Parkour at the park

We continue to be a house of much studying as both Ally's and Davie's exams approach. Ally's Law exams start first; in fact they start tomorrow. He seems to have got past the anger and despair to an eerie calm and is walking around with lots of notes written on cards which he asks James and I to test him on. I am feeling very perky and wonder if it is due to the exercise that I am now taking daily. I don't mean lots of exercise, but some is better than none. Ally and Davie both accompanied James and I on our walk three times round the Heritage Park this evening (three times round = 3.6 km). There were some wee boys from a football team training there, and one of them ran past us shouting to his friends "I'm doing Parkour!" He then tried to run across the back of a park bench and plummeted to the ground painfully! Luckily he didn't seem to be seriously hurt and we all tried not to smile as he limped off! Nature man James pointed out a heron standing among some reeds, it was quite big and flew off with its legs trailing behind it. And we also noticed a memorial (one of many at the Heritage Park, the whole place is like a memorial garden) which has a little hedgehog ornament with a solar panel on its back. We're not sure what the purpose of the solar panel is and James suggested that maybe its eyes light up in the dark. Which I think would be rather spooky! We had a good laugh; Davie commented that I was blocking his way on the path and James said that he could slingshot past me using my gravity. They are so cheeky! I think the fresh air and chat did Ally some good. 

Goslings

A pleasant Sunday. James and I went for a walk round Strathclyde Park in the morning and were rewarded by seeing a mummy goose with seven gorgeous fluffy goslings on the banks of the loch. James carried his umbrella all the way round and for the most part it acted as a charm to ward off the rain - however it did come in handy in the last ten minutes before we got back to the car as a sudden squall of wind and rain blew in. The park was busy with canoe races on the water and lots of people walking and cycling around the paths.
The afternoon was devoted to study and admin! David and I sat at the table in the back room and he did Chemistry past papers while I did online shopping & banking. Ally was also studying very despondently in his room. He kept coming downstairs to give us updates about how badly it was going and to rail against the unfairness of his three exams being so close together over the next week and a half. Meanwhile James did some batch cooking of Hungarian Goulash which turned out to be delicious. We ate some of it for dinner with Grandma; she has got over her chest infection and is looking much better. I ate healthily all day but succumbed to a slice of Battenberg cake while watching The Antiques Roadshow. 

A Walk in the Trossachs

I was a bit downbeat in my last post but I am much cheered by the very nice phone calls and text messages of support that I have received - thank you Jennifer and Heather. And I have started to change my eating and exercise habits starting now. While I was out at Book Club last night James planned a walk for us for today around Brig O'Turk in the Trossachs. The weather was sunny and mild all day and it was a really pleasant woodland walk through woods and beside Loch Venachar and up to the Finglas Dam. We walked about 8 km. James pointed out lots of wildlife to me like two golden eagles, a deer, and the highlight - an osprey flying low across the dam. There were also lots of cows who were either pregnant or with wee calves, and the trees were full of tiny twittering birds. It's always a nature walk when James is around! It also turned out to be a literary walk! We followed a sign to a waterfall where Millais had painted a portrait of John Ruskin in the summer of 1853. You can still clearly see the rock that he stood on and the rocks behind him with the waterfall rushing among them. It was during that summer in the Trossachs that Ruskin's wife Effie fell in love with Millais; she went on to marry him. We had lunch at the Brig O'Turk tearoom and it was warm enough to sit outside; the menu was very good and we both had delicious steak sandwiches.
We went to see the film Iron Man 3 at Braehead this evening and it was great fun. Robert Downey Jr and Gwyneth Paltrow were both on good form and Ben Kingsley was hilarious. Although it didn't have the impact and novelty of the first Iron Man film it still held my interest and some scenes had me on the edge of my seat. I feel in a much better mood, I wonder if it's because of the exercise? 

Confusing appointment

Back to the hospital today about my cough, and it was a very confusing visit. Apparently I have arthritis and osteocytes in my neck. I also have low iron levels which causes some sort of strictures in my throat, and I have a weak diaphragm and other things that I can't remember, the doctor was speaking so fast. I had more blood tests which I think is for auto immune something. She also mentioned Patterson Kelly Brown syndrome and wrote that down for me. But I have looked it up on Wikipedia and I have some but not all of those symptoms. It was all very worrying. I felt so confused and I didn't know what questions to ask. I just feel so stupid and I think I will ask someone to come with me to my next appointment in three months.
So I have yet more medication and worst of all I have been told that I have to lose two stones before my next appointment. I am not in a good mood right now. 

The squirrel hunt

The weather continues to be reasonable and it's lovely that the days are getting noticeably longer. James and I have been going for walks around the neighbourhood after work which are pleasant as well as being a good opportunity for a chat. However I have had a strange, numb feeling in my tummy for the last couple of days. I started taking something called Peptac liquid as well as my usual omeprazole a few days ago and I feel really bloated and uncomfortable. However, to look on the bright side, I am definitely coughing less!
The garden has been abounding with wildlife; birds of many varieties and our family of squirrels. James doesn't like grey squirrels (originally imported from America) because they drive our smaller native species of red squirrels away by eating up all the food in an area and they carry the squirrel pox virus which kills red but not grey squirrels. I like red squirrels too; they are very cute. However I can't help loving Mr Grey and his family because they are really gorgeous and it's not their fault that they are grey! They are not completely grey anyway; they have small or large patches of brown on their backs. Jack watches them through the window as they besport themselves on the bird table and run up and down the trees, but he doesn't even try to catch them - maybe he did when he was younger. Alasdair has chased them (even climbing up the trees after them) without success. I have offered Ally a reward if he catches me a squirrel so that I can play with it. I have specified that it should be alive - with Ally it pays to be clear about these things. So he has set up a trap outside the French windows consisting of birdseed under a bucket propped up by a stick. The stick has a string tied round it which leads in through the window to where Alasdair is lying in wait. However Jack keeps spoiling Ally's plans by going outside and sitting beside the bucket! So far I still don't have my pet squirrel but when I do I will call him Twinkleberry. 

Booking a holiday

This has been a quiet, pleasant and useful weekend. I have spent a great deal of it sitting with my iPad, booking accommodation in Alaska for our July holiday. It has taken ages, but I'm pleased with what I have booked; from a smart city hotel in Seattle via a long and circuitous route by train, ship and car to a log cabin near Seward, it's certainly going to be interesting!
David has been studying for his final Maths prelim on Monday, I have never seen him working so hard for an exam. Alasdair too has exams coming up and has been studying, working at his security job, and has headed to Cat's this evening to celebrate her birthday which is tomorrow. I hope that she likes our present! And Jamie is still on his placement in Lochgilphead. It's all go!
James and I have been out for a couple of walks in what I think I can now safely call Spring weather; both Saturday and Sunday have been quite bright and sunny.
I can hear a very strange noise outside the window just now like a child's cry - I just woke James up to tell him about it and he says that it's a fox. It's very close by and sounds really human! 

Nineteen

As I write this, a huge manhunt is going on for a nineteen year old who is one of the suspects in the Boston Marathon bombings which happened on Monday. The other suspect has already died in a gunfight with police and his younger brother is on the run. The bombings were dreadful in their cruelty but I can't help hating the idea of a nineteen year old running for his life, alone and terrified. My own nineteen year old son has just beaten me again at our new favourite quiz game, "Pointless" and is happy and safe beside me. How wholesome compared to the awful things happening around the world.
I have had an exhausting couple of days, just very very busy, and I still don't know what my future role will be at work which makes me feel unsettled. However today the weather was absolutely beautiful which lifted my heart, and after working late I ordered a curry and picked it up on the way home. James has not had a great day. On his way to work, a driver three cars in front of him stopped suddenly and the two cars in front of James crashed into it. James managed to stop just in time but he has wrenched his back and it's very sore. This is always a worry because he has had back surgery and of course does not want to hurt it again. He is going to see if it eases off over the next day or so.
We are watching "Captain America" just now, so I had better stop blogging in order to concentrate on the plot - it always annoys the boys if I ask too many questions during a film, especially if I have been blogging or looking at the Internet. 

Quiz

Davie has got himself an interview to be a volunteer at the Commonwealth Games in 2014! He received an email to let him know and he then booked his interview time, for a date at the end of May. I was very pleased for him, and even more pleased when I heard on the Scottish news that only half of the 50000 people who submitted applications have got interviews. I wonder what their criteria were when they were whittling it down. Anyway, good for David to have got this far.
After the heady excitement of returning to work yesterday, today was somewhat of an anti climax. It was one of those days where despite much activity I didn't feel as if I had got as much done as I wanted.
However Ally cheered me up when I arrived home by challenging me to beat him at Pointless; a tea-time quiz show that is indeed pointless but is strangely addictive. You have to give answers that are correct but obscure because the contestant that gives the least popular correct answer wins the point (a thousand people have previously been asked each question so the answers are graded by the percentage of people who got them right.) Much coveted is the "pointless" answer that no one has answered correctly. Alasdair won handsomely but I will return to fight another day. 

Summer term begins

Back to work today. I was quite excited about it last night but less so when I woke up this morning! However it was a good day. I made excellent progress with a couple of urgent tasks that I needed to complete and it was nice to see everyone again. I do really enjoy my job, although I will also really enjoy retiring in due course! I popped round to see Grandma on the way home and she looks a lot better, she also seems to have got her appetite back. James and I watched a film tonight called "More" because it had a Pink Floyd soundtrack. It was filmed in 1969 and was all about hippies taking drugs in Ibiza. It was a bit dismal but James enjoyed the music. When we finished watching it we switched on the news to find that there have been two explosions at the Boston marathon and another one at the JFK library. The news reports are showing horrible scenes of panic and injured people, reminiscent of 9/11. 

Weekend of much culture

Yesterday we went to Aye Write with Heather and Ewan and went to see three authors. First we went to see Tom Holland who is a historian, he writes books about subjects such as the Roman Empire and the rise of Islam. He was a grey-haired yet youthful and enthusiastic speaker, very knowledgable and interesting; he was talking about the origins of the Koran which is of course a bit controversial to Muslims who see it as a miracle rather than Holland's view that it is a collection of ideologies from several different cultures. We then went for a very early dinner just after 4 p.m. - the reason being that the timings of our next two events meant that we would have to eat either very early or very late. Heather had booked the Piano Bar and we had a tasty meal there before our next author - Maggie O'Farrell. I think that she is a very talented author and in fact I'm pretty sure that I have read all six of her novels, including her new one that she was talking about today, "Instructions for a Heatwave" She seemed very pleasant but was not a very sparkling speaker - after all, why should she be? She is an author not a performer. This though, combined with the facts that he has not read any of her books and had a nice full tummy, meant that James slept a bit during her talk! Also, the audience was a bit on the quiet side and there were not many questions, which was a bit embarrassing - I did try to think of a question but luckily a couple of people rallied round towards the end. Our final author was Gavin Esler, a journalist and TV presenter who currently is one of the main presenters on Newsnight. He has written a book "On Leaders" and his talk was very anecdotal about all the world leaders he has met, to illustrate his theory that leaders have to have their own story and believe in it before they can lead anyone else. He was very amusing and we all enjoyed his talk which had the audience laughing. So, three very different speakers, which was great.
Off we went for a drink and had a good laugh in the pub where we noticed that we were very nearly the oldest people there! When did that happen? It seems like yesterday that I was being ejected from pubs for being too young!
Today James went hill-walking to Moffat but when he got there the rain was so bad that they had a cup of tea and came straight home again! James then took himself off to bed for a nap. Meanwhile I had received an invitation from Steven and Hilary to go to a play with them - "Black Watch". I had never heard of it but when I mentioned it to Grandma (she has a bad chest infection so I was round there making her a cup of tea), she knew all about it and said that it had very good reviews. It was cancelled on Friday night because several of the cast were ill, so it was rescheduled for this afternoon. Well, I was delighted that I went along! It was very unusual - it was a sort of history of the regiment, but that does not describe it adequately. It set mainly in Iraq in 2004 and it was sad, funny, shocking, political, and had singing and very well choreographed dancing that merged into marching.
Later on we all gathered at Grandma's house for dinner; we transported the food across in casserole dishes which went smoothly and Forrest came along too. Grandma is still very weak but is looking a bit better and managed to eat some of her tea.
And so my holidays are over. It has been a good break and I have had a ball. 

Welcome home, lunch and film

Davie came home today! He has been at study camp for two weeks and I have missed him so much! I collected him from Buchanan Bus Station then we went to meet James for lunch at an Italian restaurant that he knows in Cathcart Road. It was very good - rustic Italian cooking - and apparently they are very proud of their meatballs! However both James and I chose gnocchi with Italian sausage and Gorgonzola which was yummy. David said that his spag bol was excellent. We got home to find Ally and Cat just arriving from their latest vaccinations. The district nurse said that if Ally did have an adverse reaction to any of last week's jags it was probably the one for Japanese encephalitis, which he didn't get this week.
This evening James and I went to the Grosvenor in Ashton Lane to see Tom Cruise's latest film "Oblivion". We booked one of the couches at the back which was very comfortable. The film was rather derivative of several other sci-fi films but was very watchable and not too challenging. I soon spotted that one of the characters was played by Nikolaj Coster-Waldau who plays naughty Jaime Lanister in Game of Thrones. We debated the plot all the way home and it did hold together! 

A holiday sort of day

First of all I am glad to say that Ally is feeling a bit better; I could tell just by talking to him that he was more like himself, and during the day he got up and did some studying. However he's still not 100% and still feels nauseous from time to time. I had a very pleasant day indeed. I went over to meet Heather at Rouken Glen garden centre, and we had a lovely chat and planned our "Aye Write" outing on Saturday. We looked around the garden centre and ventured out for a wee walk around the park despite the rather chilly drizzle. It dried up a bit as we walked and I was glad that we had got some fresh air (Heather is a very fit girl and therefore a very good influence on me.) I then indulged myself by nipping up to Waitrose at Newton Mearns, which only took about five minutes by car, and browsing to my heart's content. Now, I'm not a keen shopper of any kind, but the joy of the experience was having the time to have a look around for no particular reason, with no pressure and no hurry. And this is why I love being on holiday.
I moseyed on home in time to make the tea, and got out my Alaska folder; I think that I have just about pinned down our land itinerary. After our cruise we will have eight days to drive about, and Alaska is huge and very interesting, so we have to prioritise what we most want to see.
When James came home Ally felt well enough to join us for tea then we had a relaxing evening. We watched University Challenge and then showed Ally "The Young Ones" version of it on Youtube which he enjoyed. Jack the cat was in a particularly loving mood and was sitting on one of James' legs as if it was Pride Rock! 

Jack's excellent test results

I had a nice time with Linda at the Spa at Whinfell Forest yesterday, we caught up on all of our news and visited every room in the spa to sample the heats and smells. How I do love a spa! I have of course been to Stobo Castle already this year, and I still have a birthday voucher to use at the spa at Silverburn. I also swam in the pool outside in the sunshine, which was great, although there was an unexpected visitor to the pool - a duck, which swam about happily with us. 
Meanwhile Ally is still not feeling too good. I was still in the Lake District this morning so I made him a doctor's appointment from my Travelodge near Carlisle! The doctor still thinks it's a virus but gave him anti-nausea medication and advised him to keep hydrated and rest up. When I arrived home this afternoon (after an interlude at the Gretna retail outlet) I found Ally tucked up in his bed. We had a nice wee chat about politics; Ally is very well informed compared to me at that age. In fact he is very well informed compared to me at the age I am now! Hopefully he will start feeling better soon.
It took me ages to get hold of the vet today because every time I phoned she was with a client, but I spoke to her earlier this evening and she told me that Jack's blood test results are excellent. he does NOT have diabetes or thyroid problems and his kidney results are back within the "normal" range which proves that he is doing very well with the Fortecor tablets that we give him every evening (James calls it his tubby tab). James and I were delighted to hear this and we told Jack the good news when he next came in from the garden. Jack reacted with completed indifference and went into his basket for a snooze. 

Jack, Ally and Maggie T

Ally continues to be unwell; I phoned the doctor today (from the Lake District!) and he thinks that it's a viral infection. Ally has a constant headache and isn't eating. During one of his brief spells out of bed yesterday, he and Cat helped me to take Jack to the vet for his annual check up. Jack was not at all happy about this especially since he had blood taken and also got his claws clipped. He was so glad to get home. But Ally was so exhausted after this excursion that he went straight back to bed. If he isn't better tomorrow I'm going to phone the doctor again.
I feel that I should mention the death of Margaret Thatcher yesterday, but I can't think of anything to add to all the things that have been said in the press. I am disgusted by the vitriol that she still inspires in some quarters even in death. People having parties to celebrate her death - such bad taste. Sadly (based on constant references to her gender from BOTH her detractors and supporters - veteran reporter Jon Snow last night even referred to the sound her underwear made when she crossed her legs) I suspect that this vitriol has always had more to do with the fact that she was a woman than with her politics. I also think that history will judge her more kindly than many of her contemporaries. She was very intelligent, visionary, and had integrity. 

East Coast Adventure Part Two

This morning we woke up in our Premier Inn in Dundee. We had intended to go on a boat trip but awoke to .... snow! When will winter get the hint and go? It remained cold and drizzly so instead we went to Edinburgh where we had a nice lunch, did a bit of shopping and went to the National Gallery. We did our usual aimless wandering and it was very relaxing. I liked Henry Raeburn's "The Reverend Robert Walker Skating on Duddingston Loch", better known by its shorter title "The Skating Minister" although there is some doubt that it is really by Raeburn because apparently it's not really his style - it may have been by a French artist. Anyway, I liked his neat, graceful form caught in motion. I also liked El Greco's "The Saviour of the World" because I thought that Christ's face was very human yet luminous (does that even make sense?) but the highlight for me was Samuel Bough's 19th century painting of a busy Dysart Harbour because of course we were there yesterday at the start and finish of our walk so, as James pointed out, we had come full circle!
This evening we had dinner with Cat and Grandma but not Ally, who was upstairs in bed feeling unwell. I wonder if this has been caused by the vaccinations he got on Friday. Cat was taking good care of him and kept checking on him. Let's hope that he feels better tomorrow. 

East Coast Adventure

Today we set off on an adventure. We were going to Lendrick Muir to see Davie on the study camp changeover day. Davie has chosen - of his own free will! - to spend not one but two weeks at study camp. I am impressed by this and hope it helps him to get the results he wants in his exams. We collected him at about 10 and set off to Dysart (an offshoot of Kirkcaldy) to walk a short section of the Fife Coastal path to West Wemyss. Dysart is very picturesque with a little harbour which was once a very busy port. We had coffee in the Harbourmaster's House which is now the headquarters of the Fife Coast and Countryside Trust who manage the Fife Coastal Path. This part of the walk is through former mining country so as well as the pretty cliff top coastal path there are relics of mines such as a red painted pit head standing above the path and bing material between the path and the shore, which is now becoming overgrown with foliage. West Wemyss is also an attractive village and we had a snack lunch in the little community run café before retracing our steps to Dysart. The weather was sunny all day and there was only a light breeze so it was very pleasant walking. It was so nice to see David and he regaled us with funny stories from study camp; he seems to have had a great time during the first week with lots of outdoor activities such as kayaking and orienteering, as well as all the studying. He said that everyone has been working hard and if they need help the leaders can give them tuition. In fact his only worry was that he had enjoyed his first week so much that he felt that the second week with all new people wouldn't measure up! We dropped him back at study camp at about 4.30 just as other students were arriving, feeling sad to bid him farewell for another whole week. And then did we set off home? Oh no, we did not! The adventure continues ... 

Holiday fun

I have finished reading Wolf Hall and I thoroughly enjoyed it. It was interesting but most importantly I felt that Hilary Mantel really captured something of life in London during the reign of Henry VIII (my least favourite monarch! He was a total psycho and murderer) Of course I can't really be sure that she really did get it right, nor can anyone else alive now, but it felt real. Cromwell is portrayed as a much gentler, more thoughtful man than I had imagined and Thomas More is portrayed as a torturer and religious bigot. I am looking forward to starting the next in the trilogy, "Bring up the bodies".
I am still enjoying my holidays very much. Ally and Cat got their injections yesterday for their holiday in South East Asia. They both said that they felt fine afterwards although the jags themselves had been quite painful. They had to collect their prescriptions from the pharmacist then go to the district nurse to get their injections. I believe that they will be getting more injections over the next few weeks; they are a very organised young couple and have it all planned!
Last night we had dinner with Christine and Gerry, Ally and Cat. Their home is absolutely beautiful and the meal was lovely, we had a great evening. This morning we are off on an adventure devised by James, of which more later. 

Holiday study day

It has been a funny old day because although it is holiday time I was at school running one of our study days. Unfortunately today was the best weather of the holiday so far! However the pupils who attended all worked very hard so I felt that it was worth while. After they went home I got down to my review reports and made some excellent progress so it has been a good day if a little surreal. And when I got home Alasdair made the tea so I was delighted and then he showed us the first in the new series of Game of Thrones so I was even more delighted! Yesterday I had a day in the house doing tidying and sorting. I hardly ever get the chance to do this so I absolutely loved it. I made egg in a cup for lunch (my Dad's recipe of course) and it was so peaceful. Jack kept me company by sleeping in the back room, it's nice to see how he spends his days! Then in the evening I went round to Jackie's where I read the boys their bedtime stories while she made us a delicious dinner. The boys are so sweet and funny and very clever too; they had a Pokemon battle and Finn made drawings of lots of Star Wars characters which were very accurate - I was particularly impressed by his picture of Yoda! Jackie and me had a nice evening chatting - and very little of our chat was about work. How nice it is to be on holiday even though I was at work today! 

A bit of fresh Ayr

Today was a very good day for all sorts of reasons. Mainly friendship, health, scenery and food. Heather had texted me a few days ago to suggest that the four of us go for a walk. Now, if Heather had not suggested that, I would probably have opted for a quiet day at home today, and that would have been a mistake. However I knew that we could do with some exercise, that it would be nice to see Heather and Ewan and of course I knew that James would love the idea of a walk! Heather left it up to us to decide where to go and after much deliberation and consultation of the tide tables James decided to revisit the Ayrshire coastal path, to walk from Dunure to Ayr. He printed out the maps and we collected Heather and Ewan at the early hour of 8.30 a.m. to make sure that we would get round the Heads of Ayr before high tide. We parked at Ayr train station and took a taxi to Dunure. We had a great time! The sea and island views were beautiful. It was a good length of walk at about 15 km, and the sky was blue, ribboned with wavy lines of white clouds. It was also very windy which made our route very chilly in parts, and some of the beaches were very stony underfoot, necessitating some fancy footwork in order not to slip! We enjoyed a coffee along the way and made good time - we didn't hang about much because of the wind! As we walked along the promenade in Ayr I had a strange vision of it being lined with old-fashioned cars like my Dad's Hillman Hunter; maybe a memory from the 1960s? We went into The Waterfront Restaurant down at the River Ayr because it looked pleasant from the outside, and it was equally nice inside with great service and delicious food. Heather and Ewan treated us to lunch and we all chatted and relaxed, I felt very virtuous after our exercise. Refreshed, we walked the last kilometre back to the car and set off home. We stopped at the Wheat Sheaf in Symington on the way home for a final refreshment, it's a tiny and old pub which is a walking club favourite. When we got home I was exhausted and James was ravenously hungry so we had dinner and watched the film Troy (we watched the start of it on Saturday but James fell asleep). This time we both successfully stayed awake until the end. It was all very watchable but the siege of Troy seemed to have been condensed from ten years to about a fortnight! So now I am in my bath, pleasantly tired and very happy after a really good day. I am so glad that Heather suggested that we go for a walk.