Friday18th March

Snow falling on Saturday while I sat cosy in the bedroom finishing Jo Nesbo's The Devil's Star

 Well it was a lovely sunny day till about half an hour ago and it hasn't quite clouded over yet so there's still hope. . . the wee woman in the dry cleaners was full of joy this morning and it was just because the sun was shining in the window. Please let this be the start of spring this time and not another of Old Mother Nature's cruel jokes!!

I know that compared to the folk in Japan, we've absolutely nothing to complain about. God help them.

But we are tiny  little creatures in the great scheme of things and I guess we all live miniscule little lives so the awful weather we've been having has made 'us wee folk' up in the far north east corner of Scotland all feel quite down.

We've had a lot of rain. This plastic basket was empty two day's ago

On Tuesday, Anne and I set out for our marathon walk - to us that's a walk to the Woodend Barn and back which in total is about six miles, I think.
 Anyway dressed for the cold, wet we set off.
 Why did we do it? Whose crazy idea was it to keep going and not stop after about a mile and take our coffee break in the Raemoir garden centre?

I'll tell you who!
It was that Anne Mason, that's who it was. And she paid the price! Whilst I was wearing a 'rain' coat, hers was 'shower proof' and as we took off our coats in the coffee shop, it was quite obvious who was wearing the 'rain' coat and who had opted for 'shower proof' as sufficient protection from the elements!

I was dry apart from my trousers. Anne was soaked to the skin. The lining of her coat was as wet as the outside. Blouse, trousers and underwear were all soaking wet!

It was cosy and warm indoors so she wasn't too uncomfortable but the hard bit was putting the coat back on again to walk home. Just thinking about it makes me shudder in sympathy.
A hot shower as soon as she got home helped but she reckons it took her hands till teatime to get the feeling back, they'd been so numbed by the freezing cold and relentless rain! Brrr. At one point on the way back, she confessed that the water was running down her skin inside her clothes!

Took some photos of Luca on Tuesday night. We wanted to let Auntie Lucy see that her little puppy Abbie dog had arrived safely. Luca insisted on finding it a wee bed (ended up in a pudding bowl) and we took it home leaving it sleeping on a cushion near the bottom of Luca's bed.

Luca with puppy in it's pudding bowl bed.

Ian was home early on Tuesday and having plonked himself down in his chair, the conversation went something like this . . .
Granda Ian: I'm thirsty.
Luca: I'm thirsty too.
Granda Ian: I think I would like a cup of tea.
Luca: I think I'd like Ribena.
Granda Ian: Whose going to make it, then?
Luca: I imagine it'll be Granny Jo.

This was before our time playing with his pennies and yoghurt pots ( he likes to share the pennies out between the cups), I suggested he count the pennies to which he replied in a weary tone put on specially while slowly shaking his head, "You count them because it's not my job, it's yours."
I wonder where he got that from?

Luca with his yoghurt pots

To finish off the evening, he confided on the way home,
"Your hair looks like broccoli, Granny."
I'd like to know where that came from too!

I found a good birthday card for Johanne's sixtieth birthday. She's the week after me. It shows a photo of a smiling woman probably from the fifties by her clothesand hairstyle, holding up a glass of clear liquid. Underneath it reads:
Now she had reached sixty and recalling her doctor's advice to eat more fruit, she popped off to put some cherries in her gin.
It made me laugh, anyway :)

Ok time to go. Thought you might like a record of the demise of an old friend.

The sad sight we were greeted with the other morning. The garage is no more :(

 Sun's back out again :)