Cities

We have been away - first in Budapest, which we liked a lot,

though after the first (much too hot) day, the weather was a bit overcast. 

This is their extremely fancy Parliament building. 

One reason why it's so pretty and unspoiled-looking, we discovered, is that a lot of it got bombed during the war and has only recently been rebuilt. So it's pretty, but in some ways fake. But still, it's not too big and very walkable, which we liked. 

Then we went on to Vienna, where it POURED. This is the little lane leading up to our hotel. The umbrellas were a portent. 

It turned out that we had timed our visit to coincide with Storm Boris, which caused major floods and several deaths in Austria, Poland and Czechia. So it seems churlish to complain. But we got soaked, several times, and it was also really quite cold. This, above, is the Schoenbrunn Palace, which was very impressive. 

We took refuge the next - which was the wettest - day in the Kunsthistoriches Museum, where we arrived sodden, but which was amazing - a very very elaborate building with lots of Old Masters, including Brueghel's Hunters in the Snow, the star of many a Christmas card. I had always supposed it to be rather small but it's in fact very large, and it was thrilling to stand in front of it and admire all the detail. 

One has heard about the Habsburg Jaw, the result of marrying one's cousin over too many generations, and here you see it. 

I wonder if it was actually worse than the sculptor dared to depict it? If so... hmm.

Then we went on to Prague, where it was again Very Wet. We splashed our way to the Technical Museum, which made Mr L happy. There were trains. 

However, on our last day the sun came out, hallelujah, and we wandered around the Old Town and then went up to the Castle, where we took pretty pictures. 

And after 10 days we came home and have since been busy doing this and that. It was an interesting holiday and we enjoyed it, but there's nowhere like home, really. 

 

Doing things

My baby boy turned 40 a few days ago. How did that happen? I certainly won't be around to see him turn 80 but I hope to stick around till his 50th, when I'll be 84. We'll see... He was a very sweet child, a bit shy, as he looks here. Now he's a GP, husband and father - and lives at some distance, sadly. However, we're going up to see them on Saturday. 

Life's been very busy (when is it anything else?). We had some lovely weather, and Biggest Granddaughter and I had fun blowing bubbles in the garden. 

Then our American visitors arrived for a few days. 

A few months ago I got an email with the subject title "Hello from your American cousin". It wasn't a name I recognised, so I was intrigued. It turned out to be from Jane (under her married name). She and I share a common ancestor who was born around 1800 - my 4xgreat-grandmother, who is also her 3xgreat-grandmother - so we're not exactly closely related. However, Jane's great-aunt lived in Edinburgh and was my lovely Granny's mother's cousin (are you following this?), and we knew her, and through this connection, various members of my family, including myself in 1970, visited Jane's parents' house in Kent, Ohio between the 50s and early 70s. Jane was 11 at the time of my visit. Jane's mother, grandmother and sister also stayed with my parents, I think in the 60s and 70s. Our mothers kept in touch but there really hadn't been any communication between the families after Jane's mother died in 2006.

However, it was lovely to see Jane and her daughter Chelsea. Chelsea is technically the same generation as me, but she's in her thirties - the generations have slipped somewhat. They were visiting Scotland, and finished with a few days with us in Edinburgh. We did the usual tourist things. On Monday, for example, we went to the Castle in the fog and slight drizzle - not ideal for the views of the city from the Castle walls, but we'd pre-booked our tickets so we went. 

On Tuesday we went to Rosslyn Castle, which is now a tourist destination (and on our Americans' list) thanks to The Da Vinci Code - which I have neither read nor seen. Mr L read the book and declared it to be piffle. However, piffle or not, the book and film have been wonderful for the chapel, which featured in them. Previously, it was leaking so badly - and the Earl and Countess of Rosslyn couldn't raise the money to fix it - that a huge plastic roof was erected above it to keep the rain out, and thus it remained for 14 years. In those days, one could just wander in, say ah, yes, and wander out again. 

But now - the chapel gets so many visitors, who pay to visit, that it's all been fully renovated, including the roof. There's now a very nice visitors' centre, with a cafe and shop and various displays, and you have to buy a timed ticket which includes an excellent talk about the history. Amazing! Good old Dan Brown. 

The inside of the chapel is very, very ornately carved, though no one really knows why. It was begun in 1446 by Sir William St Clair, who planned a cruciform church but only got round to having the choir part built before he died, so it was closed off and remains today as a small church. There is the famous story of the apprentice who carved very fancy spirals on a pillar while the master carver was away researching how to do this, and when the master returned, he was so jealous of the beautiful carving that he killed the apprentice. I don't suppose it's true but it's a good story. The chapel was attacked at the Reformation, but remains mainly intact. 

The outside carvings have suffered with weathering over the past 600 years, but are still interesting. 

We also did other things, such as walking up the river and through the Dean Village. The sun shone that day!

So it was lovely to see them, but I now have Things To Do. 
 

Going

Well, we had some good times with Littlest Granddaughter. 

And sometimes the Edinburgh cousins came round. 

And lots of old toys came out. 

And of course we went to the Botanics. 

In the sort-of rain. 

But now Daughter 2 and Littlest have gone home to London, and this is very sad. 

Though I did sit in the garden when they'd gone and read my book. Which was nice, in a mournful way. 

Foolishly, I never expected our children to move away from Edinburgh. Of course I should have at least considered that they might. 

I don't know whether this would have helped, though. 

A number of things

Life has been very full and yet I don't seem to have taken many bloggable photos. There's this, though: the splendid and huge agapanthus outside our kitchen window. I believe it's a terrible nuisance in Australia, and indeed I could never manage to dig it up from this flowerbed even if I wanted to, but isn't it beautiful? I'm quite tempted to try to hack a bit of it off and plant it in the back garden, because this enormous clump isn't seen from the street or any other of our windows, which seems a shame, and I would enjoy seeing some of that blue in the back too. 

Small Granddaughter has been trampolining again, this time with Daughter 2 on Friday because Mr L and I were having his Australian cousins to lunch and the rest of the day. Then we did a big shop on Saturday prior to having a meet-up of all of his surviving cousins on his father's side on Sunday - yesterday. There used to be 6 of these cousins plus him, and now there are only three plus him, which is rather sobering. The three that have died were all younger than him, too. However, the cousin and his wife from Australia came back on Sunday, and they, with two other cousins and their husbands, plus most of our lot, came to lunch. It was a lovely day. I find cousins intriguing, having none of my own and thus never having shared my grandparents. Sadly, the Australians - who also came over, when the cousins also all met up at ours, ten years ago - say that this is their last visit. They aren't getting any younger and have some health problems. And we'll never go to Australia. So we'll never meet again, which is quite sad to contemplate, because they're very nice. 

On Friday evening the Australians were keen to see Son-in-Law 2's show, Showstopper The Improvised Musical, so we went to it with them. SIL2 has been with this company for quite a few years and it always comes to the Edinburgh Fringe Festival and always does well here. So it was nice to see it with the cousins, who enjoyed it a lot. 
 

We have (mainly) had fun

We have been quite busy. Summer has at last arrived, so we've been in the garden a bit. 

And played with Lego and other stuff. 

We have trampolined with the cousins (well, I just spectated),

played in playparks, 

visited Jupiter Artland with family members, 

where there is art in the woods

and there are huge "landforms" to run around

and a weird sort of statue thing, which the kids always like (surprisingly).

We have visited the beach

- and Vogrie Country Park, also with the cousins. 

So we have not been idle. We have had fun, and some of us have had ice cream. 
 

Cloak

We walked along the river with Littlest Granddaughter. She was being a kitten, hence the black tail. 

"Now, we could just go back, or we could go over the bridge and up quite a lot of steps, and there's a cafe at the top. Which would you like to do?"

Up the steps. 

Yesterday we went to the Botanics with the Edinburgh family. The herbaceous border is at its best. 

Then this morning we finished making the blue cloak (with a hood) that we started yesterday at Littlest Granddaughter's request. I'm no dressmaker, but I had an old duvet cover and a sewing machine, and Daughter 2 has good 3D design ability, so we (mainly D2) succeeded. Littlest G chose a fancy gold button from my special button box to fasten it together. 

Shades, maybe, of the KKK or The Handmaid's Tale, but she seemed pleased. I hope she doesn't ask for a tutu next, or a cat suit. Quilts, I can make. 
 

A bit of a whirl

Daughter 2 and Littlest Granddaughter reached their hotel in Glasgow at nearly midnight and fell into bed. The next day they got the train to Stirling, where we collected them. 

And then we went to Crieff, one of my very happy places, to stay in a lodge in the grounds of Crieff Hydro. All of our children and grandchildren, as well as my brother, sister-in-law, nephew and nephew's fiancee were there, so it was lovely - but somewhat hectic. 

There was pony-riding, 

climbing the Knock, the hill behind the hotel (this is one of my favourite ever views)

zip-wiring,

and swimming. Most of these activities were merely spectated by Mr Life and me... .

And now we're back. Daughter 2 and Littlest Granddaughter are staying for most of August while Son-in-Law 2 performs in the Fringe and Daughter 2 works, so Granny's holiday club has swung into action. Gird your loins, Granny.

Last year, I planted a seed from this lupin

and because lupins don't come true from seed, this has happened to the seedling The wonders of nature (and the depredations of slugs). 

Look at these nicotiana in the garden! I've never grown them before, but certainly will again. 

And for some reason, one of my amaryllis bulbs has decided to put on a second flowering after its March blooming. The wonders of... etc. 

Life's not dull.