Two Worlds

I spent the weekend with my delightful 14 year old stepdaughter Amanda celebrating our birthdays together in the grand city of Edinburgh.

It was a truely girlie weekend - posh city boutique hotel, fine food and dining, cinema, shopping, cocktails at lunchtime at Harvey Nichols, pampering sessions with facials and manicures, thai cuisine and a fabulous dance musical called The Car Man (music from Carmen, story line based on The Postman Always Rings Twice).

We had a great time together doing what girls do in a really packed 2 days and as much as I enjoyed it and I'm happy to have had the opportunity to spend time with Amanda, it was also a timely reminder of why I'm so pleased I don't live on the mainland.

Congested traffic, pollution, lots of people(!) most of whom seemed to be walking about in a zombie like state with angry faces and gritted teeth spending huge amounts of money I'm sure they could ill-afford; shops galore full of clothes that are extortionate in price and never really going to be worn and vast quantities of food thrown away from restaurants and other eateries because folk order more than they can eat!

We didn't see much change from £1,000 for those 2 days away.

In contrast, I spent yesterday and today with John and our 12 week old pup Megan enjoying and appreciating so much more, the rather simpler things in life - the views from the breakfast room, the stormy weather, walks on the beach, the antics of Megan and the love of a good man.

Priceless!

I know where I would rather be and I wouldn't swop it for all the tea in China.

Puppy Love

Well what can I say!

I’ve fallen in love ...............yet again, at the age of 42 years and 11 months! This time with a gorgeous chocolate Labrador pup called Megan – she’s 11 weeks old today and has been occupying most of my time over the past 4 weeks.

Hence the reason for not blogging!

I’d forgotten what it was like to have a baby in the house and now I remember all those reasons why I said 13 years ago, (after doing my duty for Queen & country and giving birth to the last of my 2 strapping sons), I wouldn’t be having any more babies...................early mornings, toilet training, teething troubles, regular feeding, constantly saying Noooooooooo (which bit of NO don’t you understand?), continually having to remove things out of the way and having eyeballs that swivel 360 degrees in the back of my head. It’s absolutely exhausting!!

But I love it.

What fun we’ve had this past month getting to know one another. Never having owned a dog before it has been an incredibly steep learning curve for both John and me – not least because what seems pretty simple, ordinary and normal to us humans can mean something quite different in doggie language.

Megan was born to Jura and Sidney (both chocolate Labs) who live on Iona and is one of a litter of 9. When I saw the notice in the shop next door saying they were for sale, I just knew it was meant to be. We had been talking about having a family dog for sometime but were constantly procrastinating and putting the decision off – when was a good time, would we be tied down, where would she live, did we have time, weren’t we busy enough......blah, blah, blah.

And after all the doubts and anxiety about having done the right thing? Well I would never have guessed at the joy, fun, love and laughter such a bundle of brown fur and long gangly legs could bring into a home.

And her full pedigree Kennel Club name?

Kenmilleven Melting Wispa................but we prefer Megan, who at 11 weeks old has already captured and melted our hearts forever.

PS: Many thanks to all of you who have posted comments saying you are missing my posts. All is well – just frenetic at the moment :-)