A handsome chappie

What a difference a day makes! No blue skies today and a fierce cold wind that cut to the core meant the day's planned activities were curtailed. A quick trip to stock up the cupboards after church followed by an afternoon's soup-athon. I find making soup very therapeutic and today was no exception. I needed something to pass the time while waiting for grandchild no. 3 to emerge. It's been a long couple of weeks since her due date but it seems the waiting is almost over.

Its funny how an impending new arrival sends your thoughts to the past as well as the future, to those long gone but part of who you are. Today's blip is of hubby's grandfather, one Alexander Cruickshank. The photo was taken in Maud, five miles up the road from us, in 1914 just before he headed off to the Great War. He was one of the lucky ones, surviving the horrors of the Somme and elsewhere to return to Buchan to farm and raise a family. I rescued this a few years ago from the bin when mother-in-law was down-sizing.

So glad I did. I never met him but sometimes feel he's still with us as he looks down in all his finery.