Saturday 13 April 2013

A Wee Break.

We've been away and now we're home again! For four nights of the week just gone I took the children to visit my parents who stay in the south west of Scotland. Of course, I took my camera too, here are the results...

First we went to Threave Gardens, a last visit before our NTS membership expires. It wasn't terribly exciting as it's pretty much still in its winter state. The famous bank of daffodils was not yet blooming, in contrast to our visit last year when we only just caught it as the flowers started to fade.

 Walled garden gate detail.

Rhubarb forcers.

Hot house flower.

 Fly cemetery.

Eagle sculpture.

Cowgirl atop belted galloway.

 Catkins detail.

 Catkins against stone wall of bat roost.

Now a quick trip into town. 

 A fine view along the river into the sun.

 A "shop" view, probably soon to be demolished.

We also made a brief visit to a brand new dinosaur park. The kind of place you just visit once; I wonder how well it will do once the initial rush to see it fades.

Back to my parents' and just a few photos of Mum's garden. Very little in flower so far this year...

Ummm, I've forgotten what this was called, it was a very pretty shade of blue.

Hellebores.

 Anemone blanda.

Now to my favourite outing. I picked the worst afternoon weather-wise, but at the time I just felt the need to get out the house and breath! So we went to Rockcliffe, a tiny village set in a lovely bay - sea, sand, rocks and walks. Perfect...

















On our last morning we went back into town. The children enjoyed a whirl on the merry-go-round (not a traditional one, they chose the Ben10 jeep to ride in), we admired the railings of the tower, took a wander back down to the river and made a few purchases at some of the many charity shops...




... my favourite things I bought were a lovely stripey 100% wool scarf (99p), and a copy of Nigella Express (£4).

I took the big granny square blanket with me, hoping to complete sewing in the ends during the quiet evenings. However, I soon realised that was going to be an impossible task, there are just far too many of them still. At least I'm well over half way now.

I also took my new gadget - I've got myself a smart phone. It was very nice to be able to use it to read some blogs while I was away (though I'm afraid I didn't get round to making any comments - will rectify soon!) It's interesting to see how blogs look on a smart phone, for example I hadn't realised that the whole sidebar disappears. For me, the biggest downside to this is that I wasn't able to use my blog roll for accessing blogs (I've been setting up Feedly to use instead, which seems to work fine). Perhaps that's why genuine blogrolls seem to be disappearing from so many blogs. I say "genuine" as sometimes when a blog does have a blogroll it's so carefully edited to be tasteful that it only contains a dozen or so entries. I think this is a pity. Blogrolls are a great way of finding new blogs. The chances are, if you're visiting a blog you like, their blogroll will contain other blogs you'll like too. Making new connections is good, let's not lose that ability. Let's keep blogrolls alive and well!


Right, the washing machine has finished and there is much tidying to be done, must go...

19 comments:

June said...

Many great photos here. Looks like you had a fan time. Wish the holidays were longer - quality family time is so precious.
June

Mereknits said...

I totally agree with you on the whole blog roll thing. I love the photos of the red jackets against the darker rocks and sea. So glad you had a nice visit.
Hugs to you,
Meredith

Jacquie said...

Wonderful picture Anne....love your scarf too. I agree about the whole blog roll thing...mine is huge and I've found some wonderful sites through yours...tales from a happy house springs to mind...Personally I love reading blogs on my desktop and don't have a smart phone, then there's the whole google friend thing...I'm confused !
Jacquie x

Rosemary said...

Lovely photos from an area I know well. We have friends that we regularly stay with in Gatehouse of Fleet.
Like your photo of the seaweed - it is glossy and luscious.

Michelle said...

Re: the blog roll. If you go to your own blog and scroll right to the bottom, it might give you an option to 'view web version'. If you select that then you should see your blog in the same way that you see it on your desktop, although it will be tiny and you'll have to enlarge it and drag it across to be able to click on the blogs in your sidebar. You may be able to do this on other people's blogs too. I say "might" and "maybe" because I don't know if it works differently on different phones, but that's how I've been able to access the sidebar. Hope it works for you.

Rosemary said...

I think that another way of accessing your mobile is to go to Template where you will see 'Live on Blog' and 'Mobile'. Under 'Mobile' if you press on the customise wheel it will give you the choice of seeing the desktop template rather than the mobile template.

Louise said...

Isn't it lovely to have a few days away, a change of scenery. We spent last weekend around the Yorkshire Dales and it was great.

The dinosaur park sounds interesting and I love the photos from Rockcliffe - I think I'd really enjoy a visit there!

Ladybird Diaries said...

Lovely photos and looks like a great time was had by all.
M x

* said...

I agree about the blogroll, I use it too, I know a few have changed to feedly etc... As google reader is going, but then I've never used it anyway...I've discovered some lovely blogs, just as you say from looking through others sidebars.

Love all the pics, especially the ones from Rockville, it isn't unlike some of th beaches around here.

We have. National trust membership, it's lovely to go see some big houses etc... Although my favourite is seeing formal gardens...oooh I wish I could have one of those and all the gardeners needed to keep it like that!

ellen said...

I think that I could stare at these lovely photos all day. Such loveliness.

Anonymous said...

I am totally with you on the Blog rolls, that is how I got to your blog in the first place.

Lovely pictures especially the Eagle sculpture, the fishing boat with seaweed and then the close up of catkins.

I thought my town was the only one to have Concrete Cows!

Cybèle said...

My favourite picture is of the sailing/fishing boat :-)
Looks like you had a great time, I'm slightly jealous of your stripy scarf (I've got a thing for stripes).
I often find new blogs through comments too - just clicking on someone's profile and visiting their blog. I think that's how I found yours!

Lulu said...

lovely pics as always...beautiful stripe scarf..
have a great week ahead..

Gillian Roe said...

Such lovely photos! You have a really good eye for a picture, I wish i could do that. Your moody beach photos were particularly lovely. I agree re blog rolls - that's how everyone finds new blogs, surely! x

Claire said...

Beautiful pics Anne, even the grey gloomy ones.......particularly love them.
Love the little 'shell' pic and the pic looking towards the bridge, that's just gorgeous and those furry Catkins....

Claire :}

Linda said...

I enjoyed my trip to the south west of Scotland through your post - an area I've never visited. If you hail from the north east like me it seems very difficult to head in the opposite direction!

Rustic Vintage Country said...

Yes, I too enjoyed my trip to the south west of Scotland via you! Fabulous photos. Also yes, keep the blog rolling so we can all find each other and make new friends. x

Anonymous said...

I agree with you on the blog roll, I have more to add to mine that I do look at. Yours is great as I have found new blogs to look at through it. :)

Anonymous said...

Stunning photos of Anemone blanda. Great capture.

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