Dinner Guests and Walks

SATURDAY

I managed to eek out perhaps three hours of sleep on Friday night.  I'm trying desperately NOT to take a sleep aid so I finally gave up and went through to make coffee (Pete's French Roast through a french press, yum) at 5:00a.m.  I flipped the fire place on, cozied up on the couch in the darkness of the living room and started checking email and FB on my IPhone.  At 5:00a.m. in Scotland on a Saturday morning it's 9:00pm in California and midnight in New York on Friday night.  So I decided to text Natalie in California to see what she was up to.  She wanted to Facetime and I was able to get a good chat in with her and managed to wake Jilllie up while doing it.  So the three of us visited and then Jillian Facetimed Alison and we were able to catch-up with her too and Jillian got to see her little kitty, Sasha.  It's interesting that while we have wireless here we can email, FB, text and Facetime on our cell phones however we cannot make cellphone calls.  But Facetime is better.......and FREE!  Thank you Apple!

Anyway after an early morning breakfast of whole grain pancakes and fruit salad....I went back to bed and slept till almost 11:00.  But I had a big day planned because of our dinner party at 6:00pm so Jill and I got up, dressed and headed down to the High Street for the rest of our groceries:  mint (for cucumber martinis), lemons, vanilla ice cream, etc.  So we made a big loop around town searching for our items.  Unfortunately, we couldn't find mint but we bought mint plants at the garden center which I will add to the yard later.

A quick bath and tidy up of the house.   Our menu is Minestrone soup and brown bread for a starter; Aubergine (eggplant) Parmesan and Caesar salad;  French apple tart with vanilla ice cream for dessert; and assorted cheeses for the finish including a fabulous Garstan Blue which I can't seem to find in California.   Our guests arrive promptly at 6.

It's so lovely to visit with Maureen and Hunter.  We all commented that we pick up right where we left off from last year...it just doesn't seem that long and we don't miss a beat.  There is talk of local events and Moffat people, and talk of politics and travel, and of course worldwide events and how and if Britain and the U.S. should intervene.   Sometimes the conversation gets quite heated and we laugh a lot. Having Jillian here brings a new perspective to these topics and we talk way into the night.  There's quite the wine consumption after cucumber martinis!  4 bottles among the 5 of us and Maureen and Hunter leave around midnight but Gordon and Jill and I stay up and visit until 2:00!  Sleep tonight will be of a different sort!  More along the lines of passed out!!!

SUNDAY

Yeah, so, the next day, Sunday, the three of us are moving a little slowly.  I was right about the passed out kind of sleep.  Finally stirred about 11:00 when Jillian literally came into our room and asked "are you going to sleep all day!"  Maybe!

So we got going - polished off the quiche with pots of coffee and fruit. Watched mindless TV and finally dragged ourselves out for a walk; another of my favorites which is down the old Edinburgh Road, past Maureen's house, across the sheep fields to the River and back up into the town.  So here's a picture blog of our walk:

Moffat has many Bed and Breakfast accommodations like this one.....

The B&B above is owned by our gardener, Malcolm, and his wife.  Apparently his wife takes care of all of these hanging baskets because he doesn't even dead-head my flowers!  I need to talk to him about that!

Gordon calls this path to the High Street the "wee skinny"!

And, these two B&B's,

And this "New Orleans" style B&B and,

a flower bedecked B&B.

An awesome vegetable garden.

Again, lovely hillside views in every direction.

Maureen's house on the Old......

Edinburgh Road.

A huge peewee hydrangea.

A lovely colorful border.

Awesome tall trees,

the river and

wild roses covered with rose hips.

Overhanging ferns.

Cute but nervous lambies!

The river walk.

Giant oak tree dwarfing Gordon.

The Moffat hydroponic gardens.

Piles of onions!

A garden of flowers.

Kale and swiss chard.

A hair-of-the-dog and late lunch.

After our walk we ended up feeling pretty good but in need of a pint!  So we stopped in to the Star again and had beer and pub food.  Just what the doctor ordered!

MONDAY

Today we woke fresh and at a reasonable hour.  We decided on a new walk which required a short drive up the Selkirk Road to Craigieburn Forest.

Gordon and I have looked at this walk in our "Walks of Moffat" book and passed the parking point many times but just never ventured in.  The weather looked foreboding today so an open countryside walk didn't seem like a good idea but through a forest did so off we went in our little-bitty car.  My 5'11" husband and  5'10" daughter sure do struggle with the little car and there were lots of funny quips during the 3 mile drive to the Craigieburn Forest.

As we started in on a reasonably short (3 mile) but steep walk I remarked that it would be nice to see some wildlife......even a red squirrel which apparently we have here in Scotland but I've never seen one.  I know there are foxes and badgers too but I've not seen those either on our walks.  Nor do you ever see any deer in the wild unless you are in the Highlands I guess.  Anyway, here are pictures of our walk:

We enter the thick forest on a fire road....

Jill and Gordon lead the way.  Jillie is wearing the GoPro as our latest experiment.  We haven't been successful yet in producing a video anyone, including us, would want to watch!

See the old stone wall that curves up the forest?

It's barely visible for the moss that covers  it.

Approaching the top and some spectacular views of the south side of Moffat.

Glorious greens!

Teeny-tiny mushrooms.

Gordon and his sore knee bringing up the rear along a steep climb.

The view at the top.

We walked for just over an hour and enjoyed the sounds of the forest; the wind in the trees, the birds fluttering and tweeting, and occasionally the creek (called burns in Scotland).  Oh, and we did experience a little wildlife.....well, deadlife!

What is it they say in the Bible?  Ask and ye shall receive?