Easter

The boys had 2 1/2 weeks off for their Easter holiday- which was turned out to be a fun filled adventure for me. Easter Sunday we went to Jane's parents house for dinner. The boys were thrilled to be with their cousins and they all had a blast on their Easter egg hunt. We returned home for a night, before heading off to St. Andrew's with Jane's sister and her children. The hotel we stayed in was absolutely beautiful (and way out of the price range of a backpacker like myself). When I called home to brag to my Dad about being on the St. Andrew's golf course, he informed me that they woke up to snow that morning. I didn't want to rub it in too badly- but we were on our way from the golf course to the beach. Of course I didn't mention that the water temperature was colder than a meat locker, and any sane person would last no longer than 32 seconds with their toes in the water. The boys had a blast building sand castles and dodging sea gulls- and I got some beautiful photos of the town and golf course from the beach. We headed back to Edinburgh later in the week by way of the seafront. The drive was beautiful and it was so much nicer to be on a small country highway dipping in and out of small towns than it would have been on the large motorway. We stopped at a famous fish 'n' chip shop on the way home for supper. Although I'm not much of a fish person- I convinced myself that I was being cultured, and therefore should dig in. The chip shop won the award for best F'n'C shop in Britain 3 times (which considering the entire country of Great Britian can fit into Wyoming, isn't as prestigious of an award as when something is rated the 'best ___ in America'). Anyhow- it was pretty damn good. So good in fact, that it is a known favorite of Tom Hanks. Maybe fish isn't so bad after all.

We returned home midweek for a few days around Edinburgh before the boys started back to school. I have really taken a liking to the path I found a few weeks back, and have been back almost every spare day that I have had. Thankfully the weather has cooperated nicely and thus lends itself to nice long walks or quiet afternoons reading/writing/doing sudoku puzzles. I don't know what the path is really called, though I have named it 'The Path of Plenty.' I have chose this name because it always provides me with plenty of stories to write about. So often I see things and I think 'is this a dream' (like the man on the bike a few weeks ago). Earlier this week I was sitting on my favorite bench, minding my own business, listening to my ipod when I suddenly realized one of two things- either the particular song I was listening to unexplainably and randomly featured a bagpipe in the backup music, or a bagpiper had snuck up behind me and was drowning out my song. Number two prevailed. Now don't get me wrong- the bagpipe is a beautiful instrument... both in visual and auditory appeal... however it is strange to hear this sound suddenly appear on a path in the middle of a forest. Without trying to make my look of shock and confusion seem too obvious I slyly pressed pause on my ipod while keeping the earphones in my ear (to make it appear that I hadn't noticed) and tried to listen to the commotion behind me. When I just couldn't stand it any longer, I turned around. To my delight- it wasn't only a bagpiper... it was a five man walking band. Playing along the path. On a Tuesday. In kilts. Apparently no bagpiper travels alone- and on this occasion he brought his four mates- the drum, guitar, accordion, and flute. I couldn't help but laugh... but at least I turned back around so they didn't see me chuckle (hopefully). No sooner had I watched them continue on their journey down the path, when a half dressed lady walked past me with a bottle of wine in one hand an a banana in another hand. I'm not making this up... hence... the path of plenty. It is times like this that I wish there was a hidden camera recording my facial expressions. Since it has been so nice out- the boys love to go on walks with me on the path. Their favorite part is skipping stones into the river and hiding behind trees whenever they see a dog approaching.

It seems that the days turn into weeks and the weeks turn into months faster than I am willing to admit. I can't believe my time here is nearly finished! It feels like just yesterday I was having my 'goodbye dinner' at home in Gurnee... and soon enough I will be having my 'hello dinner' (hint hint Mom!) at home as well. Until then- I'll continue to explore and wander and enjoy all that I can in the land of the Scots.


Easter Dinner with the whole family (except for Jane who is taking the photo)


The student quad at St. Andrew's University.


The boys on the beach (Ben, Jack, Michael).


Me with my feet in the COLD water- holding up Jack who was also COLD.


The boys and I enjoying our Fish and Chips on the pier.


On the Path of Plenty... Even in Scotland... the grass is greener on the other side.

Out like a lamb

My birthday was absolutely fantastic. I received so many cards from my friends and family, and it was so good to hear familiar 'voices.' I have traveled quite a bit on my birthday in the past, but have always been surrounded by family, family friends, or friends. This was my first birthday in which all the people that I celebrated with were new in my life. Jane and the boys surprised me (coaxed me into the kitchen with my eyes closed until they could bring in the cake from the garage) with a nice chocolate birthday cake with a million candles on it. Ben was soo excited by the sight of the candles that I almost didn't want to blow them out and ruin his fun. I was so happy and humbled that they threw me a little celebration.

Later that night I went out to my friend Kristy's house (because she so nicely offered to make me dinner!), and then Kristy, Kirsten (her flatmate) and I headed to the local pub for Quiz Night. Now- I don't know if this just isn't a big thing in America... or if I have just been stumbling in and out of the wrong bars...but quiz night doesn't seem to draw big crowds like it does here. I also recall attending a quiz night at one of the camp grounds we stayed at in Australia, and distinctly remember that we were the worst team- having little to no knowledge of Australian politics, history, current events or pop culture. With that said- my hopes weren't high. Anyway- the three of us went to quiz night (where our team name was 'not from around here') and proudly succeeded coming in last place (even with the help of a friendly couple dining close to us). We decided after 10 rounds, that it was time to throw in the towel and head back to their flat for some chocolate cake and another round of happy birthday.

Saturday morning I woke up at the break of dawn (11:00) to a bright sun-shining day. Keep in mind these are hard to come by in Scotland... so imagine my excitement when I had absolutely nothing to do on the beautiful day but bum around doing whatever I wanted to do. So I packed a lunch and a water bottle and my camera and a book and headed out for a hike. I headed to a river path not far from the house and just started walking for about 3 hours. Now... because of the weather I decided to wear capris and a tshirt with a waterproof fleece (in the common event that the clouds would rush in and dump water over me). To my delight, no such clouds conspired against me and I spent the whole afternoon walking along the paths. It wasn't a crowded path like the Riverwalk in Waukesha or Independence Grove in Libertyville (two places that I frequented often with my roller blades). In those places there is a paved walkway with a yellow dotted line down the center, as if the people are traffic and need to stay to the right side of the road. And if you divert off the path on a busy day like the Saturday or Sunday, you most often have to signal that you are coming back onto it and merge back in with the masses of people that seem to ride/walk/skate down these paths when the weather is nice. No no no no... this was an 'au natural' path- no pavement...no yellow line... This path felt like it was the type of place that had just enough people knew about to make you feel comfortable. Like you would walk along for 4 or 5 minutes and think... 'wow am I the only person who knows about this place?' and then you would see a man and his dog running towards you up ahead. Or you would be walking and think, 'gosh it's been a while since I've seen anyone- I hope a big fox doesn't come out of the woods and attack me' and then around the bend you see a family of 4 strolling along. At one particular point an older man on a bike was coming up behind me. He thought it was necessary to blow the (fog)horn on his bike about 7 times to announce his passing. Now keep in mind that the width of the path at this point was about 10 feet, and if I was any closer to the edge of the path I would be in the grass... so really its not like I was in the way. And it startled me because I had my ipod on, and of course I thought it was a little ridiculous to announce his arrival that loudly, but I merely smiled as he cycled through. He looked back to say 'Hiya' and I forgave him and thought... ok maybe he just is an old Scottish man that wanted to greet everyone on the path.

It was so nice to be in the fresh spring air and when my ipod wasn't in my ears I enjoyed listening to the water and the birds. I don't know if green onions grow in the wild (I'm sure my grandpa can help me on that one), but the riverbanks smelled faintly of sweet onions. I passed quite a few people that were fishing in the river as well. I don't presume it was very deep at any point, and the water was so clear that you could see the stone bed most of the way along the river. The water passed through some wide and narrow parts and had the occasional dam and rocky labyrinth. There were bits of the path that led you up stairs and then back down again, bits that led you into the woods and then back to the river. Of course part of the path also led you through ruins of a castle nestled right into the river bank. Its so neat to see that these buildings are sprinkled all over the UK and for the most part are not used to exploit the culture that used to inhibit it. You just casually stroll through the walls of a building that is older than the USA has been established as a country. Amazing. The river eventually led to a small ship yard that opened up to the sea which was absolutely beautiful. Of course it was 10 degrees colder there and the wind was strong enough to give you chronic tears streaming down your face, but beautiful nonetheless. I stayed long enough for the numbness to set in, then turned around and headed back the same way that I came. I took a few detours, turning down some paths less traveled and ended up through some deeper parts of the woods. The path that I was attempting to follow became narrower and narrower, and as my ankles started brushing up against countless plants to clear the way through the wilderness I thought to myself 'Hm... maybe I should have researched poisonous plants that grown in Scotland.' I walked for quite a while and when the original path came into view I realized that I was about 1o yards away and about 4 yards higher than it. I clumsily climbed down and met up with the original path so that I could find my way home.

On Sunday, Jane and the kids and I headed for a friend's cottage in Northern Scotland. They had an old keeper's cottage on a large farm. The drive was beautiful once we got off of the highway, but its the type of place that you wouldn't believe existed unless someone took you there. Its past the point of road signs and paved roads... and I kept saying to Jane 'are you sure this is the way?' My friend Melanie's cabin in Door County, Wisconsin is like that...you couldn't really give directions to the cabin if you tried... you sort of just have to go to believe its there. The farm cottage was absolutely astounding. I stood in the 'front yard' only to realize that I couldn't see any other buildings or structures as far as I could see in any direction. Now I am not vain enough to believe that all that I could see was part of their property.... nor am I vain enough to believe that there aren't other farm houses nestled into the curves of the land that I couldn't see from that vantage point... but it was a surreal feeling. The weather couldn't have been better for the 3 days that we were there, which gave the children an endless outdoor playground. I didn't mind at all 'babysitting' while watching them build forts, ride their bikes, and chase the chickens (or rather watch the chickens chase them). It was a nice start to the children's 3 week Easter break from school (perhaps I should be a teacher out here!!!).

Today we went to the beach...Don't be fooled- we were wearing pants, socks, shoes, and 2 fleece sweatshirts. But we had a good time and had a picnic lunch in the sand. The beach was lovely. Jack and Michael made a 'canoe' out of some driftwood on the shoreline. (keep in mind they didn't touch the water... the canoe was more of a beached whale) They even found a little plastic army guy (like from toy story) in the sand... and he sat atop their sand tower watching for enemies. On the way back we stopped for some Luca's ice cream for the BEST ICE CREAM IN EDINBURGH (according to Michael). He keeps asking me whether I like Edinburgh or Chicago better. I tell him that Chicago has better pizza.