So we’re coming out of summer now, and I have big plans for growing more for next spring but I was just thinking about what I can try over winter.
I had a good clear out of my little vegetable area in the garden today such as weeding and I had to chuck my spinach after I killed it (I still have no idea how).
I popped some garlic into two pots, I don’t think I’ve done too many this time but time will tell! My plan for this week is to get some onions in and retry some spinach. I’ve read certain types of spinach can he Hardy for winter so no harm in trying. I know onion and garlic are to be planted in autumn to winter out before growing for the spring/summer so I’m hopeful there.
I’m going to look at getting a couple of fruit trees too this week if I get the chance to pop to my local garden centre. I’ll just see what options they have before I decide what to get. Ideally a couple of Berry options. I’d like to get some seed potatoes in too but I need to think about where to put these so I think that will be part of next summers trials as I know they can be quite invasive in terms of always coming back even after you think you’ve dug them out.
I’d also like to get a few pots of flowers dotted round the garden. We have a large circular rockery in the middle of our front garden so I’d really like to incorporate some kind of wildflowers into that for the bees and butterflies. Nothing makes me happier than watching the bees bumble about the garden.
Stay tuned to see what I end up doing in the next couple weeks before I think about prepping the garden for winter!
I’ve always loved reading since I could. When I was little, Mum and Dad would put me to bed and the minute I heard the kitchen door close I would pull out a book from under my bed. I’d read it end to end, over and over. Any time I heard my parents come through I’d throw the duvet over my head and pretend to sleep. They knew I wasn’t sleeping.
It took them years to tell me they didn’t mind if it wasn’t too late because I was reading and not doing anything mischievous.
This was a book my Dad had to read to be 10 times over every night for years, and my Gran dug it out a few weeks ago 💙
In school I adored writing stories and reading books. In primary school (elementary or first school if you’re not from Scotland) we had reading homework to do weekly which was just reading certain pages of a book to practice before we read it in school with our teacher, and then we had to get our diary signed by our parents to tell the teacher we’d done it. I went home the same night and read the whole book cover to cover and never ever got my diary signed and truthfully my teachers never seemed to care and I think it’s because I had a pretty good ability to read anyway.
Then came high school. Obviously you start writing essays and not just stories. I LOVED IT. I wrote essays for competitions and won a few too and my English teachers were pretty proud too. It was the one thing in school I was good at. I had a physics and maths brain (hello engineering, post school) and I played music and these are things I enjoyed but I was genuinely good at English. I left school early but pleaded with my teachers and office staff to let me come in for my English classes and sit my final exam and they let me. I passed. That in itself is massive for me. I don’t do well in exams. I know everyone says that but I will genuinely walk into an exam, sit down and forget every single thing I’ve ever learnt and probably burst out crying. Something I still do age 25. They’ve never gotten any easier for me. In English classes in school we did little friendly competitions to see who could read the most books each term and I read a mental amount of books to be honest at the time. After leaving school, I stopped reading so often. And as time went past I read less and less.
I missed it so a couple of years ago I bought myself a Kindle, downloaded a couple of free books and started getting back into it. Now I’ll lose myself in a book for hours at a time. I maybe won’t pick a book up for a few weeks but when I do, I could happily sit and read a book in a night.
This is also why I started this blog. I wanted to start writing again. I’m not great at the fictional side of things. My imagination isn’t great, but when I find a non-fiction topic I’m interested in, I could write a whole dissertation on it to be honest. So although I know there’s loads of people who are not interested in what I’m doing here but this is my little outlet so if you’re here and reading my rambles, Thank you.
A couple of wee links if fancy following my books and read!
So after moving out of my parents a few years ago, I truly did not realise the cost of living. In this post, I’m not talking Bills, mortgage etc, I’m talking day to day groceries.
I decided to make a list of the things I hate buying and will shed a tear before doing so.
1. Washing Powder. Dean has so many allergies, so I’m very specific about what I use. My go to is Fairy Non-bio but spending £15 makes me so reluctant. Especially when you stick a load of washing on, and forget about it for a couple of days so you then have to wash it again and therefore waste more washing powder (or in my case I buy the capsules). I do sometimes buy the supermarkets own brand to be cheap for when I do this though.
2. Bin bags. I swear bin bags used to be about a pound. Now they’re three quid for the thinnest tiniest heaps you’ve ever found. I also have no idea what size my bins are so everytime I have to buy them I guess what size they are. You’d think I should just remember the last ones I bought, but I don’t. Sometimes they fit, sometimes they consume my entire kitchen, and something you’d be lucky to pick up your dogs poop with them.
3. Fruit. I do love some fruit, but I’ll only eat it when I’m in the mood for it. The cost of fruit I think has gone up so much, and the shelf life seems to have gone down. If I buy a punnet of strawberries, I’ll be lucky to get two days out of them. Likewise with grapes etc.
4. Ice Cream and Ice Lollies. Basically any frozen sugary treats. £6 for a tub of ice cream? Or £4 for a box of ice lollies with maybe three in a box? Definitely a want but a reluctant spend with the heatwave at the moment.
5. Meat, fish or poultry. Both Dean and I are pretty fit, I go to the gym and Dean plays rugby. We both try and get a good amount of protein and natural fats into our diet and a good way is things like red meat and fish. In the last few months I’ve noticed the price of meat has sky rocketed. And truthfully I don’t think the meat we’re buying from supermarkets is amazing… I’d love to support local farmers/business much more but just the expense is not something I can justify. My local supermarket is £5 for a small pack of beef meatballs that don’t have a huge amount of taste, and £6.50 for a packet of chicken thats about 50% water.
There’s absolutely hundreds more but this is the first five that come to my head since usually its the go tos on the shopping list.
We do dream of Having a big house, with a massive white couch, 12 foot ceilings, with everything in sight basically white. Maybe a bit of monochromatic decor like a black coaster, or a black vase with some red roses. And maybe we like that idea because we see the influencers on Instagram and Tiktok with that. But honestly how realistic is it? Maybe if you live alone and you enjoy cleaning and have the time to do so.
But that idea is actually not so appealing to me anymore.
So I’m probably somewhere in the middle of minimalist and maximalism. I hate clutter, but I do love the idea of ‘things’ having a story. Like that bit of gravel on the window that looks like a toddler threw a tantrum then lost interest, but you know if came from a beach where you saw your first shooting star. Things like that are not clutter. Also I have two dogs, and Dean and I (Dean moreso) don’t work particularly clean jobs so the idea of having white in my house actually scares me a little.
Don’t get me wrong, if that is you and I go to your house, I will happily visit and take my shoes off and wear little bags over my feet and white gloves (genuinely unsarcastically) because I really appreciate the time and effort you’ve put into your ideal. But that’s not for me.
If you visit me, please don’t take your shoes off, probably wear something black because Macey likes to say hello (we are trying to stop her jumping, but she sometimes just can’t contain her wiggles) and as much as I try my house is rarely tidy but I do try to keep it as clean is realistically possible.
At the moment I’m definitely going for more of a maximalist home. There’s memories and tokens that we’ve gathered over the years and I can’t wait to build on that. Little trinkets like fossils that I’ve gifted Dean, my precious plants (that’s been an addiction for years and Dean definitely didn’t realise when I moved in) and having loads of colour in our home.
The car photographed is a BMW E30, which was Deans first pride and joy car.
I’m definitely going to share little bits of my home on here too so stay tuned!
So the lawn itself was Deans project for the summer. I’ve never seen someone with such a hatred of dandelions or moss. Which living on the Isle of Skye means thats basically what our lawns are made up of.
Back in April when we did the first grass cut of the year, we borrowed my Dads scarifier and spent two days basically digging up the whole front graden. We let that rest for about a week while we waited for grass seed to arrive. Once the grass seed did arrive we let it pre-germinate in little mesh bags in a bucket for two days before removing them and letting them dry out. This just sped up the process of the grass seeds rooting. The first attempt at spreading the grass was by hand and basically just walking around for hours sprinkling handfuls of grass seed. The seed did take but took about three weeks to just show. We also had a bit of a heatwave so keeping them damp was an issue as well as birds having a good meal.
We ordered more grass seed and after some research we bought some compost and top soil. After pre germinating the seed again we mixed the compost, top soil with the grass seed before sprinkling. This process worked a lot better because it gave the seed more protection from the birds, but also kept the seed damp letting it root better so we got a lot more coverage out of this. The next time we sowed some grass seed was just to cover some patches. And to be fair, the front lawn now does look like a golfing green. I do think this might have to be a yearly project though with the moss growth on the Island, simply because of the acidicity of the ground here.
The back garden was a bit of a different task. I just wanted grass. I didnt care what was there as long as it was green as during the winter, the garden turns into a swamp and the dogs churn the ground up and turn it into a race track. Theres one little patch in particular that gets very soggy with heavy rain. This is where a rosebush used to be which we dug up to move as Macey kept hurling herself into as a puppy. So what we do with this patch will be a work in progress but I’m hopeful that having some grass will help with some water absorbtion.
Macey trying to model with the swamp she’s created
For the most part its now actually green everywhere, just the odd little patch that didn’t take where it’s very much in the shade and gets little sun light or even rainfall. But now that Mac is older and the dogs don’t chase each other round the garden anymore, I think this will actually just grow back in due course. The real test will be come the winter and see how much of it survives. If it doesn’t, next years plan will be just to overseed the shit out of it and fence sections off so it’s totally undisturbed by the dogs running on it.
My biggest issue with having done this is the grass seed getting everywhere round the patio and gravel round the back. I. Hate. Weeds. I started pulling weeds as they grew but I couldn’t keep up, so I decided to leave it until we had finished all the grass seeding for the year so more seed wouldn’t just start growing. At the end of last year we put new kerbing round the lawn and there is one patch beside it that is all gravel, and embarrassingly I left it because I was so overwhelmed with the weeds but now it’s time to do something about it before summer is over totally!
I started digging up all the gravel sections. Pulling out all the weeds and grass before sifting and cleaning the stones. Chucked the stones in the wheelbarrow and then starting laying down a membrane to stop the weeds growing so much. I started this section and admittedly it took me about three hours, so I really need to figure a more efficient way without turning the patio into a total mud bath. But I’m already much happier with the outcome, I just think It’s going to be a slow process only being able to do this on weekends and evenings while trying to midge clouds.
Fecking everything. I am a massive overthinker, but it’s usually not *those* scenarios that keep me awake at night. It’s just about every single thought you can think of that does.
The tangents you go off with your friends but on steroids and only in my own head.
Maybe this makes me sound mental but I recently learned that there are people in the world that don’t have a voice in their head. No dialogue. Is it just actual silence? What goes on. This is the main thought that I think about at least once every night before I go off on another tangent.
Then the tangent usually goes; ‘what job am I on tomorrow? Oh I’ve done work for them before! Was it changing a socket? I wonder who the first person to get an electric shock was and how did that come about? Maybe if I painted rubber on my hands I’d become insulated? But would I stink of those Jelly shoes you wore when you were a kid? I wonder if you still get those shoes with the little doll in the heel?’ Etc etc etc
This normally goes on for around two or three hours before I fall asleep. Is this normal? I’m not sure if this is something you can just ask people without sounding like you’re a lunatic. Maybe I am, but alas this is just thoughts in my brain that I rarely actually speak about.
I mean I do get those anxious thoughts and replaying scenarios but it quite quickly goes off on a tangent of some sort. Maybe this is some kind of undiagnosed ADHD? Maybe this is normal and just no one has ever told me. It’s probably just Millennial neurodivergence.
I’d love an off switch. People have said to try meditating. How the fuck do you meditate when you can’t empty your brain. When I try I start thinking about the origins of the brain. What is a thought?
I’ve tried various sleeping remedies, I’ve forced myself to try different teas, which if you know me is exact opposite of my tipple (black coffee). Minus taking actual sleeping tablets, I’m always open to suggestions to shutting my brain up and being able to sleep.
It feels like its been a while where I’ve had a Sunday to do very little. Today was just what I needed, even though it’s been productive.
I woke at half seven, which is absolutely unheard of for me (I’m the absolute opposite of a morning person). I definitely did not get up then though. I woke again around half nine and then got up. Made myself the best coffee I’ve had in a while, a bowl of cereal and sat playing with Macey while I had my breakfast.
Dean had a car in for detailing over the weekend, so I went out and helped him finish that off for a couple of hours, and then tidied the kitchen and did a couple loads of washing. (I swear this is the first time I’ve ever been on top of laundry too).
Although it was warm, it wasn’t overly sunny so I decided to take Macey out for a walk down the harbour. I grabbed an iced coffee from where my friend works, and had a wee chat while Macey got cuddles from everyone inside! We took a walk down the harbour and it was so busy but just bliss. Macey always has a big smile on her face and loves her walks so her tail is always wagging. She adores everyone she meets so she made a few lovely tourists day saying hello while I chatted about the local area. I grabbed an ice cream and we headed down to the shore. I gave Macey a little bit of ice cream and then she pottered about the shore picking up seaweed and chasing the waves. I had my camera with me and I just sat and took a couple of snaps, and it was total bliss.
I used to take my camera everywhere with me but over the last few years I’ve really missed my photography. I’ve done a couple of local horse shows but barely picked the camera up in between so taking it out and not feeling like a numpty was nice. I didn’t take photos of anything spectacular but it’s nice just getting the hang of it again.
We took a slightly longer route back home but it was shadier for Macey and her paws and I think she really enjoyed it. Theres a little stream that she always stops to have a drink from too.
When I got home, I just had the urge to bake something. I’m such a plain jane when it comes to bakes so decided on some cupcakes. After a couple of hours baking and now writing, I’ve got the biggest smile on my face. Something I havent had for a while. Now to sit and finish my book before some TV and bed.
If you could host a dinner and anyone you invite was sure to come, who would you invite?
I don’t normally bother with these prompts by WordPress but I thought this was quite funny to do.
I’m going to include people in this that are no longer with us too, because they tend to be the people that interest me.
Ayrton Senna. Senna is in my eyes, one of the greatest formula one drivers of all time. I did a school project on him and I just have a huge appreciation of him. I’d love to hear his stories of growing up, getting into racing and his favourite battles on track.
Freddie Mercury. I was never a huge fan of his, mainly because I didn’t know anything about him, until I watched Bohemian Rhapsody. I truly think that is one of my favourite movies. The way he’s portrayed, and the fact it had Brian May helping get the story straight. He’s so out there, yet true to himself and I would love to hear his stories too.
Aaron Paul. Known from Breaking Bad, or another of my favourite movies, Need for Speed. I think an under-rated actor but portrays his characters so well. I would just love to learn more about him, and what it was like being on set and filming.
James Earl Jones. So until I started dating Dean, I hadn’t seen Star Wars. My first portrayal of him was actually in The Bing Bang Theory, and I truly loved him. His ‘character’ was himself. When I started watching Star Wars, I started learning more about the actors and he just seemed like such a genuinely nice person.
Robert Downey Jr. He just amazes me. He plays very similar characters, but yet they all have individual personality. I would just love to meet him in real life and get a feel of what he’s like as a person.
I could go on, but I’m going to stop there. Maybe I’ll do another post with specific people from various fields. There’s a lot of people who I admire or just have an appreciation of that I’d like to speak to and learn from.
Ayrton SennaFreddie Mercury Aaron Paul, in Need for SpeedJames Earl Jones.Robert Downey Jr.
Back in May I planted a sh*t load of vegetable seeds and took over every window sill in my house (much to Deans annoyance). My thought was just to see what grew. I’ve never had much luck with seeds, or if they did sprout, they would last approximately two weeks and die.
Much to my delight, I had so many sproutlings and then realised, I have to plant all these outside. I often have fantastic ideas but when it comes to acting upon them, I either forget, can’t be bothered or realise I’m very out of my depth. In this case it was the latter.
Anyway, I got a pile of biggish plants pots, visited my local garden centre and filled my boot with compost and ten (yes, ten) Broccoli plants as my seeds didn’t come to anything (I may have forgot to water them).
I strategically dug some holes in the ground to place my pots in, filled them with compost and repotted my little babies and spent an afternoon placing them and moving them before putting my net over the whole lot to keep the birds away.
I spent about three weeks tending to them, watering them, weeding etc before I thought they weren’t coming to anything.
I abandoned them.
Tonight I was bored, grabbed some gloves and though I’ll at least pull out all the weeds and see what happens. Lo and behold, I found things!
So I originally planted Broccoli, Spinach, Strawberries, Tomatoes and Carrots.
I did think the carrots had died but when I pulled back weeds I found these little guys sticking out!
I also thought the spinach had died and forgot about it. Very aggressively pulled the net off some plants before I realised, they were the spinach plants! Some snapped, some I’ve managed to replant so I’ll see what happens with those. I did get a few strawberries earlier on but I think these will be better next year! The tomatoes are sat in my kitchen window and the plants are growing amazingly however I still don’t have any buds but I’m hopeful!
And my Broccoli is growing exceptionally well, I think they’ll still be a good few weeks off though!
I’ve learned to be patient doing this and Its made me realise how hardy things can be so I think there will be a lot more to come!
I’ll be looking at what I can plant for winter harvest now!
Now I like to think, I’m not a bad driver. But I do have a little bit of a short fuse.
My drive to work in the morning should take less than five minutes, at the moment it can take about twenty. I don’t live in a city, or anywhere a motorway or dual carriageway. I simply get stuck behind someone driving at 10 miles an hour. I know you’re here on holiday, enjoying our amazing scenery but please if there’s someone behind you, pull over SAFELY.
Also Potholes. I’d really recommend avoiding those. Some are about a foot deep and you’ll almost certainly burst a tire, buckle a wheel or damage your suspension. If you can’t go round it, stop and crawl over them, you’ll thank me in the long run.
D runs his own garage, but it’s small and he doesn’t do breakdowns but every weekend when our local breakdown companies are busy he will get at least ten calls asking for him to come and change a tire.
Welcome to Scotland, our roads are horrific (well at least on the west coast).
Also although our roads are narrow, you can definitely pass most vehicles without stopping or having to mount a pavement unless it’s a lorry. In fact even two campervans or vans in general can pass safely, just keep to your own side and have some common sense.
Single track road? That’s fine, again just drive to the conditions and KEEP LEFT! Please don’t stop in a passing place on the right. Stop on the road and the car coming towards you will pull into the passing place on the left.
The A9 road in Scotland – One of the busiest roads you might drive on
Thank you for reading my Ted talk, I just needed to get that off my chest.
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Confessions of a Clumsy Scot 