Tonight rather than tell you what we have been up to this past week.....not a lot !!....I thought I woudl tell you the story about a famous wee dog that everyone in and around Edinburgh seems to know.  He was certainly my favourite dog when I was young and we did not have a "real" dog.    This dogs name is

Grayfriars Bobby,  He belonged to a policeman in Edinburgh called John Gray and this is what happened to him once his owner John Gray died.

John Gray's faithful dog Bobby mourned his master for 14 years, until his own death in 1872.

James Brown the keeper and gardener of the burial ground remembered John Gray's funeral and he said the Skye terrier was one of the most conspicuous of the mourners.

The grave was closed and the next morning James Brown the curator found the Skye terrier lying on the newly made mound of earth. Old James could not permit this, for there was an order at the gate stating that dogs were not admitted into the Kirkyard. Accordingly...Bobby was driven out.

Next morning the same thing happened again, Bobby was lying on the grave. The third morning was wet and cold; James Brown took pity on the faithful animal and gave him some food.

Bobby made the Kirkyard his home. Often in very bad weather, attempts were made to encourage him indoors, but he was not having any of that.

At almost any time during the day, he would be seen in or around the Kirkyard. He had made many friends.

A weekly treat of steak given by Sergeant Scott of the Royal Engineers from Edinburgh Castle. Punctually at the sound of the One O'clock time gun, Bobby would appear at the Coffee House for his dinner.

The stone where Bobby sheltered had been there for many years. The higher one was put up in the year of the battle of Waterloo to commemorate a woman called Jean Grant and it is inscribed with a text from the Bible - which may well equally apply to Bobby. ‘With such sacrifice God is well pleased.

There is a lovely bronze statue of Bobby near the churchyard throughtout the many many yeras he has sat there thousands of children and adults have stopped to give him a pat....including me !!

I hadn't thought if Bobby for a long time until a photograph appeared in an Edinburgh Paper the other week and it is this  that I will put at the top of this entry.

As Bobby loved his master all his life may you also be able to
LOVE ONE ANOTHER.

missing days...

Oh my goodness I have never been away from my blog for quite so long...I am sorry if you have missed me...Mind you I sometimes wonder if I write this to a few friends and invisible number of folks  and wonder if I should keep it up...But then I get the odd e.mail asking if all is well  and that....well...starts me off again  LOL

So here goes... March has been an up and down  month.  My sister Margaret was in hospital and I spent most days going back and forth into Bath.  However I have also been renewing friendships with friends who I am in contact with only occasionally. Early in the month my friend Margaret and her friend Clive (who I had not met) came down to Bath for a few days and so we all met up for a coffee which soon extended to a late lunch after a wonderful walk..or in my case a trundle...along the Kennet and Avon Canal that runs by a very old Inn called the George where we had had our coffee..and then lunch. As it was at least 10 years since we met you can imagine the chat and news we had to exchange. Poor Clive...mind you he could chat as well and he and Mary got on well whilst Margaret and I chatted away...It was a lovely early spring day and some of the canal boat owners were busy getting their boats ready for the season so there was quite a lot of activity going on.     A little later in the month Julie (an adopted sister really more than a friend) arrived to spend the weekend. It is always lovely when she is here.  As Margaret was still in hospital Julie joined me in visiting her so that was nice and we also had dinner out at the George..again...on the Sunday we met up with Beth and Max at Dyrham Park and had a lovely walk in the early spring gardens and a nice lunch in the National Trust Cafe...all to soon it was time for Julie to leave us once again and catch the train back to London....

Thankfully around the 13th of the month Margaret got home and although she is still very weak we are glad she is home and we have been able to get carers to come in 4 days a week and with Barbara my niece and I filling in the other days she will hopefully gain some strength....

You may remember that last year I was really lucky getting some new dresses....Well this morning when Helen came to do Mary's feet what did she bring ?   you guessed...another dress !  it is a real beauty a lovely burnt amber colour in pure shot silk (the materiel is over 50 years old and was bought in Singapore apparently !!) it fits beautifully. I am so lucky...I will hopefully have a photo taken wearing it soon....probably on the cruise...and will let you all see it, I do know though that no photograph will do it justice....

The last 10 days of the month we have had the most amazing weather certainly borrowed days from summer I think we will have to remind ourselves when we moan...as we will...when we get wet days in July !! Mary and I have been able to sit out most days in between doing our usual daily things !!we have visited a couple of Nat. Trust gardens, and it is so nice to see the blossom on the trees etc etc Our fav, garden The Courts is very near us and I plan to TRY to remember to take a photograph from the same spot each time we go to show the changes in the year... TODAY though we had a bit of a fright !! winter has returned....cold wind and frosty morning. in Aberdeenshire there is a small that last week had the highest recorded temps for any March on record around 80deg I think....this morning they had 6ins. of snow !!!  I don't think we will have snow here but certainly a few really cold days....so from nice cotton dresses back to jeans and jumpers !!

Well friends please once again forgive me for my absence but remember that I appreciate you all

never forget to       LOVE ONE ANOTHER.