Back to adventures...

I'm terrible at blogging. It's been a few months, but hey, we hibernate in Scotland. It's cold, rainy, snowy and dark. However, finally the sun and springtime flowers are coming out and the weather actually broke 10 degrees (50F)! Everyone is excited. You can tell people are dusting off their semi-spring clothes - brighter and more floral - and tend to be out and about more.

It's also been six months since we went on a little sightseeing adventure. Saturday was exceptionally sunny, so we jumped in Ralphie with our Historic Scotland members' card in hand and headed to Castle Campbell near Dollar. It was pretty good actually, despite the requisite scaffolding that seems to be everywhere in the UK.


This is a 15th century castle and had some cool features: the stone urinal and ceiling masks to hold lanterns being favourites. But it's built in a spectacular location. There are a few deep crevasses where streams flow. They were moving swiftly since the snow there has been melting. We could still see snow, too, on the hills. While taking the path back to the car, we followed one of the streams and saw moss everywhere and a few critters as well (shrews perhaps?).

Back to Skype, but temporarily

After nearly three months of living together, it was time for Dave to go back to the US for a project he needed to complete. We have spent every single day together since 13 August, bar a two-day trip I took to London for work, and it has been absolute bliss! So, you can imagine how it was when Dave left last week. It was back to a long-distance marriage via Skype.

I must admit it was strange seeing the same 'setting' during our first conversation. I had looked at that same wall, chair and dark room for so long - but I had forgotten it completely! I had forgotten how many hours we had spent in the seven months prior to August on the computer, talking through a web-cam. It was slightly nostalgic but not really. At least it is only for a short time. In fact, in only four more sleeps I will be back in Arkansas with him. This is the third time this YEAR that I have been in Arkansas. My family must be thrilled - and slightly bewildered - by my reoccurances. It should prove to be a nice visit, though, as it's the first time in eight years that I have been there for Thanksgiving.

Now all I have to do is start packing!

Autumn Days in Kelvingrove

Finally some nice, autumn weather! Dave and I braved the chill and slightly sprinkled weather in Glasgow to get some photos of the leaves before they all fell. Kelvingrove Park is quite near our flat, so we took a little stroll past the University and into the gardens. On the grounds is also the Kelvingrove museum, which is lovely. There are also lots of statutes around, but I couldn't tell you who anyone is.

We saw a hungry squirrel while there and got some close-ups of him eating nuts, or perhaps leftover chips and irn bru (who knows really!). He reminded us of the crazy squirrels at the University of Arkansas campus. Those things were wild and great at the same time.

It's getting darker here, and at the weekend we'll come to an end of the British Summertime. Then, nothing but dark and druibly days until about March, when we all come out of the tunnel.

Day 278...

This past weekend we had a lovely time up north - and I got to use my British Provisional Driving License for the first time! (It arrived about 30 minutes before we left.) Bill and Ania were superb hosts as always, and wee Matthew was a pleasure to be around. He stared at Dave a lot. I kept waiting for Matthew to lay the smack down on Dave as soon as he blinked.

The Coustons live in Alness - they have a great view of Cromarty Firth and several oil rigs. On Sunday we went hill walking nearby, up to the Fyrish Monument. It was built in 1782, being commissioned by Hector Munro, the local landowner who served in India. Apparently (if you believe Wikipedia), after the locals were cleared off the land to make way for pasturing sheep, good ol' Hector gave them some employment prospects by having them build this rather unusual monument. It looks like something that was never finished, really. And, it was freezing up there with such strong winds. We could see snow on the hills to the northwest, and the views elsewhere were pretty spectacular. However, having forgotten the camera back in Glasgow, we had to resort to the camera on Dave's phone which wasn't that great.

A visit to the coast

Following the successful launch of the PoMS website, everyone took the day off. I've never really had a day off AND sunshine, so imagine my surprise when it was a wonderful day! Dave and I decided to go to the Ayrshire coast, so pack up and took Ralphie down to Dundonald Castle and to Troon.

Dundonald Castle, I think, was even better than Dunstaffnage. At least in terms of ruins. The inside was fairly well preserved, and it had three levels for all kinds of noble-happenings. It belonged to the Stewart family (under Walter, son of Alan (d.1177) to be exact, who I had just been speaking about the night before at the launch).

The beach at Troon was nice. It wasn't great, and Troon is kind of a 'small' place. But it was warm and sunny, so we didn't mind.

Summer is officially over in Scotland. It's actually cold today, and we put the heater on for the first time. Hopefully our winter adventures will be just as good. We're off to Alness for the weekend, so the fun is just beginning!

More adventures...

Our next stop was Dunstaffnage Castle, near Oban. This was fantastic. The weather was horrible, though. Very misty and wet. We wandered around the grounds of the castle and also went to the nearby ruins of the chapel. Dunstaffnage is one of the oldest castles still standing (partly) from my favourite time period (12-13th centuries).

On the way back, we followed signs for the Bonawe Iron Furnace. Dave was really happy with this one! The Iron Furnace dates back to 1753 and was heavily used until the mid-19th century.

Recent adventures

The end of summer was approaching fast as Dave arrived in Scotland - 13 August to be exact. It's going to be our 'second' anniversary. The first anniversary is our actual wedding day - 31 December; the second is the day we finally started living together! We've decided to celebrate both equally.

We took advantage of warm, sunny days...and not so warm, sunny days...to travel about and see some places. Historic Scotland has great membership cards to get in for free at all their properties and we have been using ours well.

The first stop was Linlithgow Palace. This is a great place. It was the birthplace of Mary, queen of Scots, in 1542, but had been around long before that. My friend, Nicki, did her PhD on James I (d.1437) and knows a lot about the palace - she even works there!