Ten Things about Ten Years Ago

This week for the top ten, Tamara at Part-time Working Hockey Mom has asked us to think about what we were doing ten years ago in 2008. I've really had to rack my brains for this one and look back at photos to see a bit of what we were up to.

1. I began a new job in January 2008 as a Palliative Care Lecturer Practitioner. Big title for a specialist nurse who also did education. Loved this job but I never got over the nerves when I was presenting.

2. Our brats, Princess Cookie Cat and Muffin Monster were only four years old and still liked each other enough to sit together.

3. Mum and Aunty Chris came to the UK for a holiday and we had a wonderful time with them, including taking them to Scotland for a week. (We were living in greater London at the time.)

4. I joined Facebook in 2008, finally getting on board with the Social Media trend. This was my profile picture in 2008 which was taken at the wedding of a doctor I worked with.

5. A really historic moment took place in this year - Barack Obama became the first black president of the United States.

6. We discovered a fabulous Bed & Breakfast in Deddington Oxfordshire, The Old Post House. It was dog friendly and the lovely hostess had dogs as well. We stayed there a few times over the years as it was perfectly situated for exploring the Cotswolds or just relaxing in the local area. Down the street there was the fantastic Crown & Tuns which basically serves pies - big, scrummy pies.

7. Even though it was season 7, this was the year that I got hooked on American Idol. The eventual winner this year was David Cook, which was totally the right choice. Here's his audition that started his journey through the show.

8. The film Cloverfield was in the cinemas and there were reports that it was making people feel sick because of how it was filmed. My beloved decided to go and see it with his youngest, and not that long into the film he rang me from the car as he'd had to leave due to feeling sick - Jamie was fine and stayed for the whole film.

9. We visited the Rollright Stones in Oxfordshire which consists of several features but the one I liked the best was the Kings Men, which is thought to have been erected in 2,500bc. The really interesting legend around this circle of stones is that you can never count the same number of stones, and this proved true as I counted them at least three time, getting a different number each time.

10. We took our gorgeous Bertie Boo to the beach for the first time and it took us a little while to convince him to go in the water - he didn't know what to do with the waves.

There you have a snapshot of our 2008 - it feels like forever ago. Before you go make sure that you hop over to Tamara's Blog to see what my fellow bloggers have come up with for their list.

Until next time have a really wonderful week.

Pamela & Ken

xxxxxxxxxxxx

Natures Beauty in the Highlands

The weather was absolutely gorgeous over the weekend so of course we had to get out and explore the countryside. Somewhere that we have driven past countless times but never visited was Burgie Arboretum, so on Saturday we went and discovered the natural beauty hidden up a very rough gravel road.

One of the houses we drove past had interesting things all through the garden and hanging in the trees. This tree had beautiful dreamcatchers and sparkly things that caught the sun - I loved it and think that we should do this to one of the trees near our cottage.

As we walked into the woodland gardens we were greeted by a sea of fairy wishes, otherwise known as dandelions or a way to tell the time.

Throughout the garden there were lots of bluebells out, mixed in amongst other wild flowers including daisies, buttercups, and forget me nots.

I'm now going to share lots of photos that I took to show you how stunningly beautiful the arboretum is - we'll definitely be going back as it's such a peaceful and calming place to walk.

The scent of the different flowers was intoxicating and the two of us spent lots of time with our noses in amongst the petals.

The arboretum is split into different areas and there is even a place for Eucalyptus trees - I felt right at home
.

Very colourful signpost with the distance to other countries in the world - I was most put out that Australia wasn't there.

I'm in love with alliums as they are everywhere and so gorgeous in there purpleness. Alliums are basically an ornamental onion, and if we had our own garden I would have lots of these.

Selfie in the sunshine - I don't know what was going on with my hair on Saturday, it looks like it's trying to leave my head. It was a little bit fluffy. Ken looks totally bald as the sun was reflecting off his fair hair - he's actually got very thick luxuriant hair (that's my line and I'm sticking to it).

On our way home we stopped off for a coffee at Brodie Castle and the gardens are looking so green and lush - these beach and oak trees are stunning.

Here's hoping for lots more sunny days so that we can spend time immersed in nature. Until next time we hope that wherever you are in the world that you are having a good week.

Pamela & Ken
xxxxxxxxxxxx

P.S: The brats taking complete ownership of our bed - Lord Rocky Horror doing his yoga moves and Princess Cookie Cat choosing to sleep on my black work trousers rather than the rest of the bed.

Friday's Happy Fill Ins

Welcome back to the fill ins which are hosted by Ellen at 15andmeowing.com and Lorianne at Four-Legged Furballs who provide the prompts in bold and the rest is by me.

1.Happiness is being married to my best friend.

2. Ten years ago, I never would have pictured all the changes that have happened in our lives including leaving the NHS and moving to live in the north of Scotland.

3. Time spent with animals is the best medicine. More specifically time spent with cats, but I love all animals and of course I couldn't miss out Bramble Jelly, our lovely puppy dog.

                      Princess Cookie Cat                              Lord Rocky Horror & Bramble Jelly

4. Most people don’t know that I love an over the top disaster/action movie. Think 2012, The Day After Tomorrow,  and the gorgeous Vin Diesel in XXX - I can watch these films over and over.

That's it today, so until next time, be good and stay safe.

Pamela & Ken
xxxxxxxxxxxx

Top Ten Thursday - The Circus

It's top ten Thursday time and we're going to the circus - thanks to Tamara at Part-time Working Hockey Mom for hosting this blog hop. As I haven't been to a circus since I was a child, I've decided to write about how our life is a circus, especially this week.

Let's consider the essential components of any circus:

1. Clowns - ours is one of those sad clowns that has his smile painted on upside down. My beloved had something wrong with his back so we ended up in Accident & Emergency - it took a lot of convincing and he wasn't impressed with all the waiting around.

2. Jugglers - The day Ken went to A&E I was due in at work and of course we had Bramble Jelly in the car as well. After walking Bramble my lovely colleagues sent me off to be with Ken and they took Bramble into work to be with them - I think she's turning into our mascot.

3. Clairvoyants - it's amazing how a person with medical knowledge can look at another person and, without any tests, say what is causing a problem. I had to do a lot of tongue biting when the "professional" told my husband that he'd had exactly the same thing in the past.

HOW DOES HE KNOW!!!

4. Bed of Nails - it's not a typical bed of nails but Ken decided to sleep on the very hard floor the night after his visit to the hospital to see if it would help him. It was very, very strange not having him in the bed with me. He only tried it for a night before coming back to the comfort of the bed.

5. Tightrope walker - balancing life when all I wanted to do was stay home and take care of my beloved is a little bit tricky. Thankfully my lovely colleagues are a great safety net underneath my tightrope and understand when I'm a little distracted.

6. Big Cats - thankfully real circuses no longer have animals, but our life has two big cats that create interesting moments in our lives. Princess Cookie Cat is still barely tolerating the newcomer, and Lord Rocky Horror is a little bit of a psycho, but in the nicest possible way. They do actually sleep in beds next to each other now without any growling or hissing from Cookie.

Princess Cookie Cat

Lord Rocky Horror

7. Strongman - my beloved is definitely a strongman in how he deals with being incapacitated, trying to do more than he should, but also trying to hide how much pain he has been in so as I don't worry.

8. Lion Tamer - Bramble Jelly is a great lion tamer, and if the cats start fighting, she runs in between them to break it up. She also wrestles with Lord Rocky and comes out unscathed - they're very funny together.

9. Illusionist - like Dynamo doing one of his incredible levitation acts, my beloved has improved and whilst I still think he should be resting more he's much better than he was.

10. Ringmaster - I'm claiming this title after the last week, but I feel I can hand that title back over to Ken now as he is much better at the job.

Hope you've enjoyed my interpretation of today's top ten - make sure you hop over to Tamara's Blog to see what my fellow bloggers have come up with. Hopefully I'll catch up with everyone's blogs over the next few days now that Ken is improving.

Be well.

Pamela & Ken
xxxxxxxxxxxx

Top Ten Thursday - Spring

It's May and the A to Z blogging challenge that took over April is done so it's back to normal blogging for all of us crazies that took part. It's time for top ten Thursday and today we're looking at all the things we love about spring. The top ten is hosted by Tamara at Part-time Working Hockey Mom - make sure you pop over and see what my fellow bloggers have come up with for their posts.

1. Crocuses - it really feels like spring is here when these colourful little flowers start appearing. I love how they look like a multicoloured carpet under the trees. The most expensive spice in the world, saffron, comes from a breed of crocus and in the language of flowers, the crocus represents youthful gladness. (Meaning of Flowers)

2. Daffodils - such a happy flower with so many variations. A bunch of daffodils in the home brightens up the gloomiest day with their yellow cheerfulness.

3. Lambs - one of the great joys of the journey to work and back during spring is watching the lambs and all their antics. They jump and climb and play and just look adorable.

4. Cherry Blossom - a short season of gorgeous flowers and when the flowers are done it looks like there is confetti all over the ground.

5. Calves - so cute and beautiful at the same time.

6. Gorse/Broom - spring is when the highlands turn yellow (or Xanthic as I posted about previously) with gorse and broom all over the place.

7. Wildflowers - I love seeing the different flowers that appear in the woods in spring, creating a haze of colour to walk through.

8. Highland Games - spring and the month of May sees the beginning of the Highland Games in Scotland. I love seeing all the traditional activities - dancing, bagpipes, strong men activities, and tug of war.

9. Warmer Weather - finally it's time to leave the coat and gloves at home and enjoy the fact that the sun has warmth in it again. Much better weather for getting out and exploring the fabulous old graveyards we often stumble across.

10. Sunshine - this one is purely for the cats. Princess Cookie Cat and Lord Rocky Horror are very happy that it's spring as they can find much warmer sunshine to lie in, and it's even better if that patch of sunshine is across the nice comfortable human bed.

What's your favourite thing about spring? Until next time, enjoy the warmer weather and the joy of natures rebirth all around us.

Pamela & Ken
xxxxxxxxxxxx

P.S: Final photo that I have to share is the three brats in one photo - amazing.