Day 1553 a busy first day of holiday and lovely lunch!

I’ve asked Craig not to read the blog today as it’s mostly been around his birthday planning…

I woke up at 4.15am… of course I did… and managed to fall back asleep until 6am…. That was my long lie.

I got up and headed out with the dogs. The borders… jeez the country roads are busy at that time.

It’s dull and overcast but at least it’s not raining. Turning left we have a smell…..

I had to keep stopping as all the works vans passed. That’s no mean feat trying to get 3 dogs into the weeds at the side of the road every time a van passes…. Careful, careful, mind your bottoms, mind your tails… are the words that I used. It made me smile this morning.

So I have to be honest and say, despite the smile…. The 10 day holiday was opening up before me like a big giant hole in the ground. I am not good with time off and no plans. My passion is to go exploring and investigating… that’s where I get my buzz now.

I know that I need to fix this attitude today, otherwise I will look back a week on Sunday, and realise it will I ruined a perfectly decent holiday, just because it didn’t go according to my planned idea of what a holiday should be.

So I showered and headed out after 9am to get some last minute birthday gifts for Craig.

Of course I planned this in such a way, that I could get to my favourite Curiosity coffee shop. I had to get ground coffee beans for Craig.

Of course I had to get a decaf oat milk peppermint latte…. It’s exquisite. Alongside a Raspberry Ruffle which was a big bigger than this but I took the photo after a few bites. 😆

I had 45 minutes before I went to meet the lovely Shelagh for a walk and lunch!

So lovely to have a catch up!

We met at Lochshore and went for a walk around Kilbirnie Loch.

Look at the difference between the above and below photo… what a difference some sunlight makes.

The colours are amazing.

We were so grateful to get some lovely sunshine for our walk.

It’s 18°C so it’s very close.

This part of the loch is very calm. It’s windier on the other side.

The trees have very dark bark.

It’s very close to the local whisky bond.

There were loads of thistles! I was in thistle heaven.

We went into the Lochshore cafe for lunch. It’s really cheap food. Shelagh had soup and I had a toastie.

It was so lovely to spend some time together. 💜💜

As if I hadn’t eaten enough, I then headed down to Kilmarnock to Craig’s favourite, The Forum Cafe.

I bought their famous frozen vanilla to bring home for tomorrow, as a surprise, but I had to have my own wee tub of Turkish delight, outside in the car…. It would have been rude not to!

I feel a lot better than I did this morning. Spending time with Shelagh is always a massive boost to the positive energy (she was my Kinesiology Health Practicioner for about 3 years…. She’s been through a lot with me)

I may not be heading abroad to the Maldives this week and enjoying turquoise seas and white sand but I am soooo lucky to have another 9 days where I don’t have to get up to work.

That is something to be truly grateful for.

I should say here… the Maldives was never the plan, we were meant to be in Wales in a cottage with a hot tub and the 4 puppers, but that was not meant to be this year and was postponed.

I’m off next door to the pub as Craig’s birthday starts tonight he says. 🫣

Stay safe everyone ♥️♥️♥️