Summer Adventures

We went out for lunch to Red Onion today with Heather, Ewan, Andrew and Davie. It's years since I've been there and I really liked the choices on the menu. We were all chatting about our summer adventures. Andrew has been doing volunteer work in South Africa and it sounded fascinating; he also travelled in Namibia and had an amazing time. Davie was talking about his visit to Austin in Texas, which Andrew knows very well from when he lived there. And Heather and Ewan know our recent destination of Sorrento and the Amalfi coast very well - so we all had plenty to discuss. It was a very pleasant afternoon which ended with me reading in my hammock for an hour before tea. 

Local Hero revisited

To celebrate the 70th birthday of the film director Bill Forsyth, the GFT put on a special screening of his 1983 film, Local Hero, this afternoon. I was excited to go to this because Local Hero is one of my favourite films. James, Davie and Grandma came with me. 

It was so lovely to see the film on the big screen again; the cinema was full. The actors all looked so young, especially Peter Capaldi, and there were lots of well known Scottish actors playing small parts like Jonathan Watson and Rikki Fulton. It was quirky and funny and the music was great, but for me the scenery was the star of the show. I know that Local Hero was in fact filmed in several locations; the village itself was in Aberdeenshire and the beach scenes were filmed at Morar and Arisaig in the north west. 

I have blogged before about my love for the north west of Scotland; I have some sort of visceral feeling for the area which makes me wonder if it is the land of my ancestors (although I have no evidence of  this!) and I like to visit it as often as possible. The beach scenes made me absolutely desperate to get back there; there was a scene with Peter Capaldi and Jenny Seagrove which featured rock pools and a clear, calm sea where you could clearly see the sand beneath, and the particular sound of the sea lapping against rocks, which reminds me of childhood Scottish seaside holidays. Later I told James about how I felt and he pointed out that we are going to Strontian on the Ardnamurchan peninsula for the weekend in two weeks, which means that I can go to Sanna Bay! This delighted me. 

Lucky escape

Today was the sunniest since we got back from Italy. The sky was a beautiful blue with big white clouds. I met up with a friend for coffee in the morning, did some shopping and a wee bit of housework, and I spent a goodly portion of the afternoon in my beloved hammock reading a book. What better way to spend a couple of hours on a warm sunny day? Meanwhile the cats ate, slept and hunted innocent creatures as usual. At one point Ruby caught a sparrow and brought it into the house; Davie tackled her to the floor and she let go of it - but as it flew through the back room Tom leaped up and grabbed it out of the air! Luckily our hero Davie managed to overpower Tom as well, and the wee bird escaped out of the back door! 

James did not have such an idyllic day; he had got up at 5 a.m. to fly down to Birmingham on business, then unfortunately his flight was delayed by more than an hour on the way home, so he didn't arrive until after 7 p.m. However I made him an Aperol Spritz which he drank while sitting in the garden before dinner, so that cheered him up.

Quesadillas no more

David and I have a long-standing tradition of going to his favourite restaurant, TGI Fridays, for lunch together. So after running a few useful errands this morning we ended up in our usual venue in Buchanan Street. It was really stowed out, presumably because it's the holidays - I can't believe that it's that busy normally on a Thursday. David ordered a massive burger as usual (it was so big he struggled to get his mouth around it) but I scanned the menu in vain for my own usual dish of choice - chicken quesadillas. Imagine my consternation when I realised that this tasty meal has been a casualty of a new revised menu. I reckon that I have been exclusively eating chicken quesadillas in TGI Fridays for more than ten years - and now it's gone. I put a brave face on it (bearing in mind that this was a bit of a "first world" problem!) and ordered the cajun chicken tostada stack but I have to say that it was disappointing - not a patch on the quesadillas.

Gotta Catch 'Em All!

Davie and I had a busy day today, but by the nature of what we were doing (writing David's CV, applying for jobs for him etc) we were mostly in the house. This gave us the opportunity to observe the cats' activities. When I was having my breakfast (brought to me in bed by my dear husband before he left for work) Ruby was having a snooze beside me after a long night of hunting. Tom arrived on the bed and started licking her face. He loves doing this and it always seems a bit strange to me because Jack and Jill never groomed each other at all. Tom is very enthusiastic with this grooming and puts his front legs round Ruby's neck. Ruby usually puts up with it for a while but then gets fed up and walks off, leaving Tom looking a bit bereft. Tom then had a long sleep on the bed while Ruby came downstairs to help Davie and me with our admin. She did this by watching the printer intently while it spewed forth paper. She eventually disappeared and I found her back on the bed upstairs with her front legs and one back leg draped around Tom, cuddling him. It was so sweet. 

The kitties didn't really liven up until late afternoon when they had a meal and then capered about a bit, but they still dozed a bit during the evening, gathering their strength for their mysterious nocturnal pursuits. 

Davie went out after tea for some mysterious pursuits of his own; the ubiquitous new craze of Pokemon Go. I have absolutely no intention of downloading this app - I was thoroughly baffled by Jamie's Pokemon cards in the mid 1990s so I have no interest in the new version. What is different from the original card game is that you have to go out into the real world to look for Pokemon and Pokestops or whatever, using your phone to detect them; the creatures appear on your screen as if they are in the same place as you in the real world. There have been some controversies regarding Pokemon being detected in inappropriate places such as Auschwitz concentration camp, and regarding people trespassing or being targeted by criminals, but it is certainly a new departure and has very quickly become massively popular. David told me that this evening when he was seeking out Pokemon there were lots of other people walking around the streets holding their phones, obviously doing the same thing. There have been lots of references to the game on social media - I liked the (joke) tweet by Stirling Police: "Just to be clear, 'I was looking for a Pokestop' is not an acceptable reason for being on the roof of a shop with a crowbar at 2 am!" It will be interesting to see how the phenomenon evolves.

 

A day with Davie

I had such a lovely day today with David. He was helping me to sort a few things out around the house, and we got loads done, chatting all the while. I'm so amazed by what good company all three of my boys are; in their different ways they all remind me of my Dad, and also of James. It was great sitting down for lunch just the two of us and hear all about Davie's recent holiday and his plans for next year in his new flat in Dundee. 

When James came home from his first day back at work we prepared an aperol spritz to welcome him home. Then after tea James nailed the wee ceramic sun that we bought in Sorrento onto the wall at the back of the house - hopefully it will bring us some more sunshine or at least remind us of it! 

Catnip afternoon

On our way home from the airport on Friday I phoned ahead to ask Davie to put the heating on because I was worried that we might feel chilly at home after becoming (mostly) acclimatised to the heat of the Neapolitan Riviera. I needn't have worried. Although the skies are grey, and it's raining, at least it is nice and warm. 

A rainy day is a good opportunity to have a relaxing family lunch and that's exactly what we did today. Grandma came round, Jamie came through from Edinburgh, and Davie is at home just now, so James cooked his famous gammon joint with cherries and we all declared it to be delicious. Grandma was on very good form and we had a most pleasant afternoon chatting and laughing. Even the cats seemed to enjoy the convivial atmosphere and were rolling around the floor, although they may have been a bit hyper because Davie had given them some catnip leaves to chew on! James has grown catnip for them in the garden and they love it.