They came and they went

Well, that was a long gap - almost entirely because of this little person, who only left here to go home - with her mum - yesterday. Her mum, Daughter 2, has been working four days a week and we've been looking after Littlest Granddaughter, who is fairly full-on. And then of course, when she goes to sleep (very late - Daughter 2 stays with her till she does) then we want to chat to Daughter 2. Son-in-Law 2 has been up with his improv company for the entire month of August too, though not staying with us. And our musician nephew has also been with us, though he's no trouble. 

Littlest was always pleased when Big Grandson (now 11) and his sister (9) came round. She thinks they're wonderful. 

Having her here doesn't make for a tidy house. 

We did things during the day, such as going to the Botanics. It took her quite a long time to approach the gates by hand-over-handing herself along the fence, but it didn't matter. 

She enjoyed picking our route through the gardens and playing in the willow tunnels. 

Another day we went to the museum. That's a huge inflatable E Coli bacterium she's looking at through the balustrade. 

These are models of alligator eggs. You have to press buttons to "keep them at the correct temperature". She was keen to do this. 

There are lots of things to play with. 

Our musician nephew wasn't around very much but when he was, he got roped in as one of her assistants. He was very tolerant. 

The art installations in the nearby gallery gardens provide playing opportunities. We call this one "the bus shelter", though it's not. What it is - who knows? 

On Saturday we went to Dundee to meet up with Son, Daughter-in-Law and their two children. There they are in the distance, scooting along the waterfront. Mr L and I followed rather more slowly. 

There were scooshy things to play in - fountains that come up from the paving. The children had such fun. They got very wet, but Daughter, Son and DIL had come prepared with spare clothes. 

But yesterday all the visitors went away. Mr Life and I spent the afternoon mainly sitting in a big, sad (and exhausted) heap. But today we've pulled ourselves together a bit and have been busy changing beds, putting away toys and so on. Normal life will resume shortly.  

 

Visiting and visitors

Well, by some miracle we got away, nobody else developed Covid and we had our holiday by the sea. There were twelve of us: two daughters, one son, one son- and one daughter-in-law, five grandchildren (11, 9, 6, nearly 5, 3), Mr L and me, in two houses a couple of minutes' drive apart. 

Was it good fun? Mostly. Was it restful? Nope. Did the children enjoy it? Yes, almost all the time. The 3-year-old boy thought the 11-year old boy was splendid, the two little girls thought the 9-year-old girl was wonderful and the two bigger ones were pretty patient with the little ones. Nevertheless, rallying twelve people and feeding them is quite challenging! But everything went pretty well and now we're home. 

Son was very good at playing with them in the garden. They loved it. 

He's quite strong! 

And beaches are always popular. 

The little gang. 

Besties. 

Besties again. 

Engineering works. 

Our nephew, a musician performing at the Festival Fringe, arrived the day before we left and looked after the house in peace while we were away. Now it's slightly less peaceful because the day we got back (with Daughter 2 and Littlest Granddaughter), Daughter 2's friend, her partner and four-year-old son arrived for four days - the partner has a film at the Film Festival. And they're all lovely, and the two four-year-olds are having a great time together but it doesn't make for a tidy house. And tonight our nephew's fiancee (please imagine the accent on this) is arriving for a week. Nephew and his young lady are no trouble at all but the house will now be officially FULL.
 

The bug strikes...

Well, on the positive side, my agapanthus. which had a measly five flowers last year for some reason, is back to its normal self this year. I realise that it's a menace in some places - and indeed, I'd have to hire a digger if I wanted to remove it from this flowerbed outside my kitchen window - but I do love it. 

On the negative side, Mr L has at last succumbed to Covid. He's in bed, feeling pretty unwell, and I have all the doors propped open, allowing what is today a slightly chilly wind to whistle through the house, in the hope that this will mean that I didn't get it from him a few days ago when we didn't know he had it. Not sure if this will work retrospectively. The timing is appalling, since Daughter 2 is arriving imminently to be with us all of August, while I look after Littlest Granddaughter and Daughter 2 works. I feel fine at the moment... .

And the extended family is supposed to be going down to Northumberland, to two very expensive holiday cottages, on Friday, for a week. Mr L is driving our car because I don't do big roads.

We're going to have to be very lucky for all this to work... .

Send positive thoughts, bloggy friends!

 

Childhood

I took the Edinburgh Two to the trampoline centre the other day and they had a good bounce. 

On the spur of the moment we went to the beach on the way back home and they played happily. We hadn't brought any sand toys but I found a teaspoon and two combs (why two?) in my bag and they "made pasta" and dug out a "pasta oven" (?) and served up delicious platefuls of pasta to imaginary customers. They're easily pleased! (Grandson has to wear gloves because of the eczema on his hands.) 

Just as we were going away, a lady from BBC Radio Scotland came along looking for people to interview about things to do in Edinburgh for free in the summer. She had a furry microphone and everything. So we told her about the beach and the Botanics and riding on buses and trams (free for Scottish pensioners and children) and drawing and painting. We'll never know if we get broadcast because we don't listen to Radio Scotland but the children were quite gratified all the same. 

Here's the lady going away. You can see that the beach isn't very busy so she was rather short of interviewees. 

Yesterday Biggest Granddaughter had a playdate so Big Grandson and I took a bus trip to Haddington. We did some culture - visited the museum - and family history - here he is in the street where my lovely granny was born. 

But we also saw some unusual traffic lights and local buses and so on. He was a happy boy and I was therefore a happy granny. 

I was also happy to get a new washing machine in place of the one that, last Thursday, suddenly made a smell of hot plastic just as it was rather noisily finishing its cycle. One needs a washing machine. People didn't on the whole have them when I was little, but they did have wringers. Squeezing sheets and towels dry with my rather arthritic hands doesn't appeal. 

I recently came across this photo of myself at, I think 4 or maybe 5. I remember the occasion. Unusually, I had been asked to play by the little girl up the street (though I thought of her as a big girl because she was six months older than I was). We were in her back garden and her father, who was a photographer, took our photos. My mother was pleased with the photos - they were good quality and he gave her several large prints - but mortified that I was wearing very scruffy play clothes, including this brown hand-knitted cardigan that was really too small for me and had a button that was broken in half. It was mid-1950s and children didn't have lots of smart clothes as they do now. I remember my mother and grandmothers unravelling jumpers with holes in them to make new jumpers with the best bits of the wool. 

My mother liked to put bows in my hair and I didn't like them because I thought they made me look silly. 

My worried expression was characteristic, I think. I was a shy child and all through my childhood, adults would ask me what was wrong because I looked anxious. I think, as a result, I developed the habit of walking around outside with a slight smile, and to this day I find people smiling at me in the street under the impression (I think) that I'm smiling at them and that they must know me. 
 

Simple pleasures

This has been the lull before the... not the storm, but the lots-of-visitors month which is about to happen. We walked in the local park,

which is very flowery,

and enjoyed watching the Edinburgh Two making Brio layouts. 

Our washing machine started making a nasty hot-plastic smell, so we decided to get a new one. The Edinburgh Two made warning notices. I think they lack drama in their lives (which is good). 

On Saturday, Mr L and I did the recce for a walk which we're leading in a few weeks on the west side of Edinburgh. We walked over Cramond Brig (Bridge), 

which is quite old, really, but never does seem to fall down, as I always think it might. 

We were making for Queensferry, 

and walked happily along until...

on the way through the woods, I caught my foot on a stone while walking briskly and found myself sailing through the air. Not that good a sensation but better than what came immediately afterwards. After I landed, Mr L - who had wisely equipped himself with antiseptic wipes and plasters - kindly mopped up the blood and stuck me together, and we proceeded on our way. I wasn't walking quite so briskly from then on.  

But we got there: along the shore to Queensferry, 

where the three bridges over the Forth are: the Forth (rail) Bridge, the Forth road bridge and the Queensferry Crossing. 

We rewarded ourselves with coffee after the 6 and a half mile walk. There was a wedding party being  photographed on the beach. The ladies were not wearing shoes suitable for shingle. 

Yesterday, Daughter 1, Son-in-Law 1 and the children went to Vogrie Country Park, where we had a very nice time till it suddenly rained. We were quite far away from the car park at that point. We got very wet, an unusual sensation because it hasn't really rained for months. I'm sure it was good for the gardens. It rained again today and since the Festival is about to start at the beginning of August, I'm sure it'll do it again in the next few weeks, annoying the tourists. Sorry, tourists. 

And at last I finished the second quilt for the bunk beds that we now have in the study to provide extra grandchild accommodation. They're non-identical twins (the quilts, not the grandchildren). 

The grandchildren will never notice, but I quilted all their initials on to one of the quilts. 

 

Summer suns are roasting...

 Well, be careful what you complain of - it's now a lot hotter, more or less unprecedentedly hot, though not quite. It was 31C or a bit more today here - that's 87.8F, and Mr L says it was more in our back garden. It's worse in London and on the continent of Europe, with terrible wild fires, so I shouldn't really complain but... it's certainly not pleasant. 

It was warm on Saturday but not horribly so, when we went for a hike with our walking friends in East Lothian, just outside the city. 

We walked along beside wheat fields, 

by the River Tyne, 

by dry stane dykes (walls made without mortar) 

and into East Linton, which is a pretty little place. 

Meanwhile, Big Grandson has become 11. The Edinburgh family are in London, and as his birthday treat, his Auntie Daughter 2 took him for a seventeen-stage journey round London yesterday (in the heat) on various different modes of transport. 

He was very happy indeed. 

It takes all tastes! 

He has a very good auntie. 

And she made him an appropriate cake. 

Today, however, they've all been inside, keeping out of the 33C sun till the evening, when they went to the local playpark. 

In Shetland, it's been 13C today - that's 55.4. That's the place to be just now!

This afternoon I cut out the binding for the second quilt for the bunk beds, but it's really too hot in the kitchen (which has two skylights - not good when the sun is overhead and this hot). The kitchen table is where I do my machining. So the binding is still not sewn on. Maybe later...