The Methuselah of Moggies...

Today was one of those rare days when I got a heck of a lot done.

I got up fairly early and did a stint in the garden - I'll post an update in the next day or so, just to show you what's happening.  I potted up a couple of plants, and I'm pleased to report that after waging war on some buttercups, I've nearly sorted out the big flowerbed next to the drive.  At least three of my hellebores have reproduced this year for the first time, so I found the three best ones and potted them on. 

It was good timing - by 9.30, it had started to rain.

After that, I had a foray into Glasgow to sort out finances, visit Lush (of course!) and - shock horror!! - buy some new clothes for my holiday.  Now in my line of work, wages are so tight that every purchase has to be a strategic choice made for the long-term improvement of an insubstantial wardrobe.  So far, I've accumulated a decent range of summer blouses (courtesy of Craghoppers, Gelert and Jack Wolfskin), but I was lacking a smart casual skirt and trousers in a neutral shade.  The situation has now been remedied, but visiting Marks & Spencer was a big mistake.  I don't usually covet clothes, but whenever I actually take the time to browse through Marks & Spencer, I start to experience anguish and frustration because I can't actually indulge in decent clothes more than a couple of times a year.  Thankfully, being smart at work is not a requirement...

Shopping over, I then zoomed to my father's house (putting air in my car's tyres on the way...).  The aim was threefold.  Firstly, to remove some of my old clothes from a wardrobe and put some ancient Star Wars 'Airfix' kits in the reclaimed space.  Secondly, to find an old pair of summer sandals to take on holdiay.  Thirdly, to catch up with everyone - including Polly.

Polly is the last of our family cats.  We think she came into the family in 1987 or 1988 - I went to buy some woodshavings for my horse from a local stables and came back with a free bucket and a kitten.  She was a half-starved, mangy thing when we got her.  She was the runt of her litter, and  extremely ill with a viral infection and all sorts of things.  We were told she was to be drowned because she was long-haired and therefore no good as a mouser.  Naturally, we took pity on her and took her home with us.  Just weeks later, her sister died when a horse stood on her head and killed her outright...

Polly was always rather frail and sickly.  She has an enlarged heart, and on numerous occasions in high summer we'd find her lying on the rug in the lounge making the most extraordinary coughing noises, with her tongue sticking out, as if she was on the verge of expiring.  She was put on tablets, which she hated, and the vet told us, very gently, that we wouldn't have her very long.  She lost another of her nine lives when she went missing for six weeks in the early 1990s - just when we'd given her up as dead, she was found in someone's garage.

It's now 2010, and Polly is still with us.  She has a mammary tumour, a peculiar problem with her digestive system which means she has to have steroids every day and her kidneys are beginning to fail.  She has no more than three teeth.  But she's outlived my horse.  She's outlived all our other cats.  She's even outlived my mother!  She now spends most of her time down south with a friend of my father's but she's come up north for a short spell, so I'm glad I got a chance to visit her.  It might be the last time...

So here she is.  It's a lousy photo, because I just couldn't get her to sit still.  I think she was quite pleased to see me - she was following me around the garden 'Mary had a little lamb' style and every time I tried to run far enough away from her to get the camera set up, she just came running after me.  There's life, obviously, in the old girl yet.

 
 

Not bad for a kitty in her twenties, eh?

And now, here's a picture of some goldfinches on our bird feeder.  Why?  Because I felt like it!

 

Again, it's not the best of photos.  But then, I'm not Simon King.

I'll be back soon with more from Caerlaverock!

The Methuselah of Moggies...

Today was one of those rare days when I got a heck of a lot done.

I got up fairly early and did a stint in the garden - I'll post an update in the next day or so, just to show you what's happening.  I potted up a couple of plants, and I'm pleased to report that after waging war on some buttercups, I've nearly sorted out the big flowerbed next to the drive.  At least three of my hellebores have reproduced this year for the first time, so I found the three best ones and potted them on. 

It was good timing - by 9.30, it had started to rain.

After that, I had a foray into Glasgow to sort out finances, visit Lush (of course!) and - shock horror!! - buy some new clothes for my holiday.  Now in my line of work, wages are so tight that every purchase has to be a strategic choice made for the long-term improvement of an insubstantial wardrobe.  So far, I've accumulated a decent range of summer blouses (courtesy of Craghoppers, Gelert and Jack Wolfskin), but I was lacking a smart casual skirt and trousers in a neutral shade.  The situation has now been remedied, but visiting Marks & Spencer was a big mistake.  I don't usually covet clothes, but whenever I actually take the time to browse through Marks & Spencer, I start to experience anguish and frustration because I can't actually indulge in decent clothes more than a couple of times a year.  Thankfully, being smart at work is not a requirement...

Shopping over, I then zoomed to my father's house (putting air in my car's tyres on the way...).  The aim was threefold.  Firstly, to remove some of my old clothes from a wardrobe and put some ancient Star Wars 'Airfix' kits in the reclaimed space.  Secondly, to find an old pair of summer sandals to take on holdiay.  Thirdly, to catch up with everyone - including Polly.

Polly is the last of our family cats.  We think she came into the family in 1987 or 1988 - I went to buy some woodshavings for my horse from a local stables and came back with a free bucket and a kitten.  She was a half-starved, mangy thing when we got her.  She was the runt of her litter, and  extremely ill with a viral infection and all sorts of things.  We were told she was to be drowned because she was long-haired and therefore no good as a mouser.  Naturally, we took pity on her and took her home with us.  Just weeks later, her sister died when a horse stood on her head and killed her outright...

Polly was always rather frail and sickly.  She has an enlarged heart, and on numerous occasions in high summer we'd find her lying on the rug in the lounge making the most extraordinary coughing noises, with her tongue sticking out, as if she was on the verge of expiring.  She was put on tablets, which she hated, and the vet told us, very gently, that we wouldn't have her very long.  She lost another of her nine lives when she went missing for six weeks in the early 1990s - just when we'd given her up as dead, she was found in someone's garage.

It's now 2010, and Polly is still with us.  She has a mammary tumour, a peculiar problem with her digestive system which means she has to have steroids every day and her kidneys are beginning to fail.  She has no more than three teeth.  But she's outlived my horse.  She's outlived all our other cats.  She's even outlived my mother!  She now spends most of her time down south with a friend of my father's but she's come up north for a short spell, so I'm glad I got a chance to visit her.  It might be the last time...

So here she is.  It's a lousy photo, because I just couldn't get her to sit still.  I think she was quite pleased to see me - she was following me around the garden 'Mary had a little lamb' style and every time I tried to run far enough away from her to get the camera set up, she just came running after me.  There's life, obviously, in the old girl yet.

 
 

Not bad for a kitty in her twenties, eh?

And now, here's a picture of some goldfinches on our bird feeder.  Why?  Because I felt like it!

 

Again, it's not the best of photos.  But then, I'm not Simon King.

I'll be back soon with more from Caerlaverock!

Digging Up Caerlaverock

It's time for my last visit to Caerlaverock Castle. 

Firstly, the remains of a fireplace.  It's part of the 17th century Nithsdale Lodging, and it just shows how lovely the original structure would have been:-

 

A carved caryatid of a scantily-clad and rather nubile young woman was also found elsewhere on the site, but it's no longer in situ and I don't have any photographs, unfortunately.  If any of you are familiar with the lovely Welsh townhouse Plas Mawr in Conwy, then the Caerlaverock caryatid is in a similar style, though if I remember right, the Plas Mawr example represents a mermaid.

Excavations undertaken in the area around the moat and drawbridge in the 1950s revealed a wealth of artefacts.  Some lovely complete medieval vessels were amongst the items recovered.  I'd guess they probably represent examples of Scottish White Gritty Ware, but I'm no expert and I couldn't get sufficiently close to find out:-

 

But the award for the most stunning finds surely must go to these gorgeous examples of medieval leatherwork.  I hope you can make out the decoration, because it's lovely.  The saddle cover on the left has an intricately tooled goblin's head upon it, which has not, unfortunately, come out very well (it shows up beautifully on the original photograph, strangely enough). 

It's a wonderful thing that these items managed to survive in the waterlogged depths of the moat (along with a drawbridge timber) and that they still remain in good condition after having enjoyed 1950s conservation techniques:-
 

 

And a close-up, if you couldn't quite see it:-

 

That was Caerlaverock Castle - go and visit it some time if you can.  It's only 8 miles or so south of Dumfries and it's well worth the visit!

Digging Up Caerlaverock

It's time for my last visit to Caerlaverock Castle. 

Firstly, the remains of a fireplace.  It's part of the 17th century Nithsdale Lodging, and it just shows how lovely the original structure would have been:-

 

A carved caryatid of a scantily-clad and rather nubile young woman was also found elsewhere on the site, but it's no longer in situ and I don't have any photographs, unfortunately.  If any of you are familiar with the lovely Welsh townhouse Plas Mawr in Conwy, then the Caerlaverock caryatid is in a similar style, though if I remember right, the Plas Mawr example represents a mermaid.

Excavations undertaken in the area around the moat and drawbridge in the 1950s revealed a wealth of artefacts.  Some lovely complete medieval vessels were amongst the items recovered.  I'd guess they probably represent examples of Scottish White Gritty Ware, but I'm no expert and I couldn't get sufficiently close to find out:-

 

But the award for the most stunning finds surely must go to these gorgeous examples of medieval leatherwork.  I hope you can make out the decoration, because it's lovely.  The saddle cover on the left has an intricately tooled goblin's head upon it, which has not, unfortunately, come out very well (it shows up beautifully on the original photograph, strangely enough). 

It's a wonderful thing that these items managed to survive in the waterlogged depths of the moat (along with a drawbridge timber) and that they still remain in good condition after having enjoyed 1950s conservation techniques:-
 

 

And a close-up, if you couldn't quite see it:-

 

That was Caerlaverock Castle - go and visit it some time if you can.  It's only 8 miles or so south of Dumfries and it's well worth the visit!