First Footing Clubrun

I made soup and cakes, as did a couple of others. Pirate made tea and coffee and served soup...

 The first bunch tuck in...

 bike park

 and after a couple of hours chatting in front of the woodburner, the ride home starts, some from as near as 14 miles, others nearly 40, most having met in Ayr.

 The last man in the bunch ...

 and this is all they left!

Tick, tick, tick....

Playing with shapes.
Having fun for a change.

Jobs To Do are being ticked off the list . The clock is ticking down...

Only ten days until we travel...I'm glad the Pirate is around to organize!

It still doesn't seem real,yet...and I'm still hearing reports of earth tremors shaking Wellington, and other places nearer to where we'll be....

Preparations and visitations

The Wizzard Geek and his Rose are visiting, and it is good to see them.
He helped us move almost a year ago, but she hasn't seen our 'new' home as she had to be elsewhere at the time.

They have been mountain biking near Peebles for four days, now near Newton Stewart for a day and somewhere on the way home tomorrow.  Great fun for them.

Preparations go on steadily for our NZ travels.  A certain amount has to be done online and I don't like it...I'm really a pen and paper person.  I just about manage phoning, but online entries and bookings phase me.

I'm sewing Woodchip's cot quilt whenever I sit down...that should at least have the construction done before we go, if not the quilting.  It calms my frazzled nerves if nothing else!

2016....nearly gone...

 We've been walking...when its been too windy to be awheel....

 and catching the fresh air and sun, occasionally.

 Presents from The Wizzard and his Lady...

 and making a present for Woodchip....

 and wearing presents...

 half an hour left of this year...with a jug made by Hannah...

Slainte....Blwyddyn Newydd Dda.....Here's to a good New Year...

Boxing Day Walk

 Too windy for the bike, and just ok to go in the car...we went to Alloway and parked near the mouth of the Doon river, where the gulls were sheltering from the wind.

 Over the river is the fisherman's bothy.  The swan family was sheltering as well!

 
 Over the Millenium Bridge at the southern end of the Lang Scots Mile

 Here came a few hundred runners racing along the promenade...the annual 10k Turkey Trot

 There is plenty of sand...not all where you want it...say a few words and feel it between your teeth,the wind was more than a breeze!

 ...and sand where it should be!

 Air in Ayr..and a stop for coffee and stroopwaffel...

 and a hope as we cut across the old racecourse that we'd get back to the car before the rain....

 No!!....but it was only a short squall this time...

 Bellisle Park Gates..these ones by a gatehouse cottage are nolonger used.

 over a wee burn...

 to the River Doon, that swollen by rainwater too.

 and then back by the bankside footpath to the footbridge.

Making the most of the daylight..fighting cabin fever!

Winter Solstice

 Monday's sunset, at the end of a local 38 mile ride delivering cards to friends.

 Then back to work on the drive....or as the Pirate was an aircraft engineer, a runway?!  We're pulling Paddy Overtheroad's leg that this is a relief runway for Prestwick, with his roof as the final lift-off boost.....

Most of the cards have been written and sent by the Pirate...my yearly card list is still packed from last year and I haven't found it!
All the shopping we need has been done and it is batten down the hatches with Storm Barbara on her way by Friday.

Funny, we remember last year escaping over the Minches to the Isle of Lewis just before a storm and squeezing in the return trip between storms at the beginning of 2016...miss going over there, but we have a longer journey to prepare for.

Today's good news? the Pirate had his six monthly phone call fromthe Oncology nurse a day early... tests ok, all clear and getting himself back again.
Relief.

The year turns again and it feels as if things could be improving for us...one plans and hopes....

walk in Glasgow 3

 We walked back from High Street along London Road, past the old carpet factory building

 

and council flats opposite the factory

 
 and many other beauties

 up to Celtic Park football ground

 and over the road to the Emirates Centre which includes the velodrome where we had an hour on the track in the morning

 

and leaving Glasgow in daylight for a change to drive home.