November has sped by in a blur of celebrations, trips, writing and deadlines. This is the month that I turned 50! Half a century old - how did that happen?! It seems like no time at all since I turned 40 in Oban. People have been asking me if I'm bothered by this significant birthday, and I'm genuinely not at all. For the most part, I find it hilarious, which is lucky, as I recieved lots of cards and a huge balloon with my age printed on them! I love them and still have them proudly displayed around the house. Of course, I have my moments when I'm less jovial about it, but on the whole I think aging is something to be embraced and celebrated. I certainly wouldn't want to be in my twenties again, that's for sure.
I felt very grateful to still have my Mum with me to celebrate, because I'm aware that a lot of people don't have their mothers around by the time they reach 50. My Mum certainly didn't, as my grandmother died the month before her 50th birthday, so I'm fully aware of how lucky I am in this respect. Its also a bonus of having your kids young - my mum was just 20 when she had me. So we decided to make the very most of it, booking holidays to Scotland together for the very first time since I was a teenager.
You've probably seem my previous post about my holiday to Edinburgh, but we had other trips and things booked too. We also went to stay in a beautiful country house hotel in Aryshire. Again, I'd never been to Aryshire before so it was lovely to visit this part of Scotland. Being Burns country there were many references to the great Scottish Bard and the landscape is just stunning. The hotel was set in its own grounds, complete with tennis court and croquet lawn. It was a spooky looking building, as you can see, and it seemed as if it really ought to be haunted, but alas we didn't see any ghosts. Still, it was like living in a period drama for a while. My goodness it was cold though! Blue sky and winter sunshine, but freezing temperatures especially at night time. I was glad of my hot water bottle and bed socks, I can tell you! While in Scotland we went to Glasgow. This is a place that I have visited before, a couple of times, and although I don't like it as much as Edinburgh or Inverness, it is a very pretty city. I love the architecture there. It's all very dark academia. Glasgow is an interesting place, with a unique mix of reverence and humour towards the great figures of the past. For instance, it is traditional for members of the public, usually drunken men, to place a traffic cone on the head of the Duke of Wellington statue. This has been going on for some decades and is now so ingrained in Glasgow culture, that they sell miniature figures of the statue which they refer to as Coney in souvenir shops. I didn't buy one, but they made me smile.
He was just one of many statues. George Square is full of them and these other statues seem to fair better with the locals than old Coney does as there is not a traffic cone in sight! Some of the statues were of people I've never heard of, but my favourites were the ones of Robert Burns and Queen Victoria. I also loved the white lions who guard the Glasgow cenotaph. The lion is one of the heraldic beasts of Scotland, and also of Clan Bruce, so it was nice to see such a majestic pair watching over the war memorial. I've posted lots of photos of Glasgow and Aryshire on my Twitter, if you'd like to see more.
On my birthday itself, we went to one of the stately homes because I wanted to feed the animals there. They have llamas, alpacas, ponies, goats, sheep and deer - and they were all greedy monsters! I love hand feeding them. They're so comical and sweet. We had a lovely time. The following day, we were booked in for a traditional afternoon tea at an old fashioned tea room on the other side of town. Afternoon tea is my favourite! Some people like to go out for a curry, others like a fancy dinner, but for me it's afternoon tea. I'm just an old fashioned girl at heart, so I like the traditionalism and elegance of china tea cups and a tiered cake-stand filled with dainty sandwiches, pretty cakes and cream scones. As it was my birthday, we also had rose wine as well. Every morsel was scrumptious. I wore a long pink tea dress and my new birthday jewelry, so it was just delightful. We finished off the day with a wander around the Christmas market, mulled wine and a cherry bakewell cocktail at the Alpine bar, which was very festive.
Of course I got lots of presents, cards, birthday cake and chocolates, plus a fabulous bouquet of roses and thistles, which sums me up as I am the rose and the thistle combined! So it was pretty much a month long birthday celebration! When I wasn't out on trips celebrating, I was busy writing my latest oracle deck - my fourth one to date! The deadline was the end of November, so I've had to fit in writing sessions around all the birthday fuss and I've been writing furiously every spare moment I had. It's been a very full on month of work and play. I could do with a nice rest, but December is exactly the same as I have another project to write for my publisher, plus lots of festive events booked.
Its going to be a busy end to the year! I can't complain though, as I'm having so much fun with it all. I'm really looking forward to starting the next book, which is the perfect kind of writing project for the cold, winter season. I plan to spend my days snuggled by the fire and the twinkling Christmas tree, with my laptop, writing away.
I have a publishing lunch meeting with my editors in London this month too, (another afternoon tea!) which will be very festive. Can't wait for that!
However you plan to spend this festive season, have a blessed and safe December.
Bright Blessings
Marie x
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