Veteran's Day/Remembrance Day

The eleventh hour of the eleventh day of November, the eleventh month.   We shall always remember. . . .

My favourite veteran is my son Ian.

Here his is in Iraq.  He was in one of the first units across the border from Kuwait into Iraq.  They went straight into the teeth of a sand storm.

All the photographs from that storm are red.  That's the colour the world gets in a sand storm.  Letters that Ian sent from that time were actually a bit gritty.  The sand that blows is a lot finer than ordinary sand.  It gets everywhere.   I'm glad he's far from it now. It was a nightmare time. I didn't sleep particularly well but I knew that it was always worse for my boy.  I was and still am ferociously proud of him.

I held Ian as a baby and prayed that he would never be sent to war.  I said that prayer for each of my three sons.  I prayed that they would never be soldiers.  It is the selfish prayer of a mother who only has the welfare of her boy at heart.  I don't care about what causes war, I just don't want my son in it!  I had said that prayer again when walking through the a US cemetery in Normandy near the landing beaches while looking at all the acres of white crosses. 

We were in France on a family vacation. As my children wandered through the grounds of the big cemetery at Omaha Beach, I thought of all the things a mother says to their child;  Eat your vegetables, say "thank you", elbows off the table, brush your teeth,  have you done your homework, don't put beans in your nose . . . . the thousands of things you say and do to make sure they get through childhood and into adulthood as healthy, polite, educated and productive citizens.   The men in these graves all had parents who bandaged knees, taught manners, gave music lessons to, cooked endless meals, and lectured until they were blue in the face only to have a telegram to say that with the deepest regret their son has died.   

We were lucky, my son came back.  He is now an actual war veteran, something I had never wanted for him. 

He's out of the army now and happily married to a lovely lovely woman.  Worrying that he is in mortal danger is now a thing of the past. 

Today is about remembering those who weren't so lucky. Your sacrifice is honoured.

Poor Poor Me

Taking one day off work due to illness is quite common. You feel a bit shite and call in. The next day, you feel better and go back to work. It happens all the time.

What happens if on the second day, you still feel rubbish? You take a second day off work. Eyebrows go up. It is well past 4:30 on Thursday and it still hurts to swallow and cough. I've drunk nothing but infusions of herbs, flowers and other comforting things that are supposed to help. I've had loads of rest and watched all the programmes on The Monkey Channel (Animal Planet).  The viewing has  had an odd side effect;  I now realize that I need to go to the Philippines and see their pygmy sea horses.

It is starting to look like I'll be taking tomorrow off as well. I would really rather be at work. I have a whole week full of things to do that will now have to be crammed into what's left of my week. I can see any bonuses I might have earned for the month and even the quarter (piling on the doom because I feel crap) floating away from me.

I'm not the sort of person to just call in sick because its a beautiful day, Wimbledon is being broadcast or my husband is off for the day and he wants me by his side. I'd like to be the sort of person who has spurious duvet days, but I'm not.  That work ethic is there in my basic make up and won't be ignored.

This is the thing. I'm a salesperson. I call on doctors. It really puts customers off if one coughs on them. I don't want my customers to feel like they need to treat me. I must be or have the appearance of being in perfect health all the time.

I had my flu shot on Monday.  The Man of the Place and I both came down with flu last year.  Rather, I had the flu and my beloved had a near-death experience.  I was in my bed for about a day and then "did stuff around the house" until I felt like I could face the public once more and he claimed to be on the verge of hospitalisation when he started showing symptoms.  He may have had a different strain to me (Aren't I charitable?), but from where I stood, we had the same strain and he was a delicate flower who couldn't take it and I was the person from hardy stock who just got on with things.

I do not think that my illness and the flu shot are in any way connected. It's just that when I'm feeling unwell, I start to think about this stuff.

I'm Diving a Whole Lot

The weather in Scotland is going from bad to worse.  Every year the summers are getting progressively colder and wetter.  I am all set to give up on trying to grow anything in the garden or even to mow the lawn!  It's been too wet to cut the grass for weeks.  I was talking about this to my dear neighbours and it was said that our standards have been so lowered that we think ourselves lucky if we get three dry days together.

Coast near Lady Bay, Stranraer

So, what can you do instead?  Go diving!  I started the year with 96 dives under my belt.  I have been diving each and every month this year.  I'm up to 148 dives now. I hit the century dive in the first week of February.  I was just looking at the dive log and the water temperature was 6 degrees!  Yuck.  I also note that my current log book is almost full.  I have two pages left!

It must be said that the freezing February dive was in a fresh water quarry and we were doing some training.  I don't like diving in water as cold as that.  When I first joined the Dumfries Sub Aqua Club, I was firm about no very cold water dives.  This has relaxed and I'll dive in pretty much all temperatures.  However, I do draw the line if there is actual ice on the surface of the water.  It's no fun then.

In the spring the weather was lovely for a bit and the visibility in the sea was really quite good.  This encouraging bit of weather soon settled back into a pattern of almost constant rain.  It was particularly frustrating for members of the dive club with boats.  They haven't had the boats out much.

The dive club went on a trip to Malta in April.  That was fun!  I'll write about that week away later on this month.

The job situation picked up for me in April when I was hired by a new company.   This was all the excuse we needed to book a two week family holiday to Egypt.  We love diving in the Red Sea!  I managed to squeeze in 23 dives in the two weeks we had there.  I was often the first in the water and last to get out.  I wanted to squeeze every last drop of dive time in that clear, warm water that I could.

It is now November, days are getting very short.  I have my memories of warm dives in sunny locations to sustain me through the long winter ahead.

Stuff

Dear George says it so well . . . .


Last year I worked at home.  When I was at home, I had been cleaning. In the process, I found I was getting rid of things that we don't need. Most of the items disposed of had been clothes. I had half a car load of just my old clothes.

I have a new regime with clothing.  If the clothes no longer fit or if I haven't worn a garment in a year and do not plan to wear it within the next year, it is going.  There are some things that I will never get rid of such as the tiny clothes that I brought the children home from the hospital in and my wedding dress.  I've kept two  fancy evening gowns too.    The rest is just just stuff I dont' wear or doesn't fit.  It no longer gets to take up valuable space in the closet. 

I went through files in the office and filled three bags! I burnt the old bank statements and other documents that people who might want to steal our identity would find helpful but the rest was just junk!

Now that I've got a job where I leave the house, the stuff is piling back up.  I thought that now that all the kids have left home, the house would be tidier.  It was cleaner at first . . .but the house has started to slip back into untidy again.  Maybe we're just plain messy and no longer have the boys to blame it on.

It used to be that the purging of items happened during a move to a new house.  I haven't moved in over 17  years.  So I must start evaluating items again.  The next non-diving weekend will see me ripping through the house to get rid of stuff again. 

Becoming a Branch Instructor

My friend Alex and I have been working toward this next stage in our diving career for a while now.  We’ve been members of Scottish Sub Aqua Club for long enough and have completed a number of the assessments.  In June  we spent a Sunday at SSAC headquarters in Edinburgh attending the Branch Instructor course.   

Since June we have been (under supervision of our Branch Instructor and Regional Coach)  training a couple of the newest members of our club.

I was already a diver when I joined the Dumfries Sub Aqua club.  I was a PADI Advanced Open Water diver and started in on the crossover program with the view to becoming a Sport Diver within the SSAC system.  I hope I wasn’t too terrible back then.  Even though I had completed about 70 dives, most of them were on holiday in warm places. On those holiday dives the water was always warm, the visibility was often over 10 meters, somebody helped me on and off with my fins and handed out cut up oranges after a dive is over.   

I had started to dive in the UK, completing a PADI dry suit course at Capernwray in February one year.  I almost stopped there. The dry suit course was in the winter and on the day of the open water assessment it was snowing.  The water temperature in Lancashire was at about 5 C and I struggled with the cold temperatures.  I did soldier on and complete the course but had almost decided that diving in the UK was not going to be for the likes of me.

One autumn, my family and I have just returned from a late season break to Menorca when something in the kitchen breaks.  We have this rotten luck in our home with major appliances breaking on the day after we return from a holiday.   The charming man who came out to fix the washing machine (but it could have been the refrigerator or oven – it’s so long ago I can’t really remember which appliance it was) was Alex. 

Alex had seen the diving equipment drying and asked about it.  I said that we had just returned from Menorca and had really loved our family dives.  George at 12 had just become a diver and we all really love diving.  He said that he was a member of a Dumfries diving club.  He told us when they met and I should come along for a chat.  I knew one other person who belonged to the Dumfries club and I thought that I would go along one Wednesday night.

It turned out that the Scottish Sub Aqua Club will not admit children under the age of 14 as divers.  Although George was qualified under PADI, he couldn't be a diver with SSAC for two more years.  I waited with him.  I didn't join until we could all join as a family.  

That was four years ago. George is away at Napier University studying Marine and Freshwater Biology and yesterday Alex and I finished all the requirements and assessments for Branch Instructor.  All the paperwork has to be stamped again and approved before we get the official qualifications, but the hard part is now over!  Yipee!

Remember Remember

The 5th of November!

It's Guy Fawkes Night tonight.  We're not going anywhere.  Henry's on call and I've got work to do.  I'm also diving in the morning and want to get to bed early.

North Country Cheviot neighbours

Today was a deligtful day.  It was dry and sunny.  Tomorrow is supposed to be more of the same for us.  This makes me happy!

Fly Agaric that has been nibbled

I took my camera with me when I walked the dog this afternoon.  It was nice not to worry about the camera getting wet.

Blackberry blooms in November

Walking on our lane is nice and quiet on the weekends.  I spotted some brambles still in bloom.  The weather was so wet and cold this year, the poor plants don't know if they're coming or going.

Moss on fencepost

Moss just needs a surface.  Any surface will do.

Whitelees and a typical view of my dog

I'm thankful for today's dry weather and my lovely dog, Polly.

Dad Was Here

At the beginning of October, my dad came for a visit.  He hasn't been here in a long time.  The last time he visited, the extension project was in its infancy. I don't think I had seen my father since my sister Katie's wedding.  That was too long between visits.

We had a lovely time together. I cooked a lot of his favourite stuff - mostly soup and cake.  :-)  He loves soup.  I took him to a couple of places that I like to visit.  Its great when he visits because we have the same interests.  If I take him to look at stuff I like, I know he'll enjoy it too.  As we wandered, we talked about stuff we used to do; fishing, nature walks, swimming.  I loved those conversations!  One of the reasons I like the things in the natural world is down to him in the first place. 


There was a visit to Caerlaverock Wildfowl and Wetlands reserve too.  We saw a family of four Whooper swans arrive from Iceland.  If the swans are just in from Iceland their feathers will be all stained from the tannin in the water.  There were some barnacle geese arriving as well.  At the end of November there will be tens of thousands on our Dumfriesshire shores.

The staff were really wonderful.  Dad was having mobility issues during his visit and they allowed me to take the car in and drive up to the hides.  It was a Monday morning and it was howling a hurricane.  There were only a handful of stalwart birdwatchers there (and an ITV news team) so my car didn't impact on any other birdwatchers.

The next day we went to the river Esk to see if we could see some salmon running.  We couldn't see any salmon but it was nice to sniff the fresh pine scented air and listen to the river run across the rocks.  I brought along a walking stick (Claude's) and a folding chair.  I'm glad I did - both came in very handy!

I love my dad.  His visit was all too short.  I hope it isn't as long as that before I see him again.

Work day

Today was a sort of get-your-head-down-and-get-to-the-other-side-of-the-day sort of day.  Overcast and slightly blustery, it was only made tolerable by the addition of my trusty dog Polly and views of the Scottish coastline.

I was in Saltcoats.  The Isle of Arran dominates the horizon in Saltcoats. (the mountains in the distance) All I really wanted to do was to take the next ferry across and hang out on the island and visit some friends who live there.

Now that we're in November, the days are noticably short and are only going to get shorter.  Next month sees the arrival of the shortest day of the year.  This far north the sun doesn't get very high in the sky in the winter.  It's dark when we leave the house and dark when we come home at night. 

I think that the months and years are shorter the farther north you get as well.  I find that now that I've been living up here for almost 20 years that the months and years are screaming by at an alarming rate.

Ok - I'm done complaining about the climate in Scotland for today.  

Here is a link with more facts if you're interested. Short days and lots of rain!

I Fear We Will Never Meet

It was 1981 (or possibly the tail end of 1980) and I was a senior in high school. Bruce Springsteen's The River Tour was blasting across the US. There was an announcement that Ames, Iowa was to be on the list of towns that was to be graced with a visit."Gotta have a ticket!"

What do you do when you're a gal with very little money and from a small town. I'd heard of credit cards but at that point I don't think I had ever seen one. To get a ticket for this magical show, I was going to have to go to the nearest box office and buy it with cash. Guess where the nearest box office was. The nearest venue for getting a ticket in the town where the concert was to be held, Ames, Iowa. This was 117 miles away! Not an insurmountable obstacle, I might be able to get there. I was now a senior and knew lots of friends who could drive and had cars. I'd just have to give them gas money. When are the tickets going on sale? Next Thursday!? A school day? OK we've got a problem . . . . I know that if I ask my mother she'd say no. My twisted logic went like this; if I don't ask, then she hasn't said no and it will be fine. I found a likeminded school chum who was as keen to get tickets as I was and he had a car! Bonus! Plans were made for the day out to Ames. As word got around that we were making the journey to the box office for tickets, money was thrust in our hands to get tickets for them too. I think I ended up with the cash to buy ten additional tickets.

I didn't really think twice about skipping school. Actually, I had never skipped school before. Not one time ever. This was going to be my first time being truant from school and it sort of added a bit of an edge to the day. I was buying tickets to what would be my first rock concert AND I was skipping school to do it. How cool was that?

I met my classmate at the top of the street - so we could get away quickly. We were both skipping and wanted few witnesses. As I went to get in the car, the door was opened by his girlfriend so that I could squeeze in the back. *sigh* OK, I didn't know she was coming along. It wasn't really a problem. I didn't really have designs on this guy but it meant that I was squished in the back of a VW Beetle for the ride across to Ames with nobody to talk to. To make matters worse, the heater kept cutting out. This was Iowa. In the winter. It gets very cold. So while this guy drove, his girlfriend hung onto his neck and kissed him, I sat in the back and froze.

We got to Ames early on and got into the already formed long line to buy tickets. If memory serves, we were issued numbers. We stood in lines all day to get these tickets. It was winter, my feet were freezing because sometimes the line snaked onto an unshovelled sidewalk so we stood on packed snow. I was bored. I don't remember being hungry so I may have had enough sense to pack a lunch.

Toward the end of the day we got our tickets. Yipee! I was so cold and bored by the time I got them that I was more relieved to be able to go home than I was at having the tickets.

On the way home the heater in the VW Beetle that had been problematic earlier died completely. That has been - to date - the coldest car journey I have ever had. I could barely move by the time we got back to our home town.

I waltzed in the house quite casually with my tickets stowed in my wallet only to discover that I'd been rumbled.   My mother found out that I had skipped school!   As a punishment, I never got to go. 

Diving in The Gloom

Sunday saw us out on Loch Long with our dive club.

It was another great day out with our friends, because that's what they've become, friends.

Here are the two of us waving to our shore cover person (who had my camera). The weather wasn't great - but then we are in Scotland and it's the tail end of October. 

We were diving at a place called "A Frames" because it's an easy entry dive.  Its a good all round dive.  Lots of sea life to see.  Yesterday there were enough common starfish to start a revolution!  The whelks were very busy laying eggs in big papery blobs.  I made two short dives yesterday and during the first dive I saw a group of about four large common whelks all in a big egg laying frenzy.

I didn't take any underwater photos for a couple of reasons:  1. I was training.  When one has a trainee in the water, you can't be taking photos.  All your focus is on your trainee.  2. It was dark.   The water wasn't particulary cloudy as long as folk didn't kick up silt from the bottom but it was a very dark and cloudy day..  I prefer to have better light conditions.  

I did take a few shore photos:  This is The Man of the Place

He is in hunter gatherer mode and collected about 4 kilos of wild mussels.  We split this haul with a couple of people.  Wild mussels are certainly a LOT different to farmed mussels.  First of all there is a lot more cleaning involved.  Barnacles have to be scraped, limpets removed and they must be rinsed more than once.  As for flavour, they are delicious!  Our were cooked in white wine, shallots, butter and parsley with cream thrown in at the end.  We were transported!

As these mussels come from the West Coast of Scotland and their lives were lived on our turbulent coast, grit got inside them . . . the mussels did what any decent bivalve would do when faced with grit, they created pearls.

 They aren't gem quality - but they are pearls.  Some mussels had more than others.  We had to be very careful when eating them.  It was similar to eating pheasant or duck  . . . you have to watch for the bird shot. 

Empty Nest

My life underwent a fundamental change in December, 1982.  My first child was born.  From that day forward I was a parent. It was so long ago.  I was so young (20) when Ian was born.  I barely know the young woman in that photo.

December 19, 1982

I remember being amazed that the hospital was going to let me go home with this beautiful baby!  What did I know about babies and being a parent?  Answer: not a whole lot. 

We blundered on.

November 1983

Here I am the following year with another one on the way. Sean was the only baby to be a little early. I sure would love to turn back the clock and see my children as babies again.  They were such beautiful children.

Iowa City - Dec 1985

I took a few sharp turns in the past 28 years.  Some were good ideas and some weren't.  But we always had fun!

Miami Zoo

A number of years later,  we live in another country and a third child  has come into our lives!

The due date Sept 1993

July 1994

I will continue to be a parent until the day I die.  Yesterday the prefix "full-time" was removed from the title of parent.  The youngest was stuffed into our overpacked car and driven up to Edinburgh to start his Marine and Freshwater Biology course.  He's gone now.

3 September

Like his brothers before him, I was sad to see him go but I wouldn't want it any other way.  I see the smart, confident and handsome men that my sons have become and am pleased they are out in the world.  It is what I wanted for them. 

Diving is fun - August 2011

This is me having completed being a full time parent.  I have lots to do so I'm not worried about how I'm going to fill up the time that was previously devoted to parenthood, but I am feeling a loss.

I'll start by walking the dog and then cleaning some of the rooms in the house.  The nice thing about cleaning now is that I am confident that the rooms will stay clean for more than a day.

Egypt August 2011

Thanks Ian, Sean and George for being three of the best parts of my life.  I really love being your mother and I love you.

49 today

I thought I would escape the aging process but it happened anyway.

Here's the first grey hair!

Diver Training

The Dumfries Sub Aqua Club was at Capernwray Dive Centre on Sunday for training.  It was a glorious day out!  We had blue skies, warm sun and for once it wasn't overcrowded at this particular dive site!  It is usually heaving with other divers . . . perhaps it is because of the struggling economic conditions that there are fewer divers.

Lovely Weronika

One of our club members, Weronika was having her first open water dive.  She managed beautifully!  I am slightly envious that she is just about to turn 18 and is already a diver!  I didn't start diving until I was more than twice her age!  I was her instructor for the day.  It was only my second time as an instructor in open water.  I was being carefully monitored by the Branch Diving Officer to ensure I didn't screw up her training. 

Weronika getting geared up to go!

The manufacturers of Suunto dive computers had a tent set up at the dive site today.  Our group was one of the first groups to arrive.  Because we were in no hurry, I went down to the tent to see what they were promoting.  It turns out that they were handing out their new dive computers for people to use for the day. (Yes please!)  I got to use the new Suunto Vyper Air.  I'm telling you that it is a very nice dive computer indeed! I especially liked the display of the dive profile afterward with the time and temperature shown as I scrolled through the dive minute by minute.

Vyper Air on my arm!

The trout in this flooded quarry seemed to be bolder than usual and certainly posed for photographs much better than they have in the past.

Alex punching a trout

Trout swam right up to my mask and didn't care if they bumped me.  The perch just sort of hung out at the bottom and looked around by our fins to see if we stirred up anything tasty for them.

Perch

The roach just looked bored by the whole ordeal.

Roach

On one of the training platforms - there is a deck chair - new divers can pose for a photo.

Diving has got to be fun and when a person is going through the training, it can seem like it is just a long string of assessments and drills. 

It is because we do this for fun that we go in and out airplanes, and horse around on the boats that have been sunk at this training facility.

Most of us managed to get three dives squeezed into the afternoon.  Even though the diving itself isn't strenuous, hauling equipment and tanks around can be tiring.  We were all ready to go home by the end of that last dive.

Battle of Duckweed

The duckweed in our pond keeps trying to reintroduce itself.  I have a zero tolerance policy with duck weed.  I will do a visual check of the pond and remove every single little green fleck of pond weed that I see.  I've been doing this since last year.  I don't know where the stuff is coming from.  Every week there are between 5 and 20 little bits to remove.

The duck weed may have had a benefit.  I shaded the water and inhibited the growth of a new pond pest - blanket weed.   Sheesh!

I was scooping out the blanket weed and discovered that the newts have been busy!

Baby newts!

I have to be very gentle and check the blanket weed carefully.  These very small and delicate newt babies are living in there.

That little guy went straight back in the pond and wiggled away.  No harm was done to any newtlings during the production of this blog entry.