There’s been a lot going on in the last few weeks…
25th August brought news that Dolly Parton had passed away… that was sad. Whether you liked her music or not, what a lovely person she was – someone who used her wealth to support others, including helping so many children to learn how to read; someone who brought a lot of love into the world and left a bit of it a better place… RIP Dolly!
Then, on the same day, news came that Tim Curry, aka Dr Frank-N-Furter (amongst many other acting roles), had also passed away… what a strange but brilliant film the Rocky Horror Picture Show was! RIP Tim…
We had a trip to the hospital in Melrose on the 26th August as Pete had to have a CT scan (non-cancer related which makes a change!) to make sure the pipes he had fitted when he underwent his quadruple bypass 4 years ago, were all still working properly… we haven’t heard anything since so hope that no news is good news!
On Saturday 29th August, it was the 130th Holm Show here in the village. Fortunately, the weather was pretty good – quite warm and, most importantly, no rain. It meant there were a lot more people attending than I remember last year and the whole show just seemed a bit bigger, although it’s only a tiddler compared to the Kelso or Otley shows!
We met a nice couple who had travelled down in their caravan from Stirling (about 120 miles & 2-hours drive away) so their dog (a beautiful Old English sheep dog) could take part in the dog show… she (the dog) didn’t win (boo!) but it seems they had a great weekend staying on our local caravan site right in the middle of the village.
We bought a couple of pictures from our local artist (Terry Murphy) for the walls – one of Hermitage Castle and the other of some Belted Galloway cows in a field. Having negotiated a fair price with him, he let us take the pictures home on the promise of dropping the money round to his house later! Only in the Holm… 😊
I didn’t really get any photos at the show as we were too busy looking about, but it was nice to see them on The Holm Show Facebook page… I did get a short vid of the Langholm Pipes though! 🤣
So, the 1st September marked the start of meteorological autumn and we’ve had the heating on already (only on an evening)! It’s been pretty wet and windy since the start of September although, like most in the UK, this past weekend was not too bad and, as we were visiting Liverpool so a bit further south, it was pretty warm! We haven’t had too many walks recently as we’ve been focusing on decorating etc, but we’ve noticed how some of the leaves on the trees are already on the turn…
The prep on our spare bedroom is almost complete. Pete has done a great job of filling holes, plastering and smoothing off the walls… so, the only reason the impending wallpapering will fail will be down to our inexperience / incompetence! Wish us luck! 🤣🤣🤣
So, this past weekend, we had a night in Liverpool to attend the surprise 80th birthday party for my brother & sister-in-law John & Anne Collins. What a lovely evening we had, made even better when Pete’s baby brother Tony (& his wife Allison & daughter) turned up…
Left T/M/B = Louise, Lee & Pete / Pete, John & Nephew Tony / Pete with my sisters-in-law Anne & Allison.
Right T/B = Can’t believe the one pic of me & I got my coat on – it was freezing in that hall! 🤣 Bottom, the Collins Brothers… John, Tony & Pete!
I have to say, our social calendar is a bit non-existent at the moment so we couldn’t believe it when we were invited to the above party on the same weekend we had already been invited to a 50th Birthday music festival for an old pal we both knew from our Winged Fellowship / Vitalise days… what a shame we had to choose between these two events but of course, family had to come first!
After our night out, we went for a walk around Ainsdale Nature Reserve with Louise, Lee and Aedan (nipper Niamh was still at a friends house following a sleep-over the night before). It was great to see Aedan before he embarks to University next week and wish him well with it in person.
We were lucky to be visiting the nature reserve with Lee – he is so knowledgable about fungi that he has special access as he collects data that he then shares with those that run the reserve. An example of his knowledge is shown in this short video… if you watch to the end, you see how the stem of this fungi goes blue when exposed to the air! Amazing 😊
We spotted a lot of fungi – none of the names of which I would ever remember especially as Lee spouts them off in Latin without a second thought! Here’s some pics though as a record of our visit…
Left T/B = Red Admirals;
Right T/M/B = Speckled Wood, Toad, Small Heath
Middle – Sand Dunes with Blackpool Tower and the Big One showing in the far distance – they look a lot closer in this pic than they actually are!
Left T/M/B = Cyclamen, Brambles, Centaury.
Middle T/B = Broomrape; Evening Primrose.
Right = T/B = Rosehip covered in Robin’s Pincushion Gall & Water Mint.
Following our walk, we set out on our drive back to the Scottish Borders. We took the opportunity to go up the coast road towards Preston and so passed by Southport where I lived for a short while back in 1993. This part of the drive brought back some happy memories for both of us about our time spent at Sandpipers and in the local area – can’t believe it was over 30 years ago now!
And so today – we have been trying to take it easy but, in reality we have been quite busy as usual getting various chores around the house and in the garden completed. Pete is starting the wallpapering tomorrow when I go to work so we shall see how that goes – am sure he will be fine and really hope we can get this bit done before the weekend so we can perhaps get the paining done – fingers crossed! 🤞 We are on a countdown now to carpet laying day (17th September…) and a visit from our friends Jane & Dave (24th September) so no more excuses, we have to get the job done! But first, some lunch me thinks… it is after all (as I’ve just noticed!) nearly 4pm!
All the gubbins… 
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