It's been a little while

I know it's been a while since I have blogged. Have you ever went through a spell of just not quite feeling "inspired" or find anything interesting to blog about?! That's pretty much what's been going on with me lately. I just haven't felt inspired or come across anything I thought was inspiring enough to blog about.

The weather is really starting to change here. It stays around the lower 50's for a high, most days. On days that it's rainy and cloudy it stays in the 40's. The darkness of the days is starting to get longer and longer with each passing day and daylight savings time is next week here (we are still on the old calendar that we used in the U.S. until last year) and so I am sure the longer hours of darkness will get here rather quickly. But we are looking forward to a little snow, but not a lot of snow! :)
And I've been checking into snowboarding lessons and I think I am going to try and take those next month. Jeff is going to try too, but he's got a bum knee that he messed up years ago, so we aren't sure yet if he'll be able to do it, but he wants to at least try.

I think most everyone knows now that we were denied the request to go home at Christmas because they don't allow the operational staff to take any requested time off during December 15th and December 29th. So we are going home for Thanksgiving, for a week and will remain here for Christmas. We've had knowledge of this for a few weeks now, so I am kind of over it, but at the same time I am a little bent out of shape about it too. It took a case of homesickness and made it worst because I can't wrap my head around not being able to see our family and friends for two Christmas' in a row. So to put it short and sweet..........I'm not a fan of the way things are going here right now. But it is what it is and I am still trying to make the best of the opportunity and looking forward to going home for Thanksgiving to see everyone, eat lots of turkey and enjoy some pumpkin cheesecake! :)

I hope everyone is having a great fall so far! Cooler weather, football games and fairs! And Halloween is just around the corner! Enjoy and if anyone gets to the state fair this year.........PLEASE try some of that fried butter and tell me how it is! :) Sounds like a cardiac arrest waiting to happen but OMG.......I'm dying to know how it is! ;)

Winter is A Coming!

Remember months ago when I was "ranting" about the long hours of daylight that we were having? Remember how I said that it was getting dark at midnight and by 3am it was daylight out again? Well...............just the very opposite is about to start! Already when I wake at 5:30am, it is still dark outside. And by about 8pm, it's dark outside. This probably seems very normal to those of you that live in the lower part of the states, but to us, that means that very soon it'll be dark until very late into the day and only daylight for a few short hours.

To add, it's about time for it to start getting cold. Real cold...........not that "cold" we are use to in Texas. This is the kind of cold that I am told we won't want to leave the house and we'll want the warmest clothes and bedding we can find to keep warm. And just bare in mind.........there is no lovely central heating and vents to circulate the warm, heated air about the house, to whatever desired temperature you'd like! No, we have radiators on the walls in each room. You turn them on, turn them up and you put a fan in front of them to circulate the warmth coming off of them, about the room! Oh..............how you have NO idea how much I am not looking forward to winter here!

And just when you thought that "well that's really not that bad", add in the ice and snow that we are bound to get! Then add a top the fact that we live down in a valley and there are hills on the road way, in both directions! Oh but wait................we have bins on the side of the road, at the bottom of both hills for "grit" so that you can shovel it about and get up the hill in a car. Oh...........how I am looking forward to winter!

I'll be sure to get some pictures of it.........especially of us............well actually Jeff.........shoveling snow! ;) But these pictures will not be for your viewing pleasure.............no, no! These pictures will serve the purpose of reminding us, when we return home.............where we have been and what we have done. They will serve the purpose of reminding me when the August blazing sun of Texas is coming down and it's so hot and humid that a person can barely stand it.............that in the winter of Scotland, not only is it snowy and icy, and cold.......but it's dark..........most of the day, for a period of time!

On a positive note...............the summer's here are fabulous...........minus the rain of course! I love the rain...........just not quite so much! But never really getting above 75 is super nice!

So I still ponder one big question........................how on earth do they play golf in this country when it's always raining in the summer time and cold and dark in the winter time! The world may never know!

My Random Thought While Cleaning

East of Tyler, Texas on Highway 31, somewhere between Tyler and Kilgore, Texas there is a restaurant that sits just off the highway. The only thing really around it is a quick stop store and a beer store. From the outside it looks like a long metal building that looks a little "rustic". When you walk inside you instantly smell the aroma of a smokehouse. It's called Country Tavern and if you are from Tyler or Kilgore you are certain to know of it and probably have been there. If you've never been there and ever find yourself that way...........it's a must stop! They have THE best ribs you can get in a restaurant. Now I am not talking about your home cooked smoked ribs. So don't send me a comment or email about how your dad, grandpa or brother or even yourself make the best ribs in 7 counties! I'm talking the kind of ribs you get in a restaurant. These are like home cooked and they are fabulous!

Now I haven't been to Country Tavern in some time but use to it was an annual tradition at one of my previous employers for the whole office to go there the day before Thanksgiving and have ribs and beer. It was our annual treat and since our work "family" was just as much part of our daily lives as our home family........we celebrated Thanksgiving each year at this place on the Wednesday prior to Thanksgiving. It was something we looked forward to all year. And yes, the ribs were THAT good. And if you've ever been there then your memory of the ribs is probably making you drool right now, so wipe the drool off you chin before it drips on your keyboard! And if you live near by, then visit soon and have some ribs for me!

One year when we went for our annual tradition, we arrived to find that the place had changed hands and been remodeled. Now you can't imagine the horror that we felt because typically, at least in Texas, if a place changes hands and is remodeled then that usually means the food is not going to be the same and therefore the best ribs in East Texas would be no more. Thankfully.........we were pleased to find that while they did have new ribs.......they also carried the "old recipe". So no fear, as far as I know, you can still get those fab ribs!
So aside from just the shock of thinking the food would not be the same, I have one very fond memory of the place that day that will probably stick to my mind forever......like super glue. At some point, especially when drinking beer, a person must excuse themselves to use the "washroom". I remember walking into the newly remodeled restroom and being totally amazed at the new "porcelain gods" they had. They were pure porcelain potties that were black! Wow I thought...........and maybe it was the beer.........but there were several of us that just kept saying things like "have you seen the bathrooms............those toilets?" Laugh......but I am telling you........it was a REALLY nice bathroom!

Okay......there is a point to this story........I swear! See personally I think the whole reason I was so impressed is because I hadn't really seen a toilet that was any other color than white in many, many years! It's just not that common, at least anywhere down South to see a toilet any other color than white. So imagine my surprise when I arrived at our new home in Scotland to find that the toilets pretty much match the wall color. And no, the walls aren't white and no they are not black either! In one bathroom the walls are a green color...........as is the toilet. Not avocado green like the 70's fridgerators and ovens! More like a sage green! And another bathroom has kind of a tan color wall with a touch of pink in it............as does the toilet!

These pictures really don't do them justice, but you get the idea!

Okay so before you go on thinking that this house was built some 50 years ago and these are the original toilets, bear in mind this house is just a little over 10 years old. And I am thinking that here it is common to find colored toilets and that its ones desire to match it to the wall color........or maybe match the wall color to the toilet?!?! At any rate, its really quiet clever to make it all blend. Cause lets face it, the toilet is not the focal point of a bathroom or the fashionable seat that people want to look at. Unless of course its at Country Tavern! LOL Now let it also be known.........that white walls and white toilets are not a bad thing either. Personally I love the black "porcelain god" I seen at Country Tavern and would love to have one in a bathroom one day in my own home.

So before you send me more emails or comments about how your house or your grandma's house has colored toilets in it.........just bare in mind that I am talking a Southern home, not a up North because I have seen them up there, and not a home that is generations old.........so no plantation homes in Louisiana, Mississippi or Alabama and not your home that has been passed down from generation to generation. But if you have a home that has been built in the 90's or since........and you have colored toilets............and you live in the South...........feel free to email or comment. I'm not knocking it, by no means, I just prefer white or black. Like I said, I find it very clever. It's just very rare to me! And don't write me and tell me that you have a black toilet either because then I'll just be highly jealous!

So there you have it................these are the things I think about when I am cleaning and there is no music for me to sing to while I clean!

And YES my mind has so many levels of complex that one could never get through them all! ;)

Learning to drive in the UK

To me, nothing is more terrifying than roundabouts! Even more terrifying is when you are in a city that not only has roundabouts but also has intersections. What the crap? Could they not make up their minds?
Okay so those of you that don't know what a roundabout is.........well its the European version of an intersection, only there are no lights (except occasionally for pedestrians to have the right of way to cross the street) and its a round circle in the middle of the road and you go around it until you get to the street you want to turn off onto and then you signal to do so. And there are all these rules like...........you have to be in the right hand lane if you are going to stay in the roundabout for longer than the second exit. You also have to turn on your blinker to the right, indicating you are going to get into the roundabout at least until the second exit and then you have to turn your blinker on to the left when you are ready to get out of the roundabout. And the only time its acceptable to not indicate the blinker to the right is when you are taking the first exit (which is essentially a left hand turn). Its crazy! Of course mind that you are also on the left hand side of the road. So roundabouts are the thing that terrifies me the most about driving here.

The only thing worst than that is when you are in the roundabout and the car next to you is so fascinated by our left hand GMC car that they aren't paying attention and almost hit you. As if the lanes aren't narrow enough here......we have that to add. SIGH! If only you knew how much anxiety I get when I think of having to drive into Aberdeen city centre.

But I keep thinking that the more I drive the more use to it I will get.

I will say though that they exercise lane discipline far better than we do in America. For instance they are strict about their passing lane. If you have a dual carriage way (meaning two lanes headed in the same direction) then you keep to the left unless you are passing and then you get into the right hand lane, pass and then move back over to the left. I know we are SUPPOSE to do that in Texas now.............(of course being on the right hand side of the road we are to keep to the right and pass in the left), but I think as a whole we are still not use to doing it that way and lots of people tend to stay in that left hand lane aka the fast lane!

Today I had to take Jeff to the heliport, which is in North Aberdeen, and we live South of Aberdeen. So that meant I had to drive back through Aberdeen by myself. I did okay but sure was a little stressed about the drive by myself.
So here's hoping that I adjust to driving here before we move! LOL

Edinburgh in August

Perhaps its just my background in civil engineering, but it seems like a really bad idea to have construction throughout a city like Edinburgh during your most busiest tourist months! What a mess! Roads were closed for the Fringe Festival but even more so they had lots of roads closed due to construction. It was absolute chaos to try and drive in the city and even more so to find parking. So needless to say, after our first attempt we decided that it was best to take either a taxi or bus into town and walk about while we were there. We met a friend of mine and her father there as well, and they too had the hardest time moving about by car in Edinburgh. Hours I tell ya..............spent trying to get around to where they needed to be and find parking. And they are from the UK......so it wasn't just the "crazy American's". LOL

The drive down to Edinburgh was really nice. We had great weather for it and the drive from Inverbervie is only about 2 hours. We stopped for lunch along the way and just took our time.......enjoying the view. We took the bridge over to Edinburgh and it was really neat to see the bridge. The nerdy bridge person in me was fumbling fast to get my camera and took a picture through the bug infested windshield.



So all that aside, after we figured out the best way to get to city centre was by bus or taxi.........we had a fab time! Friday night we had dinner at a really great little sushi place called No 1 Sushi. Yeah cheesy name but fab sushi. At least the best we've had since we've been in the UK. Which we've not found much in the way of sushi since we've been here.

Saturday morning we woke early and had breakfast at the hotel and set out to figure out the best way to get to city centre to meet up with friends. So we got down there and meet up with them and set out walking toward the castle so we could visit inside. Wow..........talk about a castle up on a hill in the middle of the city. You simply can't miss it!

Edinburgh Castle from the park

A view from Edinburgh Castle

At 1:00pm every day they shoot off a canon from the castle. Back in the day this was how people could keep the hour and knew that when they heard the canon that it was 1:00pm. So we stuck around the castle grounds so we could hear the canon at 1:00pm. That was pretty neat. And of course there were lots of bagpipers all over the place..........due to the touristy season. So any Scots that read my blog.............forgive me for what I am about to say............but really............I've had enough bagpipes after my day at Edinburgh castle. ;)

1:00pm canon/gun firing

One of many bagpipers seen and heard in Edinburgh!

Our friends were going to the Military Tattoo on Saturday night, so the grounds leading up to the castle had a lot of bleachers and seating for that. Jeff and I were headed to a ghost tour of the underground city vaults later that evening. But in the mean time we were all hungry and looking for something good to eat. We headed off down the Royal Mile to see what we could find. We weaved our way through all the Fringe Festival street performers and finally came upon a nice Italian place. It was yummy!
So lots of performers all over the place doing street acts. Everything from people dressed up as statues and not moving an inch, to people doing tricks and acts, passing out flyer's for evening acts and just lots of activity going on in the streets. So while we were just walking about we stop off to check out a street performer. This street performer is quite comical and eventually goes on to tell the crowd that he can solve a rubiks cube in less than a minute. So he ask for someone from the crowd to have a stop watch or a second hand on their watch. No one says a word or volunteers EXCEPT MY HUSBAND. :| So there he is repeatedly letting the performer know he's got a stop watch on his watch and the street performer not only moves him up to the front of the crowd, but ask his name and where he was from. So my loving husband very loudly announces that he is Jeff from Houston, Texas. Do you have a visual of this and a visual of me standing in the back of the crowd covering my face? LOL
So the street performer goes on to ask Jeff to shout out every 15 seconds that passes. And of course he ask Jeff to shout........makes him practice a bit. It was really quite comical and the street performer did in fact solve the rubiks cube in right at a minute or so's time. And my friends of course were cheering Jeff on. LOL See.............I can't take him anywhere! ;)

Jeff helping out the performer and shouting out the time at the 15 minute interval

The street performer desperately trying to get the rubiks solved!

Okay so on to the Ghost Tour. Wow............okay I won't say that its scary as much as its just eerie! Its truly very eerie in the underground vaults and the stories they tell even before you get down there, just around the city is really on the eerie side too. The vaults are eerie in themselves and while I didn't experience anything ghostly while I was down there.........I will say that there are a lot of small rooms and when they put 30 people in one of those small rooms to tell them a story.............its creepy! Afterwards they allowed a couple of minutes to walk through all the vaults if you wanted. Jeff took a walk about and said that at one point he was the only person around and it was a bit creepy and eerie. So not to disappoint, as we didn't see any ghost or experience one............we did however get that eerie feeling while we were down there.

Street performers we watched while we were waiting on the Ghost Tour to start

So Saturday was a super long day and we were exhausted. We slept in a bit on Sunday but then had to get going to check out of the hotel on time. We took off headed back home and stopped off at Deep Sea World to see their shark exhibit. They are suppose to be the Aquarium with the largest shark exhibit in the UK. It was pretty neat. They have an underground tunnel that you can walk through and the sharks and stingrays and fish swim over and around you. They've got several sharks and while most are fairly small, they did have a pretty big one. And lots of stingrays. They have a seal exhibit too and lots of other things like frogs, crabs, octopus' and even perranias. Eck! Its right by the North Queensferry Heritage Trust bridge. And this is significant because this bridge was built for railroad and there was some bad engineering done on it and when it opened for the first time and the first train went across it, it collapsed. Several lives were lost and of course it was shut down. It eventually was re-opened after a great deal of engineering and repair went into it. While we were there they were doing some more work to it. It looked as though they were refurbishing it, but its hard to tell for sure.

This seal was just chillin. He looked up once......other than that no human was gonna disturb his slumber unless it involved food!

This one was swimming laps, popping his head up ever so often to make sure he still had an audience!

A very small portion of the North Queensferry Heritage Trust bridge

Okay so the thing I forgot to mention above is that on Friday, when we got to Edinburgh and checked into our hotel, we set out to find Rosslyn's Chapel. You know the Chapel that is said to have an underground vault that contains the bodies of the Knights Templar in their full dress armor and the Chapel that Dan Brown says that the Holy Grail is in that same vault. Well we went there. That was pretty interesting to see. Right now they are refurbishing the Chapel so there is lots of scaffolds and such around the Chapel, so its hard to really see the full thing. However you can walk around the scaffolding that's around the roof right now and see it up close. That was really neat. And while you're not allowed to take pictures on the inside of the church, its really amazing. LOTS of carvings, lots of detail and its really a true sign of the age of the Chapel because a lot of it is starting to kind of dwindle away (for lack of better word). I never realized how much carvings were in this church or what they all mean. And they do address Dan Brown's theories in their tour but they simply say that it's rumored that there are several different things in the vault including the dead sea scrolls, the holy grail and the Knights Templar in their dress armour and that the Sinclair's still have full rights of the Chapel and do not want to open the vault and disturb their ancestors. They do however know that when they did a sonar of the underground fault it did in fact show a great deal of metal!

Rosslyn's Chapel

Part of the roof and top of Rosslyn's Chapel

The side of Rosslyn's Chapel and its current entry point into the Chapel

Paris

Paris reminded me of Vegas. Its one of those places that's super neat to visit, lots to see and do, but after 3 or 4 days, you are tired and need to go home just to rest! I'll also apologize in advance as this blog will probably be rather long. You just can't write a short blog about Paris and cover everything! So my apologies for the long blog today!

The intersection near our hotel

So lets get some of the basic information out of the way about Paris. Yes................its all true, everything you've ever heard about Paris, the people, the city............all of it. Yes its dirty! Yes the people are rude and yes some of them stink! BUT its Paris! I mean if for no other reason to visit than just to see Notre Dame, Arc de Triumph and the Louvre....then its well worth putting up with rude Parisians that can be smelly at times and the dirty city. I highly recommend anyone go there at least once in a lifetime if ever given the chance just to see the landmarks of Paris. Its also very expensive, just as people say. So expensive that you should not be shocked to find that you've spent 50 euro on three burgers with fries and three drinks. And just to put it in bigger perspective for my American friends, 50 euro is about $75! Yes......and that's the norm in the city! But some of the food is really quite tasty!
You will also find that if you want to use the restroom, be it to wash your hands or to pee........you'll find that it usually cost you to get in the toilet. The bathroom doors have coin slots on them where you must put in coins in order to open the door. I was blown away by this as you even see pay toilets on the sidewalks that look similar to port a potties, only you have to put coins in the door. I think on average we paid anywhere from 30 pence to 50 pence each to use the loo! And even more astonishing is that we had to even pay when we were paying customers in a restaurant! A restaurant, might I add that we were paying roughly 5 euro for a bottle of water OR a glass of soda! I would think in part its a way to take full advantage of the tourist and also to keep the gypsies from using their bathrooms. There were a lot of gypsies around the tourist spots.

When I always heard that Paris was dirty I had always envisioned that it was gray and dirty with grit and just smog or such. But I got there and it wasn't that way at all. In fact I was quite astonished when I seen Notre Dame for the first time and it was not at all this gray, dark building I had always thought it would be. Much of the city looks clean, from a distance. I would say that the dirty part comes in from the cleanliness of the streets, litter, and just over all filth of the public transportation. You just feel like you need to wash your hands a lot. Oops, but don't forget, it'll cost ya 30 pence to wash your hands before dinner! And if you have to pee........best do so then! LOL

Also don't be surprised to find a few prostitutes along the rail system. We seen a few along our journeys to and from points of interest. However I will say though that the metro/rail system is by far the best way to travel about the city! You'll still walk a bunch, don't get me wrong, as nothing is close to one another as far as points of interest. But buying a two day rail pass with unlimited use was by far one of the best buys we did.

Okay so enough about the low lights of Paris, lets talk about the highlights! Notre Dame is breath taking! At least to me it was. I stepped off the subway, walked up the stairs and there it was! WOW! As I said, I expected this gray cathedral. Jeff's dad told me that when he was visiting Paris about 9 years ago that they were washing it then. Its amazing. Its really amazing that this building still stands today and that it has all the details that it has. The inside is remarkable. I had no idea it was such a big building, both inside and out. Amazing architecture! We got to visit the crypts down under Notre Dame and its basically the base of the old building and things that they excavated. Really neat to see. You can walk up the towers but its all steps, the lines are long and we opted not to walk the steps.

Notre Dame......isn't it beautiful!

A very small part of the inside of Notre Dame

The back of Notre Dame, from the boat

We took a boat tour on the river too, around the city. I got some amazing shots of the Eiffel Tower from the boat and really...........its the best way to see the Eiffel Tower, if you ask me. We did walk up to the tower on our second day there, but it was much better seeing it from the boat. The boat ride was an hour long and we got to see the back of Notre Dame, several parts of the city and the Eiffel Tower. And it was a nice breezy way to relax and spend an hour of time.

The Eiffel Tower. I took this shot from the boat ride

Second day we went straight to the Louvre, first thing in the morning. I was simply blown away by the Louvre as well. Both outside and inside. Its amazing to me that there is so much art inside one HUGE building, so much history! I can't tell you how fantastic some of the statues are, or how neat it is to see the real Mona Lisa in person. To see the detail in the marble statues makes you wonder how on earth they had the tools to do such amazing things back then. And then to see some of the sizes of paintings............I found myself wondering how they were able to paint such detail and maintain a scale of the overall painting when they had to paint on ladders and such. Of course I am a fan of Da Vinci Code, so it was neat to see some of the Louvre in person just for that reason. I could have spent days in the Louvre and still not fully enjoyed it all. But it also goes without saying that after you've been in the Louvre for half of the day, been around all the people, you are ready to leave as well. I seen all the highlights and the things I really wanted to see. We probably covered at least 3/4 of the Louvre, but hardly no time to really stop and appreciate it all. If I ever find myself in Paris again, I will definitely go back, see a little more and pause to enjoy it. If you ever find yourself in Paris, go early to the Louvre.........when its not so crowded and the queues aren't so long!

A very small part of the Louvre from the outside!

Aphrodite aka Venice de Milo

Mona Lisa

Winged Victory of Samothrace

One of the many beautiful ceiling in what use to be Napoleon's home

One of hundreds of incredible statues in the garden of statues at the Louvre

After the Louvre that's when we went to see Eiffel Tower up close and in person. From there we went to see Arc de Triumph. Maybe I'm just a sucker for the architecture and art, but I was far more impressed by everything I seen, than by the Eiffel Tower. Its neat, don't get me wrong, just not as neat to me as Notre Dame or the art in the Louvre or even Arc de Triumph.

Arc de Triumph

The third day we were there we took a tour from Paris to Normandy. Its a long ride out to Normandy, about 3 hours, but its definitely worth seeing. The cemetery is what is the most remarkable thing to see. It puts war in a new perspective, no matter the patriot you are or your core beliefs in war and politics. Its a peaceful, beautiful place, even with all the white grave markers. A must see! And we found out that its US territory. As is Omaha beach where the battle was. Its all very surreal and it really puts the battle of Normandy into perspective for anyone that enjoys history and wants to know more. We seen a few films on the battle, seen the memorials on the beach and had a fantastic lunch at a french B&B.
The ride back was long as well but when we returned we had a nice dinner for our last evening in Paris and turned in a little early.

A very, very small tract of the graves at Normandy!

Part of the cemetery in Normandy

Memorial at Omaha Beach

We had a nice time and it was a fantastic weekend but we seen a lot, walked a lot and we were all tired when we got in the plane Sunday morning to head back to Scotland. So while France is expensive and the people are a bit rude, I highly recommend seeing Paris if ever given a chance. Just go into it with the mind set that you are going to spend an absorbent amount on food and drinks but its Paris...........home of the Louvre, Eiffel Tower, Arc de Triumph and Notre Dame. Those things right there make it worth the visit!

So that's our Paris trip. Hope you enjoy the pictures. I took over 100 pictures in Paris but of course I can't upload them all. Jeff's dad got back on a plane to head home this morning. We were so glad to have him and will miss him. We think he had a pretty good time but figure he'll be happy to see his wife, get some rest from his vacation with us and just be back in the good ole USA. ;)

Fish Festival & Dewar's Distillery

We have had a really nice time and nice weather since Jeff's dad arrived. Its raining today, but I figured it would be a good day to catch up the blog, post a few pictures and do a little laundry.

The first day Jeff's dad was here we took him around Aberdeen a bit but then let him get some rest since he was feeling a little jet lagged. The next day though Charles and I walked up the hill behind the house and to the church across the road from us and looked at the old church and the cemetery and just spent a little time enjoying the wonderful weather we've been having.

On Friday we took him to Dunnottar Castle and explored around there, let him see the sights and snap some pictures for him to share when he gets back home. To get to the castle you have to take a very steep stair climb down to get there and of course you have to take that same steep climb to get back. So he was really feeling the stairs when we finally got back to the car. But he had fun and it was fun for us to get to see the castle again.

Jeff and Charles in front of Dunnattor Castle

After the castle we decided to drive him to Montrose to see the little beach sea side they have there. We got an ice cream cone, looked over the water and just took a little stroll. He and Jeff went down to the water and put their hand in it. We all agree..........MUCH colder than the Gulf of Mexico (or any other water I've put my hand in). Maybe about the same as the Guadalupe River! LOL

Saturday we went to Johnshaven (which is right by the house) and went to their annual Fish Festival. Its much like the funfair Jeff and I went to a few weeks ago but much smaller and it was more about little booths and live bands. We had some Scottish funfair classics though and walked around and enjoyed another wonderful day. We ran into a friend of Jeff's from work and sat and talk to him and his wife for some time. They've been to Texas and actually many places in the States and really enjoy Texas and think the people are just super friendly and kind. So we had a good time talking to them. They invited us over for a beer at their weekend spot and in turn we invited them over for dinner at our place that evening. Jeff and Charles had put on a brisket, so I made some bbq baked beans and grilled some asparagus and we had a nice dinner. Was a good time!

Okay so Sunday we got up and decided to head South and hit the Dewar's Distillery. Wow! That was fun! We had such a good time. We got a deluxe tour, so we got to see the branding centre, tour the distillery and have a sample for 4 of their whiskey's made there. I had no idea Dewar's made a single malt scotch, but they do and its called Aberfeldy. Which Aberfeldy is the town that Dewar's is made in and where the first distillery is. They now have a huge operation in Glasgow and that's where they take the scotch to age. So we took the tour through the branding centre and learned all about the start up of Dewar's and how it became. After we toured the branding centre we sat down to try 4 different tastings. Wow! Okay Jeff and Charles are scotch drinkers..........I, however am not! LOL So needless to say I was a bit overwhelmed with the 4 different tastings. But it was really fun and quite the experience. Then we took the tour of the distillery and got to see how they make Scotch and the process it goes through. Again............Wow! After our tour of the distillery we went back to the coffee shop and had a snack and a cup of coffee. It was so much fun. I had planned for us to do the tour strictly with Charles and Jeff in mind and what they would like. I had no idea how interesting it would be to me and how much fun we'd have. I have to laugh and tell everyone that when we walked up to Dewar's when we first got there you can smell the Scotch! Its this strong aroma that just fills the air. Charles starts singing, "I'm in Heaven............I'm in Heaven". LOL To funny!

Our samples of Dewar's at the Distillery. I couldn't finish mine! LOL

Jeff and Charles in front of the Distillery after the tour. Do they look tipsy? LOL

So we drove back and enjoyed the scenery. Its such a beautiful drive. It skirts around the highlands and its really just beautiful! We stopped on our way there at the River Tay and took a couple of pictures there too. A really pretty bridge too! I just love the architecture around the UK.

The River Tay

The bridge that we crossed at the River Tay

So that's the holiday so far! We are headed to Paris this week. Looking forward to it!

Seafest funfair

This past weekend some friends invited Jeff and I to their towns summer festival..........called the Seafest. Festivals are a big summer time thing here and each town has their own little festival and they appear to be on different weekends so they don't interfere with one another. Their town is called Arbroath. We were really excited to get out and enjoy some of the local culture and hang out with friends. It had been raining the whole week and even though it looked like rain on Saturday morning when we headed to the festival, it held off and we end up getting sun and clear skies!

The festival reminded me of a cross between a small towns festival and the Renaissance festival. They had things like sword fighting, archery and people dressed up in Renaissance wardrobes. But they also had bagpipers there playing and they had motor bikes (motorcycles), little fast cars that do tricks and even one of those big steel cage balls that the two motorcycles ride around and around in. They had airplanes that flew over and did tricks and such. There was a couple of planes that were doing things like barrel rolls, loops and such and they had ladies standing on top of them doing handstands and different things like that. There was some yummy food like hot dogs, hamburgers, chips (fries) and sausages and such. And they even had candy stands where you could go up and buy candy by the pound. Very cool.

We had a really great time. We both got a little sun.............a little to much sun for Jeff, but it was well worth it to get out and enjoy the festivities.
After the festival we went to have dinner with our friends at a local restaurant. Dinner was great and we had great company! After dinner they took us to this little shop called Sugar and Spice and it was full of sweet treats (that's what they call candy here). They also had homemade fudge and ice cream. Jeff and I got a little fudge to try it out and of course a little sweet treats. It was really a great time and we were really glad our friends invited us along! Good friends, good food and good times!

From atop the hill of the Seafest, at midmorning, before the tide came in! This was only half of the Seafest. The rest stretched out to the right.

Check out this Cool bike! Take note to the playboy bunny under the foot rest! SWEET!

Check out the Panther. I told Jeff I'd get him this bike! LOL

Finally! REAL bagpipers! They were awesome!
My friend Julie ask if they'd stop and pose for a picture with me! :) REAL Scottish bagpipers! How cool is that!

A Medieval battle. They gave the little kids foam sticks and let them beat the snot out of the soldiers after they did their battle. The kids really seem to enjoy it!

See the little yellow car? See the two groups of people standing in the circles? The driver was doing a figure 8 around them and was getting REAL close to their toes. They told them "Whatever you do, DON'T move your feet!" LOL
The two planes that were doing tricks with the ladies standing on top of the wings!

See the lady standing on the center of the wing. She was holding one leg up, straight in the air. THAT is cool!

Starving kids in Ethiopia!

When I was a kid and my mom served something for dinner that I absolutely hated (which was usually salmon patties, lima beans or brussel sprouts) I would spat at the mouth, "WHY do I have to eat this......I HATE it"! To which my dad usually replied, "You should be thankful! There are starving kids in Ethiopia that would love to have this for dinner". To which my rebuttal was usually, "Well fine, send them my brussel sprouts"! That response usually earned me at least one of three things.......1) an extra helping of brussel sprouts (or whatever we were having that I was complaining about); 2) a good ole fashion butt spanking; and/or 3) a good ole fashion grounding where precious privileges were taken away from me for a given period of time that was usually about a week. Now having said that............I know that there are "starving" people in this world that are in much need of rain! So my rebuttal will be, "FINE, send them MY rain"! Of course I am prepared that the consequences of my rebuttal will most likely earn us more rain here in Scotland.
But seriously...............all kidding aside............enough with the rain already! Who knew that it could rain this much in July, anywhere on the face of the earth besides, maybe the rain forest! I am thinking any day now that the lovely cultivated slope in our back yard is going to become a land slide and end up right at the door step of the back door. Grant you I love the cooler weather and while the rain seems to be daily, at least its not hot and humid like it was in Texas after a July rain. Or those dreadful humid afternoons in Lafayette when it would rain for a brief time in the late afternoon and cause my hair to poof up into a big frizz ball because of the humidity.
So okay.......the silver lining is at least its not humid here!

On a side note I will add that after my punishment I would usually add insult to injury by saying, "You are so mean and I am NEVER going to make my kids eat brussel sprouts, salmon patties or lima beans". Their reply, "Just wait until you are an adult, you'll understand". Well let it be known that to this day, even though I don't have kids yet, I will never make them eat brussel sprouts, lima beans OR salmon patties. And do you know WHY? Because to this day I STILL HATE all three! :)

Moving Day FINALLY arrived!

Finally............we got our stuff! Monday the movers came and brought our car and all our household belongings! I've never been so happy to see material things in my life! I never even realized how much I could live without until this adventure. But I must admit..........I am so happy to have our bed, our sofa and chair............just having our stuff.

We are having a bit of trouble getting the car registered quickly, but we are working on it and hopefully will get it registered soon!

Last night we decided to see how it works ordering groceries online and having them delivered. Its the coolest thing ever! You get online and you order your groceries based on categories and you see the items and you add them to the basket and as you add them, it tells you how much you've spent. You pick your delivery day based on the area you live in. If it's the next day......its a little more then a couple of days later. We ordered two weeks worth of groceries and had it delivered next day and it was only 5 GBP to have them delivered!!! THAT is money well spent! I love it. We were able to get produce, meats, cans.............even beer! And the delivery came just fine and the groceries were bagged and all we had to do was take them from the driver at the door. How cool is that?!?!?!

Sorry I've not updated my blog in a week or so. Its been busy trying to get all our household belongings situated and organized. The movers unpack everything but there were things that we just didn't know where to put. And of course we had to hang pictures and we still have to hang drapes. As soon as we get the house in order, I'll take pictures and post. This house is great. And looks so different with our stuff in it. Finally...........it feels like home!

4th of July in Scotland

We had a really nice 4th of July weekend. We figured just because we were half away across the world and in a country that doesn't exactly think of the 4th of July as a holiday (ha ha), we would still celebrate. After all, we are American's! It was really warm out most of the weekend and at times a little unbearable in the house, but we made the best of it and we spent a lot of time outside and milling around.
Saturday we did our grocery shopping and stopped in Bervie for fish and chips for lunch. And Saturday evening Jeff lit the grill and grilled steaks, chicken and zucchini. Awesome dinner and it felt like 4th of July at home! We even had a couple of drinks and played cards after dinner for a while.

Our 4th of July dinner on the grill!

Sunday we went into Aberdeen really with the intention of buying a GPS unit (which they refer to as Sat Nav's here). However, in the process of looking for the store to buy the one we wanted, we found the boardwalk and beach! Amazing! Kind of reminded me of what Coney Island must be like, but maybe not quite the scale. But it was really an experience and kind of put the icing on the cake to a great weekend! They have an amusement park there at the boardwalk and they have indoor golf, outdoor putt putt golf, arcade, all sort of restaurants and they have little ice cream stands all up and down the boardwalk where you can get hand dipped ice cream or soft serve ice cream. There's a movie theater down there too. We found a TGI Fridays!! So we had to stop in an have some wings! Another little treat that reminded us of home.
Since we didn't set out to go to the beach we weren't exactly dressed or prepared for it, but we did walk down and look at all the people on the beach and just watch the water for a little bit. Since we didn't get in the water I don't know how cold it is, but I've heard that its very cold, all the time and that basically a wet suit is worn. We didn't see anyone in the water yesterday, except right at the ankles; a few kids playing. I think one Saturday we'll go back and maybe just sit in the sand and enjoy the sun. Mostly people were walking, a few were laying in the sand, on towels, but hardly no one in the water.

Aberdeen beach!

It really was a nice weekend. Perfect to stumble upon the boardwalk and have some wings, watch the water and play air hockey at the arcade with my hubby. We really had fun! And we also got a GPS unit while we were out. ;) We decided its a must for learning our way around Aberdeen.

Oh and there is a mexican food restaurant down at the boardwalk. So next time we go we are going to try it out, see if its anything close to Tex Mex. They advertise that they have fajitas!

Small Life in the Myst

Ever see the movie 'The Myst'? You know the movie about the book where this huge fog rolls in over this town and eventually the towns people find out that the fog has lots of HUGE bugs and insects and such that are trying to kill them? Yeah, I never read the book and Jeff made me watch it........I had nightmares for weeks! Ha, ha.......Just kidding...........only one night! Some mornings I wake up here and its so foggy outside. Not as bad as in the movie, but still, this fog.......and its the kind of fog that lingers around all day! Where I am from you might have a little fog in the morning but by mid day its burned off and its a normal day. Hm.......maybe that's where the term "London Fog" came from? Creepy........none the less!

The Myst from our back door!

Small refridgerators require small items.........right? I mean after all we are living in a country now where efficiency is the name of the game! And of course coming from a side by side refridgerator and freezer, well I am learning to cope. So this week I snapped a few pictures of the small refridgerator in our house, small cucumbers (not pickles but the size of pickles) and the "large" milk. However, I also took a picture of a slice of bread. Completely blows my mind how tall a loaf of bread is here. And portions as a whole are smaller here, much smaller than what you see in Texas. But it just blows my mind because this bread will nearly take up a plate! A regular dinner size plate. Its not twice as tall as our bread, but I would say at least a size and half! But I am also learning that bread is a huge part of their meals here. And here I am the one that's not a big bread eater. I am also learning that the Scot's love to fry everything! Jeff came home from offshore this week and told me that he had a Scottish egg. So I ask (stupidly I might add) what it was. He goes on to tell me that they hard boil an egg, peel the shell off and then bread it and deep fry it. YUCK! Of course he claims its "heavenly". Whatever...........sounds gross to me! And yes, I'm knocking it before I try it.........but sometimes you just have enough sense not to try something like that if you know you won't like it. ;)

Regular bottle of wine next to a large milk! See how small! And NO, I do not have wine with my milk!

Baby cucumbers (aka snack cucumbers)!

Little Bitty Fridge for Little Bitty Items!

BUT large toast!

And yes, sometimes the small things in life really entertain me!