This morning

we have wind, its blowing quite strongly, the flag in the garden round the corner is fluttering madly.

Market day, do not need a lot, just fruit and some onions, I have used up the last of the garden onions, so until we have another crop ready I will have to buy them.

No plans for today, I have taken sausage out of the freezer for supper, also have a pork joint defrosting will cook it later, then I can slice it cold and re-heat some for tomorrows supper.

So on with the story........ whilst we were living in Scotland DB and I joined a group called Friends of Suntrap. Suntrap was a garden surrounding a very modern looking house, Milbuies, built, in the 1950's on the same principal as many houses in India. Boyd Anderson, the chap who bought the garden and had the house built, had been involved with the tea trade in India. He left a rather complicated will and a group of people became involved in helping keep the garden under control. The agricultural collage also became involved, and used the garden for training and also for a group of people with learning disabilities.  There is quite a bit on the internet about the garden and its subsequent sale, it is now a private house and has been altered and restored. When it was first built, it had solar panels, which were unknown then and also a small wind turbine mounted on the roof. It was also triple glazed with venetian blinds in between the second and inner panes of glass. They were operated from controls at the side of the windows. All 3 of the bedrooms had their own bathroom.

Each June the garden had an open day to showcase the work done in the garden, there were plants and various other things on sale. We also used the lounge and library in the main house for refreshments. I was the caterer. Each year just after Christmas I started preparing for the June open day. So sponges for gateau were made and frozen, scones, around 12 dozen and also meringues which keep well in sealed tins. The scones and cakes were kept in a freezer. The week running up to the open day was always busy. I was working full time as well. I had help from various Suntrap members, DB collected the cash. We served soup and a roll and sandwiches as well as the cakes etc. The kitchen crew were hard at it from around 9am to get sandwiches etc made, cakes iced The garden opened at 10am and from then on it was busy. We often got asked for scones with cream, people were firmly told that all cream items were on the afternoon menu.  Any cake etc we had left was sold, usually to helpers, who insisted on paying despite them having worked all day.  It was usually bread I ended up taking home.

We always raised a large amount of funds which went towards keeping the friends running and also equipment and prizes for students.

We also had an afternoon opening in September through Scotlands garden scheme, the profit from that went to the Home for retired gardeners in Berwick on Tweed. The Friends celebrated their 30th Anniversay in September 1997. We had a garden party, so afternoon tea fell to me. One of the friends baked and iced a celebration cake for us with a large Sunflower on the top. The Governor  of Edinburgh lived in the house next door to the garden. His chef always came to our open days especially if he was not working. He asked for my scone recipe which I willingly gave him. He always had a meringue as well.

We always had a Christmas social event, Dainty finger bits and mince pies, Mindful of the drink drive restrictions we served Bucks Fizz or tea and coffee. That also went down very well.

The Christmas Social in 1997 was when we broke the news that DB and I were leaving to move South. We were presented with two shrubs for our new garden. They are in our present garden. We did move back to Scotland in 2010, but it was a very short stay, my eldest daughter had problems and we decided to move back. A 600 mile round trip for hospital visits was just not on.

The last two years we were in Scotland I served as Vice President. They were a great group