Good afternoon in the morning!

I had a splendid time this morning at the recording of a BBC Celtic Connections radio programme. It was being recorded for broadcast in the afternoon so all the guests were asked to remember that they should refer to the afternoon rather than the morning. So when the presenter, the personable Grant Stott, greeted London Wainwright III, Loudon glanced meaningfully at the audience as he replied with a bright “Good morning!” What a character he is! He was very pleasant and relaxed, and the three songs that he performed were witty and tuneful. The programme was a mix of music and interviews; it was really interesting. Two musicians, Finlay Napier and Graeme Thomson, discussed a singer called John Martin about whom I would now like to find out more, and an Irish band led by Karen Casey performed some very beautiful folk music. Country singer Gretchen Peters also sang three songs; she was a fantastic singer. The whole experience was great fun, and all the sweeter for being free of charge! (I am on the BBC tickets mailing list so I get information about upcoming concerts). However when I posted a photo of the attractive interior of Cottier’s Theatre (which is an old church, complete with stained glass windows) on the Anderson Malarkey WhatsApp group, and exulted that it was free, Alasdair replied “they’d have to pay me to go!” Which I thought was very funny.

Home after a great holiday

The journey home on Saturday was entirely straightforward I’m glad to say. The coach from the hotel to the airport even had reclining seats so I managed to get some extra sleep after our early start of about 4.45 a.m. Remarkably we weren’t the first pick up of the day; there was an earlier pick up at 2.45 a.m. which must have left its passengers in a dilemma about whether to bother going to bed at all! It was a great ski holiday - even though my skiing was curtailed I still think that I was lucky to get three really good days of skiing and of course I enjoyed the rest of the holiday as well. I have so many good memories of the week, of skiing and walking and the mountains and the snow, and drinks and lunches and dinners in great company.
Probably our most amusing memory will be the “travelator incident” when, due to ice on the track, Ewan found himself sliding backwards into James, resulting in a hilariously compromising scene. I was alerted to this by peals of laughter from Heather who was in front of me in the queue for the aforementioned travelator; also present was a small and puzzled crowd of Italians who were wondering what on earth was going on. Heather and I both regret not taking a photo of the situation, however we will always treasure the image in our minds! Ewan has chronicled it much better that I ever could in his own blog.
When we got home we had a pleasant afternoon of unpacking and reuniting with the cats and Ally. After an unhealthy dinner of a haggis supper which made me yearn for the fine dining of the Sporthotel Arabba, I had a nice bath and tucked myself into bed, very tired but happy. It has been a marvellous holiday.

What to do in Arabba when you can’t go skiing

What can you do in Arabba when you can’t go skiing? Well, as it turns out, plenty! Of course my first choice would have been to continue skiing with James, Heather and Ewan, and I do miss them when they are over the hills and far away. However I have found plenty to keep me amused in this beautiful part of the world. Yesterday my knee was still very sore so I footered about the hotel in the morning, reading my book and treating myself to a peach juice in the delightfully quiet bar area. It was snowing outside and this made the village even prettier. I then got a text to say that the others would be lunching in Miky’s grill across the road so I went across to meet them and heard all about their morning’s adventures. After lunch I felt the need for some fresh air so I went for a walk, leaning on a ski pole so as to support my leg. Later on I had a very pleasant jacuzzi downstairs in the health suite before another delicious dinner. There was a talented pianist playing in the lounge and I requested him to play Piano Man, which he performed skilfully - he really was excellent.
Today James, Heather and Ewan planned a big day, round the Sella Ronda and out to Ortisei and back; 40 km of skiing on a 75 km journey! I on the other hand took a taxi to Corvara in the next valley along from Arabba, for a change of scenery. Corvara is an attractive town, a bit bigger than Arabba and beloved by George Clooney, not that I managed to spot him there today. Instead I jumped into the cable car and was lifted up to the Rifugio Piz Boé where I had coffee and apple strudel while sitting on the terrace in the sunshine and admiring stunning views of the mountains. Thriftily I took a bus back to Arabba just in time to meet the others in Miky’s for a drink. They had enjoyed a great day of skiing. Heather had purchased a gorgeous hand carved wooden deer in Selva, and I was extremely touched that she had also bought me a present of a cute wee kitten ornament which reminds me of my Flora. Another convivial evening then ensued; I’m going to miss the food as well as the company next week!

Life is good on the Sella Ronda

It has been a wonderful day. And I say this wholeheartedly despite me wrecking my knee towards the end the afternoon. But more of that later.
Today was James’ birthday and it was another sunny day in Arabba. The snow and mountains looked stunning and we set off to ski the Sella Ronda anti-clockwise. The pistes were in great condition and we skied down to the attractive town of Selva then onwards and upwards to the amazing City of Stone. We were here last year too and it’s absolutely amazing, skiing through the big rocks, almost other-worldly. Heather and Ewan treated us to a birthday lunch for James at the Restaurant al Sella which was perfect because not only is the food first class, but we were there exactly a year ago on James’ birthday! We were by this time only an hour from Arabba, via Belvedere, but before we got there I slipped and fell on a very easy run at Lupo Bianco. I twisted my right knee - yes the usual dodgy one - and phoned Heather because the others were ahead of me; James and Ewan had to walk back to assist me as I sat sobbing at the edge of the piste. James and I then got a taxi back to the hotel while Heather and Ewan skied back. My knee was sore and I felt quite sorry for myself for a short while, but then I thought about it and realised that I have had three absolutely marvellous days of skiing, in the company of James and our very good friends, who were all extremely helpful and sympathetic in my predicament. In the grand scheme of things a temporarily sore knee matters not a jot. We went on to have a very convivial birthday evening for James, which included the waiters presenting him with a cake while we all sang Happy Birthday to him, and the head waiter slicing the top off a bottle of Prosecco with a sword! To quote another skier who was sitting near us in the restaurant at lunchtime today, “Life is good!”

A trip to Pozza

We had fantastic weather today; not a cloud in the sky. Led by Ewan, we skied all the way to the pretty village of Pozza di Fassa in the Val di Fassa area. It was a beautiful journey with the jagged Dolomites towering around us. On the way we stopped at Passo Pordoi to make a trip on the cable car up to the top of Sass Pordoi which is 2950 metres high and from which we could see the mountains for many miles in every direction. Many photos were taken.

We then continued onwards and I managed to pull a muscle in my leg by making an unnecessarily tight turn on a steepish section of a red run as we came into Belvedere. I was really annoyed with myself because it really wasn’t that bad a slope. However I adopted James’ policy of keeping on and was rewarded by the pain easing off quickly. I was a bit spooked for a while but by the time we skied down into Pozza my confidence was growing again. Fortified by another lovely lunch we made our way back out of the valley on a series of steep lifts. It helps me that James, Heather and Ewan encourage me to ski to my full potential, but also understand that there are some runs where I would not feel comfortable. So when they went to ski a big black run on our way back to Belvedere, they were all fine with me taking the cable car down the hill. I was so excited to see them skiing down the vertiginous piste that I cast aside my gloves and sunglasses to take photos of them from the cable car. However I accidentally then left my sunglasses behind which was a costly mistake. To add insult to injury, the photos that I took were absolutely rubbish; my husband and friends could only be seen as little dots on the snow, which was a pity because their skiing was extremely impressive. James and I tried to retrieve the sunglasses to no avail and we made our way back to Arabba on very quiet pistes as it was approaching 4 p.m. and the sun was getting very low. My legs were tired but I managed fairly well and after apres-ski drinks I luxuriated in a warm bath and read my book before dinner. A great day in great company.

Back to Arabba

It took most of the day yesterday to travel from Edinburgh to Arabba; two and a half hours on the plane to Verona and then just over three hours by bus from Verona to Arabba. All went smoothly and by 4 p.m. we had collected our hired skis and were sitting down at our old favourite, Bar Peter, for a well deserved snack and drink. It’s lovely to come back to a place that you really like, so we enjoyed the convivial atmosphere and thumping euro music of Bar Peter as well as the stylish and downright luxurious atmosphere of the Sporthotel. I knew that the food would be tasty from our experience last year but I had forgotten just how delicious it is; so beautifully cooked and presented.
This morning we woke to blue skies and sunshine and couldn’t wait to start skiing. Ewan had devised a route to cover plenty of kilometres on snow, on big long runs to get our legs accustomed to skiing again. It was a tremendous morning. I wore a knee support and my leg was pretty good. We headed to Corvara and thence to San Cassiano in Alta Badia before heading back by a circuitous route of reds and blues. We has lunch in the pretty Rifugio La Tambra. At that point we were quite near Arabba and my legs started cramping a bit. This was due to my own carelessness in not readjusting my boot buckles after lunch; the first run after lunch was a bit of a travail because of this. So I bailed out about an hour before the others with no regrets, it has been a fantastic and confidence building first day for me. We then went down to the basement for a relaxing jacuzzi in the wee leisure centre.

A wee post from Edinburgh Airport

So here we are in the Hilton at Edinburgh Airport, about to go to sleep nice and early because we have an early flight to Italy tomorrow morning. We have had a lovely evening. After checking in to the hotel we took the tram to Princes Street with Heather and Ewan and had drinks in Brewhemia before having a Mexican meal in Wahaca. I think it was the best Mexican meal that I have ever eaten; the flavours were spicy but also subtle, and the menu was unusual and a bit quirky - I had tacos with plantain and also cornbread with whipped goats cheese. Delicious.
We all chatted about our holiday and James and I are very grateful for Heather and Ewan’s excellent knowledge of the ski area, and for Ewan’s thoughtful planning and suggestions. He has even suggested back-up routes for me, taking into account my skiing requirements, which means that I can ski with the others with the confidence that I have alternatives if I need them. Let the holiday commence! I had better go to sleep now.

Impasse

Oh dear oh dear. Brexit seems to be completely bogged down now. I do not claim to have a very deep understanding of politics but our politicians seem to be incapable of moving Brexit either forwards or backwards. So last night they ruled out Theresa May’s long-negotiated Brexit deal, however most don’t want a no-deal Brexit either, and various warring groups of MPs across all parties do or don’t want a second referendum, a general election, or to remain in the EU. Labour tabled a motion of no confidence in the government today but it did not succeed. All sides seem to have battled themselves into a standstill. What now?
I went to the doctor today and she said that I have torn a medial collateral ligament in my knee. She said that this can happen when doing different exercise from normal - which must of course be my recent attempts at skiing at Snow Factor. Grrrr! I need to rest my knee, elevate it when possible, use an ice pack and take ibuprofen. I have been doing all this today so let’s hope that it improves soon.

Walking and skiing

I have been trying to keep up my fitness ambitions for this year and have walked for at least 5 kilometres every day so far. I have totted up how far I have walked so far and it’s a whopping 90 kilometres. That’s further than walking from Cambuslang to Edinburgh (70 km)! In fact it’s just about 90 km from here to Perth! I am thoroughly enjoying the experience and I usually listen to a podcast (my favourite being “Fortunately with Fi and Jane” as recommended by Jennifer). I also really like “A Good Read” presented by Harriet Gilbert, which introduces me to a variety of interesting guests and their choice of books. It has also been very pleasant running into neighbours, relatives, and friends as I traipse around the neighbourhood. Although where we live is more suburban than rural, I can easily access riverside walks and parks, and we are on a very good train line so if I choose to walk a linear rather than a circular route I can overcome my distrust of public transport to jump on a train home whenever it suits me.
I have also been skiing at Snow Factor at Braehead a few times in preparation for our ski holiday next week. This venture has had mixed success. The good news is that it has been good fun to get back onto my skis. However the bad news is that I have developed a very sore knee which I think I may have twisted while trying to turn on the ski slope - either that or my knee is finally crumbling due to arthritis caused by an old motorcycle accident in the 1980s. I do hope it’s not the latter!

An Afternoon at the Ballet

James and I took Grandma to the Theatre Royal yesterday for the matinee performance of Cinderella, the ballet with music by Prokofiev. This was her Christmas present from us and we planned the excursion carefully so that it would go smoothly. We picked her up in plenty of time and James dropped Grandma and me off at the door of the theatre, where we unfolded the wheelchair and I was able to transport her easily via the lift up to the dress circle. We had time for a drink and a chat before it started. The wheelchair friendly spaces are well appointed, right in the centre of the back row.
The verdict? Grandma loved the whole experience! I was so delighted that she enjoyed herself. She said that the performance was colourful and happy and that she loved the costumes and the music. She also said that she liked the elegance and luxury of the theatre, and she very much enjoyed looking at the other members of the audience and talking about their clothes and hair!
In other news from Casa Anderson, there were heart-warming scenes this afternoon when both James and Alasdair helped David to proof read his dissertation. They spent hours all working together and I felt very proud of them.

Trending

I have been influenced over the last few days by Ally and Davie to watch two “trending” films on Netflix. By trending, I mean that they are currently being widely discussed on news websites and social media. 
Bandersnatch is part of the dark sci fi Black Mirror series but it has been designed to be interactive. It’s really fascinating because the viewer makes choices which affect the multiple possible endings. At one point when we got the chance to go back and change our choice, we noticed some differences in the behaviour of the characters, as if they had learned from the previous storyline - so it’s quite complex. The main character in the film is writing an interactive computer game in the 1980s and his stress leads him to doubt whether he is in control of his life, which of course ties in with the viewer making decisions for him. It’s full of “easter eggs” which the boys tell me are inside jokes and hidden messages. It’s all very cleverly done and entertaining - and it must be quite cutting edge because it has impressed the very critical Ally and Davie, who have been experimenting with the different routes and choices.
Bird Box is a post-apocalyptic film which involves a woman (played by Sandra Bullock) and two children trying to escape from monsters by travelling blind-folded - because seeing the monsters will drive them to insanity and suicide. It is in fact pretty run of the mill, drawing from many sources from Medusa in Greek mythology onwards. However it seems to have achieved a certain notoriety in America because there is a craze among some young people of trying to do various activities blindfolded; in fact Netflix have had to issue a warning to these bright sparks not to copy the characters. Despite this a teenager went driving in Utah earlier this week with her beanie hat pulled down over her eyes in imitation of a scene in the film. Needless to say she soon crashed into another car. Luckily nobody was hurt but the local police chief commented that he had never thought that he would have to warn the public not to drive while blindfolded! 

Beginning the year

So the New Year has properly begun, with James and Ally back at work, travelling in to town together by train every morning. They use an app on their phones to check whether the train is on time so that they can calculate whether they have a few more minutes in hand. David is still on holiday from university and I’m very proud of how hard he is working on his dissertation. He has been working on it solidly since he came home for the Christmas break, and he has showed me his colour coded plan where he keeps track of which sections he has completed. Jamie has been very busy at work over Christmas and New Year, but he has a holiday coming up next week which he is going to spend travelling with friends in New Zealand. I’m glad that he’s taking some time off to relax.
As for me, my first aim this year is to work on my fitness, with the aim of walking at least five kilometres a day and also swimming or skiing at the snow dome. So far so good, but it’s only the 8th of January so it’s very early days. I have also been looking after Grandma, getting her hearing aids fixed and arranging eye appointments and just going round for a wee chat and a cup of tea. And I am continuing to make efforts with home cooking, particularly aiming to use up leftovers to reduce waste. I made a celery gratin yesterday using only ingredients that we already had in the house and James said that it was delicious.
It has been a positive start to the year so far.

Soup and more

James made some delicious winter vegetable soup last week, which we all enjoyed on New Year’s Day. We both agree that a hearty home-made soup is both tasty and healthy, so I joined in yesterday by making some leek and potato soup; double quantity so that we could freeze some of it. By the by, leek and potato soup was my Dad’s favourite. That’s not all that I made in the kitchen yesterday. I also made two vegetable lasagnes, using a favourite tried and tested recipe that always turns out well. So there was a great deal of peeling and chopping and frying and making cheese sauce and assembling, until finally I had produced two large lasagnes ready for today’s lunch.
It was important that they should be vegetable lasagnes because three of our guests, Janet, Peter and Anne, are currently vegetarian - not permanently but just for January. Also invited were Christine and Gerry, although sadly not Cat who has returned to London after her Christmas break. With Ally, Davie and Chanel there too, a happy ten of us sat down for lunch. It was a very jolly afternoon, full of chat and laughter.

Nae dugs at Casa Anderson

In the café we went to in Culross a few days ago there were quite a few dogs, two of which became rather yappy when they spotted each other. Then yesterday after I had been visiting with Jennifer and Caroline in Prestwick, I went out for a walk along the promenade, and I saw lots of people walking with their dogs in the darkening twilight. There were so many canine companions frolicking around that it felt almost surreal. This made me think about the truly lovely wee Westies that my parents had in the 1970s and 80s, Mandy and Judy. I loved dogs as a child and I still do, but I wouldn’t want to have one any more. Due to our busy working lives when we got married, instead of a dog that we would have to take for walks, we got our first cat “adorable kitten free to good home” Tess. We joked that she would sue us because we didn’t have a good home, and that we would sue her because she wasn’t adorable! But actually she was adorable. And so have been her successors; we have been lucky that our cats have always been such great wee characters.
I always thought that we might get a dog for the children one day, but perhaps because we already had cats the boys were never very insistent about getting a dog, and the time for it has definitely passed. James and I are more footloose and fancy free now than we have ever been, and dogs are just too dependent and time consuming for us at this stage of our lives. But I do like other people’s doggies (although being out of practice I’m very wary of them up close now); and of course I am extremely fond of two present day wee Westies - Angus Smith and Hamish G! Bailey next door is very cute too and wee Bella across the road is just delightful. In the same way as with nieces and nephews, I can enjoy them without having to do any of the hard work!

Painful

When I was lying in my bed last night after my curry, my tummy felt very burny. I hate that feeling, it’s as if my stomach lining is being eaten away by acid. So then I remembered my Dad’s old remedy for indigestion; to take bicarbonate of soda dissolved in a glass of water. Not that he ever ate curry because he found it to be too spicy for him, but many other things gave my Dad indigestion. So I padded downstairs, found some bicarbonate of soda in the cupboard where we keep baking ingredients, stirred a heaped teaspoon of it into a glass of water and knocked it back. Back in bed I felt a sense of foreboding as my stomach became more and more tight and painful. I sat up and let forth a belch that sounded like machine gun fire. The pain got worse and worse, and I ended up vomiting copiously which brought some relief, although I still felt as if I had a big balloon of air inside me. I’m not quite sure what I did wrong; I suspect that I took too much bicarbonate of soda and quaffed it too fast. Finally I got a few hours of sleep.
In the morning I was exhausted but my tummy was mostly ok, although I kept passing a veritably Herculean quantity of wind. I mean a LOT. I went swimming with Cat and Chanel in the morning, I had thought that I might be too tired after the horrors of the night before, but actually it was great fun and we had a wee sauna and steam too. Then in the afternoon I needed to go into town for my mammogram. It was awful as usual, so sore, but I do realise that it’s very important. I was extremely relieved when it was over and have had a pleasant and relaxing evening. I’m now tucked into bed and I’m not in pain, hooray!

Around the ash lagoons

My fitness plans for 2019 have started well. Today we went on a very pleasant walk with Heather and Ewan, as we often do to mark the beginning of a new year. In fact it was almost exactly the same walk in Fife that James and I followed last Friday. Again the weather as beautifully sunny, but today it was distinctly chillier. There was frost on the car and ice on the puddles. We stopped at the cosy Red Lion pub in picturesque Culross for drinks, however there was no food being served today, so we popped round the corner to the Biscuit Café. Our experience at the pleasant little café was slightly marred by the fact that the small number of staff were a bit overwhelmed by the numerous customers, who were, like us, out for a sunny New Year’s walk. Eventually refuelled by flatbreads and coffee, we resumed our walk towards Torryburn and this time extended it by circumnavigating the ash lagoons built to dispose of the ash from Longannet Power Station. They have become reclaimed land and are developing into a habitat for wild birds. This extra loop made the total walk a hearty 15 km, and my legs were tiring by the time we got back to the car.
Back home we found David and Chanel working hard on their dissertations. I luxuriated in a warm bath while newly arrived Ally and Cat fetched us all a curry, which we consumed companionably while watching Star Wars: The Phantom Menace.

A guid new year

Happy New Year! We had a tremendous evening at Hilary and Steven’s meeting up with old friends and meeting new (delightful) people. They even produced a birthday cake and a little gift for me! When we got home we continued our celebrations with David and Chanel, who were in fine form and introduced me to the music of George Ezra, which I love! We went to bed extremely late.
In the morning James and I went for our usual neighbourhood walk through two parks. It was a stunningly beautiful day; pale blue skies and dazzling January sunshine slanting very low. All the people that we passed wished us a Happy New Year.
We then prepared the New Year’s lunch, or I should really say James prepared it, because he cooked everything. He baked bread to accompany his delicious winter vegetable soup, he made Gammon in Red Wine (using the recently retrieved recipe!) and followed it with a traditional Scottish trifle complete with hundreds and thousands. Sadly, David and Chanel were a little under the weather after their shenanigans last night, especially David. Chanel rallied round and joined us and Grandma for lunch but David just couldn’t face it and took to his bed. Never mind, there are plenty of leftovers which he will no doubt enjoy tomorrow. Grandma seemed to enjoy herself and was proud of James for his cooking. So now James and I are very tired and about to head for bed. It has been a good start to the new year.