Weekend 'off'.

No guests booked in till Monday. So - a browse in our library and then feet up.
But then this would be an ideal opportunity to catch up with the ironing, cleaning fridge and freezers out in preparation for Christmas goodies. Oh, and bathing the parrot.
And polishing the award - again. That lump of glass was for our Going Green credentials and is really not appropriate!

We won!

Northern Lights Tourism Awards - Tourism and Sustainability.
A framed certificate and a lump of glass, hopefully recycled, and no idea where to put it so that the cats don't knock it off and smash it.

Weather report

Following a week of very strong winds - lost quite a few panes of the greenhouse - the snow arrived. Good job I have no tender or exotic plants in the greenhouse. This year I managed to produce a rogue nicotiana that reached ten foot in there, the plan then was to save the seeds, well I have lost them!
Fortunately the oil delivery arrived so our tanks are full. A downside is we have two small roof windows, that were probably put in in 1826 when the house was built and have now decided to give up the ghost or their putty. And no-one wants to climb up and do anything about it. So - an elegant entrance hall with the added feature of a bucket.

Greenbrae car park - full!

Well it is today - and the rest of the week.
Just as I was facing Christmas with increasing gloom and the oil tanks swiftly emptying the phone never stopped. We have ancestor hunters, reps., trainers, job seekers, businessmen and a family of five in at the weekend. Phew.

Land of the Big Sky

How Buchan is described - and you can see why. The 'new' part of Greenbrae benefits from huge windows/glass doors, and I am often stopped in my tracks by the view of the sky. It is usually towards the end of the day that I sit and watch the sun set, at this time of the year I can also see the skeins of geese returning to their 'roost' at the Loch of Strathbeg. With music playing (my daughters are appalled at my taste - Will Young at the moment) I can feel the blood pressure going down.
Last night it went back up and up as we waited - in vain - for guests to arrive. No shows, one of the down sides of running a bed and breakfast.

Cant win - so *** it!

I try very hard to manage the finances. Rather than have car tax and MOT coming out in the one month I had the one car booked in for MOT in September. The car tax is now due, and guess who turns up with the bill for the work done in September?!
The other car adds to the misery by refusing to stay in a gear, any gear, so thats down the road for an estimate.
So I took myself off to the hairdressers. Debtors prison here I come.

Bleak House?

No, its a castle, ruined. Not far away from here. The picture sums up the weather at the moment. Cold and windy. We managed to put off the hotel inspector till after Christmas but even so are now scrutinising all public areas and guest accomodation, last years report in hand and the other hand tearing hair out. Not quite as bad as the castle, but Greenbrae appears to be fraying round the edges.

Back to work.

The new family, with Zachary our grandson, are back at home today in Edinburgh.
I spent the morning ironing. Oh how I have missed it! No I ****** haven't!
Guest in tonight and more booked in over the coming weeks. Now much quieter on the b&b front but still trickling in. We might just survive the winter.
Not sure I will survive Christmas.......7 weeks to go.

Mother knows best

Especially when she is your daughter.

Me getting told off - again!