Retail therapy.

Not sure why I need it, as I have just had one of the best holidays yet, but...............

Saw these and couldn't resist, your fault my friend for showing me what you had bought.  Can't be my fault. :D

 The  top looks better hanging up, and on that it looks is the photo above.  Tried to drape it but not very successfully, once I saw the picture.

 Found this carafe after much searching.  A couple of places I stayed had similiar things.   I always have water beside my bed, and either the cats drink out of the glass or I find insects in it, so this as you can see by the second picture, solves the problem.... just means I have to finish what I pour out  ;D

Sorry just don't seem to be able to put pictures side by side.


















Not much else happening, it is school holidays for two weeks, and Jay had gone to stay with his day for a few days.  So I have some time to myself.  Though what I will do I am not sure, as the weather is lousy, with heavy rain predicted for the weekend.  Therefore, no gardening.

Always said housework was bad for you.
I had a blockage in the vaccuum cleaner and had trouble separating the tube..........this is the result.

Almost gone now.





Also when I was shopping for myself, I did do some Christmas shopping, yes I know, a long way away, but there are massive sales on at the moment, and if you want, you can lay-by for Christmas.

So, I bought these too, though some of them are for 

 birthdays, which are before Christmas.

 Jay's mum send him money each month, and he is allowed, by me, to spend some of it, but has to save some too.  This is what he bought.








Hope this finds you all well.  Sorry I didn't get to meet Fix.

Be safe and well and happy.  Hugs & kisses.

End of the week

The week has flown by, had new tyres fitted on Monday morning, a meeting Monday night, lunch for Pauline's birthday on Tuesday, then the psychologist for for Jay on Tuesday afternoon, then work and lunch on Wednesday.  This time for Lynn's birthday.

 Lynn had the salmon frittata

I had the ham and brie quiche.  Quite tasty.










 This little house is behind the cafe, and there is a small nursery,               

 These jonquils took my eye.











Thursday Jay has basketball practice, and Friday I worked at the hospital.  On my own again, not sure what happened to my buddy.  Obviously we don't get told if they are not coming.  Would be nice though.  Had a good morning.  Some lovely people to talk too, and they are all grateful for the littlest thing you do for them.

My sister came over for a little while, and I finished my jigsaw puzzle, after so many months, on Friday night.

Soooooo glad it is finished  :D

Saturday Jay played his second basketball match.  The previous game I forgot the camera, and this week he didn't have much game time, but still had fun.

 He is number 34 but you can't really see him behind the other players  ;)

As  long as he has fun that is all that matters.  The game was a draw, and that is why the coach played the strongest players towards the end.













We then had to dash to the football, well, I chose to dash.  We missed the first half of the game, but as we got thoroughly beaten, not sorry I missed half.

Jay went back to his dad's for the weekend, so had some time to myself.  Managed to get some weeding done, as it didn't rain today.  Also did a couple of loads of washing and did the ironing too.  So quite a productive week.

Meant to put in the last blog this photo I took when I went to visit a friend who has had a hip replacement.  Thought you might enjoy.

This is their dog Molly, on her special chair that their son-in-law made for her.  Isn't she just spoilt.

It is so cute.  She is about Kissi's size, maybe a little smaller,  so you can judge the size of it.

Hope you are well and that the hands are recovering well.  Love to everyone.

Hugs and kisses.

Time goes by.

Not sure where the week has gone.  Jayden was away most of the weekend, and I caught up with the washing and sleep.

Also visited relatives and sick friends, and talked to lots of people.  Worked on Wednesday, had meetings, trying to sort out all my findings, well really just put all the papers in a pile.

Not sure where to start.









Received a post card from Finland today, which reminded me about a card I was given, and supposed to have passed on.   I had to check my suitcase, and sure enough there it was still safely hidden in one of the pockets.  Sorry Minna.

But now safely and gratefully in the hands of the intended recipient.








Took Jay to basketball practice tonight and he should play his first game this Saturday.

My sister is coming over tomorrow and we are looking through all the photos.  I have to sit down and try and make up a disc of the best ones, so as not to bore people too much.   Hard to know which ones not to include though  :)

If it stops raining, hopefully now all the washing and cleaning is up-to-date I can get out and do some weeding.  Otherwise, all routine stuff.

Can't help thinking about your sore hands.  Hope you are feeling better.  Hugs and kisses.

hallelujah

Still not sure how I did it, but finally worked out how to download the photos from my phone, so here you are

This is the sauna at Minna's parents summer house.

This is the grill house.  Lovely cooking inside and seating around the walls. 

 This is the inside, it is not finished yet, but you cant get the picture of what it will be like

This is their summer house.

 Some of the lovely food provided by Minna's mum, it was all scrumptious, these are meat filled pastries.

 Some ginger biscuits and chocolate biscuits and others

and really delicious blueberry pie.  Freshly picked from the forest.  Mmmmm so yummy.

Minna and Mimi on one of our walks behind her house.

 Then we skip to London and the bathroom at the Dolphin Hotel, well the shower

 The bed

 The toilet

And the little foyer, off which is the toilet.  Doesn't really give an idea of how small it is though.

 For those who have been following and for the family this is the place my/our ancestors lived in the mid to late 1880's before they came to Australia.  Not sure of the exact address unfortunately. 

or how many of these building were standing then.









And so folks, that just about wraps up my travels.  So on with the mundane life.  Hope you have enjoyed it all. 

Home, Sweet, Home.

Hi Folks, sorry about the delay, just trying to get back into the swing.  It was a long, long trip home.  Easy to be wise with hindsight.  Wish I had known to have a stopover on the way back.

Never mind, I am back now, all safe and sound.

The farm stay just outside of Falkirk, was very nice, but..................the house was built specifically for use as a B&B over 30 years ago, and just haven't moved with the times.  The rooms are palatial size wise, and very clean and comfortable.  But the TV was old and had a set top box and a Video recorder, bless 'em.   Was quite cheap though, only 30 pounds a night.

 As you can see quite large. 

 One angle of the bedroom taken from the bathroom door.

From the other angle.  So as you can see, quite a large room.  Especially after the single room at Inverness, and the hotel in London.

 This is one side of the bathroom

And this is the other.  All seems to be recently painted.  So nice and fresh.  I was the only guest.

Had fruit salad the first two day, and opted for toast the last day,  not sure if I had done something wrong , but it was burnt to a crisp.






While is was a bit of a way of the beaten track, it wasn't too far from Falkirk, Lambert, Kilsyth, and Stirling, all of which I visited.   Eventually.  I lost track of how many times I used the wrong exit on the stupid roundabouts.  They have anywhere between five and eight exits.  As the roads are narrow, not place to turn around so you have to go onto the next roundabout and find an alternative route.

Always got there, just never by a direct route.  HeHe

Visited Kilsyth in Scotland, and it was a nice little town, not much bigger than here, maybe a bit more like Croydon.









Went to Lambert and caught the train to Edinburgh, just to sight see.  So did Edinburgh Castle which they were getting ready for the Tattoo.  Also went into to shops and did the last minute shopping.

 Just one of the photos,

And another, can't remember which parts,  but all very interesting.










Then more research the next few days, didn't find a lot though.  There were too many different graveyards, it would not have been worthwhile even trying to guess which ones.  Did go down a couple of the streets where some of the ancestors lived in Stirling.  One is now the major thoroughfare, and the other could be very similiar to when they left.  It has the quaint name of Cow Wynd, but apparently pronounced "Coowind"

Can't show the photos, as they are on my phone which I am having trouble downloading.



Had a couple of good meals, found a nice pub that a lady on the train home from Edinburgh recommended, and had a lovely steak and chips.  The last day I had got lost so many times that  I could not be bother looking for somewhere for tea.  There was a service centre about 5 minutes away to relented and had Burger King Chicken Burger.  Yuk.  But filled a hole.

Then had the long long long long trip home.  Left not long after 9am.  Was going to stop for morning tea as had a feeling I would be early, but will all the wrong turns I had been making I wanted to be sure I wasn't late.  There was a couple of slow parts on the motorway, and only one service centre and that was on the other side of the motorway.

I had been advised to return the car as empty as possible, and was starting to panic that I would runout, but we made it.  The signage was challenging, because there were two exits to the Glascow Airport.  Don't know why, because they ran parellel to each other, and eventually merged.  Finally found the car return exit, nearly missed it, fortunately no traffic.

Got there at 11am.  The flight was at 4.30pm.  Thought I might be able to check in the baggage straight away, but no, had to wait until 2 hours before the flight.

Ever tried to fit, two bags, a laptop and a handbag and yourself into a toilet cubicle.  It ain't easy, believe me.  Had some lasagne for lunch. And read my book.  Did buy some internet time, one of the few places it wasn't free.  Sent some emails.  Read some more.  Glad I bought those 3 books.

Then the good news.  Couldn't book my luggage all the way to Melbourne.  Only to Singapore.  Grrr, not happy Jan.  Anyway, off to Heathrow.  Found the bus to take us from one terminal to the other, can't remember either from 5 to 3 or from 3 to 5.  About a 10 minute bus ride.  Interesting.  Tunnels and roundabouts and, well got there eventually.

 Just to break up the dialogue, this was at the farm, it is an old press for ironing your clothes.  And below is a shoe polisher.

Another 3-4 hour wait.  Found a shopping trolley to use to carry my bag, but had a little accident and had to buy some new jeans.   Fortunately they had a Zara store, so not too expensive.  So that filled in a bit of time.

Then 13 hours in the plane.  Could not sleep no matter how hard I tried, and I guess because we took off at 9.30 at night, they fed us then turned the lights off for the whole trip.  The man opposite me, kept lifting the blind and it was bright sunlight outside. 

Two hours before we land, they serve us breakfast..................really, I mean it is now 3.30 in the afternoon Singapore time.  Stop complaining girl,  had to go through customs collect my bag, book in and then wait a few hours and took off at 9pm Singapore time.

Did get a couple of hours sleep, the plane was only half full so had two seats to myself.  Arrived in Melbourne early,. 6am instead of 6.45am, so rang Ro and he was still driving. So was able to meet outside the ParkRoyal at the pickup point, so no parking fee.  

 Home and my tree dahlia is out in bloom, thought I might miss it.

Home, sweet home, after buying breakfast for Jay.  Had a couple of hours sleep.  And back to reality.