It's been a Long Time.

I'm sorry that I haven't posted for ages. I did try the other night but couldn't get my pictures to upload and so gave up. So now to try again...
I was in hospital again... nothing serious, only a change of prosthesis but I was a bit fed up and then have been incredibly busy at work and at home....
So what does all this busy entail?
We'll.. there was the visit to the rare breeds sale with my parents.... We saw lots of rare and special animals but I was really taken with the display of horns... How do these grab you?

Curly Ones....

Neat, ready to be made into a crook ones...

When only more is better....

Don't mess with me ones...

Perhaps you're more of a cuddly wooly type...

Loose flowing locks or...

Tight just been permed ones. 

Anyway enough of that... At the weekend I was back on the cake trail and thought you might like to see the effort for Saturday night...

120 tiny cakes. Do you fancy Coconut, Red Velvet, vanilla and Rose or perhaps Lavender?

As always there were a few extras (and rejects) but this lot soon put paid to them...

15 Bikers and not so hairy either all on a stormy trip off to Scotland after calling in for tea and cake.

Hope you are all ok. I will try to pop over to visit but am supposed to be writing an essay and studying for my physics exam and it is very easy to get distracted by all your interesting posts. x

Exploring a new area, or revisiting somewhere you haven't been for a while definitely allows you to see things in a new way.. We visited this shop, really by accident and the following of one of those touristy brown signs. The promise of lunch led us to this Aladdin's cave of crafty goodness...

Yarns reflecting the tones of the surrounding countryside 

There were also felting classes going on where we saw 3 women making hats. all very different and all wearable .... Well worth a look.

Meanwhile outside we saw lots of these, no surprise there I hear you say considering we were in the very heart of Scotland and all that that brings...

But look here at the thistledown that they make after the purple heads die away...

Whispy soft you could almost imagine it stuffed into a case to make a downy duvet....

Just to finish up .... How about your own Rustic Highland Cottage Up for sale right across from the craft shop. Needs a bit of work though.......

Other Holiday Matters

Surprisingly we didn't spend all week searching for fungi as might have seemed the case from my last post. No, we did other things as well. After a bit of persuasion (ok and some bribery) the three of us spend some time cycling up Glen Lyon. This is supposed to be the prettiest glen in Scotland and it was trying very hard to live unto it's name. The scenery was fabulous....

The whole place is very lush, hardly surprising given the amount of rain.....

When we weren't cycling we tried out a few of the walking routes in the area. Both in the woods and above the tree line. The midges were pretty bad as soon as the rain stopped so it became quite welcome especially in the bracken covered areas.....

On one walk we met this fellow. He was very friendly although between you and me he might have been a bit too keen on getting close...

One evening we went on a Highland safari. It was absolutely brilliant. Out kilted ranger took us 'up the hill" to over 3000 feet in his Landrover. We saw deer, mouton hare and the views really were out of this world.....

My pictures don't do them justice.. I would definitely recommend doing this if you are ever in the area. We would like to go back in the winter as I am sure everything will look very different then.

I still seem to have lots to tell you about but I will keep it for another slow news day. xx

Fun Guys

We have just arrived back after spending a week in The Highlands. Best known for the majestic scenery, amazing wildlife and weather extremes, I thought you might like to see a few pictures from a different perspective. Lets go down and peek through the bracken, the heather and the grasses and see what we managed to find....

Some Morrels

This chap keeping off the persistent rain with his little cap...

These girls spiralling like fairy dancers up the sides of a broken log...

Resplendent spots....

Not so much "under the boardwalk" as firmly attached....

These teeny, tiny fungi pretending to be a corral reef....

Stony living, clinging to the edge....

You won't spot me if I just hide in here...

Frilly petticoats...

Actually I have loads of things to tell you about our week away but leaving a teenage son on his own does have some downsides.  I'd better go and sort out the kitchen before environmental health gets here.... (He has done pretty well really, the house is still staring, doesn't smell of anything too bad and the cat is still here so can't be bad!)

Work and Hobbies

Now, usually I don't say too much about my work. I meet lots of people and as you might imagine some are nice, some are not so nice, some are mad and some are just plain rude. That's life. I am really very lucky in that for the vast majority of time I love my work.
Recently my job has changed a wee bit, BUT I am still the Sister in a busy outpatients department for most of the week. We see lots of people ranging in age from about 11 to 105. Obviously I can't tell you very much about the people who I meet on a day to day basis. I can tell you though that yesterday I had the opportunity to take a step back, away from learning to scan (It's not as easy as those Sonographers make it look let me tell you), away from the hustle and the waiting times, away from upset and angry people.
I  am being given the chance to work as a real midwife for one day a fortnight. (BY real I mean in delivery suite, not that the rest of the time isn't real it's just not what most people think of midwifery).

Yesterday was the first day for QUITE a while. And what a day! A delivery! Yippee (Yes it is still exciting and makes you smile even after years and years. We wouldn't do it otherwise!) Apparently (and this is a secret!) I was much nicer than "those midwives in One Born Every Minute!" Possibly I'm not trying hard enough! Anyway a very special little brother was born. Result. Happy family and Midwife.

When not at work I have once again been on the cake making spree! Hope you are not getting too bored with looking at them all but I like putting them up so that I can remember what I've been up to. (And folks at real work seem to like a peek too).

Summer has arrived in cake form.

Read all about it here.

Hope you are all well. Take Care x

Trips, Draws and Visits

It has been a very busy weekend...
Firstly k and I went to London. No big deal I hear you say but remember we are country folk and had not been without at least one of the boys before. We were totally responsible for finding our way about, meeting people at the right time, in the right place and above all having fun. We managed all of the above, declared the trip a success and will definitely  do it again...
We met family at the Science Museum where we literally watched the world go around....

Afterwards we braved the shops, sustained by a very nice (not a good word) lunch at Carlucio's. As you might imagine, (especially those of you with daughter children) I did quite a lot of the buying but mostly for herself...

On Sunday we were up bright and early to meet a fellow blogger, Rachel. We (I hope she will agree) got on really well and it really did feel like we were old friends. We spent an hour or so at the Marylebone Farmer's Market. There were fantastic flower displays and of course we were tempted... Who couldn't be at £2 for 5 stems....

How could you fail to smile at such beautiful blooms? Or perhaps you are more of a vegetable person?...

Chard perhaps...

yellow carrots or even....

red beans... We didn't find any streets paved with gold but this bicycle came a pretty close second.....

When we arrived home it was very nearly time for the Big Give-Away draw! Now K has been really excited about this and has been asking if she could do the draw for ages, indeed ever since it had been mentioned..... This evening she did her bit, carefully cutting out all the names of those who had posted and popped them all into a hat... Out came (and how is this for co-incidental happenings?)... Rachel Lucas from Baking Brownies for Motzart. This was not a fix I promise you just a happy ending to a very good weekend. Enjoy the sun-shiny weather xx

The Week of the Cake

As most of you know by now cake in this house isn't unusual. However this week there has been a surge in birthdays and other celebrations ending in a 0. This of course calls for cake. (Not one of which I hasten to add is for us just in case you were concerned for our health or indeed weight).....

First there is the Chanel Handbag Cake for a friend's daughter........

Then there is the mud and creatures for small (ish) boys going to camp....

Another friend celebrates the BIG ...0 (mustn't let on how old a lady actually is (don't look too closely at the writing just in case you get a glimpse...

Kind of last but not least we have the elegant Cherry Almond birthday cake for yet another friend. (Note the careful exclusion of any numbers on this one)..

And there we have it not including the meringues for the junior medical staff who finish with us tomorrow and the white chocolate and raspberry muffins that were made on the spur of the moment yesterday morning at 1/2 past 6. ( I think I might have actually lost the plot but don't worry the wine is now poured... no more cake until next week....). have a good weekend. x

The Tour de Force

Now I don't know if any of you are inspired by the Tour de France, but there is something about the whole event that makes me want to get on my bike. Maybe it's all that pitting man ( never woman you notice!) against the elements or the fact that the underdog always has a chance however small, that gets me hooked year after year. That and the fact that at 7pm every evening the telly is switched on to watch the highlights programme.
Anyway I might have mentioned this in a round about way to Y (other 1/2), how silly can one woman get?
It was decided that we would go out on our respective bikes and take a bit of a ride at my pace. I should have known better. (for lots of reasons big and small I  haven't been on the bike for about a year). This is a man who regularly goes for 60 miles just for the sheer pleasure of it.
Things were going well until about 15 miles in when I mentioned lunch. Well... If you need a stop I suppose we could get a bite to eat. Did I ever...

This picture was taken not long after our stop. The pose looks relaxed... I think I may be holding myself up by the way marker so as to not look too wussy. I even felt quite relieved a few miles on when Y got a puncture and we had to stop to let him mend it. My rear end certainly needed the break. After that I could feel myself starting to whinge a bit, ok more than a bit...
In the end we got back (remember this was at my pace so it took quite a while). We had covered 26 miles, fitted in some lunch in somewhere around 3 hours including puncture time. BUT the best thing of all... His Garmin thingy worked out that we had used around 1003 calories. No guilt in that biscuit with my tea!
And I can walk today, just don't want to think what I'll be like tomorrow. X
Remember the give away ( last post ) is being drawn on the 1st of August

The Give-Away

The Summer Give-Away is upon us! I know it was supposed to be for 100 posts, but somehow they slipped past taking me unawares and so I opted for this instead....

The prize will go to the first name pulled out of the hat  on 1st August. (Just in case interested folks are away on holiday). All you have to do is leave a comment on today's post.

Included in the box are some special French soaps, Sparkly gift tags and a rather nice tea towel. Can you spot the whisk at the bottom of the box? Wishing you all luck and awaiting your comments... Even a word or two will get your name in the draw.

Thought you might  like to see the picture from the wedding that i was roneying on about last month... (Aberdeen word for going on about endlessly).

It doesn't show the cakes in great detail but you get the drift...
Just to keep blowing my own trumpet .. the very first things I have ever grown in the garden...

Good luck and hoping to hear from you all soon. x

Take a Deep Breath...

Thank you for all of your comments and support. D is fine, a little shaken but well enough to head off for Italy with the school band on Friday evening. A quick shopping trip and a few phone calls have stopped cards, replaced phones and the biggest casualty (from his point of view) was the fact that his Nando's loyalty card with nearly a whole chicken on it was taken.
My Mother-in-law may well take a little more time to shake off any guilt and worry, both about D (for which there is no need) and herself.  Apparently it has happened to her too although we were unaware of this. Seems to be what the local youth get up to for kicks.
On returning north I questioned last sightings of the hamster which I was assured had been alive and well that morning. Sadly no more. He was pretty old for a hamster and looked very peaceful if very dead.
To top it all my right arm has been cut off! (Metaphorically only I hasten to add!). L has decided that she can no longer fit us in to her admittedly very busy schedule! She was part friend, Part cleaner, part domestic do it all and will be very missed especially by yours truly. I'm not too sure how long it will take the rest of them to notice! I am going to admit to all things put in the bin, all things "lost" and all things tidied away. Oh well I suppose it couldn't last forever no matter how much I wanted it to. 10 years is a long time and I really have been very lucky to have had her here.
Things can only get better. The weather is obliging so far and we are heading out for dinner tonight as an early birthday treat.
I must apologise too as I haven't noticed until now that I have now posted over 100 blogs. I feel quite proud of myself but also a bit remiss in that I had planned to do a give-away as seems to be the custom. Instead I will do my give away at the start of the school holidays as a kind of summer treat.  Watch this space....

Now where next? Oh yes a couple of pictures from the very wet walk that K and I took the other day.....

I think we might have emptied wellies three or four times! Whose you may well ask? Well mine of course you wouldn't want to be getting your own boots wet now would you?...

As you can see things were a bit drippy......

See  you soon with give-away details....