frayed at the edge

I regret that there is a short delay .......

....... in bringing you the sewing post, which will now appear tomorrow.  Instead, we have a Berwick post, as we came over this morning.  It was bright and sunny when we left Hawick, but it has been very misty here, as you can see from these photos

 

is Miss Havisham looking out of the window, in her wedding dress?

trees in the mist

 

the lighthouse is out there somewhere!

 

these cranes make me think of "War of the Worlds"

 

the railway bridge, seen through the arch of the new bridge

 

this makes me think of the "Marie Celeste"

 

but not everywhere was misty as you can see from these photos of old doors and gates

 

the old school is still rotting away, home to dozens of pigeons

 

alas, Malcolm hadn't secretly bought the "money pit" house, for me to turn into a quilting retreat!  But it is good to see that the new owners are hard at work rescuing it from years of neglect

 

walking on, we found a smart, well maintained boat

 

in contrast, an extremely dilapidated one, with weeds growing on it (I have offered in the past to buy it for Malcolm, but it's not quite the same as the beautiful boats we see in the marina in Puerto Pollensa!)

 

the new path on the quayside is finished, so you can now walk all the way up on to the old bridge .......

 

....... without tripping over an old mooring ring

 

back at the flat, there were swans in the mist in the dock

 

you can just make out that there are dozens of them

 

on our way home from our walk, we went past Lowry's coffee shop (ok, we made a detour down a steep flight of stairs to get there!)

 

we popped in for a cuppa ....... and yes, a little bit of sconnage!

 

there will be sewing tomorrow!!

The king of the castle

 After lunch on Saturday, we went for a good long walk on the beach.  As always, I started by taking photos of the lighthouse - here are just two of them

 

the next two photos show the difference that the light makes.  The first was taken looking towards the sun, then the second is round the other side of the groyne, with the sun behind me

 

a lovely rusted old fitting

 

I might have to sneak on to the beach in the middle of the night and steal this, to put in the garden!

 

this reminded us of the Easter Island heads

 

I do like a good rusty bolt or two

 

Malcolm recently showed me a bit in a magazine, where someone had taken seaside photos and added little stones, shells and bits of seaglass, so I think I will get prints of the next three photos and have a play

 

we sat in the sun outside the cafe on the promenade to have a cuppa (no cake after Friday's gargantuan helpings!).  There was a little old lady sitting on the wall, with three dogs.  The one on the left was a feisty little thing, challenging every passing dog to a fight, even ones big enough to swallow him whole!  You may think the other one is gazing adoringly at his mistress ......... no, she was eating chips, and he wanted one.  As for the third dog ......

 

....... it was having nothing to do with the others

 

as we walked back along the path above the beach, a skein of geese flew past - if you click on the photo to enlarge it, you will see them more clearly

 

back home, there was a swan in the dock

 

and a lot more swans out in the river

 

this little boat has been put up the dock sometime in the last week, as it wasn't there when Malcolm was over last weekend

 

we always end up picking up bits and bobs on the beach.  This piece of seaglass will make a good sail for a little boat picture, perhaps with a stone hull

 

as will this piece of pottery

 

the small tyres have all been cleared from the beach since the winter floods, but this rather large one has been left behind.  Malcolm immediately went to stand on it, which reminded me of childhood, when someone would stand on something and sing "I'm the king of the castle, and you're the dirty wee rascal" ....... I doubt the pc brigade would let you sing that any more - much too judgemental, referring to someone as both dirty and a rascal!!

A windy walk

When we woke up on Saturday, the sun was shining and the sky was blue.  But by the time we walked over to town for breakfast, the sky was grey and it was raining!  But fortunately the rain didn't last, although it was still somewhat windy, so we headed out for a walk after lunch.  We decided to walk along the other side of the river, along the Riverside Walk

 

the old and new bridges, with the river on  my left, rather than the usual right

 

 

the rail bridge looking magnificent in the sun

 

I took this photo from under the bridge, where the wind was much stronger, making it hard to keep the camera steady.  In the end I rested the camera on Malcolm's shoulder, but as he was being buffeted by the wind, it took a while to get the camera steady enough to snap the driftwood boat on the other bank

 

we didn't walk any further along the bank, as the path became rather muddy, and as we turned back I took this photo looking over to the town, with the rowing club on the river, and the clock tower on the skyline 

 

the start (or is it the end?) of the railway bridge

 

although there is another small section of bridge further along the line, where it crosses the road.  The train on the bridge, and the car on the road give you the scale of its construction

 

back at the flat, I was entertained by some swans, which seemed to have found something tasty to eat on this sandbank out on the river

 

while this man seemed to find the lobster pots fascinating

 

we had a lovely sunset 

 

I'll be back tomorrow to tell you about a very special invitation that we received to an event yesterday, and to finish - sometimes it can be tiring being a swan ..........

 

and all you want to do is tuck your head under your wing and have a sleep!

 

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 cliff top walk

On Saturday, Malcolm suggested that we went for a walk along the cliff top at the far end of Spittal Beach.  He had walked there before, but this was my first time (I'm not a fan of walking on cliff tops).  When we parked the car, we were greeted with a bright yellow splash of gorse

 

the start of the path looks down on the end of the promenade

 

looking back towards the lighthouse

 

even from this distance you can see how much better the beach looks after the clean-up

 

this is a train on the East Coast Main Line ........

 

I wouldn't want to be any closer when it goes past at 110 mph!

 

an unusual signpost 

 

there may be 1000 of these signposts, but this is the only one I have seen

 

at 110 mph, it won't take long to get to Edinburgh!

 

Seahouses, of course, is where we get the best fish and chips

 

this fish could find its way into a quilt

 

I think we could walk to these coves at low tide - but then we would be stranded if the tide came in, as I doubt we could climb up to the path!

 

I was slightly nervous about walking past this bit of the cliff, as it looks ready to fall in the sea

 

 

the next two photos show some of the gubbins which hold the high-voltage wires for the railway .......

 

as I used to work for British Rail (many, many years ago), Malcolm was asking me all sorts of technical questions, but I had to point out that I worked for the Chief Civil Engineer, not the Chief Mechanical and Electrical Engineer.  However, I could tell him about the track!

 

as we returned to the car, we saw these two gulls deep in conversation on the chimney tops

 

just as the sun was starting to set, these two swans came into the dock

 

it was such a still evening that you could see the reflections of the lighthouse

 

and the old chimney

 

the low sun was shining on the windows across the river

 

after our walk we may have had a sweet treat with our cuppa

 

I'll be back tomorrow to tell you what we did yesterday - it may have involved rather tasty scones!

 

Fun on the beach!

 

 

We came over to Berwick this morning, and after lunch decided to go for a walk on the beach that is way over on the other side of town.  We went past the Bell Tower

 

then on past the golf course

 

we paused to look out beyond the lighthouse to Bamburgh Castle and Lindisfarne

 

 

 

 

then there was the beach below us

 

we very sensibly walked down the steps

 

but it might have been fun to go down the slide (stop sniggering, who said my bottom would get stuck!!)

 

we may have had fun making dams to divert the water running out to sea

 

one of us played with a shell, floating it on a little pool (which one of us ...... well, it wasn't me!)

 

I made a stone stack

 

which was dwarfed by the slab of rock I sat it on

 

Malcolm joined in the fun, and together we created this larger stack

 

the sun came out, casting our shadows on the sand

 

Malcolm thought this bit of broken wall looked like a crocodile

 

there was very little driftwood on this stretch of beach, but we did pick up some little bits of driftwood and china (I must knit new fingerless mitts, my pink ones are getting a bit shabby)

 

these birds ignored us, as they poked about at the water's edge

 

there were lots of limpet shells on the beach

 

but these are live ones clinging to the rock

 

I've still got lots of photos from our walk back through the town, which I'll show you tomorrow.  To finish, on our way back to the flat we popped in here ......

 

....... for a cuppa  and a delicious lemon meringue tart

Scraps

After making the red and black blocks, I was left with a pile of scraps

 

so I started sewing them together

 

randomly adding bits

 

ending up with this block

 

but now I have scraps of the scraps!

 

today was orchid-watering day (I only water them once every two weeks) and I thought you might like to see which ones are flowering.  This one has only just started to flower 

 

a lovely pale flower with delicate markings

 

this one is darker

 

with much stronger markings

 

this one is a stronger yellow than it looks in the photos

 

the flowers are waxy looking

 

and now a very special treat - a guest photographer!  Stuart recently upgraded his camera (I am very envious) and took it out for a walk on Sunday.  He sent me these three photos, which he was particularly pleased with.  First an arty shot of a pine cone

 

next, an elegant swan

 

this is my favourite - a very sharp image of a robin

 

to finish - there was a bit of a commotion in the kitchen this afternoon, and this is what I found when I went to investigate.  I had left some tubs of home made soup to cool, before I put them in the freezer ........ and Malcolm had somehow knocked a pear out of the fruit bowl into one of the tubs.  As he went to clear up, I was, of course, shouting "leave it until I take a photo"!!

 

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!

Oh the joys of technology!

I'm sorry that I am a day late, but we had no internet yesterday ....... and it has been misbehaving today!

 

My blog is usually my sunny little world, where bad things aren't allowed to intrude, but of course I have to start today by saying that, like all of you, we have been shocked by the dreadful happenings in Paris on Friday.  I heard someone on the radio on Saturday say that the best response is to go on with our normal lives, so that is what we will do here, starting with walking over the old bridge on Saturday morning, braving the cold wind.   The swans were clustered on the mudbanks ....... probably because the water was so cold!

 

can you see the seal on the left of the photo, sneaking up on the cygnet?!

 

between Saturday afternoon and Sunday morning, we had a great deal of rain. as you can see from the puddles

 

the wind had dropped overnight, so it was reasonably pleasant when we went for a walk on Sunday morning.  We parked the car and headed for a section of the river front which Malcolm had explored before, but which I hadn't seen.  These little boats were marooned, as the tide was out

 

this building would make a lovely studio (just saying, Malcolm!)

 

the tiny figures show how enormous the old walls are

 

I don't think this boat will be going far

 

although the owners could try launching it down these remains of a boat slip

 

a view of the three bridges, from across the river

 

as we walked on, Malcolm reminded me of my own advice, to remember to look up ...... otherwise I would have missed this cupola 

 

a lovely piece of old weathered wall

 

this tree is hanging on to its leaves

I do like old garden gates and doors

 

a welcome splash of colour on a grey day!

 

two of our favourite shops have moved over the river into the town centre.  First, Miss Polly's Paint Pot

 

and behind the scaffold is The Furniture Barn

 

as I took the photo, Malcolm pointed out that one of the scaffolders was posing for me!

 

by this time we were more than ready for a cuppa, and headed to Lowry's at the Chandlery

 

we had one of our famous two-scone-lunches, sharing a very tasty cheese scone, and a delicious fruit one with jam and cream

 

I'll be back tomorrow with lots of crafting, and an exciting piece of news about a photograph and a magazine!

 

All the fun of the fair!

The weather cooperated on Saturday for the Spittal Family Festival, which we walked along to, after lunch.  The first part of the promenade was taken up with a car boot sale

 

then there was the funfair

 

sadly we missed the performance of the Punch and Judy show

 

this boat was whizzing about

 

the four men on the right were doing some impressive synchronised kite flying

 

there was a climbing wall at the far end of the promenade.  These two young girls may have taken some time to climb up, but it didn't take them long to come back down, as they just launched themselves out from the wall and came down on the safety ropes.  I would never, ever have had the courage to do that!

 

the girls would have had an even better view than this, looking back across the Festival

 

as we walked back along, we enjoyed delicious "99" ice creams

 

on Saturday evening, as it was getting dark, Malcolm pointed out a line of swans coming into the dock.  But by the time I had picked up the camera, they had about turned and were furiously swimming back out

 

so what had spooked them?  This naughty creature!

 

I am going to be very busy over the next few days, finishing the decorating in the studio, so I won't post again until Friday, when hopefully I will have the big reveal!  To finish, I'm not going to make a habit of this, but this is another Gaelic cartoon  - I have decided that the sheep is having to sit on his own because he is eating garlic popcorn!!  Of course it won't be saying that at all, but perhaps you can suggest another silly "translation"!