A Typical Week of My Life in the Scottish Borders

 LIFE:  19th-26th August  2018

A NEW LOOK FRONT PAGE  - with a photograph taken by my daughter from the top of the Black Hill looking down on Earlston High School and in the distance the Lammermuir Hills. 

THE WEATHER - the perennial British conversational  gambit.  April in August has been the weather theme with some pleasant sunny periods when I got the grass cut and weeding done,  but intermittent showers, sometimes heavy - bad luck if you got caught in them, as you would have been soaked! Still it is good for the garden.  

A  lot cooler today   - around 17C/64F and pouring down as I type this on Sunday  A great pity as the massed pipe bands are playing at Floors Castle.

                                     Pipe Bands at Floors Castle a few years ago.

VISITS THIS WEEK TO:

• Galashiels  to be fitted for new spectacles following my cataract operation. 
• Our local garden centre  - for a browse  and lunch in its new look  cafe. 
• Earlston Horticultural Society Show  -   display of flowers and produce;  plus  a crafts section.  I must  get my act together for next year and enter some classes - notably photography n oerhaps crochet.  
• "Move It or Lose It"  Exercise Class  - a very enjoyable way of exercising to keep those joints and muscles in good working order - to lively 50's and 60's music.

• 

  Begonia Blooms at the Flower Show

ON THE BOX - A much better week of viewing for me. .

WDYTYA (UK) featured Para Olympic sprinter Jonny Peacock.  Of most interest was the life of his 19th century ancestor,  Louise Boss  who was  an agricultural  labourer (Ag. Lab.) - a hard working life in all weathers - who had four illegitimate children and was forced to seek help in the Workhouse.  That struck a chord with similarities  to the  life of my great great grandfather's second wife, who came to the marriage as a spinster with three illegitimate children  - no father named on the baptism records.

A brilliant Proms concert from the Royal Albert Hall, London  in a programme of Hungarian music  - Brahms, Liszt, Sarasati with two virtuoso violinists-playing foot tapping Gypsy/Roma pieces and a soloist on the cymbalom - a bit akin to a xylophone and zither.    The only thing lacking - some dancers! 

Another Proms performance "On the Town"  - a  concert version of the 1940's musical  by Leonard Bernstein.  The orchestral playing, and the actors/singers were first class, and it is fascinating to watch an orchestra and the way the musical themes move from one instrument to another.  But I cannot say I really liked the music, though I can  see how it represented a change in  classical style.  The only song I knew "New York, New York".   I much prefer "West Side Story". 

Courtesy:  Pixabay.com

Celebrity Masterchef is back - and as usual I knew none of the so-called celebrities.  That doesn't bother me, as I still find it a watchable programme, though some of the challenges are fierce!   The contestant who went out first failed largely because of her unintentional mistake of creating, instead of fluffy rice,  a rice loaf that you could slice and pick up with fork prongs! 

FAMILY HISTORY/LOCAL HISTORY/BLOGGING

• A bevy of Scottish related enquiries on the group Facebook pages I read - so I enjoyed adding my comments.
• An interesting  enquiry from a reader asking if what she was writing was a family history or a family bible.   What was the differenc?  She did n''t seem to realise that the Bible was a book of scriptures of the ChrIstian church - and often in the past was a prized family possession that was used to record births,  marriages and deaths.  Mm - makes me think about current education!
•  "Murder and Execution in Earlston in 1823"  was the latest topic for the Auld Earlston blog that I write  andit is proving a popular one as regards page views.
• Prepared two blog posts for publication next week, so for once getting ahead.  

 
HEADLINE NEWS 
Lately I have been ignoring what has been going on in the world around me - not surprising as it is depressing with:

• Continued Tory divisions about our  Brexit negotiations with  the European Union.

• Continued trouble in the Labour Party over charges of anti-semitism.
• Continued scandals, sackings and court cases/tribunals/inquiries relating to President Trump’s actions
•  Continued scandals about world wide child abuse in the  Catholic Church, as Pop Benedict visits Ireland.
• Former Scottish First Minister Alex Salmond under investigation for harassment. No further details have been given, not even to the accused. 

• Australia in political turmoil with five Prime Ministers in eight years.

TO END ON A "AH...HOW CUTE" NOTE:
The latest photograph from G. and Nh of "the boys"  -  their pet guinea pigs. 

                                Chocolate and Marshmallow enjoying their tea.   

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Journal Jottings   

  Recording my everyday life for future family historians   

This blog developed from the "Genea-Pourri" prompt yon Randy Seaver’s blog Genea-Musings.  I decided to change his title for my own version of this weekly online diary.