A "Burns Night" Tea, An Exhibition to Plan, and Furry Friends.

LIFE:  22-28th JANUARY 2018

A " Burns Night" tea, next Auld Earlston Exhibition, a busy time blogging before more computer hassles and a Visit from Furry Friends -  thank goodness I am getting back to normal after my bout of flu.

Monday 22nd January

A domestic duties morning.   Blogging afternoon, working on a profile of my great grandmother for this week's prompt in series  "52 Ancestors in 52 Weeks", and for the Auld Earlston blog, childhood memories of John Moffat whose father opened the first garage in the village c. 1920,  John was an adventurous little lad who got into all kinds of scrapes, so it was an entertaining article to pull together.

Great grandmother Maria Danson, nee Rawcliffe with her youngest of her nine surviving children  - only daughter Jennie (at the back) and her little granddaughter Annie Maria. 

Tuesday 23rd January 
Auld Earlston meeting in the evening  where we decided our next exhibition in October will be on the theme of "Earlston in War and Peace - 1914-1949."  My head is buzzing with ideas  but plenty of time  to bring it all together.   

The 2017 Exhibition on the theme of Travel  - "Horses to Horse Power" proved 

a popular draw. so we have a reputation to keep up!

Wednesday 24th January 

Wednesday Club meeting.  In honour of "Burns Night",  we had a change from our usual afternoon tea, by serving Scottish fayre.   I had the easiest task, in my catering group, as I only had to buy, slice and butter   three Selkirk bannocks, whilst others  prepared oatcakes  with  cheese, haggis (sausage) rolls, sandwiches, scones and shortbread biscuits. 

"Some hae meat and canna eat, and some hae meat and want it

But we hae meat and we can eat, and sae the Lord be thankit." 

Robbie Burns  (1749-1796) - Scotland's national poet 
Image from www.pixabay.com 

Before the tea, we had an excellent talk on the "Street Pastor" Project across the Borders,  whereby  volunteers go out and about in the main towns  on a Saturday night (10pn-3.30am), providing a listening ear and practical support to the clubbers e.g. offering flip flops to girls who could hardly walk in their 6 inch high heels, beanie hats to counteract the cold, and lollies to diffuse any tricky situation - yes lollies!  The scheme began in Brixton, London where gang culture  and knife crime were the chief concerns,   but here in the Borders the issues are more anti-social behavior and drunkenness.   The talk stimulated a lot of discussion afterwards. 

Thursday 25th January 
Joined the "Walk It" group  for the first time for weeks. 

 Computer panic stations in the evening when on my I Pad I could not access blogger.com, the programme I   use to write my blogs.   A dash to the main computer - and ditto. What on earth had I done?  Eventually an Error 503 message came up  which I googled - much relief it was a server issue.  I had three options, two of which I did not udnerstand to I opted for the third - "Try again later" - and yes within the hour I was back on line with Blogger.   Phew! 

Friday 26th January 
The bus into Galashiels for odds and ends shopping.  In a charity shop I picked up to lovely furry friends for the African KAS (Knit a Square) charity who are looking to provide each child with a soft toy.  

Back home, the sun was streaming through the house and it was relatively mild, so  I ventured into the garden  and did some tidying up.  Perhaps Spring is round the corner! 

More computer disasters in the evening - could not access Adobe Photoshop or open any web pages and the Shut Down button was not working.  Why do these problems always happen at the weekend?  

Saturday  January 27th 
After yesterday's high activity, I was a zombie today.  Computer still not working.

We had unexpected visitor in the afternoon - G. and Nh called round, with Nh carrying a plastic basket - she thought we might like to see Chocolate and Marshmallow, her two guinea pigs. 

Sunday 28th January
Tried the computer in the morning but still not working.  

In the afternoon  went to Galahiels with a friend  to visit another friend and former work colleague who is unfortunately  suffering from dementia and has recently moved into a care home.  Her spirit is still as lively as ever, but she is living in the 1950's, reminiscing about her life in London when she was working for the Civil Service  in Whitehall at the time of the death of King George VI and the coronation of the Queen -  fascinating memories and we all enjoyed chatting.

Back home to hear that N. had gone on the computer and it was working perfectly and seemed to have unscrambled itself!  Much relief! 

TV - my usual programmes  - all very enjoyable.

• University Challenge
• Michael Portillo's  Great Railway Train Journey across  New England which brought back memories of my year there 1965-66 and visits 30 years later with G.    
• Art, Passion and Power - the story of the Royal Collection 
• A House in Time  brought this Liverpool house history  up to 1945 - an impressive new series, with its emphasis on the archive material that tells the house's story and that of its residents.  
• Mastermind where the general knowledge questions seemed easier and I could answer more of them.  
•  Dragons Den,  where budding entrepreneurs state their case for investment from business millionaires - the setting is false, but I enjoy listening to the presentations and the discussions afterwards - with financial projections the biggest downfall of unsuccessful constants, plus arguing with the panel - not a good move!   

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Journal Jottings   
Recording my everyday life for future family historians 

A Week of Snow, Flu Recovery & Home Based Activities.

Life:  15th-21st January 2018

Another housebound week, still recovering from the flu,   reading light weight novels, watching usual TV, working on my crochet throw project,   and with little incentive to brave the elements  of more snow outside.     Very grateful to G and Nh for their sterling snow clearing efforts and friends, loaning me books and DVDs and bringing round goodies.  I believe in the dictum "Feed a cold".  

Schools were closed for two days and events cancelled, including the Auld Earlston meeting. It doesn't take much snow to bring the country here  to shut down,  and the snow is nothing compared with what  some places abroad are experiencing.

 On  a lovely sunny day, I decided that fresh air and some exercise was called for, so took a short walk, and  felt better for it. 

The row of trees along the old railway line in Earlston.

 G. birthday, though the meal was deferred because of the way I was feeling.  

 However I have managed some productive times on the computer.

• At long last completed the family history narrative I was writing for a friend.
  
• Signed up to a new 2018 Blogging Challenge, writing about "52 Ancestors  in 52 Weeks".  I have felt for some time I was getting a bit jaded with my Family History Fun blog and it needed a boost.  So I have caught up on the first weeks of January to get on schedule, and am enjoying the broad weekly themes, such as A Favourite Photograph, the Census and Longevity. 

• Made good progress on the final part of my Danson Family History, profiling my grandparents, mother, aunt and uncles.

                     My grandmother Alice Danson, nee English with her children, 
                             Edith, Kathleen (my mother), Harry and baby Billy. 
                               Taken 1916, as my grandfather set out for war

I rounded off the week, by watching  my Christmas present DVD - the Royal Ballet in "La Fille Mal Gardee" - happy, colourful,  lighthearted. beautiful  and fun!  

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Journal Jottings

  Recording my everyday life for future family historians               

Hot Drinks, Hot Water Bottles, Bed and Pill Popping!

LIFE: JANUARY 8th-14th 2018

"Floored by Flu"  is my message this past week which has  been dominated by hot drinks, hot water bottles, bed and paracetamol  - in other words, we have both succumbed to the dreaded flu bug which is sweeping the country - despite us having had the flu jab.  I got a phone consultation with the doctor who confirmed that we had all the classic symptons and it lasts at least two weeks!  Thank goodness for the support of our  daughter living nearby!


So life has been circumscribed by these four walls.    Domestic matters are on hold and meals have been of the soup, and beans on toast variety, with Sunday lunch a boiled egg and toast - actually very delicious.

Fortunately I had stocked up on my library books before New Year, so I had plenty of reading material, though most of it was very light, escapist stuff.  

I tried a new  (to me) Maggie O'Farrell book, having enjoyed many of her previous works, notable "the Vanishing Act of Esme Lennox". But could not get into "~This Must Be the Place".   It centres on Claudette, a former actress, now an eccentric recluseliving  in the wilds of Ireland with her two young chidlren and husband, Danieal, an Amercian linguistics lecturer, estragned from teh chidlren of his first wife in California and at odds with his elederly father in New York.  This complex personal life is set to get worse with a revelation from his past.   The book flits between time and place (not chronologically), with each chapter written from the view point of a different character - and there are many.  I got bored by the book, tehs toryline dragged and  I couldn't care about the characters.  There is no doubt that there is a sense of quality about the writing and  the author's keen sense of observation  of places and people's behaviour shone through - but not for me.  

Even Classic FM on the radio was beginning to pall, so I switched to BBC Radio Four for some interesting discussions on current issues including how the media use statistics in the news, equality of pay between men and women, notably at the BBC;  and the ongoing saga of President Trump and the latest book detailing the  dysfunctional White House.     I avoid anything to do with Brexit!   

History has occupied my TV viewing.  

• "Elizabeth and Mary", on BBC 4 proved a fascinating programme, focussing on the correspondence between Elizbeth Ist and Mary Queen of Scots, with their words spoken by two actresses in profile.  Elizabeth conformed to the standard image  - red wig, elaborate ruff, wheras Mary was shown monocrhome -  no make up, plain hair style, not wearing the Tudor headdress which we often see in her portraits.   I just felt that her reputed charm and appeal did not come across as much as I would have expected.  But overall an excellent, "no frills,  no gimmicks" history that let their words tell their story.

•  "England's Forgotten Queen" also on BBC4,  profiled Lady Jane Grey  - very detailed and thorough,  but I felt it was dragged out into three episodes.  I wondered who apart from ardent Tudor  devotee would stick with it.  
  
• "The Coronation"  - BBC at its best!  It heralded what looks to be a  great new series on "The Royal Collection"  and focused on the Crown Jewels, with film and reminiscences about the Queen's Coronation in 1953, and rare observations and comments from the Queen herself, speaking to camera. From an early age  I have loved seeing the pomp, traditions, music and ceremony associated with great occasions. I still have my own memorabilia from the Coronation - the souvenir programme and my mug presented to all schoolchildren.

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 Journal Jottings

  recording my everyday life for future family historians                 

A Musical New Year, Christmas Cards, and a TV House History

MY NEW YEAR -  31st December - 7th January

NEW YEAR  - I have lived 56 years in Scotland,  have promoted Scotland to visitors for most of my working life, am patriotic (note not nationalistic!), BUT I have never got on with Hogmanay  - I don’t know why, but I cannot get worked up about a date, even less so, when it entails me staying up until midnight.Perhaps it would be different if we were part of a larger family living close by, but G.was working on early shift.

On Old Year’s Night, we watched a fascinating TV  programme on the making of the Royal Ballet’s superb, magical production of “The Nutcracker”.  Of course there was only one thing to do afterwards - put on our DVD and enjoy the whole ballet

The next day, N. and I followed our own ritual by sitting down with a drink and nibbles to watch  the New Year’s Day concert from Vienna and enjoy the music, the dancing and the film profile of the city - bringing  back lovely memories of our Austrian holidays.

The statue of Mozart in Vienna. 

CHRISTMAS CARDS  -  It suddenly struck me when I was taking down the Christmas carts, what a depressing selection there was this year  So many were monochrone and not at all  Christmassy.  Animals abounded - polar bears, penguins, hares, sheep - with only an occasional robin to brighten up the  display, or there were delicate snowflakes or "In the Bleak Midwinter" scenes.  Whatever happened to images of Christmas cheer  - trees & baubles, holly & ivy, candles, Santa Claus,  And of course nativity scenes were few and far between.  Is this all a sign of our age?  

It made me think back to the days when it seemed a shame to bin so many lovely cards, that I compiled them into scrapbooks - first of all to illustrate for  my young daughter the Christmas story and Christmas traditions. Later I created a Christmas Anthology, using the cards to illustrate poems, carols and literature and then a Christmas A-Z.

 

The scrapbooks come out every Christmas to remind me of cards we received over the years. 

TV - The first of a new series, "A House Through Time"  was a natural extension of the popular family history programme "Who do You Think You Are" (WDYTYA).  It explored   the  history of a house in Liverpool through the lives of the people who lived there.  I liked the way the presenter put the emphasis on archival sources, though I did wonder  how many properties the programme researchers investigated before  coming up with this one powerful profile.

OLD FASHIONED ENTERTAINMENT - a fun afternoon with granddaughter playing board games and card games - Family Trivial Pursuits (a Christmas present), Articulate, Cheat, Beggar My Neighbour,  and Uno.   

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 Journal Jottings

  recording my everyday life for future family historians                 

Family, Food, & Festivities - plus a Candle Scare and a Power Cut

My Christmas:  18th - 30th December 

Christmas means Family and we spent the day with G. St and Nh., opening presents and generally eating too much, with chicken, gammon, roast potatoes and parsnips, lots of sauces and vegetables, followed by mini meringues and fresh fruit salad  We were sent home with enough  food to give us two days' meals,  including a tray of lovely home baking. 

We are not a family for photographing ourselves, though I would have loved to see  a picture taken of G. and Co. in the roomy snuggle jumper she received from a work colleague!.  Plenty of  games are ahead for us playing  Family Trivial Pursuits which was high on the Niamh's Chritmas wish list. l

The week before saw Nh as a hyena in the school concert version of "The Lion King"   and  taking part in the school service in the Church.  As ever the little ones looked so angelic performing the nativity play. 
   

Christmas for me also means seasonal music  and enjoying all the carols played on radio's Classic FM.  I joined 40-50 others, carol singing in the Square  - a lovely evening, dry and not too cold, with a great accompaniment of a trumpet which helped swell the volume to get in the Christmas spirit. 

 

 Earlston Christmas Lights in the Square

The most inspiring music came from the TV broadcast of "Carols from Kings"  on Christmas Eve,.  - beautiful  and so  uplifting.   For once BBC did not dumb down, but let tradition triumph,  with the singing, organ accompaniment  and the stained glass and beamed roof of the chapel setting speaking  for themselves.   

Other musical higlights included the Andre Rieu concert from London - I think from the  massive O2 Arena. He has done wonders for popularizing classical music  and the huge audience clearly were in raptures. It is some time since I have watched the broadcasts which were repeated a bit too often on Sky Arts.   But I do feel showmanship has overtaken the quality of the music at times - in particular  the singing seemed one big shout.  I did particularly enjoy hearing  "The Holy City - Jerusalem" - that used to be often played on the radio years ago but is rarely heard now, so it was a treat. 


Other TV highlights - Strictly Come Dancing Special - frothy, but not too OTT. Christmas University Challenge with alumni, not students,  chaired in a genial manner by Jeremy Paxman. The questions were slightly easier so I could answer more which was satisfying! 

On BBC a new production in three episodes of one of my favourite childhood books - "Little Women" by Louise M. Alcott.   It stayed close to the story line, but the girls were all American actresses, amd they seemed to gabble the lines, so I found  their accents a bit difficult to pick up, especially when music is played over the dialogue, which seems the trend in modern productions. However by the final episode, I was both hooked and moved - by Lauries's courtship of Jo, and of course the death of Beth. 

Winter Walks:  The only downer on Christmas Day was the weather - pouring rain which meant we had no incentive to go out for an afternoon walk.  But the next few days redeemed themselves with bright sunshine - ideal for winter walking. 

Snow capped Black Hill, Earlston

 

Friday 29th December 

We woke up this morning to see snow at lower levels

The postman  giving a splash of colour along our road, 
with the appropriately named White Hill in the background.

The trees on the White Hill, from another viewpoint.

A Cautionary Tale of a Candle Scare and a Power Cut

Wednesday was an eventful night!   I had bought a little lantern, in the shape of a chalet with a red roof and a Christmas tree outside. I put a tea light in it and had it on the mantelpiece. But the roof did not come right off and it was tricky reaching the candle wick with a match and I dropped the match inside the lantern. In no time at all flames shot up and it was quite frightening. N. shouted for me to get a damp cloth and that did the trick but knocked the lantern into the hearth. 

We were so lucky - the wall is slightly scorched but I managed to clean the hearth OK so that has not been stained - I have always liked our fireplace very much and thank goodness the wood surround was unaffected.   But it showed how easily things could have been much much worse. I am not going to bother with tea lights and candles again. The result was in bed I kept having flashbacks of how close we came to a dangerous situation. 

To cap it all, N. stayed up late to watch a film  on TV, but woke me up to say the power had gone off - a rare event here.    N. found the big torch and  I tried to ring the emergency Scottish Power  number on our  landline but the phone would not work, so  would not work, so I hunted out my mobile and got a very helpful girl who confirmed there was a high voltage problem in the Earlston area (not a clue what that meant), and it could be two hours before power was restored. She asked if there were any vulnerable members in the household, so,  I thought I might as well for once play the age card.  Of course all that activity meant  I could not get back off to sleep afterwards and was a bit of a zombie the next day.   We got a phone call from Scottish Power in the morning  to check we had coped and were OK - a nice customer care gesture! 

To end with the Christmas spirit supreme:  

Saturday 30th Decenber 2017
A brilliant evening watching my Chritmas present from N. - a DVD of the Royal Ballet dancing "Coppelia" with Carlos D'Costa in the leading male role.  This was the first ballet I saw with my mother and aunt when I was about ten year's old - an ideal choice for a little girl with the feisty heroine, the handsome hero. comic story, beautiful costumes, and foot-tapping gypsy dances.  I loved it!  (Image is from an old postcard i had)   

Not a great photogrpah, but you can get the idea - A Visit from Santa Claus - when a "sleigh" appeared on our road with the a local rotary club collecting on behalf of the Dodie Weir Fund for Motor Neurone Research - a very popular Borders charity. 

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WITH BEST WISHES TO EVERYONE 

FOR A HAPPY AND HEALTHY NEW YEAR 

 Journal Jottings

  recording my everyday life for future family historians