Saying a fond farewell.....

With a heavy heart, dear readers, I’ve decided to make this the last post on my wee blog. 

Last month I wrote a deliberating post; bemoaning the fact that I wasn’t writing posts as regularly as I used to, wondering why that was, and eventually deciding that the length of time between posts didn’t matter. Whether I wrote one post a day or one post a month; all that really mattered was still feeling good about writing my wee blog. I also decided that if reading my posts made someone else feel good along the way, well, that was just a brilliant added bonus!

Yesterday someone commented on a post that I’d written two years ago. As ever, I was touched that a stranger on the other side of the world had come across my blog, been moved by one of the posts, then had taken the time to write a comment. She told me a bit about her story and explained why my post had meant something to her. It’s a great example of that added bonus which made writing my blog such a special experience for me, and one of the many reasons why I’ll miss writing here.

So, why stop? Well, I think I’ve been kidding myself on a wee bit over this past wee while. I didn’t mention, in that last ‘deliberation’ post, the parrots on my shoulder. Let me explain. When I first started writing my blog I had one wee parrot sitting there on my shoulder, gently reminding me to be careful about what I was writing as every post was out there in the public domain. Now, however, I feel like I’ve got a whole flock of parrots fluttering all around my head almost every time I start to write a post. “Is it OK to write that? How will that affect certain folk? Better not mention so and so’s name. What will so and so think of me saying that? Do I want so and so to know that I was doing this and that? Is it OK for a stranger to know this simple wee thing about me? Or about my family? Blah blah blah....!” I guess I just don’t feel as free in my writing here as I used to. And I think that’s the real reason why I’ve stopped writing on my wee blog as often as I used to.

Nobody put those parrots there; they all belong to me and I think they’ve mostly popped up as a result of all of the ethical questions I have to continually ask myself as an important part of a practicing counsellor’s way of life. It's not just affected how I feel about my blog; I’ve recently gone through all of my ‘friends’ on Facebook and taken everyone off the list that I've never met. Please don’t be offended if you’re reading this and you’re one of my ‘virtual’ blogging pals – it’s absolutely nothing personal!

It makes me feel really sad to say it, but writing such a personal blog just isn’t sitting right with me anymore. It’s time to stop. I like to think I’ll start up a new blog sometime in the future – hopefully the not too distant future. I don’t have a clue what I’ll call it or what it’ll be about or how much of me I’ll bring to it but if you’d like to see what my blogging future holds, just make sure you’re registered here to receive email notifications (by filling in your email address on the bit over there on the right hand side that says 'Follow by email') and I’ll make sure I post a link to anything I come up with!

In the whole scheme of things, ending my wee blog’s really not that big a deal (...I’m going to two funerals this week...). But I will really miss it and I’ll really miss you. Whoever you are, wherever you are, whether this is the first post you’ve read or the umpteenth – I’ll miss blethering to you here.

I don't want to go on too much more, but I can't stop without saying a huge Thank You! Thank you so very very much for taking the time to read my posts. They've had a lot of views - over 26,000 to date - and I’ve absolutely loved writing them. Thanks to the wonders of the internet, my wee blog will always be here to pop back to for a wee visit now and again. It’ll be good, in the future, to be reminded of things that made me feel good in the past and it’s my hope, dear readers, that some of you can benefit from doing that too – just like that lady yesterday who visited my blog for the first time and felt good after reading a two year old post!

As I’ve said right from the very start; not everyone can have the same outlook on life, but I really do think it’s possible to find something good in most of our days. 

So, what’s making me feel good today? Hm, saying a fond farewell to a great wee pal and remembering all the special times we’ve shared together. 

That’s what’s making me feel good today....

A lovely wee walk

Taking procrastination to a new level today, Gemma and I went out for a wee walk this morning with the intention of returning to the lodge a short time later full of fresh air and fresh ideas...but it didn't quite turn out that way! Instead, we found ourselves whiling away the hours in a gorgeous wee place called The Water Mill. Unsurprisingly, it's a Water Mill. But it's been lovingly converted into an independent bookshop, with an inviting wee cafe downstairs and an attractive wee art gallery upstairs. After browsing around the shop for a while, we settled down beside the stove in the busy wee cafe and, while we were waiting, I had a flick through one of the books I'd picked up. 'The Story of English in 100 Words' isn't as boring as it sounds - honest! It basically just explains the story behind a selection (100 to be precise..) of words from the English language in an entertaining way. Aw, I was fair tickled with this wee gem:

Wee: a Scottish contribution (14th Century). ...blah blah blah....there's a relationship with the Old English word 'weigh'...blah blah blah...Eventually 'wee' became an adjective meaning 'extremely small', 'tiny' and often it was used in a more general sense: 'little'...blah blah blah...then an interesting development took place: 'wee' became a term of endearment - a friendly welcoming word - and began to lose its association with size. That's how it's often used today. So, if someone in Scotland invites you in for a 'wee' drink, BEWARE! It won't necessarily be a small one...

Yup, our walk this morning was supposed to be a little one but, fortunately, it turned out to be a wee one instead! A really lovely walk that kept us out of the lodge for much longer than the wee while intended....!

The Birks of Aberfeldy!

We’re ‘away from it all’ but not very far away! In fact, we’re only an hour’s drive up the road from home in a wee place near Aberfeldy, but it’s very quiet and very scenic and it very much feels like we’re ‘away from it all!’

Alex’s been making the most of it by fitting in a fair few runs while Gemma and I have been making the most of it by, em, lounging around. We did, however, heave ourselves off the couch this morning to hit the hills for a lovely walk on a route that Alex discovered yesterday while he was out on one of his runs.

Aw, it was so gorgeous, and it turns out that the walk's been epitomised by Robert Burns in a song called The Birks of Aberfeldy. There’s even a wee bronze statue of Burns at the side of the path:

(Maybe if you touch the statue it makes you a better writer!)

and, further up the hill, a plaque - beside the spectacular Falls of Moness - which marks the spot where Burns supposedly sat while he was writing the song. I’m not really into Burns, but I googled 'Birks of Aberfeldy' when we got back and I actually loved these words:

Now simmer blinks on flowery braes

And o'er the chrystal streamlets plays;

Come let us spend the lightsome days

In the Birks of Aberfeldy.

   The little birdies blythely sing

While o'er their heads the hazels hing'

Or lightly flit on wanton wing

 In the Birks of Aberfeldy

The braes ascend like lofty wa's

The foamy stream deep-roaring fa's

O'er hung wi' fragrant spreading shaws

The Birks of Aberfeldy

So, there we go, a wee bit of Burns on my wee blog - with a couple of lovely photos provided by Gemma.

Tonight, I'm back to lounging in the lodge and trying to psyche myself up for the onerous task of getting stuck in to my assignment tomorrow. But, as we all know so well, the best laid schemes o' mice an' men gang aft agley....

Rounding off

We’re heading off shortly for the last of the festive season family get-togethers and that’ll be it all over for another year! I’ve thoroughly enjoyed the last couple of weeks, but I’m looking forward now to getting my teeth well and truly stuck in to 2013.

We’re heading up north next week instead of going back to work work straight away; this is such a quiet time in the construction industry, so it’s a good time for Alex to take a proper break and I’m hoping to use the time constructively to make a start on – and hopefully finish! – one of my University course assignments. Gemma’s coming with us too and she also has some Uni work to be getting on with, so it’ll be great to have a comrade-in-arms to help hold off that pesky Demon of Procrastination!

Although I started the course back in October, it still feels like something new and something that I’ve not really properly settled in to. The jury’s still out on just how much I’m going to get from the Diploma over the next couple of years; I’m really hoping that this coming term’s a better one for me than the last and that I start to feel a lot more settled at Strathclyde. I’ve had some special moments there – not least on the first day when I was absolutely delighted to realise that one of the tutors was one of my favourite teachers from my old school! I hadn’t seen him for over 30 years - and it turns out that he’s just as lovely now as he was then – and there are some really great folk in the class who are becoming firm friends. But some things – especially some of the organisational aspects of things – just haven’t lived up to my expectations so far.  It might just be that my expectations were too high – time will tell – but I’m looking forward to getting back in a few weeks and making the very most of it - no matter what ‘it’ turns out to be in the second semester!

In the meantime, duty calls! One last night of doing the extended family thing with more good food, more chit-chat and a few more beers to round off the festivities – and that’s what’s making me feel good today.

A lovely festive season

I couldn't let today go past without wishing you a Happy New Year! I wrote my first blog post on the first of January 2011 and I don't think I thought for a minute that I'd still be scribbling away here two years later! I maybe don't write as often as I used to, but I still thoroughly enjoy doing it when I do (as I discovered after thrashing through my blogging thoughts on a recent post!). So, thank you, dear readers, for dropping in every now and again to plough through my ramblings!

This next load of ramblings should've been posted last week - I just never got round to publishing it and it's been languishing in my Drafts folder since last Saturday! So, I've dragged it out and pasted it on here - which means that this post's a wee bit ass for elbow! However, it means that I don't have to think of too much else to say this morning and can get back to lounging around doing very little before we head off for our traditional steak pie dinner at my wee mum's!

Saturday 29 December 2012

I'm enjoying a lazy morning playing around with the new toy that Santa surprised me with. Everyone else in the house is still in bed (after late night partying shenanigans) so wish me luck with my first attempt at writing a post from my shiny new iPad - without any help from my children! (I feel so old....)

Well, that's Christmas over for yet another year and yet another lovely one it's been too! I'm knackered this morning (and my brain's struggling to keep up with even the slightest movement of my head...) after the afore-mentioned late night partying shenanigans, but I'll do my best to string some words and a few photos together to give you a wee flavour of some of the things that made me feel really good during my festive season!


Twas the Friday before Christmas and Santa Linda had called for help with the collecting, transporting, unpacking and stacking of many, many boxes of food and toiletries that had been donated by the kind people of Dunblane following an appeal by local charity 'Start Up Stirling'. Many elves from the Dunblane, Stirling and surrounding areas turned up to help and that, in turn, meant that many of Stirlingshire's most vulnerable folk would have a more hopeful start to their new year, with at least a few nourishing meals to put on their plates. And that made Santa Linda and her elves feel really good!



The Saturday night before Christmas involved a heady mixture of Prosecco, cocktails, good food and lively chit-chat shared with some of my old girlfriends from Central AC. Most of us aren't actually running very often (or, as in my case, ever at all) nowadays -but I love that our friendship's transcended that and, although we don't have that one thing in common any more, we do have a shared passion from the past  that binds us together...along, of course, with our shared passion for good banter, good food and wine...!


Christmas Eve Eve came next and with it came a truly fantastic evening at The Royal Concert Hall in Glasgow. The Glasgow City Chorus and the orchestra of Royal Scottish Opera had joined forces to perform in 'A Christmas Cracker' and the audience, with my mum and me included, really were treated to a cracker of a concert! Aw man, my spine was tingling along to the glorious harmonies and I loved joining in with the choir during the Christmas sing-along. Just the ticket to really set the scene for the next few days' festivities!

One of my annual tasks on Christmas Eve is to make up and stick up Gargunnock's Alternative Christmas Card. I can't remember if I've ever mentioned our village's Alternative Christmas Card before here on my wee blog. It's really simple; instead of giving our neighbours cards, some of our village's residents make a donation to a chosen charity. I started the initiative off back in 2004 and I love that our village folk are still so enthusiastically joining in! Once the money's been collected, I make up a poster (the 'Alternative Christmas Card') on Christmas Eve wishing everyone in the village a very merry Christmas from everyone on the card. Thanks to the wonders of Just Giving and social networking, this year included some very generous folk who don't even live in our village, and we raised more than ever before; over £1200 for The Scottish Cot Death Trust. Well done Gargunnock, and friends!

Later on Christmas Eve, we had our annual Milne family trip to the movies.This year it was spent with 3D glasses on being thoroughly mesmerised and entertained by the magic of The Hobbit. Then, while we were demolishing our Chinese take-away, we had our annual get-together round the telly with The Grinch.. "it came without ribbons, it came without tags, it came without packages, boxes or bags..." Aw man, I love it! A few beers, a few games, a good few laughs later - along with the thrill of seeing one of the wee lads, who came and played for the patients in Strathcarron, performing on the telly with the Big Noise Orchestra during the Midnight Service from Dunblane Cathedral (we'd only shoved the service on for my wee mum's benefit - but I'm so glad we did!) - and it was time for Santa to come!

We did a kind of split shift of opening pressies during Christmas Day this year - it's good to spin it out! Alex and Ross were joining some of their chums from Central AC for their traditional Christmas run up Dumyat (a local hill) in the morning, so we opened some bits and pieces before they left and the rest when they came home. Hm, that makes it sound like we all get loads of pressies! It's not like that at all; we take turns to open one thing at a time and, with six of us in the room, that can take a while!

One of my favourite moments of the day was watching the kids' reactions when they opened their respective 'special' Santa pressies (yup, my kids are 21, 19 and 17 - but you're never too old for a special present from Santa!!) I love the challenge of finding things that might be worth nothing or seem naff to everyone else but mean something special to the kids. Aw, it reminds me of something someone said in a film we were watching recently: "You should try to give your kids enough to help them do something but not enough to make them do nothing". OK, so this was some rich American character talking about how he hadn't spoiled his kids so that they understood the value of doing things for themselves, and I'm talking about how you don't have to spend a lot of money on gifts for them to be valuable, but I'm sure you'll get the gist!

Anyway, I loved watching the kids' reactions when they opened their own wee special things this year. First, Gemma. After a bit of hunting around on Google, I found this charity called 'Common Hope' that's supported by Marcus du Sautoy (that geezer from Oxford Uni that makes maths appeal to the masses and makes maths interesting,  even to the likes of me!). If you made a donation to his charity (which uses education as a tool to try to break the cycle of poverty) you could put a name to one of his recently discovered new symmetries (a mumble jumble of numbers and symbols that looks like a load of gobble-de-gook to the likes of me..."!). So, what better present for my maths student daughter - who much prefers the 'interesting' way that Professor du Sautoy portrays maths than the boring way her subject's taught at Uni - than the knowledge that she's done a little bit towards helping some kids with their education and gained a certificate recording the new Gemma Milne Group symmetry in the process?!

As for Ross. Well, I think I've mentioned before that Alex and Ross have this project on the go which involves drinking 1001 different beers from thier '1001 Beers To Drink Before You Die' book. There's a lot more to it than just drinking the beer, but I won't go into that just now. One of my friends, Brian, knows a lot about local breweries and he'd suggested I visit The Bridge of Allan Brewhouse for a special gift for their Christmas. Aw, it's such a cool wee place and the guy that runs it couldn't have been more helpful. So, Ross (and Alex's) special pressie was a gift box containing local ales that I'd named and designed the label for, using photos and text all relating to the project. These beers obviously won't be in their book,  but I'm sure they'll enjoy drinking them just the same!

And then Gordon. Well, Gordon loves the movies, but I wanted a gift that wasn't just another DVD or a gift voucher for VUE! I found a website that makes up pretty realistic personalised movie posters, and had really great fun choosing the photos and making up the text to go on the poster. So, keep your eyes peeled for the up and coming blockbuster 'Wolfman' starring Oscar-nominated Gordo Milne! Ocht, I know it must sound a bit naff, but Gordon loved it!

Amongst the other moments that made me feel good on Christmas Day were things like going for a wee walk with Gemma and Mum,

the turkey turning out just right,

being round the table with the people I love most,

and playing silly games..

Boxing Day brought more of the same, but with even more of the people I love most! Alex's family, some more of my family and our oldest and dearest friends came along to help us eat more food, have a few more drinks, enjoy more banter and - the highlight of every Boxing Day in the Milne Household - try to win Gordon's quiz! This year, the ladies managed to draw with the men (we get tanked every year), so there was a big celebration in the wifey's camp - even though we were marked down for being cheeky to the question master and for not knowing that naked tiddlywinks was an extreme sport...

The rest of the festive season has been pretty chilled out. It's been really lovely to do very little and just make the most of us being off work and having the kids around for the holidays. We had a great night out at a party in the village (last night's shenanigans) and thoroughly enjoyed catching up with some old friends and being introduced to some new - but most of my festive season's been spent just enjoying being at home with my wee family. And that, more than anything, has made me feel really good.

....and that, dear readers, seems like a good place to stop this first post of the year and wish you all the very best in whatever lies ahead for you and yours. I hope that you all have a healthy and a happy 2013 and, of course, I hope that lots and lots of things happen this year to make you feel really good!