A busy weekend....so what's new?

Methinks it must be about time for a blog...it has been a few days. I shall start with the weekend that has just gone, a weekend spent in the company of 80+ women, most of whom were ladies of a certain age, and what fun it was. Yes it was the WRI Scottish Country dancing weekend, a weekend that tests brain power as well as physical stamina. We had a two hour class on Friday night, a two and a half hour class on Saturday morning, a four hour dance on Saturday night and another two hours on Sunday morning. The 10+ hours was filled with something like 30 or more dances, of which I previously knew only 2, so lots of thinking involved. On the Friday night there was also an impromptu ceilidh after the class where people are invited to 'do a turn'. Since there were 12 from Braemar (by far the biggest represented group as most only had 2 or 3)we did a couple of things. One was the Wee Kirkcudbright Centipede, where 7 of us dressed in black and with black tights pulled over our faces joined in a line to represent a centipede dancing. Good for a laugh!

Last Friday, before going to Pitlochry, I was teaching in the P5-7 class at Braemar. I took along our novel with the intention of reading just a wee bit if time allowed. Well, the response from the kids was fantastic and they kept asking for more. They even suggested that I cancel their playtime so that they could stay in and listen to more! Debbie has also reported similar reactions from her kids so I guess it is a hit with children. Let's hope the judges also like it. I have not written anything since sending it away, but I do feel in the mood to get back to writing so perhaps this week.....

The Jacobite Project is going quite well, but I need now to pin some people down and get commitment from them for the stalls and games for the fete. I think the show is going to be well supported as we have musicians, singers, and dancers all showing willing. I have to find out which Pipe Band is coming and talk to their Pipe Major. Four weeks from now I would like to see everything in place. Watch this space.

Homewise...we are in our annual guddle. Richard is doing up our bedroom and it involves cutting holes in walls etc meaning there is a fine dust everywhere. All of our stuff has been moved out of our bedroom and into the flat or room 1, so no place is tidy. Ah well, it won't last forever and hopefully it will all be worth it. One problem is we can't agree on colours for the walls, curtains and duvet covers. I wonder who will win. I want a sort of cranberry and cream, or rust and beige. Richard wants light and bright but nothing on the red spectrum. We shall see.

It looks like the snow might finally be going, but I am not putting any money on it yet.

White out and other good stuff

I am amazed at what has brought me back to my blog. The blog that I have ignored for almost 8 weeks. Shame! I would have thought that finishing the novel and sending it off to the publishers might have done the trick. Or our recent visit to Norway to visit Claire and Yngvar and their many pets. Or even the turning of our house into an Italian cafe hosting 16 for the Buzzard (local newspaper)committee's 3rd birthday party. Or my grandson Zach's recent Academic Award as one of the top hundred students in Oklahoma. All of the above are true and memorable events but the thing that has brought me back is the WEATHER! Believe it or not I just had to record the weather. I have never seen this much snow, ever, in all my life. We already had a very cold snowy spell lasting from late December to early February. Then we had maybe a week of bright but cold days, when one could imagine the return of spring. Then Wham! Back came the snow. With a vengeance. It has been snowing constantly for the last 36 hours with no sign of it abaiting. It is so deep in our garden that it comes up to the top of the fence. We are praying we don't get a power cut (many houses in Perthshire are without electricity) as all our heating sources depend on electricity.
Now that I am back blogging, I must try to keep it up. Tonight we are having the first of the Jacobite Day meetings in the Moorfield Hotel. That's if people make it through the snow. Perhaps I shall report on that tomorrow.

And that's another year over

I must apologise that after a fairly good run of blogs I have fizzled out towards the end of the year. Here we are on the last day of 2009, and one of my resolutions is that I will try harder next year to keep my blog going. The reason for the lapse, and this not an excuse but an explanation, is that after I finished with Peter Pan, the pantomime, I have been filling up the available hours working on Peter Pan, 'the novel'. When I have already spent large parts of the day sitting in front of the computer typing, the last thing I want to do is spend another block of time blogging. The good news though is that the book is coming on, and more importantly we are both enjoying the process. Sheila is writing some cracking descriptive and action pieces, while I am concentrating more on dialogue. I think the answer might be to do a quick blog every morning before I start work on the bigger project.
Richard and I have just celebrated our 3rd wedding anniversary. We had a lovely meal at the local 'Bistro' as travelling any further than the village centre is out of the question at the moment with as much snow as we have. The temperature today is not too bad a 0.3 degrees, but that is the first time it has been above freezing for at least a week. Two days ago it never got above -14 degrees all day and at one point it was -17.5. The air going into your lungs was unbelievably cold, and my cheeks and teeth were aching with the cold after a five minute walk. There has been fresh snow every night and it must be 12 inches deep in our garden. The village is beautiful though and the view of the mountains from my living room is picture postcard stuff.
Thank goodness for shopping online. We weren't travelling to USA this year but at least I could send some gifts to Debbie and Marty and my grandchildren and know that they would get there in time. It was necessary, this year, because of the weather to also use online shopping for Richard, and he for me. I ordered a metal detector at 3pm on 23rd December, and it arrived at 11am on the 24th! Amazing! Richard ordered a sewing machine for me at the same time....still waiting though. It was lovely to see Claire and Yngvar the week before Christmas...popping over for a weekend from Norway is somewhat easier than Dubai....and they were able to deliver and pick up their pressies.
We went carol singing in the local hotels, for charity, on Christmas Eve and raised £220 to be shared between Erskine and Starlight. Christmas day was quiet but very enjoyable, Allan and May and Mr and Mrs Oakley came on Boxing day and stayed until Sunday, we had drinks and nibbles at a cocktail party on Monday, Tuesday was our anniversary dinner, last night was a much needed night in (Richard has a touch of man flu)and tonight, being Hogmanay, anything could happen! Castleton Dancers are performing tonight in the Fife Arms between 9.00 and 10.00, and after that, if we feel like it we may pop up to the Moorfield to see the New Year in. What we won't be doing is going to the Village Hall Ceilidh. When we first came here 5 years ago, that wee Ceilidh was great, good music and good company - mostly locals of all ages. Then 3 years ago and every year since it has been inundated with folk just looking to get legless and the hall committee has done nothing to change that. They say they are selling up to 250 tickets at the door. That hall comfortably holds 70 - 80 for a ceilidh, 100 makes it full. You can imagine the wall to wall bodies if there are 250 in there! It is such a shame. There is possibly a need to offer an alternative venue next year...a private 'tickets in advance' Ceilidh in Castleton Hall maybe. Trouble is nobody wants to split the village. Ah well, next year, we shall see.
Hope all my blog readers had a great Christmas, and I wish you all the best for 2010.

Sorry for my neglect of this blog

Sorry blog followers, I have spent every spare minute since the pantomime writing my share of the new PP. It will all be worth it in the end, I am sure, but right now I have no writing energy left to do my blog. I will try to bring you up to date soon as there is lots to say.
Goodnight for now.

Opening Night

I have just had a G&T to celebrate a successful opening night. Small audience but more than expected and definitely adequate. And all 5 flew! John managed to adjust a harness so that Findlay could fly with the rest of us. There was applause as we took to the air so it must have looked convincing. There were no major problems or mistakes, all ran to time, and we had fun. So that's one down and only 6 more to go. I am glad that we do it more than once, though I am not sure if I really want to do it 7 times.....
We are looking forward to having friends and family in future audiences- Irene and Lew on Friday night, Claire and Yngvar on Saturday night, May and Allan and May's parents on Boxing Day night....so hopefully some honest feedback!
Busy few days ahead so may not blog again until Sunday.
Break a leg!

Tinkerbell flies.

After much talk and speculation about whether it would ever eventually happen...it did! Tinkerbell flew along with Peter Pan and the 3 Darling children...yes all 5 at once. Well actually, to be completely honest, only 4 tonight as the harness for Findlay, who plays Michael, the youngest just isn't fitting confortably so John, the director is going back to the drawing board on that one. But the rest of us did fly. Last week we tried one by one with the only winch that we had, to be elevated into a comfortable position. Wearing abseiling harnesses on backwards is not the perfect solution but that was what we had. After various adjustments we got reasonable comfort combined with a few feet of elevation. That was relatively easy. Since then John and his team have created 4 more holes in the ceiling for 4 more winches to come down, and in the blackout, to be attached to harnesses we are wearing under our costumes...not easy for Tinks whose costume is little more than a tutu. Peter Pan, flies out further and higher and stays up longer(3 songs)than the rest of us but then again she is 19, and some of us are old enough to be her Grandma. Once airborne it is fun and not too uncomfortable, but getting up and down again are the difficult bits to make look convincing to the audience. I guess it is just practice, and we have 3 more chances before opening night!
Our novel of PP in the 21st century is making progress although I have not added anything now for 48 hours. Must try to write some tomorrow.
I said I would let you know about the WRI monthly competition. You may be pleased to hear that my wreath made of plastic bags came first in the serious competition! That is 3 firsts in a row. I should mention that all competitions are entered anonymously and the judges are completely different every month. My decoration from a cone was not placed!!! Ah well you cannot win them all. Next month is designing a birthday card as it is the 85th birthday of Braemar's WRI. All suggestions gratefully received. More soon.

Paranormal activity!

I am going to report on something that happened a few minutes ago and leave you to come up with an explanation. I was clearing the table after breakfast and was standing in the kitchen with my back to the door that enters onto the hallway. The door was open, as was the directly opposite door that opens on to the dining room. One of Coolie's bouncy balls came from behind me and I turned as I heard it. It bounced past me through the kitchen and out the door into the dining room, past Richard who was sitting at the table watching the news and came to rest by the book case. My first thought was that Coolie must have started it moving from the hallway but discovered he was lying in the middle of the living room whining about another ball that was under a chair. Richard had him in his view all the time and assures me he was nowhere near the hallway. Who threw that ball?