Wanna see my Wee Creepie?

Wanna know what a Wee Creepie is? Well, the kettle's on, so settle down and let me explain.

Thoughtful contemplation or plans to chase the Oyster Catcher?

It is very rare that I have a legitimate excuse to fall back on for my lack of productivity. But in the case of the Missed Blog of Last Sunday, I can say that I was ready and poised to witter on at you as I do, when *boom* (well, less *boom* and more a sad little pfft) the power went out. Again. Two weekends in a row. Perhaps a lesson should be learned here, and these things should be planned earlier in the week.

I can safely say, as much as sitting in front of the fire by candlelight looks cosy, and don’t get me wrong, it is, for a little while, you do soon begin miss things like being able to see your way to the bathroom, see your way in the bathroom and charging stuff up. As much as I hate to admit it, and it doesn’t really fit with the whole Cottage Core romantic notion trend we see on our social media feeds, I bloody love charging up my devices, having my wee lamps on, boiling the kettle. Turns out I am so modern, who knew?

So I aborted all hopes of doing modern electrified things, and we headed out for a nice walk. But, I’m back, you’ll be thrilled to know.

The last couple of weeks have flown by. Work has been busy, with lots of ‘thinky stuff’ to do, and I don’t have a ‘thinky’ brain. I have also had to do more public speaking (albeit virtually, which means I can keep my dogs by me for moral support, which is actually a wonderful unintended consequence of virtual working life). I am glad in a way that I am doing these things, as it is pushing me and helping me to overcome some of the confidence barriers that have plagued me since my early PhD days (thanks to a handful of unkind academics who enjoy to pick apart young early career researchers very publicly!)

These feelings of imposter syndrome, nerves and so on, have actually performed a crucial task in reminding me how lucky I am though. Because at the end of each day, whether I am feeling ‘wobbly’ about the forthcoming tasks, or exhausted from having got them in the bag, I am fortunate that we can jump in the car, head a short distance and take the dogs for a nice, long walk (getting easier thanks to the lighter evenings too). We have been (relatively) lucky with the weather, and we have had quite a few evenings where the sun has been setting, painting the skies in the most wonderful pastel pinks and blues, the water shimmering and the mountains sitting proudly with their winter coats of snow. The scenery is so dramatic that often it doesn’t look real. You feel like you’re immersed in a grand oil painting. And everything just feels so much better.

Early evening walks with the boys in beautiful Inveraray

(As a side note, as people often ask me, I work for a research centre across a consortium of universities that focus on housing research and my job is a little bit of research (particularly interested in inequalities and discrimination in housing) and a little bit of partnership work bringing academics, policy makers and practitioners together).

Salvage Hunters

All work and no play makes for a very dull blog instalment though. When we’ve not been earning a crust, we have spent the last two Saturdays exploring some lovely treasure troves for pieces to add to Keeper’s. For those who haven’t been following me for the long haul (and bravo to those of you who have put up with me for so long, I am forever grateful) before we moved to Scotland we lived just on the outskirts of Sheffield, and I had a little unit at Sheffield Antiques Centre where I sold my painted furniture along with homewares. Over the years of having our own homes our tastes have developed, and we love old, reclaimed, rustic interiors. Spending time making Keeper’s ours is a lovely way to spend our time when we’re not out and about on beaches and tromping through forests.

Unlike shopping new, when you go around these wonderful emporiums you find something different every time. My business never came to much for two reasons. One, I couldn’t (or wasn’t brave enough) to throw myself into it wholeheartedly, and I guess my lack of confidence made me shy away from it and secondly, and rather significantly, I couldn’t part with things. My lovely friend Jo accompanied me and Pamela Vanderson to my first antique fair as a dealer to buy lots of stock. That must have been around 2019. I still have EVERY SINGLE ITEM that I bought. Cute drawers, side tables, mirrors. You name it. Each and every piece became a squatter in our home. And whilst they’re all much loved treasures, and I ain’t no business tycoon, I do know that’s not how to run a profitable business. Let’s hope this notion of a bookshop/café/vintagey furniture bits shop has more success. One day maybe.

Anyway, the last two weekends have been great for finding little gems.

An urn for some planting in the conservatory and a wee cupboard for the kitchen.

I am particularly happy with my wee creepie. What I thought was a milking stool is in fact an old Scottish stool, which in the Highlands, was called a ‘creepie’. I found this out from a lovely Instagram follower and that made my day. The word, for those wondering, comes from the old Orcadian dialect word ‘creep’, which means to bend down low – perfect for these squat stools. They might well have been used for milking, but probably had lots of uses including a seat for the wee bairns. *This* is what I love about old furniture. You can just lose yourself in their histories. Just to think, this might have begun its life on a croft in Orkney and now seeing out its retirement as a cute side table, proudly displaying some beautiful Scottish books.

An Orkney ‘creepie’ repurposed as a side table, keeping all of its years of patina that give it that rustic charm I love.

If anyone reading this is ‘local’ or planning on a visit to Scotland anytime soon, I can wholeheartedly recommend The Rust Works, Yard97, Scottish Antiques and Arts Centre and Rait Antiques.

With spring someone on the horizon, I am feeling motivated to keep going with breathing life back into Keeper’s Cottage. The next job is to get the bedroom revamped. This week we will be having the damage from years of leaks from the roof repaired and then it will be ‘go, go, go’. I’ll keep you posted. But for now, we’re going to head out and give the boys a good long walk before coming home to a roast dinner.

Have a wonderful Sunday friends.

G xx