As we left for home yesterday we drove past the sad little bay just round the corner from our cottage where the recent tragedy happened, all was completely calm and peaceful now as if nothing had happened and at that moment a rainbow appeared.
It is a community in mourning, feeling the loss of a friend and neighbour – many of the locals are calling for a road barrier to be put in place now so this loss of life does not happen again in the future when the sea is at high tide. The sea that I love so much has suddenly become quite a fearful place but even so now I am back in landlocked Yorkshire I miss going to sleep with the roar of the waves in the background.
As we were on the road yesterday I had a really simple Advent activity – something only available to ‘us northerners’ and something I look forward to getting each year…
…the Booths Christmas Book and for you southerners (and any readers from other parts of the world) Booths is a family run grocers business founded in 1847 and now a chain of supermarkets across the North of England and often refered to as the Waitrose of the North. It trades on quality, local produce and great customer service.  Their release each Christmas of their hardback, bound book is always eagerly awaited by all their shoppers and followers.
Our nearest store is – a bit too far away for a our weekly shopping but we always call in on our way to or back from Scotland at the Penrith or Kendal branch. It is packed with photographs of deliciously tempting Christmas fayre to order or buy in store interspersed with a few recipes to make.
So I collected mine yesterday and spent my elevenses this morning pouring over all the Christmas food on offer and a quick look at the recipes in the back. I find it remarkable that Booths can produce such a lovely little book and give it away free – I was a truly happy bunny.
Todays activity…
As you may remember from last year I decided to do something different to the usual wreath on our front door so I hung my chicken wire cone see post here (a left over from my daughter’s wedding that hung on the Church gateposts full of flowers) and this time filled it Christmas foliage. I quite liked it so have done it again this year. If you don’t find wreaths easy to make this is a simple alternative…
…first bend some chicken wire to form a cone shape – making a hanging loop at the point on the back. 
Pack the front and sides with moss (I had collected a small heap in the summer in readiness). Find an empty jam jar and push down into the cone as far as it will fit and so it is not visible.
Remove the jar again and push some chicken wire into the jar to hold the stems steady when filling with foliage. Fill the jar with cold water and start arranging pieces of foliage. Hold the cone steady in a small bucket then lower the jar into the cone making sure it is a snug fit.
At the moment I am using some dried red hydrangea heads and a dried white one, some ivy and a few holly stems. As we get closer to Christmas I will swap these for eucalyptus, holly and Hypericum like last years.
I have hung mine to the side of our main door but they are quite light and will hang on a door.
As you can see I am no florist but it is not too difficult to get a pleasing arrangement. You could add sprayed leaves, ribbon or pretty much anything. Just remember to keep topping up the jar of water.
We have placed a small rooted Christmas tree by the front door (only £10 at Wilko) and put a few lights on it. DH has still to do the rest of the lights in the front garden and paint the front door – I will take a few photos when it is all finished.
Whilst in Scotland we went over to Portpatrick for a stroll by the harbour and found they were having their annual Christmas craft fair in the village hall so went for a look around. There was some lovely things to buy – after much deliberation and bearing in mind I had to limit my spending I chose these…
…a pack of watercolour notelets (right) painted by a local artist to support the Aldouran Wetland Garden and these two pretty little felted Christmas tree cards for each of my daughters – made by a local crafter.
I also bought a few other bits and pieces whilst we were out and about – goodies that I never see down here in Yorkshire.
The frilly cake band takes me back to my childhood and reminds me of Christmases past – they would appear each Christmas round our Christmas cake – at 99p I just had to have one. The packet contains an iced ginger cake – we always buy one when we are at the cottage but usually we get the un-iced version – these too are only £1 from Tesco or Morrisons but I have never seen them south of the border. I thought the iced one would be a nice treat for Christmas. 
And on the way home a few small inexpensive things for Christmas from Tebay services of all places – each of these little tissue parcels were a £1 – you will have to wait a while until I unwrap them to find out what is in them.
Welcome to my new followers too. Christmas is a lovely time in Blogland – everyone is so busy making and baking.
Back tomorrow for Day 5 of Advent. x
I stuck a few cloves into the end slices and the smell was really nice. I wasn’t very impressed with this microwave method – one or two of them scorched a bit but this won’t be that noticeable when the colour darkens with age. I will take them back home and put them in the airing cupboard for a while. I decided not to continue with them here and wait until I get home and can use my oven.
…with the Three Wise Men on camels who were awesome (as Sybil would say) though it was hard to get a good photo without all the police escorts and minders getting in the way of taking pictures.
They were like big cuddly teddy bears and didn’t seem the least bit phased by the noisy crowd, the bagpipes and the loud speakers on the castle belting out Christmas music; and were very amenable to the children stroking them.
As it is quite a small town the parade circulated a couple of times and as it became dark everyone gathered in the square by St John’s castle (which had become Santa’s grotto for the day) for the countdown to the switching on of the lights by the winner of the Primary Schools competition. There was such a sense of excitement in the air.
Once the lights came on a big cheer went up and it was quite spectacular but not something easily caught on camera. It felt so nice to be part of this community spirit here.
All the shop windows around the town have been dressed with a Christmas theme and lit up too – it was a wonderful sight that you don’t see very much now on most high streets (well not in Huddersfield) since the national chain shops seem to have taken over and don’t really go in for window dressing in this way; but up here in Stranraer the majority of shops are mainly small family concerns and whether they are bakers or hairdressers they all join in to make their little town look delightful. Here is a quick tour of the shop displays and haven’t they done well.
At first glance it wasn’t obvious that the church was still in use but further investigation told me it probably was (and of course Google helped later). It is a listed church dedicated to St Marjory and built in 1793 on the site of the initial medieval church that was knocked down and of which there are no remains.
One of the things that struck me wandering around the graveyard is firstly that it is such a wild yet beautiful graveyard, so peaceful with a view that stretches over to the Solway estuary in the background. The second thing is the sheer size of all these 18th Century grave stones that are packed into this graveyard and almost towered above me and more resembled one of those large city cemeteries than a tiny parish church. All around the graves the grass was long underfoot and difficult to walk over with mounds and clumps entwined with brambles.
These two graves I came across are a sad reminder of how children often died young through infectious diseases that couldn’t be cured back then and how some families lost more than one child at the same time with the same illness. This was written on the gravestones…
What a truly peaceful place to sit and ponder on life…
I love that row of stars strung across the main street. Tomorrow we are going into Stranraer to watch the Christmas parade and switching on of the lights in the town centre and see these Three Wise Men on their camels. Can’t wait.
where the journey takes me 2 