Take me home, country roads...

Today's been one of those days where things didn't quite go according to plan, but we got there in the end.

We had planned to go to Gloagburn for breakfast and pick up some provisions required for tomorrow and Friday plus their Christmas shop is now open but I forgot to mention that to David.  We set off later than planned (10am instead of 9.30am) so decided to stop at Delivino's for breakfast before going on to Gloagburn for the shopping.  We had to be back at the house by 1pm as the pool engineer was due to visit (again) to sort out an issue with the automatic chlorine dosage.

We had just finished the most delicious pancakes with bacon and maple syrup when David received an email from the pool company saying the engineer would be at the house between 11am and 1.00pm, so Gloagburn was ditched for the time being and we headed home.  Of course the engineer finally turned up at 1.15pm.  Typical.

Once he left, we reverted to our original plan and headed to Gloagburn.  It's been such a beautiful day it's hard to believe the weather has to turn wet, windy and horrible over the next few days.

At Gloagburn I bought ingredients to make sweet potato, chilli, ginger and coconut soup for friends visiting on Friday.  They have a new addition to their family so also bought a gift for their new addition (beautiful baby girl called Faith) and her big sister Anna, who has appeared in my journal twice before, most recently here. 

This amazing family have a massive day ahead of them tomorrow and my heart is in my mouth for them.  If all goes as planned tomorrow we will be popping the champagne corks when they visit on Friday.  I think I know what Friday's blip will be!  

We also bought some dog treats and cake to take with us tomorrow on Lola's play date where we will meet up with another Golden Retriever owner and her two dogs.  It's a bit like a Blip meet only in this scenario the connection is retrievers and not photography!

Jennifer lives in rural Perthshire with her two retrievers.  I "met" her on the GR Scotland FB page where she asked if anyone had a dog who would like to meet up with her dogs.  Knowing how much Lola loves the company of other dogs I offered immediately.

We have chatted a bit on FB and she sounds absolutely lovely.  We are meeting for coffee and cake at hers at 11am.  She owns a 20 acre grass field so Lola will no doubt have a ball.  David will be the one doing the walking but I will have my camera and hope to get lots of outdoor photos of the dogs.  Unfortunately the weather forecast is rain.  

Once we'd finished our shopping in Gloagburn (I didn't buy anything from the Christmas shop! :-) we rewarded ourselves with coffee and a scone.  It's the law when visiting Gloagburn.

Drove home via the back roads.  Beautiful at any time of the year but particularly in the autumn.