Green Gallery Opening

Sally and I set up our stall outside the new Green Gallery this lunchtime - the sun was shining, the birds were singing, you could feel heat bouncing of the pale pink of the outbuilding wall.

By the time the Gallery opened at 2 our basky wee corner had somehow turned into an arctic wind tunneland we were laughingly innappropriate in our dress.

That aside, the afternoon was a good one. It was certainly very busy - for a half hour it was like that episode in Jimmy's Farm where they have to have stewards helping people reverse miles down single track roads and comandeer fields to park in.


The photographs are of Carneval de Nice tulips, a spring window box with muscari 'fascination', narcissi 'baby moon' and tulip 'gavota', and a cow in the sculpture garden - look at those eyelashes!

Green Gallery Opening and a temporary addition to our family.

Today was a day of rest - I just haven't got down to anything - just drifted from one half completed task to another.

I began potting on lavender cuttings which will be for sale at Drymen School's Fun day on May 12. The lavender stall will be manned and managed by the school's eco board and all proceeds will be going to pay for improvements to the school playground. I have agreed to nurture the cuttings until the sale. What a responsibility!

Tomorrow afternoon I shall have a stall at the opening of the Green Gallery- this is quite exciting. The Green Gallery used to be in Aberfoyle and always had a good mix of art and crafts. Its owner, Becky Walker has a keen eye for the kind of paintings, sculptures and ceramics that actually work in a home. I have never been in the position to buy a painting (though I have coveted a few) but over the years I have bought some lovely pottery and ceramics. Just before Christmas the Gallery moved to Becky's home in Buchlyvie - the Christmas Exhibition was in her actual home, a beautiful Victorian sandstone house with wonderful views to the hills. Now the gallery has moved to its proper place, a converted coach house in the grounds. I saw the space yesterday and it looks lovely - calm, clear yet domestic. There is also a sculpture garden I am keen to explore as getting pleasing sculpture for outside can be difficult. The opening is tomorrow 2-5 and all are welcome. More details of the exhibition are on the Green Gallery website.


This is Tim - a 12 year old Jack Russell. Tim's owner died last night so he has come to stay with us until he can be found a new owner. So far he seems to be a lovely dog - he and Jasmine are rubbing along fine and the cats are ignoring him.

He is used to being the only dog in the house with a single owner so I was a bit concerned about how he would take to us. So far, so good though he is still at the compulsive wandering around stage. His owner was not in great health for a while I am told so he didn't get many walks - his wandering sounds like someone drumming their long fingernails in impatience.

If anyone knows of someone with space in their home and heart for what seems to be a great wee dog - call me on 01360 660 903.

Herbs and health

Tomorrow is my annual check up at the endocrine clinic in Glasgow. I am not looking forward to it, partly because it will be a waste of a sunny day but mainly because I dislike the attitude of the medical consultants that I deal with.

There is a tendency, particularly I believe in teaching hospitals, to treat results rather than patients. I have an illness which is fairly rare so I have had hundreds of tests - and I find that as soon as results come back the doctors stop listening to me and start checking numbers.

About six months after I began steroid replacement I read about a herbal remedy - rhodiola rosea - which is meant to support adrenal function and give more energy. I thought that I would give it a try and found the boost in energy to be amazing - I no longer had to spend the afternoon in bed in order to be up for the children coming home from school. At my next consultation I mentioned the rhodiola to the consultant and he completely dismissed it as though I had said that I had taken up witchcraft.

It occurred to me that if the rhodiola was having such a big effect, it should be being properly managed by a medical person. So I looked up medical herbalists in the yellow pages and called up Jean Riddell who practises in Helensburgh and Drymen.

The difference between Jean's approach and that of the hospital doctors has been amazing - she is interested in my long term quality of life rather than a set of figures and has addressed all sorts of issues, things which I had not worked out were connected to my lack of steroid production. We have been working towards maximizing my adrenal function and reducing my reliance on steroids. We have been able to take down the steroid dose which I am on by 3/4 which is far better for my general health - I look less like I have stored my lunch in my cheeks.

Yet I know that tomorrow the doctor I see will not be at all interested in the treatment I receive from Jean and will dismiss it all in an arrogant and insular manner. Euan's advice is to breeze in, tell him that I am keeping very well (which is the truth) and then breeze out again. I will endeavour to do just that and then take advantage of my time in Glasgow to hit the delis.

I would advise anyone who has a chronic condition - even something fairly minor - to go and see a medical herbalist - the first meeting is usually free and I have found the benefits to be amazing.

Moving the van

Well we are on our way - Robin Watt from nearby Lomond Classic Transport came to pick up the van and take it to the SECC. Euan cameback in his lunch hour to drive it up onto the ramp, it was strapped down and is now safely on our stand at the CL Fair.

Robin is a great chap, not phased at all by the vagaries of vintage vehicles. After delivering our van to Glasgow he was about to transport a band box new landrover down south so that it could maintain its 0 mileometer until delivered to the owner.

Taking the van in today also meant that Euan was able to see the space that we have, he says that it isn't as big as I've been fearing so hopefully we will be able to fill it all generously tomorrow.

The last proper Christmas Fair

This weekend saw the last of the Christmas Fairs as such - I still have my open day and several farmers' markets - but the Green Gallery @ Home was a lovely way to end the Fair season. Everyone had beautiful stalls - above are photos of Primrose Hill Interiors and Luckycats soaps - and there were also lots of beautiful paintings on the walls and a great relaxed atmosphere. Becky Walker was a great host, Ailsa kept everything moving smoothly, and the days went really well. I am looking forward to future exhibitions - the present one runs until Christmas and is open a couple of days a week.


The hit of the Fair were Luckycats' enormous cube candles scented with lovely subtle fragrances - their snazzy blue boxes arrived just in time and they flew off the stall. Laura assures me that she is making up another batch this week - I am after a couple for my more discerning friends - she can be contacted on 01877-389-126.

I used the Fair to try out a new stall arrangement with a beautiful black and grey Roma material as my stall cloth instead of the usual rustic linen - it completely changed the feel and looked really voluptuous. It helped that it went well with the black mantlepiece in Becky's dining room. I am getting in some practice for deciding what to do with my stall at the Country Living Scottish Fair in the Spring.

The first proper Christmas wreath

The Green Gallery @ Home has its first exhibition opening tomorrow - the first since they have moved to Buchlyvie that is - and Becky asked me to do a door ring for the front door - she had chosen one of the sage rings for her back door and wanted something with a lot of red in it for the front. It is a lovely substantial Victorian house so I thought that it could take something big.

We used fruiting ivy as a base with masses of chillis, apples, holly berries and a wide red organza ribbon.

I am taking a slightly smaller version of this to Lomond School in Helensburgh this evening. The school is opening its new art facilities and I am showing off my decorations.