Hey Ewe! Got Wool?

A few days ago Paul and I went out to Edinburgh to go to the tartan factory right near the castle because we had been there six years ago and we thought how great it was to stand on the balcony and watch all the machines making tartan. They made all types of tartan there and you could go through their catalog of clans and family names to find the appropriate tartan you were looking for. Well, when we got there we were sorely disappointed that the place had been turned into a tourist trap! To get inside you had to walk through the main gift shop full of stuffed animals, postcards, books, cheap kilts, and t-shirts with ridiculous slogans on them. Then you entered what was the factory balcony taking you down to what was the factory floor going through about five different gift shops selling all sorts of different "scottish" trinkets for your "scottish experience" including the selection of clothing made out of Princess Diana Memorial Tartan.

On the old factory floor there were individual shops with inflated prices of tartan ordered in from factories elsewhere. Most of the kilts being sold were made by machine and they were also selling cheap polyester kilts and material. In one of the shops down there I caught a girl sewing her own tag onto a scarf from a pile of neatly folded scarves that looked like she ordered them from somewhere and just took them out of a box, so now she's going to pretend she made them and sew her own tags to them (I'm not sure if that's what it was but it gave me that impression and the way it's turned out there now, I wouldn't put it past them). Then you could get a picture done of you and your family wearing scottish dress up clothes, only fourty pounds for two pictures!!! You may ask, do they still even make tartan there anymore? The answer is yes, there was one man watching one machine working in what looked like a basement where tourists could look down and watch. I kind of liked the little set up they had that showed kilts through the years, the picture above is me next to Bonnie Prince Charlie and a few highlanders, I found it kind of funny.
In fact, the best place we went to in Edinburgh was St. Giles Cathedral, the workmanship on everything in the place was amazing. It was also nice because it was a free place to go to out of the rain that wasn't some gift shop. I also noticed that everywhere there that said "woolen factory" wasn't a factory and didn't sell wool yarn or knew where to get any.
We figured we would go to the whisky distillery but found out it wasn't a distillery it was a gift shop with a "whisky experience" ride, there was no whisky tasting but they sold an assortment of whisky (You can get the same kinds of whisky at ASDA for so much cheaper by the way). They even had the cheesy picture on the wall of someone meant to look like a whisky connoisseur and every so often the man in the picture moved and fixed his moustache.
If this is what they've done to the Royal Mile of Edinburgh I can't imagine what they've done to the castle, the whole place is a terrible tourist trap reminiscent of Disneyland.

So we decided we were going to go on a small trip out to Selkirk to check out the tartan factories out there, we hoped tourists haven't destroyed that place as well. The drive was remote and absolutely gorgeous. We went through valleys on small country roads and passed by Grey Mare's Trail (the trail that inspired Sir Walter Scott's writing). We stopped and went for a walk up to see the waterfall. I could spend an entire day up there with the water and the heather and the sheep, it was so peaceful.
When we got to Selkirk we went to one of the factories that Paul got his tartan from for the kilt he is making right now. We found out that their shop and cafe was open, but they weren't doing tours of the factory that day. So we took a good look around and found a couple of places we didn't know supplied tartan but also weren't open.

We weren't too disappointed because there were little museums to go into, like Sir Walter Scott's courthouse museum and the museum at the visitor centre that showed what life would have been living there and touched a bit on the history of the border wars with England. There was an old kirk behind the museum where William Wallace was proclaimed protector of Scotland.
Anyway, on our way back home we stopped at a small cafe in the country just outside Selkirk. We went to have our drinks outside because it was a nice day and there were fields full of sheep all around us. We had been wondering what happens to all the wool after the sheep get sheered, and at that time a farmer came out with a truckload of more sheep to put into the field so Paul went up to him and asked. The farmer thought it was a bit funny that we would ask because just two weeks ago he had a barn full and had pretty much gave it away to be sold to the factories, but he had some wool left from two sheep. One is from a white faced sheep and the other is from a black faced sheep.

This all filled a huge bag that he gave to us for free. Lets just say, I have a lot of work ahead of me cleaning all the wool, but I couldn't be happier.

Indoor Adventures

Paul has been busy doing everything from stewarding at the football club, trying to get his lawn maintenance business going and sewing up his kilt. He's picked up his enthusiasm for his kilt making once more when we went for our little trip to McCallum Bagpipes and the man there got excited when Paul said he was working on a kilt. Apparently, there is a big call for new kilt makers here. It's not easy making a good kilt either. Kilts are not just your regular cut and sew project, in fact there's barely any cutting involved because it's basically a moulding of eight yards of material using nothing but a needle and thread for most of the project. So what's new? Paul went to Paisley yesterday to a kilt makers shop and got his finished pleats inspected by the owner. We're pretty sure they're impressed with his work there because they took his contact information and advised him that the school for kilt making in Keith does weekly courses and would give him some tips that could make the process quicker. So he will hopefully go up to Keith in August, camp out in the heather and go to sewing classes. He also got some more material to practice on. I expect that in a couple months Paul will have more kilts than he knows what to do with, but it's worth it if he can get jobs out of it. However, I have a feeling I'm going to have to get out my knitting needles and make some more knee high kilt socks because one pair might not be enough.


Okay, enough about Paul. What have I been up to? I know I mentioned this in another post but now I have a picture and it's all I seem to be doing when I'm in the house. Without a dryer to dry my laundry for me I've spent entire days monitoring the laundry. When I say monitoring I mean hanging the laundry on the line, running out and taking it down when it rains, hanging it over the radiators(as well as anything close by resembling a drying rack, Paul's bike anyone?) and hoping that it all dries fast enough so it won't develop that awful mildew smell. "Sorry Paul, no biking today, I'm doing the laundry".


So what do I do in the middle of monitoring laundry? I could munch on some delicious haggis flavoured crisps (which actually do taste like haggis but crispier). Honestly though, I saw these in the grocery store and just had to try them just so I could say I have tried them, and they really actually are not too bad.

I've also tried Heather Honey, it's not the kind of honey that I like putting in my tea because it tastes too much like flowers so I spread it on toast. I really don't know of any other uses for it and it seems like a shame to only use it on toast so I'll take any suggestions on what else I can use my heather honey for.

Highland Games

Today we woke up bright and early to drive out to Loch Lomond for the Highland games in Balloch. It took us about an hour drive to get to the park for the games. We got there a bit too early so we could explore the area a bit and find out where they were starting the triathlon. You may be thinking "a triathlon as a part of highland games?", and that's exactly what we thought too. This highland games had eveything from the regular cabor toss, hammer throw, tug of war, pipe bands and highland dancing to triathlon, running races, and bike racing.

"You'll take the high road and I'll take the Low road and I'll be in Scotland before ye, but me and my true love will never meet again on the bonnie, bonnie banks of Loch Lomond". This is the swim start for the triathlon and at first we thought the starter had a bagpipe in his case but he had a fiddle instead. He played and sang The Bonnie Banks of Loch Lomond with the triathletes joining in. Nice touch Lomond Triathlon Club, singing that song on the banks of Loch Lomond at the swim start. I sure hope this is on next year and if so, count me in!



Here's me in the wooded area under a Scottish Pine I believe. We saw a red deer hopping along just before this picture, it was probably making it's way down to the loch.

This is a picture that shows a couple of Paul's interests all happening at once. The pipe band playing in the background and a bike race going on around the track.


Oh I see, that's why the power was out in Balloch today. These men decided to throw around the telephone poles. Also, look at the height of that cabor.
I'd have to make one tiny comment about the cabor toss though... I don't know whether I am dissapointed or relieved that I could tell the men whose kilts flew up while tossing the cabor were wearing underwear. It certaintly would have been a laugh out loud moment if they weren't.

Anchors Away!!!

Today we decided to take a little trip to the McCallum bagpipe factory to see where they made Paul's bagpipes. Paul has now started to play more of his bagpipe chanter again, his mouth is now starting to feel better after the extensive dental work he's had done, hopefully only one more dentist appointment and then he'll only be in for regular check-ups. So anyway, we went to McCallum Bagpipes and we saw the factory. Workers were in the middle of moving some equipment so we didn't get to see too much. Paul got talking to someone about making kilts and it's given him new inspiration to finish his own kilt and fine tune his sewing skills because proper kilt making is hard to come by, even in Scotland.

On the way back we decided to stop by Dundonald Castle for a bit of a walk around. Artifacts have been found on the land dating back to prehistoric times. There's stone tools, medeval sewing needles, various coins, and iron pots all on display in the visitor centre. They say that this land had a small village on it, then a traditional Motte and Bailey, a tower house and castle that is currently the ruins there today.

The ruins have been somewhat restored for visitors with a wooden walkway(in the picture) and stairs to the top floor which is now open to the elements but is currently getting work done to it, so a big section was blocked off.

The dungeons and pit were open for us to go see as well. We all climbed the ladder into the pit and I saw this huge spider in a dark corner with an egg sack about the same size as it so we all decided to make the climb back out of the place.

This is the picture of Paul inside the pit, sorry it's blurry but I wanted to show how dark and scary it was down there(the place is lit by a light, no light from outside goes down there)
After the castle we took a walk around Irvine. We crunched mussel shells under our shoes and breathed in the scent of salty ocean air with the hint of roses from the wild rosehip bushes. Many sail boats and fishing boats were floating around, as well as retired boats awaiting restoration by the maritime museum.

Huge ship anchors sat on the side of the road as well. No explaination on what ships they were on either.


Then we stumbled across a scotsman and his horse overlooking the ships and decided to get a picture taken with them. I like his hat!


Now I know how much everyone loved the funny signs post, so for your viewing pleasure I have included a sign that I find funny but are posted all over the motorways here. Imagine driving along at 60+ miles per hour and coming across a road warning sign like this. No deer crossing signs here, we get warned about elderly people crossing the road.

Hiking to Greenan Castle

Paul and I set off with the kids in the evening along the shore for a bit of a hike. The kids found a couple sea shells and a golf ball to take home with them. We followed the shore until we approached the cliffs below the ruins of Greenan Castle.

We found a steep trail on the other side and decided to go up and see if we could get up close to it. When we got to the top we found that there was an easier, more gradual trail to the castle if we only walked another few feet while we were on the shore we could have spared ourselves the steep climb. We noticed that the castle had been bricked up but the bricks had been knocked open. Paul decided to go inside and see. When I looked inside it was a dark basement with a worn spiral staircase facing out towards the ocean.

However, the castle is in such disrepair that it's not much to look at from the inside. It's much prettier to look at from afar.

Here's a picture of me sitting on some of the ruins behind the castle. Sorry it's such bad quality it was taken by Paul's blackberry.

We carried on down a path that was covered in different sizes of thistles, wild rabbits were hopping around everywhere. The kids liked the rabbits but not the thistles, we had to pick them up at some points along the way. We also went down by the river and watched the swans. The kids tried to feed them oranges but the swans weren't interested.

Frankie and Benny's and the Rain

So here's me at Frankie and Benny's, the New york Italian style restaurant I was mentioning in my previous post. Very American style eh? Made me feel like home, kind of like I was in East Side Mario's when I think about it some more, but definately reminded me of A&W but without the fast food and unfortunately without the root beer.
So I decided to do my laundry yesterday and spent the entire day in the house trying to get it all dried. You see, here in Scotland people don't normally use driers so I started really early in the morning on my four loads of washing. Originally I was planning on hanging everything outside, then it started to pour rain. Load after load of laundry came out and I was running out of space to hang clothes. I have a hanger for them but that was full, so I resorted to using Paul's bike as an extra rack. Then I used window sills, curtain poles, towel racks and finally the radiators(which Paul turned on to speed the drying process). The rain stopped so I put a whole bunch of wet laundry outside so I could deal with the clothes drying on the radiators. This was a big mistake on my part because as soon as I sat down, the rain had picked up again and this time it was worse. I ran out of the house to find that everything was wetter than when I put it out. I sure won't make that mistake again. Most of the clothes are dried but some are still kind of damp.
Oh how I took driers for granted!

Yet another day in Scotland and I'm getting a little homesick, but not to worry. We've found a New York style restaurant to go to that reminds me of a few different places from back home. The place is called Frankie and Benny's. Some of their decorations remind me of A&W, the bar reminds me of Boston Pizza but without the television screens, the service and the food reminds me of the Old Spaghetti Factory. They have specials on monday that remind me of the Pasta Factory in Penticton. We let our waiter know that it reminded us of being back home so he took it upon himself to take it one step further and put on a fake accent while serving us our meals just to give it that much more of authenticity (I found it adorable).
Paul is starting up a lawn maintenance business and so far it's going quite well, he's got a couple of jobs lined up for himself. All Paul needs now is a van because our car can fit his equipment in it but it's not big enough to take the yard waste away (it also doesn't look too professional). Speaking of our car, it's been wrecked a little bit further due to us locking the keys in, oops! So Paul and his brother (without knowing what they were doing) tried to break into the car with a screw driver and some really big threatening looking tool that they were (if all else failed) planning on breaking the window with. It's a good thing a mechanic came by to help us out and got the boot(trunk in Canadian speak) open so I could climb through the car and open the doors. Thank you mysterious mechanic stranger (we didn't find out his name, what a shame.
I heven't been running again yet so I do not have running photos but i did go swimming again at the place that we have just simply named "the lake" because they actually don't have lakes here they're called lochs. The other reason we call it "the lake" is because it doesn't have a name, it's a filled in quarry used as a resovoir for the paper mill that is close by and other industrial buildings in case they go on fire. Locals find it kind of stange that we would swim in it but the triathlon club swears by the place for a nice, clean, quiet spot to swim without the threat of getting attacked by swans. However, there were a couple of swans there when we got in. Paul saw some really huge fish swimming around in the water so I swam with my eyes closed.

Volunteering

Pretty soon we'll be getting internet at our place and I'll be able to upload pictures on here a lot quicker. Thus the reason why I haven't blogged in awhile, but I decided I should be fine for now.
I've been learning a lot at Culzean Castle about everything from the architect Robert Adam to little historical facts. So I decided to highlight a little bit of information about a man who lived in Dunure Castle and first aquired the lands for Culzean Castle. When Sir Thomas Kennedy wanted to gain more lands however, he used brute force by roasting the Abbot who owned the lands in his kitchen fire on a spit. He wasn't a well liked person so he was shot and killed on his horse.
that is the picture of him at the side.
So when I'm at the castle I get a sash with the Kennedy tartan to wear but for special events and Christmas I might have the chance to dress up. there a full room of dresses and wigs etc. (such an exciting little room) Oh and yesterday I got to operate the elevator there that was put in for General Eisenhower when he stayed in his suite.