Thwarted at every turn.

This mornings view from the Lighthouse Cafe.  That is the foghorn and the North Sea in spate.

I really should not be sorting stuff out at the Lighthouse....but get planting.

The above are Allium Bulbs, and there are a 100 of them....

This lot I discovered in a drawer down the shed which should also be planted NOW.

But every time I am ready so to do the weather is awful.  When the weather is conducive to manic gardening I am stuck sorting stuff out at the Lighthouse Museum, or at Art group (s) or otherwise engaged.  Like down the shed.

Cairnbulg Harbour when it was wild and windy, cant garden then can you.

Teasels, prickly they are, though I have managed to grow some from seed, though they do now need potting on.....

And no, it isnt yet snowing, but you do have to think about Christmas Cards now dont you.

So back to gardening.  This is October.  So I have Stargazer Lilies blooming.

Welsh Poppies ( I think - I am sure someone will correct me if I am wrong.)

And Marigolds.

Struggling Gladioli.

And the side bed just waiting to be crammed with bulbs - and weeded quite severely first.

Just hope tomorrow it does not rain or blow.  Or it will be thwarted again.

As winter draws near.

Our rooms take on a designated role, without one really being aware of it.

The Sitting Room is the cosy one, as night draws on, the curtains are closed, the fire stoked up.

Today we lit the fire in the morning and with the odd log along the way it has kept the whole downstairs comfortable, and we have not had to resort to the liquid gold until early evening it went on for an hour, and then off again.  More so we could eat in comfort and that as I took a loo break there were no screams.  (My loo seat is the coldest ever.)

My knitting waits and homework on the, unmastered as yet, art of crochet.  And a book to read while knitting and whatever is on the tele...can go in one ear and out the other.

Minerva waits for the DP and his knee.

In the kitchen its Toad in the Hole.

Kitchen table is for breakfast and lunch.

Dining room is for evening meal, no longer able to sit and watch the wild life out of the window, its now dark at 6p.m.  

The DP does his reading in here so as to be able to glance up at the bird life, but the hours of daylight are narrowing now.

The bedroom - is for sleeping!  Sith can be found here most of the day, but does deign to move to the foot of the bed when the humans wish to slumber.

The bed is also a good place for me to sort through my cards for the next exhibition.

And - albeit a bedroom and this is a dressing table in it, it is also my work station.

And of course the room for the afternoon, whenever I can, is the shed!

I hope that whichever room you are in, you have a pleasant, cosy evening.

Creatures of the deep.

Another of our visitor attractions that remains open all year round is the Macduff Marine Aquarium.

Here you get close up, very close up, to the creatures that live in the seas around our North East Corner.

Other creatures of the deep are the deep thinkers that are otherwise known as the Volunteers at the Lighthouse Museum.  We are now planning our Kids Activity Mornings which take place during what is known by some as 'half term' and others as "Tattie Picking Fortnight."  Many years ago kids were let out of school to help with the potato picking harvest.   School closes around here on Friday.  So the Thursday mornings after that we will be doing craft sessions at the Lighthouse Museum.

Here are some of the volunteers sorting out the donated goodies we have to plan the two mornings. The first will have a Halloween theme, masks, ghosts, pumpkins etc.  The second week will have a Christmas theme, which to be honest, we do seem to be a bit light on.  Difficult to gear up to just now, but I am sure we will get there.

I then went on to the Lighthouse Museum to do my stint being front of house, and in amongst the tourists, we had over 80 primary school children from Stonehaven (below Aberdeen) who came, saw, and decimated the shop.  One wee, obviously future candidate for Dragons Den, child, waved five sticks of rock at me selling at 25p each and said, " Is it 5 for a pound?"  I peered over the counter at this miniature Mr Sugar and said, "Nice try, but no, they are 25p each that means £1.25."  "Ok, I will put one back then."  What do you do?  Creatures of the deep?  I gave her the five sticks and put the 25p in the till myself.

Birthdays and other stuff.

First lets deal with getting rid of the awful word verification.  For a while I have considered returning to the opticians!
Go into settings... under 'post and comments'  should be the word verification stuff and you simply untick it.
I would love everyone to do this as after a while of it coming up, just to prove you are not a robot, you stop bothering to comment.... To be honest only a bloody robot could read some of them.  And why the French house number sign?????  Sometimes that is so blurred that I doubt my sanity let alone my vision.

Right, enough.  After my very crammed week I was hoping to relax, down the shed, with the wine and the opera you know the rest.... Then we had the phone call that one of the close relatives was to visit.  

It is the DP's birthday today.

Last evening we were taken out for a meal by our friends, Kerry and Mike.  This is us waiting for our food but it was well worth the wait.  The DP and I had even unknowingly managed to be colour coordinated.  

Unlike some bloggers by the time we were served I was not in the mind of taking photos of the food, I ate it.

Today as I sit here sipping the wine the DP is off to Aberdeen to collect the relative.  So on his birthday he, she and me are having a Chinese Take Away, as he doesn't want to be cooking this late, and will be starving, and he gets a mite stroppy when he is hungry.  Hey ho.

Earlier this week he was out on his Dawn Patrolling.

And what did he espy...The Flying Dutchman.  Coming in to Fraserburgh Harbour.  Trust that Penny's partner is as excited as most of Fraserburgh was, there were so many photographers down there, alerted by others, you couldn't move for 'em.

Just to bring you back down to earth, or the shore line or whatever, this is not the Flying Dutchman, but a trawler off out to catch langoustines.  Yum.

And this is a very happy looking boat, now why do I say that?  It just looks happy, even though it is out of the water, perhaps it is happy to be clean.  No barnacles.

And presumably owned by Argos?  Or has it do with Jason and the Golden Fleece or have I totally lost the plot.

Today was also my grandson Theo's first birthday.  Last year we sat having the DP's birthday meal and had regular texts and mobile phone calls, which for me put me off my dinner, and everyone around us in the restaurant.

" The waters have broken, "  I announced, 

"The head is showing, "  

then he was born and we could all relax.

For anyone else having a birthday, or just sharing a glass of wine with me, cheers.

Word verification.,

Just a quickie to let everyone know I have (hopefully) managed to remove the awful word verification.

Please feel free to comment on my blog, it should now be much easier!

Progress.

All this devastation.....

For two wind turbines.

Placed in front of this.  Inverallochy Castle.

It is not in my back yard, but it certainly mars my journey to the coast, and the supermarket, and the Broch and the harbour, and the coos have been shifted as well.

Progress.

I seem to remember retiring....

From working with behaviourally challenged children.

Nappies and breast feeding.

Running a bed and breakfast.

Running a playgroup.

On the checkout at Morrisons Supermarket.

Not necessarily in the above order.  And there's loads more but we haven't got all day.

When does the putting your feet up kick in?

I spent all of Monday interviewing for a job at the Lighthouse Museum.  From 9a.m. til after 7p.m.

Tuesday morning I was organising the wonderful volunteers for the Kids Activity Mornings to be held later this month at the Lighthouse Museum.

Tuesday afternoon I was doing my stint at the Lighthouse in the shop/admission desk.

Part of the afternoon I was up in the cafe clearing tables and washing up.  What?  I dont even do that at home, havent the time.

Wednesday morning was art group and I was told my next task was to organise an art exhibition followed by our group entering for North East Open Studios, next September.  Oh yeah.  

In the afternoon I knocked up a poster for the wonderful volunteers Christmas Card Challenge.

Got it on various facebook pages and out to the press.

Thursday afternoon another art group.  Where we were let loose with acrylics, not a medium I am comfortable with, so after a crap sea scene I did a birthday card for my soon to be one year old grandson.

Thank goodness he has not yet developed speech to comment on sad tiger.

So now it is Friday and I finally got to do what retirement should be about.
Down the shed, opera, 

and drawing.

Oh, forgot to mention, I am learning how to crochet for when I retire.