Farewell 2017, and Welcome 2018

It's only a few hours until we wave goodbye to the old year and welcome in the new, so time to be a little reflective on how the year has been. In January I wrote this post, My wishes for 2017, and I think all of these still apply for the coming year.

We've had lots of great Days of Fun and found some really unique things to see and do. There is so much incredible history to explore where we live and in January we visited a remote church which sheltered Highlanders during the clearances in 1847 and has words scratched into the glass by these long ago people - A Scottish Tragedy Preserved in Glass.

We attended a world championship in which the Swedish reigned supreme, ironic really as it was the World Porridge Championship and it's one of the dishes that Scotland is known for.

April saw me taking on the A to Z Blogging Challenge for the second year, this time I had a theme and it was all about the Scottish Highlands which made it much easier than 2016. Read my thoughts on the experience and some of the great blogs I found in Reflections on the A to Z.

I ticked two things off my bucket list this year. The first was Glamping in Glenshee - basically camping in a glamorous style. It was a beautiful tent with a low bed, a small wood burner for heat, and a fantastic view of the countryside. It was so lovely that we're going back in April to stay in an old train goods carriage.

The other bucket list item was eating a Deep Fried Mars Bar. I know this sounds like a really strange thing to have on my list, but it's one of those weird food items that I'd heard about for years and had really wanted to try. The verdict - yummy but I wouldn't want to have them very often.

We had a wonderful holiday home in Australia, three weeks of catching up with family and friends whilst still managing to find interesting things to visit and explore. In Tasmania we had a great day out visiting the Murals and Mailboxes of Northern Tasmania and during our brief stay in Melbourne we explored the laneways and Street Art of this fabulous city.

I continued to take part in Top Ten blogging which is hosted by Tamara at Part-time Working Hockey Mom and this year we've done a very diverse range of topics from movie quotes, favourite summer foods, rudeness, random photos, and this one, Favourite Place on Earth. It's a small town in Tasmania called Stanley which I absolutely adore. I love lists so this prompt based challenge is perfect for me.

During the year I found two more prompt based challenges which have been great fun to do. On Wednesdays there is the Hodgepodge which is hosted by Joyce From This Side of the Pond and one of my posts included Problematic Confetti.

The other prompt based challenge is hosted by Annie at McGuffy's Reader and is called Friday's Friendly Fill-Ins - here's one of my posts from October, Friday's Friendly Contemplations. Annie also hosts Sparks on a Monday which is a place for us all to share positive thoughts to spread out into the world - it's a really lovely idea and my first contribution in October was Sparks of Hope.

Throughout all this blogging my beloved is there being his wonderful supportive self, exploring our part of the world with me and making me coffee when I'm sitting at my laptop. I'm truly blessed to share my life with this gorgeous, thoughtful, adorably funny man.

As for our furbies, Princess Cookie Cat is nearly 14 and has started to show her age in small ways - the biggest being that I can catch her quite easily now which makes going to the vet much less stressful. She's sitting beside me as I type this, but of course she's got her back to me so I'll share a photo I took earlier.

Bramble Jelly Sassy Pants (our Cocker Spaniel) is as energetic as ever and still hasn't learnt that if she annoys Cookie too much she will get a whack on the nose. I love this picture as Bramble looks so innocent and Cookie has her paw in the air ready to strike.

With one hour to go until midnight, I wish 2017 a very fond farewell - we had ups and downs like anyone does, but along the way we shared lots of love and laughter.

In 2018 I'm sure I'll find lots of other challenges to take on and hopefully we'll tick a few more things off our bucket list. Starting tomorrow, on the first day of the year I'm going to start the 100 Happy Days Challenge which I was inspired to do by Tamara who did it earlier in the year. This involves taking a photo everyday for 100 days of something that makes you happy and sharing via your preferred social media - mine is going to be on my instagram account.

We wish all of you a year filled with peace, health, love, and lots of laughter.

Happy 2018

Pamela & Ken
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Top Ten Thursday - Christmas Song Back Story

This week's top ten is a little different and I'll let Tamara, our challenge host from Part-time Working Hockey Mom, explain;

"....choose one of your top ten Christmas songs (if you participated last year) or just pick one you like and create a back story.....We want to hear about the characters in that song, and especially all the fun they had last year! Your story is only supposed to contain ten sentences."

I did participate last year and you can read my list of Top Ten Christmas Songs which included a sneaky addition which isn't a Christmas song. It's Peter Cetera and Cher singing After All which was our first dance at our December wedding (that's how it made it onto the list). Here's the song so that you can relate my story to the lyrics.

Here's what I think is happening in this song:

1. One soul, divided at birth and assigned to two mere mortals who would go through their lives knowing that something was missing but never knowing what. 
2. Watching others fall into relationships or finding a special someone, but preferring to live in solitude rather than settle for less than what their soul knew was out there, somewhere in the world, waiting.
3. Then one day, their eyes met across a crowded room (cliched I know, but that's what happened) and it was like everything in the world was suddenly real. 
4.The souls rejoiced as they recognised each other instantly, but the mortals, they took slightly longer to reach the conclusion that they were meant to be together. 
5. Dating had to happen. 
6. Learning each others hearts had to happen, 
7. Through it all the two halves of one soul waited patiently for the moment they would be one again.
8. Finally it happened.
9. After all the years of waiting.
10. Their hands touched, their souls connected, and forever started in that magical moment.

                                                                                           

What do you think? Do you ever imagine the story behind your favourite songs? Before you go, make sure you visit Tamara's blog, Part-time Working Hockey Mom and see what my fellow bloggers have come up with.

Until next time, be good, stay safe, and have a week filled with calm and peace.

Pamela & Ken
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P.S: Princess Cookie Cat has gone to the dentist so thought I should include a picture of her.

A Thankful Hodgepodge

It's time for Wednesday's Hodgepodge, a prompt based weekly blog challenge, with the prompts provided by Joyce at the blog From This Side of the Pond.

1. Tradition...how tightly do you cling to tradition when it comes to holiday gatherings and celebrations? For instance do you always do the cooking, never eat at home, always go to grandma's, never miss the parade, always watch football, never change the menu, always eat at 2 PM, etc.? Have you ever celebrated Christmas or Thanksgiving away from hearth, home, and family? How did that feel?

As I live on the opposite side of the world to the rest of my family I always feel torn at Christmas time as we can't all be together. One of my Christmas traditions now is that I ring mum on Christmas Eve here as it's Christmas morning in Australia, and mum rings me on Christmas morning, Christmas evening there.

Another tradition is that I always make mum's  Christmas pudding which is boiled in a cloth for four hours - the kitchen ends up feeling like a sauna. Ken does the main course and I'm in charge of puddings. Now that we're living in Scotland we spend Christmas with Ken's sister and family and Ken's brother - it's lovely.

Our Christmas tree is full of tradition and I wrote about it in a previous post, Christmas is coming very soon.

2. Help...is it easy for you to ask for help or are you a do-it-yourselfer? How is that a good/bad thing?

I hate admitting that I need help but as I've grown older I've gotten better at asking for help. I regularly tell people I'm supporting that they need to accept help when it's offered so I really should take my own advice.

3. Abundance...what is there an abundance of in your kitchen?

Lots of our beach combing treasures which we keep adding too - they're all over the house but this is the feature in the kitchen.

4. Name...the smallest thing you're thankful for? the biggest?

The smallest........

 

Our beautiful Princess Cookie Cat who is 13 years old (14 on Feb 1st). We got Cookie and her sister Muffin Monster as eight week old kittens and since Muffin died Cookie has become even more precious to me. She's very vocal when she wants something, if she has a furball she can't just throw up once, she throws up three times, and she barely tolerates her canine sister Bramble.

The biggest......

My wonderful life with this man. In December we will celebrate our 18th wedding anniversary and I still have to pinch myself regularly because I feel so blessed and so lucky to have my beloved by my side every day.

5. Key...What do you think is the key to living a more grateful life?

The key to a more grateful life is to practice gratitude on a daily basis. Whether you write it down or just make sure you sit down and reflect on what you have to be grateful for, it really does make a difference to your life.

6. State your own random thought here.

 I wish everyone in North America a very happy and thankful Thanksgiving tomorrow, November 23rd. For the rest of the world, I hope you all have lots of things to be thankful for in the coming days.

Until next time, be good, stay safe, and practice lots of gratitude this week.

Pamela & Ken
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Wednesday Hodgepodge - problematic confetti

It's hodgepodge Wednesday time and I'm cutting it fine but at least there's still an hour to go of this day. The questions are set by Joyce of the blog From This Side of the Pond.

1. Is a picture worth a thousand words? Elaborate.

Pictures evoke so many different thoughts in  people, some bringing back beautiful memories whilst others can bring you to tears. I looked after an elderly man once who was the only one left in his family and he would pour himself a glass of red wine, get out his photo albums, and spend the evening with his parents, brothers, sisters, and friends that were no longer with him.

These two photos are from our wedding in 1999, and they are worth way more than a thousand words. They speak of the happiness of the day, the make me think of all the people that shared it with us and then I think of the ones that are no longer with us. It brings back the overwhelming feeling of rightness to be marrying the man who had become my best friend and who really is my soulmate. And most of all it reminds me that confetti may look really romantic in pictures but it gets absolutely everywhere, especially if your mother empties a whole box of it down your cleavage - my beloved is getting out handfuls of it.

2. Have you ever driven any part of the Pacific Coast Highway? If so what was your favorite stop? If not, is this sort of trip on your bucket list?

I'm thinking that when I was on my six week trip to the states with three friends in the early 90's that we probably did travel part of this road but I don't remember. It's not on my bucket list, but the great ocean road in Australia is. I'd love to travel along this with my beloved, stopping regularly to enjoy the area.

3. How do the changing seasons affect you? As the seasons change do you find yourself looking more forward or backward? Which season-season transition bothers you most? Why do you suppose that is? 

My least favourite time of the year is when the weather starts to become cooler, warning that winter is on the way, so that's probably now. I quite like most of Autumn, the crisp days, the colour of the leaves, and knowing Christmas is round the corner, but I really don't like it when the days get shorter, the skies get grey, and it rains a lot.


4. It's your birthday and you get to pick the dinner menu. What are we having? Do you ever lie about your age?

Can I have just chocolate? No, that's probably not a very sensible thing to do so I'll add some other things in. I'd start with deep fried breaded camembert with crusty bread, followed by a plate of perfectly cooked scallops, and then sticky toffee pudding with lashings of runny cream. To drink during the meal I'd have a nice Pinot Grigio, but after the meal I'd have to have a lovely latte accompanied by mint slices, my favourite biscuit in the world (and not available in the UK).

I never lie about my age as all the important people know how old I am and the rest can just wonder and guess (usually wrong).

5. What's a life lesson you've learned recently?

This isn't a new life lesson, it's one that I keep reminding myself about regularly - you know those days when life can really get in the way of how you feel. It's a reminder to find something good in the worst situations, to know that no matter how bad things may seem at the time, they will get better.

6.  Insert your own random thought here.

Something that has always intrigued me is when you see people sitting in picnic chairs by their car in a car park to have their lunch, when if they walked about ten metres or so they'd be in a much more picturesque spot to enjoy their food. Is it just a British thing or do people do this where you live? They've bothered to bring their fold up chairs with them and yet they just use them to soak up the atmosphere (and petrol fumes) of a car park. 

So there you have my answers, I wonder what yours would be to the questions? Before you go, pop over to Joyce's blog and see what my fellow bloggers have come up with for the Wednesday Hodgepodge.

Until next time, be good, stay safe, and do something nice for yourself this week.

Pamela & Ken
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