Fun Photos

Last night we went to dinner with Toby’s boss and two other coworkers whom Toby had buddied up with. The three Scotsmen seemed to have a great relationship joking and laughing and telling stories on each other. They chose to take us to a very fancy place called Howie’s. The food was very good in an artsy-fartsy sort of way, but not what I would have chosen. Apparently it was fairly Scottish – Toby had an oatcake with his appetizer and had haggis with his meal. I had salmon. Someone ordered a side dish of chips (fries) which seemed odd with such a fancy meal, but I love them. The restaurant was busy causing us to wait a ridiculous amount of time for our food, but the waiter brought us a free bottle of wine – not that we needed more wine. In fact, we had enough wine to get into a political discussion – mostly discussing Margaret Thatcher. One man thought she was great and the other two did not. None of them like Bush much or Tony Blair. At one point, I said that because they got most of their news from the BBC, they had a skewered view of America. Normally, I try not to rock the boat when it comes to Toby’s bosses or show my real self, but they all looked a bit aghast. One even said, "The BBC is not biased!" I believe I snorted at that. I got myself under control, had a little more wine, and just enjoyed the other’s conversation. We didn’t get home until midnight – a bit tough for country folk.

In yesterday’s photos, there was a photo of Mom pointing to a piece of gum. There is a story behind that. The sidewalks and streets here are covered with white spots – some of which could be seagull poop – some of which could be gum. Mom and I argued the point – was it poop or was it gum. Toby made us laugh when he said something along the lines of watching out for those seagulls – they might spit their gum out on you.

We had lots of other funny moments. Here are some photos of us having fun in Scotland. This photo of Jesse in the guard house has a story too. When she as six years old, we visited Old Tucson. She and Bo posed in front of the Undertaker's in two coffins. Jesse closed her eyes and puffed her cheeks out. It is a photo that still cracks me up when I see it - so she posed that way again.

We always take a few shots where we imitate art. Here is Jesse stumbling out of the Illicit Still - staged of course. Sometimes we like to pretend we are part of the scene. The headphones at the Edinburgh Castle proved to be interesting. I teased Mom about holding on to hers rather than letting it hang on her neck. Then this happened. But the apple does not fall far from the tree. Mom was constantly tanged in this string that kept her from losing her gloves. Here I am being the puppeteer. BTW, she forgot those gloves hanging in the closet here when she went home. Jesse wanted us to put our arms around this tree so that just our hands showed making it look like a huge person was hugging a huge tree - it did not work out, but we had a good laugh at this shot. Toby is always good for a laugh - here he is smelling a tree to see if it is a cedar tree. Jesse did not like all the beer we tasted.

If you know my family, we have lots of other silly pics, but this should do you for today.

Scotland Memories

Just two more days here - Friday we head home. Friday night I will sleep in my own bed. Although I have loved Scotland and had some great adventures, I am ready to be home. Jesse and Mom helped the loneliness that often sets in when I am gone from home, but I still miss my friends. I miss good conversations with good friends. I wrote two emails to Buck yesterday - proof of my need for conversation. I have had some trouble with my emails. Some are not being sent. Although they seem to be sent, they never arrive. So if you have expected an email from me and didn't get it, that could have been the problem.

In a couple of emails and comments from good friends I have found such encouragement. One friend encouraged me to redeem the time with my husband and make good memories. Being here with Toby (and Canada last fall) have been great. When you marry your best friend and someone who makes you laugh, life will never be dull. Lust helps too. We have such great adventures and truly enjoy our time together. Of course, we enjoy our children too. I know that someday when Jesse finds a husband and moves off, I will miss her terribly. She has been my joy for a long time, but I know that Toby and I can survive and prosper alone. At this stage in our lives having her around is great, but when it is just the two of us, it is still good.

My friend Dawn encouraged me to make good memories with my Mom. Sometimes I get wrapped up in the little things that make me crazy, the worries of providing entertainment, etc. Dawn reminded me to just enjoy the time with Mom. We won't pass this way again. It was a reminder to enjoy and make memories with Jesse too. Someday she will leave home and I will remember when with just a look we started laughing at Mom/grandma sitting on the beach looking like a homeless lady with her toboggan way up on her head. I will think about Jesse talking me into posing for some crazy photo, and I will have the photo of me looking silly.

This has been a great trip, but I am ready for home. I miss my grand babies. Thanks to Nana, Jesse, and Ashley for sending me Grand Baby stories. I miss my dogs. My friend Sherry let Ranger, the spoiled rat terrier, snuggle beside her and she even took him on the four-wheeler and sent me emails to let me know that he was okay. Thanks Sherry.

Since I mentioned Mom and her silly hat sitting on the beach, I thought I would share the pic. Of course, we took pictures of Mom looking silly - what are daughters for? We walked Mom far and wide. Often she would need to sit and rest, and we took advantage of those moments.

3 Generations

Having Mom and Jesse here to share Scotland with me was wonderful. Watching Mom was interesting. Sometimes we are so much alike it scares me. Mom’s first views of the town were much like the first time I saw them – I knew exactly what she was seeing, thinking and feeling. Jesse and I are enough alike that I knew what would fascinate her, too. But with Jesse she often has a different view of things. Maybe it is an artist’s eye or maybe it is just a younger, fresher take on things. Site seeing was definitely interesting with the two of them.

I knew Mom was enjoying her time here in Scotland. It was her first time to Europe, and she was determined to keep up and see everything that she could. Mom would have loved seeing more of the world, and it certainly would have been easier in her younger years. My parents were successful people. They had time and money in their retirement years. So why didn’t they do some traveling? Mom and I discussed the question. My dad exuded strength, knowledge, capability, security, and confidence, but when it came to travel, there was only one place to go and that was to Red River, NM. He was a history major; you would think he would have wanted to see the places he read about. He had some good friends who made several trips to Europe and even begged Dad to come with them, but Dad would not budge. I have blogged about my brother inviting Mom and Dad to attend a function at the White House back in the second Clinton term. Dad, the yellow dog Democrat, refused to go. Mom and I wondered if the thought of traveling was just too much of the unknown for Dad’s comfort level. Was he afraid that his lack of travel expertise would make him look less macho? Or was he truly so in love with RR that he would go no where else? He could have traveled in the other season and still had his summers in RR. Maybe it was that Dad was such a creature of habit, he was just not willing to try something new. Mom always wanted to stay in RR on into the fall to see the aspen trees change and enjoy the off-season with her friends, but Dad had to leave RR by Labor Day in order to get back to Texas - his excuse was football season. Go figure! Looking back at my dad and doing some amateur psychology, I would say that Dad had some insecurity that he hid well. He was still a great Dad.
Mom was a real trouper here. We hit the town of Aberdeen and walked her skinny legs off. We climbed the hill to the Castle at Edinburgh and walked the Royal Mile. We shopped till we dropped. We hiked Mom through the woods up to Crathes Castle and all over the gardens there. Then to top it off, we hiked her out to Dunnottar Castle in the cold ocean wind. She did it all and I am very proud of her.

Having said all of that, I am glad that I am off "border collie" duty. Herding Mom and Jes around was fun, but tiring. Entertaining is fun, but it gets old. Sharing a bathroom with two other women is less fun (poor Toby had to share with three women). This morning I put Mom and Jesse in a taxi bound for the airport and assume they are on their way home as I type. I haven’t had much time to write or think for that matter. I have just been throwing some photos on the blog and running. Hopefully I can go back and put down some personal thoughts on my time in Scotland. In the meantime, I have lots of photos to share – some artsy – some fun – some beautiful. I feel like I have lots to do.

Dunnottar

Monday morning, Mom, Jesse, and I caught the bus in Aberdeen and rode the short distance to the town of Stonehaven. This is the same trip that Toby and I made on our first weekend here. Some of the photos may seem the same, but this time they have people in them. I may steal some of Jesse's photos because they are more artsy.

The weatherman said that the day was going to be sunny to partly cloudy with wind up to 20 miles per hour. The temps were to be in the high 40's by noon. Liars! Around noon, what sun we had disappeared behind some ominous clouds. The wind was very cold and probably much more than 20 mph. I am sure the temps never made it to the high 40's. The good news was that it did not rain. In fact, the clouds were sort of a perfect setting and although the wind was cold, it was still a great day.

Jesse took lots of pictures. She was all over the cliffs, castle and beach. She looked into every nook ad cranny. She climbed on ever staircase. She absolutely loved Dunnottar. It was the perfect Scottish experience. With the wind blowing in her hair and her running across the green grounds, she looked the part of the Scottish lass - even doing the dishes in the castle kitchen.

The tide was out as we walked to the castle, but as we started back to Stonehaven, it was coming in. Mom and I walked the trail, while Jesse walked the beach. She would have done even more exploring, but she had to meet up with us. We planned on stopping in Stonehaven to have a late lunch and warm up, but the pub as not serving food when we got there. So we had a beer and sat by the fireplace before catching the bus to Aberdeen.

Mom and Jesse did some last minute souvenir shopping. Then we met Toby at an Italian restaurant called Rustico's. It was good, but not as good or as nice an experience as Toby and I had earlier. Still, it was a nice send off for Mom and Jesse. If nothing else, they should be able to sleep on the plane home.

Edinburgh

Yesterday we went to Edinburgh. It was quite a trip, and I thought I would post some pictures this morning. The computer was a bit slow and it took me all morning to post - between preparing breakfast and getting ready for today's trip. Jesse and Toby took turns using the computer during this morning also. When I got back to the computer to post, my post was gone - deleted by someone. Fingers were flying - pointing and accusing. No one would fess up. It was time to leave on today's adventure. My blog would have to wait.

Normally, we could have ridden the train all the way from Aberdeen to Edinburgh, but due to some maintenance work on the track, we had to take a bus to Dundee and then the train to Edinburgh. The trip took longer than usual, but we were able to see some beautiful countryside. Edinburgh is an awesome place. We needed way longer than we had. In fact, we had to cut our site-seeing short and head back to the train.

As we came up out of the train station in Edinburgh, we were just flooded by gorgeous sites. The whole town is a photo op. As we climbed the hill to the castle, we were snapping pictures and breathing heavy. When we got to the top of the Royal Mile, we stopped to have a bit of coffee before heading to the castle (Jesse called this my "Bull Hearne" impression). The weather was a factor being cold and windy with occastional sprinkles. It was a bit better at the castle once we were out of the wind. There is no need to write much description, the photos say it all.

I love this photo of Jesse (although her eyes are closed) with her wild hair with just a hint of red looking like a Highland lass. By the way, that wild curly hair is pure Jesse. That is her natural look.

Notice Mom on the stairs waiting for us.

We took too much time at the castle, had too much fun, and ran out of time as we walked down the Royal Mile. We did not get to see the Palace of the Holyroodhouse. It was just too far and we were too tired. We did some shopping and had a cold beer at the World's End, and just relaxed rather than trying to "see it all.

All day long I reminded Mom to watch her step. Watch the cobble stones, watch the uneven steps, etc. As we were headed to the train station to come home, she was bringing up the rear and doing fine. It was raining slightly and we were headed down this narrow close. Mom stepped on a large metal plate in the pavement, slid and rolled. Any one who stepped on it would have done the same thing; it just happened to be Mom. She bounced up pretty quick once she quit laughing. No problema! She is fine, but gave us all a good scare.

I have lots I want to show, but I will post more tomorrow. Some of the photos need a bit of editing.

Jesse's Eyes

Mom and Jesse got here about 5 PM on Tuesday night. It gets dark here by 4:30, but they were able to see a little of the city from the airport to the City Centre. We waited for Toby to get home from work, and then we headed out to have some supper. We tried to have a beer at a pub/restaurant, but the bartender ignored us too long, and we had a reservation for dinner somewhere else. This has been a problem a couple of times. We stand at the bar and get ignored. We set at a table and get ignored. I feel like we are missing something on the "how things are done in Scotland" rules. For the most part, people here are great - helpful and interested in us - lots of fun. As Mom, Jesse, and I walked around Aberdeen yesterday, several people engaged us in conversation - very friendly. Of course, it helps to have Jesse in the crowd.

Seeing Scotland through Jesse's eyes is different from mine, but several times yesterday she took photos of the exact same thing that I had already photographed. Yet she has a totally different angle on things. I took them by the Skene Provost House. Jesse took this photo in the reflection of the modern building next to the SPH. I took them down to the plaza area where the Mercat Cross stands. Jesse took the photo of Mom and me. I took the one of Jesse. We had lunch at Henry's Bar. - the joke being that Jesse calls her unknown future husband "Henry". Jesse had fish and chips. Then we went to the Maritime Museum where we got permission to take a photo out the window of the old church that is the museum overlooking the harbor. While at the MM, a little man came over to talk to me. His father had been a fisherman, but the little man was an engineer. He was very difficult to understand since he spoke fast, quietly, and without moving his lips. He told us he was 76, and did we think he looked 76. We told him he did not look 76 at all. Then Mom told him that she was also 76. End of conversation - he turned and walked off. I think Mom scared him.

After walking and shopping, Mom and I went back to the hotel leaving Jesse to go to the beach. She took some great photos and met a lady named Sarah ("Seda" is what she actually said). Then we had a nice quite dinner at home.