A Blur

Life is going by in a blur just now, which is no bad thing as I hate January and February is little better.

I'm gutting my kitchen, as my son's girlfriend offered to come and cook dinner for us all tomorrow night, and, biting back my mother's half of my DNA, I stupidly agreed.
(My mother's favourite battle cry was, "Get out of my kitchen!"). But at least I must have done something right the first time the girl came out here for her to want to come back. And it will be joy to have someone else cook for this lot!

I've also been to Edinburgh to check all the required documents went off with the charity bid, there was pages and pages of the bloody stuff. After the meeting I wandered over to the National Museum of Scotland, as it's been ages since I visited. The rain was lashing outside and I had a lovely hour looking at some of our greatest national treasures and antiquities.

Talk about bling! There are a couple of silver chains in there that you could tie an ocean liner up with. And of course there are a few of the Lewis Chessmen . They are carved in walrus ivory and are thought to date to the 12th century and they are to Lewis what the Elgin marbles are to Athens. Most are in the British Museum in London, the rest are in Edinburgh, but Lewis wants them all back. I think they have a good case. The chessmen themselves are exquisite wee things, I especially like their slightly bemused expressions. My Dad was half Danish and they look a little like he did after one too many schapps!

I've also planted the plants from the Beth Chatto nursery, three Echinacea purpurea called White Lustre, one Erynguim eburneum, to go with my globe thistles and cardoons,one Rudbeckia lancinata - a tall autumn daisy, a Helianthus Lemon Queen and some hardy chrysanths, I wanted Emperor of China, but couldn't get it, so this is a surprise substitution. So lots of back end colour to look forward to! I've also potted up some root cutting from the chrysanths and sown my tomato seeds inside in the propagator.

And I've booked my tickets for the Stanza poetry festival, see Colin's blog for full details, and the accommodation we booked has been upgraded to a flat in the "big house" complete with the old board of servants' bells.
It should be a good weekend.

The picture is of the ripples on the river yesterday. They were going by in a blur too.