Check me… I am heading into the city this afternoon… the big smoke. It’s been a while that I haven’t just been passing through on the train!

I’m going to see Enlightenment Glasgow which is a half hour “immersive light show” set to Vivaldi’s Four Seasons, which I love…. But LIGHT is my Donna Ashworth word for the year, so I really wan to go and see it. Gayle is coming with me!!

It’s held in Merchant House in West George Street.

So….. my plan is, train back of 3, hot chocolate in Hotel Chocolat followed by the show at 5pm. Then we will try to find somewhere for a bite to eat.

Check us. City girls. 😆😆

Quick recap on my morning so far.

When I woke about 6.45, the house felt really cold. It was getting light and there was a frost outside. I was running with Lynsey at 8.30am this morning, almost a civilised hour. We were running from her house for a change so I had to let the car defrost.

What a lovely morning. It’s bitterly cold and there was low hanging cloud in the sky.

Now the upside to a run from Lynsey’s house is that it is way more beautiful than a run around the streets of Beith! She is right out in the country.

The downside. Hills. Mountains. 😆

I ran up this and didn’t stop. I felt sick but I didn’t stop! (Note pic is from the top!!)

How beautiful is this?!?! Not a breath…

What a view from the top of the next hill. Did I mention there were hills!!?!?

This was where we were standing. Looks flat… it wasn’t 😆 yeah I know I should have said 😆

Ahhh that shows it a bit better maybe.

There is no filter on any of my photos but look at this…. The colours are just amazing. I literally just point and press.

And we’re off again! Downhill is gonna be so much easier.

All of a sudden I spotted this bench next to one of the reservoirs or dams as we call them.

We took a slight detour and took some photos.

It’s a memorial bench to one of our neighbours, Rab Clements who died back in 2020, I think before Covid hit.

Check the beautiful view and Lynsey’s pink hat!

You can’t help but smile when you think of Rab. He was a lovable rogue! He used to leave us vegetables at our front door when we moved in… of course you’d then buy him a dram in the pub to thank him…. Even if you didn’t need or use the veggies. Rumour has it that they weren’t always even out of his garden!!!

One day, when I was off sick, he came in with his accordion 🪗 asked for a dram and sat and played badly and drank our whisky for well over an hour. Bless him.

What a beautiful place!

Back down the big hill. It still doesn’t look that steep.

This dam is at Lynsey’s house. Such a calm spot.

Funny how the light changes so much on a low sun winters day.

Twinning trees!

And a beautiful bunch of snowdrops!

And we are done. slow one today due to all the hills and photos but the hills made me breathe deeper than I have in a long time, and I felt the muscles in the backs of my legs.

Then it’s time for dog walks…. Missing it up a bit today with Bhru and Calaidh first!

Bhru the usual…. Rocking her Donald Trump look.

Then Khaleesi and Freya. Love how Khaleesi bobs up and down sometime to try to see over the dry stane dykes.

I even let her off lead for about 2 minutes precisely.

I was literally chittering after all that so I’ve had my shower and now I’m trying to heat up…. Still trying to figure what on earth to wear without heading into town, looking like a country bumpkin!!

We start off in Hotel Chocolat in Buchanan Street. Wow!!!

So that was an expensive hot chocolate at £15.50 for the two but it was a meal in itself. I broke my fast with this!!!

It was sooooo good. I had dark mint and Gayle had Hazelnut Praline.

This Enlightenment show was honestly out of this world. I’ll be sharing video clips tomorrow. If you love Vivaldi’s Four Seasons this is an absolute must!!!

TGI Fridays for dinner!

What a lovely , lovely day with great company!!!

Stay safe everyone ♥️♥️♥️

What a beautiful, lovely and gorgeous day but boy, it was bitter in the wind! A maximum of 5°C with a windchill factor of completely freezing!! It would cut you in half!

I want to start by saying that the really bright star you can right now is Venus, which is at its highest point in the sky at 6pm tonight, in Scotland. It will never be that high for the rest of the year.

Jupiter passed the closest to the moon last night but I’d forgot to say. When I did look up, it didn’t look anywhere near as close as the SkyView app suggested! It’s still up there tonight. Here endeth the Rambling Sloth Planet Report 🤣

So back to my day.

For those of you on FB you will know that I did a thing…. 🫣

I announced my new venture Her Travel Circle on my new FB page. It’s not ready to launch yet but we need to start drumming up interest now, for it to be worth anything when I have a website and community page.

Imagine a space where women can connect with like-minded travellers. A network that allows you to experience solo travel—without being entirely on your own. You could travel to a new place and stay with a local woman in our community. Maybe she’d show you around, share insider tips, or simply provide a safe place to stay for a night or two. The beauty of it? You decide how your trip looks. You can be both a traveller and a host, creating meaningful connections and making travel more affordable, safe, and enriching.

That just a snapshot of my intro but it gives you an idea. I’ve no idea how the blog works with the travel page yet but that will come in a few months I guess.

As soon as I posted all that I ran outside with the dogs… to escape the feedback. 😆

It was raw, crisp morning and for first dog walk was in freezing low cloud. I walked with Holly from next door. this is the only photo I took as we were too busy chatting!

Back home and straight out with Bhru and Freya and had a lovely chat with a guy who’d parked a big truck at the end of the village. He told me he has 3 white Boxers and came over to see the dogs!

By this time the low cloud is clearing and the sun is coming out. The temperature instantly lifts!

A few gates today for all my gate lovers! 😆

I love the tyre tracks in the frost.

You can tell how cold it is.

Huge long shadows.

And beautiful views.

I took the dogs into a field for a run around and the burn looked so pretty in the low, winter sun.

Where nature meets man made structure.

This is one of the oldest gates around here now. The metal work is disintegrating.

I came home and sat down to catch up on all the updates…. Can I just say that so many Sloth readers have been incredibly kind. They have posted the loveliest of comments and made me feel incredibly humbled but also very proud.

Thank you to everyone who has liked, commented, messaged or shared.

So after a few hours online, a load of washing done and hung to dry, I head over to the sea… my favourite Largs.

I took a body warmer to wear over a fleece… but thankfully I threw my warm coat in the car at the last minute. As I take these photos…. Wearing the long coat I am literally being cut in half by the cold wind. 🥶

This next photo shows the new promenade wall that they’ve been working on for a while now. This is the first time I’ve seen it. The stones have been swept right up by the storm a fortnight ago.

I always end up nipping to the public toilets in Largs thanks to my overactive bladder and urge incontinence… when you gotta go, you gotta go……. (Love me an overshare 😆)

Today they are 40p entry…. Not seen that before.

Largs to Cumbrae Ferry.

Caught a seagull about to fly off…

And relax….. my happy place.

Of course I hit up all the charity shops…. And didn’t buy a thing, but it was lovely to look.

It turned out that Craig was in Largs for a dog behaviour job, so I arranged to meet him for coffee. We walked down onto the beach so I could take a photo of the height of the stones, it doesn’t do it justice!

We went to Riviera Coffee. What a lovely place.

I had a decaf, coconut milk latte.

Then the mains arrived…. As we decided to eat! Craig had the Korean Burger and I had Halloumi Gyros.

Wow.

We had our first Her Travel Circle business meeting and Craig said I might not get the job, so I may have jumped the gun. 🫣😆

Yeah ok mr hotshot website guy….

I bought new laces for my boots today…. They look very dirty but the new ones are on the left. Much nicer.

I have since cleaned said boots 😆

On the way home I went through a car wash. I could hardly see out the windows. I’m not a fan of a car wash but needs must. It was quick and saved me having to do it… and only cost £3.50.

So I’m back at n my cosy space. There are 3 dogs in that photo! Khaleesi is camouflaged 😆

So thanks once again for all your support.

Stepping out of my comfort zone is scary but I’m using COURAGE, my word for the month, to help me every step of the way. I’m so grateful to Donna Ashworth for her book, Words to Live By and for the journalling process I’m on,. It’s really helping me.

Instead of believing I can’t and this will fail, I need to believe that I can.

I can.

Eeeeeeek 🫣🥴

Stay safe everyone 👯‍♀️✈️🌍

Awwww puppy Calaidh, the OG Border Collie in our family.

I swear that she is human….. she has more hang ups than me.

Cough or sneeze next to her and she will run a mile…. Even if on lead. 😆 She will end up on top of you if one of the dogs coughs close by her.

She has a stubborn streak where she looks at me, with those eyes and thinks I will give in.

She is the defender of our house.

The hoover and any brush are her deadliest enemies.

I would love to see the connection we would have with her, if she’d been our only dog.

Her recall is exceptional. She smiles when she run back to you.

She can always be found with her favourite tennis balls 🎾 😆

Even when I’m trying to piece together a crochet blanket!!

She’s just our gorgeous girl.

Bless her…

So work was quick again today.

My head was all over the place, flitting from one thing to the next and I couldn’t clear it properly to focus on any one thing very clearly. I felt like I had to shake my head.

It felt like there was a bird in there fluttering about from tree to tree.

Skittish.

But happy….

Ellison brought soup in for me which was soooo lovely. We shared Craig’s Smarties Easter Egg for afters…. Shhh don’t tell him, we’ll see if he actually reads this or not! 😆

I left work at 4 and headed up to Silverburn to meet my friend Lea, in Starbucks!

Food for the soul! Lea that is, not Starbucks!!

Stay safe everyone ♥️♥️♥️

My lovely Gran would have been 103 today.

Here she is with our baby Freya when she was still a puppy.

Awwww I miss my Gran. 💜

She left me with a lifetime of sayings….

I credit all the sayings to her when I’m not even sure they were hers.

“Who’d a thunk it” is probably still my most used, where “we worry about the day we never saw” no longer serves me!

She didn’t like my long hair….. we had lots of conversations about eh impracticality of it!

It was getting in her face in this photo. 😆

Bless her.

So back to my day. Awake at 11pm for the loo and again at 3.54am….. I could not get back to sleep. I stuck my fingers in my ears in the hope it would drown out my thinking but no….

I was wide awake.

I ran with Lynsey at 5.45am, as we do on a Wednesday.

It had been TORRENTIAL rain all the while I lay awake. I was sure we’d get soaked so I left my glasses in the house.

Not a drop of rain at all….. not one.

Mars was clearly visible even to my blurry eyesight!

It was lovely weather for a winter run.

The traffic was busy on the Main Road and we had to stand for a while to let traffic pass.

I obviously use that time to try and get my breath back. 😆 It was a really fast time, considering how long we stood still.

Strange teeth action in this photo 😬🥴

So work has been super busy today. It was stock check day but I feel like people said a million different things to me and I have no idea if I’ll remember them all?!?! 🫣 I’ll try to recap in the morning with a fresh head.

The day went really quickly.

You’ll be pleased to know I tried cooking again tonight, after last nights disaster!

This time I had all the ingredients…. But it’s taking an hour to cook in the oven!!

I’m due to meet the Crochet Hookers in the pub, next door, in precisely 12 minutes.

I will not burn my mouth….. 😆

Sweet potato and chickpea curry.

There is a very good chance this will be nuclear temperature 😆

Stay safe everyone 💜💜💜

Picture the scene…. I’m in bed, it’s pitch black but that’s down to my eye mask. I went up to bed earlier than Craig. I wake with a start.

I decide to head down to the loo, so I sit up and he speaks in a normal voice.

I actually screamed!!!

I am still giggling away at the memory, I don’t know who got more of a fright. I have no idea why I assumed he wasn’t there.

I’d been dead to the world so obviously never heard him coming up.

Proper piercing scream!

I had the proper giggles when I came back up to bed. It makes me laugh that I got such a fright!

This morning when I woke for work he said BOO! 😆😆 funny man.

It has rained since about teatime last night, until about 1pm today. It was some drive to work this morning, negotiating all the puddles and floods. One of them took my breath away and gave my heart a jolt, as I hadn’t seen it in the glare of the oncoming headlights.

That’s my 3 shocks for today 😆😆😆 (I’m talking the boo as a shock.. it wasn’t 😀)

There was lots is lovely chat in the Donna Ashworth journalling group today. It really makes me feel alive to be a part of it.

👇🏼 this from the Law of Attraction.

And from Project Happiness.

I’m feeling good just now. I feel like the journalling process is helping me learn more about me. It’s allowing me to be a person in my own life.

It sounds daft but I know what I mean.

The sun came out this afternoon and I had a lovely drive home. We’re due some lovely sunny weather this weekend. Freezing cold but blue skies. Perfect for this time of year.

So check me, I made a coconut curry for dinner tonight…..✅ but something went very wrong… ❌

It did not smell good at all… there was a fusty or damp smell about it…. I persevered.

I used lazy garlic that had obviously been open too long…. I smelled it at the time and wasn’t sure, but then lumped 3 teaspoons in it.

As you do.

Ok I’ll take responsibility… as I do!

It was awful. 🤢

I ate half a bowl as i didn’t want to waste it, but it tasted as bad as it smelled. 🥴

What a shame.

I also had 3 ingredients I had to substitute so that won’t have helped either 😆

Here’s Bhru giving me the side eye.

This next one is something to remember. If you find yourself complaining about things, see how the complaints continue to grow.

I am not a saint. I complain about things but I really do try and catch myself now and it does make a big difference.

I loved this from Happy Breeze. We all need to read this slowly.

And finally……

😆😆😆

Stay safe everyone ♥️♥️♥️

Well that was a day and a half… stuff coming from everywhere, left field, right field, centre field… 🤦🏻‍♀️😆

But I handled it.

It is what it is and it was what it was.

No anxiety at all.

The day flew by!

It’s 7.20pm and I’m shattered.

I’d put off going to the supermarket for all of last week and finally went, after work, tonight.

I actually took a photo in the shop to show how quiet it was!

By the time I’d got to the till I had a lovely chat with the cashier! I told her I had lost the will to shop 😆

I love that level of connection.

We made each other smile.

I’m looking forward to getting back to some fresh food, and I’m planning on cooking.

Back to veggie or vegan for a bit to see if it’s helps my digestion.

I’ve had acid reflux all day again today. Nothing shifts it…. Strangely Craig now thinks he has it too so that makes me think it’s more of a bug, like I said last night.

Hope you all had a great Monday. Sorry this feels like a quick one tonight!

How lovely a thought is this…..

I’m yawning my head off…. Doesn’t help that the stove is creating about 28°C 😆😆😆

Stay safe everyone ♥️♥️♥️

I slept really well but had to get up twice in the night to take antacids.

I’ve been complaining of acid reflux for a while now and it’s only really dawned on me that it has been going on for a bit too long.

If I’m honest the antacids provide respite for precisely 3 or 4 seconds after I’ve swallowed them, which is pointless and my gut is decidedly icky.

I’ve said recently that I don’t know if it’s because I’m eating meat again? The thing is that Ellison at work has been feeling the same so I wonder if it’s just a wee bug.

It’s not stopping me living my life, it just feels a bit yuk.

I went back to bed for a bit but couldn’t sleep. We eventually got up at 8am which is long lie in our house 😆

We sat and had coffee and chatted and did some videos with the dogs for Craig’s business FB – Scottish Dog Behaviourist. I’ve been using the cinematic feature on the iPhone and the videos look amazing. It seems to use a lot of battery and takes up lots of space on my phone though. It’s already a very full photonic at over 65,000 pics/videos!!

I was very brave and deleted them all once I’d sent them to him!

Then it was time for the dog walks. They were split 3 and 1 today. The 3 Borders first, for a good run around, then Khaleesi for a short lead walk to look after her leg.

There is a lovely black and white cat disappearing into the field in this photo.

It’s a very light misty rain. I only really know because it lands on my glasses.

No pics of Khaleesi today 🙊

When I came back home, we just had 3 crates of cut firewood delivered. Craig is a member of the Gateside Wood Committee 😆 but we haven’t had crates of wood delivered for ages. He’s been hand-balling the wood from where they cut it down, to the house, to keep us going. It’s been great to get a big delivery but it needs hand-balled from the back gate, up to the wood sheds.

I filled the shelves in the house.

He’s done the rest!! Filled up some of our empty woodsheds.

It’s been raining all morning and all too often we would have said that we can’t do it because it was raining. Yes we got wet, but it was lovely to be out there enjoying the fresh air.

I swept up all the storm damage from the back patio and the decking.

Sweeping the decking was like curling… the decking is so slippy just now 😆

What a difference.

Why does that flick an instant switch in my head and allow me to feel peace?!

I have no idea but it really does!!

I can highly recommend cleaning up the garden in the rain. There’s a thing I never thought I would say. 😆

So for 2pm I headed to Mocha Jaks near us, to meet Gayle for lunch!

I had a veggie haggis toastie with cheese and Siracha.

And boy did we talk……

We talked for a full 2 hours and only had to stop because Mochas closed 😆😆

It’s very good to talk.

This is my caramel blondie with soya decaf latte.

So I’ve had a lovely weekend. I have my lunch made and my clothes ready for work.

There are so many things on my list that I haven’t done, but that is ok.

I’ll get to them.

Right now I’m back in my happy place in the sunroom. The fire is warming up, the candles are burning and the jammies are on.

My new word of the month is COURAGE.

I need to think about coming out of my comfort zone. I feel like I’ve been hiding in a safe place for a while now. Regenerating.

I’ve had ideas for a new business that Craig has already started working on…. He’s my IT geek and co-founder.

It’s nowhere near ready to go, but Gayle encouraged me to start talking about it now. She’s my business coach 😆.

It’s called Her Travel Circle.

It will allow solo female travellers to connect and make solo travel more affordable. Much more to follow…

Happy Sunday evening!

Stay safe everyone ♥️♥️♥️

1st February 1992 was the day I lost my boyfriend, Keith. He was driving from his home in Peterhead and called me at 6.30pm to say he was leaving and never arrived. I expected him around 9.30pm but he was killed outright in a collision with a truck, sometime after 7pm.

My memories of that night are so clear, so vivid, I can put myself back in that room, with mum and dad. Waiting.

There was no social media in those days, only a landline. It fell to his friend Martin, to tell me the news, only because he phoned to see if I was ok, and I didn’t know.

All I knew was that he was very late.

The police came around midnight but they could see that I knew.

We’d only been together 4 months, and I was only 19, but my world took a turn that day when I realised how fragile life was.

Whether that was the cause of my rocketing anxiety, I’ll really never know. It certainly won’t have helped.

I will always remember him today and on his birthday. On the grand scheme of things, I never really knew him…. But he will be forever 21.

So today, more than usual, is a reminder to me to live my life and appreciate every moment.

I feel like time has slowed down for me through January. I think I said that I appreciated the length of the month instead of wishing it to be over. I’m sure it’s the Donna Ashworth, Words to Live By journalling that I’m doing.

I woke up at 6am and met Lynsey for a run at 7am.

It was starting to get light which was so lovely.

We ran 6.46kms and of course, as it got light, I had to stop to take photos!

It was so calm. So serene. Just perfect. (Bearing in mind, as I always bring it back to reality, I’m using these photo opps as a chance to try and breathe!!)

It looks so pretty and wintry.

The sky was just beautiful. Look at all the colours.

The black of the trees against the sky.

My favourite gate.

I used to walk through life stressed about everything. Drinking wine was the only thing that made me feel happy as it let me forget about the stress. Now I have this. It costs nothing, keeps me healthy and I appreciate the beauty so much.

I had to walk up the last hill! There’s Lynsey up in front.

Craig hammered the window, when we got back and terrified us! I made him take our photo.

By this time the sweat is obviously pouring out of me, so big coat on over the running gear and off out with Bhruic and Freya.

Freya makes my heart burst with her wee backward glances, checking I’m still there…. 🫶🏼

And then I spot the Scotland flag 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁳󠁣󠁴󠁿 in the sky…. Love it!

I made some lovely reels of my dog walks today that you can find on The Rambling Sloth Instagram or FB pages.

I literally stood here and soaked up the light.

It’s these moments of joy that make a happy life.

You can see the frost hanging in the air.

Heading to the sun!

And almost home!

The sun is higher in the sky by the time I head out with Calaidh and Khaleesi.

I wanted to give K a longer walk today, as she’s on new meds, and she did really well.

She’s having a wee sleep now!

When I got back I decided not to sit down, but to get on with the housework and I spent the rest of the morning moving things from where they were, to where they should be. 🤦🏻‍♀️😬🥴

I wish we could just keep the place tidier through the week so I didn’t have to keep doing this, but life gets in the way.

It was 1pm by the time I was happy enough with the state of the house, and I went for my shower.

I’m now in clean jammies… about to start darning crochet blankets that need finished off. They are taking up space in my life but they need work doing!

This is one of them. I had to buy a new darning needle this week as I lost mine 🤦🏻‍♀️😆

So I have had the loveliest of days. Poor Craig has been at work all day, but I have made the most of my time and have refilled my cup.

Auntie Jac bought me this yesterday. Isn’t it lovely?

The future is bright.

Stay safe everyone 🌅☀️🌅