Hello just wanted to wish all my old blogging friends a Very Happy New Year.  Its been a long time since I wrote a word but Stuart and I are still here a bit slower of late but still having our grand days out when the weather is allowing us at this time of year it is not so easy to get away dark cold and wet but still the nights are getting shorter and Spring will soon be here.  Till next time keep well my friends and again Happy New Year.    Love Joan.

Corpach , Scotland.

Hello it is such a long time since I wrote in my musings it was very hard to get started again I could hardly remember how to get in and get started and when I did it was all changed it used to be very simple hope this works our ok.   I am not sure how many of my old friends still read blogs but I hope some of you are still reading.  Stuart and I are are doing away we celebrated our Golden Wedding last year and I had my 70th birthday the same year so lots of big occasions last year.  I am going to make this short for the time being as I am not sure if I have got the hang of writing in the new format.  So I will say bye just now and if this is ok will return with some photo and some news soon.  Stay safe and well .   Love Joan.

Live Writer is Back

We woke this morning to more snow, this winter seems to be endless but what do we have to complain about after what is happening in Japan and the Pacific Basin my thoughts are very much with the people of that regions  and may their God be with them.

The continuing saga of my roof goes on we have been dried out for the second time and the painter arrived on Thursday morning to complete the decoration.  He then discovered the inside of our bedroom roof was wet again that is after all the repairs have been done so he did not start the job was ordered not to. Stuart and I are at a loss to know what to do now.  One positive thing that happened  is the plumber came back and reconnected the radiator which has been leaning against the wall disconnected for the last month.  It has been very cold in our room being the middle of winter, we were heating the room before we went up to bed but admit to forgetting some evenings and have regretted it. Last night was the first night with it working again and what a difference it made. Now awaiting another phone call to see what is going to happen now. I say we are waiting for a call that is because we cannot get them to answer their phone we always have to leave a message.  So you will see from my tale of woe we are not in the best of spirits I cannot complain too much to Stuart as he is not good when he gets upset as he does have a heart condition.

I am writing this on Live Writer what a difference it is so easy if you want to use it all you have to do Google ‘Live Writer’ then download it put the address of your blog in when asked and Bob’s your uncle as they say. Photographs go in where you want them straight from your pc and you just drag the corner to enlarge it’s all very simple. When you are finished you just press publish and it will bring up you blog automatically   and your done.  If you need a help just ask me I will only be to happy to help.

Just to prove it I will add a picture under here fingers crossed.

Goldfinches feeding in the garden on Niger seeds.

That’s about it for today hope to return with better news.

                                  Love,

                       Joan.

The Pictures for the last posting.

These are the pictures that go with the entry below so sorry to do it this way so just read down to the next entry and it will make sense. Love Joan.

The Saga of the roof.

Thought I should update you on the roof. We are still in the middle of things, this job seems to be taking forever. The outside work is finished thank goodness but they took so long and we had had so much rain we had to be dried off again with a dehumidifier. So now we are dry the room is half papered the radiator is still off the wall and we now are waiting on the painter to come. As you can well imagine we are both really fed up with it all there just does not seem to be a light at the end of the tunnel.

Last Monday we decided as nobody was expected that day we would go on a wee run in the car. It was a wonderful day a cloudless blue sky and not too cold for this time of year. We too off for Creiff for coffee and scones then a run up to the bottom of the Sma Glen but the road we wanted to take was closed, been trying to find out why it is now six months which is a long time for a main road to be closed, maybe next time. We about turned and drove back out one thing about doing that in Scotland it all looks so different when you are going the other way there is so much to see. We stopped at a place known a the Buchanty Spout and we took some photographs. It is a very dangerous spot just now as the ground is still wet and very slippery so we were very careful not to fall or it would have been the end and you know what I'm like for falling down. Now as you know photos go in at the top and they won't drag for me so I will do another entry with the photographs. This is the one thing that annoys me the difficulty we have with pictures going in, have tried all ways it really ruins my enjoyment of putting pictures in altogether. To return to our day away it was lovely at the falls they are not huge but they are lovely and the light was great that day as you can see from the pictures. The sun shone all day and we really enjoyed our day away. Till next time when I hope to say the work is done at last. Love and take care. Joan.

roof Update

Just a little update about the roof. If you read my entry earlier this week you may remember that we have a leaking roof due to the dreadful weather we had earlier this year. Well the good news is the builder and the painters are arriving on Monday. A little prayer it is not blowing a gale or snowing on Monday morning. Take care Love Joan

It's Been A While.

It's been a long time since my last entry a lot has been happening up here. The dreadful winter weather we had during the last part of November all of December and part of January has left me with a leaking rook. According to the first inspection the ice that formed during our big freeze lifted the tiles on the roof and one of the gutterscame away making the water pour down from the corner of the house. A dehumidifier was delivered and a painter came in a scrapped all the paper off the bedroom walls. Another inspection declared the room dry so we now had to wait till a roofer was available. Then February came and you know what they say about February it brings the rain and it did torrents of it and yes you have guessed the roof leaked again so the inside roof and wall are wet again. Another inspection yesterday and at last someone went up onto the roof to take a look. He now says the pointing has been burst on the corner of the house moving the guttering. He will now send in another report. You may remember we just had our bedroom decorated in September and a new carpet etc so it is really annoying as now it is like living in a squat with no paper on the walls a leaking roof no furniture in the room with the exception of the beds. This has all happened since the start of the year. I just wish someone would come and get started. Stuart has been saying all along to the insurance company that we should fix the outside first before we dry off the inside and repaper the room. Enough of that now will keep you posted.
We were not been out and about very much in January our pavements were so bad we had to use the car as the road was better than where we were supposed to walk. Now the weather has eased a bit although as I write we have new snow on the ground, it fell on Monday and shows no signs of shifting from the countryside around.
We are now counting the days till the 1st of March that's when we like to say Spring has Sprung. Oh to get out in the garden which is in a dreadful state everything looks so dead. When I was out this morning tending the bird feeders there was a Blackbird singing so there is hope.
I was so sad last week to hear of the passing of Angie (Can You Hear Me at the Back) it was so sudden, I, like many will miss her a lot you always got a laugh at her entries she was always cheerful.
That's about it for today. Take care till next time.

Love Joan

Reminiscing.

First of all may I wish you all a Very Happy New Year. You will be wondering why I have decided to put my picture at the top instead of something witty or topical well the reason is I have lost everything on my PC and this is the only one I have left. I switched off as normal a couple of days and the next morning it said I was logged on as a temporary user and nothing get saved so I had to take a new identity out on the pc. Don't know what happened if anybody has any ideas I would love to hear them.

I was thinking this morning about New Year in Scotland when I was a young. It was such a big occasion full of traditions, all the cleaning of old years dirt, you don't dare empty you rubbish

bins on the 1st it's very bad luck, you never enter a house without a small gift, you never leave by a different door than the one you came in, you had to be dark haired to be a first foot and you sorted that out before the person answered the door. Even if you we going home you would always knock at the door (that is if somebody was home). It seems such a pity that all those traditions are going to be lost now with the advent of big street parties in Edinburgh etc firework displays and so on. We had such fun going from house to house this persons mum and dad someone's auntie and uncle, friends and neighbours the list was endless and took a few days to complete, and in to the bargain we walked most to the time with a planned route taking the bus to the furthest away one and working your way back home very exhausting but great fun.

When I was a child I used to listen to all the people coming from Dundee city square after bringing in the New Year there where they used to fire off ONE rocket to mark the time. I would hear everyone calling Happy New Year as they passed one another in the street. One great gift in Dundee for a first foot was a Kipper dressed up with a dress and hat on if you don't know what a Kipper is give it a google as it is to hard to explain. This year I have not seen a soul or had a phone call and its now tea time on the 2nd how times have changed.

Will have to get out with my camera and sort out the no pictures scenario, fortunately I do have some on a memory stick so all is not lost.

I think that's about it for today so till next time take care. Love Joan.

Christmas Cheer.

Kinross December 2010.

 

Lots of Love   Joan.

My 2010 ‘Books Read’ List.

Last week I talked about the books I have read this year and how I was working on a list our of my personal journal so now I have finished it for those of you that are interested here it is.

 

  2010 Book List.

1  The Brass Verdict.  By Michael Connelly
2  The Associate. By John Grisham.
3  The Lincoln Lawyer by Michael Connelly
4  Doors Open. By Ian Rankin
5  Whispers of the Dead. By Simon Beckett.
6  Shafted by Mandassue Heller (did not finish)
7  Fever of the Bone  by Simon Beckett
8  Last Rights by Harlem Coben.
9  Double Eagle. By James Twining.
10 Long Lost by Harlem Coben.
11 Forbidden Places.by Penny Vincenzi
12 In Silence by Erica Spindlar
13 The Lost Symbol  by Dan Brown
14 Absolute Scandal byPenny Vincenzi
15 The Common Lawyer by Mark Himenez
16 Hold Tight by Harlan Coben.
17 Another Woman by Penny Vincenzi.
18 A Darker Domain. By Val McDermid.
19 Theodore Bone by John Grisham
20 Deliver us From Evil by David Baldacci
21 Caught by Harlan Coben
22 Accused by Mark Gimenez
23 The Chosen One by Sam Bourne.
24 The Best of Times by Penny Vincenzi

             **************************

 

I enjoyed all of those book with the exception of the one I did not finish. Dan Brown’s latest offering (The Lost Symbol) I found very disappointing. If asked which one I enjoyed most I would say it was ‘Forbidden Places’ by Penny Vincenzi.  It was a wartime tale about girls living and working during the last war it was a great story and all 800 pages were full of great story telling. All Penny’s books are nearly 800 pages but they are all so good.

Hope you are having a pleasant Sunday before Christmas its snowing heavy here again so we are tucked up here in the cosy house.  That’s it for today till next time take care on these bad pavements and roads.  Love Joan.

Only 9 More Sleeps.

It seems ages since I updated here well there really has not been a lot happening, we are still up to our ears in snow and still freezing. I so wish the news/weatherman would stop calling this weather a cold snap or spell it has been been like this since the middle of November hardly a snap, we have had lying snow for three weeks it is so bad we now have a tractor going round the streets taking the snow away it is piled so high all along the roadside where people have been clearing their driveways etc..

Every night this year I have sat in bed and written my journal it is not a diary it is a spiral bound notebook. One thing I have done at the top of a page where I have started a new book I have written the title and the author.  At the moment I am copying all the titles on to a sheet to paper so I can save it on my PC I have been amazed just how many books I have read by a large variety of authors not got the final total yet but sure it will be interesting to me to find out.

Like everybody we have been trying to get ahead for Christmas, the cards are posted the tree is up and most to the food shopping and pressies bought just got to go out and find something for Stuart. We did buy the Wii as our Christmas but will have to get something for Christmas morning for him to open.

You may remember a few years back we bought single beds as I am such a bad sleeper, well we had single quilts too earlier this week I had had enough of  bits of me hanging out from beneath the quilt freeezing you know the bits I mean so on Monday we went out and bought two new double quilts, wow, what a difference its like sleeping in a cloud only thing is it makes it hard to get up in the morning I am so cosy. Only this is we are not matching cover wise at the moment but I have so many double quilt covers and single ones come to that I will wait for a bit,

 Thinks that’s about it for now if I don’t get back before Christmas I hope you all have a Very Peaceful and Happy Christmas.

                        Love

                Joan.

Snowed in……

Good morning I thought I should put pen to paper so to speak and let you know what is happening up here the frozen north. We have almost 2 feet of snow and there is not a lot of movement other than neighbours digging themselves out. Everybody round here is off work nobody can get out of the street. I think one or two hardy soles tried earlier I just hope they can get back. Living in a small rural town nobody actually works here they all travel to work. There are papers today which has pleased Stuart no end, he had withdrawal symptoms yesterday when there were none, there has been no bread either. yesterday or today. People seem to panic dreadfully. We have enough to last a day or two yet. I tried to do my usual online shop this morning but cannot get one till Sunday, won’t let that happen again. Every time the snow goes off we say that must be the end but it comes on again, just when you have got the paths clear. Our neighbours have been fabulous clearing our driveway our car and putting down salt and sand. It does seem strange people doing things like that for you but we are the old ones here. Stuart will be 71 in January and I will be 68 on Thursday but feeling very fit, but if we go to help we get sent inside again. Wonderful neighbours are such a blessing. A few weeks ago we bought one of those Wii game machines and are doing the fitness program on there every day, we are on week three and what a difference it has made to us suddenly our legs are working full speed again I can run upstairs no bother at all, what a super invention it is exercising in the warmth of you lounge is the bees knees. The snow is still falling, never known it to stay so long with no sign of it going and when it does it will take a long time to melt there is so much of it. Thank goodness we have a little shop within walking distance it is so handy. Take care and keep warm,

Love Joan.

Monday morning.

Busy busy and another Grand Day Out.

Hello, it has been a while but we have been very busy with one thing or another. We have had the decorator in to do the lounge and as my stairs are open plan that means going all the way up with the decorating the top hallway included, so you can see it is a big job.  Stuart is not able now to do these things like he used to so we have to get someone in to do it for us, it does make things very expensive but since we both don’t smoke now we don’t need to have it done as often as we used to.

By Wednesday last week it was such a lovely day and the house was back to normal we thought we would have one of our ‘Grand Days Out’.  It was a beautiful November day blue sky and sunshine all the way.  We first went over to Gleneagles and the views from the top were spectacular with the snow on the mountains in the distance.

Looking down Gleneagles.

This is the famous Gleneagles Hotel and golf course home of the Ryder Cup in 2014.

After our run down the lovely glen we had morning coffee in Crieff.  Onward and forward after our refreshment we travelled up The Sma Glen where snow was lying at the side of the road we thought this was very early this year.

Schiehallion from Loch na Craig

Scheihallion [right] Ben Lawers 

 

Loved the way the sun was lighting up the Larch trees.

 

Someone left this little guy behind he looked a bit lonely.

As you can see we had a great day weather wise and the scenery was great too.  It was great to get away from the smell of paint especially as I have a bad cold just now.  Till next time take care.   Love

                                               Joan.

Yesterday.

Hello, sorry it has been such a long time been caught up in other things at the moment but thought you would like to see what we saw yesterday just round the corner from where we live.  There has been a very early and very large influx of Waxwings this Autumn all over Great Britain. Usually they don’t come in till nearer Christmas.  These little birds have flown over all the way over the North Sea from Scandinavia and beyond. Here are some of the pictures I managed to get.

The count yesterday was 67 but we have heard of larger flocks around the country.  Waxwings feed on mainly rowan berries as you can see, we have plenty of those up here at the moment but at the rate they are eating them they won’t last long.  If you are out and about in your village or town and you see flocks of birds in the berry trees about the size of  our Starlings take another look you may be a lucky as we were yesterday and see some of these beautiful birds complete with lovely crest. Till next time.   Love

                                Joan.

 

Trials and Tribulations.

Good Morning, it has been a long time since I updated you on what’s what. The main problem has been Live Writer mine disappeared for some unknown reason to me. I tried and tried and in the end messed up my pc completely. I had my PC engineer in yesterday and she had to take my laptop back to factory condition so I have lost an awful lot of photographs graphics etc, the good thing is that I have also lost all the junk that had collected over the past three years.  So hopefully it will be ok now.Since I got back online I discovered that Live Writer launched a new edition of their writer so maybe the old one does not work now.

Last  Friday I had  an accident at home I picked up a pot with a metal handle that had been over a naked  flame. I saw the nurse and doctor and was referred to the burns unit in Dundee.  They took the to roof of the biggest blister and then removed my very tight wedding ring with the aid of gut wound round my finger and a lot of force and pain. My knuckles were skinned in the process but all is well now.

We are off for a short break up to Grantown on Spey next week so I will have to take a lot of pictures.  I do have some of my older ones on a memory stick so all is not lost but don’t want to put them all back on my nice clean computer.

We have also had the decorator on doing our bedroom so that is looking nice now lounge is next when we get back.

That’s about all for now am supposed to have wifi where we are going so maybe will write to you then. Till next time take care.

It's Been a Funny Old Week.

It has been a while in fact nearly a month since I had anything to say have been racking my brains so have been making some notes the last few days so I might have something to say.

It has been a funny old week weather wise sunny one moment and then a cloud burst, as we used to call them that was before we got 'Severe weather warnings' all the time they seem to happening everyday just now, it is the way August is, sunshine then heavy rain you just don't go out without your umbrella.

On Thursday we took a trip to St Andrews it is a long time since we have visited there, what with our holidays and The Open Golf it would have been far too busy for us even just now it was very busy on Thursday. We had two very heavy showers when we were there and it was hard to get into a shop to shelter as many people did not have coats on etc. On our way home we had some lovely skies so I thought I would share them with you today.

 

Would believe we did not have a spot of rain from these clouds we seemed to go around them. It was super watching the mini storm going over our heads waiting for the clouds to burst.

Later that evening everything calmed down and I took the next two from a bedroom window.

 

There is no filter or any colour added to these this is just the way it was 'Wonderful' I stood in awe.

Thats about it for today hope you have a great weekend till next time, Take Care, Love,

 

 

Joan's Musings is Five Today.

Hello, it is five years to the day I wrote my first entry in Joan's Musings over on AOL. I thought it would just be a passing fancy but here we are all those years later and I am still trying to amuse you with my tales of this that and the other. I try to take good photograghs for you to see my lovely country throughout the year hoping it will make you want to visit someday. Being retired and living a very quiet life sometimes it is difficult to find something interesting to say but I do try and if I think of something that may interest you I jot it down for my next entry I find it helps me a great deal. I have checked back and this is my 660th entry counting the 497 I did on AOL that's a lot of writing and I have enjoyed every moment of it except when things go wrong and I lose my entry into cyberspace, that can really get to me but I have found that using Windows Live Writer life is a lot simpler you get to put your pictures in where you want them and you don't have to write backwards so to speak.

I hope there is enough cake for everyone just help yourself to a slice and wish Joan's Musings Happy Birthday and here's to the next year. Until next time take care. Love,

Then and Now.

Good Morning, you may remember in the entry entitled 'Squelchy Saturday'  I was telling you about the gravel pits that have been made into a nature reserve.  I said I wished I could find the old pictures I took back in the '80 when the paths and the planting were first done.  We were looking at some pictures the other day when I found this one so I have scanned it for you to see......

1987 do you see the tree in the front of the pictures well watch for it in this next one...................

July, 2010.Now you can see how the reserve has grown it has been a joy to watch it develop, when we first saw it we never thought it would turn out so well, and the tree, look how big it is now.

That's it for today but 'Joan's Musings' will be 5 years old at the weekend so I will return then with the birthday cake. Till then take care and get the champers on ice.  Take care Love Joan.

Its Golf This Weekend

Good Afternoon, here we are again its Thursday, the 15th of July the first day of the British Open at St Andrews and we have the best seat in the house in front of the TV. Its not a nice day there at all, misty and wet but no wind so the course is being murdered at the moment we need some wind maybe once the tide turns.  July is such a busy month sports wise  between The Tour de France, Grand Prix, Golf, the tennis at the end of the June, Stuart is having a ball, and I watch over the top of my laptop.

Have not been out and about this week we have only had one and a half nice days, Monday we went to Perth and Tuesday morning we sat out in the garden with coffee and scones (home made).

Does anyone have a good muffin recipe I have never tried them but would love to. Think I will make a Tea Loaf today one of my favourites and I have not made one for ages but we have been trying to watch our weight but it would be nice to have a tasty bit for all this TV watching we will be doing the next few day.     That's about it for today hoping for a home win but we will see. Till next time Love Joan.

 

Squelching Saturday.

So here we are on the Saturday of T in the Park and its been raining all morning heavily at times.  It also rained yesterday until late afternoon and then we had a sunny evening and one of the most beautiful sunsets I have seen here, the sky was blood red, so I don't know what happened to the saying 'red sky at night being shepherds delight'. It must be so miserable standing in a field with the rain pouring down, but I suppose something that is ok if you are young does not appeal to someone of my age lol.

On Thursday we had a lovely day and we went back to Birnie and Gaddon and I managed to finish the photo walk I started with you last Saturday.  This time the camera was well charged up to here is the rest of the walk.

There is a meadow up on this point of the walk all sorts of wild flowers are in full bloom and there were many many butterflies too.

I took this picture to show you how near we live to this part of Scotland you see the hill in the background well I live at the bottom of that so it not far at all. We are so lucky to live in this beautiful part of the world even if it does rain when it shouldn't. Speaking of the rain this is the first substantial rain we have had in 2 months. 

This is a photograph of Birnie the other loch, this is the original loch, Gaddon was made later so this one is more mature although Gaddon had caught up now the trees and shrubs are all very thick just now you have to wait till you get to a viewpoint that has been cut out of the vegetation to see the water.

 

The Mute Swans after much arguing with their neighbours have raised three cygnets. We say a very funny thing happening as we walked on Thursday there was a coot and a Great Crested Grebe nesting on floating platforms and the grebe was stealing sticks from the coots nest I was waiting for a big fight but the coot just sat there minding her own business we did have a good laugh at that.

 

 

Just about back to the car park here after about one and a half miles.  It is one of our favourite walk at any time of the year and we usually do it on the 1st of January weather permitting.

That about it for now off to watch a mountain stage in The Tour de France. Take care. Love,