Onward Christian Soldiers

Ewan’s Dad’s funeral on Monday was a fond and fine tribute; Ewan and the family did him proud. The hymn was Onward Christian Soldiers which I haven’t heard for ages. I like those rousing old hymns which portray Christians as soldiers fighting the good fight, like Soldiers of Christ Arise, and Jerusalem. There was an excellent purvey at the golf club afterwards, just where Ewan’s Dad would have expected and wanted it to be, in the place where he enjoyed spending his leisure time. 

After dropping Ally off at Dunlop and capturing the cats without too much trouble we set off to Ullapool, arriving at about 7.30 p.m. James switched on the heating and lit a fire to warm up the cottage. 

On Tuesday we decided to go for a cold and sunny walk along the River Broom, the same walk that we went on in September when Ewan had an unfortunate fall. There were no mishaps this time and we completed the 4 km circuit with pleasant and frosty views along the valley. I would like to explore that side of the river and loch further. 

Our four young folks arrived together late in the evening; Chanel had very kindly driven all the way. It was exciting to see them and we all had a nice cup of tea before bedtime. 

A Boxing Day doggy visitor

Janie, Julie, Abigail and Graham came round for Boxing Day lunch. It needed to be a gluten free, low FODMAP lunch and it went well; the main dish was gluten free pasta with tomato and basil sauce and I had dishes of fried onions, mushrooms, and grated cheese which people could add according to their tastes and needs. I also served gluten free rolls and cheesy bread. Dessert was gluten free chocolate brownies with raspberries and a choice of double cream or dairy-free cream. Everyone was chatting happily and seemed to enjoy the meal. 
The drama came afterwards; Abigail and Graham had asked to bring their good-natured wee Westie Rowan, who trotted around the house happily. Both cats were outside when they arrived and I hoped that they would eventually make their way up to our bedroom for dog-free peace and quiet. However they must have worked out that there was a dog about, because at the end of the meal we heard Rowan barking at the back door, and there was Floof sitting on top of the fence staring down balefully at her! We all went back through to the lounge with Rowan, and after a while Abigail decided to take her out to the garden for a wee. I accompanied her, however we didn’t know that Tom and Floof were lurking in the hall, no doubt listening to the doggy sounds in the lounge. So suddenly they all met face to face and all three got a huge shock; the sound of barking and yowling was deafening as they all rushed through to the back room, claws scrabbling and skidding on the floor. Tom and Floof escaped out of the cat flap into the garden, but to my surprise Tom immediately jumped back in again! His back was arched, his hackles were up, his eyes were like burning coals, and his tail was like a bog brush. He ran at poor Rowan who scarpered to the other end of the back room. Ally had arrived to help and he gently pushed Tom back through the cat flap and locked it, so that cats and dog were safely separated. But it didn’t end there! Rowan still needed that wee, so Abigail and I took her outside on her lead and strolled round the garden. Suddenly Tom appeared at the garden steps; hackles, angry eyes, bog brush tail, and he launched himself at the innocent Rowan. He ran to within an inch of her nose and then veered towards the fence and climbed to the top of it to hiss angrily at our canine guest. For the rest of the visit the cats remained outside so Rowan could relax with the humans, but oh my goodness I never thought that Tom would attack a dog! I don’t know whether to be appalled or secretly rather proud! 
When our guests left later there was no sign of either cat for a good half hour, and then they came back in, Tom and then Floof, looking around warily. A peaceful evening of eating Christmas leftovers ensued. 

A lovely Christmas

We have just had a very happy and traditional Christmas Day with Ally. Also Tom and Floof of course, and I popped over to Uddingston morning and evening to feed Skye and Harris while Davie and Chanel are in Liverpool and then Warrington. We started by opening our Santa presents in bed; Ally seemed delighted with his gifts and we wear very happy with the thoughtful present that Santa had brought for us. Santa’s handwriting on our gifts was strangely similar to Cat’s handwriting! Forrest and family arrived in the morning and we had a good chat and exchanged presents. Meanwhile, the turkey was cooking and filling the house with delicious smells and soon it was time to watch the King’s speech on television at 3 p.m. Then came the main event, Christmas dinner. The turkey, I am told, was well cooked and moist, and all the accompaniments turned out well. However, in an embarrassing faux pas I totally forgot to cook the Brussels sprouts, which we did not discover until after we had finished eating when Alasdair casually asked where they were! Oh well, they can be cooked and consumed over the next few days with the leftover turkey. After we cleared up it was time for me to try out my Christmas gift from James, an ice plunge pool! James and Ally had very kindly constructed it in the garden for me earlier. I managed to get right in on my second attempt, and oh boy was it cold; the thermometer said 4 degrees C. When I exited the tub my skin felt like it was on fire! We spent the whole evening in the lounge chatting, with Christmas music playing and the cats coming and going. What a lovely Christmas we have had. 

Christmas lunching

We met up with Ewan and Heather on Sunday for our traditional Christmas lunch. The food was great at the Anchor Line although the service became slower as the quite large restaurant got busier. This wouldn’t have been a problem, except that the start time for lunch had been changed so I had already pushed back the booking time for the pub, when the young folks would be joining us. Luckily my heroes Chanel and Davie came to the rescue; they secured the table at All Bar One for us until we arrived. Thank goodness they did, because it was busy and there were ten of us to be seated. We got the table I had requested on the ground floor beside the Christmas tree and it was all very festive. Jennifer and Ryan get on so well with Ally, Cat, Davie and Chanel. Of course we missed Andrew, who had not yet arrived home from London for the holidays, and Jamie and Kerry in New Zealand. It was a great afternoon and evening. 
Since then I have wrapped all of the Christmas presents and this afternoon I baked gluten free, low fodmap brownies for our Boxing Day guests, and sticky toffee puddings for New Year’s Day dinner. The food is all organised for Christmas Day so we are ready to party. 

Christmas songs

James and I went for a lovely walk today in Chatelherault Country Park on a surprisingly sunny morning in between all the rain we’ve been having. We ended a few errands and on our way home we had a lively discussion about which is the worst Christmas song. James content that it is “Little Saint Nick” by The Beach Boys, mainly because of the lyric “Christmas comes this time each year” which I admit is a good point, although I think it’s one of those “so bad it’s actually good” lines. However, for me, the worst Christmas song has to be the dirge-like “Mistletoe and wine“ by Cliff Richard. It’s poor both in melody and lyrics, with the most annoying line being “Children singing Chris-tee-an rhyme” Christian is elongated to make it scan, but I think it sounds clunky, and what does “Christian rhyme” mean? I presume it’s just an awkward way to say “carols” and it is really jarring. 

My best Christmas songs in order: (not carols, that’s a whole other category) 

1. Merry Christmas Everyone by Shaking Stevens (also Ewan’s favourite)
2. All I want for Christmas is You by Mariah Carey
3. White Christmas by Bing Crosby
4. It’s Christmas by Slade
5. Fairytale of New York by The Pogues and Kirsty McColl

and a very recent addition which I really like -

1. Merry Christmas by Elton John and Ed Sheeran

Heather’s favourite is Step into Christmas by Elton John. 

Flora does not enjoy her visit to the vet

I took Tom and Flora to the vet for their annual booster vaccinations and it wasn’t a pleasant experience for any of us. First of all I turned up at the wrong vet. We always go to Cathkin vet, and I hadn’t looked at the email reminder carefully enough to notice that our appointment was in scope right. However, the pleasant vet in East Kilbride waited for us, examined the cats who were both fine, and give them their injections. I asked her to clip Flora’s claws because they seem particularly jaggy just now and she keeps getting them caught on things which must be annoying for her. I held her gently while the vet clipped her claws, but she was understandably horrified by what was happening because the noise that emanated from her small body was extremely loud and quite unearthly in quality; proper screaming. The people in the waiting room must’ve thought a murder was being committed. However, the job got done and I was home in time for lunch before going over to visit lovely Gran Jan for a wee afternoon coffee. 

Christmas Tree

Davie and Chanel came with us to Aberfoyle on Saturday to choose our Christmas trees at David Marshall Lodge, now known as Forest Lodge. Despite there being only a tiny selection of trees left, we managed to choose two very nice seven-footers and lashed them onto the roofs of our cars. Then we had our traditional lunch in the café overlooking the wintry Trossachs hillsides. Having purchased two trees were entitled to two hot chocolate drinks, however the lady in the café kindly allowed us to have four free hot drinks! The weather was dreich and it rained heavily on the way home so we allowed the tree to dry out before decorating it today, while listening to Christmas music. 

More festive occasions have included lunches at the Burrell Collection and walks in Pollok Park, the always joyful Òran Mor Christmas Panto with Gordon and Morag, and a Christmas Quiz at the Rowan Tree Inn with Davie and Chanel. All great fun. Ally and Cat arrived this evening to spend Christmas and New Year in Scotland and we collected them from the airport, it was so great to see them. 

Ten Million Steps

James set himself a target of walking ten million steps this year. He sets himself a target every year, and this is the highest number of steps that he has aimed for. It was a huge undertaking and several times during the year he wondered if he had been too ambitious. He kept a running total of how many steps he needed to walk each day; this started very high at more than 27000 steps per day. Often he exceeded this, however sometimes if we were on holiday or the weather was particularly bad, he wouldn’t quite make his daily target. As the year went on, and he continued to achieve high numbers of steps, James could calculate that the number of steps that he needed each day to keep on track was steadily falling. He described this as “the dragon eating its tail” which I think means the feeling of acceleration when you approach the end of a task. By a couple of weeks ago it was clear that he was going to make the ten million, and today, Friday 12th December, more than two weeks early, James took his ten millionth step of 2025. What an amazing achievement. 

Power Cut and Art Class

Storm Bram continued through the night and into Wednesday; the winds were so strong, according to the weather forecast they reached 90 mph! However it was not until late on Wednesday, when the wind had abated somewhat at about 10.30 p.m. that we finally had a power cut. Luckily we were heading for bed anyway and James lit a candle in the bedroom, it was quite romantic! 
We set off south at lunchtime on Thursday, the waterfalls were cascading mightily down the hillsides on our way to Inverness. In the evening I went to book club at Ruth’s. At Chanel’s suggestion we were discussing “How to Kill your Family” by Bella Mackie and we had a really good discussion about it. We had two new members so there were seven of us, it was a great evening with the festive backdrop of Ruth’s Christmas tree. This morning was my last art class at the PPWH, and I finished my painting of frangipani flowers from the photo I took in Zanzibar. I like it although I think it could be better. I have learned so much from our art teacher, Jenny. At the end of the lesson we all went for a Christmas lunch in a dining room at the café, it was a happy and friendly occasion. I love our oldest member Kathleen, who is 93 years old and an excellent artist. She has had such an interesting life. All of the ladies are great fun and I would love to go to another art class there next year. 

Storm Bram

On Monday morning Heather let us know that Ewan’s Dad died in the early hours of the morning at the age of 92. I was sorry to hear it; there are not many  of our parents’ generation left and I’m sad for Ewan and the whole family.

We set off to Ullapool mid-morning with the cats; on our way back from the Post Office (we were posting a Christmas parcel to New Zealand) we met Tom who was standing on the wee wall outside Grandma’s house to greet us, so to his surprise we picked him up and carried him straight to the car! Flora was soon captured and joined him in the cat basket, and off we set. We had a good run with no delays and had fish suppers for tea. The weather was quite rainy because Storm Bram was on its way across the Atlantic, and it was very blustery this morning. However by lunch time the wind stopped for a while; I think that we were in the eye of the storm. The sky looked very peculiar; many layers of clouds lit from beneath by the setting sun. By tea time the storm was back with a vengeance and we could hear the wind roaring around the cottage and blowing down the chimney. However when I went outside to check it out I was surprised to find that, bizarrely, it wasn’t very cold. And I was right; the weather forecast later mentioned that mild tropical air is being dragged up from the mid-Atlantic by the storm. As I lie in bed blogging at almost midnight, it still sounds really wild out there! 

It’s later than you think

The weekend has been a pre-Christmas whirlwind of social activity. I went to my Art class on Friday morning and it was fun, even though I’m finding the shading a bit tricky on the petals of the flower that I’m painting. Jenny always plays an excellent soundtrack of favourite tunes such as Simon and Garfunkel, Bob Dylan, 10cc and many more. Quite often one or more of us sing along, and on Friday two of the ladies were seen doing a little dance to a Brian Ferry song! In the afternoon Carolyn came round with her two beautiful boys who were on good form and very funny, and in the evening we went to see our old favourite Jools Holland at the Armadillo, he is very talented and always puts on a good show. As usual he led us in singing “Enjoy yourself, it’s later than you think” which makes sense. The support act Nick Celino was good too, and to our surprise he was joined on stage by Boy George for a duet. 

On Saturday James and Davie went to see Madness while Chanel and I went to see Hamilton. We all had dinner at the Piper’s Tryst first. James reported that Madness were brilliant, which I believe, however I cannot regret seeing Hamilton for the third time, it was absolutely fantastic! The performers were excellent and I was crying (again) at the end. 

Sunday was the annual Mince Pies outing of the hill-walking club; we walked from the Tullie Inn into Balloch Park overlooking Loch Lomond, about 7 km. The forecast rain stayed off for the duration of the walk I’m glad to say and we had a convivial meal afterwards. By then the rain had come on in earnest and the drive back to Glasgow was not very pleasant. However we arrived in good time to meet Heather and Ewan at Il Pieno for a pre-theatre meal. As ever it was great to see them, but Ewan had sad news; his Dad is nearing the end of his life and is expected to pass away in hours or days. My heart went out to him, his Dad is very elderly and frail but it’s still so sad when the time inevitably comes. We all went on to the Royal Concert Hall to see Rob Brydon’s Christmas concert. He has a nice singing voice and is a very good comedian; this was very lightweight fare but entertaining and a pleasant evening. Such a busy and festive few days! 

Nativity Scenes

This morning, on Gosia and Mitchell’s recommendation, James and I visited the Rynek Museum which is located under the market square. First we had a wee coffee in one of the many restaurants that line the square and we also had a look at the many colourful nativity scenes which people were bringing to display all over the steps of the Adam Mickiewicz monument. This annual event takes place on the first Thursday of December each year and the scenes were amazing. They are so detailed; on the side of one of them someone had even reproduced the altarpiece from St Mary’s Basilica! Gosia told us later that the metallic surfaces are often made out of the smoothed out foil of sweetie papers; she used to do it when she was in school. Some of them had tributes to this year’s 1000th anniversary of the Kingdom of Poland, others had moving parts such as the wise men moving in a circle. So intricate. 

The Rynek Museum was made when, during building work, the area under the main square was found to be hollow, with the remains of medieval and Roman buildings beneath. There was a huge project to dig it out, create the museum and restore the square. It was so interesting and as well as the walls and artefacts that were found, there is a lot of information about the history of Krakow from earliest times to the growth of its trade throughout Europe. We even found out about the Chort, which was a demonic entity in Slavic traditions and a great worry to medieval folk. 

Gosia and Mitchell arrived from visiting Michal and we went for lunch in the gorgeous and very popular Morskie Oko Restaurant, where we had delicious and very filling potato pancakes with various toppings. The restaurant is traditionally decorated with light coloured woodcarvings and it is very attractive. Sadly it was soon time to leave for the airport; security was very quick and efficient but passport control had a huge queue. There was nothing that we could do and unlike many people we were in plenty of time for our flight, so there was no rush. Our journey home went well and we landed on time. What a brilliant couple of days we have had, great to see Gosia and Mitchell and wonderful to be back in Krakow. 

Dragon in the mist

Yesterday evening we flew to Krakow, that lovely city which we visited with Heather and Ewan in the summer of 2023. The journey went smoothly, we were worried that Ryanair would somehow fleece us because they currently have a fearful reputation for fining people over luggage or check-in infringements, however all went well. The plane seats were a bit uncomfortable and hard, and the pilot hit the brakes very strongly three times after we landed which was slightly alarming, but we got though passport control in jig time and were soon in a taxi to our hotel. We couldn’t remember its name until we checked in my phone; James guessed “Queen Bee” and I guessed “Golden Tulip.” In fact it is the “Golden Queen” so we were both right! And wrong! We soon settled in to our clean and comfy room. 

What a day we have had in Krakow! We woke to a misty morning, which gradually cleared as the day went on. Our hotel is only about ten minutes walk from the beautiful town square and we headed through it to the Czartoryski Museum. It’s a fascinating museum, housed in an old family palace, and we had coffee in the atrium before looking around. The most famous painting in the museum is Lady with an Ermine by Leonardo da Vinci, which I loved, but there was plenty more to see, including several fine Northern Renaissance paintings for altarpieces, by Master Jerzy and Michael Lancz von Kitzingen. Also a wee painting by Lucas Cranach the Younger of The Family of Sigismund I which was a series of wee faces like passport photos! There were lots of Medieval paintings and sculptures too. 

Our next stop was St Mary’s Basilica to see the Marian Altarpiece by Weit Stoss being opened at 11.50 a.m. as it is every day. A small crowd gathered on the pews in front of it and at precisely 11.50 a nun arrived, said a short prayer and opened both sides of the altarpiece using a long pole like an old fashioned window opener. It really was magnificent! The outside was impressive and chronicled Mary’s life with Jesus, but the inside was even more stunning, culminating with Mary’s ascension to heaven. We spent ages just drinking it in, the detail and the colours. Back in the main square we had a light lunch with hot fruit tea with big chunks of fruit and cinnamon sticks floating in it, and a tub of honey to sweeten it still further if desired. Gosia and Mitchell arrived from the hospital where they had been visiting Michal, and we all went to the Christmas market which is on one side of the square. It was full of Christmas decorations, woodcarvings, ceramics, amber jewellery, and lots of food stalls. They took us to a smaller but just as pretty Christmas market in the little market square in the other side of St Mary’s Basilica before beers (and a mocktail for me!) Gosia and Mitchell then led us on a pleasant walk through the University District, past the Opera House and onto a tram to the Jewish quarter, where we had a tasty and traditionally Polish dinner. A feature of this was plum dumplings which were absolutely fantastic. Then we walked back to the hotel, via the Father Bernatek Footbridge with its surreal kinetic statues which looked very lifelike in the mist which had descended again over the city. Drinks in a wee bar followed, served in skull shaped flagons with dry ice which made them fizz and bubble. We also visited the statue of Dzok the dog, who was looked after by the citizens of Krakow in the early 1990s after his master died suddenly on a busy roundabout; eventually an elderly lady persuaded him to give up his vigil and live with her. After six happy years the lady died and unfortunately Dzok escaped from the dog shelter and was run over, but his story really resonates with the people of Krakow as it shows the kindness of the citizens. We walked back to our hotel via the river path, and saw the dragon statue beneath the castle looking disturbingly real in the mist, especially when it suddenly breathed out a huge gout of flame!