There goes my Mum - 87 wonderful years. She left this world last Thursday. She left with peace, serenity and a smile.
She was a champion of racket sports, an organiser of all things, a helper to those that needed it. She was a strong, determined woman but at the same time a woman who liked to have fun.
Thank you Mum. You’ve left me with so much – your indominatable
spirit, your sense of quietly looking out for those in need, your ability to step
up and just go and do something if you thought it needed doing. You were a strong
driving force, always trying to do what you believed was right.
I’ll miss you. God bless Mum. I guess you just finally ran out of
puff.
The world just now seems to constantly see-saw between seemingly trivial yet massively joyous happenings, to unexpected and exaggeratedly disappointing events. It's a coronacoaster world of highs and lows, and is simply the product of the world of restrictions within which things can change quite quickly. For us, our own plans have see-sawed, having been impacted by various degrees of lockdown constraining our trips away and by bouts of self-isolation due to close contact with those testing positive for covid.
Still, like the evolutionary beasts we are, we’ve been constantly trying to adapt and plan for all eventualities. And as autumn deepens and winter approaches we’ve developed new found indoor activities in the shape of a newly acquired Wii (thanks to the Southern Rookes 😊) and finally completing the Lego campervan after 4 months of trying. Plus we've fallen back on some tried and tested favourites of box-play and hide and seek. It’s certainly been testing our creativity to the max.
But when we’ve been allowed and the weather has permitted, we’ve also been out and about enjoying autumns finest in the shape of a boat trip on Loch Katrine, climbing Ben A’an and Tomtain, as well as branching out to playparks new and endless variations of tig in the garden. So where restrictions have meant cancellations, delays and disappointment – we’ve tried to bounce right back to looking at what we can do instead. Generally though I've found the kids to be so much more resilient and accepting than us adults – we should all try to be much more like them and flow with the current rather than trying to swim against the tide. There really is much to be said for the ‘Power of Now’, a lesson I should heed well to stablilise those highs and lows.
Last week was Math's Week at Emily's school...and it appears we now have budding dramameticians in the family. Not sure they're vying for the Oscar's just yet but I guess everyone started somewhere...
Before summer disappeared we invited friends over for an overnight camp in the garden. But not only did they bring a tent but they also brought a metal detector!!
Now, the bottom of our garden has the line of the Antonine Wall (almost) running through it...and for those that don't know, the Antonine Wall was the furthest north the Romans reached NOT Hadrians Wall. Anyway, with our own Mackenzie Crook in situ what could go wrong with our girls let loose with a detector and spade, searching for Roman treasure. My poor lawn looked like we had moles by the time they'd finished...but they did 'find' a few pounds each 😉.
The girls with Mackenzie
Hole digging
'Finding' treasure
And following the harvesting of treasure from the garden it was time to start our harvest proper. This year's been mixed on the veggie front. Some things flourished but others waned. That said our beans, berries, salad and flowers have not yet failed to disappoint. And so we've harvested away...picked, blanched, munched, bottled, boiled and frozen. Plenty to keep us going for a few months at least, and a bit kept aside for Christmas dinner - lets just hope we can get guests to share it with! Thanks be to Mother Earth.
This year saw August hosting the third part of our Staycations as we ventured to the literally new pastures of Newton Stewart in Dumfries and Galloway. We'd been around the area before and knew Dumfries and Galloway had lots to offer, but with Scotland crawling out of lockdown we weren't really sure what to expect.
Our journey down took us through the wonderful scenery of the Galloway Forest Park. And wonderful it was for three of us at least. Scenic twisty roads and our poor little Niomi aren't always happy bedfellows, and this trip was no exception. Still, minor vomiting incidents aside, we arrived to our idyllic little cottage for the week which literally stood on the banks for the River Cree. I've never stayed with the sound of a river permanently in the background before and I have to say it comes highly recommended - very soothing...although some torrential rain did make for a spectacular increase in velocity and turbulence.
So the week was overall a great success. Now, I say 'overall' as there were some other minor - ahem - incidents as well. The weather was somewhat mixed with the sun appearing intermittently in between some fairly hefty showers. But that wasn't the main issue, as we're fairly used to rain - it was more our attempts at a family mountain biking experience. Grading 'Green' routes into being suitable for families, beginners, novices, all types of bikes etc - led me to believe that they were suitable for families, beginners, novices, all types of bikes etc. Day 1 - Kirroughtree - Green trail seemed to be aptly graded. Day 2 - Glentress - Green trail less than aptly graded, requiring invention of new vocabularly to cope.
Crycle: verb; meaning - to cycle through beautiful countryside whilst howling your lungs out with displeasure.
Poor Niomi. And I think Emily only just avoided a good crycle too. And I'm also not sure Mummy was that far behind but that was probably more a reacto-crycle - like when someone yawns and it sets you off yawning. Only much louder and more miserable....Game abandoned.
But the rest of the week was much more successful...there were beaches (although some Covid-closures), the Gem museum and Smokehouse to avoid the rain, Wigtown - Book Town and Castle Kennedy (old favourite) in the rain, Threave Gardens, Cream of Galloway for adventure, and a few meet-ups with old friends. So if the sun wasn't always shining, we managed some sunshine anyway. But all in all I have to say it was just really great to be away in the land of the new normal.
And so, straight from our holiday in Newton Stewart, (see soon to be published post), the girls started school. For Emily it was P4 but for Niomi? Well for Niomi it was the BIG start of school...
And how did it go? Well despite all parental fears, worries and anxieties, she's taken to it like a duck to water, bless her. (Cue massive sigh of relief on our part). She was so excited on day one she was ready to go with school bag on for about 2 hours before she needed to leave. Honestly it couldn't have gone better...off she now goes every morning on her bike - happy, chatting and singing all the way. She's already made new friends with children, parents and teachers alike. Made herself quite at home - like she's been there for years. We're so proud of her.
Oh yes - Emily's loving being back too. Catching up with friends on the social scene - life's a whirl when your 7. Let's hope the school's get to stay open for some time to come, and they both continue to thrive back in the buzz of it all.
And then boom…with Covid-cuffs unlocked we were off. Due east across Scotland for 75 miles we travelled, to our old favourite of North Berwick. The Gurneys were away on an island tour of Mull so we had the run of the place once more. Sun-kissed we hoped for, but more wind-swept it was. That said, we weren’t for caring, it was just lovely to be by the sea. Friends visited, beaches were trod and the sea was paddled – all experiences we'd not had for some months. We peddled our bikes on pastures new and walked on footpaths of old. We even got a visit to the Farm Park. It was just nice to be out.
The week ended with a Tour de Grandparents. Nana and Baba came to Kirky and I went to Brum. It was just great to be back in touch in the flesh. We’re ready now for Part 3…
