Tide Games 2015

Well, you have probably read the story about the Tide Games already. I think Brom did a really good job at writing it (!). We are usually a gang of about 20 making our way to Voss, but this year we were only 12! Seven of those were playing football and the rest was cheering. Not nearly enough of course, so for next year we will have to do some serious recruiting!!

The journey over was good fun. I was in the guide's chair, since sitting two seats back wasn't making my tummy too happy. Besides, it's easier taking photos through a window! I kept my alcohol intake low during the whole weekend: one sip of white wine and one sip of vodka/fanta. And yes, it should be said in that order: it was strong stuff!!

The evening was spent in a good way as well. I took lots of photos during the weekend and during the evening I had my camera with me again. Not always used by me, two others would take it occasionally as well. Which resulted in some photos of me as well, which is always good.

The return was a bit of a dreary and quiet affair. Dreary because of the rain and quiet because most were trying to recover from the day before. Football aches and pains and a glass or two of whatever their tipple was does that to a person. We got dinner as well, so no need to get out plan B when I got home. The weekend ended with a bit of television. Unfortunately there seemed to be some unsettled weather in England, since it was difficult to get any channels properly. 

Brom on the road again

Coocoo

It was time for the annual Tide Games and this time I was allowed to come! I was so excited, because Mara had made me another great outfit! A Viking outfit!! Because this year everybody was supposed to come as Vikings. Mara didn't make it in time to make one for herself though, only making a felt helmet. 

First though, we had to drive to Voss. We would go by bus and I was allowed to sit in the window almost the whole time. I saw a lot of trees, mountains, apples and even snow! It was great fun, even if the driver would make me tip over occasionally! 

We got to the hotel and went up to our rooms, before Mara went down to have dinner. Without me, but I didn't mind, the bed was very comfy. When Mara came back after dinner, she wanted me to put my Viking outfit on, but she couldn't find my suitcase anywhere.

In the end she went downstairs and she found it at reception. It had been there for hours. It's a good thing nobody else had the same suitcase or I wouldn't have had anything to wear... As it was, everything was still in the suitcase and I put on my outfit. Mara then found some (fake) fur and made me pose for some photos.

Helping out the goalie

The next day was the day of the Games. This year there weren't as many people in our team and the football team had a bit of difficulty finding a keeper, but the managed eventually. The first game was won easily (the other time didn't show) and then came the second game. 

Someone get me out!!

I was helping the goalie (Mara says that's what they are called), but it was quite scary, even with helmet and shield! In the end I just sat in front of one of the goalposts. 

Me and the team!

We won the second game as well (10-2) and then went on to the semi-final. It was hard and tough, but me and the rest of the team did really well, and in the end we won 7-4. We were in the final! And we had to play the final against the same team we had already beaten!! Well, we won again and we were the champions. Everybody said I did a really good job, even the keeper from the other team gave me a kiss for helping his team out!!

After all that I needed a bit of a rest before we were going to dinner. Mara had brought my kilt along and that's what I wore to the gala dinner. 

We had a great table and somebody made sure I had a great view!! There was good food and a lot of laughs and then there were the prizes: 

the football cup, which was so heavy I couldn't lift it [it was actually very heavy], chocolates for a colleague of Mara's who had been hurt during the heat of the game and a golden bus prize for one of the teamleaders. He wasn't there to pick up his prize, but we clapped and cheered anyway!

Viking Mara and Viking Brom

In the end Mara took me up to the room, because I was very very tired. It was a great day. The next day we took it easy. We went home again and it was raining all the way. Which was a bit of a shame, but I enjoyed the trip anyway.

Photo on Sunday 2015-31

More stories and photos to follow!!

Photo on Sunday 2015-30

She was happy when I got back from my holiday and stayed closer to me during the day and even to some degree during the night. 

She was not so happy with me the other day. She had been allowed to stay out all day, but since I was at work and couldn't let her in... The weather had turned a bit and she was hungry. She was not happy!!!

September

Incredibly enough it's already September. How the time has flown these past few months. A little update first: the headache I had had nothing to do with migraines or chocolate or cheese or wind or sun or anything like that. It was a good-old fashioned show of: you are ill, you should stay home. Because, I basically... ehm... was ill. Still not completely better, but much better than last week anyway. 

I spent two days at home feeling sick/not so sick before going back to work. All the while coughing my lungs out as well, because I had noticed some fluid in my windpipe (I could hear it) and I wanted to get it out. I don't think I quite managed that, but my voice is nice and deep now (!). 

In other news: Brom and I will soon be on the road again. To the annual Tide Games to Voss in Norway. I have been there twice already (I won for the best hat in the first year and the best horse in the second year), but Brom has never been! And since it involves a stay-over (well, two really), he will be coming along. 

The first year I was dressed like my clothes cabinet had exploded on me: colours everywhere. Last year we were supposed to be cowboys and -girls. And this year? Vikings!! Which means that tomorrow (when I am off) I will need to go shopping and get some Viking gear. I am making something for Brom as well, but I won't show until. 

I had planned on making some jam. Either raspberry jam or blackberry jam. The raspberries were nearly gone though, I found one here and one there, but not enough to make an eggcup of jam, let alone a pot! The blackberries weren't ripe yet. They did tear down some of the blackberry bushes though, which wasn't very nice, but at least now I can get at them a bit easier. I think I will have to wait another week or so and then I can make some blackberry jam. 

My apple harvest this year consist of no apples. There was plenty of blossom on the tree in spring, but the weather then turned so bad with so much wind that the bees never got a look-in and didn't get the chance to pollinate. The plum harvest is a bit bigger, but I will be lucky if I can make a small pot of jam of the whole harvest! 

Well, that was me in a nutshell. 

Photo on Sunday 2015-29

You could be forgiven if you think this is an old photo of some young calves, but I actually took this photo earlier today!!

The old head again

People who have read this blog longer than just a few weeks will know I have been suffering from headaches quite a bit. So, imagine my absolute delight when after my operation back in February I was headache free for weeks on end! Unknown I can tell you!!

Alas, it wasn't to last. The headaches returned and seemingly more vicious than ever. And even though I never called in sick when I had a headache, today was the first time ever I did just that. I called in sick on account of a headache. 

On Monday I had to do the garden. Rain was expected and the grass was long enough to hide any mice and voles Miss Oswin thought of catching/playing with. So, out I went with my mower and I mowed and mowed and mowed. There was quite a stiff breeze and it was fairly muggy outside as well. By the time I had finished (right before a shower), I was hot and sweaty and very red in the face! Plus I had the beginnings of a sun/wind headache. 

Unfortunately that sun/wind headache developed in a proper headache and I worked that evening with said headache. It continued yesterday and I had severe trouble keeping it together. Plus I felt quite sick as well. In fact, so sick that I stopped the bus on my last stretch (it was empty) and got rid of the sickness. Ie I threw up! And I decided there and then: if I still would have a headache today, I would call in sick! 

Which I did. I called in sick. Because the head is still hurting and knowing that driving will definitely make it worse, I will take it easy at home. Have another good night's rest and hope that tomorrow it will be gone! 

I do wonder now about the cause of the headaches. I know chocolate and coffee trigger it, so I have cut them out completely. I have a feeling cheese might trigger it, so I am cutting that out as well. But it might also be contraception pill related. I will have to go and see my gp soon about that anyway, so I might ask her/him (whoever is back by then) about it. Until then: a quiet day off today and hopefully back in full swing tomorrow!!

Summer is nearly over

Living in the country means I am getting my fair share of 'knowledge'. Yesterday I knew it was going to rain today, just by smell and today I realised that the summer is coming to a close. First you want to know how I could smell today's rain. Which is easy. 

In order for the farmers to have a good crop of grass/hay for their animals, they need to fertilize their fields. They fertilize with cow dung here and they do it the day before it will rain. Doing it while it is going to be blazing sunny and hot, will only cause chemical burning of the field, making the field useless. Yesterday several fields were fertilized which I could smell. (The fact that somebody had told me that rain was expected for today, is neither here nor there)

This morning as I looked out the window I saw a lot of swallows. I know there are quite a few swallows summering here, but this was a larger amount than usual. It was of course the youngsters trying their wings and making sure they will be strong enough for the trek south. They may not be leaving for another couple of weeks, but the sign that summer is coming to an end is there!

During the height of summer I can do without light in the middle of the night to get around my home, since it never gets completely dark. However, now I need a flashlight or I will be stumbling around like a blind person. Having a cat slinking her way around your legs while fumbling for a light switch is not good either! And before you ask: no, I can't turn the light on downstairs and turn the same light off upstairs. Which is quite a pain, but I have gotten used to it by now. When visitors are here during the winter, I will leave a light on in the stairwell, so I won't find a mangled body downstairs!

The first geese have moved south already as well. I saw a gaggle making their way south a few weeks ago, which I thought was very early and then another gaggle just last week. Yep, soon it will be autumn!!

Back to normal

If I could have taken the house back with me...

After a week of the adventures of Brom in Scotland, I am back to writing again. He will have (likely) two more chances this year, but I am not saying anything about that until. Of course I have been back to normal for a week already, starting work last Monday. Well, Tuesday really since I had Monday off!

A little 'I'm sorry'-gesture to Brom for forgetting him
Plus I felt rotten with a massive headache the day before

As you could read in Brom's posts I had a great holiday with my family. From the missing suitcase (the dopes at KLM) to the missing Tattoo tickets it was a good week. Not a bad word between us. Normally I would have gotten very antsy after only three to four days of spending every waking moment in the company of my family (and sleeping moment as well for that matter), but ever since my sick leave in February/March I have gotten a bigger respect for family and as a result a higher threshold for antsyness. 

Before the holiday

Not that I wasn't glad to be home on my own again (with suitcase, I knew the KLM could do it), because I was. And waiting at home for me was a very furry and bumpy kitty-cat! Because of her long hair, she will occasionally get stuff caught in it. Like baby slugs and twigs. Or poo. So, the first thing I had to do was play hairdresser and cut her hair! Good thing she has long hair: it doesn't show at all!

Even though it was pouring out, she insisted on going out
She was back soon!

Speaking of Miss Oswin, even though she still loves to be outside, it seems that she stays closer to me now. Sleeping on the couch with me, providing there is a piece of paper to lie on, sleeping in the basket next to my bed or even (like this morning) on the bed. It will probably fade, but it's nice while it lasts. 

Brom in the garden of Cawdor Castle

Since Brom was writing the posts last week, I had some time to do other things and I spent a fair bit of time on my ancestry research. I have at the same time a better and worse understanding of my grandmother thanks to some information given to me by my parents. I have finally made the link to Charles the Great online. I had it on my baby laptop and on paper, but it took a while to fill it all in online. There is still a fair bit to be done, but I have a more set plan of what I want to do with it all in the end. 

It's uphill finding everything out, but I will get there eventually!

I want to make a book of the stories I have found. The corrupt politician, the princess who eloped, the man with the red hair, my grandmother and many more stories. And that's just on my mother's side! Hopefully I will also be giving some information about the time they were living in and the circumstances they most likely would have lived in. Talk about a job and a half!!

Anyway, those are the plans. There is still work of course, plus several other things coming up and popping up, so it won't be as soon as I think or hope. A vel, it will keep me busy!

Brom's Photo on Sunday 2015-28

Coocoo

This is the last post about our holiday to Scotland I had promised you to tell all about the kerfuffle that happened on the Wednesday, but it wasn't the only kerfuffle! The first kerfuffle was on the Monday, the day they LEFT ME BEHIND! Because Mara was suffering from a bit of a headache that day [an understatement, it was bad], not only did she leave little old me on the bed, she left her purse in her coat! And she didn't take the coat along. So, she didn't take the purse along. And she was the week's treasurer, the silly dope! Gera to the rescue though and the day was saved. Apart from me being stuck on a bed all day of course!

On Tuesday evening Mara told everybody what was going to happen on the next day. 'It's going to be busy in Edinburgh, be careful of your money, here's a list of things to do and see etc etc' and Gera handed two tickets to the Edinburgh Tattoo over to Mara (and Gera's) Papa. The next morning we all got in the car with our luggage and drove to the hotel in Edinburgh. About half way through Gera (who was driving) said that once we got to the hotel she would need to check if the tickets for Mara and Gera were in her bag...

Well, they weren't! The second silly dope of the week had put them in her bag and then she took ANOTHER bag!! So, Mara and Gera's Papa and Mama took the bus into town, while Mara and Gera drove back to our home away from home to get the tickets. And then silly dope number one realised that she had left the car papers at home all week as well! 

You have to wonder how two such silly dopes get through life...