Job done at Granny Norma's house - Christmas 2013

Job done at Granny Norma's.  I saw this unfinished jigsaw the last time we visited a few months ago. By the time we got back at Christmas there were only a few hundred pieces of sky to do!

 

Caption competition

I put this up on facebook for a caption competition. I was going to buy one for Eilidh, but she was with me at the time.

Better luck next time Eil.

Autumn sunset

Heading off with Shona, we had to stop to take this picture.

Kelpies in Grangemouth i

 

We took Arthur to see the nearly-finished Kelpies

You know how big a skip is, so you can work out that these are not tiny!

Kelpies - Just off the M9

It is worth the walk from the car park.

At the pointy end for once

We never seem to get to the front.

Duke of Edinburgh - Totally exhausted

We spent the afternoon cycling to Dollar (and back). The autumn colours are just coming in, and the weather was still warm for the time of year.

We didn't eat these.

Eddie spotting

Eddie spotting on the lunchtime walk to Asda...

 If you want to start spotting, and can handle the abuse you will get from your colleagues, then why not register at stobartsaddos.com

University days

She's off.

Brassband percussion B team

Ready to travel to the 'land o burns' contest. Eilidh and I left at about 7:30 and were good and early when we arrived in Prestwick.

Ya dancer

 

Eilidh was dancing for joy, knowing that she was coming to St Andrews in a few months.

Back to the Bandstand

Eilidh played in the bandstand, and I lurked in the background


Earlier, I had played with the ensemble, who performed in the walled garden.

Spider man

?

The old ones are the best (ii)

Text soon

Can dragons fly?

 

We didn't kill it. 

The old ones are the best

We were on a Sunday day out in Alsace, and had stopped for a tarte-flambe (e acute) picnic, when I spotted this lonely ami 8.

Afterwards we melted while watching hand-blown glass and had a look at a flea market of glasses.  If you received a holiday glass, it probably came from here, and almost certainly came from the flea market!

After this we toured a chrystal factory which was also fascinating.

Thanks as always, to tour-guide Patrick who is legend.

Painting by numbers

 

This is just a wee "muriel" on a wall.  WOW

Queen song moment

 

This is a real place!

Bring a bottle!

 

Jeroboam 4

Methuselah 8

Salmanazar 12

Balthazar 16 and

Nebuchadnezzar 20

O joy!

 

Cambus Pools

Took the bike out for a short spin this evening. Found my way down past the Cambus pools to where the Devon meets the Forth. I think.

Down near Cambus

Down by the riverside....

Little fishes above the Lagan

Back in Belfast for a few days to meet up with the mother-in-law.  Escaped from the house when she wasn't watching, and nipped into town for a wander.  Just note the fact that many shops are closed on Easter Tuesday......

 

And we met up with some of Ellen's old mates for lunch.

Salad for them and pig leg for me.  Epic!

 

Shame about the bed of beans!

Icy snap in Fife

Please note that the road was slippery this morning

Really slippery!

And for the record, I stopped to take the photo.

Busy weekend?

Drop E at airport on Friday morning so she can get the early flight to Belfast. Go to work. Come home for tea and an evening of usual mayhem plus discovered the washing machine had packed in.
Saturday: leave at 5am for boat to Belfast and enjoy a shared taxi into the city centre. We shared with some of "Shaggy's stag do". After a lovely time shopping we had lunch at Granny's and tea with the Harcourts.
Up for a lovely breakfast and off to the boat where I slept soundly. Shaggy's mates were quiet!

Then home in time to get to Ar@@s to collect our new washing machine. It is now working and I'm off to bed.

The bank that likes to say - Sorry

There was a slight mix-up at the bank......

And a slight mix up at home when they sent these flowers to arrive on Valentine's day.

 
A very welcome present from the "Customer Relations Team".  We like First Direct!

Looking for a good bank? - www.firstdirect.com

Thursday Gras

With 1 child away on tuesday, we saved our fat feast until this evening. 

Apart from melted cheese and ham, and tuna-mayo, we seem to have acquired 2 jars of chocolate spread.  The popping candy was good, but I prefer the Chocolate orange.

But which is better? There's only one way to find out ............

Fixing the decking

I am feeling almost positively handy!

 

After 3 visits, and some major help from Alison, we have put the decking back where it was last year. Are flares fashionable again?

So just need a wee railing to keep us safe, and the job is done.

I had to come home for a sleep after all that!

Back to Crail

Back to Crail for some minor repairs and a tidy up.  The best day of the year so far. You can just see the Isle of May behind the cottage roof.  The view from the top of the stairs is better.

Today I burnt the honey

 

The Microwave is a fickle mistress. Sometimes she is great: warming up coffee if left too long, cooking potatoes or sprouts at Christmas,  generally helping with some of the easy jobs in the kitchen.  Today however, I only wanted the honey to come out of the honey-thing, and only warmed it for 30 seconds.....

O dear!

Making sausage rolls after midnight

 

I was encouraged by the demure chef (((( demure chef )))) to try using the oven. I had acquired some pastry, and had bought some discounted sausagemeat from a local supermarket.  All I had to do was combine 2 ingredients.  Roll out the pastry, and roll out the sausagemeat,then put 1 inside the other.

They wouldn't fit in the tin.