I’m just getting a chance to catch up on my blogging now. I feel like the last couple of weeks have been filled with aimless wandering and fewer defined activities. The girls finish school for the holidays soon and I plan to take more photos of our adventures then.
My friend kindly shared her vouchers with us and we took the kids to the climbing wall part of We Are Vertigo. The kids got harnesses on and went on a raised climbing frame and the climbing wall. My older daughter braved the highest one and was proud of herself for doing it. Meanwhile, my friend and I talked, drank coffee and held her baby 😊
I want to start baking more again, even though it proves dangerous in tempting me to eat sweet treats all the time. I made some white chocolate banana muffins that seemed to go down well with my family 😊 I love the recipe because it is so easy and a great way to use up bananas that are past their best. Writing this is putting me in the mood to bake now.
We went to the Burn’s Night day at the Folk Museum. I was forgetful with taking photos. They had an actor reading poetry and she read a long poem to us. I tried a haggis sausage roll in the café and the kids played on the grass and watched the printer making Burns-related prints. It feels like we have spent so much time at the Folk Museum recently that it almost feels pointless documenting what we have done there 😊 They were giving out neeps and tatties at one of the houses in Tea Lane, but we bypassed it because the queue was so long.
Last Friday morning, my mum and I went on a writing date at a hotel. She was wearing her lovely new orange coat and I want to pinch it 😊 It was a windy day and we sat in front of the fire, had coffee and scones and chatted/took some time to do our own writing. It was really relaxing and I want to make a point of returning to do it again soon 😊
At the weekend, we went to Windows on Wildlife. I had never been to it before. You can pay to go into the room with binoculars and there are people to talk to about the wildlife. We just walked to the hide and saw some ducks. Nearby, we passed some rabbits on the grass and some Oyster Catchers. Then, we went bowling and I lost 😊
Yesterday, I decided to abandon a book I was writing and come back to it another time. I have just started a new one and I had a writing date with myself yesterday morning and today over coffee. I don’t know what it is about coffee shops, but I find I’m so much more productive when I go out to write. It’s probably because all the distractions around me have been removed and I have no choice but to sit in one place and write 😊
My daughter is finishing school early this week, so we did some painting together before my other daughter got out of school yesterday. I used acrylics and she used poster paints. (I have realised when she uses acrylics, she paints more of herself than she does the page and it’s impossible to get off 😊) I worked on a painting I had started of a jug and some flowers and she painted her cat teddy 😊 She had some chocolate milk and banana chips and I had some coffee and we listened to music. I find that I sometimes have to force myself to start painting, but once I do, it relaxes me like nothing else does. I have a feeling this might become an after school ritual of ours.
The Funky Thrifter 