Wednesday 8 August 2012

Sun and flowers

What a difference a day made 
Twenty-four little hours 
Brought the sun and the flowers 
Where there used to be rain 

Beautifully sung by Dinah Washington, the lyrics are very apt right now. The sun came out, we managed to get out of the house and it's made a world of difference.
Yesterday we visited Potter Around in Kirknewton again so that kiddo could paint sun catchers while I caught up with some crochet. Unfortunately, I forgot the crochet so after a long look around the goods available to buy, I bought a small ball of yarn and sat down to crochet in the sun. The place is on a farm and seeing the fields behind the sun was extremely good for my soul.
The finishing touch was glitter on the suncatcher. Glitter makes everything OK.


Today was even more glorious so we took ourselves off to Edinburgh. A short train trip followed by a bus ride brought us to Edinburgh's Botanic Gardens. A lovely peaceful place. We wanted to sit on the grass to eat our sarnies but it was soaked so opted for a bench near the very impressive Glasshouse. We faced the really long 100 year old hedge which was 8 meters high!

The highlight of the day was the Chinese Hillside walk where you could see plants native to China. Kiddo particularly liked the waterfall and the pagoda. Mad nutter mum made a brief appearance here as kiddo refused to leave the pagoda and then later again while trying to get her to stop rolling around in front of Inverleith House. But as I walked around the gardens nutter mum was banished to a cupboard in my brain and I returned to being THAT nice mum again. The Gateway house is a fantastic building at the main entrance and a welcome haven from the hot sun.
We decided to visit Inverleith Park which is opposite the Gateway entrance to feed the ducks at the pond. The rain has made a mess of the fields so it was not easy to walk on the grass. However, we eventually arrived at the duck pond which is a bit grotty. Not worth leaving the botanic gardens (that have much nicer ponds). I was glad that we brought bird seed as a sign at the Inverleith Pond warned that bread is not very good for ducks etc.
After a quick play in the park we went back to the Gardens. After a quick visit to the gift shop which was interesting, we strolled back toward East Gate for the bus home. I am definitely going to return as I want to visit the Glasshouse but next time we will take a waterproof picnic blanket so we can enjoy a picnic in this lovely park.



New spiky tree with mature one in background

100 year old hedge






1 comment:

Lucia said...

Glitter does indeed make everything OK. I loved the Fringe the year I went but that was Before Kids. Will take your advice and avoid until they are older! x