vivdunstan

Made it to the Mackays factory shop in Arbroath, ostensibly to get more Mrs Bridges morello cherry preserve. But we came away with 7 jars of jam, preserve, marmalade and chutney, plus unplanned fudge! After in Dobbies cafe, then a wander around the plants area. We live very near Dobbies, and first came to the cafe 25 years ago, after moving to the Dundee area. Many happy memories. Oh and I was trialling my sturdy soled new Moshulu loafer shoes. Very comfortable.

Very weary after our brief outing, but delighted to have managed it. Dobbies Dundee currently has a semi resident robin singing in the main shopping area! It's been there since Christmas. We thought they were playing very loud bird song through the speakers. But on the way out saw the robin perched near the tills. Attracting a crowd.

Tonight at dinner tried my 3rd low or no alcohol cider, with Sainsbury’s own brand low alcohol medium dry cider. It’s 0.9% alcohol, 0.5 units in the bottle. And it’s the best one I’ve tried yet. Great smell, and an almost scrumpy like taste. Win win!

Next weekend will fingers crossed be Sheppy's low alcohol cider. If our local Tescos has it in stock.

I am pleasantly surprised that Somerset-raised Martin is having a similar reaction to the low/no alcohol cider tastings as I work through them!

And for American friends, cider here = British cider, which is very strong, and usually very alcoholic. Not just apple juice. I'm trying to get a fairly authentic British alcoholic cider taste in no alcohol or low alcohol. And having mixed success, but finding some good ones.

And it is definitely helping my IBS type problems.

Two lots for me tonight.

Firstly, for dinner dessert, fresh strawberries grown here in Monifieth. Served with a very generous serving of extra thick Scottish cream.



And for supper a little clutch of fresh cherries, bought at the Monifieth berry farm, and grown a bit further north here in Angus.



Yum.

Placing our Bettys order for before Easter. Lots of usual things for us, like chocolate sachertorte and fondant fancies. Plus a dark chocolate Easter egg for me. But also getting something very very unusual!

Great morning in Broughty Ferry after my quarterly blood tests in Monifieth. Breakfast at Bowmans (see pic), buying Sacred Grounds coffee beans (roasted in Arbroath) loose from Love Your Planet, a fab woollen throw from interiors shop Time & Tide, and a manga book from The Bookhouse. Great wee town.

Trying a new to me oracle cards deck. Which is gorgeous. Even has shiny red gilt like edges to the cards! Just using for a bit more personal reflection. This deck is autumnal equinox themed.

Sticking with my usual 3-card past/present/future spread, in a really loose form.

The cards are Foraging / Mead and Wine / Autumn equinox.

I can also relate these roughly to where I've been / am / am going.

Re "Foraging" I've been spending the last few weeks gathering together thoughts on my personal strengths, interests and goals. All within the limited context in which I need to operate. Figuring out what I want to do in the coming 6 months or so has been productive, and rewarding, and should be able to translate into fun activities. Including things I can work on from my bed. So that's been a productive process.

As for "Mead and Wine", well we've had a lot of celebrations recently, which are ongoing! September is a double birthday month for us, and also marked our 30th wedding anniversary this year. We had to postpone our big celebration meal (takeaway, but still huge!) for erm reasons. So that is still upcoming. And this week we treated ourselves to a postal delivery of gorgeous brownies and cookies from Norfolk. Coming today ... We are going to be so plump by a week from now! But yes, that card is on point.

The autumnal equinox card might seem to have been more appropriate a couple of weeks ago, but it's not really. It's only now that I'm really feeling autumn kicking in properly. To be fair I can't get out much to see the gorgeous changing colours around. But it's in the last week or so that I've really felt the chill kicking in, and autumn is well and truly upon us. And will be for another couple of months. I do need to get out to enjoy some of it. Will add that as an urgent goal! I am also writing a new IF game set around the changing seasons, starting with autumn. So I need to soak up as much of it as possible. Thanks to the card for the reminder.

So an interesting deck. I will continue to use it from time to time. It is especially gorgeous to handle. There are others in the same range for different times of the year. But I like autumn, so picked this one for me.

Another 3-card past/present/future spread, using the Urban Crow oracle deck. And musings on how these might relate to my current circumstances.

Warning makes me think again of the increasing signs I've had in the last few weeks that my neurological disease was going out of control. Even as I should be improving a little, as I was coming out of my latest 3-month-long post Covid vaccine neuro flare. I have now noticed these, and am alert to them. And will decide whether to re-raise my strong immunosuppression drug in 6 weeks time, if not sooner.

There isn't anything otherwise bad happening to me that can be linked to Mischief. I'm more minded by seeing it that I need to have playful fun, despite everything. So I'd like to take that as a reminder that I need to make an effort to have good mischief in my life too. And that's something I can do something about.

Gifts is a reminder of my upcoming birthday (a pack of playing cards birthday as I like to think of it!). I know that Martin has been getting some things in for me this week. He is also arranging a gigantic fudge doughnut cake again from Fisher & Donaldson, at my request. Though this year he will need to pick it up in person from the city centre shop. They no longer do local home deliveries.

Going ahead with our flying trip to St Andrews today. Even with the Lammas Fair on! We are aiming for Toppings, the Cheesy Toast Shack and the Wardlaw Museum to see their temporary Alien Worlds exhibition about exoplanets plus added Dalek and Galileo. St Andrews is hugely special for us. Martin and I met there as science undergraduates, graduated together 30 years ago, and married (eloped) a few months after graduation. It was also my childhood summer holiday destination throughout the 1980s with my parents, staying in Albany Park. We live away now, but close enough that we can visit as much as able to (my progressive neurological disease is the main limiting factor for that now). That was a very deliberate strategy!

Painting by Kate Philp below. Prints available from Eduardo Alessandro Studios in Broughty Ferry.

Martin’s finally trying the charcoal cheddar he got last week. Made with charcoal from a coal mine about 10 miles from my dad’s birthplace in West Yorkshire! The Cheesery shops in Dundee and Broughty Ferry sell 3 types of it. He got the plain charcoal one. “Ooh that’s a cheddar! Ooh that’s weird! It’s kind of like it’s sweet, and cheesy and yeah! It’s very peculiar! It’s nice. I’m not sure if I’d go for it again. But it’s definitely wow.” He added it’s doing the get you at the side of the cheeks strong cheddar taste thing. Also, my observation, looks like black pudding when cut! I’m staying off it because of some drugs I’m on. In particular it could be problematic for my anti incontinence drug. But I am enjoying watching him try it 😜

Enjoyed the V&A Dundee Tartan exhibition, though as a historian I was exasperated that the historical context was only covered in detail about 3/4 through, and viewers really needed that to understand earlier stuff. Also a shortage for Borderer me on the making of tartan, and early worldwide examples. It was wonderful to see many of the artefacts on display though, especially for me pre-1850 ones. Though both me and Martin struggled to understand some of the reference labels and figure out which item was what. Clear numbers were only used in one particular set of exhibits. But we did enjoy!

We also got some lovely nibbles while out, both at the V&A and at a coffee shop we love (parked outside at a table - bitterly cold! - with my wheelchair). And we spent too much in the V&A shop.