Friday 29th January

I have been meaning to blog for quite a while now but haven't seemed to get round to doing it.

Yesterday was out because 'Anne the disabled' - yes she's still limping around on crutches, and I took a trip down to The Black Sheep cafe in Aboyne for a little outing and a little bit of cake!

I had 'chocolate and almond' and Anne had 'apple and spice'. There were several others to choose from, including 'cherry and almond' and 'orange and walnut' . It was a difficult choice.

Mmmm, yummy! Very delicious but not to be experienced too often.

The snow has gone off just now and the sky is blue. How long for?
We'll see. We've had snowshowers and sunshine all morning.

This photo was taken at about nine oclock this morning and there's been a fair bit has fallen since then!

I had planned to sweep up all the dead, mushy leaves in the back garden today but I guess I'll just have to leave that job for another day. Oh well, never mind :)

Ross came up to see me a moment ago so I took a photo of him.
"I'd rather you didn't post my face on the internet," he said.
So I'm not going to...
Here's one of his ponytail instead!


"So that's how long it is now," he said having a good look at the photo. "Ive never seen it before!"
I offered to give it a little trim but he was having none of it.

Tuesday

Teatime on Tuesday night.
It's been a fairly quiet day...

I toddled round to see Anne this morning to check how she's doing and hear how she got on at the physiotherapist yesterday.

Good news!
Things are looking up - she has progressed to elbow crutches and now has lots more exercises to get on with!

Ross and I ate lunch together and I spent the rest of the afternoon in the kitchen... we now have a big pot of carrot and sweet potato soup and the bones of a chicken bought for 'one pound off' yesterday at Costco are busy simmering away in a pot to make some chicken stock.

I picked the meat off the bones but can't decide what to do with it... should I make a chicken and mushroom pie or a curry or perhaps I should split it between cock-a-leekie soup and club sandwiches?

What's the low fat option? No, no not chicken in lettuce leaves or even chicken and stir fried vegetables or chicken in clear soup with noodles and vegetables...

It's cold outside and it's dark half the day!

Alas, it's no wonder my weight is ever increasing!

My appetite is for winter comfort food but I'm sitting in and seldom leaving a warm cosy centrally heated house, I reckon, I hardly move more than a few feet each day.
I really need to up my time out of the house and the amount of exercise I do!! Drastically.

But wait! All is not lost...

Yesterday was my first time at the swimming pool since we stopped for Christmas and I managed my regular twenty lengths... are we impressed?

And now that the snow is disappearing, I can start walking again!
Yes, yes, there is light at the end of the tunnel!

Changing the subject quickly, you never did see my photos from last week, when we drove along to the Potarch bridge because nobody fancied journeying over to Westhill in all the snow, to swim.

The little picket fence looks lovely topped with snow, don't you think?



And here's a picture of my swimming buddies with the bridge in the background - Elizabeth to the left, Myra in the middle and Jill on the right.


Myra had suggested we go to the bridge because someone had told her the river was frozen right over just at the bridge.
Just a wee bit, huh?



I took these photos from the bridge.
We didn't go down to check how thick the ice was, just incase we misjudged the river bank and ended up in the river!

Now, can't you feel the cosy central heating keeping the freezing teperatures outside at bay, in this photo?!

Sunday 10th January

This is my attempt at artistic photography... what do you think?

It's been pretty cold today in the house.

We've had all the doors closed to keep the heat in each room and this afternoon, even with the heating on, I was wearing a teashirt below a woollen jumper below a hoody with my big pure wool shawl scarf on top.

The hall and stairs were freezing cold.

I had to check to believe the heating was on!

Ross says it had gone off with the timer while I was out at mass and probably that time period which elapsed before he put it on again caused the core temperature in the house to drop! Could be.

Much better now, thank goodness.

It was such a beautiful morning, I took my camera with me to church. The sky was blue and the air was crisp and cold...

I just had to take a photo of these icicles hanging from the guttering to let you see,





and the frozen railings...

That's Guilia standing at the foot of the stairs ready to catch anyone who slips on the ice and skites down the steps!

and the icicle bush against the wall...



Myra says she knew someone who was killed when an icicle dropped just as they were walking underneath it and because of the size and weight it was driven right into their brain!

What do you think?
Was she telling porky pies?

We went to Anne's for coffee this morning, seeing as she is still unsure on her feet and in this weather is frightened to go out.
And look what we found!
More icicles!

We thought it was better to rush straight into the house, just in case Myra's story was true!

If you look closely, you can see Johanne waving out from just inside the house. I think she looks stronger now that she's had her battery replaced and everyone agreed that her voice is much clearer and even a bit louder than it was!

Friday 8th January

It didn't snow last night so my sweeping of the drive yesterday was not in vain!

I decided there was too much snow for me to shovel it all away so I got out our big garden broom and swept as much snow as I could over to the edges to give us, if not a clear driveway, at least one that isn't rutted by car tracks.

I thought I had done very well... after all I had worked up a sweat doing it and I was sure it was going to make getting in and out of the drive a lot easier but (woe is me) Ian was unimpressed :(

In fact he didn't even notice when he came in and when I looked for my pat on the back, started to describe to me how to clear a drive properly.

Och well, you win some - you lose some.

Yesterday was Anne's return visit to the hospital to let the doctors look at her ankle and the news was good. The stooky is off and and she is now sporting an inflatable ankle brace which she can take off at night and when she has a shower or a bath...hurrah!

On the way back we stopped in at the Raemoir Garden Centre for lunch... they do a nice line in comfortable wheelchairs which stand at the entrance waiting for folk like us to use them!

It was quite a surprise to see a huge 'Spring' display facing us as we came in - lots of daffodils with bouncing bunny rabbits and frolicking lambs... we were quite taken aback by the garish yellows and oranges, purples and blues - somehow it felt all wrong - maybe not quite the theme to suit the weather conditions outside, mmm?!

The temperatures were very low last night according to the man on the radio this morning. He was urging people to phone in and tell him what the temperature was where they were. The lowest was -21degrees. But that was somewhere in the Highlands. The woman said her backdoor was frozen shut. She couldn't get it open!

I took these photos from the bedroom window when it was starting to get light yesterday morning. What do you think... the scene was beautiful - not sure it's been captured by the camera? Can you see the moon in the first two?




At last - you will all be glad to know - we are on the last leg of the turkey... well actually not the last leg literally - what i mean is the turkey is almost 'no more'!
The soup made from the bones has one more day left in it!
Yesterday we added butter beans, peas and curry powder to the basic vegetable soup and today? What will I add today to make it just that wee bit different?
Any suggestions?

Tuesday 5th January

I've been away spending some quality time with Ian in snowy Perthshire and if you look at Ian's blog you can check out some of the fun we had...

Unfortunately I forgot to take my camera out with me most of the time so the only photos I have are of Ian in the hotel bar on our last evening. Sorry.

What is my favourite memory of the trip?
I think I would need to say it was reaching the top of the Birks o' Aberfeldy.
Although if truth be told it nearly killed me!
My legs are still sore every time I move them!

Did you see the photo of my descent... literally.
That was my second fall.
My first happened near the top. Ian told me to hold onto the wire fence at the side because the path was so slippy. So I did. I held on really tight.
Unfortunately my feet went from under me and I found myself in the horizontal position, submerged in a foot of snow but still hanging on tight to the wire fence.
You told me to hang on, Ian!
"Yes," said Ian as with a gentlemanly flourish he helped me regain the vertical,"but you're supposed to let go when you actually fall!"

My second fall was too much for Ian. The gentleman had had enough.
Whoops, my feet went from under me again and down I went. Bonked my head on the ground too!
But where was the sympathy? Where was the helping hand?
Nowhere!
Instead it was, "Do you never listen to me? I said not to walk down that particular way!" and he got out his camera and took a photo before striding off!

I couldn't get up!
Between my hysterical fit of the giggles and the fact that the path was incredibly slippy. I was forced to slide down the remainder of the slope on my backside.
The seat of my jeans got soaked!!

Now here is a sweet little video I took at luca's birthday lunch.
He's playing a game that he got for Christmas.



...And here are some photos from the same day.


Those balloons created peals of hysterical laughter as they were bounced around the room...



... and well, a picnic on the livingroom carpet in the middle of winter? As they say in the Midnight Garden.... what a pip!
Good idea, Mummy!