cat person but had nothing against them till this year. In the springtime I had a nest of baby blackbirds that had just hatched and a cat got to that too. We have tried everything to keep cats away from our garden most of them take the hint but one just will not. Still feeling very upset at what happened but I suppose cats will be cats.

Todays picture of the day is of a lovely summery day in Norfolk (Burnam Overy Staithe) it is a dull dark day today so I though we would have some sunshine and blue skies today. Love Joan.

Tuesday's Mishaps.

Good Afternoon, not so nice today a bit cloudy but dry and a bit milder. Washing out on the line will see if it is dry after I do this entry hope it is then I will get the ironing done tonight.




Yesterday morning I went out to feed and water the birds as usual, the bird bath was frozen and I tried to get the ice out, turned it upside down gave it a bang on the grass and proceeded to break the stem off. I was very annoyed at myself and it was even more annoying as I did not have anyone else to blame but myself. Stuart has tried to fix it for me so it is standing again don't know how long for, will just have to wait and see if it is strong enough to hold all those heavy little birds.





This is a picture I googled to let you see the type of bath it was, still annoy at myself for being so heavy handed. Don't suppose I will ever be able to change that have been that way all my life strange as I am quite tiny only 5ft 1.

Had a brisk walk this afternoon just to the bank and back met a elderly lady worrying what was going to happen when our bank closes down, there is no news of this yet but I am speaking about a branch of The Bank of Scotland which is in the process of being bought over. We have a lovely bank here it sits in its own grounds you know a big old fashioned building beautiful inside with lovely cornices. The lady was saying we will be able to do our banking online but she does not have a PC. We do have three other banks here one of which is the bank that is trying to buy ours but it is not such a nice building as ours so I do hope we keep our one. I suppose I should just be glad that our saving are OK but it is a worry.

Just nipped out and took the washing in before it gets dark and it was not to bad, trying not to use the dryer with the cost of electricity these days, will use the drying screen instead. I think that's about it for today will leave you with my Picture of the Day which is a view of the distant Grampian Mountains taken last March. Till next time Love, Joan.

Monday Monday.

Good Evening, going to have an evening away from the PC so just a picture of the day for you. Love Joan.

Well named..... The Summer Isles.

I'm a Smarty Pants. lol

Good Afternoon, we have had a beautiful day today clear blue sky cold but we have been very lucky. We have not been able to get out today as Stuart has not been great, very short of breath all day.

You will be wondering why I have given the entry the title above. It was last night you have heard of multi tasking well last night I was doing just that only it was three things at a time I was watching the tele I think it was Who dares Wins I was reading journals and I was knitting as well hows that. lol I did not realise it until later on and I thought it was very funny. Started knitting my fingerless gloves last night for my cold mousing hand.

That's about it for today will go and choose a Picture for today.......Till next time.

Boxing Day on the loch.

Good Evening, a lovely bright sunny day here in the north but still very cold still we seem to have it better than the south of the country where it has been dull and raining. Not really got much to say today out for coffee this morning sitting here on my laptop this afternoon, looking forward to Stritckly tonight and I must admit I love Merlin (am a big kid at heart) which comes on later tonight the BBC keep moving things about. Was very quiet here last night not a single caller or a sound outside come to that, times seem to be changing here. I have great trouble with a cold mousing hand does anybody else have this bother don't know why I was like this in the summer too think I will knit myself some fingerless gloves. lol. Scampi and chips for the supper tonight our favourite on a Saturday night easy to make and them we sit in front of the telly the only night we do this. So off to get it all in the oven, will leave you with my Picture of the day. Love Joan.



Scourie Western Highlands.