Ceilidh-on!

 The

same

social

two

step

strutted

out 

in

Orkney

in 

Galicia

in 

Madrid

 in

Bulstrode

in

New 

Zealand

 in

Stirlingshire

in 

Edinburgh

in

fact,

what

always

makes

me 

wonder

is 

why

it 

goes

on 

for

so

long?

A travel blog.

I hate to sound at all like a commercial traveller but we had a night away to celebrate a year post chemo and the gorgeous front covers of Les's first two novels which arrived the same day. Les had no idea that I had booked a wee room on the most northerly point in Spain but as we travelled into the unknown he got super-excited. We had unexpectedly gorgeous weather, great views and fantastic food all at a very reasonable rate from most hospitable hosts. I refuse to advertise but email me if you want details!








 

It's been a long time, Mary Berry!

It has been ages since I sat down to blog. Life has taken over. The team on the great Bristish Bake-off do one show per week, I have to do four. Here are two of the groups (all consenting adults!) The results are as varied as the personalities, the only thing that never changes is that my scones/buns/shortbread is the worst in show!

The obstacles set before us..

Saturday I was preparing a sermon for Sunday, including the verse  "let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us" so I was ticked to look out of the kitchen window to see a race starting from the square (top photo). Later I took my notes down to the boat, wondering why the streets were so muddy. Turned the corner to find out there was skip full of mud and runners having to leap in and out of it as part of the race. Confirmed my next verse "I urge you, brothers and sisters, to watch out for those who cause divisions and put obstacles in your way that are contrary to the teaching you have learned. Keep away from them."  So I kept away from the mud gladly! Big shout to those who finished the Heroican race in that heat, a shower well deserved!

A not so quiet night..

So. it has been ages since we told you anything and for most of the time we too have been in the dark as to what was happening, but eventually it all came good and we made it to our 35th Anniversary so we celebrated, first with fancy dress and later with the kids in Edinburgh. The fancy dress paid tribute to the number of nights we had spent in casualty over the past year and because kind friends gave to charity we raised five hundred pounds for Macmillan Cancer Support in Orkney. A worthy cause!

The bells, the bells....

Since we moved flats we find our lives punctuated by "The Bells". In our previous dwelling we only heard them if we left the windows open. Here we hear them even with the windows, shutters and curtains closed - Aaargh! Thankfully they are stopped on the 12th stroke of midnight but even that sounds like the 24 hour clock for as soon as the church strikes 12 the convent bells start, their clock being almost a minute slower. Then if someone in town dies they start a mournful double ring for the deceased. We think the older the person the longer they donger. Then there are various calls to Mass. Anyway it is the beating heart of the town and we love being in it's centre. The bells in the video are in nearby A Ponte and they have rather more agile bell ringers.

Poetry please.

 As Donald famously told the curator at Maeshowe it is "Very bad to write on walls!"
I had to write on a wall today after Spanish class. The teacher told me to, honest. We were translating a verse from the Gallego poet Manuel Maria about language and I was supposed to translate it into Scots, and make it rhyme, standing on a chair was the worst bit and having photos taken of my deup!

In Gallego it says:
O idioma é a patria
a esencia máis nosa
a creación comun
meirande é poderoso