Disaster movie

It has been a quiet weekend which is just what I wanted. It has been a very busy time at work and after going away to celebrate our anniversary last weekend I felt that I wanted a peaceful time before I go away on a Duke of Edinburgh expedition next week. So we have mostly stayed around the house and garden which has been very pleasant. The weather has been mixed and full of contrasts - one minute it has been lashing with rain and the next it has been warm enough to sit outside reading. James has been gardening, David has been painting Grandma's fence, I have read two books (the C-Word by Lisa Lynch and The Humans by Matt Haig), and we all watched two films on Netflix that I have been wanting to see; The Theory of Everything and Wild. And we also went to the cinema to see the delightfully clichéd disaster movie, starring Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson; San Andreas. It had everything that you could wish for; a series of massive earthquakes, a tsunami, fires, an exploding dam, collapsing buildings and bridges, a love story, a wise scientist, a beautiful girl and her geeky young suitor, a cute child, a helicopter, a speedboat, an evil architect / stepfather, redemption and reconciliation. Davie hated it because he said it was "just awful" and he has a point! But it was entertaining.

Celebrating

James and I are both very fond of Knockinaam Lodge; this weekend was our third visit. The first time must have been about ten years ago when I took James there as a surprise, and the second time was five years ago when we went there with Heather and Ewan. The hotel has a beautiful setting with its own beach, and there is a very pretty coastal walk into Portpatrick which takes just over an hour. We then went for a drink at the Harbour Hotel before returning in plenty of time for dinner. The hotel has a Michelin star and the meal was absolutely delicious. It was a set menu, starting with yellow carrot and coriander soup and then salmon fillet with a bonne femme sauce. The main course was slow cooked beef with puréed shallots and dessert was either rhubarb soufflé (James) or a selection of cheeses (me). It was all very simple and beautifully cooked, and the service was excellent. However the best thing about the meal was the surprise card we were given while sitting in the bar before dinner. It was from Jamie, Ally and Davie and the message was "To Mum and Dad, Happy 30th Anniversary, Enjoy your dinner on us, from the boys." We were so touched by their generosity and kindness. After dinner we had coffee in the lounge. Perhaps I shouldn't have had three cups of coffee after the cheese board, because I was wide awake for hours, pacing around the bedroom long after James had gone to sleep! As a result I was rather tired in the morning. 

Back in Cambuslang Jamie, Ally and Davie took Grandma out for tea to Fratelli's which I thought was very sweet of them. Apparently she was on good form and they all enjoyed the meal. Jamie tried to pay but Grandma insisted on treating them; Jamie said that she was "like a bill paying ninja!"

In the morning we strolled around the beach and gardens - I do hope we get the chance to go back again. Instead of going straight home we stopped off at Girvan and took a boat trip to Ailsa Craig, something we have never got round to doing although we have passed it by car or on foot many times throughout our lives. The waves were rather choppy and we got well splashed, but it was a great wee trip. It took more than an hour to reach the rock and then we circumnavigated it slowly, very close to the shore. Curling stones are still quarried there and it is a volcanic plug, close up you can see all the basalt columns, it's amazing. There are thousands of seabirds; we saw lots of guillemots, some gannets and even a few puffins. 

And now we are back home; James, Ally, Cat and Davie are watching The Avengers Assemble, which is not really my cup of tea although I'm kind of half watching it. It has been a very lovely and celebratory weekend.

Happy 30th Wedding Anniversary

A quick blog to wish my dear husband a very happy 30th anniversary. We planned the weekend of our anniversary around another celebration, the joint birthday party in Dunlop yesterday for Cat's 21st and Christine's 60th birthdays. 

It was a really fun party which started early afternoon with a pleasant walk from the house down through the village and up Dunlop Hill. Although small, it has beautiful views of the surrounding countryside and across to Arran. Back at Cat's house there were two large marquees set up in the garden with lots of tables and chairs. It was so relaxed; the young ones were playing tennis on the lawn and there was loads of food and copious amounts of drink. We played games and had a quiz. I believe that Christine has been monitoring the weather forecast and we were certainly lucky that it it was warm, dry and sunny all afternoon, cardigans only began to appear at about 5 o'clock! We chatted to lots of the family's friends and relatives and found them to be a very congenial crew. Ally was of course present, having flown in from Oslo specially for the occasion, and Davie, Jamie and Aisling were invited too. 

Later on James and I made our way to Turnberry where we were too tired to go to the bar so instead snuggled up in our room with a cup of tea to watch the last half of the Eurovision Song Contest. I was a bit disappointed this year because I thought that some good songs got overlooked. James mostly slept through it and had to ask me who won! 

This morning we are relaxing at the spa reading our newspaper and swimming. Lovely. 

Ally and the kittens

It's great that Ally is home for the weekend and I really enjoyed watching him play with the kittens on the garden this afternoon! He was running around on the grass with them trailing a length of string, which they were chasing. He climbed into the trees with them and they loved it, climbing way higher than him and then running back down to play fight with him. They were all so happy.

Mishaps

My new crown fell out after only two weeks which was annoying. I found it in a mouthful of sticky toffee pudding and for a moment I thought it was a stone, then for the next moment I thought it was someone else's tooth which had fallen out while they were making the pudding. And then of course I realised that it was mine! I went back to the dentist who put it back in for me and assured me that this time he had used extra strong cement. We shall see.

James and Davie went hill-walking today while I decided to have a restful day in the house. I decided to watch a French film, which seemed like a safe enough activity until I tripped and fell on the way from the DVD player to the couch. I hit my head on the table and for a few minutes I couldn't get up! My arms and legs just wouldn't do what they were told!  When I got up I found that there is a dent on my head and a huge bump on my skinned knee. I don't understand why I am falling down so much this year, but I suspect that my eyesight is still not quite back to normal.

Cuckoo on the hill

It's proper Spring weather now, and the kittens are loving their garden. They have both taken off their collars which I think is definitely not a coincidence, I think they have colluded. Tom's collar turned up in a neighbour's garden but Ruby's is still missing, so James bought her a new one today. 

We had a lovely weekend. On Saturday James persuaded me to join him in ascending a Corbett in Kinloch Rannich; Beinn a Chuallaich. The weather was beautiful and despite my doubts I really enjoyed the walk and managed the 600 metres of ascent fairly well. The views from the top were great, we could see Ben Nevis about 60 miles away. There were still several fields of snow at the top of the hill and it was strange to be kicking our way down through snow in mid May! We saw a grouse and heard a cuckoo calling.

We then spent the evening and overnight at the Westerwood Hotel in Cumbernauld, a treat which James won in a raffle at the office. I've never been there before and I thought it was very smart. I went to the leisure centrre and then got ready for dinner.  We chose the tasting menu and it was fun to be surprised by a variety of dishes, which were all delicious.The young staff were all very friendly and cheerful, it was a very pleasant experience.

A day in Kew Gardens

Neither James nor I have ever visited Kew Gardens so we decided to head there on our last day in London. We walked ten minutes from our hotel to Blackfriars from where we could get a direct underground train, which took about half an hour. It was warm and sunny but not too hot; ideal for wandering around a park. We were not the only people to have this idea today so there was a queue to get in! However it moved steadily and soon we were inside the gates. I like Kew Gardens. Many of the paths are grass rather than tarmac so they are pleasantly springy to walk on, and there are plenty of different areas to see, some with beautifully planted formal flowerbeds and some more natural wildlife habitats, like the bluebell woods around Queen Charlotte's cottage. Appropriately, we were there when we heard by text from Jamie that the new princess is to be named Charlotte Elizabeth Diana, so we were all wrong in our guesses. There are several eateries which are Victorian pavilions and we had a nice coffee sitting outside with a view of the pagoda. The gardens were well used but big enough not to be overcrowded. 

We went back to our hotel to collect our case and had a final drink sitting outside The Anchor at the tables overlooking the river. Then it was time to return to the small but civilised London City Airport for our flight home.

Ophelia and Shylock

On Sunday I fulfilled a long held ambition by going to the Tate Britain to see Ophelia by Millais. It did not disappoint - the painting is absolutely exquisite. It's colours are so vibrant and the tragic yet beautiful central figure is framed by perfectly detailed plant life and even a wee robin looks on. I could have stood there for hours. I also enjoyed quite a few other pre-Raphaelite paintings of the late 19th century,  but the other painting that really stood out for me was Queen Elizabeth by Van der Meulen, painted in the 1560s. I have seen it in books but the life sized portrait is even better - what a gorgeous red dress! 

As if this wasn't enough excitement for one day, James had a surprise for me - tickets to the Globe Theatre to see the matinee performance of The Merchant of Venice! I have wanted to see Shakespeare at the Globe for years so I was thrilled. And the cream on the coffee was that Shylock was played by the wonderful Jonathan Pryce. Our seats in the Lower Gallery were really good and the weather was so warm that we didn't need to wear our jackets even though the middle of the circular theatre is open to the elements. The Merchant of Venice is not an easy play, and in fact it is downright anti-semitic and vengeful, so quite rightly modern directors try to interpret it differently than the Elizabethans did. However it's still worth tackling because of course religious intolerance is still very relevant today. Jonathan Pryce's Shylock was complex and conflicted, persecuted as well as vengeful. He is such an amazing actor, and the rest of the cast were excellent too, including Pryce's own daughter Phoebe who played Shylock's daughter Jessica.

After the performance we jumped onto a riverboat and travelled to Greenwich where we strolled up to the observatory and sat on the grass overlooking the river and chatting. It was a truly lovely afternoon. 

We ended up back at the Globe, this time at the Swan Restaurant, where we had a delicious dinner. The service was very friendly and the atmosphere was pleasant; I would definitely return there on a future visit to London. 

Two important birthdays

Well sure enough the new baby princess was born on Saturday morning, while we were having breakfast with a view of St Paul's. The birth was announced late morning. James and I were by that time shopping in Selfridges - where strangely I bought some shoes. I say strangely because shoe shopping is not an activity that we enjoy either separately or together. It was an impulse buy. 

Then we met up with the Smith clan for our Fawlty Towers lunch which was Jennifer's choice of celebration for her special birthday (the actual birthday will be on Monday so not the same as the Royal Baby's!) It was great to see them all and lunch was hilarious! Basil, Sybil and Manuel served the food in a slapstick manner while quarrelling and generally behaving outrageously towards the guests. They were all very good and there were many references and tributes to the television series. Basil announced that he thought James was German and Sybil's conversation with Jennifer was brilliant; "What age would you like to be Jen? Thirty?" "Yes I would like that!" "Well that's not going to happen, is it Jen?" Sybil compared James to Basil and said that he was an "aging, brilliantined stick insect"!

Next the celebratory afternoon continued with a trip to The Shard where we ascended with alarming speed to the 72nd floor. The views over London were excellent and we wandered round the viewing gallery pointing out landmarks. I loved being up there but I do think that there are too many unusually shaped "novelty" buildings springing up in London recently. As well as The Shard there is the ugly Cheese Grater building and the silly looking Walkie Talkie building. It's as if the architects are running riot. 

We ended up at Nando's right beside our hotel for dinner where we relaxed and had a lovely chat - Josh and Ben really loved the food, which was chicken, chicken and extra chicken! It was a brilliant day and a fitting celebration of my wee sister's special birthday.

London and labour

So here we are in London at my favourite Premier Inn in Southwark to celebrate my little sister's 50th birthday! We travelled down last night and I felt really tired with my eye gritty. Also, arriving in the dark on holiday always makes me feel a bit anguished for some reason. However, this morning I feel much happier, the weather is sunny and to add to my excitement the Duchess of Cambridge has gone into labour with her second child at St Mary's only a couple of miles away! Texts are flying back and forth among the Anderson clan regarding baby names:

These are the current favourites - 

Grandma - Elizabeth / Albert

David - Mary / James

Susan - Victoria / Alfred

Cat - Caroline / Jeremy (a tribute to our ski instructor!)

James - Alice / David

Alasdair - Catherine / Andrew

Aisling - Alice / James

My lovely boys

I have had a quiet week at home with my eye improving slowly. There's something a bit strange about the vision in the eye that was operated on - it's definitely sharper which is great but still a wee bit misty I think. Hopefully it will settle down. I have been very tired - stress of operation? However I'm feeling more energetic now. It has been good spending lots of time with my kitties; they are so affectionate and very funny.

Today is David's last day of 1st year at university - perhaps his last day at UWS if he gets the grades that he needs for Dundee. Studying the first year of Biomedical Science at UWS has been great for him, but the course he really wants to do is Biochemistry. Needless to say I'm very proud of him, he has worked really hard. I'm also very proud of Ally who is in the middle of his exams now and even sat an extra exam on Wednesday to get ahead for next year! This has been a great year for him in Oslo, he has really made the most of it. And since I'm on the subject I had better also mention that I am very proud of Jamie too! He continues to work 12 day weeks and all sorts of long hours - he has chosen a very intense career but does seem to love it. My three wee boys are so grown up!