Hillls

One of the things I enjoy most about my trips to Scotland are the views of hills.
First there is the view from my cousin's guest room window.
It looks right over Glasgow to Ben Lomond.
 This time I was lucky enough to spend a day at North Berwick. This is the Law. If you can zoom in you'll see the whale bone arch on the top.
 These are the hills to the south of Peebles. This is looking south up Manor Valley where we lived for a while.

And these are the Pentland Hills to the south of Edinburgh.
In Edinburgh itself, Arthur's Seat was looking resplendant, covered in yellow gorse. Sadly I didn't get a photo of it.








I lift up my eyes to the hills-
where does my help come from?
My help comes from the Lord
the maker of heaven and earth.

He will not let your foot slip-
he who watches over you will not slumber;
indeed he who watches over Israel
will neither slumber nor sleep.

The Lord watches over  you -
the Lord is your shade at your right hand;
the sun will not harm you by day,
nor the moon by night.

The Lord will keep you from all harm-
he will watch over your life;
the Lord will watch over your coming and going
both now and for evermore.
Psalm 121

A Sleepover!

Yesterday three of our grandchildren arrived for a sleepover.  Alyssa brought me this branch from her neighbour's cherry tree. She carried it to the house of  the friend they visited en route, then on the underground, followed by the overground train.
After tea, I went to put Joel, the youngest, to bed. I gave the girls paper, and a book to lean on. They settled on the settee in front of the vase.
 

You should have heard them gasp when I opened my box of Promarkers and Aquamarkers on the seat between them!
 

Here are the results!
 

There wasn't a sound out of them for almost two hours!
 

 

I think this is a good reason for having some more Promarkers, don't you?!
 

Paper piecing.

 Paper piecing is the name of the process by which this kind of patchwork can be put together.
You need to have a pattern - this one is called a circle of flying geese. Then you sew the fabric onto the paper, in correct numerical order.
Once you get your head round it, its easier than it sounds!

 My first effort was a Christmas one.

 Then I did a Spring version. I don't think I would choose gingham again - it doesn't lie as flat as I would like.

 The embroidery on the back is called Feather Stitch which I found in an old book of embroidery stitches.

 In situ chez Erulin.

January 2011

My diary for the month.

New Year's Day at Evie's flat. We had the whole family in the same place, at the same time.

Things I made this month
Joel's pirate suit

Mr Broccoli - the second - to replace a lost one.
I also made a book of photos for my friend Marion, to commemorate a particularly happy time several of us had at her house a few days before Christmas. Sadly no rooom for a photo.

Another memorable event was the Peter Pan Party, but I think that deserves a blog of its own!

Books read this month: An Act of Peace - Ann Widdecombe
The Help - Kathryn Stockett
Picture Perfect - Jodie Picoult
Girl with a Pearl Earring - Tracy Chevalier
A Place of Secrets - Rachel Hore
I started Out of the Woods but not Over the Hill - Gervase Phinn, but I got distracted... I will finish it sometime. The one I read quickest was the Rachel Hore one.
Surprises in January included haggis for dinner on the 25th , and also a pineapple upside down pudding. That same week we had prawns - all prepared by Brian, DH is branching out!
Healthwise, in the last few days of the month, I actually stopped coughing and began to feel better!

18th November 2010

This is my friend, Leslie. We go to the same scrapbooking crop. Unfortunately she was involved in the 7/7 bombing in London. Since then she has suffered PTSD. Today I went with her to King's Cross to lay flowers at the memorial to those who died.
At first we thought we wouldn't be allowed to leave the flowers. Security is very tight. The staff were very apologetic and we ended up talking to the duty station manager. He explained that people are generally encouraged to come at 6pm ( when the fire happened) but that since we were there he would come with us, with the official wreath, and we would lay our flowers together. Leslie is unable to go out after dark.
Sorry its not the best photo - I was being quick and surreptitious, expecting to be arrested at any moment.
There are 2 memorials - one for the bombing victims and one for the victims of the fire.
It was Leslie who told me about the Mixed Media Art day at the Museum of London - to which we both went in June. She is an inspirational and inovative artist and I appreciate her very much.

On holiday with a very smart phone...

If you would like to see nice photos of my short visit to Scotland in August, then head over to my daughter Evie's blog. The link is on your right. What follows is a different side of the holiday...

I knew Evie had this nice new phone...

As we left London there was a prolonged call to someone called Fiona. The tunnels didn't seem to cut the connection.

Then we got to Lancaster. 'I wonder what that river is called?' No reply but I could feel the increased level of concentration beside me. She looked up from the phone and announced 'its the River Lune'! Really?

We got to my cousin's house and the conversation was all about her son's forthcoming wedding. The hymns? The first one was All things bright and beautiful' - straightforward enough. The second was something like We vow to one another... would that be to the tune of I Vow to thee my country? We didn't know but the phone told us the answer ( which I can't remember now!)

Visiting my sister in Dunoon by ferry, I've always been confused about which loch is which - three of them branch off where the Clyde turns to flow to the south -no longer thanks to that phone! I know exactly which is Gare Loch, Loch Long and Holy Loch.

The next day was wet - again so we decided to stay in Glasgow. I took Evie to see some of my favourite places. One of them was the replica of Charles Rennie Mackintosh's house. It's attached to the Hunterian Art Gallery. She tried hard to get a guided tour of the house on her phone, but it didn't quite happen...

The next day it was much brighter so off to Loch Lomond we headed. I've had many a picnic on the bonny banks and I always knew there was at least one island... but now I know exactly which piece of land is Inchmurrin.

In bed at night I wanted to finish a chapter of my book. 'Thats OK, Mum, I'll just try my flag recognition app. while you do that.' I think she could recognise about 40 flags at that point. The World Cup had been a help. Shortly afterwards my chapter finished I switched off the light, forgetting she might still need it. Problem? Not at all, the torch on her phone was like a searchlight- brighter than all the lights in our room! And anyway she had moved on to do a maths game. ( I wish she'd had a phone like that when she was at school!)

On the way home it was cloudy and we couldn't see the sun. We wondered which direction we were travelling. Should have been south - to London? It turned out we were going east at that point, but we did get safely to London!

Thanks, Evie, for being such a good travelling companion and enriching the experience with your phone!

Silver Linings.

You will have to read back to my birthday blog at the beginning of July to find out why I have called this series of blogs 'Silver Linings'
This is the hotel in Eastbourne where I have just been to the Cardinal Colours Scrapbook Retreat.

It is a lovely place...

and I met some lovely people! This group sat together for the first meal and we stayed together for every meal after that. I've never been in a group that gelled together quite so well before. It was a good experience! More of the stuff I made, later when I take the photos of it all.
Thanks, girls, for making the weekend so special.