Ne'er cast a cloot till May be oot

Introducing my Granny. Who sadly died in the early 90's.
Many of us have lots of phrases that have been passed down to us from wise old ladies.
Granny Duthie - or 'Granny up a north' as we called her because she lived in Sandhaven which is about 50 miles north of Aberdeen, a long way from our Midlands home.

A few weeks ago I was on the beach with the dogs, almost warm and feeling summer on its way. Saturday the clocks sprung forwards so the weather should be getting better.
I was even thinking of putting my big coat away for its summer rest.
But it seems no one told the weather it should be getting better as tonight on the last dog walk I got snowed on AGAIN!
It reminded me of an old saying

' Ne'er cast a cloot till May be oot'

I always thought this was a Scottish saying, as many of the terms are unknown to my English friends but it seems it is an old English saying.

Anyway, to translate for those who have lost touch with the roots of their language ;D

Cloot - Can mean clod of earth or a smack round the head but in the case of this saying it means cloth
Ne'er - Never

So the first bit means Dont put away your warm clothes

Oot - out

There seems to be some confusion about what May it is - some people even say 'ne'er cast a cloot till the month of May be oot'
But the Hawthorn tree used to be called the May tree and its blooms were called 'May'
So it is likely that the May in this saying is the Hawthorn blooms rather than the month of May

Dont put away your warm clothes until the Hawthorn blooms are out

The Hawthorn blooms late April early May, but as we are further north up here in Paisley I think I will wait till the end of May before retiring the big coat.

Happy birthday Ben, 2 today!! and its the 1st day of spring

Shhhhh, dont tell Ben but I almost forgot it was his birthday today

Thats the little guy 2 today. Its been quite a big year for him.

3 Clear run agility shows, 12 runs and 9 of them were clear with only 1 elimination (I got lost)

1 KC show with 3 clear rounds - the agility run he won taking us right up to grade 2

KCGC Bronze and silver awards

and of course Mia entering his life (which he though was the worst thing in the world to start with but now he loves her)

I had the day off work today anyway and was planning giving them a big walk anyway but as I realised that it was such a special day - and the 1st day of spring I thought it would be a good day for a trip to Troon.

and it really was.

Weather perfect, slightly hazy but warm enough that I had my shoes off but not my coat. We walked all the way from Troon to Ayr (I think) along the beech.

Except for the few planes and the thundering of my dogs paws it was sooooo lovely and peacefull

The dogs had a great time, zooming and playing and running in the sea (yes mum, Ben actually went into the sea!!! He will be swimming by the summer)

We met a few dogs - all of which Mia got on great with except for the 1st dog a GSD on the lead, but the dog was so lovely and chilled and just didnt react to Mia at all, I think if the guy had had more time to let his girl off the lead then they would have become friends.

On the way back the dogs found a great log for me to rest on (and of course bug them with some more fotos!!) and then we headed back to the car.

After a quick detour to the garden centre (hopefully the dogs can help me gardening tomorow if the weather stays nice) the post office (more wool arrived - yippee, I have recycled bottles fibre to try now - looks interesting!!) I nipped into the shops to get the dogs and extra special tea of oxtail (dont tell them its a surprise) They are currently totaly zonked out at my feet.

Spring has ........

.... Got snowed on again





Just as all the lovely spring flowers were popping up and the birds returning to our shores the weather decided to chuck a wee bit more snow at us







The dogs were more than happy, zooming about and just totaly having fun. Again Mia eating about her bodyweight in snow and Ben barking and bouncing like a crazy boy.










And later on we met Lucy, who is a timid dog like Mia and the two of them have had a couple of fights.












Mia had one little grumble but then kept out of Lucy' s way for the whole walk. She wasnt happy (even ran home and sat on the doorstep) but at least she wasnt acting aggressive, we can work on building her confidence but it is far easier if she isnt all teeth and barking.