Saturday 21st May

Made it at last. It's been a struggle getting back here again!
It feels as though the more the time gap between entries grows, the harder it becomes to actually sit down and begin writing.

But I've had my roll'n'sausage with squirty mustard for lunch and I finally managed to watch the final CSI episode in the vast collection that had built up on the hard drive since that fateful day that I thought, "I think I'll start recording CSI because I'm always missing them."  !!!!

At one point, there were 14 waiting to be watched and the memory was running out of space!

However, here we are. If wee Kelly can finally hit the keys again then so can I! :)
Talking of Kelly, I can't let your birthday go unmentioned, can I? So here's some images of you, bonnie lass :)

Scarborough beach.
This was one of the few dry days we got. Ask Gary about this holiday and he will tell you it was one of the best he was ever on.
I loved that wee dress, by the way - you look so cute in it, Kelly :) And look at those little chubby wrists :)

Kelly's fifth birthday. Can you see the green tupperware cup on the table. Does Tupperware, the business, still exist? you never hear about it these days. Used to be everybody had cupboards full of the stuff. I've still got my Tupperware orange peelers! :)

Do you remember asking for this photo to be taken? Kelly and the flowers! Gary was more interested in getting into the jelly :)

Norway.
I loved this holiday! We travelled a lot in the red Volvo which was Ian's car at the time and since we aren't good travellers, everybody except Ian took pills every morning. Ian reckons he was on his own for the whole of that holiday. He drove through Norway with a car full of folk totally zonked out.We don't look zonked out in this photo, do we?

At home
Two wee cuties and a plant that's long since died off! What age were you then, Kelly? About 16, maybe?

The wedding! :)I can see Aunt Mary in her 'pink fascinat' in the background - is that how you spell it? The cross between a fascinator and a hat?

Picked Luca up on Tuesday from Nursery as usual but this week, he was staying the night because Mummy and Daddy were going to the cinema after work. 'Were' being the operative word. They didn't actually make it because Gary was called into work so poor Carole got a quick stop somewhere for tea and ended up back at home all on her own:(

 Thursday had Luca back again. Vomitting all over the Nursery school carpet gets you a 48 hour suspension so Granny Jo took the Thursday shift and Mummy took the Friday.
And Luca bounced his way through both days.

You do realise, don't you, that this is a family of giraffes. Please note the beautiful flowers on their heads. You should hear Luca saying - beautiful - it's a hoot!

Note the multi-tasking. . . watching Tom and Jerry and playing with lego :) Watching Tom and Jerry and working on the computer :)  Choose your character!! :) Luca or Granda Ian :)

This picture was taken on Wednesday just before lunch time on the day he vomitted all over the nursery.

Sniffs'n'sneezes and dripping tap noses are abounding just now thanks to the very pretty yellow crop in the fields all over the shire . . .

And here's the culprit - rapeseed oil. The only thing I'd say on its behalf is that it is stunningly beautiful when you see a field of it bathed in sunshine. Yes?

Saturday 7th May

Ian at Aviemore a while back!!
He's roller skating. "That's it, Ian!" I cheered - from the side :)

It's nine o'clock in the morning and I'm sitting here in the front room looking out of the window at sunshine!

.. . .  And yes, the cloud is lifting and we can just about say that the sky is blue!

Which in one way is good but in another is a bit disappointing. You see, Ian should be playing golf this morning. He set off earlier in heavy rain only to come back soon after with a newspaper, some rolls and a bag of currant scones.

No golf.

"At least I won't have to go to all the bother of drying out all my gear before tomorrow." (he's off to Boat of Garten - and the forecast is for rain)

Ever the optimist - how I LOVE that man :)

I came across these old photos this morning.
Lucy's facebook entry talking about what she's arranged for Braeden's birthday celebration started me thinking and look what I found! May 2005 :)

 THE BIRTHDAY BOY

Love the hat, Mum. Did you make it, yourself?

Is my birthday hat going to be ready soon, Mum? I want to look cool just like you!

Do you think cellotape might keep it on?

And so to the most important part of the day. . . THE CAKE!!

Look at all that icing and check out the little chubby fists just at the edge of the picture :)

Spoon? No need! And while I'm about it, maybe if I smeared the cake and icing all over my face and head, it might be an interesting experience. What do you think?

With my last entry being on Easter Monday, a lot has happened I'm sure but what with my goldfish memory I really can't remember much!

I lay in bed the other night thinking.

So. . .  Alex Salmond is the leader of the Scottish Nationalists.

Deputy?

She's also got a fishy surname.

Right. . . what is it?

I spent the next ten minutes going through all the fish in the sea -

haddock, cod, plaice . . .

Eventually it came to me - sturgeon! Yes, yes - that's it Sturgeon!!

Now what's her first name?

Twenty minutes later, having gone through the alphabet without success but knowing it was 'bum bum bum Sturgeon' -  you know, three syllables - it finally popped into my head. Nicola or is it Nichola - it doesn't really matter - they both sound the same and tired but relieved that I'd beaten the memory gobbler, I went to sleep :)

Easter Monday

It's not sunny but neither is it rainy or cold! So nothing to complain about there :)

a hellebores in our garden

Twenty to eleven. I've just spent the last half hour wandering through site after site of folk suggesting ways to make steps on steep slopes. You see I've got plans. Don't tell Ian - he'll only get upset :).

Having spent so much time on the embankment lately, I've had a lot of time to think what to do with it! Here's what I'm thinking just now. . . The top half - draw a line across the garden level with the top of the little retaining wall - is going to be wild. Nature can do what it likes up there.
Below that I'm going to cultivate - hence the need for steps. The slope is so steep that you can't stand on it so planting and weeding is a fairly hazardous exercise. Nothing fancy - I'll probably just use spikes and that specially treated wood - you know the stuff - its had wood preservative injected into it under pressure to make it waterproof.

I might take a wee trip into B&Q and talk to the nice man behind the sawing counter - they'll cut the wood to the lengths you want there - I first came across this service when I was still working and the kids were doing a project on wood - he gave me lots of little samples!

So if you have any experience in this department, please let me know :)

Gee was I tired this morning! Dreamed nonsense all night - my digestive system was working a night shift due to my excesses of yesterday - and was it worth it?
Oh yes!!

Gary serving the Costco apple pie. Mmmh :)

 We had a lovely day. Ross got up and Gary, Carole and Luca arrived after their Easter Egg hunt at Haddo House which Carole told me was so busy, they never saw even one Easter Egg :(

Not such a futile hunt at Granny and Granda's house though! I'd hidden everybody's Easter Eggs around the house (with names on them) - just like we used to do years ago and Luca and his daddy took on the job of finding all the eggs. He would run into the kitchen each time he found one and ask us to read the name. And was it his? I reckon he found everyone else's eggs before he found his own!

little happy face

 Still smiling thinking of his wee happy and excited face :)

Friday afternoon 15th April

Here's Flat Stanley all the way from America with Nessie whom we bought in Aberdeen.

 Braeden's Flat Stanley and I took a trip into Aberdeen and wandered round the shops - how disappointing! When I think back to the year Cade's Flat Stanley came to stay, there is a distinct dearth of merchandise aimed at children in the tourist shops now in comparison to then :(
However, we did our best. Didn't we Stanley? And then we came home and had a well earned rest in the back garden!

Here he is taking his well earned rest on the garden bench!

And here he is having a wee climb on Granny's bush - fun or what?

Dead end? :(
Never say die. . . on being told of our disappointing day Ross stepped up to the mark!
"Why don't we take Flat Stanley out for a wee drive in the car and show him some of the local sights?" he suggested.
"Why yes, what a great idea!" I grabbed at the offer.
 "Only one proviso, though. . . "
"I stay behind the camera. I don't do photos."
He's saving himself for the great unveiling. When he's lost a couple more stones :)
. . . And here are the results -

The River Dee with the Potarch Bridge behind us!

Crathes Castle

 And across the road . . .

Big Man at the Millton - best scones on Deeside :) If you look really closely, you can just make out Flat Stanley sitting on the top edge of Big Man's kilt! Interesting how I've unconsciously leaned back to keep the line with the sculpture!

We had hoped to get a photo of Flat Stanley with some of the baby lambs in the fields but by the time we got to them they were too far away so Ross used the zoom - no Flat Stanley in the photo unfortunately :(

Earlier this afternoon, I put Flat Stanley back in an envelope and sent him off back to Braeden in America.

Keep your eyes open for his return, Braeden. He's in a big brown envelope. Nessie, however is in a white box - he wouldn't fit in the envelope - too fat!

Monday evening 11th April

Well, that's today just about finished. Everybody's home now.

And since I've intended writing something in my blog for several days now but haven't, I've sat myself down with the laptop and will write something while I watch 'The One Show'.

Then I'll go through to the kitchen and clear up.

And how has this past week gone?

Good!

So here's Luca. He dragged all his cars outside last Tuesday because it was such a lovely day.

. . . and he posed for this picture. It was supposed to be of him and his cars but I didn't quite get the cars into the frame :(

The garden is starting to take shape now that the sun has appeared. I've been digging out all the dead wood and pulling up the huge patches of bulbs - weeds that have taken over the back garden these last couple of years! I forget the name of the plant but the flowers are orange. They look a bit like fuschia and the leaves are sword like - anybody know?

Not making good progress here. I keep getting distracted . . . Jim McDonald in Coronation Street, has just held up a bank but the police are outside. So goodness knows what's going to happen now. He needed the money to buy The Rover's Return for Liz. He had no money, so what else could he do? He got a sawn off shotgun from his old cell mate ( he's been in jail before) and pulling his bunnet down over his eyes, he went into a bank and joined the queue to be served.  It was a daft idea, wasn't it?

I really should get the kitchen cleared. 'The One Show' finished ages ago, been followed by 'Corrie' which has now finished  with the Jim cliffhanger and we now have 'The Dales' which is about the Yorkshire countryside and I can't stand much more!! 

Got to get out of here!!

Ian has given up his attempt to book flights - every time he blinked, the times and dates of flights available changed!! He's away - disappeared upstairs.

Tomorrow morning, Flat Stanley and I are going to take a trip to the Tourist shop in Aberdeen. Stanley arrived through the post the other day. Braeden sent him here for a wee holiday.

More information will follow :) I'll take his photo and let you see him. Braeden has dressed him like a ninja!! :)

Mother's Day

Well what a lovely surprise I had!

During mass this morning, I became aware of movement at my side and upon looking down was confronted by two great big brown eyes and a huge grin!

It was Luca!
Gary had come straight through after the wee fella's football practice to wish me a Happy Mother's Day! And knowing that I would be in the church had decided just to come in and join me for the second half :)

Wasn't that just so thoughtful?

When we got back to the house, Luca noticed that Ian's car was missing and as we opened the front door asked, " Has Granda gone back to Turkey Lurkey?"

No darling - just the golf course :)

I should have taken some photos while Luca and Gary were here . . .
Luca took a trip on the wee three wheeler bike along the main road and then up the hill at Corsee Road - mind you I was pushing from behind - and I could have had some good shots then :( 
And instead of giving you a photo of the cheesecake that Gary made for me, I should have put Gary and Luca in the picture. It was only after they went that it dawned on me :( 

Anyway, here's a photo of Luca from December.

And here's the cheesecake!

Gary and I had a piece each as lunch and it was delicious - seriously. I'll have another piece after my crispy aromatic duck at teatime! :)

Gary is away home with a chocolate cheesecake which he made here. He brought the ingredients with him and made it to take back to Carole as part of her Mother's Day treat! . . . Busy, busy, busy!!

I now have one of Carole's baking trays and she has one of mine! :)

Saturday afternoon

Some of my birthday flowers - what with Lillies from Ian and these flowers from my buddy Sadie, the house has been smelling absolutely gorgeous!

Another week has passed by and I've no idea where the time has gone!

Monday? No brainer - swimming with the girls in the afternoon. Thirty six lengths followed by a cup of tea and a cinnamon iced bun at Costco. A guilt free treat :)

No walk to Woodend Barn on the Tuesday, I'm afraid - miserable weather :(
So it was a wee wander up to Raemoir Garden Centre who had sent me a birthday card with a voucher for free coffee and scones for two!
. . .  and no, I haven't had the free coffee or scone yet, forgot the voucher :(
Next time.

It was just Luca and I at teatime on Tuesday night - the boys were both out. Not quite in the same way of course seeing as Ross was out on a job and Ian was out of the country.

Still we managed fine . . .  tea for two :)

On the way home, as we slipped onto the dual carriageway, we found ourselves behind a car going quite slowly. My back seat driver says, "Overtake that car, Granny!"

Now I know that we are coming up to another slip road and I'm in two minds. If I overtake him as we go past the entry of the slip road, the car I'm overtaking wouldn't be able to move out if he needed to. Should I go or should I wait. My back seat driver pipes up again, "You can do it, Granny! Just go fast!"

I decide I'll be past him by the time we hit the entry so I go for it.
And as we pass the car in front, I get my verbal pat on the back, "Well done, Granny Jo! I knew you could do it!"

Whose the adult??

Luca's crocodiles made with stones :)

Ian arrived home on Thursday. Hurrah! I celebrated by eating six chocolates out of my birthday box :)

So we were a family again which was nice although I have to admit I was disappointed to have to move back to my own side of the bed :(

Ian did  very well. He'd been up all night but still managed to keep going all day. He'd had to endure a 5 hour flight to Glasgow leaving Turkey at about two in the morning and then he had a 3 hour drive back up the road to Banchory. Gruelling? I think so.

So today, I'm sitting in the back room blogging and watching 'A Hundred Years of Us' - it's a series the BBC have made probably because the  1911Census is being released on 5th April!!

We've just been talking to a woman who was one of the first folk in this country to get Streptomycene - is that how you spell it? - for TB! She was very interesting. She told us all about her time in the sanatorium. Her dad had taken her there and when he got her to the door, he took one last look at her, turned and walked away.

It's so good to see the daffodils in bloom again :)

Our wee daffodils just a.t the door

This host of golden daffodils - well they will be soon - at the Bellfield Park

And these daffodils are starting to bloom at the foot of Corsee Road

 This morning, I took a walk along the river to Morrisons - I needed to get out and and get some fresh air and the sun had come out. So I took my camera  and my rucksack and off I went -  got some good photos. I took some of the river which is still very high and flowing fast after the winter's snow.

The water has covered this path recently but just now it's just below!