Aberfeldy

 So Aberfeldy is a small town in Scotland which we often drive through, if we're taking the tourist route north on our way back to Orkney rather than the A9 between Glasgow and Perth. We're always saying we should stop and look around and this time we did. I have to say it's not particularly exciting, but it seems prosperous compared to a lot of UK towns of a similar size and it boasts not one but two excellent bookshops. One is a second hand one where I was very restrained and bought myself only one paperback for the holiday. The other is an extensive book and stationery store with an attached cafe built in an old watermill.  Bought nothing there but lunch. It was very good. 

After lunch we took ourselves off to a place called Karelia House and here I did a bit of shopping. I got some fabric which is for a Christmas swap and for myself I bought this

A crochet nativity set. I blame a lady in Lancashire for this as I have been watching her vlogs on YouTube for a few months and she makes a lot of Amigurumi. I thought this was really cute and I'm anxious to get started. Sadly, although I asked the lady in the shop what size hook I should use, and bought both that and the next one down in the shop as well, I still don't have the right size according to the booklet. I am hoping someone is going to get me the correct size in a comfortable format for my forthcoming birthday so that I can get started. I worry that once I do get going I will discover that I am rubbish at making amigurumi but I'll never know unless I try. If I have any sort of success the results will doubtless appear here in due course. And if they don't appear, well, you can draw your own conclusions. 

And yes, that's more yarn in for this month, but on the upside those are very small balls of it. 

Project 60 revisited - sort of.

 Our flights to Finland were on a Saturday, but with the caution built in after 19 years of experience, we were driving south on Thursday, just 'in case'. As the boy was still sick with Covid this meant two nights in a hotel and I was underwhelmed at the prospect of two nights at the Glasgow Airport Premier Inn. But that was OK because it turned out that that wasn't what the OH had in mind at all.'I've booked a hotel near Pitlochry for the first night' he said. 'And then tomorrow we can spend some time in Aberfeldy because we're always saying we should have a walk round there'. And that sounded lovely. 

I wasn't prepared for how lovely it was going to be because the hotel 'near Pitlochry' turned out to be the Green Park Hotel on Loch Faskelly. For years we've driven past this and looked at it over the loch and I've said 'I'd really like to stay there for a night' and I'd hoped that I might somehow fit it in to Project 60, simply because it was something I so much wanted to do. but we never  got the chance. So I was thrilled beyond measure to discover that that was where we were staying. I have had to promise faithfully not to look up and see how much it costs and it was stressed that it was an early birthday present and really it was one of the nicest things to happen this year. 

It's a lovely building but it's the gardens that are the stand out - well that and the views of course. The food and service were second to none and we had just a great time; helped by beautiful sunny weather. 

Because it was a birthday present they brought this to the room

and just to complete the food and drink pics, here's my starter (melon) and dessert (rhubarb pavlova) at dinner. There were two other delicious courses in between those but they weren't really photo worthy. 

 

Not doing it justice but this is the view from our room 

There are lots of pictures and statues in the hotel and more statues in the gardens. We spent a lot of time in the gardens and here is a small selection of the pictures that I took. 

Tomorrow a brief entry about Aberfeldy, and some shopping. 

Newstead Abbey - Attempt 2!

Well I think I've sorted the problem I've been having with the blog - let's see, shall we? 

Newstead was a Congress add on for those interested, and it turned out that was only a dozen of us. I'm not  a huge fan of Byron, or indeed the Romantic Poets in general, - too wordy, take themselves too seriously - but I had wanted to visit Newstead when we lived in Leeds and never managed. It was just that little bit too far away for a day trip , and there was nothing else in the area I was keen enough to see to make it worth a weekend. 

There had been a session at the Congress led by the Curator of Newstead and an academic who had been involved in special events and displays there for the Byron bi-centenary; I'd gone there by default as nothing else at the time looked very interesting. In the event it was very enjoyable; it was interesting seeing the presentation of a writer's home from the 'other side' as it were. I have to say that the guide we had on our guided tour on the day wasn't nearly so interesting, and seemed to know very little, especially about the special bicentenary stuff. Also he claimed to have a special family  connection to the place going back to Mary Queen of Scots. He reminded me of those people who do past life regression therapy and claim to have been Anne Boleyn, or Cleopatra. No-one was ever an in-between maid in a Victorian town house somehow. Less glamorous of course, but probably safer.

Anyway I enjoyed looking at the house although as I said the guide wasn't big on talking about most of the things I wanted to hear about, and he never paused for breath either so there was no way to ask questions. Even if I had, I had  the impression that he wouldn't know the answer. After the tour we had tea in the old kitchen, which was lovely,  and then had some free time to explore the grounds. Photos? Why, of course! 

Although had I known how much trouble it would be to post them - something else Blogger seems to have changed while I was away -  I wouldn't have chosen quite so many, And I've left a few out, because you know, life's short. 

Partial view of the outside. Put me in mind of the Musee Cluny in Paris; they were probably built around the same time. 

Given the house's origins as an Abbey, it's not surprising it has its own chapel. 

There were a lot of these little white porcelain figurines scattered about the place. We'd been told about them at the session about the house at the Congress; they were commissioned for the bicentenary and they represent Byron doing all sorts of Byron-y things. When I saw pictures of them at the talk I thought they were awful, but when they were in front of me I found them quite compelling and liked them. Here we have Byron writing at his desk, and practicing firing a pistol. Something he was prone to doing indoors apparently. 

Also displaying the origins of the house, a cloister garden. 

There were beautiful flowers all over, I was taken by this golden rose. 

The old kitchen where we had our tea. 

Then to the outside - 

Lovely grounds. There was even a Japanese garden but it was sadly neglected and overgrown. 

After Newstead we were taken to Nottingham Railway Station and I caught a train to Leeds; it was  a bit more complicated than that of course, due to closed ticket offices, works on the line, and cancelled trains between Sheffield and Leeds, so that by the time I got off the train at Leeds I was exhausted. I''d booked a rom at The Queens Hotel for the night which is right next to the station and I staggered through the door, found my room, had a meal from Room Service and a shower (in a space that wasn't a tiny wet room that reeked of damp!) and slept for 11 hours. 

Next morning I got up and caught a train to Edinburgh and then a flight to Kirkwall which was all a lot smoother than the Nottingham - Leeds leg. I was glad to get back although very conscious that I had only about 48 hours to get packed and prepared to go away again. 

Problems, problems!

 I tried to write a post earlier today all about my trip to Newstead Abbey but after the first 20 lines Blogger just froze and although I tried several times throughout the day to discover the source of the problem and put it right, I wasn't able to. 

This is very frustrating especially as I had taken the trouble to chose and edit the photos I wanted to use in the post. It's not as though I'm short of the time to mess about with it, what with my injured knee and all (and, yes we'll be coming to that if Blogger starts behaving itself properly) but just because time is hanging heavy it doesn't make me any happier about being forced to waste it!

OK, So I am back and its official, we're jinxed.

 More on that story later, as they used to say on a R4 comedy program. Can't remember which one. 

Anyway let's get Nottingham out of the way. 

First off, the Nottingham Campus has some very pretty bits to it.

It is also very hilly. And very confusing. And the maps are rubbish. And the accommodation was a long way from the building where most things took place. And up a hill. And the place where things took place was very confusing as well. And we had no floor plan. 

I thought the standard of student accommodation would have improved since I was a student in a Hall of Residence but I am here to tell you that actually I was more comfortable as a first year undergrad at Leeds almost 50 years ago than I was in Nottingham l this month. The room was tiny, and badly laid out, it smelt of damp, and the toilet seat was broken. 

Am I sounding jaundiced? That's because I am. The Congress was not hugely enjoyable. Lots of people had obviously taken one look at the venue and thought 'No, not going there' and I can't say I blame them. After Glasgow, Vancouver and Prague, what can Nottingham realistically  bring to the party? I don't know but whatever it was it certainly wasn't enough. Most of the keynote lectures bored me, I had lots of trouble sometimes deciding where to go, not because I was spoiled for choice but because I was desperate to find a panel that looked even remotely enjoyable and the quality of the papers given was mixed to say the least. Definitely my last World Congress. Well the next one is in Philadelphia which is just too expensive and complicated and I'll be well into my 70s by the time of the next one, so it's time to draw a line. 

That said I did enjoy the trip to Newstead Abbey, home of Lord Byron on the Sunday after the Conference finished and I have some lovely pictures ready for when I do my report on that. 

Happy Mail

 And this is yarn, and it all came together yesterday. 

First up the Book and Yarn club from Beth at Beehive Yarns. This quarter it was Alice in Wonderland and here's what was in the box.

As always click to enlarge if you want to see it more clearly. Tea, in a lovely tin, and it's ordinary tea, not one of these herbal or fruit teas that other people love and we can never get any taste from, some rhubarb and custard flavoured (?) shortbread, and I'm sure you haven't missed the beautiful Alice mug to drink the tea from. Alice is on one side and the Queen of Hearts on the other. A lovely edition of the book with a cloth cover and the original Tenniel illustrations inside. A small project bag, some Alice in Wonderland themed stickers, heart shaped needle keepers, a playing card stitch marker, a bookmark and a pretty card with pattern suggestions on it. And of course the yarn. One of the pattern suggestions was for a very nice pair of socks but as so often with beautiful sock yarn I tend to think it's too nice to waste on socks. We'll see. 

Also arriving yesterday were the quarterly deliveries of the Henny Penny Makes Club. First up was the Little Grey Cells Club; this quarter themed around Murder on the Links

Excuse the presence of my foot. I love them, especially the middle one but as they are so colourful I cannot place them next to last quarters in my blanket project which I think is gong to mean buying something neutral to go between them all and calm them down. This will also mean unravelling most of what I had done so far, which is a pain, but I want it to be right and look nice so I will bite the bullet and basically start over. in Due Course. 

Also arriving from Henny Penny Makes were the Seashore themed minis and the three months look like this. L to R April, May and June. Two of the June ones look so similar I wonder if there has been a mistake but there is no time to query that before we go away so maybe when we get back....

Meanwhile I had a bit of a mini club related disaster yesterday. I had decided to do a crochet square sampler blanket,  having recently acquired a book of over 100 crochet square designs. However I discovered - I was going to say quickly discovered, but believe me it wasn't quickly enough,  that the squares are too big to make from a 20g mini which was a total pain. I will have to have a rethink on that one. If the squares were all made from the centre out it wouldn't be a problem because I could just make them the size they came out, but some of them are done in straight lines and although this would presumably present no problem  to an experienced crocheter, who would just do a bit of arithmetic in their head, and make the foundation row a lot shorter, I cannot do that - and in any case I cannot help feeling they would turn out quite small. So it's back to the drawing board with those, trailing clouds of disappointment in my wake. 

I am more than a little concerned because that is a lot of wool in, and there is nothing out bar a teensy tiny project and I'm not going to get much done this month at all as we're now away until 22nd of the month. (Wonders; how many pairs of socks can I knit between 22nd and 31st July? Answer: probably not enough!) 

That said we have no more plans for going away now, apart from a couple of weekends in the autumn,  so I can play catch up for the rest of the year. 

We leave tomorrow morning at really stupid o'clock and I am very much hoping that this trip at least will go smoothly. I'm sure it will be fabulous and I hope it will be warm! I am all packed and ready bar deciding whether or not to rely just on my smartphone or whether to take my tablet as well. Decisions, decisions. 

Oh Look! Not in Glasgow

 I should currently be in Glasgow having a relaxing time  after the 4th World Congress being with my son and catching up with various people I know in the Central Belt. But I'm not. This is because our travel plans for 2024 are obviously jinxed (I do hope that isn't actually true) and I could not go to Glasgow because, although my son seemed to have a bit of a cold at the beginning of last week, it turns out that what he actually had was Covid. Who knew it was still with us? Well I did know it hadn't actually gone away, but I didn't know anyone who had had it for months and months so this came as a bit of shock. 

So rather than train travel to Glasgow yesterday I actually trained to Edinburgh and then caught a flight to Kirkwall and I'm back in Orkney until Thursday morning. Just enough time to do lots of washing and ironing and bemoan the fact that my current knitting project and hence most of my sock knitting equipment is in Glasgow waiting for me. I spent a distinctly uncomfortable evening yesterday catching up with the Great British Sewing Bee and not having anything to do with my hands. Weird. 

Ah well, it will give me a chance to blog about the conference tomorrow (or possibly Happy Mail if I get some today) which will cut down on the backlog of experiences to be recorded when we get back from Finland.  

Hey-ho!