A lovely tribute in Scottish Meanderings

Just wanted to share this.

Heather is one of the daughters of my best friend - she’s a nurse and she posted this this morning.



Isn’t that such a lovely thing to do for her?

The funny thing is - for those of us who know Heather, he’s managed to somehow capture her even though she’s wearing the mask and everything else. That’s such a talent.

And I’m so glad she decided to share it - it gave me a real lift :)

Bailey’s got a bit to go before his artistic skills come up to the same standard I think. Not sure what the weekend's offerings were supposed to be. The first one looks like some sort of weird looking duck maybe?


And the second one I think is supposed to be his rendition of The Sphinx. He took the huff and wouldn't tell me.



I finally got out in the garden this week. As the flowers drop, the number of bees have decreased so it’s now fairly safe to sit on the chair. Took my Italian homework out on Wednesday afternoon with a glass of ice cold lager and worked out there for a couple of hours which was very pleasant.


I’ve been getting jealous of all the entries being written about shops opening, more traffic on the streets, plans being made to see folk etc etc but there was something else that seemed to be rankling in the back of my mind. Then I realised what it was.

We’re not all in the same boat any more.

When we were struggling to get through lockdown we knew pretty much at least everyone else in the world was struggling too but now restrictions are easing up in different countries so we’re all at different stages of the process now.

That seems to make it that much harder.

And Nikki and I are starting to crack.

We've also realised we're getting far more out of seeing each other physically - albeit we can't be near or touch each other and it's usually only for 15 minutes - than any of the House Party/Zoom chats we've been having.

This Friday the sun is supposed to shine in both Aberdeen and Pitmedden where she lives, so we've made an Executive decision that I'm going to chance it and take a run out to see them. She has a gate in her back fence so we’re going to open the gate, put a table lengthwise in the space - I’ll sit at one end of the table in the drive in a foldaway chair and her and the kids will be at the other and in the garden so we can still do the properly socially distanced thing. The girls are fine - they understand and accept it but it's hard for Ruari so that should stop him from coming too close.

So in this extremely unflattering pic of the 4 of them with the sun in everyone's eyes - roughly where I’m standing is where I’ll be sitting but further back.


We haven't told the girls just in case the weather changes or some other last minute occurrence happens in which case we'll just revert to House Party instead.


I've decided I like the fourth version of my change around of the sitting room - especially when the weather's nice. I have always bemoaned the loss of a proper hall but I must admit now that the settee is facing the sitting room door, I can open the front door when it's sunny and get the good of the ensuing sunshine - whereas before the settee was where the TV and chair etc. are now and the light from the door if it was open would shine on the telly on the opposite side of the room so it was always kept closed.


It also opens up the room a bit more - seems more spacious now. I've always had a problem having nowhere really to put a proper table, even though I have a decent size drop leaf one in the kitchen which never sees the light of day. But I could probably take it through and put it up here now when the girls are here for tea - I’ve just been using their old kids' table and they've pretty much outgrown that now.


A nice circular rug may be a good plan to finish the room off. And then once I can work out the logistics I'm going to get it painted or wallpapered this year or next.


On one of my walks the other day, I did a double take at this dog outside a house I was passing - it was only when I was close up that I realised it wasn't real! But it wasn't until the next morning when I was sending it to Nikki that I saw the stick in front of it. Such a little thing but oh so poignant!


Feeling very guilty that I'm generally much more in touch with my oldest brother, Ian, and hardly ever with my other brother, Mike, or my sister Lorna, I've arranged a Zoom meeting for Saturday night with all 4 of us. This could be fraught in all sorts of ways! Lorna I'm not worried about but the boys are both over 70 and can sometimes be - technology challenged - shall we say. However they both have kids and grandkids in different parts of the world so have had to get familiar with WhatsApp and all the rest in lockdown so I might be doing them a disservice there.

I only have the free app though where you can only get 40 minutes meeting time so I'm fully expecting 30 minutes of that will be taken up with them trying to find cameras, microphones, stop showing us the top of their head or just get into the waiting room! :) Although Lorna tells me you can start another free meeting when the first one finishes so that's not quite so bad.

I'm crossing my fingers all the same🤞.