Wednesday 25 April 2018

On the Move, A Tapestry, A Wedding, A Power Cut & A Heatwave!

LIFE: April 16th- 22nd 2018
Silhouette, Exercise, Fitness
Monday 16th 
A domestics day.    In the evening Musical Movement - Eleven of us gathered for a new exercise class in the village,  aimed at the over 60’s - so no writhing about on the floor - but gentle movements  to music to keep our joints, muscles and balance in good working  order - all very enjoyable and I will be back.



Tuesday 17th
Dash into Galashiels for odds and ends and discovered a new little wool shop.  My stash is big enough, but of course I could not resist buying some of variegated wool which always appeals to me in knitting for the African Knit-A-Square project.



Wednesday 18th 
Looking back - my parents married on 18th April 1938 at St Chad’s Church, Poulton-le-Fylde, Lancashire, the church where my brother and I were later baptized. 

 

 Dad, Mum, Aunt Edith and Uncle Charles

The newspapers are proclaiming “Heatwave Hitting the UK” - well not in Earlston - I was still wearing my winter garb of warmer tights, jumper and fleece. 

Thursday 19th
The good weather arrived - ideal for the Walk-It group travelling to Tweedbank for a dander around the Loch and along the River Tweed.   Came back home and did some gardening.

WI (Women’s Institute) in the evening when we had a lively talk on the Great Tapestry of Scotland - the community stitching project to depict Scottish history in embroidery, from the Ice Age in 8500BC to Andy Murray's victory at Wimbledon in 2013.  We heard about the inspiration for the project, how the stitchers came together, how the panels were designed and lots of anecdotes on the project which is soon to find a new permanent home here  Galashiels,  once a centre of the Borders  thriving textile industry. 

The Statistics
  • Over a 1000+ voluntary stitchers
  • 160 hand-stitched panels
  • 1 metre (3 feet 3inches)  square panels 
  • 143 metres (469 feet) long masterpiece  - twice the size of the Bayeux Tapestry.
  • 160 hand-stitched panels
  Friday 20th
The heatwave continues - so an ideal day for washing & drying, and for tackling the large trellis with a fresh coat of wood preservative -tricky when there is a clematis and a jasmine weaving around it.  G. took down the living room and bedroom curtains to wash and dry for me - plus put them back up (a great help\) whilst I washed the bedspread -  and that is my nod to spring cleaning!    But we both have had   decluttering sessions over the past month,with the result  six bags for the charity collection.

Saturday 21st 
Bus down to Milestone Garden Centre for a iight lunch - I had prawn and avocado salad and N. a brie and cranberry panini - both very nice,  We couldn't resist,before we left choosing a cone of Isle of Arran ice cream  from the van outside, sat down at a picnic table, to be joined by two ladies;  we  got talking and -  in a typical Borders coincidence - one had taught history  at Hawick High School - so a good chat all round

We did not forget the garden side of things - I chose some aubretia and alyssum to plant,plus a pot plant for the garden table and N. a grow-bag to sow lettuce seeds in  - plus  more bags of compost for delivery home.  .  

Sunday 22nd
A lazy start to the day.   I was grilling bacon for sandwiches  when the grill tripped the electricity - the fourth time it has done that and oddly enough always on a Sunday lunchtime, yet I use the grill plenty of other times.    So a call to  our Home Service is on the cards for tomorrow to get it sorted. 

We have been watching on TV  "The Big  Painting Challenge" - this week  by Loch Lomond,  braving the elements of  wind, rain, and occasional sunshine to depict a scenic panorama of sky, hills, and water, and test the contestants use of muted colours.  The programme has developed from its poor start in its first series in terms of the presenters, the master classes on creating effect, but we don't always agree with the mentors.  We have our favourites among the contestants, but I admire them all, given my artistic ability got stuck at the age of five!     

As predicted the weather is changing and no doubt we will soon be back to winter wear and grey skies. 

Springtime in Earlston 

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Journal Jottings   
Recording my everyday life for future family historians  
Developed from the "Genea-Pourri" prompt  on Randy Seaver’s blog Genea-Musings
I decided to change his title for my own version of this weekly online diary





Sunday 15 April 2018

Family Fun at Center Parcs with a High Wire Tree Trek

LIFE - 9th-15th April 2018

Monday to Friday
Off to Center Parcs in Whinfell Forest, Cumbria with G. and Nh.  - they love it there.

Arrived  early to enjoy as much as possible of the first day - and even better the sun came out and whilst G and Nh headed off to book activities, N. and I enjoyed a picnic lunch sitting outside. enjoying the rare warmth of the weather.  Just as well l as we were back to normal the rest of the week, with solid  grey skies - not that it stopped us.    

N . and I contented ourselves with some gentle walks - it is possible to get away from the crowds - and just had a relaxing time. 

Looking across the lake to the Swimming Paradise Centre 






 
 One of the man animal carvings to be found around the centre.

In contrast, G and Nh never stopped  - rock wall climbing, cycling, boating, pottery painting, lots of sessions in the Swimming Paradise and the highlight had to be on our last day when  Nh.  was brave enough at 9 years old  to tackle the high wire tree trekking - along with an instructor!  She just didn't seem to have the fear factor!  We were the nervous ones down on the ground.  

  Yes - she is that little figure high up among the trees.








An evening view

Friday - Sunday
Returned to Earlston after a lovely family break together - and it is amazing how after such a short time away, home looks so welcoming - with even the garden beginning to flower. 

A return to the domestic scene of washing, ironing  and tidying up - plus putting all our photographs on the computer.  We have had two fine days, so I set to and put fresh wood stain on our garden trellis and back gate - a question of seizing the day when I was not doing much else.   Relaxed in the evening by watching the foot tapping musical  "42nd Street".  

The end to a good week - and even Spring has come at last. 


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Journal Jottings   
h Recording my everyday life for future family historians  
Developed from the "Genea-Pourri" prompt  on Randy Seaver’s blog Genea-Musings
I decided to change his title for my own version of this weekly online diary

Saturday 7 April 2018

Home is Best amid Rain, Sleet and Snow

Life 26th March to 7th April 2018


Rain, rain, go away
Come again another Day! 

And that children's rhyme sums up our weather - snow, sleet, day-long heavy  rain temperatures as low as 3/36F  and,  very occasionally some  sunny periods.  I cannot remember such a bad  Easter week as we have had this year.
The scene outside on the afternoon of Easter Monday.

MORE GOOD READS
It  has been ideal for curling up with a good book!


The English Girl  by Margaret Leroy.
One of the best books I have read recently.  I loved the author's style in painting in words the sights, sounds and scents of Vienna in the changing seasons.    17 year old Stella sets out in 1937  from her sheltered family life in Britain to study music in the Austrian capital. She experiences her first love with a young Jewish doctor and a growing awareness that life is not always what it seems,  in a city facing the threat of Hitler's invasion.   Told in the first person, the writing is evocative and sensitive, with twists towards the end. I was totally engrossed in the characters and the poignant tale - it would make a wonderful, moving film! 

Miss Emily, by Nuala O’Connor
A slight 230 page book telling the story set in mid 19th century Amhurst, Mass.of the growing friendship between  American poet Emily Dickinson and the family's young Irish immigrant maid, Ada Concannon.

The short chapters give alternating viewpoints, and are beautifully written with an economy of style. I was captivated by it from the start - the elegiac descriptions of the garden, the smells of cooking, and the blossoming courtship of Ada and her suitor Dermot. The side characters are equally well depicted - Ada's kindly uncle, Emily's extended family. 

 I knew virtually nothing about the real Emily , and initially was impatient with her self-absorption, and preoccupation with her writing. But the gentle nature of the domestic scene changes for Ada in a brief two-page chapter, depicting powerfully (but not graphically), the brutal attack on her, and its dreadful aftermath. Emily overcomes her reluctance to meet the outside world by supporting Ada against the moral indignation of her family. Ada's feisty Irish spirit shines through. A page turner of a book.


MURDER AND MOUNTAIN RESCUE

At the Wednesday Club we had a lively talk from a local historian who has written books on the haunted Borders, murders in the Borders and.  in his latest work,  breaches of promise  of marriage. He regaled  the story of a murder that took place in 1877 in the Commercial Inn at Earlston, which many in the audience were unaware of.

Mountain Rescue was the theme of the Women’s Group meeting.  when we had speakers from the Tweed Valley Mountain Rescue and the Borders Search and Rescue Team, plus the star of the evening, one of their rescue dogs. We saw how she was trained and how she found a hidden "casuality.

The volunteers show a high degree of training and commitment and did a sterling job in the recent snows, deliverer prescriptions to vulnerable people n the countryside and helping to ferry care workers and staff to hospitals. etc.  Among their anecdotes, we heard about some fell runners in the Cheviot Hills, dressed in trainers and T-shirts who got caught in a snow storm and had to be rescued, some suffering from hypothermia. 


BLOGGING UPDATE
Got ahead with the "52 Ancestors" prompts - posted a profile of my Grandfather's House. a profile of my maiden aunt (Aunt Edith) and for the theme "Storms" turned to N. 19th century maritime ancestors  who sailed out of South Shields on Tyneside. Plus caught up with Journal Jottings and a article for the Auld Earlston blog.

TELEVISION  
Easter at Kings - An evening of Easter Music sung beautifully by the choir at Kings College, Cambridge =  one of the very few acknowledgements on TV that Easter is  a religious festival and not just for chicks, bunnies, lambs and Easter eggs.  

Mastermind Final - a worthy end to the  quiz competition  with the contestants neck and neck after the specialist round  and the winner striding ahead  with a brilliant general knowledge round.   

University Challenge  - some very close nail biting contests.  We were pleased to see both Edinburgh and Newcastle in the semi finals - helping to break the dominance of the Oxbridge colleges.  

Masterchef Amateurs - we have been keen followers of this series with such a talented  tentacled, likeable set of contestants. I cannot remember seeing such a high stand-rd of cooking before on the programme. Even when someone goes out, he/she is full of praise for  for the whole experience and how much they have learned.  I like the fact there is no cash prize but the prestige of winning. I cannot stand the comment you often get on reality shows where the loser say "I am gutted"!


TO END ON AN OPTIMISTIC NOTE 

By the end of this week, it has been getting warmer, thank goodness and even daffodils in the garden are coming into flower.  Just in time for us heading off with G and Nh to  Center Parcs in Whinfell Forest, Cumbria, where they will throw themselves into activities and N. and I will relax and have some gentle walks. 

Another photograph  of Melrose Abbey, this time bathed in sunshine  


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Journal Jottings   
Recording my everyday life for future family historians  
Developed from the "Genea-Pourri" prompt  on Randy Seaver’s blog Genea-Musings
I decided to change his title for my own version of this weekly online diary