Home again.

Good afternoon, hope you are all having a lovely Sunday. Weather here is nice just come in from a walk with Stuart, had to cut is a bit short because of a sore hip or should I say hips as we both suffer the same thing its so annoying having to stop every now and again to let the pain subside.
Well that's us back from our short holiday we had a great time the weather for the most was good with the exception of Tuesday when the rain just kept on and on most of the day. Will tell all when I get the pictures sorted out, have had a quick look and am very disappointed must get this camera thing sorted soon as I  did take some great shots but the camera has just not been up to the job asked of it maybe I expect too much.
Only had one small mishap  we were standing a reception one morning and the thermos flask fell out of the picnic bag and of course smashed into a thousand  pieces. Never mind said we will just nip down to the village and get a new one. Stuart ran me down in the car and I bought a new one all tartan very nice. When I went back into  the hotel the manager offered to fill it in the kitchen for me to save me having to go back up to our room to boil the little kettle twice. Great, that saved a bit of time as it was marching on and we were going for a big run in the car to Durness (that's as far as the road goes in the north west corner of Scotland).
When we stopped for our lunch I discovered a big puddle in the back of the car, would you believe it the new flask was leaking like a sieve. I wrapped it up in a towel as we needed the hot water for later as there is not a lot of Cafe Costa's or Starbucks in the Highlands. Next morning I took it back it then cost me another £3-50 for another flask as I did not want to chance the same tartan one again. £9-99 for a small Thermos ridiculous I saw the same type only the next size up (the same as the one I broke) for £7-50 in Tesco.s on the way home when I nipped in for milk and bread. So that's my mishap, the rest of the holiday was uneventful tranquil and very enjoyable on lovely quiet roads lovely elderly people in the hotel on a bus tour so all in all a great time was had.
Will post the pictures later in the week after I try to do something with them.  Have a nice day.

                                                 Love

                                                         Joan

Good Evening, Had this all written in note book already and lost it all so here goes again. Yet again its Rugby Football on the telly if its not rugby this week its football this is the forth night this week  I you do get a bit fed up with it all as it takes up the whole evening. Stuart is goo about things and we do have more than one telly but I like to sit together of an evening with a coffee and watch something together. There is a film we fancy tomorrow night it a remake of The Manchurian Candidate which have not seen we enjoyed the original with Frank Sinatra and Lawrence Harvey so we will see how it works out in modern times with Denzel Washington et. al.
Have been feeling much calmer today after all the hassles of yesterday. Spent the afternoon clearing a lot of bits and pieces of the hard drive and running a cleaning program from McAfee so hopefully it will all help the running of my PC till we get a new one.
I am planning to put in some photos I took on Wednesday with my old Nikon camera just as well as things turned out. There has been a footpath been getting build all the way found Loch Leven for walkers and mountain bikes and it is nearly finished, It has turned out very well very dry underfoot and should stay dry for the winter too even doing part of the walk is very pleasant but it will be about 14 miles all the way round when it is finished. They are now at the tricky bit Vane Farm the RSPB reserve that I have visited and shown you pictures of in the past is on the shoreline and you cannot walk through a bird reserve so the path has to come inland away from the loch side for about a mile or so.  The whole thing should be done early next year. Our Lochside  park has also had a facelift with a new adventure playground walkways and special doggy areas and some nice sculptures carved from wood.
Am now going to try to put this into my journal and hope I don't mess it up this time and also download some pictures I took on Wednesday.  Hope you all have a pleasant weekend.       Love
                                                Joan.

Tags: Loch Leven Castle, Mary Queen of Scots.

Thank you Donna.

Good evening, what a week we have had retired ha relaxing ha. Tuesday this week we decided to go and look at cameras, I have had my little Nikon coolpix for three years and it has been great but we really fancied a Digi SLR. 
Off we went on Tuesday morning all bright eyed and bushy tailed up to Perth to see what was what. We went to Jessops and after looking at the camera Stuart had looked at on the Internet we decided that was the one it was a Fugi ...can't remember the no. but it was all singing and dancing.  We did our shopping picked up Ellen from school and came home. With Ellen being here we did not touch our parcel till Wednesday morning. We start putting it all together and in  afternoon we set off for the Loch to take some pictures. We had a lovely walk and returned home full of beans. Now to load the PC with the software, simple its says just put the disc in and off it will go and will start when it is all done. NO NO  When we plugged in the camera nothing happened AOL was telling us to upgrade Fugi was telling us to register but nobody would download the camera. With my old camera you just plug it in and it starts not bother at all. Break for tea. After feeding we came up here again and were still trying at bedtime. On reading the book we found eventually that our PC does not have enough memory to download this camera so after trying everything we knew we headed for bed.  Thursday morning we tried to use Picasso that's the program we use for my Nikon and is a very simple one to use but again that would not work. (That's not coffee I'm slurping its a nice little Whisky and  American ginger)  So after all that we are needing a new PC we are going away on holiday next week so what to do not really ready for purchasing a new PC but have a camera that is no use to us. I then thought what about phoning Jessops and asking why we were not told that the PC had to have 512 MB and we only have half of that. To our great surprise we were told to bring it back and a full refund would be given. I must say we were both very pleased  with this offer they even took back the memory card so I cannot praise Jessops enough. Alls well that ends well . Now we are trying to make up our mind what kind on laptop to buy and by doing things this way it gives us time to make up our minds and not rush out and just buy one .  I hope this has made sense as it is such a long story. Stuart and I are shattered after all the bother we have been in this week. Hope the Highlands brings us some much needed peace and tranquillity next week. So with my tale of woe complete I will say goodnight and God Bless.   Love ,

                                             Joan.

Have updated my Books Journal.

http://journals.aol.co.uk/jaymact1/joans-musings-book-journal./

Good Afternoon, the rain that was forecast for us arrived overnight and it has been really heavy all morning, just had a quick look out of the window and it seems to be clearing up a bit we can but hope.
Feeling a bit sad today with the announcement that Colin Mcrae and is little son and two other people were killed in a helicopter crash yesterday he was a great rally driver and we watched him in many rallies and cheered him on to be World Champion my thoughts are with his family.
J. is for Joan so you would think it would be a lucky letter of the alphabet for me but oh no just the opposite. I was playing Bookworm last night and was going well with my best solo score ever and a burning J came down in the right hand corner and I just could not get rid of it so that's me back to zero again and I was at the two and a quarter million mark so to say I was annoyed puts it mildly

I have discovered a great site if anyone is trying to improve their typing skills it is good fun and nice and easy or difficult whatever you wish the link is

http://www.jonmiles.co.uk/fingerjig.php

if you have six minutes to spare give it a try I found it good for praticing my typing and trying to improve as you get a score at the end of each section and then again at the end go on you know you will enjoy it.
Lots of sport on the telly today as per usual these days so will have a potter on the pooter for a while and them try to do something constructive for a change like sorting my wardrobe which is of great need of a tidy. Hope you all have a peaceful Sunday. J-land is very very quiet today think everybody must be napping after Sunday lunch.  Love
                            Joan.

                          

Good Afternoon, Autumn has arrived today for us on this side of the border is was a very cold morning it's a little better now, but still chilly to say the least. On the weather forecast last night  there is snow forecast for Sunday in the mountains that's a bit early so I hope 'Heather the Weather' (that's our weather girl's name on Scottish news) has made a mistake.
I was watching the news this morning before we went out and it was so distressing watching all the people queuing to get their life savings from the Northern Rock Building Society. I noticed how many in the queue we elderly it must be very distressing for them I hope all will be well and their money will be safe. We are told to save for our old age and this is what happens it is a worry. It did make me think of that old film we all love 'Its a Wonderful Life' when there was all that panic about the home and loan running out of money and I was imagining a teller today asking how much they really needed today. I don't think I would like to have been that teller.
I thought Strictly Come Dancing started again tonight but I must have gotten it wrong as I don't see it advertised maybe next week. Sorry Stuart R. know you hate it and come to think of it sorry my Stuart he hates it too so that will be more hours of PC time for them.
With the rugby world cup I am having plenty of time up here too hence two entries in two days as long as I can think up things to muse about we will be ok. Bookworm and Luxor will be getting worn out too but maybe I'll be able to improve my scores. That's me for today Bye for now, hope you have a pleasant Saturday evening.   Love
                                                       Joan.

Tags: Bookworm

                                               

 Thank you again Donna for this design.

       Good Afternoon, Not too bad a day here a bit nippy but the sun is out so no complaints.
Stuart was at his art class this morning so I after I did a bit of hoovering etc I sat down to watch a DVD another one of my free bee from the the Daily Mail. Today it was The Shell Seekers by Rosamunde Pilcher. I read the book it must be twenty years ago,   I am sure I saw this film on the telly too it starred Angela Landsbury as Penelope and Patricia Hodge as Olivia. It only took 102 minutes to tell the story but I remember it is a big read wish they would not condense thing so much. Its strange you read many many books in your lifetime but there are just a few that stand out and this for me is one of them, it is such a moving story and as usual much better than the film. If any of you ladies especially that have not read this book do give it a go as it is one of those stories. The author lives only a few miles away from me not that I have ever met her but I know she does all here writing up here in Scotland.
Well I think that's about the extent of my musings today so I will be off now. Have a good weekend.
                                        Love
                                              Joan.

   

Tags: The Shell Seekers, Rosamunde Pilcher.

Where has The Week gone.

                   

Thank you Donna for this design.

Good Afternoon, its a bit cooler today but still dry and sunny in part. Been having a busy week as usual. Monday we took the bus to Edinburgh with the bus passes of course and had a wander round the National Gallery. There are some lovely paintings there to see and some lovely pieces of furniture too.  It was a sunny hot day as you can see from the photographs.                                                                I notice the amount of journals that put up TGIF but I do notice that it never any of us that are retired that is because time just goes past so quickly a week is gone in the blink of an eye.
Have put in one or two pictures of our garden that has done well this summer despite the rain.
We have booked to go up to Ullapool for a few days from the 24th of this month looking forward to that as we have not been to our beloved highlands for 18 months and we do get withdrawal symptoms if we are away from the mountains for too long,  am hoping for some nice autumn colour. I did take wonderful pictures there a few years ago but one time the PC crashed we lost them all so I am hoping to replace them. That will not happen again as I now have all my pictures on disc. We had a great morning on Tuesday looking at them all on the big telly what a difference that made sitting in our comfy chairs looking at all the places we have been in the last few years, but still annoyed we lost a lot of photographs so be warned and download.
I think that's about it for today but must mention didn't Scotland do well in the football last night beating France  Well done lads form a none football supporter.                              
                                           Love
                                          Joan.

Tags: National Gallery of Scotland.

Hot and Humid

                                 

Thank you Donna for this lovely design.

 

Good Afternoon, It's very quiet in J-land today don't know where everybody is maybe taking the benefit of this little bit of summer we are having. In Perthshire today it is very hot and sticky I was out in the garden for lunch  and a read of the paper but I had to come in as my eyes were going together, so I have had a little nap and feel better now think it must be something in the air just now as Stuart's eyes are the same. Bought some nice miniature Daffs today from the garden centre called Baby Moon they are multi headed so I think they will look good with some miniature tulips I bought last week. I find if I buy a bit at a time you spread the cost more and don't miss it the same. The garden centre we go to for our coffee have a super selection just now and its nice to get in early in the season to get the best choice.                   It must be nearly Autumn as Stuart started back to his art class yesterday so that gives me back my Friday morning which is nice. Yesterday I just sat and read my book in the sunshine we have not had a great summer but I think it has been better than my j-land friends in the south you seem to have had more rain than we have.
I think that's all my ramblings for today hope you have a pleasant evening Casualty back tonight thank goodness really missed it while it was off. Bye for now.
                                  Love
                                    Joan.

PS have finished another book and have updated my books journal.

 

http://journals.aol.co.uk/jaymact1/joans-musings-book-journal./

Tags:

Time on my hands.

                      

Good Evening its very unusual for me to be on the PC at this time of night far less to be writing in my journal but Stuart is watching a film on channel five that is just not my cup of tea even with Johnny Depp  and Antonio Banderas it was pretty rubbishy in my mind and I could not watch it so I came up her in the peace and quiet played some bookworm avoided being burnt down and decided to write in my journal.
It has been so hot here today the temperature in Perth this afternoon was 25 degrees which is might hot for up here it has cooled now but it is still very warm, great weather for my tomatoes just what they are needing.
Have been doing the usual things this week  St Andrews on Monday, back to being a bit quieter now that the schools are all back but I noticed that the elderly are holidaying again which is nice they were all wandering about in the sunshine on Monday and again in great numbers in Perth today. This has been a lovely spell of weather these last two weeks a bit of summer at last.
Got a great bargain in my local charity shop yesterday I got Final Fantasy V11 for my Platstation 1 for £2 or just over 2 dollars. This is one of the few ways I can get games now as my console is a bit out of date, to put it mildly but I love it just the same. Have not got it set up just now as I try just to play in the winter when getting out is not so nice but am really looking forward to trying it. Will maybe see  that it is ok on the next rainy day.
Don't think I have anymore news tonight so with that I will say Goodnight and God Bless.   
                                          Love
                                              Joan.

Tags: Final Fantasy V11, PS1

The first of Many.... I Hope.

                            

Good Afternoon, I hope you are having a lovely peaceful Sunday. Have been watching the World Athletic Championships from Japan but I think the time difference spoils things a bit but still a good competition. Weather today not to bad seems to be breaking up a bit now after overnight rain I hope so as I have changed the beds this morning and they are hanging out and NOT blowing in the wind.
Do you remember the tomato growing project I was doing well I am delighted to tell you we have been successful, a bit anyway. On Friday past we had our first cherry tomato from the plants I bought in Sheringham, Norfolk while on holiday there in May nursed all the way home in the car and have had all our love and attention all summer. We picked our tomato brought it into the house washed it put it on a plate cut it  added salt and black pepper and had half each. Wow what flavour I have not tasted a tomato like this for many a year. There are still a lot of tomatoes to come so I hope we get some more sunshine to ripen them. I had them out of the mini greenhouse for a while earlier on in the summer as they were getting to tall. I have had to cut them back a bit to get them back in the greenhouse as our nights are getting colder now and I hope this helps with the ripening.Am determined God willing to try again next Spring but this time I am going to grow them from seed. Fingers crossed. Not a bad first attempt.
One thing about my journal I write about the strangest things. That's it for today hope you enjoyed my tomato musings.       
                                      Love
                                               Joan.

Tags: Growing Tomatoes.