Spend two days in Edinburgh with me | floating bookshop, new lunch spot and new glasses!

Good morning friends and welcome to my garden. Hopefully you can hear the birds chirping in the background and I'm whispering because I don't want to disturb anyone. It's hot weather, people's windows are open, they're working, so I'm going to whisper to you this morning. But what a delight and I'm just feeling so grateful to be sitting out here in this weather, in my little garden space. Maybe you can hear some of my neighbours. It actually reminds me of the movie Rear Window where it's a really hot day in, I think it's New York, it's set in and you can just hear everybody's conversations and everything that's going on in their flats because everyone just has the windows wide open. I need to re-watch that movie actually, I really like that one. Okay, so as you have seen, I just watered some of my plants, especially my precious ones, the roses. I'm really kind of hoping the loganberry might flower if I keep watering it and giving it some feed. And now I'm just, I've started doing a little bit of journaling, just giving thanks to the Lord. I've got my Bible here, I'm going to read some and just spend the rest of the morning, yeah, just sitting in the sunshine, soaking up the sun and spending some time reading. I have no plans for today but I'm actually really excited about that because that means that we can just do whatever we fancy. We can go for a nice hot summer's walk somewhere maybe and just go, go where the day takes us because one of my favourite days recently was the day we went to Starbank Park and that wasn't planned, it was just we saw lots of lovely things on the way and I kind of want a similar sort of day. So I'm going to spend the morning in the garden, I think have lunch at home as well and then see where the day takes us. So yes, I'll see you all very soon. Oh that's great, that's amazing, I'm so glad that that's coming through. So some time has passed, I've had my lunch, I've changed again and I can't remember if I told you in the last vlog but I'm so excited that I ordered a new pair of glasses last week. I found this wonderful opticians in Leith and they're just so friendly. If you happen to live in Leith in around the area looking for an opticians, I don't have the glasses yet so I can't speak and give a review on that portion of it but the actual optometrist and the staff in the shop were just so lovely, so helpful. I went in with my old glasses and when they took them to have a look at, they said would you like us to you know tighten the screws and just kind of fix them a little bit for you. So they did that, that was so nice, I didn't ask them to do that, it was really just so kind of them and then just the loveliest, so professional, explained everything to me, kept me in the loop but also so friendly, optometrist as well. So there's only the one there I think and then they have two branches, they've got one in Leith and one in North Berwick I believe, they're called Downs Optician and I just happened to find them because I've been looking for somewhere to buy new glasses from and would have like ideally, would be really nice to support an independent I thought and then I had a few funny instances where I went to some independents and I was like oh this is quite a nice pair of glasses, oh it's 500 pounds just for the frames, oh that's a little bit out of my budget. So these ones were really good, they were sort of an all-inclusive deal where I got the frames, the lenses and the anti-reflection for 80 pounds which I thought was pretty decent from an independent, so very pleased with that and I ordered them last Wednesday, it's currently Thursday and they said it would take a minimum of seven days and I was kind of nosy, excited, really would love my new pair of glasses so I can see more clearly too, so I emailed, not emailed, I phoned them over lunch and they said that they're expecting them in today so that's why I've been kind of hanging around this afternoon. It's now about 3pm and they're not, they haven't phoned yet which is totally fine because they didn't say that they would be in today for sure but I was just kind of hoping. So anyway, since they're not in, we are going to go and run some errands because I remembered that I ordered a little birthday present for a friend's 30th, just something small to add to it. I already have most of the gift and that came in yesterday so let's go pick that up from George Street and then I have a few things for the Little Free Library to drop off and then is that all our errands? I'm debating whether to, I won't bring my picnic blanket because it's just a lot to carry plus all the errands and everything, so I was thinking of bringing a black plastic bag maybe and then sitting in St Andrew's Square. The only thing is I'm wearing a dress and sometimes it's not the easiest thing to sit in a dress on the ground but I really, yesterday I went to a local park and I brought my current read, Elephants Can Remember, an Agatha Christie one, also the one I got from our day out to Starbank Park from Choose Books, the bookshop on New Haven Road and I just picked up yesterday to read and I'm already a good little chunk in, such an easy read. So I'm going to bring that with me today and then maybe either find a bench or bring a plastic bag to sit in St Andrew's Square or Princess Street Gardens, we'll see and that's kind of the plan for the moment. So we better get going, it's just, it's just so nice to look out and see a blue sky and sunshine. I have never been that obsessed with sunshine but I think with just how I'm feeling I find it so much harder to get out of a funk, you know, a mental kind of just feeling low when I look out the window and it's also just really gloomy and overcast. So this weather just sort of tricks my brain also into just being in such a happy mood. So let's go out, enjoy the sunshine and maybe get some reading done and maybe, I think, I'm thinking I'm being a little bit optimistic, I'm thinking I'll probably have to go pick my glasses up tomorrow because the shop closes at 5.30 and even if I go uptown I don't think I'll have time to come back down to Leith and go further, it's a little bit of a walk, it's, yeah, nearer Ocean Terminal direction, so maybe tomorrow. Okay, enough yapping, let's go. Hi Shona, it's Megan of Sains Opticians. Hi there, well that was perfect timing, just as I was about to leave the house my phone rang and it was the opticians and I've booked in for an appointment today at 5pm, 3pm now, so that gives us two hours to nip uptown, do whatever I need to do and then walk back down to get my glasses at 5. Perfect, I'm so excited. Welcome to Princess Street Gardens. I don't have a whole lot of time, it's currently just after four o'clock and it takes just over half an hour to walk to Downs Opticians, so I have like 20 minutes, but I figured 20 minutes sitting in Princess Street Gardens with my book is better than nothing and I actually never sit here, so this is a lovely little spot. I always tend to go to West Princess Street Gardens but I actually really like this little bit down here and I'm glad that I actually came here because when I was approaching, and right now I can smell actually, but when I was approaching Princess Street I thought it's quite a smoky smell, definitely old Reekie has returned and then I rounded the corner and looked down to like west, the west end direction of Princess Street and I saw the smoke and I was reminded that I saw the online newspaper this morning that there was a really bad fire on Princess Street and I can't believe it but it's still going, the smoke is still pouring out and I can still smell it sitting in the gardens, so yeah that's horrible. I don't think anyone was hurt which is really good, but I'm just so sad to see another beautiful Edinburgh building. I don't know if it will survive, it looked like a pretty bad fire so that's very very sad, but again very glad that nobody was hurt as far as I'm aware. Anyway just my plan now, read a bit more of my book, if I get a chapter or two done I'll be very very pleased and it's just such an easy quick, well seems like it will be an easy quick read and that is exactly what I'm looking for because my, with me not reading for a couple of months, my list is long, I've still been collecting books, I've just not been reading them, so anyway I'm gonna read for a little bit. Sorry this is terrible lighting and a terrible angle but I managed to read one chapter of the book which I think is really good and now I'm just rushing it to the opticians and we'll give you a proper debrief when I get home. These are my new glasses, I'll maybe show you better at home but my plan had been to show you inside downs but they were just so lovely and chatty with me that I completely forgot until I left and I was too embarrassed to go back in to show you but just a really nice little opticians and so nice to be able to see so much clearer and I went for quite a bright, can you see like a little pink bit at the bottom? I went a little bit outside of my comfort zone. Anyway I thought since it's only five I'm a bit peckish but maybe we could take a walk down to the shore and then a little loop, get some food maybe just like Sainsbury's or something and then head back home. But I did get some cookies because I'm quite peckish and we're just going to slowly wander back towards Leith Walk. Good morning friends, it's another glorious blue sky sunny day. Anyway I wasn't particularly planning on filming today but something really last minute got confirmed and I'm going to have quite a fun morning I think, quite an interesting morning anyway and I thought it'd be really nice to bring you along. So this morning my friend Rachel and I, because she's got a day off work and I got a plus one so she's joining me which I'm so happy about, we're going aboard Logos Hope which is a floating bookshop that travels the world. How fun! I had no idea, I'd never heard of it. Rachel has heard of it and I think she's maybe been on it in Malaysia potentially so I'm just blown away. When I heard about it docking in London I thought it sounded like so much fun. You pay one pound to go aboard and there's a lot of books, discounted books, and from the consensus I was seeing online because it is a I believe a Christian organization. I really don't know very much about it at all but I'm going this morning to find out because I think there should be a sort of talk or something as well because I'm going to the opening ceremony. I don't know if I told you, I'm not sure if I mentioned that just now but I'm going to the opening ceremony. It's just docked in Edinburgh and today is the opening of the floating bookshop so very exciting. I have no idea what to expect and the invite said to dress formal but it's also 10 in the morning and very hot already, well for Scotland, very hot for Scotland so I'll show you in a minute once I get changed what I'm going to wear. I actually should be getting changed soon. I've just had something to eat, had finished just finishing my cuppa, I went for again my cha and yeah I've had a shower so I need to blow dry my hair although in this it will dry so quickly but all this to say very excited to go aboard a floating bookshop and I think I think it's mostly Christian books or a big percentage of it is Christian books and bibles but I'm intrigued to see what other books they have. I think they've got a lot of family books, children's books and then I think Rachel and I are going for lunch somewhere in Leith which is something I hardly ever do so that should be quite fun too. Anyway I should get changed and let's have a little wander down to Ocean Terminal direction. It's not in Ocean Terminal but I'll show you where it is. I have passed by this place on the tram a couple of times and I've always been curious what is it like what is it used for and I think it's more for maybe cruise ships and stuff but I'm excited as well about just seeing that which sounds really silly but I think with me knowing Edinburgh quite well whenever there's a building I haven't been in that looks kind of interesting or an area I'm even if it might seem completely boring to everyone else very interested. Okay let's get changed and head out. I don't have time to set the mic up but here's the outfit this is my blue dress that I wore to my book signing book launch event so it deserves a little outing. I noticed that it has a tiny little hole that maybe needs fixing but we don't have time right now and I just got some nude shoes on. I never wear shoes in the house but I have not worn these shoes for years so I think they're fine. Okay rushing a little bit late the hair will dry en route I think that's the plan. So I think hopefully that's Rachel is on route she's not far she's just at the shore so we should be heading that way soon and we should just squeak in. And I am from Texas originally in the United States I have lived most of my life in Virginia where my wife and I raised our three children sometime during our visit to Scotland my wife and I will welcome our eighth grandchild into the world I sure don't feel old enough to have that many grandchildren Sorry we have no food they're all coming to visit. Hello friends I think that this vlog has been a little bit all over the place because first of all it was an impromptu vlog to start with and then I decided to continue filming because of the Logos Hope invite the next day then I never finished it properly never filmed an outro oh there's Squirrelly on the on the wall and then today it's about almost two weeks later probably since the last clips that you just watched and I just ended up going back to Fife for a little bit to see my dad and the weather was just beautiful so I ended up spending most of my time in my mum's garden weeding watering repotting and just doing all the lovely stuff dad and I even power washed some of the back garden so it's looking so lovely so we put so much work into it and it's pretty much only me that uses the garden that when it came time to head back to Edinburgh I was like I've just made it look so lovely I want to stay and enjoy it but I actually have a lot to update you on in my garden as well Super Dorothy has bloomed Super Dorothy has bloomed if you're a regular watcher you know what I'm talking about and I will be filming a video very soon just to give you a little update I know a few of you had asked to see what she looked like when she bloomed so I'm very excited to show you and there's also been a few new additions to the garden as well but anyway I just wanted to properly finish the video and just thank you if you've made it this far because I do feel that this has been a little bit all over the place I think I just got so excited to film well to edit the video I filmed of me and Tasha going up to the highlands for the day trip that while I was in Fife I was like that's the one I want to put out first I had three videos to edit so this one might I considered maybe just sort of scrapping this one but for regular watchers I know that you say that you quite enjoy just the videos where I potter about doing things as well so hopefully some of you will have enjoyed this as well the other thing I wanted to say is I'd hoped have this video up before Logos Hope left Edinburgh unfortunately I'm too slow they've already left and I believe they're in Aberdeen so if you're up that way in that part of Scotland and you wanted to visit I believe they're there for a little while and then they're going to a few other places in the UK so yeah keep an eye on that if you're interested I had a lovely time it was such an interesting concept to be on a ship browsing books and such a range of Christian books Bibles if I hadn't just got my New Living Testament Bible then I would have been very tempted to get one but I felt like I'm very happy with that one I'm very happy with my NIV and I also have an ESV so I feel like I'm good at the moment I feel like I didn't need another Bible as well but I included the two books that Rachel ended up buying and I picked up some lovely little just lovely little cards with I think it was a Bible verse on it and then Rachel and I had gone to Browns of Leith because we heard so much about it and neither of us had been however I definitely made a little bit of a mistake when I ordered my lunch because I didn't show in the video but I sugar levels were low I didn't fully think through the invite because I had something to eat in the morning before I went to Logos Hope and I didn't realise what a long and lovely like really interesting there were dances there were speeches it was just a lovely opening sort of ceremony display it was really really beautiful and interesting but sitting there halfway through I was like oh it's it's now lunchtime I'm starving and then browsing through the books distracted me a little but halfway through browsing the books I was like Rachel made a emergency I didn't bring a snack I'm starving so thankfully she'd kind of finished and she was very patient with me as I ran over to Ocean Terminal went into Holland and Barrett because I couldn't find Tesco and I grabbed some like like those little energy bar things and so once I got to Browns I was like I'm so ready for a nice lunch and the menu said something like Gouda with quince and baguette so in my mind I was thinking a baguette you know like a normal baguette I was thinking maybe a third of a baguette or half of a baguette with some cheese some quince I think that would be lovely like just a little lunch and I think it was like I ended up paying eight pounds for it I think and when it came I feel like you could have picked my jaw back off the table it's just not at all what I expected it was still lovely very nice quality ingredients the cheese was very nice the quince was like a jam lovely quality the bread I think lovely quality too but it just expectations wise wasn't what I pictured as a baguette cheese baguette and I think Rachel had the so if I should have explained Browns of Leith have different stalls like different food stalls and you can choose who you order from so we afterwards I was like I wish I'd gone for the pizza actually I think it was it Chivarino's pizza that was popped up in there I think and Rachel had I forget which stall it was from but it was the mixed fish pesto pasta I think and I think she enjoyed it I think she she liked it but yeah I think I just misunderstood when I ordered what it was and no wonder when I ordered the man said are you having anything with that and I was like oh no like the baguette should be fine so anyway I just wanted to give you a little review and then for the rest of the afternoon we just sat along the shore in the sunshine and this one particular duck was obsessed with our feet it was so funny I don't know if you thought our feet were bread but he had to sit with our legs up for a bit and then he'd swim off and we're like oh it's fine we can put our legs back down again we put our legs down he'd turn around and swim right back to us and stare at us so anyway that is this video thank you so and I'll see you very soon for just little life updates garden updates I've been shopping on Vinted I've never shopped on Vinted before but I've already bought two things it's like charity shopping but online and I need to I'm finding I'm not scrolling on Instagram anymore I'm scrolling through Vinted so that's not so great so I think as soon as my parcels arrive I'll show you what I've ordered I don't need to delete that because it's it's consuming me it's charity shop but 24 7 possibilities and there's an algorithm that tells me what it thinks I'll like as well so anyway I'll see you all soon bye