Thursday afternoon - quarter to five

On any other day, I would be starting to make the tea at this time but not on a Thursday.

Thursday evening is Weight Watchers meeting so I need to take my mind off food. . . because I won't be eating any till I get home after the weigh in!

The pangs of hunger are beginning to kick in. Best bet is to steer well clear of the kitchen.

The bedroom with my fingers busy hammering the computer keyboard seems like a good idea.

It's a bit like knitting which was very useful when I was trying to stop smoking all those years ago. Keep the hands busy and take the focus off the cravings. . .

So. . .

Mary, yes.
She arrived on Tuesday and went back home on Friday. The time flew in and I felt she had just unpacked when she was already packing her little bag again.

We spent lots of time with Gary, Carole and Luca which was what I had hoped but we also spent time on the computer.
On Ancestry.com
I had said to Mary that I would show her my research and then we would try and find Granny Sowerby on the 1901 census because she seemed to disappear in 1891 and not reappear till she was getting married in 1904.
Where was she all that time?

Well, we found her!

Can you make it out?
If you click on the image, it should get bigger.
She's down as Frances Pfaff. and she's a visitor in a house in Taunton in Somerset.

Having knocked three years off her age she seems to be travelling with three lads - two actors and one comedian. She is described as a pianist and singer!

I think we're talking Vaudeville here!

Saturday lunch time

I've left the supermarket shop sitting on the dining room table for the time being because I'm worn out. . .

. . . and that was that! Gary and Luca appeared just as I typed that last word and having saved to 'draft' I went down to see them . . . the end!
So it's Sunday - 2.30pm and I'm back!

The house is empty apart from Ian in the back room, not feeling well - he cancelled his golf this morning (that's the measure of how bad he's feeling - that and the blankie he has wrapped around himself ) and 'sleeping beauty' (otherwise known as Ross) on the ground floor.

It's quiet.

Brian left this morning. He'd been up for the golf - Friday and Saturday.

And it was lovely to see him again and thanks to his visit, we ventured back up to the Tor-na Coille for a bar supper!

I didn't take any photos while he was up, sorry, but this one is only a couple of years old and he hasn't changed that much! He's the one with the bird eyeing up his nice red cap :)

The Tor-na-Coille, to get back to the bar supper, was very good.

I had pea and mint risotto which was yummy - I thought you might be interested in knowing that, Kelly (. . . and by the way are you still in existence??) seeing as you are now veggie.

Ross and Brian had fish and chips - very nicely presented - the chips had been cut into long narrow cuboids and were stacked up on top of each other like a little tower. Very chic!

And Ian had a chicken dish with some kind of sauce which looked equally good and tasted very nice according to Ian - so things are looking up.

Mary was up this week too.

You can see why I haven't been blogging, can't you? Far too busy having fun!

She arrived on Tuesday and left again on Friday morning . . . and I do have some photos of her!
Albeit, they were all taken at the same time, which was Tuesday afternoon, when the sun shone!!

Check them out. Hide and seek was Luca's suggestion.
He's still getting the hang of this game. You have to keep reminding him he hasn't to jump out and say, "Here I am!" as soon as you finish counting and call out, "Here I come, ready or not!"

Here he is playing the right way!

Fiendishly clever hiding place, Luca! She'll never find you there :)

Now, here he is counting.



And here he is finding his Aunt Mary after she shouts, "I'm over here!"

I love this age, don't you. They're so cute!

I've run out of time so, I'll finish off telling you about Mary's visit next time :)

Monday afternoon

I'm just looking round me as I type this - with a fresh pair of eyes.

Have you noticed, or is it just me, that you go on your own sweet way never noticing what is actually around you - or the state it's in - and then something happens, like a visitor arrives in the house and all of a sudden, you are seeing everything through their eyes ( like Mary's, she arrives tomorrow) and it's not a pretty sight!

Ian has very kindly volunteered to pick her up at the train station, which reminds me I'd better tell him how travel sick she gets in cars. The last time she came up, she got off at Stonehaven and by the time I got her to Banchory she was 'green'!

She's staying till Friday so hopefully we'll be able to orchestrate a meeting between her and Carole and Luca. It'll probably be our only opportunity before the wedding!

So, back to today, this will be a short entry because I think I should get the hoover out and lift all the fluff off this wooden floor!

What's been going on since I last spoke to you?

Nothing worth mentioning really. Mass and coffee at the Milton yesterday. Swimming at Westhill today.

Ross is out on a couple of jobs this afternoon. He has picked up some work with 'The Old Mill Inn' and with a helicopter company near Peterculter. . . finger's crossed.

I decided while I was swimming today that I'm going to go back into Ancestry.co.uk again and see if I can find my great great granny Jane Pfaff's sisters in the census of 1891.

I've discovered that great great granda Johann Pfaff died of typhoid in 1892 but the trail goes cold there for great great granny and I'd love to know what happened to her.

I can't find a death certificate for her but in the next census - the 1901 census, I found an Eva Pfaff (great granny Pfaff Sowerby's youngest sister was Eva) in an orphanage! If it's the right one, what happened to the rest of the family to cause her to end up in an orphanage.

Eva is the sister that family lore would have us believe ran away with a troupe of actors to South America!

Ian's home :)

Just for interest - 2004 Kate Ling's wedding.
Kate has just had another wee girl. . . Lucy! She's living in Houston just now. Ted and Christina are going over to Houston on saturday!

Saturday lunchtime

Back again . . .

It seems like this blog is either a famine or feast.

Took a walk with Anne to the Falls of Feugh tearoom this morning. The sun was shining and the temperature was 'not bad', so we decided to sit outside . . . not the best decision we've ever made! The sun disappeared and the wind got up. Still you can't criticize the setting. I wish now I had taken my camera with me.

A word to the wise, though - don't sit outside if you want a top up for your coffee. Once you're outside - that's it. Nobody will come near you again!

Haven't had much exercise this week.
I swam on Monday as usual but that's been it apart from Tuesday morning's walk to the Raemoir Garden Centre and this morning's short walk to the Falls of Feugh.

Hang on, I forgot Sunday's walk up at Torphins with Anne and Maura. Gee it was windy that day! Maura had on a skip cap and I wished I'd borrowed one of Ian's just to stop my hair beating me to death!

This photo was taken on Sunday. The folk you're seeing the back of are Maura (on the left - with the proper walking boots on) and Anne.

The gasman came on Thursday to fix the leaky radiators. We've got a new radiator in Ross' loo and a new valve 'with bladder' in the living room! He also used his wrench to tighten the two radiators I'd discovered were leaking after we had organised for him to come.

Fingers crossed that Thursday has seen an end to our troubles with the heating system.

The gasman - Raymond, had to go up into the attic to isolate the tank for the heating system so's he could drain the radiator he was replacing and, since he can't use my ladder (company rules dictate that he uses his own), he brought in his own.

What a great ladder it turned out to be! As well as being an A shape, it could be straightened out which meant it reached right up into the attic!
"That's a great ladder!" I told him."Where did you get it?"

He told me.
I've forgotten the name of the manufacturer already but I did recognise it.

Anyway, he said that if I wanted a ladder for the attic, I should get a Fakki loft ladder. That, that was what he had at home.
"All you have to do is screw this to that and that to this and 'Bobs your uncle'!"
If only it was that simple :(

On a more positive note, he is a red wine drinker and told me to track down - Fortium Salice Salantino 2006 or 7 because it was just wonderful! :)

Would you like to see some of the photos I took last night in the garden? Yes? OK.

This is the little apple tree now sporting little apples!

And here are the hostas that are now prospering because of my attack on the slugs!!
And yes, I do still feel a bit guilty about using 'Slugg Off' on them - there was a little dried up corpse lying on the slabs last night :(

Any ideas on what I can do to stop the bolts on my stair from rusting?

And this is one of the photos I took of the embankment - we had that beautiful golden light slanting onto it last night.
Doesn't really show itself in this photo but it's the best me and my wee camera can do :)

OK, that's enough for now. I'm away to show Ross how to wash windows because he has agreed to take over that chore.
Wish me luck :)

Friday afternoon

It's called a will of iron...
And I don't know how much longer I can hold onto it!

Today was West Church coffee morning duty - my task is to bake and take a batch of fruit scones and a traybake.

Well, I'm getting better at the scones so only made what was needed but mmm tray bakes?

I know I used to do these without batting an eyelid a hundred years ago before I went back out to work but since I became a lady of leisure, I just haven't managed to rediscover that old comfort zone.

So three tray bakes completed and the most disastrous dutifully eaten by Ian, Ross and Thomas (Ross' buddy, who incidentally commented that the chocolate cake wasn't that bad - of course he is a 26 year old lad and we all know they have very low standards. Is it sweet and gooey? Fine!), I now find myself with half a tray of cornflake/coconut slice and a half tray of chocolate torte.

Can I leave them alone?
I'm not sure.
Do you know how hard it was for me to bake and not scrape the bowl or test the product? The goodies are now sitting in boxes on the worktop in the kitchen. . . aaargh!

Of course, just to make matters worse, Weightwatchers last night informed me that I have managed to gain half a pound this week!
Gasp, shock, horror!

I've been good. I've dutifully watched my intake of points.
Anne commiserated by saying that as the expert in this field, she knows that the closer you get to your target weight, the harder it is to lose.

I have my own theory.
We've had some really nice weather this week. You know - sitting out in the sunshine weather and as usual my feet and legs refused to use my lymphatic system - I developed swollen ankles!

So last night, I got out my 'cinnamon bun' body cream and worked on my feet and legs.

You'll all be glad to know that, apart from Ian dreaming all night that he was sleeping with an iced bun, I was up three times in the night to use the loo and this morning when I weighed myself I was a kilo lighter than I was yesterday morning!

So, I need to thank my daughter, Lucy for this transformation as she gave me the 'cinnamon bun' lotion as a gift and taught me how to massage my fat ankles :)

Thank you Lucy!
. . . and here she is about to perform gymnastics on our garden swing in our backgarden in Broxbourne.


Can you see Gary sitting on the rug with his pal, Karl? The other little girl is Karl's big sister Sacha.
Happy days!

Saturday lunch time

Well, I did it.
Yes, I am officially under 11 stone!
Ten stone ten pounds to be exact!
My little Weight Watcher's leader now feels vindicated.
"You see!" she smiled. "It always comes off eventually!"

"Now," she said, "the weight loss is the good news. The bad news is that now you have dropped into the stone below, you know, out of eleven stone something and into ten stone something, you also lose a point."

She continued to smile at me, blinking.

It took a moment to work out what she had just said.

Then it dawned on me.

Nohhhhhhhhhhhh. . .

Actually, yes.
I now have to drop a point off my daily intake :(

My emotions are mixed at this moment in time.

So here are some photos of the sea - I took them when we were at Huntington Beach at Easter time.
I love the sea, don't you?

It always makes me feel better. I'll contemplate them as I consider the implications of losing a points worth of food:(


Hey ho.
Thin people are thin because they eat less than the rest of us.

Thursday afternoon

Just showing off. . .
I've been swimming again this morning clocking up 28 lengths and then I walked home from the Raemoir Garden Centre! :)
How about that, then?!!

I've had lunch and now I'm going to get the ironing done. . . yes, I will get the ironing done.
But maybe first I'll have a little browse through my holiday photos - just to remind myself that the sun does exist.

Little cutie pie :)
I'm sure those are Granda Ian's lovely legs behind him. . . and look! A shadow!!

And check out these cheeky chappies :)
I think this was the day we went to the aquarium

Ah, memories, memories :)

Aberdeen is thick with haar today and it's not quite sunny here in Banchory, either.
Ach well, there's nothing for it. Ironing it is. Maybe I'll find something worth watching on the TV to keep me company :(

Thursday morning

Well wasn't that good timing, last night!

Ian left this morning for London and his wee jolly of sport and music with his buddy, Dave. He'll be back on Sunday morning.

Just Ross and me in the house now.

As I sat up in bed this morning feeling numb and unable to move. Waking is difficult. Actually moving after you waken is the difficult part, Ian reappeared in the bedroom.

"Where's my nice pen. The one that fell out of my trouser pocket last night when we were trying to fix the zip?" he asked.
The trousers we are discussing here are the ones he bought that have extra bits zipped on so you can have shorts or longs. He's wearing them today even though we didn't manage to fix the zip - on one of the legs!! :o
Anyway, I didn't know and off he's gone without it.

Why am I telling you this?
Oh yes.
Five minutes after he left, I stretched my leg beneath the covers and wondering what the hard lumpy thing was that I had touched, put my hand down and brought out. . . yes, the pen!

Are we all getting a feeling of deja vu, here?
This isn't the first time we've unknowingly shared our bed, is it?

Remember the fly?!!

I think breakfast is in order, now. So I'll leave you with a photo of Luca. . .

Look how big he's getting!