Today we drove out to The Smiddy near Blair Drummond. Expensive, but good food.
It was a surprise trip for Isobel, just to get her out of the house after a week of dull, cold, windy days. We all need a wee break now and again. It was a fairly easy drive, out towards Stirling, turn left and just keep going until you reach the smiddy. For any non-Scots, a Smiddy is a blacksmith’s workshop. There is no smiddy there anymore, but the restaurant has a rustic feel to it.
Isobel had soup, Scamp had Mac ’n’ Cheese and I had a Minute Steak Baguette. All of it seemed to go down well and nobody complained. Before I could stop her, Isobel was up at the till paying for the lunch. It was supposed to be a treat for HER, not for us! Anyway, the ladies went for a wander round the shop, I bought myself four fat sausages and went for a walk to get some landscape shots. Except, when I took the camera out of the bag, the card door was open and my face fell. There was no SD card in the camera and I didn’t have one in my bag or in the car. Oh well, I’d just have to find another wonderful shot somewhere else.
After we drove back and dropped Isobel at her house, I went for a walk in our garden and found a Christmas Rose flowering brightly under the Buddleia bush. That was one in the bag. On the way back we had stopped off at M&S in Cumbersheugh to get some things for later. One of them was a packet of Gingerbread Mug Hangers. They looked so good I couldn’t resist doing a tabletop shot of one of them. His name is Duncan, because he’s really good for Dunkin’ in your tea or coffee! He became PoD.
We watched another episode of Portrait Artist and although I couldn’t say the best artist won, I would say it was really well done.
I went up in the loft, later in the afternoon and with help from Scamp we managed to bring down the Christmas Tree, three boxes of decorations, two bags of different decorations and the Snowman table cover. Scamp did almost all of the tree decorations as usual while Joni Mitchell sang the entire ‘Blue’ album without a mistake. The Snowman table cover has been allowed to warm up and unroll and is now on the table. Numerous battery powered lights have been checked and new batteries fitted, although we’ll need more over the weekend. Of course the Fairy is in her place at the top of the tree and Fairy Nuff is in her place on the tree. The letter has been read and all seems to be well in the world.
We have no definite plans for tomorrow, but we’re looking for a new Dyson Cordless Vacuum and prices seem to be quite good at the moment.