Hogmanay

              

It's the last day of 2006 and you wonder what next year will hold. This has been a good year for Stuart and I. Stuart has been in reasonable health just a few blips which we can manage. We had three great holidays one in Ullapool one down in Norfolk and lastly one in Macduff  in September. All of these holidays were greatly enjoyed by both of us and we are already booked for our cottage in Norfolk in May.
We have had a very quiet Christmas, up at Richard's and Lisa's for Christmas dinner and not done much since other than food shopping and a wee look round the sales and never bought anything it was just too busy, but it did get us out for a while.
The weather has been very dark this last week lights on all day it is very depressing and no use at all for birding you would need a torch to see anything out there.
Later today we will print off our bird list for this year and I will do an entry in my other journal about that when we have the final count.
Well I think thats about it for this year other than to thank you for reading my bits and pieces and leaving your comments for me I really enjoy reading them and all of your journals. With that I will wish you a Happy New Year when it comes and will raise my glass to you all at midnight if I stay up or tomorrow when we toast the new year.  

                                          Best Wishes,

                                       

                                      Joan.                          

 

                                     

Christmas Eve.

         

I think donna excelled herself with this Santa. thank you so much.

Good Morning, and I hope you are having a wonderful Christmas Eve. It is such a special day. Heathrow has arrived in my part of the world not the planes but the freezing fog, what a morning. No plans as such today a bit of tidying etc. and some telly no doubt its nice to have the time.  I must stay away from making Mince Meat pies, will try my best but the urge will be there. Old habits and traditions are hard to loose. Will try to walk for a Sunday paper but if the fog stays I will nip round in the car.
Last night we watched the Dancing it was great and I think the best man won.  Did I hear Tess calling Bruce Sir before he sang his number had not heard or read anything about him being Knighted in the papers yet or have I missed something? I remember there was a bit of a stuchie last time when he did not get a knighthood so maybe he will in the New Year's Honours?
Wanted to get this entry done early just in case of what I don't know.
Now I would like to wish you all A Very Happy Christmas and hope you all have a lovely day and Santa is good to you. Off now for some breakfast.
                                                  Take care and Love

                                          

All's well.

                 

Good Afternoon, hope you are all well and having a good day. The graphic is the title of one my favourite movies (not managed to spot it amongst all the movies for Christmas this year ho hum) if anybody see it on over Christmas let me know please as it has come to my rescue many times. When I worked in the supermarket by the time you got home on Christmas Eve you were really off the whole idea of Christmas, but if this movie was on it would but me back in good spirits in no time. Customers really get quite fraught at this time of year and do take it out on the staff that are trying there best. We always seemed to run out of something one year about half an hour before closing after a very long day we had a lady in doing the ran dan that we did no have any Sprouts left we had had tones on them but they had all gone. Another thing that we used to run out of was cream. Many years ago I remember customers actually running in the store at 7-30 am to get the last of their food shopping. Don't think it is as bad now.
I retired at the beginning of December 2004 so I would be off for Christmas, in 2003 I had have Christmas off as I had hurt my back at the beginning of December that year so little did I know that I actually worked my last Christmas 2002. I find I love Christmas now as I am not rushing about a the last moment trying to do six things at once.
I went back and reread last year Christmas's entries you may or not remember the carry on with the icing on the cake I found it very funny today not like last year when it happened. I did not make a Christmas Cake this year as it is just too much for Start and I to get through and it is not that good for Start to have to much of it so I just bought a small one. 
So as the Graphic says at the top of this entry being retired make me say  "It's a Wonderful Life" or at least till something else goes wrong.  Have a good evening and may the best dancer win.  Love,

                                                
                                               

The Shortest Day.

                  

Thank you Donna for the lovely graphics.

Good afternoon, here we are at the shortest day I am always happy to see it as things get better from here in my mind.  The nights will creep out slowly but surely. Just come in from Perth where I took these pictures I have posted. I wanted to let you see what a difference a week can make. All is tranquil again and the river flows softly. I could not believe my eyes last week but I was so glad I saw it in full flood. Have had a busy few days we did St Andrews on Monday and yesterday we had Ellen for the day. she was back to her normal self after the very tired girl we had last week. She was bouncing around and was very chatty. We took so bad with her last week I was beginning to think she was coming down with something but it was just tiredness as it had been a long term for her and she had just finished the day before.  Have now done all the food shopping and the last few odds and ends we needed for Christmas all the wrapping is done so now we can sit back and enjoy. The weather has been a bit milder today with no frost this morning and the sun was almost shining fom time to time. It has been a lovely week we have not had the fog that is being so troublesome in the south of the country. Hopefully it will clear soon for you. That's about it for today so I hope you have a pleasant evening.
                                        Love

                          

                                      

Trial run with new instructions.

                     

Thank you Donna for the lovely Christmas Bells.

Good Evening, just a short entry tonight really just to see if I have managed to master photobucket after a bit of help from Jeannette in Brighton thank you again Jeannette think I'm there now.  We have had the most beautiful winters day here very cold and pure white frost that again stayed all day. We had our usual trip to St Andrews and mananged to get most of the little bit of shopping still needed. The shops were not too busy and we had a great day out.  The countryside on the way home was superb. The sun was setting and there was a mist starting to lie over the fields but low down and it cleared higher up. It was really great to be out we were both wrapped up in our down coats scarves and gloves we were really cosy. Think thats about it for now so I will say goodnight.

                                        Love

                           

                                           

Busy Weekend.

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 Good Afternoon, this is the first time this winter that we have had a frost that has stayed all day. The temperature has hovered around zero and it has felt cold.  We have not had time to feel it as we have been busy moving a bookcase around and I have been trying to catch up with some things I have been neglecting of late. I spend too much time up here on the PC and not enough on the housework. Things are now looking better and we are nearly ready for Christmas, just have the wrapping to do. We have not had anymore rain the last couple of days but as we have not been out much don't know how things are drying out will see tomorrow when we go out for the day, weather permitting.  We decided today to get rid of all the videos we have collected over the years now we have changed over to DVD and have mastered working it, I hope.  When you see the room that was taken up with all those blank videos and the space now required for the DVD's I feel I now have a bigger house. Think that's about all for now not an awful lot happening so not much to tell you. Have a good evening? Love

                                                             <A href="http://journals.aol.co.uk/_do/%3Ca%20href=" target=_blank ? photobucket.com http:>

                               

The December Floods.

                                 

Good evening, there is only really one topic of conversation tonight and that I'm afraid is the weather.  Kinross and Milnathort actually made the national news today as a burn called the Queich not a river burst its banks in Milnathort and flooded the village last night. We have been up to Perth today and I have put the photos in to let you see the height of the River Tay. You all know what it looks like in the summer as I have put in many pictures of how beautiful it is during the summer but today it was scary. The river level is so high I would never have believed it was possible.  The Tay is such a long river the longest in the country and collects water from many mountain streams and minor rivers before it finds the sea just beyond Dundee. The last time the river was like this it was after a terrible snow fall and it thawed too quickly you can see the high water line on one of the pictures it flooded the town on that occasion but since then millions have been spent on flood defences and they seemed to have worked well today as I am sure the water would have been over the old wall. The rain has eased today so we can but hope the worst is over.  The west of Scotland has even had more rain than we have. You feel so sorry for people that have had their homes flooded especially at this time of year.  My thoughts are with them.  With that I will go and try to load up the pictures for you.    Love

                                          Joan.

 

 

Monday Monday.

                      

Good Evening, first of all would like to say thank you for all your good wishes about by digestion. Thought I was better yesterday but when I went to bed last night was awakened again with heartburn.  First thing this morning I phoned to try to get an appointment with my Doctor or any other Doctor was told the nurse could deal with this problem. Not happy, I took myself along to the surgery, well I should say Stuart took me and waited to see said nurse.  After I told her my tail of woe she said this was not her field of expertise and she would ask the Doctor for his opinion. After a few minutes she returned to say the Doctor would see me. Funny there were no appointment earlier this morning.  Doctor thinks it is excess acid in the oesophagas and has given me tablets and said if it does not clear to come back so heres hoping.
We managed to get out Christmas Tree up and the cards have started to arrive so the house is beginning to look very festive. Still got a few bit and pieces to do yet and will get them done just as soon as.  Card are all written and posted. Thats about it for tonight weather is bad again today if anyone mentions water shortage next year well what can I say it has been raining for weeks it seem.  Have a goo evening. Used photobucket for the first time so fingers crossed. 

                                    Love,

                                        

 

Sunday.

                          

Thank you Donna for the lovely graphic.

Good Morning, managed to get into file manager this morning thank goodness I am going to try to Photo Bucket but it will take me a wee while to work it all out and load some graphics into it. Felling a wee bit better this morning have not had any heartburn since I got up so I am hoping that's the end of it. Was a bit disappointed with the results on the dancing last night it seems a shame one of the best dancers was voted out  and I think the dance off it dreadful. Not a very nice day here today raining again it seems to forget to go off just now once it starts although it was a lovely day yesterday. Am going now to try to get on with some of things I have missed out the last few days.      Have a great day. LOve

                                          Joan.

Am still with you , just.

Hi everybody have been absent this week for many reasons. First have been trying to get ahead on the Christmas stakes and had been winning until the last couple of days. Since Thursday evening I have been laid low with some kind of stomach upset and have have the most awful heart burn 24-7. I have tried every cure known to man all with little results. Today I have tried Active yogurt so I will see how that goes. I have been receiving all these lovely Christmas cards from all my journal friends mine are coming just have to get stamps on them and then we will be right. Last night was Ellen's concert at school Stuart said it was great but I am affraid I just could not enjoy myself as I felt so unwell maybe I would have been better to stay at home. I have been saving lovely graghics for Christmas but I just cannot get them to go in at all have tried, but to no avail can anybody help my. I think I will leave it at that for today will try tocome back soon. Love Joan.

And now the First of the Month

                    

                Chill December brings the sleet

                Blazing fire and Christmas treat.

                                         

 

Good Morning, its the first of the month again it come round so quickly now it must be because being retired we had a weekly income and a monthly one as well so its not like when we were working and had to wait from one month to the other.
Last night I had the strangest dream. I seemed to be in the house alone and a film came on the telly and guess who was one of the stars my Stuart complete with all his hair and looking so young and handsome it was grand, not that he is not handsome now but alas the hair is a bit sparse now. I remember saying to him later in the dream you never told me you were a movie star and he said he did not like that.  We had a good laugh about it this morning before he went to his art class.  Had to break there to run down and stir the soup its celery today that will have to be liquidized as we like it smooth. 
Forgot to mention yesterday we were playing Junior Scrabble with Ellen on Wednesday after school.  What a laugh we had. She kept say things like 'Have you got a 't'  Grandma or have you got  'd' Grandad"  and she was saying the letters phonetically it was really funny but she did do very well and we had a three way draw. Think I was lucky to get that. Its a strange game with the pictures and the letters on the board but it a good game for the wee ones.
Better go now and have a dash round before Stuart comes back like to be tidied up so he can untidy it again when he comes in. Have not managed to train him even after 44years, don't suppose I ever will now.
                                  Have a good weekend.
                                       Love