Hello again! I’ve left this wee corner of the internet to silence for too long, but I’m back with an update 2021 and some more blogs in the weeks and months to come.
After a tough 2020, 2021 has been a toughie as well (as for the whole planet I’m sure). I started the year with hopes that I’d get to see my family this summer but that quickly evaporated.
A close relative also lost her life early in the year and it was very difficult to be away. To live through the grief from afar is a reality of immigration, but it doesn’t make it less difficult especially in times of pandemic when travel is restricted. I was very thankful for the live streamed funeral. She would have turned 40 next week, but now she lives in our hearts and memories <3
I try to keep positive and stay up to date with my lovely wee projects at home – they’ve truly kept me sane! Among other things, I’ve been running a lot. Back in December 2020, I ran my first half-marathon and it went really well. It was a bit icy so I didn’t quite run as quickly as I could have done, but I was very pleased with a sub-2.30 time.
I meant to do a second half-marathon in May but with the rising temperatures, holidays, and vaccines and all, my training schedule went a bit off track. I decided to keep it going for later in 2021. I’m just back from holidays now and will try to get back to it so I can run another great half in the autumn 🙂
I’ve also been writing. A bit less than in 2020, but I’ve been attending weekly workshops with the local makar and fellow writers. It’s been very inspiring and really took me out of my comfort zone. I also got feedback from some agents regarding my novel and it is still a major work in progress!
Another project I started in the spring is a Booktube channel. Because I write so much for work, writing blogs at home has become a bit more tedious. You’ll notice the decline since 2018 when I started this job. But doing videos chatting about books has allowed me to focus on a different kind of content and it’s been a fun project. You can go check out some of my videos on my channel Haste Ye Books.
You can also read my book recommendations for 2020 and my reading goals for 2021 (which I’ve already surpassed!).
My husband and I also celebrated our 2-year wedding anniversary. It hasn’t quite been the 2 years we expected! And we’re still to take a honeymoon one day, but I guess that’s more to look forward to!
Despite the ups and downs of my mood and life, this summer has been great!
My husband and I are now fully vaxxed! That’s so exciting! And with Canada opening its borders to fully vaccinated tourists from August, it means we may have a chance to go in the autumn or maybe Christmas. But we’re trying not to make plans and just keep an eye out for how it will look. If there’s a lesson we’ve (not) all learnt is that things are fast-changing these days!
We finally saw my husband’s family – first time since summer 2019 when we saw them in York. It was so great to see his parents and finally meet the newest addition to the family, our nephew E who was born during the lockdown of 2020.
We finally left Scotland! First time since March 2020 for me and February for my husband. We didn’t go far, only in Northumberland, about 2-3h from where we live. We stayed on a village by the sea with the family and visited Bamburgh and even crossed onto Holy Island.
My in-laws also came up to Scotland in June. They are Scottish and live in England and it was their first time visiting in 2 years, so I think they were pleased! We went to Cramond with them, Dunfermline, and Perth to see more family. And my mother-in-law even taught me how to knit!
We also celebrated my birthday in late June and it was such a fab day! I was spoiled with so many wonderful books and puzzles and plants. We did a waffle brunch in the morning before going off to Culross for the afternoon. Not before grabbing some timbits for the road! We even had a small party in a friend’s garden, with 6 people, big gathering these days, ha!
The weather has been excellent in Scotland – especially so in Stirling, so we’ve been very spoiled! We’ve been taking loads of local trips too and I’ll be posting a blog post soon with some highlights we recommend in the region!
In early July we headed off to the west coast for a quiet holiday in a seaside cottage. The weather kept up and it was amazing, reading on the deck, doing bbqs, going for dips in the sea. All around wonderful! We ate out for lunch every day, supporting local businesses as much as possible.
Upon our return, we promptly headed off toward the other coast to stay in Fife. It’s much closer to home of course, but it was nice to be based there. We normally beeline it to St Andrews, but we took the time to explore small villages along the coast, Pittenweem and Elie being big highlights!
Now we’re back home and enjoying the last few days of our summer holidays before we go back to work. We hope the nice weather stays for a little longer and that August is a wonderful month as well.
How have you been? How has your summer been until now?xx
