I slept right through to the alarm at 6.30am, just the best….. and ran 6.5Kms before 7.30am.
I did stop my watch when I thought we were finished…. But no…. Back to it.
I ran with the same girls that ran the 10k back in August… it was much better weather today!
I loved running this morning. I felt good and comfortable most of the run. that’s two in a row that have gone really well.
I’m so pleased that I’ve got in to regular running and hope it doesn’t get too difficult as the winter sets in.
I was back in the shop this morning which was lovely.
I played with the dogs for a bit when I got back…
We have to keep a hold on Khaleesi so she can’t run after the ball. 😆 just lemme go, she says!!
We just have to keep an eye on her all the time…
Who knew the top of my head had gone so grey…..
Cuddles with Khaleesi
The Gateside Horticultural Society had their flower show today.
Here are some of the stunning exhibits.
I think portrait mode on my new phone can be a bit blurry at times….
This next one won best in show!
This was the display that we were all routing for! Nancy did the beautiful flower arrangement and Holly did the chocolate mint dessert (WHICH IS NOW IN MY HOUSE FOR LATER!!!!) and Aimee made the LOVELY crochet bookmark. They won third prize!
I can’t rave about the mint chocolate mousse enough 😆
These leeks were massive!
These photos don’t do the scale any justice. All of the veg is huge 😆
Now this is a whole lot of kale!! 🥬
The kids did these flower displays.
We ended up in the pub for a couple. I’ve enjoyed seeing our neighbours as we haven’t caught up in a while.
In the list of national days, today is National Sober Day!
I’m so proud to be on day 2,081 of my sober journey. That will be SIX years come January. It’s just a way of life now. One that I am so very proud of. I never would have wanted to stand out from the crowd, to be different, to be socially awkward and yet here I am… 😬 it’s what keeps me sane these days… literally.
I woke up at 5.46am after a good nights sleep…. Still dreaming of that honeycomb cheesecake last night!
So all prepared for today to be the Summer Solstice, albeit a fairly cloudy one.
WHO KNEW SUMMER SOLSTICE WAS ACTUALLY YESTERDAY?!??!?
You learn something new everyday.
I always thought the longest day was 21st June but it would appear that, in 2024, much to my amazement, it was actually yesterday. 😂 Who’d a thunk it?!?
How did I get to 51 years of age and not know that I was a moveable feast. Upon reflection, it’s obvious.
So…. These are for yesterday!
Puppy Leesi (as she’s affectionately known, had another good night without her cone on. She’s doing so well, just not putting any weight on her leg yet, but I’m sure that will come.
We had a really lovely cuddle for a while this morning. It’s lovely to have the trust of a dog that they will cuddle into you like that. Then I captured a yawn, albeit fuzzy…. You get the fangs!!
At 8.45am, I jumped into Bertie Beetle (could I make that sound any more cheesy?!) and drove down to Cumnock in Ayrshire, to meet Mum and Dad at Dumfries House.
I got here with a half hour to spare so just writing this in the car park…. Which is fairly empty.
We went for coffee first, as we do! Had a syrup scone with jam and clotted cream. We then had a wander round the grounds, while waiting on our house tour at 12pm.
The tree is amazing!!
Mum had a good hug!
It’s such a lovely space to be in.
We came all this way and spent the first half hour with trees 😂
I then did a 10 second delay to get this shot. Luckily there was a random beer keg perfectly placed to pop the phone on.
Now I know how to do that, there will be more of them.
We wandered around the front f the house and the lovely gardens.
There were men with a van cleaning out the fountain, in front of the house, so there are no photos of it. 😆 we had a good chat to them as the swept water and mud around the base of the fountain. It will be stunning once it’s been cleaned out.
Mum and dad are in there, honest!
Waiting for the 12pm tour. The white door will open at 11.55.
So once inside the house you can’t take any photos due to the value of some of the items inside. There are so many pieces of Chippendale furniture.
I’m sure the tour guide said that one of the cabinets in the living room would sell for £20-£25 million!!
Here’s the website if you’re interested in seeing some of what I saw today.
It’s really beautiful. It’s been so well preserved.
You will know by now that I am no historian and much of what I was told goes in one ear and out of the other, while I wish I could take a beautiful photo….. but King Charles saved the House from auction and all the contents being sold off, in 2007, when he got a personal loan of £20 million and then secured a further £25 million from investors etc to purchase the house and save all its contents.
It’s been lovingly restored, is the second largest employer in East Ayrshire, second only to the Council, and now trains many local people in the old skills required to keep a house like this restored and preserved for the future.
In a hour we walked through 3 public rooms, the large entrance hallway and 4 private rooms. The tour was really informative despite my retention issues. 😆
We left the house at 1pm and headed out to the Walled Garden via this lovely bridge and pond.
I made them pose. How lovely is this.
This is exactly why I want to do these trips.
We have a lovely day and make some lovely memories… Dad has to reacquaint himself with the fact I take so many photos, but once he does, he embraces it!
This water lily is on 15x zoom. I was really pleased with it!
There were tadpoles everywhere in this pond.
So back to the Walled Garden….
It costs £3 each to get in and if you have a KA postcode, which I do, you get access for one whole year!!
Here are some of the gorgeous flowers.
Mum was in flower heaven in this greenhouse!
Here I am next to the fountain.
And the view from the fountain.
The gardens are very well looked after.
I overhead one of the guides saying that you should visit the walled garden at least 4 times throughout the year to see the full beauty of it.
Stunning colours and great to play with my new phone.
By this time we were ready for lunch. We were all surprised to see it was 3pm!
The old stables hold the lovely cafe. The food is good and the prices are reasonable.
We headed back to the car park at 3.45pm.
Our days always go so quickly but it’s lovely to wander around and spend time with each other. I love that I get to visit castles and old houses and get to see them too.
Another special day full of memories. 💜💜
I’m shattered now and have a busier day tomorrow. I’m driving to Oban in the morning, to spend the day with my friends Helen and Mike, who are on holiday from Devon.
I have a huge walk planned but I have to drive 2.5 hours to get there, have the huge walk and then drive back home. It will be a lovely but LOOOOOONG day.
The blog might be short and sweet with all the details on Sunday but we’ll see.
I have a feeling that yesterday’s Rigatoni with mushroom and lentils had something to do with it but let’s say no more.
In true Julie fashion, I’m all or nothing…..
I started the day with a 3 mile run, at 7am, with Lynsey. No one else from our run club WhatsApp group was available so it was just the two of us. Last night I was determined to run today. I had enough of sitting around like a sloth. 🦥
Check the heart rate….. woomph, right up there.
Lynsey is a runner so I’m so pleased I didn’t hold her back too much. I only stopped to walk twice when I felt a wee bit sick!
It felt really good. We saw no one.
I came home and sat in the garden and thought I might be sick…. But I wasn’t.
Look at the colour of my face while I take Bhruic and Freya up the hill…. It’s still beetroot!
This wee kitten was hiding from us…. Zoom in!
Back down the hill and the sun was starting to warm up…. Nothing like Rome temperatures… but Craig and I sat out in the garden and had coffee. It was really lovely. We sat for a while.
Craig groomed Bhru, who is most likely the culprit of the moulting hair in the house!!
I have never seen anything like it!!! He got loads off her. We did some videos for Scottish Dog Behaviourist as it was so crazy!
Khaleesi had physio at 11.30 so I went with them and took Calaidh.
We walked while they were in physio.
I’ve never been up here before, we had a great view over Burnhouse.
How pretty is this old gate?!
We headed back into Beith and took the two Khal/Cals to Mocha Jacks for lunch.
I had Honey, Avocado and Pesto stack! Again!
Craig had my fried egg.
We then came back and sat in the sun all afternoon. It’s been so lovely.
I am so grateful to feel better again.
I’ve done loads of Rome posts and reels on FB and I am trying to put some on Insta too. My reels used to post from insta directly onto my FB page but not anymore….
We have Elly’s 40th birthday party from 6pm tonight… I’m so glad my 2 days of illness have left me……. with a big spot on my chin just in time.
Ok so it’s only been 14°C today maybe a high of 15 but for us Scots, that’s T-shirt weather all the way.
There’s not been a cloud in the sky all day and Ellison and I sat out at lunchtime again. Great to get a catch up on our wee outdoor lunches!
I was super busy today and the day passed really quickly. I haven’t caught back yet but hopefully it will be quiet on Bank Holiday Monday to let me catch up some more.
There were a few hiccups at work that I found out about while I was off. It’s hard to ignore them and I do feel bad if I haven’t ordered a part or missed some paperwork… I need to learn not to beat myself up. The part I spent at least two hours fretting over yesterday, turned out to be just enough after all…. Total waste of time spent feeling bad. I know that but it’s hard not to.
Anyway, I had the best sleep again. I remember nothing of last night but 25k steps will do that to you. I’ve managed a mere 6,880 today so far.
I know if Helen was still here, I’d be dragging her out on some adventure to enjoy the sun but, because I’m on my own I feel really tired and ready for an early night.
Helen being here has allowed me to break so many of my rules. Imagine still being out at the beach at 9.30pm last night and not actually worrying about it?!?! I would have been if I’d have been on my own. I’d have been much more aware of the time.
It was lovely just to throw rules out the window…. And yes, I hear myself, I set them all and yet are happy when they are broken so I just need to go on breaking them by myself!
I know you know I had a great time these last few days but I really did. It was like a breath of fresh air instead of having to entertain a visitor. It was really lovely to see her after all this time and I hope to go and visit her in Devon soon! Oooooh clotted cream scones with jam. Yum, just had that thought.
Anyway so I have had a lovely series of mini adventures so far in May. That’s me back to earth for a while until we have a week off at the end of June.
I also have so many things still to talk about! I haven’t forgotten my recap of the return journey from Jokülsárlón to Reykjavik but that will have to wait until a low news day!
Let’s get back to our visit to the 19th Century mansion that we visited yesterday, Mount Stuart on the Isle of Bute.
It’s a really imposing gothic style mansion and has a breathtaking interior. While one wing houses a white marble Roman Catholic Chapel…
It’s very cool in there as the marble is freezing!
….the rest of the house is designed around the signs of the zodiac, which seems a total contradiction to me.
Each stained glass window is a sign of the zodiac, with the 3 windows on each side also coloured to represent the 4 seasons of the year.
Spring SummerAutumnWinter
The ceilings are all so ornate. There are 37 rooms in total and we only really saw a handful of them.
Not gonna lie but o lost track of all of the history…. Not even going to try and recount all of that.
It really is well worth a visit and the grounds are so beautiful.
I think I said yesterday, it’s £16.50 to get in but honestly nothing is stopping you wandering around the grounds alone. That usually costs £7.50.
It’s a really quirky visit.
The ferry trip back was just beautiful too. You cannot beat a blue sky.
The Rambling Sloth 🦥 