Work and play.

So this morning it was blitz the bedroom time.

Flick back to yesterday.

       

And now.

 Yesterday...

and now.


I filled two bags for the Charity Shop and one for the bin.  I went through cupboard and wardrobes like a woman possessed.  And then I cleaned.  Is there no end to this?

The curtains went up and are now hopefully becoming creased less.

I never thought to see the day I would have blue inside the house.  Its been a no no for me for many years.  But putting something next to my blowsy gold flowers and butterflies was not easy.  So duck egg blue it is.  (creases take about a week in past experience, otherwise its the iron out, bah.)

Then it was afternoon and time for the shed.  I staggered off down there with a bag full of stuff which had never quite made it, and where it belonged, not in the bedroom.

I am on with planning and plotting for the next round of Kids Activity Mornings at the lighthouse museum.  So far I have begun the poster, art wise, done a lot of downloading craft ideas from the internet and am gathering stuff to use to make the crafts with.

The poster has yet to have all the info put on and be 'coloured in', but its a start.  The above I aim to play about with so it can have different text below, such as 'This is to certify that ................................ attended the Kids Craft Activity on /at etc.'  The Lighthouse Logo will also be on everything I produce.

Then I had a bit of fun.

A friend of mine who does a blog called, Lesleysdailypaintings.blogspot.co.uk. has made her own charcoal!  How amazing is that.  And no she isnt hidden in the woods with a tent.  She does it on top of a stove.  And it doesnt take long.  Perhaps I will get her to blog about it.

So I had a go.

Joe.

Lonmay hare.

Great fun.

(have to say that the DP has today done the shopping, been to get bird food, cut a bit of lawn, laid and lit the fire, cooked the tea, and brought the washing in.  Bless.)

The Day of Rest.

The Dawn Patroller.  Now recovered from the cold he brought back from Edinburgh.

Finding more ruins within the woods.  What a story they would tell, if only they could.

Last man standing?  Sorry couldnt resist that one.

When the DP disappears off to buy the paper he is often gone quite a long time.  The camera is always with him.  

The Golden Horn, marks the entrance to Fraserburgh Harbour.

Looking in the opposite direction.

Towards Tiger Hill.

This afternoon he made the long trek into Aberdeen to change the curtains I bought yesterday.  Looking round my bedroom/office I think its high time I decluttered, sorted etc. to do them justice.

It was too nice to be inside however!  So I actually did some decluttering in the garden while the DP was away.

My pride and joy has settled in now and is sending up two spikes.  Rogersii, now taller than me.

Difficult to resist the calls of this photograph, paint me, paint me, but so far.......

But now, I am resting.

Comfort Zones.

The older I get, the more I have to force myself out of my comfort zone!

Today I visited the city of Aberdeen.

First up was this barring the only way in to the only multi storey car park I feel comfortable in, (despite fighting off young men, who want to wash my car, (and I thought they were chatting me up.))

Happily my internal satnav, which only comes into play when I am in panic mode, found me another way to the car park.  

Once out of there and into the mall, I avoided all temptations, Debenhams, Waterstones, but just had to go through Primark, waiting for the knell of doom at any minute.  It really is against all my principles to go into such places where they exploit cheap labour.... £20 lighter and with a whole new wardrobe of clothes, I walked across Union Street down Belmont Street, turned right into Gaelic Lane, and there was....

The Coffee House.

Inside. Oh wow. 

Yum.

Fresh flowers on the tables.  Home made soups, home bakes, sandwiches, smiley serving staff.  Lovely.

And, furthermore, one of these places with free wi-fi.  

A lot of people diddling about on lap tops.  

Not to be outdone, I asked the young man clearing tables how one connected, so he told me the password, apple, in case you visit, and this silver surfer connected her tablet, just for the hell of it.  (No emails, and no-one sharing things on facebook, so slid the whole thing back in handbag....loking as if I had had loads of messages, hah)

And was then joined by Christine.  Christine's blog can be found at , www.christinelaennec.co.uk.

Suddenly I was in a comfort zone!  We had one and a half hours solid exchange of chat.  Lovely.

Then I had to return to the car and drive home.

It to0k me thirty minutes to get out of the car park.  Stop start, stop start.  Cities are no way in my comfort zone.  No I didnt feel the buzz, I just felt my chest tightening from all the fumes from car exhausts, and my blood pressure going up, and a feeling of claustrophobia.  

I am more used to this, 

Once everyone got moving and I was out of the middle of the city. I just had to call in at Dunelm and the carbon monoxide or whatever having gone to my brain I decided to look for curtains.   For our bedroom.  We have been here for two years and the curtains were recycled from our previous home, and are, here, dark, gloomy, and not in keeping.

Even so, this decision to go buy some new ones was a bit of a surprise, even to me.  In fact the decision  was so bad I bought a pair which are totally the wrong size.  I had spent over an hour trying to phone home for the DP to measure up so I got it right, but there was a fault on the line. ( i.e. the DP not replacing the phone properly)  so I continually got the engaged signal.  So I guessed the size.  Blame the carbon mono etc.
As it was his fault he is to return the curtains and get the right sized ones.  

But all in all I am so glad I escaped my comfort zone.  I got to see Christine, such a lovely person, sadly missed seeing her gorgeous daughter,  and also sadly our fellow blogger Tina, but then, there will be other days when I will manage to escape my comfort zone and meet with them again.

So, whats your comfort zone?  And do you ever leave it?  Sometimes, like today, its well worth it, ignoring the curtains.............

Weird weather.

Not just in my corner of the world, in North East Scotland, but everywhere.  Snow in Middle England, Snow in Canada, well you expect it there, but not in May, they are still waiting for Spring.  Here we had a few warm days, well, the temperature increased a bit, and everything went mad.  Normally one has daffodils, followed by tulips, but everything is now coming up all at once!  (Pleased to see the bulbs I planted have come up, lots of Alliums!) (At the same time as daffodils, tulips, rhubarb!, )
Sadly no pictures, as when I was all prepared yesterday camera in hand, hung the washing out in bright sunshine, then a great wind came , half the Dawn Patrollers' T shirts headed for the North Sea, the sky darkened, hailstones as big as eggs, thunder, what is going on?  (Well I took shelter down the shed.)

The Dawn Patroller managed to take photographs on his dawn patrol, (but then he has a better, far more expensive camera than I.) (and it wasnt raining, or hailing, or thundering.)

 The Rooster is guarding the wood pile, part of which we are having/paying for, for  next Winter, well the next bit of the Winter, as it really has not come to an end yet.....

Well, I guess, life goes on.  The Robin bellowing to his partner, or one he has an eye on.

The DP has been away this last weekend, down in Edinburgh.  Moving youngest daughter from one flat to another, including two cats.  Also enjoying himself at the RSPB Bird Fair.  And taking grandchildren, sons of eldest daughter, on one of the days.

"Is this the countryside?"  Poor deprived child living in a city.

While he was away I kept the home fires burning.  And did quite a bit of painting.

Our art session this week has been concentrating on pen and ink.  I have now an obsession with Gannets.

All done in pen and ink.  And more to come!

Our part of the world has the largest onshore Gannetry at Troup Head.  The Gannets nest there each year.  Troup Head is an RSPB bird reserve and you can see it from the cliff, but also from the sea.  A fantastic sight.

So long as the weather does not portend an apocalypse should be a good season.  And only   six weeks or therabouts to Midsummers Day.......

Here, there and everywhere.

I can play that on the piano!

I dont think I have ever mentioned that I can play the piano.  Have I?

Well, perhaps I should be honest and say I can read music.  Like anything else in life practise is required and I do not do enough of it.  

I learned to play the piano when I was about eight.  I remember going on the bus from our village to the nearest town, Barnsley.  In the evening after school, must have been a good half hour on the bus, then a fair walk to the piano teacher.  All on my own.  Horrible man, who breathed bad breath all over me, and then the trip in reverse.  Any wonder I was put off the piano?  But like learning Latin, which I did for one year at High School, some of it stayed with my brain.  So I can read music.

I had an upright, brown wood effort first.  In later life after leaving home I managed to get hold of another upright, which was promptly painted purple, so that must have been the 70s.  

When I began to produce children, the younger two went for piano lessons and by then we had another upright piano.  Which I do not remember painting....  And then, oh boy, we came into some money and I was able to purchase this electronic effort.  Press a button and you get the full choir joining in, another, in come the string section of the orchestra.  It is wonderful! 

I should say here that my four daughters continued their musical education through the schools they attended.  All four = recorders.  (I HATE recorders) then Eldest, clarinet, Second, trombone, (I am not too sure about this one, but remember it being difficult), Third, Saxophone, which I love, and Fourth flute. 

None of them have continued.  

Anyway, back to the present.  The last week I have indeed been Here, There, and Everywhere.  Which has tired me out.  Brain unable to blog anything I felt that would be of the least bit interesting to you.

The Dawn Patroller was silenced.  Tuesday evening we went to the Fraserburgh Photographic Society's annual knees up.  This consists of a HIGH TEA, at the Leisure Centre.  I will do another post on what consists of a High Tea. For now, suffice it to say that the first course is toast.  
As with anything I attend there were copious amounts of red wine, so that's alright then.
  
Cups and awards are presented.  The DP knew nothing of the fact he had accumulated top points in the Society's two photographic  challenges of the year, Natural History and Weather.  So he shut up for a while, and won the above two cups, one is to keep, on the left, t'other has been put back in its box - and we hope we can remember where we put it for next years winner.

Thursday the DP left me for Edinburgh, a daughter to move flats, the ex flautist, and the RSPB Bird Fair, Saturday and Sunday, along with which he would be seeing the ex clarinet player and her tribe.

Most of my week has been spent at the Museum of Scottish Lighthouses, sorting out problems, a board meeting, having lunch so I dont have to cook while the DP is away.  And once all that was done, some painting.

We did pen and ink at art group.

A couple of baby seals.  Not pen and ink, watercolour.  May need a bit of tweaking having seen and thought.....

and work in progress.

And finally, chilling out down the shed a man arrived and set about removing the DP's attempt at a wildflower meadow, which didnt work, 

So - the wasteland, like hay, you can see, which is indeed, now hay, has to be raked after cutting, then the man will return and do a second cut, following which we may have a half decent garden.  Which when the big four by fours drive past will have a better view from their car windows.  But!  the top pic, see that corner?  Well I want a wildlife pond.  Anyone have a jcb?

Loch of Strathbeg - bird ringing.

Two posts today, please don't miss Mum's Spring Fest posted earlier.

But I thought some of you might be interested in the Dawn Patroller's adventures today.

While I was enjoying my morning of not doing very much, (and recovering from a wonderful meal last night with lots of red wine at the Museum of Scottish Lighthouses)  he was away at Loch of Strathbeg where they were bird ringing.

A fine mesh (Mist mesh)  is hung between trees that traps the birds without harming them.

Gently removed.

They are placed into a bag.  Its dark inside which reduces the bird's stress.

Gently placed, head down, again to reduce stress, the birds are weighed.

And measured, wing to tip.

And ringed.

All the information is put onto a computer and if anyone finds a bird which has a ring on there is also a website on the ring (poor bird, carrying all that info!)   so you can inform the British Trust for Ornithology.  Rings do come in different sizes for each species!

Willow Warbler.

Once all the info has been recorded the birds are taken back and released.

 Blue tit.

Blackbird.

Greenfinch.

Goldfinch.

Male Chaffinch.

Tree Sparrow on the left, House Sparrow on the right.  According to the experts of the day rare to see the two together, they should visit our garden......

Yellowhammer.

A good day for all involved.  Wonder how they manage to ring the White Tailed Eagle?

As big as me, but worry not, it was ringed when a chick, before releasing, and the tag can be checked with binoculars.  This is Ralf.  Called such as his tag includes the letters.

We do a weekly bird count of the birds in our garden, why not do the same, although it becomes addictive!  Check out British Trust for Ornithology web site http://www.bto.org/

If you see Ralf in your shrubbery do let me know.