Highlandhearts

This morning I went to the second class of Patterns - make to sell at the learning centre.  Today we had to design a logo by taking a photo and going onto Photoshop to learn how to adapt it and create words to go with it.  I didn't find it easy but it was enjoyable.  I am not sure whether I would be able to do it again but I will try at home on OH's computer because he has a similar programme. Talking of computers, I have lost Saturdays blog post, Rainbows Everywhere and I have tried everything I can but it seems to have disappeared and the post I wrote yesterday has gone in as written on Saturday!  Shame though because the two comments that relate to that post are still there. After the class, I headed home to put the washing out on the line.  It was so windy I had to double peg everything and my wash basket blew away three times whilst I was reaching up to try and grab the line.  I very rarely have to do any ironing as the wind blows all the creases out...

I went outside to empty the ash bucket today as its been too windy over the last few days to do it (ash blowback!) and look what I found growing on the heap Amazing they've grown through the pile of ash but such a shame they are not growing in the garden where i could see them better.  I had to take these pics through the fence.   I also noticed that the flowering currant bush which is also behind the fence, is now in bud It is lovely to see signs of spring at last. I spent the morning cooking, starting off by making two lots of pastry.  I was intending to make a quiche but changed my mind and ended up making homity pie again as my OH likes it so much.  We had a frozen chicken for Sunday dinner  so i picked the meat off and then made stock with the carcass which ended up as a broth when i added dried soup mix and various odds and ends of vegetables along with a second picking of little bits of chicken meat off the bones. The meat from the first ...

I had a very interesting morning as I decided to attend a free workshop at the village learning centre. It was organized by a lovely Spanish lady from Madrid who has moved to a nearby small village in the Highlands 18 months ago.  She used to be a graphic designer working on a spanish magazine, said she had to take photos of celebs and touch up the pics by smoothing out their wrinkles and getting rid of double chins etc.  Such a change of life to end up in a small scottish village but it came about because she fell in love with a scotsman.    So we are going out and about taking our own photos to use and also incorporating the creative skills from other classes i.e. the poetry class and the sewing class to make postcards and a calendar that will appeal to tourists and locals.  Hopefully any profits will go back into the village for further projects. I look forward to doing this project as we had a good laugh whilst brainstorming ideas but i am also intereste...

A smattering of snow this morning when OH pulled the curtains back But brrr... It was so cold I could see my breath in the bedroom.  The cats joined me on the bed and I could easily have just stayed snuggled up in bed but I had to get up to get things ready before going to church. I managed to get a yellow sticker markdown on a little loin joint of pork in the week, in fact all their pork was reduced so I picked up a pack of chops too and divided them into two further dinners in the freezer.  Today we are having the joint and I've roasted it on top of some onion, celery and carrots, sprinkled a few dried herbs and some garlic and drizzled whole thing with olive oil.  Looks quite tasty and smells lovely in the kitchen. I will put the potatoes in to roast when I get home but I have par-boiled them ready and will do some veg, cabbage and French beans I think and a couple of Yorkshire puds each.  We don't really do puddings as I'm trying to lose some weight at the mo. Ye...

We woke this morning to icy cold weather but the sun was shining.  We both didn't have any work today but OH needed to buy some wood to do a job so as we try to save on fuel by doing various things in the one journey, I decided to go with him and do a small shop in Lidl. Pretty uneventful really although I did get a good buy on a big bottle of balsamic vinegar for 99p and brought two jars of their decaf coffee at £1.69 a jar as I have read on someone's blog that coffee will be going up in price due to crops being destroyed by bad weather. Talking of coffee, my friend gave me this lovely candle the other day and I keep sniffing it! We decided to drive a different way home but detour a bit further north up the A9 (for those that don't know, its the only main road through the north of Scotland) and pop in a cafe and it gave me the chance to go into the charity shop whilst there.  This shop is for Alzheimer's and is one of the few cheap charity shops left! I picked up this...

I was trying to think what I have been up to this week but it has been a relatively quiet one apart from work. I did a bit of card making and was quite pleased with this one I made for my stepmums Birthday this month We did take a trip out on Friday to go to Morrisons  as we had been invited to go to a friends Saturday night and I needed to take a pudding.  I was going to cheat and buy something to save me cooking and needed to cater for nine people but when I looked I couldn't find anything so ended up buying the ingredients for my usual standby pudding, cheesecake. It's very rich and creamy and usually serves 10 - 12 people.   I served it with some fresh raspberries This little lot was two packs!  And they cost £3 which I thought was a lot but they did taste good with it. Unfortunately my sis-in-law went down with the virus that's been going around so last minute I had to make another dish that the kids would like so I made a macaroni cheese too. Luckily there was ...

Hurray!  I am feeling so much better now.  It is good to wake up in the morning and actually feel I have some energy and enthusiasm for the day ahead. Do you remember this chest of drawers that my OH painted for me? Well more on that in a minute... On Monday I went to spend the day with a good friend that i haven't seen for a few months.  I drove to her house which overlooks Loch Fleet and stopped in a lay-by to watch the seals for a while.  Unfortunately I didn't take a camera to take pictures.  We decided to take her husbands car and drive to the shops and she promised to treat me to lunch as a belated Birthday treat.  We had a good browse around Dunelm and I brought two new pillows for our bed and we then spent an hour browsing in Hobbycraft.  It was great, they have so many products I could have gone mad and spent a fortune but I do have to be a bit careful of the budget so I got a few items that I knew I would use.  I brought a tub of...