frayed at the edge

Going back

Yesterday we went up to visit Stuart and Alison.  We stopped first at New Hopetoun Garden Centre, planning to have lunch ......... but it was mobbed, as it was a "10% off everything day"!  So we went to plan B, and went to Rouken Glen Garden centre, which is on the same road

 

as you can see, we didn't have any trouble getting a table!

 

Malcolm had a cheese and pickle toastie

 

and I had a coronation chicken sandwich

 

when we turned in off the road into the garden centre, we noticed this new building.  We went to investigate after lunch, and discovered that it is a new farm, gift and coffee shop.  We will pop in for lunch next time we are up that way

 

if you want to know what all these gubbinses are .......

 

....... ask Malcolm, because he used to work there!

 

this building in Grangemouth used to be a bank, but it has been lying empty for at least 30 years

 

we used to occasionally go to this pub for dinner ........ no matter what you ordered, it came with diced turnip!  Chicken curry, rice and diced turnip, steak, chips and diced turnip ...... yum!

 

when we parked to go for a stroll round Falkirk, of course I had to visit Hobbycraft

 

I asked this young man busking in the High Street if I could take his photo - I put a contribution in his bagpipe case in return

 

I didn't go into this new wool shop, as I didn't want to buy any wool

 

some major repair work on the Steeple in the town centre

 

a lot of people think that the Romans didn't come any further north than Hadrian's wall ........ but they did, building the Antonine Wall, which runs across Falkirk.  The house we lived in during the 90s is on the line of the wall, but we never dug up any Roman treasure in the garden!

 

Malcolm made this fence ........

 

......... which is somewhat neglected

 

he also made this bridge, which you can hardly see, as the garden is sadly overgrown (I will have to look out some photos of how it did look)

 

I wasn't trying to spy, taking a close up of the bedroom window ...... I was just amazed that my lace curtains are still hanging there!

 

after all that strolling down memory lane, we popped into the cafe in M&S for a quick cuppa.  We shared a cheese scone, which was tasty, but a bit small

 

somewhat larger were the meringues that we bought in the farm shop - we left one with Stuart and Alison, and we had this one after dinner tonight.  It was delicious!!

 

 

Rush, rush, rush

A very quick post, as I have to head off to pick up Maureen, as we have an Abbey Quilters' committee meeting this evening - it's all very serious stuff, as we are now counting down the weeks to our exhibition in July.  But I promised you sewing, so here it is!  I started with an easy task, after my holiday break from sewing.  I trimmed the bright baby quilt

 

made the binding

 

and in no time at all, it was ready for hand-stitching the binding on the back of the quilt

 

the finished quilt

 

with its colourful backing fabric 

 

the next task was the pastel version of the quilt.  I choose a pretty fabric for the backing, and the same cotton wadding as I used in the bright version

 

all pinned ready to quilt

 

the centre panel quilted

 

with a little loopy three-petal flower

 

and one of the side panels quilted with a meandering loopy pattern

 

I know you have been worried that I had to make do with cakes for three weeks on holiday, but my normal diet was restored today when I tucked into this delicious cheese scone!!

Our Sunday walk

This post has to start with a confession!  When we went out on Sunday morning to buy the papers, not knowing that we would be having lunch at the Town Hall do, we popped into the garden centre for a cuppa, and shared a delicious cheese scone.  So having then had our lovely buffet, Malcolm suggested that we should walk round the town walls to work off all those calories, before heading back to the flat.  Good idea - except for one small detail ....... I had on high-heeled boots, and I knew that there was no way that I could walk that far in them!  So we went back to the flat, I changed my footwear, and we headed back to town.  That meant we had already walked a mile before we started the walk

 

the "for sale" sign has gone from the "money pit" house ....... I will be very disappointed if it has been sold, as I had a grand plan to turn it into a luxurious quilting retreat .......

 

while I was looking up, capturing architectural details .........

 

........ Malcolm was looking out to sea.  He gave me a shout when he saw this little boat capsize, with the sailor struggling to right it

 

fortunately help was at hand

 

and he was soon under way again

 

this chimney is all that remains of a factory that made fertiliser from fish guts!

 

I had fun playing with this view, first focussing on the houses in the distance

 

then focussing on the wall

 

while this pigeon kept an eye on me

 

of course we have to have a photo of the lighthouse

 

the allotments looking good in the afternoon sun

 

and of course I have to have an arty shot

 

this thrush just wouldn't cooperate and face the camera

 

as we ended our walk round the walls, we paused to look down Marygate to the Town Hall

 

you can't see the old bridge behind the new bridge from this angle

 

but it came back into view as we walked under the new bridge

 

to finish - maybe it was as well that the wool shop was closed when we passed it, or I might have bought the pattern and yarns for these delightful tea cosies!

Celebrating 900 years

 We were delighted to be invited to an event in Berwick Town Hall on Sunday........

 

we avoided leaving finger prints on the beautifully polished brass lock

 

and went in to meet up with the other people who were involved in the various events last year to celebrate Berwick's 900th anniversary.  When we arrived, we were presented with this booklet about the town's timeline

 

if you look at the flags flying over the castle, you will see how often the town changed hands!

 

we also received a copy of this informative booklet about salmon fishing - you will recognise the boats as the ones I recently posted  a photo of

 

there were lots of information boards to read

 

and the full timeline to read

 

I was delighted to see that this photo included my wallhanging

 

and this one my three driftwood fish pictures

 

we had a glass of wine when we arrived, then after the speeches we had a buffet lunch, with another glass of wine.  I didn't take a photo of the sandwiches, sausage rolls etc, but took one of my strawberry tart and piece of rocky road!

 

in the afternoon, we went for a long walk, which I will share with you tomorrow. To complete an enjoyable day, I treated us to this bottle of wine to have with dinner.  I summoned up all my expert knowledge to help me choose which wine to buy ....... yes, this one had the best label!

 

ps - I often mention our lovely neighbours, the shoe shop owners ....... you can find their wonderful shop here

It's Friday again!

My goodness, it hardly seems five minutes since I was sitting here in the flat last Friday writing a post!  When we arrived after lunch there was a big ship in the dock, but it wasn't being loaded as it was raining, so there was also a queue of lorries

 

when the rain went off, this crew member appeared and started opening the hatches with this natty hoist

 

having lifted a section, he whizzed along and deposited it on top of the others - I wanted to have a go!  But before long it started to rain again, the hatches were closed and all the lorries left

 

on Wednesday afternoon I thought I ought to make a start to stitching my block for this year's challenge for Abbey Quilters.  We are doing sashiko blocks  - we were given a piece of fabric and thread, and a choice of patterns.  I chose this one, as it is much more interesting than the ones that are made up of straight lines or curves.  This is the pattern pinned to the fabric with a piece of chalk transfer paper in between

 

the chalk lines will rub off after the pattern is stitched

 

it is very soothing to sit and stitch along the lines with long stitches

 

this afternoon we braved the rain and walked over to town, where we popped into Fantoosh for a cuppa and cake  

 

Malcolm chose lemon and almond shortbread, which was very tasty

 

but when he tasted my chocolate mint brownie, he wished he had ordered one too!!

 

the forecast for the weekend is cold but dry, so hopefully we will be out and about.  Have a good weekend, love Anne

One for now ......

....... and one for later!  I was busy cooking this morning, starting with asparagus and fennel soup.  The other ingredients - onions, chicken stock and pepper (there is enough salt in the stock)

 

as always when I make soup, I started by sweating the onions in a little glug of oil

 

I sliced the fennel using the mandolin - making sure I used the guard, having cut myself in the past!  I added the fennel and asparagus to the pot, and sweated them with the onions a little longer

 

then I added the stock and the pepper, along with some boiling water, and left the soup to simmer until the veggies were tender

 

I love my stick blender - so much easier than getting out the food processor to whizz the soup (I don't like soup with bits in it)

 

a delicious lunch, with the addition of a little bit of Cambozola cheese

 

the rest of the soup, which is now in the freezer for another day

 

I had taken these lamb shanks out of the freezer yesterday to defrost, ready to cook today

 

I got out my Davina book

 

to (more or less) use this recipe

 

I used mushrooms instead of aubergines, and cooked them gently with onions and garlic in some olive oil

 

I measured out the spices, a half teaspoon of each, except for the cinnamon, which was a quarter teaspoon

 

using a tip from Madhur Jaffrey (from way back in the 80s, when she had a cookery programme on tv), I added some water to the spices to make a paste, which makes it easier to stir them into the veggies.  I then let them cook gently for a couple of minutes, which cooks off the raw taste of the spices

 

the next ingredient was tomatoes - although I don't like raw tomatoes, I am quite happy to eat cooked ones

 

having stirred in the tomatoes and some water, I transferred the sauce to the slow cooker

 

then having added a little bit more oil to the saucepan, I browned the shanks

 

and added them to the slow cooker.  Then I left them to cook for several hours (while I tackled the ironing!)

 

we had one each for dinner, with some couscous.  The other two have gone in the freezer, ready to have on a busy day

What we did on Sunday

We had just set out to head south down the A1 on Sunday morning, when I realised that I had forgotten to lift the big camera, so all of these were taken with the point and shoot.  Our destination was Amble, where we were rather taken with these new pods

 

there are fifteen of them, with all sorts of little businesses

 

there are rather more boats in the marina than we are used to seeing in our dock!

 

lunch was broccoli soup, with delicious fresh-baked bread

 

on our way back, we drove through Warkworth, which has an imposing castle (the strange mark is a reflection on the car windscreen)

 

we came back up the coast road, with a little side trip to Low Newton.  We popped into the pub to use the toilets - we would of course have bought a drink if we had been challenged, but the place was so busy nobody noticed (and as there are no public toilets, I guess the pub must be used to people sneaking in to use the facilities!)

 

sand, sea and blue sky - bliss!

 

we rather liked these posh beach houses

 

away in the distance, you can just make out Dunstanburgh Castle

 

and one more castle to finish - the magnificent Bamburgh Castle

 

this has been a rather hurried post, as it is Abbey Quilters' monthly meeting tonight, and I need to pick Maureen up much earlier than usual, as we have committee duties to attend to.  I'm not sure if I will be able to take any photos tonight, as we have a guest speaker, but I will be back tomorrow with some sewing.

What we did on Saturday

When we walked over the old bridge on Saturday morning on our way to town, we heard a splash and a plop ...... and there below us was a seal, which had come out of the water on to a rock.  I only had the point and shoot with me, so you can't see him too clearly.  And even less clear is the heron on the little outcrop behind him

 

then we spotted another heron - this time you can see more of his reflection than you can of him

 

the sun reflecting off the water had given this photo the feel of a painting

 

it was an exceptionally low tide, and you can see the wooden piling round the bridge pier

 

and this is very old wooden piling round the foot of the old bridge

 

I rather like the bits of reflections of the bridge in the pools

 

later in the morning we set off for the beach, and we got a closer look at a heron

 

looking back at the three bridges basking in the sunshine

 

this is the ramp for launching the lifeboat - there isn't usually this much of it exposed - we were worried that there wouldn't be enough water at the end of the ramp if the boat was needed

 

the sky reflected on the calm water

 

I wonder who had fun making this - could it have been us?  A couple walking their dog stooped to ask if we were going to dance round it ....... Malcolm said yes we would be back at midnight, and I added that we would take off all our clothes.  Did they want to join us?  For some reason they said no!

 

if we could have picked this up, we would have brought it home to make a seat in the garden

 

I think Malcolm was contemplating how many logs this would provide

 

of course we have to have a photo of the lighthouse

 

I just liked this abandoned tyre, standing upright in the middle of the beach

 

halfway through our walk, we sat in the sun outside the cafe on the promenade, and shared a delicious bowl of chips

 

then, on our way back after quite a bit more walking on the beach, I treated us to icecreams

 

I'll be back tomorrow to tell you what we did on Sunday.

Small boats and large ships

We came over to the flat after lunch, and the new runner was immediately put on the little dining table

 

I think it looks very good - and even the pot pourri is colour coordinated with it!

 

when we walked over to town, we stopped on the old bridge to look at these two small fishing boats.  Malcolm was laughing when the left hand one turned to show its stern, just as I took the photo, suggesting it had taken lessons from all those uncooperative animals who turn their bottoms to the camera

 

when we came back form town, we found that a yacht had come into the dock

 

but it was dwarfed by this ship

 

which was being loaded

 

the swans weren't bothered by the ship

 

and the pigeons were happy pecking at the spilled seed

 

but then the survey boat came in

 

the swans scattered, and as the boat came up against the dock, the pigeons took off too

 

of course when we were in town we went for a cuppa and cake.  Malcolm had this elegant white chocolate and raspberry tart, which he said was delicious (I didn't taste it, because as you know, I don't like white chocolate)

 

and I had this wonderful lemon meringue pie

 

the forecast is a bit mixed for the weekend, but hopefully we will get out for a walk.  I hope you have a good weekend, love Anne

 

A walk in the park

On Sunday we walked over the old bridge, then along the river to Castle Vale Park

 

the start of the walk is dominated by the railway bridge

 

this photo shows the scale of the bridge, with the tiny figure of a rower who had just come through the arch

 

the air was full of the small of wild garlic - but look out for the nettles if you pick it!

 

as always we paused to admire the ruins of the castle

 

this plaque shows what the castle might have looked like

 

someone has had fun with the trees and branches washed down the river in the floods, building a wonderful boat!

 

the boat even has a deck

 

but my favourite bit is the branch at the front which looks like a strange four-legged beastie is trying to climb aboard

 

further along the path Malcolm spotted this owl peeking out of the undergrowth

 

and who can resist a rotten old fence post (but again, look out for those nasty stinging nettles)

 

it looks as if this tree is coming into leaf

 

but it is fluffy catkins, not leaves

 

we encountered several gates on our walk.  The first one is in need of some tlc

 

the second one is at the entrance to the park which was to have commemorated the coronation of Edward VIII, but after his abdication, it was dedicated to George VI

 

but this is my favourite - if you look to the left of the gate, there is nothing to stop you simply walking past it!

 

this beautifully restored cottage is a holiday rental

 

it has a stylish weather vane

 

and a quirky garden seat

 

as always on our way back, I paused to take a photo of the view through the railway bridge to the "new" road bridge, and the old bridge

 

the railway bridge is so long, that even this photo doesn't show the full length of it

 

as we walked back into town, we crossed over the railway just as a train pulled into the station

 

somehow the beautiful old buildings have survived - so may old stations have been knocked down and replaced with ugly modern buildings

 

we were going to have scones for lunch, but we made the mistake of looking at the menu, and instead had rather delicious sandwiches.  It may look as if I used a special effect for these photos, but it was just that the lens had steamed up!  Malcolm had egg mayo

 

and I had coronation chicken

 

we walked along the quayside after lunch - and there was another lovely rusty pile

 

late in the afternoon, these two swans came into the dock

 

I'll be back tomorrow with some sewing - and some knitting.  But to finish - I was delighted to read the other day that a recent survey showed that the population of long tailed tits has increased because of the mild winter.  And to prove it, we have had more in the garden