Brawleys Blog

Ella’s Dancing Show

2011-11-21T14:37:00.000Z

We were up to see Ella in her dancing show – she was great. She is the 4th pair to come on from right. 3min 10sec – I was there from 7:00 until 9:30!!

Aviemore 2011

2011-11-14T14:28:00.000Z

The Monks’ clan were up at Aviemore for the weekend. The count is now up to 19, but Nicole didn’t make it because she was right in the middle of her exams. On Saturday we went to Loch Morlich for a wee walk and then back for lunch. After lunch some went to Crazy Golf, some went Quad Biking. Mo Ella and I went a walk down to the park with Siobhan, Stewart and Rory. We headed down to the Cairngorm Hotel for our dinner – ate far too much, but it was great. On Sunday...

Patrick’s 11

2011-11-01T15:40:00.000Z

It was Patricks birthday on Sunday. We had Jean, Eddie and Mikie over for dinner and the Mejury’s came round for birthday cake later on. Good night. We got him shin guards for his ski racing, sweatshirt and fancy boxer shorts – called “Bawbags”!! He got loads of vouchers for Tiso (new ski poles) and Braehead vouchers – (hi tops and a new jacket). Mo made a great dinner – roast beef, roast potatoes and veg. Homemade birthday cake too.

September Weekend Away

2011-09-27T13:39:00.000+01:00

It was mum and dad’s Ruby wedding Anniversary in the summer and the kids (Mikie, Fiona and Gerry, Mo and I) had chipped in and got a holiday house for the weekend as a gift. We had a “rer ter”. We pulled into the drive just after 2 on the Friday and Mikie and Emily had just arrived. The Wedlock’s and Mum and Dad were not far behind. The house was amazing – a huge big kitchen and lounge and a dinning table that we could all sit round – all 13! We had arranged to have turns...

South of Clyde Ski Race

2011-09-22T11:28:00.000+01:00

Ella and Patrick were entered into the South of Clyde Ski Race on Saturday. I didn’t catch Pat, but here is Ella in one of her races – not a win, but still a lot quicker that I would get down!! A wee aside – Patrick cycled to school yesterday to practice for his cycling proficiency test. So rather than his uniform, he was wearing his track suit. He got to school and took off his tracky top, his pal sitting next to him asked “is that your pyjama top?” – Pat looked down and...

Glasgow to Edinburgh Cycle

2011-09-12T15:24:00.000+01:00

It was the fresh’n’low pedal for Scotland bike ride from Glasgow to Edinburgh on Sunday. Mo dropped me and Pat off at Central Station at 8:10 and we met Da and Mikie. What a great day again – the weather was surprisingly great, a few spits of rain but nothing major. It was really windy, but almost always at our back. It took us about 7 hours – including all our stops and Pat got a puncture in Linlithgow, which took a wee while to get sorted. We finished at...

Time-Lapse Movies

2011-08-22T13:14:00.000+01:00

I have been looking for some inspiration for my Audio Visual show I will be doing later in the year at the camera club. I am planning to do time-lapse movie – this involves taking a photo every few seconds and then putting them together into a movie – this makes thinks that normally move slowly to speed up. I did a few trials last week. All done on my iphone …

Pummelvision Videos

2011-08-18T09:22:00.000+01:00

A couple of videos made using Pummelvision Ireland 2011 Last 2000 Images

Elspeth Patterson – aged 2 days

2011-08-07T08:56:00.000+01:00

We got tidied up a bit this morning before heading over to Edinburgh to see the newest edition to the Monks family. She is a stoater - Just to make things easier for them, Siobhan and Stewart are in the process of trying to sell their house and they had a viewer coming this afternoon. We said we would take Rory out for a walk in the rain – what a laugh. His shoes will take about a week to dry out!! On the way home Patrick mentioned that the first time we saw...

Donegal – Home Time

2011-08-06T08:37:00.000+01:00

We had to be out the house by 10 and the ferry wasn’t until 5 – we were going to take a short detour and go to the Giant’s Causeway on the way to kill some time. After some photos outside the house we headed off. On the way the rain started coming down in sheets – the first real rain we had seen all week. We got the the Causeway and you would have gotten soaked to the skin if you had stayed out in it for 2 mins. We decided to go to the hotel for some lunch first and hope the...

Donegal Day #7

2011-08-05T17:40:00.000+01:00

Mo got a text this morning a 7:30 to let us know that Siobhan and Stuart had had a little girl – Elspeth – great news. We will be over on Sunday!! Our last full day – the plan was to go into Letterkenny – a bit of a let down. It was the first time in a descent sized town for almost a week and it wasn’t any different from Paisley or Hamilton. We had lunch after a wee walk around the shops before going back to the house. Mum and Mo started packing the bags and Dad and me...

Donegal Day #6

2011-08-04T13:48:00.000+01:00

We were going to spend the day going back to out roots. We got into the car and started heading to Burton Port. We stopped off at Gweedore, where mum and dad had stayed before. We headed down to the beach to fly some kites and build some sand sculptures … After the beach we went for some lunch, before going to visit the grave of John and Ellen Boyle – mum’s Grandparents – Meg, Pat and Ella’s Great, Great Grandparents. We then went to the remains of their old...

Donegal Day #5

2011-08-03T13:52:00.000+01:00

We had arranged to meet Maureen and Stuart and the kids at their beach today and when we got up the weather was looking promising. We got to their place for about 11ish and by that time the sun was out and it was heating up nicely. We were swimming, playing rounders, playing boules, flying kites and generally having a great time for about 5 hours. I managed to get a bit burnt on my shoulders. We got packed up and headed for the pub for a few drinks and our dinner, before...

Donegal Day #4

2011-08-02T13:03:00.000+01:00

We were up and away for about 10:30. We had seen pony trekking and the kids fancied a go. We went down to Carrigart and booked them in for 3 o’clock. Mum and Dad had brought over kites with them, so we headed for a beach to fly them. They were great – Meg’s struggled a bit – it was a bit heavier than the others and there was not a lot of wind, but the kids (and Da and me) had a great time flying them for over an hour. We got back in the car and headed up to Fanad Head...

Donegal Day #3

2011-08-01T15:11:00.000+01:00

We got up and had breakfast and decided to have a wee run in the car and see where it took us. We ended up in a place called Dunfanaghy, where we had a wee walk around the gift shops. We picked up some lunch and sat on a bench near the beach and just chilled out. We had bought some crab fishing stuff and a packet of bacon for bait, so we jumped in the car and headed back looking for a good crab fishing spot. We found a good looking beach with some promising rocks and I...

Donegal Day #2

2011-07-31T13:11:00.000+01:00

We were up sharpish and finished getting the bags unpacked. It was dry and overcast, with no wind so not too bad. We had arranged to meet Maureen and Stuart at their caravan and head down to the beach. Their caravan could not be on a nicer place – right on the coast and nothing in front of them to spoil their view. They have a 10 min walk down to a beautiful beach – as good as private! We had a cuppa in the caravan and headed down to the beach – boys had a game of...

Donegal Day #1

2011-07-30T15:36:00.000+01:00

Mo had the cases packed before I got home from work and we went over to Jean & Eddie’s for dinner. After dinner I got the car packed up before sitting for a wee holiday glass of wine. Got to bed early because we had to be in Troon for 9ish. Ferry over and drive to Carrigart went without a hitch. As we pulled into Carrigart we noticed Maureen and Stewart (friends from Houston) sitting having a drink at a cafe. They have a caravan just outside Carrigart and we knew...

Rory Over at Grans

2011-07-24T13:33:00.000+01:00

Siobhan, Stuart and Rory were over at Jean and Eddie’s this afternoon and we gate crashed …

40 Years of Memories

2011-07-15T16:06:00.000+01:00

At Mum and Dads Ruby wedding dinner a couple of weeks ago, Mum had laid out loads of photos from their 40 years. I took them away and Megan scanned them all in and here they are … Happy days. Big slideshow here or wee one here.

Pat Dancing

2011-07-10T10:31:00.000+01:00

Doing the dishes this morning listening to some tunes- pat comes in and starts dancing like a eejit!! I take out the camera to start recording him - any normal person would stop, but he starts the song from the beginning because he has a routine. Used a new app called cartoonastic – some of the effects are rubbish, but I thought some were quite good. http://youtu.be/yptY5epAdCw

Tall Ships with Rory

2011-07-09T23:33:00.000+01:00

We got a call at 9:47 from Eddie this morning to say that they (Jean, Eddie, Siobhan and Rory) were going for the 10:13 bus to Greenock to see the tall ships. Mo was in the shower, Meg and Pat were still asleep and Ella was in her Pyjamas watching TV. It was tight but we made the bus!! It was a great day – really warm and Greenock was heaving. Rory loved the boats and all the biz. Eddie treated us to lunch before we headed back to Bridge of Weir. Siobhan and Rory set...

Andy Murray at Brodie Park in Paisley

2011-07-07T22:30:00.000+01:00

We joined the Tennis club a few months ago and Pat and Ella have been taking lessons. Andy Murray and the Davis Cup team were in Paisley yesterday to promote the improvements to some tennis courts and the tennis club had been asked to supply some kids to have a hit about. The place was so busy and the media were surrounding Andy so it was difficult to get close. I stuck Pat on my shoulders and he took some pictures as he passed. The Davis Cup match is against Luxemburg this...

Mum & Dad’s Ruby Wedding Anniversary

2011-07-03T21:40:00.000+01:00

It was Mum and Dads Ruby Wedding on Sunday and we were all at the Cricklewood in Bothwell for our dinner. It was a great day – Mum had looked out loads of old photos from the last 40 years – some stoaters!! I am going to scan them in over the next week or so and will add them to the blog later.

Meg Passed her Grade 4

2011-07-02T16:14:00.000+01:00

Just got a text from Meg’s Clarinet teacher – she passed her Grade 4 exam – with a merit! Pieces A 27/30 B 25/30 C 27/30 Scales 17/21 Sight Reading 18/21 Aural 11/18 Total 125/150

Rory Over for a Sleep Over

2011-06-27T16:10:00.000+01:00

We had Rory over for a sleep over today. Good crack.