frayed at the edge

The things I do for you!

It was a bit wet when we got up this morning, but by the time we popped into Hawick the sky had cleared and the sun had come out, so I decided to go for a walk when we got back home to take photos of the lambs.  This involves walking for a mile there, then of course a mile back ....... only for you, dear readers, would I do this!!  Along the way, I kept seeing snowdrops - why do they grow in the verge and not in my garden?!

 

I think these are aconites but I don't have my wildflower book to hand to check

 

the "whomping willow" tree is still standing, despite the gales

 

I thought I would see if there were any lambs in a field some distance from the road.  This meant either climbing over this gate

 

or walking along this muddy path ....... I chose the path

 

but I should have paid more attention to where I stepped!

 

there were no lambs in that field - but there was this handsome chap

 

so it was on down the road to the other field, where we saw the lambs yesterday.  Are you ready to go aaaw and aaaah

 

and all those woolly little lambs lead to a knitting update!  My mojo is well and truly back - indeed it is working overtime!  I have knitted a blanket for Linus

 

the blanket makes a nice backdrop for my socks

 

I've started another blanket for Linus.  I'm using two balls of four ply in different shades of purple.  It's an unusual pattern, knitted on two different sizes of needles - you do seven rows using one pair, then seven rows using the other

 

yesterday I got out my swift

 

and my ball winder

 

to wind this hank of sock yarn

 

in no time at all the hank was turned from this

 

into this

 

I popped the ball into my yarn bowl

 

and started another pair of socks!

 

and to finish - I grew up drinking Irn Bru (Scotland's other national drink) and I still drink it (although I do drink the sugar-free one now).  Over the years there have been wonderful (and at times controversial) adverts for Irn Bru, and one theme is celebrating its 30th anniversary - "made in Scotland from girders".  I bought this special edition can the other day.  I have to show you it in two photos, because of the curve of the can

 

ps - never mind a vodka and tonic, I can recommend a vodka and girders!!

 

 

Out and about

Yesterday, I went for a brief walk after lunch - brief because it was very windy and very cold!  Here are a few of the photos I took .......

snowdrops in front of a neighbour's wall

 

the Minto Hills, misty in the distance

 

some very nasty potholes!

 

my favourite view

 

 

the church

 

a rather muddy horse

this one's mane was blowing in the wind!

 

a miserable looking donkey

 

the next photos were taken from the car on the way to Jedburgh this morning

 

just look at the blue sky in these photos of the Abbey!

 

more blue sky behind the Clock Tower

 

an excellent shadow shot

 

a traditional red phone box

 

then it was on to the Woodside Garden Centre for lunch

 

I had bacon, brie and cranberry sandwiches

 

and Malcolm had ham, cucumber and mustard mayo

 

while Malcolm paid the bill, I had a look at the garden round the tearoom.  An interesting seedhead caught my eye

 

I couldn't quite read the label for this - I think it was a variety of crocosmia

 

a lovely rusty old water pump

 

I saw this in the shop - I don't think I will be buying it for the birds in our garden!

 

we haven't been using the back road to and from the house, because of all the potholes (see above).  But we did today, to see if the Jacob's lambs had arrived ....... and we were rewarded with a few.  I could just see some more way over at the back of the field - I will need to go back with the big lens to capture them

 

back home, the birds were enjoying the better weather.  This great tit was flitting about, flying off before I could get it in focus, before it finally settled on the bin store

 

this is a very fierce looking sparrow, but I don't know what the bird behind it is - I forgot to look it up in my bird books

 

Nibbling away

I have been continuing with my "small bites" way of working, and am enjoying seeing progress on several projects.  But I won't show you the work in chronogical order, but rather the progress on each project.  First, is the panda cushion.  The first photo was taken in natural light, the second photo with the light on, then the other two photos were taken with a different camera.  So although it looks like different pandas, it is just the one!

the back of the cushion pinned in place

 

the binding stitched to the sides

the top and bottom binding added

 

and the finished cushion

 

the baby quilt for Linus

 

I love the backing fabric .......

 

........ it reminds me of my teenage years

 

I did say that I was making two the same!

 

I started doing some more work on Mrs Billings, but despite my last plan to applique the diamonds in place, I just didn't like them, so it was over to plan C (or is it D?!).  I like hexies, so I am going to put hexies in the border.  I got out these papers, which were free with a magazine - a good fit

 

then I thought I would also put hexies in the narrow border

 

I soon had the hexies cut out, even fussy cutting the ones on the bottom left ......

 

....... except I forgot which way round they would sit in the border - oops!

 

next, another batch of hexie stitcheries (I told you I like hexies!).  I cut out the next six, and just pinned the fabrics to the hexies in the order they came off the pile, so it wasn't planned that the pink fabric would go with the pink elephant!

 

so that's ten done, and looking good

 

and to finish - I took these photos just after half past eight this morning.  It was just by chance that I looked out the window in the guest bedroom and saw the amazing colours in the sky

 

 

A rather different Friday

You know I have my Friday routine ....... after breakfast I do the housework, have a shower, then head off to patch'n'chat.  But today that was changed for two reasons, both of them unpleasant.  First, I had an appointment at the dentist this morning, so no housework, then second, Borderland Fabrics, where we go for patch'n'chat, was flooded on Wednesday, so of course the shop is shut.  Having survived the dentist (an impression, unpleasant, but not painful), I decided to treat myself to lunch.  You might wonder what sort of premises there could be up this close

 

and the doorway isn't particularly inviting

 

but what does the exterior matter, when they serve food like this!  Creamy scrambled eggs, served on toasted bloomer, with smoked salmon, creme fraiche and chives, with a rocket garnish ..... and even an arty balsamic drizzle (we won't mention the tomatoes, which were left on the side of the plate)

 

after lunch I walked down to the river, to see how it looked after Wednesday's floods. You can see a tree suspended between the wall and the bridge, with cables dangling down

 

in this photo you can see the residue from where the path was under water

 

there was much less water going through the bridge, and there wasn't the frightening roar that there was on Wednesday

 

the water wasn't pounding the wall today

 

and the level was much lower here

 

although there was no patch'n'chat, I wasn't deprived of cake this afternoon, as Malcolm and I shared this last wedge of our Christmas cake

 

this morning we were battered by Storm Gertrude, and the forecast for the weekend is atrocious, so we have decided to stay at home for the weekend.  No doubt I shall spend some time in the studio, with my wonderful stove to keep me warm

 

we have our fingers, toes, eyes and anything else that can be, firmly crossed for, first, the Murray brothers ....... Andy in the final of the singles and Jamie in the final of the doubles, then second, Gordon Reid who is in both the singles and doubles wheelchair finals.  Three Scottish players in the finals - pretty good going for a small country!!

Do remember to leave a comment to be included in the draw for the giveaway for my 7th blogiversary.  I hope you have a good weekend, love Anne

 

A small diversion

As usual on a Wednesday we headed out for lunch, planning to go to Milestone Garden Centre.  However Storm Jonas has dumped an awful lot of rain on us, and we had to turn back as the road was closed by flooding.  We decided to go into Hawick instead, and after parking we walked over to look at the River Teviot.  It was getting near the road on this side

 

and was just starting to go over on to the road on the other side - both roads were closed to traffic, as were several others through the town

 

the river  was roaring under the bridge

 

and pounding against the wall

 

it was frightening watching the speed of the water going under this bridge

 

at the other end of town, the River Slitrig was flooding

 

the house in the middle has a "for sale" sign on it, but I doubt it will sell any time soon

 

this is where we sometimes see a heron sitting on rocks!

 

we have never seen so much water going through here

 

it was a relief to pop into the Damascus Drum for lunch, to get away from the constant roar of the water.  This is my cheese and pastrami toastie.  Malcolm had a cheese and pickle toastie, but as it looked like mine, I just took one photo

 

it's not often that you see a tractor in the town centre!

 

I got Malcolm to drop me off at the bottom of our road, so that I could take these photos.  The water running off the field has formed streams

 

which run into this drain

 

which comes out here

 

and then runs into the stream

 

which flows under the road and on down the hill

 

as I walked on up the hill, the clouds parted and there was some blue sky!

 

BillytheFarmer's stable yard is flooded

 

Malcolm went out later with his big spade and dug a drainage channel in the verge, so that the water would run away off the road.  He has to do this regularly, as the council no longer do it

 

but the moss on this section of wall likes the rain!

 

I forgot to include these photos yesterday.  We had popped into Berwick Garden Centre for a cuppa yesterday on our way home, and I bought this bucket, which has some tasty nibbles in it .......

 

....... but the main reason for buying it was the price!  This has to be the bargain of the year - a quarter of the original price.  We will probably use the bucket to create a miniature herb garden to put on the deck, and of course we will enjoy the nibbles

 

don't forget to leave a comment to be included in the draw of my 7th blogiversary giveaway!

A walk on the beach

On Sunday morning we headed out for a long walk on the beach, and of course the camera went too!

is this a replacement for the lighthouse?

 

no, it's still there!

 

there is still a lot of stuff on the beach from the bad storms

we thought this looked like a dolphin - but it was too heavy to take home

 

there are lots of washed up traffic cones .....

..... and tyres

 

old wood, rusty nails and a long shadow - excellent!

more old wood

 

old wood and rusty bolts

 

an arty shot!

 

a long shadow of the old wood ......

 

..... and a longer shadow of me!

 

this would look good in the garden, but again it was too heavy to lift

 

alas the cafe was shut

 

an interesting rock formation

this has worn away to show two kinds of rock

 

an interesting piece of pink rock jutting out from the grey

 

this should also have a warning that the water is freezing!

 

this shows how much sand was washed up on to the promenade during the storms

 

yummy - a Devon scone made with buttermilk, enjoyed after our walk

 

and to finish.  I have had these Timberland boots for more than ten years (I bought them in Singapore!).  They may be too shabby to wear for best, but they are excellent for walking on the beach!

Bright skies

We decided on Saturday morning to head over to Berwick after all.  As we headed out to Malcolm's car, I paused to take a photo of my poor little car, still covered in snow from Thursday ......

 

....... and the road at the foot of the drive, which still had rutted, frozen snow and ice on it

 

the display on Malcolm's dashboard shows how cold it was

 

and this shows how he can change his driving mode

 

but before we get on to photos from Berwick, here are some from our trip out for lunch last Wednesday - the first ones are from the drive over to Melrose ..... fortunately the big beastie in the third photo had pulled off the road out of the way

 

the Abbey was looking good in the sunlight

 

Malcolm spotted this big clump of "chicken of the woods", which is a fungus, on a tree stump

 

I liked the delicate coating of ice

 

on the way home, we passed this pack of hounds ...... but we didn't see the hunt

 

so now on to Berwick.  Once we had unpacked, we went for a (chilly) walk into town.  After a potter round the shops, we popped in for a cuppa and scone for lunch ...... this is a delicious Provencal scone, with feta cheese, sundried tomatoes and olives (I pick out the bits of olive!)

 

on our way back over the old bridge, we could see clusters of people all looking down at the river and busy with cameras and phones.  Why? Because the seal was posing prettily for pictures!

 

and to finish ...... a photo of a swan!  It came into the dock this morning before it was quite light, so the photo has a slightly blue tinge!

 

yesterday morning we went for a long walk on the beach - pop in tomorrow to see the photos!

Between the showers

The weather really has been dire, so as soon as the rain went off for more than five minutes, we headed out for a walk.  The first set of photos are from a walk round Hawick.  You can see how much water was still roaring over the rocks in the Slitrig, a tree almost uprooted ...... and how did that straw bale get in the river?

 

 

as we walked back to the car, I stopped to take photos of this old Rover, which I think has been lying abandoned in all the time we have lived in Hawick!

 

after all the grey skies, it was good to have some bright blue sky in these photos

 

the next set of photos come from a walk round Berwick - again with some blue skies.  But it was also very windy, so some of the shots are slightly shaky, as it is hard to keep the camera steady when the big lens is fully extended (Malcolm kindly let me use his shoulder as a tripod for some of the photos!)

 

I wasn't surprised to see the golfers ...... it takes much worse weather to stop them playing!!

 

at least the golfers were on dry land, unlike this chap.  This is definitely not my idea of fun - I would want an awful lot bigger boat before you would get me on the water!!

 

there aren't many swans about at the moment, so it was good to see this one.  It's only when you see them out of the water that you realise just how big they are

 

the last lot of photos come from a walk on the beach on New Year's Day.  It was the first time we had been on the beach since the storms and floods, and we were amazed at the huge piles of detritus

 

there were lots of turnips all along the beach.  We think they had probably been in a field to feed the sheep, and were washed away by flood water

 

sadly, the lump in the middle of this photo is a dead sheep - you can just make out its horns at the right hand side of the lump

 

the entire beach has been affected by the storms, with groynes being uncovered - some of which we hadn't seen before

 

Malcolm was just wondering if he could take this tree home with him!

 

we decided not to join the swans for a paddle!

 

as we walked back to the flat, of course I had to take a photo of the three bridges

 

the heron was oblivious to the seagull floating behind him

 

it had turned much colder, and we had to watch out for frozen puddles - I didn't want to slip and end up in an undignified heap!

 

and so to the last photo ...... when we went out for our walk, we popped into the supermarket to get the newspapers, and I had a quick look in the clothing section for a hat, as my ears were freezing, just in the short distance we had walked!  Not quite my usual style, but it was relatively cheap, and very warm!

Fairy Twinkle!

It was our Christmas lunch at patch'n'chat on Friday, and Margaret as always had decorated the tables

 

she had also brought along her latest Christmas quilt

 

and she made a raggy wreath with the leftover fabrics from the quilt

 

I din't manage to take a photo of the delicious buffet lunch, but I did manage a photo of our afternoon cuppa

 

Betty's mince pies, which were served hot, were delicious!

 

but the highlight of the day was a visit from Fairy Twinkle.  To protect her reputation, I won't tell you who dressed up as her* (but Margaret used to own a fancy dress business .......)

 

it rained rather a lot on Saturday in Berwick, but yesterday was dry (and rather chilly), so we went up the coast to St Abbs for a walk.  I think it is probably obligatory to take a photo of a seagull when you are walking round the harbour!

 

there were lots of lobster pots on the quayside

 

as always I found some interesting things to take photos of

 

I don't know what these small trolleys are for - moving lobster pots perhaps

 

several boats had been lifted out of the water for the winter

 

although there were still some in the dock

 

we went for a cuppa and a sandwich for lunch ....... as usual I had a plain white cup, saucer and jug for my tea, while Malcolm had lovely decorated ones

 

we had ordered a sandwich to share, and were delighted when it arrived on two plates, both with a little bit of salad, coleslaw and some crisps - excellent service!

 

to finish, a message for Santa.  If I can't have a yellow machine .......

 

...... can I please have a big red truck (I've been a very, very good girl!!)

 

*I should point out that there was a "fat suit" underneath the fairy dress!!

 

A casualty of the weather

On Friday morning, we headed to Jedburgh Town Hall to set up for the Christmas Fair

 

once we had finished setting up, Malcolm dropped me off at patch'n'chat.  As the afternoon wore on, I started to worry as it got very windy, and by the time Malcolm picked me up again at the end of the afternoon it was very windy indeed.  We had fish suppers for dinner, then headed to the Town Hall, and waited for the Fair to open.  Last year great crowds came in as soon as the doors were opened, but on Friday there was only a trickle.  We found out later that less than half the number of people turned up this year, compared to last.  As the evening progressed, the weather got worse, with heavy rain.  Sales were few and far between, not just for us, but for all the stall holders.  Even the cupcake lady didn't sell all her delicious confections ....... yes, a box of them came home with us

 

along with several others, we packed up and went home early, and had to leave everything in the car overnight as it was so wet and windy.  Saturday was no better, it just rained and rained and rained.  When we got up on Sunday the rain had finally stopped and the wind had dropped, so we decided to head into Hawick for a walk and a cuppa.  The river was very full

 

people had taken precautions, with sandbags and special plates to seal the airbricks, to prevent the foundations flooding

 

as we walked on, we could see evidence that the river had actually flooded over into the street

 

we had thought that we would cross over the footbridge, to walk back along the other side of the river

 

but the footbridge was closed, as this had happened just beyond it - you may have seen this on news bulletins

 

further on, we stopped to watch some ducks struggling against the fast flowing water

 

this footbridge across the road from Sainsbury's was closed

 

perhaps because of the tree wedged under it

 

at the end of our walk, we came across this bunch of men, armed with brushes and shovels, offering to help clean out flooded premises

 

I'll be back on Wednesday with some sewing, and hopefully some cheerier photos!