good habits

took the dog to one of her favourite places today, Eastwood kennels in Gordon. It's like a luxury spa for her, she has her own heated kennel and run, plus a sheepskin rug to sleep on, choice of dog toys and 3 walks in the woods every day. The owners are wonderful, totally focussed on the dogs and treat them as individuals, so Megan dashes in tail wagging and not a backward glance to her family, which is just how it should be.

After that, as we had neither child with us, D and I went to nearby Melrose to have  lunch and visit the Abbey .
It's a fascinating place, with an interesting history and there's a lot to be learnt from the Cistercian monks who set up a self-sufficient economy. I was telling my son the other day that most of the sheep bred in the UK are now grown only for their meat and the wool is largely discarded as it's too coarse for clothing. However, in its heyday, the Abbey had the largest flock of sheep in all Europe and the wool was renowned for its high quality and fetched high prices in Bruges.

I think we need to get back to the idea that local communities are more self-reliant and resilient growing more food locallyand importing less by air (except for tea, coffee and chocolate!) and generating more electricity locally. Having a national grid made more sense 60 years ago when fossil fuel was cheap and its impact on the environment was not understood. But using the national grid also wastes power as the voltage has to be stepped down to be used at a domestic level. It makes more sense now to use different means of generating power in different places- solar power in the south, hydroturbines round the Scottish coast etc.

So we need to get into good habits as consumers of power, and D and I are getting into good habits of spending time together when the kids aren't around and not letting chores eart into that time. Jack goes to Uni in Sept and Jen in 4 years time, and we'll need to adapt to the changes that will bring: more time to spend together doing the things we like, like walking the dog on the beach and visiting interesting places and learning stuff  (I didn't know that the medieval monks had indoor taps- most UK homes didn't achieve that till the 1920s )

sorry about the monks- habits pun, I couldn't resist it!

Still rattling away with the Baby blanket for Jack to take to Kenya on Sunday, got a bit more done while watching the highlights of the Tour de France- the race is engrossing and the French scenery looks wonderful! No doubt we'll have a gite holiday in France when the kids no longer wish to hang around with us!