A good night out

We had a great time last night. For the meal I had a bowl Mushroom and tarragon soup with Spinach and walnut bread followed by Chicken breast stuffed with cream cheese and parsley with sautéed potatoes , Broccoli, carrots and parsnip covered in a red jus. Too full for  pudding but we shared some oat cakes and smoked cheese, pickle and grapes. All very tasty :)
The evening  started with a talk by Elsie Normington about her plans and the Charity and some background info.  very inspirational and inspiring lady and really hope her Dreams do come true. It certainly seems that they might and with over 200 people attending this event a lot more money and awareness was raised.
'The Silent Door Bell' is Elsie's book about her life bringing up her son Andrew who has Learning Difficulties and severe Epilepsy. Everything seemed 'normal' for the first few years of his life but things were to change quite dramatically. The title refers to the Doorbell never ringing, no one calling for Andrew to go out to play, no party invites, no friends coming round. The door remaining closed. It looks like it's going to be a good read and an emotional one.
After some Gaelic singing by two ladies, unaccompanied and then All hat and no cat a duo from Avoch. A male singer who sang and played the guitar and a girl who played the flute.
Ian Rankin was up next with a very amusing and informative talk. It's interesting to hear how different writers get their information and what inspires them. It was more interesting as he was talking about the Black Isle and Cromarty. The latest draft of his new book was written in his house in Cromarty. He was saying that the first 40 odd pages are fairly straight forward to write and it's around page 65 when the story can go in any direction. He does not know himself how the story will develop.
There was a chance for your name to be in the next book too. You had to put a fiver in an envelope with your name on it and it could be pulled out of the hat. We did nt win but I DID win the flowers that were on the table :)
A great way to raise more money :)

Abit more clearing of the leaves and old plants in the garden today. Sunshine and cloudy and pretty cold when the wind blows.