I feel slightly guilty about combining two weeks of holiday into one blog post but the “tattie holidays” have been pretty busy. Scottish schools traditionally have a two week mid-term break in October which originated when children would be expected to help gather in the potato or “tattie” harvest.
I travelled to Norfolk by train with my 3 children with fanciful ideas about typing or researching during the journey but trains are so crowded these days and there is not much space to move, store luggage or swing a cat. I was pleased that I remembered to take a flask of my own coffee since the buffet car was out of order. A young passenger asked her mother what century Fenella thought she was in as she was reading, rather than playing on an electronic gadget. The inside joke was that she was actually reading a book on a Kindle! It is quite educational travelling alongside other members of the population ;)
The weather in Norfolk was unusually wet but it was not particularly cold. Freya enjoyed cycling into the village to fetch a few groceries in a bike basket and we spent time with my family. My sister taught Fenella how to crochet and Fergus managed to survive for several days without the dreaded X-box. We had a fun day out in the rain at “Bewilderwood”, an adventure park of tree-houses, zip-wires and imaginary forest creatures. We did a lot of cooking, eating and experimented with the medieval looking contraption that I bought in Norwich for peeling apples.
When we returned to Scotland I had to rearrange Fenella’s bedroom for a sleepover, wrap presents and make a huge quadruple layer chocolate marble cake topped with rocky road icing. It was suddenly Thursday afternoon in the second week of the holidays by the time all of that was over and I still had to collect new business cards, finish off the house blocks and complete the third silver Viking helmet that I decided to take with me to the Quilt Festival, Houston in case anyone wants to buy it. I was also delighted to receive a complimentary copy of Machine Quilting Unlimited as an article about Scottish yurt panel, Willowbay Herb, featured on p78.
I bought travel gin in pouches instead of a heavy glass bottle and packed for my trip at last. I am struggling to get rid of a stinking cold and also keeping a close eye on USA weather warnings for “Frankenstorm”, which I hope will not adversely affect my transatlantic flight on Monday. Thankfully, the unseasonably early snow that settled here on Friday has now turned to rain. Perhaps I should make a a long quilty shopping list to keep me busy...
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