Countdown Begins

Hi everyone - thought I would write a short blog tonight as I don't have too much to share.  I am headed into my last week here in Scotland boohoo.  I would like the days to drag but of course they will fly by.  Today went by way too fast.  Didn't do much this morning.  I slept well last night but woke up with a headache and was still a little tired.  Not sure why.  Anyways, this afternoon was spent at the shop...my last afternoon helping out. We were kept very busy with customers, donations and culls.  Don;t know if I spent culls right, but thats when they go through the store and remove products that didnt sell from previous weeks.  This helps make room for newer donations that come in.  The girls who work in the shop on Mondays and Val gave me a goodbye card and a gift bag, and then Val gave me another card and gift from her personally.  I feel so loved, and am thankful that I got this chance to meet and work with them all.  And Val - I promise to turn my card in when I return lol.  Because I WILL return, going to go home and save, save, save so I can come back soon.  Had dinner and then relaxed watching a little tv.  I suddenly remembered that I had signed up for an online card class, so I got busy participating in that.  One of my all time favorite card makers hosts the class - she's a genius when it comes to making cards lol.  I guess I should be happy that I am returning home because I can get back into making some cards, I have missed that.  Tomorrow my mom and I are headed out on the bus.  We are going to Hobbycraft to look for a couple of things, then we are headed into Musselburgh because I havent been there yet on this trip.  From there we are headed to Tranent to pick up a personalized gift I ordered for my grandson Cameron.  From there I think we are headed home.  So it will be a long day but of course like I spoke about above, it will fly by lol.  That's all I know for now.  Thanks again to Val and the girls at Ches, Heart & Stroke Scotland for thinking of me.  I appreciate it.  Night all.

Tyninghame To Dunbar

Good evening everyone - what an absolutely beautiful day today here in Dunbar.  Bright skies and sunshine.  A perfect day for a long walk.  Hope everyone is enjoying their weekend.  This is my second to last one here in Scotland before I make the long trek across the ocean to Crimeville..lol.   I will be happy to see my family but as far as the place I live in all I have to say is uggghhh.  Hate it , hate it.  Not looking forward to being back in the heat and the brown desert.

Tyninghame

I didn't blog yesterday so I will update you on what I did yesterday before getting to today's activities.  So yesterday was Friday which means it was sewing day for the girls.  Val and Ann are new to sewing - well not that new anymore as they have completed several cushions and stitchery projects.  Anyways, they had decided it was time to learn to sew a bag.  So my mom and I did some research and found a cute and easy bag to make.  We made up a sample bag on Thursday and cut them each fabrics for them to have on Friday.  At the lesson, I taught them how to assemble it and my mom did the stitching on her machine as she is used to it.  It was a fun lesson and got me motivated to get out my machine when I get home and get stitching again.  Actually I think I need a new machine.  I know I would love to have a new machine because the one I have had for several years was a Target special  and its probably seen its day lol.  Anyway, I digress - I have decided when I get home that I am going to sew up some creations and add them to my Etsy store.  I have lots of ideas for cushions, bags, pincushions, sachets and more.  I have tons of fabric so I may as well put it to use and make it work for me.  So after our lesson, the girls wanted to take my mom and I to lunch to thank us for all the lessons so we headed to Saddlers in Dunbar.  It was the first time my mom and I had been there and it was really good.  I had a chicken and sweetcorn wrap and it was yummy.  After lunch, we headed out into the streets to go pick up some groceries and it was pouring rain.  I didn't bring a jacket so I ended up walking home in the rain - yah...lol.  The rest of the afternoon was spent on working on a special project for a special lady.

Mill Wheel

So that brings me to today.  we got up and it looked quite nice outside - sunshine and no wind.  SO my mom suggested the Tyninghame walk.  I have been wanting to do this walk for a while now but its either been raining or blowing gale force winds lol.  Tyninghame is a tiny one street town that I am totally attracted to.  I can't quite put my finger on it because like I said there is nothing there but cottages and a tea room.  Its just really quaint - love the cottages and the peacefulness of the town.  If I ever move home, I would love to live here.  Anyways, we took the 10:00 am bus from Dunbar out to Tyninghame.  Got off the bus and headed in for a cup of coffee and a scone at the tea room.  They had a nice small gift shop attached to the tea room with some really unique and pretty gifts (they had tons of owl things, Kristin - you would have loved it).  After our coffee we headed on our walk back to Dunbar.  The walk takes you through farm fields, along the coastline and through the woods back to Dunbar.  It is a 5.5 mile walk so we got a lot of exercise.  The skies were so blue with white puffy clouds.  Also met up with some billy goats that were really cute.  I added lots of photos from our walk so I hope you will take a look at them all.  After we got home, we had some lunch and then my mom and I headed into the shop to see Val and Ann who had to work today.  My mom had added some embellishments to the bag we made so she wanted to show the girls.  We ended up spending a couple of hours at the shop lol.  Now we are back home and the daylight is almost gone.  As I head into this last week I am going to enjoy each and every day.  I am going to try to not think about having to say goodbye to everyone :-(   Tomorrow is my mommy's birthday.  If the weather is good like it was today, her and I are going to get up early and walk to White Sands - a local beach a couple of miles from Dunbar.  Have a great weekend everyone and do something fun :-))))

Happy & Sad

Hi everyone - its late for me to being blogging but here I am...lol.  My mom and I are just in from a fundraising event for my niece Nicole.  It was a great night but more about that later.  Sorry I haven't been blogging lately.  Its been a quiet few days since the last blog, albeit a stressful one trying to decide what I need to do in regards to the "should I stay or should I go" dilemma.  More about that later in the blog too...lol.  I haven't really been up to a whole lot of much this week.  On Monday we worked in the shop.  I wish I had Val as a boss all the time because she cracks me up.  She's crazy funny and I am so glad I have had this chance to get to know her better :-)   Anyway, moving on to Tuesday - my mom and I took a bus trip down to Berwick Upon Tweed (over the Scottish border into England) for an afternoon of shopping and lunch.  We had a lot of fun strolling in and out of little antique stores.  The weather was great - no rain.  We also had a good lunch at a cafe called "Thistle Do Nicely" which I thought was a great play on words.  We had Courgette & Pea soup which was quite lovely.  They were unfortunately all sold out of scones though, so we had to settle for a different dessert lol.

Berwick Upon Tweed Townhall

Yesterday I did nothing but stress out about my decision to go home early (still not sure I have made the right one).  Today more stressing, but tonight helped take my mind off of it all.  My niece Nicole is going to Tanzania in June.  She was there a couple of years ago and has been looking forward to going back.  She is going with several other kids so they had a fundraising event tonight for them.  It was held at the Radical Road Restaurant & Bar.  There was a young girl singing (who had been on the Xfactor) - she had a beautiful voice, there was food, drinks, raffles and Irish Bingo.  My mom, Val, Aunt Connie and myself drove up from Dunbar and it was so much fun.  I don't think I have laughed so much in a long time.  Our table did really well in the raffle.  I won a bottle of champagne and a bag with some "smell good" toiletries in it.  My Aunt, Val and my mom all won things too.  Overall I think they raised quite a bit of money for the trip.

I'm sad

So now to the news that I have been struggling with for the past few days.  As most of you know I had changed my ticket to return home on May 5th due to diminishing funds..lol.  It was probably a stupid decision because I probably could have figured something out.  Anyway I changed my ticket and of course British Airways charged me a fee to do it.  It was a hard decision because most of you know how much I enjoy being here.  Anyway I made the decision and was at peace with it when a couple of days ago I found out that my cousins who live in South Africa and I haven't seen for 30 years will be here in Scotland in June.  It will be my Uncle's 80th birthday and also my Aunt and Uncle's wedding anniversary (30th I think).  Anyway, the family is having a big get together and this would have been a chance of a lifetime to have us all together.  I struggled with the notion of changing my ticket back but felt guilty because I had already told my family back home in the USA that I would be home at the beginning of May.  I asked them what they thought I should do but didn't get much help in that department.  I pretty much got told  that I need to choose what I want to do.  They wont admit it but I think they are missing me lol.  Also if I change the ticket again it will be another service fee that I just cant afford to do at this point.  If I had unlimited funds I probably wouldn't have given it a second thought and changed it back.  So as it stands right now I guess my time over here comes to an end on May 5th.  I am bummed that I wont get to see my cousins and be here for my Aunt and Uncles special occasion.  I acted too abruptly in changing my ticket the first time.  I was all set to be here until Sept 1st so it was a very dumb mistake on my part.  You live and you learn I guess.  

Tomorrow is my last sewing day with the girls :-(   Going to miss that too.  Life just isn't fair.  As I told my daughter I wish there were two of me so I could be in both places at once lol.  

Well thats it for now.  I will talk with you all tomorrow.  Night night.  (Oh and Val - BAAAAAA)

North Belton Farm Getaway - Day # 4

JEDBURGH ABBEY

I am back from another absolutely fabulous day out with my Aunt and Uncle. I took 215 photos if that tells you anything lol. Today we visited the historic city of Jedburgh and Kelso. We had planned to do that yesterday but the rain of course got in the way. It was probably a good thing it happened the way it did because we crammed a lot into todays agenda . So where to start. We got up and did our usual - breakfast and bath. We headed out the door around 10:00am, heading towards Jedburgh. Jedburgh lies on the Jed Water, a tributary of the River Teviot, it is only ten miles from the border with England and is dominated by the substantial ruins of Jedburgh Abbey. Other notable buildings in the town include Mary, Queen of Scots' House and Jedburgh Castle Jail, now a museum. We visited all three. We parked in the free car park adjacent to the Abbey information center. We walked into the information center to see if they had any pamphlets and gather information on all three places we wanted to visit. It turned out that you paid to get into the Abbey, but the Mary Queen of Scots House and the Castle Jail were free. Pretty cool because if it was in the States they probably would have charged you to get into all three places lol. After the information center we headed to the Abbey, which I have to tell you is absolutely stunning. Even though it stands in ruins, it is so majestic. It used to be home to the Augustine Canons , and the first part of it was build in 1150. So its a really really old Abbey. We wandered all around - exploring and taking photos. My Aunt and I climbed a spiral stone staircase to the top of the abbey and you could look down on the whole thing. You wouldnt want to go up there if you were claustrophobic as the staircase is wide enough for one skinny person going up and coming down lol. I got some spectacular shots from up above. One of my favorite photos is looking through the archways at the top of the Abbey on the cemetery down below. Love Love Love it. Be sure to check it out in my photo album which I will probably upload after dinner tonight. After the Abbey we walked through town up a long hill towards the Castle Jail. Jedburgh Castle Jail gives visitors a taste of what life was like in an 1820's prison, whilst also telling the story of the royal Burgh of Jedburgh. You can walk through the original cell blocks of this Georgian jail - the finest remaining Howard reform prison in Scotland - and find out about some of the people who were once imprisoned here and why they were put in. The prisoner's cell blocks tell the story of the Jail and its inmates, with individual cells looking as they would have done back then, complete with model prisoners lol. From there we walked back down the hill and stopped in at the Coffee Corner for lunch. We got there too late for soup as they were all sole out for the day. So I had a haggis and onion toast which was pretty good. After lunch, we headed to Mary Queen of Scots house. Mary Queen of Scots stayed in Jedburgh in 1566 on an official tour, and it was whilst she was here she visited her secret lover in Hermitage Castle.  The Mary Queen of Scots Visitor Centre is located within a 16th century towerhouse, set in a pear tree garden in the heart of Jedburgh. The Rogues Gallery, Last Letter Room and many other parts of the centre explore the life of Scotland's tragic queen through paintings, textiles and objects associated with her.of the centre explore the life of Scotland's tragic queen through paintings, textiles and objects associate. This concluded our visit in Jedburgh (well with a final stop back at the information center so I could purchase a fridge magnet lol) Then it was time to get back on the road for Kelso. Kelso in the Scottish Borders is regarded as one of the most charming and beautiful towns in the Borders. With the largest town market square in Scotland, four cobbled streets converge on the cobbled town square with it’s elegant Georgian and Victorian buildings. They also have an Abbey. Not as big as the Jedburgh one but quite impressive. We walked around this one too and I took more photos. We headed out of Kelso around 5:00pm after a stop in at Sainsbury for some groceries. All in all, it was a wonderful day and I am so grateful to my Aunt and Uncle for letting me stay with them for these few days and taking me places I normally wouldn't see. I will probably be headed home to my folks tomorrow, but I wont soon forget this lovely mini vacation at the farm :-)

North Belton Farm Getaway - Day 3

ARRIVING AT POLWARTH KIRk

Hi all - as we reach halfway through the week, I hope you are doing well and keeping healthy.  I am still visiting my Aunt and Uncle at the farm, and having a wonderful time.  We just got back from a day down to Duns and Berwick Upon Tweed.  I had said earlier today on Facebook that our plans had been laid to rest for the day because of rain.  However about an hour after I said that, the rain stopped and the sun was trying to come out, so we took a chance on the change in the weather and took off on part of our journey.  Back tracking to earlier in the morning....I woke up around 7:30 am again, had some breakfast and got dressed for our trip. Our plan was to go to Jedburgh, Kelso and then into Duns.  It was drizzling a little when we started, but about 8 miles down the road it was pouring, very overcast and dreary.  So we came to a general consensus that we would try again tomorrow and hopefully the weather would be better.  So we turned and headed back to the farm.  We got back and had a cup of coffee and started to watch Margaret Thatcher's funeral on tv.  The rain stopped and we decided to take a chance and hit the road, with a slight change of plans.  We decided to go to Duns today as its not too far away and if it started raining we could get back home fairly quickly.  Duns is an important area for my Aunt as she went to primary school there as a child.  I got to see the church in Polwarth where she was christened and went to Sunday school.  After the church we headed to another interesting place she lived as a child the Marchmont Railway Station.  Her dad was a station master and they used to live at the station.  It is no longer a station, but the house still stands today (the track outside is gone, but the platform is still there).  We met the family that lives there.  My aunt had some old photos of the station to show them. And they had some old photos to show her that she hadn't seen before.  I also got to see the little shed that was used as a post office that her mother ran.  It was a very interesting trip, and I am glad I got the chance to see where she grew up as a little girl.  Make sure you check out my photo album when I upload it.  You will see all the places I am talking about.  After talking with the people at the station house, we headed into Duns to a garden center.  My Uncle is looking to buy a shed so he wanted to check them out.They also had a cafe in the garden center so we had lunch there. This time it was potato and leek soup, although my Aunt and I came to the consensus that it didnt really taste like potato and leeks, more like celery lol.  After lunch, we headed towards Berwick Upon Tweed via the town of Coldstream.  Berwick Upon Tweed is actually in England, so I changed countries today lol.  It was kind of later in the afternoon when we arrived in Berwick.    

BERWICK UPON TWEED - ALONG THE TOP OF THE WALL

Berwick is a walled city in the county of Northumberland. I had visited there before but only in the shopping village.  I didnt realize it was walled.  So this time we went up on the wall and walked halfway around it.  The walls were built between 1558 and 1570 to keep the invading Scots out of the town.  It was really interesting to walk up on the ramparts.  There are scenic views all around the city from up there.  After walking around the wall a little bit, we headed back to the car and drove home.  So here I am working on the blog and photos again.  Tomorrow I think we are going to do the Jedburgh part of our trip that we missed today. Hopefully the weather holds up.  Until then, have a good one and I will be back tomorrow night :-)

North Belton Farm - Day 2

Good Afternoon everyone.  I hope everyone in the UK isn't blowing away.  Its a beautiful day outside but there are gale force winds blowing through.  Its not a cold wind, just a very strong wind.

WALK THROUGH NORTH BELTON FARM

So I slept very well last night after a delicious supper.  My aunt told me I was a guinea pig for something she had never made before.  I told her I could be her guinea pig anytime lol because it turned out delicious.  We had pork parcels slow cooked in cider.  I went to bed around 10 pm and slept all the way through the night, getting up around 7:30 this morning.  My Uncle George left to go play golf shortly after I got up, and my Aunt and I had breakfast before I took a bath.  My Aunt Connie and I decided to go for a walk this morning, braving the fierce winds outside.  It was quite an adventure being blown around hahahaha.  The winds were so strong they were almost blowing us over at times.  We walked for a couple of miles or so, through Hedderwick Farm and the surrounding areas of North Belton Farm.  It is a beautiful area - we walked down a long country road lined with trees and rhododendrons on either side of the road.  When we got back to the farm, the horses came over to see us.  I think they thought we were going to feed them lol.  My Aunt was telling me that one of the older horses, Charlie likes to eat polo mints lol.  A horse with fresh breath hahahaha.

YELLOWCRAIG BEACH - LOOKING OUT TO THE LIGHTHOUSE

After our walk we kind of just chilled, catching up on some sewing and reading until my Uncle got home from golf.  We had some lunch, then headed out on a road trip.  We went to Yellowcraig and Fenton Barns, driving through North Berwick and Gullane.  Yellowcraig is designated as a Local Nature Preserve and is part of the John Muir Way.  Its a short walk down to the beach and the area is surrounded by woods.  My aunt was telling me that lots of people bring their dogs down to this area to walk them.  There is a lighthouse off the coast and you can see for miles.
From Yellowcraig we headed into Fenton Barns. Its a little shopping area with a farm store and some antique stores.  The farm store had some really nice things in it.  I bought a mug for my collection.  I always take home a mug from Scotland each year I am here, so this is no different lol.  It was interesting walking around the antique stores and checking out the different styles of furniture and goodies.  After our stop in Fenton Barns we headed home, driving through the towns of Gullane, down to Haddington and back to the farm.  Overall it was a very nice day - the wind did not spoil it for us.  We could have done without it, but we had no choice lol.  I will be adding in some photos from today in a little bit.  Hope everyone back in the States is doing well.  I didn't like hearing the news about what happened in Boston, there are some sick people in this world.  Scotland is so peaceful - well at least the part I am in.  Country living is so much more relaxing and easy going.  This is truly where I should be for the rest of my life.
Talk to you all later.  Bye :-)))))

North Belton Farm Getaway - Day 1

Hi everyone - hope everyone is having an enjoyable Monday.  I have had a wonderful day thanks to my Aunt and Uncle.  As many of you know, I was invited to stay with my Aunt and Uncle at their cottage for a few days.  Their little cottage is on a farm called North Belton Farm.  It's a working farm that grows wheat.  It also boards horses.  Its so beautiful and quiet out here.  If I look out my bedroom window I see horses in the field directly behind the cottage.  I am SO going to enjoy being here :-)

Eyemouth Harbor

So today i got up, took my bath and packed a small bag for my trip.  My aunt and uncle came and picked me up around 10:30 and we headed down to a small fishing village called Eyemouth. The town's name comes from its location at the mouth of the Eye Water. The Berwickshire coastline consists of high cliffs over deep clear water with sandy coves and picturesque harbours. A working fishing port, Eyemouth holds a yearly Herring Queen Festival. Notable buildings in the town include Gungreen's House and a cemetery watch house built to stand guard against the Resurrectionists (body snatchers). Many of the features of a traditional fishing village are preserved in the narrow streets and vennels – giving shelter from the sea and well suited to the smuggling tradition of old.  We had a nice time walking through the harbor and the town.  We stopped in at the Eyemouth Maritime Museum which was really interesting and well done. We also walked down by the beach which brought back some memories from when I visited this little village years ago.  We visited it back in 1990 when my kids were little.  I have a photo somewhere at home of Kristin (she was 4 years old at the time) coming down a slide and it was taken in Eyemouth.  Zach wasn't with us as he was so little (3 months old) and was home with my mom.  Anyway I digress on old memories lol.  After we left Eyemouth, we headed to Coldingham to visit the Coldingham Priory.  Here's a little history I obtained from the internet on the Priory.  It truly is a beautiful place.  

Coldingham Priory

Coldingham Priory was a house of Benedictine Monks. Coldingham Priory was founded in the reign of David I of Scotland, although his older brother and predecessor King Edgar of Scotland had granted the land of Coldingham to theChurch of Durham in 1098, and a church was constructed by him and presented in 1100. The first prior of Coldingham is on record by the year 1147, although it is likely that the foundation was much earlier. The earlier Columban Abbey was founded by St. Æbbe sometime circa 640 AD. Although the monastery was largely destroyed by Oliver Cromwell in 1648, some remains of the priory exist, the choir of which forms the present parish church of Coldingham and is serviced by theChurch of Scotland. Beside the archway is a wonderful lapidarium - a collection of carved masonry and gravestones. Gathered in this corner of the churchyard is a wonderfully diverse array of carved stones, ranging from grotesque heads to Templar grave slabs. Some are medieval, like a grinning Green Man, and some post-date the priory, like an 18th century shepherd's grave stone. There are piscinas and quern stones, and a wonderful grave stone for a mason, showing the tools of his trade. At the entrance to the site is a Victorian mortuary and hearse-house.  Coldingham Priory is a wonderfully evocative site. There are extremely useful information signs throughout, which do a great job of explaining the history of the priory.

EbbCarrs Cafe - St Abbs

After Coldingham we headed for St Abbs, another quaint little village on the coast.  We decided to have lunch here at a place called EbbCarrs.  I decided to brave some new cuisine called Cullen Skink.  For those of you who aren't Scottish, Cullen Skink is a thick Scottish soup made of smoked haddock, potatoes and onions.  It was really good.  It was served with warm and crusty french bread and butter.  Yum.  After lunch we walked around and took a few photos before heading back to the car.  My Aunt took a pretty scenic route home along the coastline, passing fields of sheeps and lambs, cows and calfs.  Lots of the fields are beginning to turn green from the recent rains, and it so picturesque.
We are now back at the farm, relaxing.  So thought it would be a good time to catch up on the blog and publish some photos I took today.  I forget where my Aunt told me we were going tomorrow.  My Uncle is playing golf until 1 pm'ish and then we are headed somewhere.  I am sure it will be just as beautiful as today.  I am thankful for this time I get to spend with them.  Wish I was staying in Scotland longer because my cousin who I haven't seen in over  30 years will be here in June from South Africa.  I probably should have stayed another month.  I could always change my ticket back for another fee hahahahaha.
Ok that's it for tonight.  I will catch up with you all tomorrow night.  Bye for now.

The Escapades of the Fearless Foursome

Edinburgh Fabric Shop - The Bridges

Hi all - happy Friday.  Hope everyone is doing well and looking forward to the weekend.  I had a great day today.  I had to get up and get ready early so I was ready to go when Anne picked us up to take us to Val's this morning.  So had breakfast and a quick bath and was ready to rumble when Anne got here at 9:30.  We drove over to Val's house because she was driving us into Edinburgh.  We got on the road and Val took some side streets so I got to see a little bit of Edinburgh I wouldn't necessarily see.  We got into town and headed straight for the Edinburgh Fabric Shop up the Bridges.  What a fun store.  For the girls it was like being in a candy store...lol.  So many choices and pretty things to look at.  I purchased some fat quarters for future cushion covers and some pretty buttons to coordinate with them.  Anne and Val got fabrics for various different projects that they had going on.  Not sure what my mom bought, I think just a couple of pieces of fabric.  After we finally made it out of the store, we went in search of lunch.  Our plan was to have a pub lunch.  We kind of wanted fish and chips.  The first pub we went in didn't serve fish and chips. HUH?  A pub that doesn't have fish and chips, thats just not right lol.  The waiter did direct us to another pub down the street called the Green Mantle telling us that they had fish and chips.  When we got there, they had fish and chips but the fish was on a burger. HUH?  Lol.  we ended up staying anyways.  I had Potato & Double Gloucester soup (Double Gloucester is cheese for the Americans in this group).  It came with a roll, you could have bacon or haggis on your roll so I had haggis.  Both the soup and the roll were good.  Still in search of the fish and chips though lol.  I will have to have some in town this week sometime.  Anyway after lunch, we headed back to Dunbar with a side tour into the local quilt show lol.  The quilt show is happening this weekend at the strawberry farm on the outskirts of Dunbar.  What a fun little show.  Lots of pretty things to look at.  You also got a cup of tea/coffee and a cake with your entrance fee.  I fell in love with an elephant bag that was on display but it turned out the lady wasnt selling it as she had made it for her granddaughter.  So of course when I got home I had to go online and track down the pattern.  Now I have to make my own bag which might be a disaster as I don't read patterns all that well.  I hope it isnt a bunch of sewing gobbledy gook or I am in trouble lol.  Anyway I am excited to get it because the bag is just too darn cute.  I think Val and Anne had a good time at the quilt show.  They got to see lots of new things and I think it started the creative wheels turning in their brains.  All in all we had a wonderful girls day out.  Lots of laughs and just plain good company.  I am SO going to miss our sewing days :-(

Elephant Bag I am going to make.

For dinner tonight I made tacos.  Got all the ingredients and even fried up some tortilla shells.  They came out good.  The salsa would have been better if it was handmade but I don't even do that at home so why start here lol.  I mean we eat fresh salsa but its always salsa from a mexican restaurant or the deli lol.
Now we are just all sitting relaxing and doing our own things,  My mom and I have been working on our cushions, my dad is working on his genealogy.  Not sure of plans for this weekend.  Its supposed to be really nice weather here on Sunday so we might finally get to take that walk to Tyninghame (a cute little town close by).  Next week I am going to stay with my Aunt and Uncle for a couple of days so I am really looking forward to that.  Going to have to think about where I else I want to visit in the next couple of weeks because May 5th will be upon me before I know it.  I am already sad that I have to go.  My cottage in Cockburnspath is still available.  I should be living there lol.
Well thats all for tonight.  I hope everyone has a great, relaxing weekend.  Bye for now.

Calton Hill

Gate - near the entrance of Calton Hill

Good Evening everyone.  Hope that you all have had a terrific Thursday.  Mine has been a nice one albeit a sad one.  The sad part I will explain in a few minutes after I tell you about the awesome day I had in Edinburgh.  I have been to Edinburgh many times but have never ventured up Calton Hill.  We finally went up there today and what a beautiful view of the city you get from up there. The hill also is home to so many old buildings and monuments.  Calton Hill is the headquarters of the Scottish Government, which is based at St Andrew's House on the steep southern slope of the hill.  Luckily the weather was on our side.  It wasn't windy and it wasn't raining lol.  It was overcast and a little hazy though.  I guess on a clear day you can see for miles across the Firth of Forth.  We had fun walking around and exploring and taking photographs.  After Calton Hill, my dad and I stopped in at the Calton Hill Cemetery which was really interesting. Many of the graves dated back to the 1700's. After that we went to John Lewis's for lunch.  The soup of the day today was Cream of Cauliflower Cheese Soup.  Yum - need I say more lol.  After lunch my dad went off on his own (to have a pint I think) while my mom and I strolled Princes Street.  I got myself a nice pair of shoes at Clarks, and then my mom and I headed into Milnes Pub for a drink before meeting my Dad at Waverley Train Station.  We caught the 3:08pm train home to Dunbar.  After dinner, I walked up to ASDA by myself.  Bought stuff to make tacos for dinner tomorrow night, the first mexican dish I will have had in over 7 weeks lol.

Calton Hill

So now on to my sad news.  Well I guess it is sad news for my UK family and friends, but happy news for my US family.  I will be leaving to go home on May 5th.  Unfortunately I don't have unlimited funds to stay all the way to September like I wanted to.  So I had to make a tough decision.  As much as I don't want to leave I am going to have to.   I am going home in time to be there for Kenley's 1st birthday and my hubby's birthday in mid-May.  I really wish I could split myself in two because my heart is always in two places.  It sucks.  I guess I could still win the lottery before I leave and then I can change my ticket back to what it was lol.  I won't hold my breath though.   I still have three weeks left before I get on that long weary plane trip home so I am going to make the best of it.
So that's all I know.  Tomorrow will be our fun day out with Val and Anne to the fabric shop.  Looking forward to it :-)
Have a good night everyone.

Its Hump Day

Happy Wednesday everyone.  We are halfway through another week.  I don't know where this week is going but it just seems to be zipping past me.  Let me start this blog by saying a very BIG thank you for all the birthday wishes that were sent my way on Monday.  Reading all your special comments on Facebook warmed my heart and made my day.  And to all my family and friends here in Britain, thank you for the gifts - everyone was so thoughtful.  It is definitely a birthday I won't forget soon.
So lets backtrack to Monday because I realize that I haven't posted anything in a couple of days.

Birthday Candle

So on Monday I woke up and was a year old.  Being half a century old is kind of scary but I guess it will be ok lol.  My daughter and grandkids face timed me on Monday to wish me a happy birthday.  Unfortunately Cameron wasn't there as he was at school (or at his other grandma's - I cant remember) but Cole and Kenley were there.  Cole sang happy birthday to me (bless his heart).  I was also informed that I need balloons - orange, blue and purple ones lol.  My aunt and uncle also came over for a visit on Monday morning.  They gave me a hot stone massage gift card which I am so looking forward to using as my shoulder has been hurting for the past few weeks and I am hoping that the massage will maybe work out the kink in it.  My mom and I went into the shop on Monday for our usual afternoon of volunteering.  When I got there, Val made me wear two badges - one that said Happy Birthday and another that said Birthday Girl lol.  So I had customers in the store wishing me Happy Birthday.  She also bought me a cake and topped it with a chinese birthday candle.  It was the coolest thing ever.  Its like a lotus flower and when you light it, it opens up and all the candles on the petals light up.  It also plays happy birthday.  It was unique and very cool.  Thanks Val for thinking of me - you are the best.

My cushion cover

Yesterday (Tuesday) my mom and I went into Haddington on the bus.  SHe needed to pay her rent and we were going to visit the little fabric shop but the fabric shop was closed.  So we wandered around visiting the charity shops, did some grocery shopping at Tesco, and had lunch at Diggory's.  We had Carrot, Ginger & Lime soup, which was a new one for us.  It was pretty tangy but quite good.  We were only in Haddington for a couple of hours before catching the bus home.  And we just kind of hung out and sewed the rest of the day.  Today my Dad and I walked 4 miles to my Aunt and Uncle's farm cottage.  We were walking to the Belhaven Smokehouse for me to get some salmon but decided to walk up to the farm if they were home.  We visited for a little while and then my Aunt drove us home because it had started to rain.  We did stop in at the smokehouse where I purchased some smoked salmon and some peppered smoked mackerel.  I can't even tell you how good this stuff is, its delicious. After lunch today, my mom and I walked into town so I could give some fabric I had cut to Val.  We have all been working on some cushion covers.  I have completed my second one lol.  The girls are doing a great job considering they haven't made one before.
I am not sure what we are up to tomorrow.  Maybe a trip up to Calton Hill in Edinburgh if the weather isnt bad.  On Friday my mom, Val, Anne and I are headed into edinburgh for a girls day out.  We plan on hitting a fabric shop and then lunch.  On the way back into Dunbar we are going to stop at the local quilt show which is happening this weekend at the Strawberry Farm.  So it should be a fun day.
So with that I will say goodnight as its past 10pm here.  Time for bed.  Have a good one and I will talk with you all soon :-)

Birthday Weekend

Mom & Dad

H everyone - its Sunday and its drizzly cold.  Just walked home from the bus stop in Dunbar and it was freezing. We are finally getting warm.  Hope everyone has had a good weekend.  I have had a really nice one.
Yesterday we helped out in the shop again for a few hours in the afternoon.  Then about 6:30 my sister-in-law picked us up and took us out to Prestonpans to her house.  They were all taking me out to dinner for my birthday.  It was my mom, dad, brother, Simone, Nicole and myself. We got on the bus to take us to Musselburgh.  We didn't take the car so that Simone could have a drink whilst she was out and enjoy herself.   We ended up going to The Quayside in Musselburgh.  Its a world banquet with food

Simone, Gary & Me

from all over the world.  What we in America would call a buffet lol.  The food was very good and I ate more than I probably should have.  I was stuffed when we left.  We took the bus back into the Pans and went into the Goth (the local pub) for another couple of drinks.  I had some kind of blue vodka drink called WKD (or wicked).  Its pretty yummy, tastes like juice lol.  By the time we left the pub it was already 11:30.  And no we weren't drunk, not even close lol.  I didn't fall asleep until about 1 am.  I watched a show on my iPad until I got sleepy.

Nicole & Simone

Today Simone took my mom, Nicole and myself out to Livingston to a designer outlet.  Livingston is on the outskirts of Edinburgh.  For my birthday I got a Radley bag (with some help from my brother and Simone - thanks guys) and a Radley purse from my mom and dad.  For those in the states who are not familiar with Radley, its a real fancy leather handbag company here in the UK and it has a little scottie dog as their logo.  After the Radley store, we wandered around the otherstores doing a little "girl" shopping for a couple of hours.  It was a nice day.  Got back home and Simone made spaghetti meatball bolognaise (yum)  before mom, dad and myself headed home.  We missed our bus in Tranent so we had to spend an hour there before the next bus, so we headed into a pub for a drink and to get warm lol.  We are now back home.  Its been a great weekend with great company.  Thank you to my family for making it special for me.  I really appreciate the dinner and gifts..  I'd prefer to forget tomorrow though lol.  If I pretend it isn't happening, I can pretend I haven't hit my 50's....hahahahaha.
As for this week, I don't think we have too much planned.  We work in the shop tomorrow and then on Friday we are driving into Edinburgh with Val and Anne to the Edinburgh Fabric shop for another girls day out :-)
Hope everyone has an awesome week.  I will talk to you soon.

I'm Back

Hi there - I'm back.  Sorry about not posting a blog this past week, but time just got away from me.  I was looking back to see when I posted last and I guess it was last week when we returned from our trip up north.  I haven't done a lot of things but I have done some things lol.

Spott

Last Sunday we walked up to the town of Spott.  I loved the walk up there as its kind of hilly.  I don't think my folks appreciated the hills as much as I did lol, but they did it :-) Spott is a quiet little farm town about a mile and a half from Dunbar.  It has cute little cottages that I could definitely see myself in.  Of course there are many cottages in Scotland that I could see myself in, I am just going to have to win the bloody lottery.  A black cat crossed my path yesterday.  My mother tells me thats good luck lol.    So going to have to play a couple of lines on tomorrow's lottery.  Anyway I digress.  The week was a quiet one.  We worked in the shop on Monday and Wednesday as Val was short-staffed due to spring break and volunteers spending time with their kids and so forth.
Yesterday my mom and I took a trip into Edinburgh.  We had planned to walk down Leith to a fabric store that we knew about to get some fabric for a project we want to work on.  We got to Edinburgh around 11:15 and headed down Leith walk.  We stopped in at a little charity shop and ran into my Aunty Jack in the store.  For those of you who don't know who that is, she is my mom's sister (hi Aunty Jack if you are reading this lol).  So we visited with her and walked a little further down the road before parting ways.  It was nice to see her, and I will hopefully see her again soon.  We found the fabric store and had fun in there.  Afterwards we headed up to John Lewis to go have lunch.  It was Cream of Spicy Vegetable soup and it was quite scrumptious.  It was followed by a fruit scone with jam.  I have to tell you that I have had several scones from different places whilst I have been here, but the one they sell at John Lewis's is by farthest the best scone in Scotland.  Its light and fluffy and so good.  After lunch we headed to one of our favorite stores - Cath Kidston - for another look around.  Then it was back to the train station to catch the 4:30 pm train back to Dunbar.

Dave, Mom, Aunt Connie, Pam, Uncle George and Me

Today we were just going to walk into Dunbar to run a couple of errands.  We went into the shop to have a cup of coffee with Val and she was short-staffed again so we ended up staying and helping her out for another few hours.  Then tonight, we went to my Aunt Connie and Uncle George's cottage for dinner and to meet their friends Pam and Dave that are visiting from South Africa.  We had a lovely dinner and visit.  My Aunt Connie always outdoes herself.  Her dinners are so yummy.  It was a really nice eveing with great company.  Dave and Pam were a lovely couple.  It turns out there daughter lives in Big Bear which isn't too far from where I live.  So we had a nice chat about California, and they knew about certain places I was talking about.
So that was my week.  Tomorrow we are helping out in the shop again.  And then tomorrow night Simone is going to pick us up and we are going out to dinner for my birthday.  I am trying to forget that I am having one but they wont let me lol.  We will be spending the night at Gary and Simone's on Saturday and coming back home on Sunday.  So should be a fun weekend.
So that is that.  I will probably not update the blog until Sunday night unless I decide to take my laptop to my brothers house tomorrow night.  I will be taking my camera so we can get some family photos :-)
Bye for now :-))))