Bartimaeus

Shane has been under the weather with another cold again. He was running out of hankies but hoping this wouldn’t leave him as tired as the last one. He managed to rouse himself for a cycle ride though. As the tandem is in the boat I don’t join him for cycling but do go on plenty of walks. The recent walk to Duddingston had brought Jude to mind. We had walked there together before and she was coming to Edinburgh and I wondered if I might reprise some of the walks I had done with her. The weather was dropping in temperature and a long walk might be less appealing.

She arrived on Saturday about the same time Shane got back from a cycle ride. She had brought plum jam, and some plant cuttings for Pete whose birthday was this week, one of her reasons for visiting this month. I had been working on a hat with a tassel for Pete (his request) and got it finished just the day before she arrived, so I didn’t have to concentrate on that when she was visiting. She hasn’t come to watch me knitting. I had washed, blocked and dried it. The tassel needed a bit more trimming once it was dry but it was ready for wrapping now.

Nye took the notion to cook and one of the dishes he suggested got a very positive response. That let Shane and I chat with Jude in stead of me clanking around the kitchen – and very tasty it was too. He and Bryn then baked some choc orange cookies and (choc chip cookies as Bryn doesn’t like the orange flavoured ones) so we were well fed.

The next day we did go a walk but not in the Duddingston area. She and Peter were invited to a friend’s for the afternoon so I walked with her and Pete in the Hermitage of Braid which made better sense. We had walking boots on but it wasn’t too muddy after all. Peter took a photo of me and Jude there.

That night I had another night off cooking as Nye offered to cook risotto. Jude was out and she had proposed an Indian carry out for the next night. I wasn’t going to be cooking her any meals apart from toast at breakfast time, it seemed, but my cooking wasn’t what she came for.

The next day was the main event. We had an alpaca walk booked. We had enjoyed it last year and Jude felt there was no better way to cheer up January than to go on an alpaca walk. Shane’s dripping nose had eased off so he felt fit enough to go. I promised to pay close attention to the names and descriptions this time as I had remembered a name but not the character of the one I picked last time, Marco Polo, the great explorer. We were warmly greeted and I told him I would be seeking a gentle animal this time, no offence to Marco Polo, who had given me a great adventure last year. There he was facing away from all the others. He obviously has his own agenda. The rest were tucking into hay. It was explained that they would still want to eat throughout the walk too.

We listened to the introduction and I had a few in mind. There were two new youngsters and they looked super soft and cuddly. Bryn and I chose them. I got Theodore (AKA Teddy) and Bryn had Jubilation, born on the Queen’s Jubilee weekend. Shane selected a tall one called Milo with an outrageous hairstyle. Pete went for one of the brown ones like he had last time, Calvin, and Jude chose Praline. Shane had Praline last time and he was chatty and likes a cuddle, especially if there are dogs around.

I thought nobody could be uncheered by an alpaca, but I was wrong. A very young girl in the group was frightened of these large animals and also of the dogs we met. Some of the alpaca were scared of the dogs and some the dogs were scared of the alpaca. One guy had a very large and active beast and was enjoying it immensely but taking care not to have it too close to the little girl. The two Bryn and I had were the same age and both very small (not because they were young, just some are small and never grow big) and very cuddly and liked to stay together. Teddy wouldn’t move unless Jubilation started moving too. Teddy hummed a lot too. 

The leader said the alpaca like to be photographed. They do like to photo bomb for sure and to pose individually but they don’t pay attention to a group photo.

They were all so cool and these are few of them showing their best side. At the end we met the studs, females and a baby and did some feeding. This is what she came for.