Macclesfield - the centre of the universe?

In the early 90's I met a girl, Elaine, from the UK who told me the town she lived in was the centre of the universe and that town was Macclesfield. That was 24 years ago and I've been to Macclesfield three times over the years and it's very unassuming for such an important place in the universe. This week we went for a little road trip to the centre of the universe and back which was only 402 miles each way.

Our first stop for sustenance was in Pitlochry which I've featured on here before, as it's becoming a favourite of ours. We went to Hettie's Tea Rooms for breakfast and indulged in two very Scottish choices, porridge and pancakes. Ken thinks the inside of the tearoom looks like the inside of a dolls house - how he knows this I'm not quite sure.

As we were walking down the street we noticed this interesting window  - the windows are boarded up but someone has painted this one to make it look like someone is sitting having a cup of tea.

Whilst we were having breakfast it started raining and it didn't stop until we got to our destination - monkey was quite disgusted by it all. It was particularly awful when we were going past trucks due to all the spray. It wasn't just me and Ken in the car, we also had Bramble Jelly with us, so we had to make regular stops for her to stretch her legs.

This was the view from our hotel room looking over the train lines and a shop of loveliness. The shop, Arighi Bianchi, had some beautiful furniture in the windows and two pink flamingos. When I looked up their website the flamingos were nearly £500 each!!! I didn't even look to see how much the lovely purple velvet chair was after that.

Elaine told me that one of the highlights of any trip to Macclesfield was visiting the 108 steps so we make sure it's part of our visits to the town. The history of the steps is a little unsure but they are mentioned in 1696 so they are quite old. When we'd reached the top I was gasping like I was about to expire, so felt very unfit when we discovered a lady being filmed as she'd just run up and down the steps over 30 times!!

This is the view of the town from the top of the steps.

This quirky little house is at the top of the steps and must feature in the photographs of people from all over the world. If it was my house I'd put something really silly in the window to amuse people.

Me on the steps as we're about to go back down - imagine the history that those steps have seen.

One pilgrimage I had to make whilst we were in town was to the Moss Rose stadium which is the home ground of Macclesfield Town Football Club (that's soccer for all the non Brits) otherwise known as the Silkmen. When I moved to the UK I thought I should choose a team to support as it's such a topic of conversation, so because of it being the centre of the universe I decided that it was the team for me. A bit like the town, it's an unassuming team that likes to give other teams a sense of well being by letting them win.

Another day another breakfast, this time a yummy vegetarian brekkie in a really nice little cafe called Bella Vista - it actually did have quite a nice view.

As we were heading back to the car the heavens opened with torrential rain which gave us the excuse of going into yet another tea shop. We refrained from food for a change and just had a hot drink whilst we tried to dry off a bit.

Our reason for the road trip was to catch up with the gorgeous Elaine, she of the centre of the universe comment. It was so lovely to see her and wished we could have stayed for longer.

I thought I'd include a picture of the two of us from the year we met, 1992. We don't dress like this normally, it was a fancy dress party - I was a gypsy and Elaine was a punk fairy. I don't think we've changed that much, just slightly greyer hair (and smaller glasses for me). I should mention that at the same party Ken was dressed as a baby and he even had a baby's bottle but it didn't have milk in it.

On the way home when we stopped at yet another motorway services we found this kiddies ride with Dick Dastardly and Muttley which was made for Ken - such a shame we couldn't have Bramble inside as that would have looked perfect.

Speaking of Bramble Jelly Sassypants, here she is after the only time she made a fuss in the 804 miles. We'd obviously been driving slightly longer than she wanted so we heard about it with whining and barking telling us to stop - she's such a good girl.

Here's my beloved with Bramble - for anyone who's read any previous posts you may notice that she's getting longer. It's just over the last couple of weeks she's really stretched out and is getting taller - I know this because she can now jump onto my knee when I least expect it, even if there is a cat in the way. You can imagine how impressed the cats are by this and how scratched my thighs are getting.

Driving home it rained again but then we were rewarded with this beautiful double rainbow.

I hope you've enjoyed this road trip with us and getting to see the centre of the universe. Until next time, be good, stay safe, and take a few moments to think of all the things you've got to be grateful for.

Pamela & Ken

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Baseball - monthly photo blogging challenge

Time for the monthly photo blogging challenge and June's theme is Baseball!! Not something we get a lot of in the Scottish Highlands so I was in a bit of a dilemma about how to represent it. My first thought was to take pictures of things you might find at a baseball game, but after Ken's suggestion of taking a picture of a cow because the gloves are made out of leather I poo pooed that idea. Another idea that we debated was finding things to represent team names but hadn't fully decided on this until we happened to drive past a laundrette called the Red Sock (see photo 3). We saw it as a sign (no pun intended) so this month I have learnt more about obscure Minor League Baseball teams than I ever thought I would.

Hope you enjoy my interpretation of the theme and I apologise to all the North Americans at my very limited knowledge of your nations sport.

1. Midland Rockhounds play in Texas and first played under that name in 1999 and apparently a Rockhound is another name for a geologist. The team has three mascots; Rocky born in 1999, Juice born in the late 80's, and Junior who was a stray??

Our very own rockhound on top of a very large rock

2. Boise Hawks play in Idaho and first played with that name in 1987. I have actually heard of Boise but I'm not sure why. The teams mascot is Humphrey the Hawk who was born in the Boise foothills.

Statue of a bird of prey in the Eastgate Shopping Centre, Inverness

3. Pawtucket Red Sox is a team that plays in Rhode Island that first played with that name in 1970. Pawtucket - that's a place I've never heard of and it's a very interesting (odd) name. The team has two mascots, Paws and Sox (very original). Paws is a boy and was born in 1999 and Sox is a girl and was born in 2001 and they are polar bears (because we all know that polar bears are native to Rhode Island).

Launderette in Grantown-on-Spey

4. Durham Bulls is a team in North Carolina which first played as the Bulls in 1913 and is a minor league team that I've actually heard of thanks to the film Bull Durham (1988) which starred the gorgeous Kevin Costner and the equally gorgeous Timothy Robbins. The team mascot was born in 1992 and is called Wool E Bull.

Highland Cow/Bull

5. Kannapolis Intimidators play in North Carolina and have played with that name since the year 2000. Personally I prefer their previous name which was Piedmont Boll Weevils which they were given after a public name the team contest - reminds me of the Boaty McBoatface incident earlier this year. Their mascot is Tim E Gator (see what they've done there) and he joined the team in 2009.

Our own little intimidator - she looks so innocent but she is definitely
the boss of the furbies in this house.

Now why don't you pop over to PJ's blog to see how other people have interpreted the theme - just click HERE.

Until next time, be good, stay safe, and take the time to learn something new this week.

Pamela & Ken
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A highland hodgepodge

This weekend was a hodgepodge of mini adventures. First, I was working on Saturday as we had a kid's day at work - what do you think of the addition of pink pipe cleaners to my glasses? I also had purple pipe cleaners in my hair but I took them out before I forgot and went out in public with them.

After my day at work we called into the Culloden Battlefield visitor centre as they had a craft fair on, and who can resist one of those. In the pavement they have a lot of clan coats of arms and we found Clan Murray, which is Ken's ancestry.

Here's a picture of some of the stalls - it doesn't look like much but they were spread over such a large area that I couldn't fit them all in.

I did indulge and buy a few things including the gorgeous tea cup Pixie and magic wand that are pictured below (yes, still crazy). The pixie is a native of the highlands and loves collecting things, so I think I must have a bit of pixie in me.

Whilst we were having a sit down in the visitor centre I was quite fascinated by this wall hanging with a recipe for short bread. Firstly I was surprised to read that Scotland and England pounds are different, and secondly I was very intrigued as to what a mutchkin is. Of course I googled it and according to the Collins online dictionary it is: a Scottish unit of liquid measure equal to slightly less than one pint.

On Sunday we went into Inverness and managed to squeeze in a visit to a graveyard - how fabulous. The graveyard was around the Old High Church which is the site of the oldest congregation in the city. There are some really interesting headstones and despite it raining it was a good wander.

Below is a headstone for a Forbes family which is part of my ancestry - there were quite a few in the graveyard so I took photos of them all so that I can see if they match anyone on my family tree.

A couple of gravestones from the 1700's.

Interesting doors in the church - we're not sure what the top one was for as there's no way to get up to it. It's a door to nowhere.

The next two headstones have a hand holding a scroll - the scroll represents the persons life and the hand shows the angels holding the life.

After the battle of Culloden in 1746 the churchyard was used to execute prisoners and the headstone below was one that was used to line up the prisoners for shooting.

Interesting headstone with a plough on the bottom.

View from the graveyard looking over the River Ness and the pedestrian bridge.

Another 1700's headstone that has been renewed - obviously still important to someone.

Very impressive headstone for a military man.

 Final picture is my beloved in his new t-shirt that I had made for him. It has pictures of four things on the front that represent him - dog walking, cake, cars, and housework!! Before anyone thinks I'm being mean he absolutely loved it. Also, there is a hidden message printed inside the hem which I can't reveal but just to say it's something that Kath used to say to Kel in Kath & Kim (it's an Australian comedy). In case anyone wants to get one for someone, it's from not on the highstreet and there are loads of pictures to choose from.

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

Pamela & Ken

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A hedgehog, midwives up a mountain, and a cookie shaped like a cow.

This post is a bit of a mishmash but sometimes that's what our weekends are like. On Saturday evening we found this lovely little lady in our garden - it's only the second hedgehog that I've seen in the wild. We've visited the hedgehog rescue centre of Tiggywinkle's outside London and loved seeing the little beasties wandering around the garden. I guess this is another benefit of the very long days in the highlands, we get to see animals that are nocturnal - I took this photo after 10pm with no need for a flash.

On Sunday we drove down to Fort William (the reason will follow in a moment). Fort William is where the West Highland Way finishes. This is a walk that has been on my bucket list for way too long and I suspect it will stay there for a long time in the future. It's Scotland's most popular long distance walk which is 96 miles/154 Kilometres long. Since we last visited the town they've changed the end point and made it much more of a feature - there are seats for the walkers and a statue of a walker resting his feet.

A really interesting feature in the town is the Recycle route which includes 13 painted bikes at various points around the town with interesting facts about recycling. I think anything that makes us think about what we're doing to the planet is a good thing.

Interesting pattern on the steps with a welcome message carved in English and Gaelic.

Now for the reason we were in Fort William. Ken's sister Jean and many of her midwife colleagues decided to walk to the top of Ben Nevis for charity. Ben Nevis is the tallest mountain in the UK and is 4,411ft 2in or 1,345m tall. These remarkable women (or crazy) went up the mountain in aid of two cancer charities, one of them being Maggie's Highlands which is where I work. They all inspire me greatly but especially Jean - she's like the energiser bunny, never stopping. This picture (courtesy of Jean's phone) is of the ladies at the summit of the mountain - Jean is on the right.

Jean just after she came down the mountain with her very well deserved bottle of prosecco - she wasn't actually drinking it but I think she was tempted.

Ken and his wee sister Jean - we're so glad we could be there to share that momentous achievement with the ladies.

On our way home we stopped at the Commando's memorial which was unveiled in 1952. 1,700 commandos died in the second world war and 8 commandos were awarded the Victoria Cross.

Since we last stopped at the memorial (quite a number of years ago) an area of remembrance has been created where the ashes of commandos from world war two have been placed along with memorial plaques to men and women who have died in more recent conflicts such as the Falklands, Iraq, and Afghanistan. It's a very poignant area as so many of the plaques are to very young people.

This is a view of the Nevis range from the memorial - Ben Nevis is somewhere in the clouds.

To finish here is a picture of my highland cow cookie that my beloved bought me - I'd given him the challenge of finding me a cookie shaped like an animal and not from a supermarket. I think he excelled himself.

Until next time be good, stay safe, and maybe challenge yourself to do something new this week.

Pamela & Ken
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