...making the most of doing the least

Happy Easter everyone!

Dave returned from a conference in Germany on Thursday a bit run down due to some sort of lurgy and with a full scale eczema outbreak because of it an lots of air conditioning. We spent the majority of Friday and Saturday doing lazy day things - internet, a bit of tidying, reading, watching things on telly, eating soup and sandwiches - and he woke up this morning feeling a good bit better and looking an awful lot less red!

We have two really nice parks a few streets away, which I am ashamed to say I haven't taken Dave to (other than for the fireworks) in the almost two years we have lived here.  Today went for a wander for some fresh air.The first park full of families and kids doing egg hunts and having eater picnics, and the second - which has two ponds - had people in rowing boats, old gentlemen with remote control boats, and a variety of marine birds!

 Baxter Park

The land upon which Baxter Park sits was bought in 1861 by the Baxter family (mill owners) to be 'pleasure land' for the mill workers and people of the local area, designed by Joseph Paxton, and gifted to the people of Dundee in 1863. The family also built many of the tenements in the local area to provide low-rent housing for the families working in the mill, one of which we now live in.

The more ornate and therefore quiet bit of the park,
behind the Pavilion.

My favourite bit of Baxter Park.
Looks like you could find a secret garden, no?

 Stobsmuir Ponds

Blossom!

Swan and ducks

lone duck

Row, row, row-your-boat

Seagulls taking off

remote control boat

Lo0k at the detail!

These nice gentleman let me take pictures of their boats!

We spend so much of our time in Paisley or off doing things at the weekend that we don't really explore what is around us - these parks are pretty much on our doorstep, and look what we have been missing. Good places for an evening walk when the mights get longer I think.

... a foodie (or pictures of a food filled few days off)

Friday

I was still a bit tired from my overnight on Friday, so I spent the first full day of my holiday time sitting on my window seat, drinking continuous cups of tea, eating ice cream and biscuits, and reading my magazine (Red).

Earl Grey + Mint Choc Chip + Red

Saturday

Saturday was gloriously sunny. Dave and I got up early, and boarded the bus to go to Paisley. We spent the Day with my SIL and BIL and the wee smasher (our wee nephew - for those who are not Scottish, 'smasher' in this sense means cute/good-looking/attractive). They cooked us this epic lunch from Jamie's 30 Minute Meals (it took more than 30 minutes, but you know, tiny baby). We had baked apples for afters, and all went for a long walk in the evening, twas a lovely, lazy family Saturday.

Cumberland sausage Katherine wheel with sage, horseradish mash, cider and
leek gravy, and apple and cress salad with cream cheese croutons. YUM.

mmmmmmmmm!

Sunday


In the morning, we had a lazy breakfast, then I decided to 'trim' my fringe as it was tip of my nose length and kept getting in my eye. Only I trimmed it too much. It is uber-short, and I look about 15. Undetered, Dave and I decided to take advantage of the good weather, and go into town a few hours before our bus for lunch. We went to the Committee Rooms in Glasgow, and sat outside in the lovely sun(you order inside and they give you all your cutlery bits in a wee bucket with a wooden spoon table number!). For lunch we had the meaty sharing platter, which you can see in all it's meaty glory below! I then spent the almost two hours we had on the bus happily reading my book, and on arriving home we had tea (cold meats, cheese and wee bits) and watched some TV.

10 years younger?

Meaty Platter - 'Mini' burgers, lamb meatballs, chicken pakora,
sticky ribs and salsa. Note my pint of Hoegaarden. Yum.

Monday


I've had the floral dress below for  a couple of years, It was £5 in the New Look sale I think, and needed minimal taking in. The top has never felt very secure, it's a bit floppy because the fabric is light. With a view to wearing it on a girly day out in Wednesday(which I didn't get to do as it was all drizzly) I decided to add a top band and straps. I am super pleased with how it turned out(and I feel much more secure in it)! Also of note on Monday, I decided as we had lots of meat bits left over from Sunday's tea I'd try to conquer my 'I can't do bread stuff' fear and make pizza dough. And it worked! Check the delicious meaty pizza below! (dough recipe)

No straps

Straps!(I used fabric from an ill-fitting top)

I love this dress.

mmm pizza.

I think I *might* have a bit of a food photo obsession.

...on holiday!

I am finding it a wee bit difficult to blog. Work has reached a really nice balance, but the numbers of 'shifts' I am doing has gone up in the past few weeks - I'm now doing mostly four rather than three. Last weekend Dave was putting on the Scottish tour dates for Beans on Toast, so Jay and his drummer/banjo player Bob (I know!!) stayed with us, and the gigs all went well and I had a really good night out at the gig I went to. It means life is pretty busy just now, which means I don't have time to actually do anything blog worthy. I haven't baked for ages and our cooking is quick and basic. I tried to sew a coffee pot cover for day the other day, and after 45 minutes of trying, couldn't get the tension on my machine right and gave up. It's not that life is bad, it's all good still - work is brilliant, and I am feeling completely on top of things again, and the social aspect is great, and Dave is as awesome as ever, but there's been nothing big that's 'of note'.

Not quite on a beach...
but my holidays have begun!

Here is something of note though - as of 2pm yesterday, I am on holiday! 'Til a week on Monday! Last night I started my holiday by eating ice cream cones (mint choc chip!). Though I did also go to bed at half past nine. I'm still a wee bit tired today - I did two consecutive days joined by a sleepless overnight, so I'm pottering about, getting ready for a week off. I might have a mid-afternoon nap too, our bedroom is front facing so it's all full of sunshine!

We are Paisley bound for the weekend, and next week, I have very few concrete plans. I'm going to spend a day with my Uni girlies, and I'm going to cook, and bake, and read(I have a pile of new books) and craft, but there is no timetable, and that is a lovely thing!