Buying the vegetables

We go for our 'morning drive' once a fortnight, just to stock up with the freshest vegetables we have ever found.
 We used to ride out to the nursery just looking and visit other local nurseries in the area but then, one day we decided we would collect the veg and fruit to take on holiday with us.
That visit set the trend the veg is soooo fresh .....
The nursery itself is just  a basic working nursery, no frills or gimmicks, straight forward plants, soil, pots etc.

 There are several shops to one side of Nursery, small businesses covering double glazing, fashion, wool & haberdashery, also a new shop just opened selling hand made fudge!!!

On the other side of the card park is a butcher's van and 'the house'.  The house at the side of the nursery used to be an old detached house with a workshop (or two) at the side, car repairs I think.  It is a really beautiful house now  ......

We bought up all the fruit we needed and then moved onto the vegetables.  
Then we decided to have a cup of coffee (and a piece of cake) in the cafe to the side of the nursery, I love this cafe/restaurant.  It is clean and the staff are very friendly and helpful.
As you can see PJ gives it the 'thumbs up'!  The cafe can be accessed from the nursery or from the front of the site, but we usually enter from the nursery.  There are easy seats situated around the cafe but one of my favourites is the corner opposite the nursery entrance ..........  Lots of artwork to peruse ......

We had a lovely drive home, English countryside in the winter sunshine .....

.. and down came the snow .....

Since Christmas I have been on a 'clean up or throw' splurge.  It happens every year ..... the Christmas decs go back into the loft and the room has to be tidied ...... and that which was buried is revealed ..... and all that space ......   I am sure I am not alone in this!

The tidying and cleaning takes preference over my online work and my craft creating ......

All the new resolve for 2015 goes out of the window ..... catching up is now the priority!  Then comes the day that everything is almost back to normal .....

AND WHAT HAPPENS?!?!

I have a really bad head cold, I feel lousy, my eyes and nose are streaming .... I don't think I need to go on ......


..... and now it's snowing!

A Tribute (post will be edited from time to time)

This is a Tribute to a Great Man.  'The World' will never know about him, but to those who knew him he was a great man.  Gregarious, kind hearted, giving ..... a great man.

Poppa went to meet his Maker at the end of December 2014, with his family by his side.  I found out this past week and I am devastated.
This man, his given names I never knew, welcomed us into his home and his heart.  I can only remember all the times spent with this great man as such happy, learning and fulfilling times.  He went to great lengths to make sure that his 'guests', and later calling us his family, were suitably housed and fed and secure.  I loved this man and thought myself truly blessed to be in his company, sitting at his table and could never, never, comprehend the lengths he went to ensure we were happy.
He was always patient with me, teaching me about traditions, food ..... always having time to talk.
One year he found out it was my birthday and organised a party in his garden for me.  Tables were laid out and food brought out to us, a wide variety and, after prayers, conversation was good, there was much laughter and in depth discussions.  Then the chairs and tables were set back and a drumming group were led in.  These men played all sorts and shapes of drums, the talking drum included.  They were dressed in national costumes and the drums were decorated accordingly.  How we danced in the shade of the orange trees to beating of the drums!!!  One of the best birthdays and something that is absolutely priceless.  But that is how Poppa was.

Another year we went back to his house and there was a beautiful cow sitting in his garden chomping on the hay.  It sat there so placid while the children and adults came up and patted it, ran round it, shouting and calling ...... it just carried on chomping.   'What do you call her Poppa?' I asked.  'Cow' came the reply!!!  I explained how, in England, we named our cows - Daisy, buttercup etc.  He was amazed, could not understand why.  The next day there was a feast at the Church and yes! you guessed it! Beef featured on the menu!

Such wonderful memories this great man gave me ..... such love .... he is sorely missed here in this cold place called England.

My thoughts and prayers are for his lovely wife, handsome sons and their wives and much loved grandchildren.  I pray that God will strengthen and comfort you all at this sad time.

Je m'appelle Charlie

Love and best wishes for 2015

Braemar Village

We left the Lodge quite early on the Sunday morning after the wedding, we had to catch a flight home and there was a long drive home - after the railway of course!!!
First we had to stop in Braemar and see if we could get a dressing for PJ's wrist - long story, suffice to say he went out walking and fell over (at least he avoided the river!!)  This morning he was sore and bruised but really needed some sort of dressing.



We stopped at the Chemist where a wonderful lady cleaned and dressed his wound, we bought some cards and a couple of souvenirs.




We had a look round the village while we were there, crossing the bridge to see further down the road.  The river tumbled down the gorge and under the bridge and away.

The Fife Arms Hotel is alongside the gorge, a very large granite building and there was this amazing fir, sitting there among the rocks.

Such a super bush.

Picturesque as the building and the river.

Further down the road towards the shops was a side road and there was this ruin.



A castle ruin ......

We loaded ourselves into the car, neat and tidy (large) dressing, photographs, souvenirs and drove off  towards Aberdeen and the railway ......

We met these cyclists on the way - thought we were back in England for a second!! (Tour de France)

Along the way we passed this little Kirk, lots of people gathered round on both sides of the road.  We were some distance along the road when we realised - the Royal Family were going to Church!!!!
...... had we been a  little later .....

Happy Birthday to me!!

I had a lovely day - bit of a lie-in and then made some cards, how good is that!!
The girlies came round with their cards and pressies, we spent several hours catching up and laughing as only families can.
N eventually dragged herself off to an appointment and we changed into posh (not slouching) clothes ready to do out for a meal at a good little restaurant out at Wootten Wawen.

Eventually the three of us arrived and were shown to our table.  The menu was a Sunday Roast and we could not believe our eyes - we could have stayed at home for that!!!  There was much apologising between us and the staff, free coffee etc and we left to find somewhere else, with a menu a bit more palatable to us.

As we walked out to the car we discussed where to go and decided to try out a restaurant we had often passed on our travels.  Finest Catch on the Stratford Road in Beau Desert, Henley in Arden - Fish and Chips!!!

The staff were wonderful, quickly showing us to a table and taking our drink orders.  The interior is set out like an American Diner so we perused the Menu and, oh! yes! we were staying!

We had our fish and chips - well, C did!

I had chicken and PJ had sausages.  Very good, mushy peas and curry sauce and onion rings - a bit of this and a bit of that!!
There was plenty of food on the plate and we had to wait a while before we could manage a desert - Banana Split, Peach Melba and Ice Cream.
No rush, no unpleasantness, a very good couple of hours, even with the singing of Happy Birthday!!!

A place to visit again at a later date!

Scotland for Family Visiting

On our way to the Wedding we travelled along the A93 road, from Aberdeen City and out into this new land.  Neither of us had travelled this road before but we were on our way .... the A93 is shown on the map as an almost straight road crossing form east to west.

Peterculter shops

We travelled through typical villages and stopped in Peterculter for some flowers and a wedding card (yes! I forgot!).
Really nice helpful people in the shops and we were soon on our way to Banchory.
We were meeting up with my cousins who I hadn't met for over  ... a long time!  As we approached the town we realised we were nearly an hour early and so we looked for somewhere we could stop for the proverbial coffee and cake.

Mains of Drum

 We saw this tower from the road and a sign saying Garden Centre - we stopped.
Coffee, cake and a more suitable Wedding Card later we continued on our way.  Alongside the road, just before we turned off into my cousin's road we noticed a railway and mentally booked to visit on our return journey.
My cousins were waiting in their bungalow and were pleased to see us, I was sooo excited.
A beautiful tea was laid out, I have forgotten how it used to be  .... the best china brought out for visitors.  It was so lovely, sandwiches, cakes and tea.

Family!

We chatted, swapped photos, caught up with each other's families.  Turns out that J used to work on the railway, giving us all the gossip.
My cousin's were so lovely, just the same as they used to be all those many years ago.  True, they looked older but then so do I.
The last time I saw them I was thirty and burying my daughter, not the best memories we shared.  This time together replaced those memories with new happy ones.
After a couple of hours spent together we said our goodbyes and headed out through small villages, through Ballater and Braemar.  In Braemar we veered right towards Mar Lodge while the road continued on past Balmoral Castle (the Royal Family were in residence but we didn't see them) towards the west coast.

The Nutcracker at the Hippodrome Theatre

For my birthday PJ booked a box at the theatre for the Royal Ballet production of ‘TheNutcracker’.  

Yes! I know! 

Again!

We met up at Wetherspoons for a meal as per usual, one of the door people was also in there with several other members of Hippodrome staff so we stopped to chat.  Joe (the Doorman) gave us a big hug when we arrived – what a man!

We were escorted to the box by one of the theatre staff, it was quite small but we managed – this was built for an earlier age! 

Seeing the theatre from this angle was very interesting, we could see right over the Orchestra pit and we had no-one trying to get past us.  Once we were seated and comfortable…. That was it!

We had a great view of the tree but the view of the stage was restricted which was a shame for PJ who had never seen the production before. 

Matthias was the Jack in the Box and Laura-Jane the lead in the flowers.  Matthias was to play the Prince a few days later and Laura-Jane would be Clara but not tonight. 
The Sugar Plum Fairy was perfection, her duet with the Prince brought me to tears.

Being so close to the stage we could see a lot more of the costumes, make-up and orchestra behaviour!  All very interesting and amusing and amazing.  To see Clara sitting on the floor in the wings watching every movement of the dancers on stage …..

We all agreed we had a lovely time and can’t wait for next year!!!!