From the East to the Wild West

In the morning I went through to Edinburgh to visit my Aunt Margaret. The roads were nice and quiet and I had a pleasant drive through, listening to the radio. It was really nice to see Margaret; we had a good chat and although her Alzheimer's is very advanced now, she seems calmer and less worried than she used to be. She asked and repeated lots of questions about Dad and how I am related to her, so we had lots to talk about. It is sad to see her unable to walk unsupported when she used to be so fit, but her nursing home is very nice and the staff are friendly and helpful. After my experiences with Mum, I am more philosophical about the changes that old age brings than I used to be. I have learned to accept these rather than railing against them as I used to. Getting upset is no use to the person you are trying to help; what they need is reassurance and cheerfulness and that is how I (eventually!) learned to be with Mum. Margaret is a lovely and dignified lady, and she looks as if she is being well cared for. I then went to Edinburgh airport to collect Davie from his flight from Milan. It was great to see him and we drove straight along the motorway to Glasgow and had a celebratory lunch at TGI Friday's, where he told me all about his adventures in Pila. He has had a great week and has loved his skiing, he had lots of funny stories to tell me. James arrived home from hill-walking near St Mary's Loch and in the evening Grandma came round; we had fish suppers and decided to watch a film. Grandma said that she likes cowboy films so after a search of the "on demand" films on Virgin Media we settled on "A Gunman's Pledge", a film made a couple of years ago, very much a traditional Western, which was fine although not anything out of the ordinary. A relaxing Saturday evening. 

The Iron Lady

A really pleasant day around the house. Today it was time to take down all the Christmas decorations and I also posted Jamie's camera case to him at Nicola's parents' address in Nottingham. I just love pottering around at home with Jack to keep me company; when I went downstairs in the morning Jack took me to inspect his bowl and we were both surprised and slightly alarmed to find it empty, we stared at each other in a concerned way until I filled it with fresh chunks. Then I had a coffee and Jack had a snooze on top of the radiator. I heard on the news that Bob Holness, famed for presenting Blockbusters in the 1980s, died today. How we used to be amused by the famous line "Can I have a P please, Bob?" and the occasional gaffes such as a contestant answering "orgasm" when he meant to say "organism". And of course the hand-jiving by the audience at the end of the show! I was pleased finally to receive Jenny's adoption pack from Edinburgh Zoo at last (serves me right for having anything to do with a zoo!). I was pleased that they upgraded Jenny's adoption status from Bronze to Silver by way of apology, which means that in addition to a certificate, stickers and badges and being invited to three "Adopter" events per year, she gets extra tickets and photos and will have her name displayed on her Capuchin monkey's enclosure. In the evening James and I took Grandma to see "The Iron Lady" at the cinema, it's a biopic about Margaret Thatcher, told in flashback from her old age when suffering from dementia and hallucinating that her husband Dennis is still alive. Meryl Streep is truly amazing as Mrs Thatcher, she has captured her looks, voice and mannerisms perfectly. Grandma said at the end that it was a very good film but it is also very disturbing and upsetting and should not have been made while Mrs Thatcher is still alive. I agree with her wholeheartedly. 

Blue skies at last

Today (by today I mean Thursday because I am posting this after midnight - I'm not doing very well with my "early nights" resolution!), the rain stopped and the sky was a beautiful watery blue colour, as if washed very clean by days of constant deluge. The ground is still very wet, it must be saturated! I took Jack to the vet in the morning and she said that the lymph node which was infected is getting smaller which is a very good sign; it confirms that it has been an infection and not a tumour. He is to get another check up in a couple of months. Jack was not at all happy about the outing but was delighted to be home again and to get a nice fresh bowl of chunks. Later I went over to see Jackie and her gorgeous boys; she has broken her foot badly and it is in plaster. We went out to a soft play centre which was very smart - a big improvement on fifteen years ago when I was frequenting similar places. It has a cafe which serves delicious healthy food - I had a huge baked potato with tuna mayonnaise and coleslaw - and it was very clean and well maintained. Finn and Noah had a grand time and Jackie and I had a good catch up. I am keen to keep taking exercise, so I decided that with the sky still blue I would take the opportunity to go for a walk. I walked from home via Burnside (where I called in to the estate agent to let them know that the For Sale sign at Mum's house has blown down and broken in the storm) to Rutherglen, where I got a train home. The walk took 50 minutes and I felt really energised. The timing was good because by the time I got home at five it was dark. In the evening Brian and Christine came round for drinks and we had a very pleasant chat and a laugh. Later I finished my current book; Armadillo by William Boyd. Although it was quite interesting I didn't think it was quite up to his usual high standard. 

Torrential Rain!

As I write this the rain is battering down on the glass roof of the extension, which I actually quite like because it is nice and cosy inside! Today was James' first day back at work and I had a nice lie in before doing some much needed admin such as making a vet's appointment for Jack, ordering an online shopping, reconciling my bank account using the spreadsheet that James made for me etc. After lunch it was time for Jamie and Nicola to set off down south; they are spending a few days in Manchester, Nottingham and London before going to Norway to go husky sledding and hopefully to see the Northern Lights. I was worried about the rainy weather for their drive, but at least it's not icy or snowy and Jamie texted later to say that they had safely arrived. I also got another text from Davie who is enjoying his ski holiday:
"It's amazing there's lots of fresh snow and good weather I also think I'm gettin better went down a black today and it was easy I'm in advanced group it's so fun"
I'm so delighted that he is having such a great time! Alasdair and I went down to Morrison's where he used the "Coinstar" machine to deposit the many coppers that he has saved up and to get a voucher for money in exchange. There was a processing fee of 8.9 pence per pound but Ally was still very pleased with the £49.77 that he received. We also went to the post office where Ally sent away his old Blackberry for which he is expecting to receive £46. Alasdair is so clever with money, he reminds me of James in that way. In fact he reminds me of James in many ways! We then went down to the sports centre where Ally went to the gym and I went to the pool where I swam another 40 lengths. And that brings me up to date on this rainy and windy day; we are going to watch another episode of the addictive "Mad Men" which James gave me on DVD for Christmas and have a cup of tea. 

Very big winds

James and I were woken this morning at about 6 a.m., or perhaps earlier (I didn't look at the clock) by really high winds outside. The wind was unusually strong to actually wake us up from sleep like that - much stronger than the winds on 8th December. The trees were lashing about outside and the house was groaning in the wind. A slate flew off the roof and hit the car, and a piece of wood was blown down from Alasdair's window. Jack jumped up on the bed and sat up beside me, I think he was quite disturbed by the weather as well because he kept licking his lips the way he does when he is nervous, and at one point my bedside lamp started to shake because of the storm shaking the house and Jack and I looked at it and then looked at each other in a worried way. Later we heard on the news that gusts had reached 91 mph in Glasgow and there was lots of damage to houses, trees blown over, and even lorries overturned on the Kingston Bridge.
By about 9 a.m. the strongest winds had died down and the rest of the day was just very wet and windy - probably the worst weather of the Christmas holidays so far! But that did not daunt us and we had a great day around the house. James started using his DVD "Learning Guitar for Dummies" which I gave him for Christmas, and Ally and I went to the shops for a bit. Jamie and Nicola watched Sherlock Holmes and got packed up for going down south tomorrow.
Later I went to the Zumba class which is taught by my beautiful and fit neighbour Christine; she asked me along ages ago but this is the first time I have gone, spurred on my by resolution to get fitter this year. I thoroughly enjoyed it and felt very virtuous! 

Walking and cooking

A good day. James and I walked round Strathclyde Park in the morning which kept up my resolution of taking more exercise, and was quite pleasant despite the weather. The weather has been rather wet most days since before Christmas, but we put on our jackets and hats and had a good walk and chat. After lunch we decided to do some batch cooking, and James made a large amount of chilli con carne while I made double quantities of Italian beef stew. It was really nice cooking at a leisurely pace while talking to James, Jamie and Nicola, who has returned from spending New Year in Aberdeen. Ally spent the day studying in his room, and seems to be working hard, but he's a bit fed up. I do feel for him, but unfortunately this is an important time for him with his first A Levels in a couple of weeks, so he just has to get on with it. I got a very nice email from Antoine's parents wishing us well for the New Year:

L'embarquement pour le vol 2012 est annonce!
Vos prochaines escales sont: SANTE, CHANCE, JOIE, BONHEUR, AMOUR ...
La duree de votre voyage sera de 12 mois.
Laissez aux objets perdus les mauvais moments de 2011 pour n'emporter dans vos bagages que les meilleurs souvenirs.
Le menu servi pendant le vol:
Cocktail de l'amitie
Supreme de Bonne sante
Gratinee de prosperite
Plateau d'excellentes nouvelles
Salade de reussite
Buche au bonheur
Le tout accompagne de bulles d'eclats de rires.
Tres bon et agreable voyage!!!

What a nice message and how very French!

Later we all had a pierre chaude (another of our traditions at this time of year) we had beef, turkey, salmon and prawns, accompanied by potatoes, salad, asparagus, mushrooms and dips, and it was delicious! We then watched a film "Horrible Bosses" which was quite rude but also quite funny. 

James doesn't believe in New Year's Resolutions

James doesn't believe in New Year's resolutions but I do, so here are mine:
My first resolutions have to be about getting fitter. I plan to do this by:
1. Going to the gym at my school at least twice a week.
2. Zumba after school once a week.
3. Swimming / going for a walk once a week.
4. Go to bed earlier so that I have enough energy for all the exercise!
Then I would like to live a bit more for the moment rather than always planning and worrying so I will attempt to:
5. Go to the cinema with James once a week or fortnight.
6. Use the Apps on my iPad and use the Wii instead of watching television.
I think that's enough to aim for; I haven't put anything down about the boys but I hope that my resolutions will energise me to be a fit and fun Mum!
The New Year has started well so that helps me to have a positive attitude; my birthday yesterday was great fun. James, Davie and I went to the Museum of Scotland and wandered around it, I particularly enjoyed the Egypt section and the Restless Earth section. We had a light lunch there and then walked down to Princes Street where James bought me a Kindle as my birthday present. (I have had an ereader for a couple of years but it's really complicated to download books onto it and I really like the look of the new Kindle). David was delighted when James got him Xbox Live annual membership. We finished the afternoon with a coffe at Valvona and Crolla before dozing on the train home. We all enjoyed our day out. Then in the evening James, Ally, Davie and I went over to visit Heather and Ewan, who had kindly invited us over for a Hogmanay curry. Jamie was going to a party nearer home and my lovely god-daughter Jennifer was out at a party, however Andrew was there and he and Ally and Davie also had curry and spent the evening having a great time playing Risk, at which Andrew was the clear winner! To my surprise Heather and the boys brought through a gorgeous cake (like a giant cupcake with daisies on it) with candles and everyone sang Happy Birthday to me! I was overwhelmed, how lovely of Heather and Ewan to think of that!
Soon it was time to bring in the New Year; we briefly switched on BBC1 so that we could hear the countdown. I felt very moved as we all wished each other a Happy New Year, there is something very symbolic for me about the start of a new year, it gives me a feeling of hope. Before we switched off the television we watched the Edinburgh fireworks display and then the very lavish London fireworks display; it was really amazing, perhaps in honour of the Olympics this summer? It was great to spend the New Year with such good friends.
This morning David and I got up nice and early because he is going on his school ski trip to Italy, leaving from the school at 9.30 a.m. He was very excited and had packed his case very well, it only needed minor adjustments and was well within the weight requirement. When I got back from dropping him off I dived into bed like one of those penguins on Frozen Planet diving from the ocean onto the ice! In the afternoon James and I went out for a walk round the Heritage Park and this evening we had our traditional New Year family fondue! This was a great idea of James' - when we spend New Year in France we always book a restaurant for our last night, which is usually either the 1st or 2nd of January, and have a fondue and a pierre chaude which we all love. So James decided that we would have a fondue at home instead, and it was delicious! Then Jamie and Ally decided to make a chocolate fondue for dessert which was also delicious, and we watched the first episode of the new series of Sherlock Holmes starring Benedict Cumberbatch and Martin Freeman which was excellent! I think that the last 24 hours has been a wonderful start to the New Year!