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.