A Bit of Beach

A very nice day here in Scotland. We've been getting unusually good weather here and it's been great. So we took a little tour around, passed by abandoned abbey's out in the countryside as well as the world famous Turnberry golf course until we settled on the beach for awhile.


As you can see, the whole family is out on the beach digging in the sand and building sand castles.


We found a not so friendly crab out on the beach as well. This is a picture of him in his defencive stance clacking it's pinchers at us and backing away into the wet sand.

Changing the subject just a little, we are all moved into our flat. There's just a few things here and there that need done and an issue of not having a couch (that's been fixed temporarily by a set of camping chairs). We don't have internet yet or home phone but we got our Television License so we're now legal to operate our television! Who would have thought that one day I would need a licence for that!!! I guess common opinion of operating televisions over here is that it's a tricky business. Much like needing a license to operate a vehicle, you have a licence to operate your TV. Instead of taking a test and only paying once, you must just pay once a year and there's no need to take a test for the operation of a TV (thank goodness because I might have failed) I don't really care enough about the TV to bother knowing how to turn the wretched thing on!
I've been banned from touching remotes by Paul now. At Paul's brother's place I just hit as many power buttons on the various remotes as possible to try and turn the entire system off. I ended up with the surround system on and the TV apparently off, then the DVD player turned on and started playing a movie..... grrrrr technology overload!!! Somebody hand me a book!

A Breakfast and Signs

Let me explain this one for you. It's a full Scottish breakfast on my plate here and I actually didn't have it for breakfast, I had it for dinner. There I go breaking all the rules of eating again. Let me tell you exactly what is on my plate starting at twelve o'clock and going around the plate clockwise.... eggs, black pudding, fruit pudding, toast, beans, sausages, bacon and square sausages. All it's missing is the haggis, mushrooms and fried tomato... I'm not sure if pancakes would go with it all too but in Scotland the pancakes are very sugary! It was my first time trying black pudding and I quite liked it. It kind of tasted like haggis so I ate it on my toast. The fruit pudding was lovely as was everything else. So that's the fine cuisine I've been eating here, expect me to look about 100 lbs bigger in a few months.... just kidding! I've only had this once and I am not by any means going to make it a common occurrence.


So here's an interesting little billboard inspired by the world cup. I walked along the street staring at it for the longest time trying to figure out what it actually meant... I mean I know Holland's colours are orange, I get that but why are they stripping and why did they spell it burd and not bird? I didn't know birds got tans, they're all covered in feathers.... oh wait I get it now! How silly of me!
Now, lets see if you know what it means.


The Twa Dugs... and the sign has two dogs on it. Doesn't it just seem silly how they spell things phonetically here. Because twa dugs is actually how they say two dogs with the accent. I've also seen a sign that says "free hoose" and I looked and thought, what's hoose and why are they giving it away for free.... but it meant "free house" which I think means it's a pub of some sort.
More pictures of signage will be coming soon..... Paul's getting a tad embarrassed of me taking pictures of stuff like this, but who else will?

Culzean Castle

A few minutes along the coast and through the countryside outside Ayr is Culzean Castle. Pronounced "culain castle" but I guess they thought the silent "z" would make it look exotic when written on paper. I was there to talk to somebody about volunteering there and they all seemed so nice. Paul and the kids came with me and walked around the castle while they waited for me. The kids were sent on a mission to find hidden lego men in the rooms.
I took a little walk around the castle on my own and I've got to admit that I felt probably about as awed as Elizabeth Bennet when she first went to Mr. Darcy's house.....


Here's a picture I took of the stables across from the castle. Theres little rooms up top which are now offices and a coffee shop.


On our way back we came across bands of kilted pipers, so we stopped to watch and listen for awhile.


And now for a picture that is completely off topic. A button I got that says "keep calm and make a tea" modeled after the British propoganda posters during WW2 that said "keep calm and carry on" but were never actually shown to public because they were reserved for if Germany ever invaded Britain. But I didn't get it because of that, I got it because I miss tea time at the Penticton Museum.
So now I must go and make myself some tea.

Swimming and a bit of running

It has started! Paul and I have joined a triathlon club and we've found a loch to swim in! It's not the one I sent pictures about, it's a different one that we went to go swim in today with a group of people. Sorry I didn't bring my camera. It was very beautiful though.
So now for my thoughts on the loch..... When I stuck my feet into the squishy mud at the shore I realized that it really wasn't as cold as I was expecting. So I made my way into the water and dove in. I noticed that the water tasted differently than the lakes I was used to (and it wasn't the taste of industrial waste from the paper factory and the dump close by) it tasted like peat and soil even though the water was clear. Swimming in that loch reminded me of gardening.
When we were done we drove back and got dressed for going out on a run. We ran on a path along the shore and through a golf course... Fore!!!

Again, I'm sorry for no photos. But I promise you that I will try to take my camera the next time I go running. Maybe I can start a running photography group like in the movie Yes Man, I watched half of it yesterday and it's kind of dissapointing after reading the book. I like the idea though, not yes to absolutely everything but yes to more, yes to opportunity, good opportunities.... what was I writing about again?

Loch Doon

Today we went for a little Sunday drive to Loch Doon in our little Nissan we've named "Stinky". We passed by the town of Dalmellington, an old rusted out steam train, and fields full of sheep.
We were checking out Loch Doon to see if it's a suitable loch to swim in. Unlike other bodies of water over here, this loch doesn't have swans that will attack us. All it has is slippery algae covered rocks and World War 2 airplanes sunk in the bottom of it (which would probably make for interesting swimming).

However, the fact that it has a hydroelectric dam may not make it all that safe, but it's a big loch so it would be easy to avoid.
So anyway we went down and felt the water. It was warm but there were boys in the distance attempting to go in and screaming that it was far too cold. So we skipped some stones because there were some really nice flat rocks.... Paul decided to heave boulders like they did in Braveheart.

I walked away from the shore to check out the local fauna when I'm pretty sure I came upon some bog myrtle which is good for keeping the midges (like a mosquito) away. I was tempted to pick some up but decided to see if I could find any heather that had flowers on them. Well, I found loads of heather but all the blossoms I found on them were dead. I'm sure there will be some out in bloom later on.

We saw a few camping spots that we would like to try sometime soon. I would have loved to spend the day down there fishing, swimming and maybe roasting marshmellows over a campfire...... hopefully soon.
Just down the road is Doon Castle. Built in the fourteenth century, nobody knows too much about it other than that it successfully held off a siege by the English Army in 1335. Recently the castle has been moved up to higher land from it's island in Loch Doon to make room for the flood waters caused by the Hydro Dam.


We explored inside the castle. The kids liked climbing up the three stairs which was once a spiral staircase. They found a half eaten butterfly, a birds nest and a wasps nest. While walking around in the castle we realized that there were midges flying around us (probably should have picked up that bog myrtle after all) and a few of us got bit by them, but it didn't hurt it just left small dots. I found a nice window and it made me think of a certain book that I read recently.........
Oh ya and those are my wellies, they were Paul's brothers. Nobody wanted to be seen with me wearing them and I'm not sure why because I think they're great! They're also comfy to wear over my skinny jeans.

Paul measured himself up to the height of the fourteenth century Scotsman.

A little bit of Canada in a little bit of Scotland

All this painting has been really taking it out of us lately. During all of our painting I was wondering, if I were in Canada doing all this work I'd have a timmy's coffee and some timbits or doughnuts.
So anyway, we've had to take a few days off the painting due to Paul getting his teeth done at the dentist. On his first visit he got eight fillings and a tooth extraction. During his second visit I toured the town and came upon Paul's cousins tattoo shop where I was told a rumor that there is a corner shop called Spar had a Tim Hortons coffee machine. I also remembered that Paul's brother mentioned something about Tim Hortons coffee a few weeks ago. With all of this information, I was determined to get myself to Spar. Paul wasn't so enthusiastic when I met up with him after his dentist appointment (or maybe it was just all the freezing in his mouth that was behind his seemingly lack of enthusiasm).

Paul's second appointment was a grueling hour and a half appointment where he endured a root canal, so many fillings he didn't even know and the extraction of one of his wisdom teeth.
As you can see, his next appointments will consist of getting those front teeth (that make him look like a pirate) fixed.
The next day after a full days work of painting we drove to the Spar that has the Tim Hortons coffee machine. To my surprise, there was a Tim Hortons coffee poster on the outside of the place and as soon as we walked in there was a wall covered in Timmies stuff (it seemed to me like a glowing coffee shrine).

There were boston cream doughnuts and a coffee machine, it wasn't the usual double double because they just had milk and no coffee cream but it was Timmies.

The cups were even Timmies cups as well, with both french and english on the cup. And yes that is paint all over my hand, and the car I'm in is ours.

Success in the House Hunt!

For the past month we have been living with Paul's brother in his flat, waiting for a place to move into. In fact, we chose a place and we were ready to move in..... but whoever was staying in the flat was not so keen to move out.
Here in Scotland, tenants can claim something called "squatters rights" and if the landlord doesn't evict them properly they could loose their house to the squatters all together!
Fortunatly the person moved out (about a month too late but they moved out) and now we can start fixing up the place and moving in.

We've primed all of the walls and put the first coat of paint on a few walls so far.
As you can see in this picture of the living room there's the first coat of paint on the feature wall and primer on the wall beside it.



Paul and his brother Stuart tried to fix the toilet in the bathroom today with no luck at all. It just moves around the same water over and over again. As you can probably imagine, the smell isn't all that great from it. Not to worry though, it will get fixed.


A kitchen! And by Scotland standards this is actually a pretty big one. As you can see, the washing machine is situated in this kitchen without a dryer so I'll have to hang my washing out on the line (this is the way it's commonly done over here).
The landlord has ordered us a new oven and hob, and we're getting new carpets put in the place. Yay, So Excited!

The Auld Kirk Alloway

"Kirk-Alloway was drawing nigh,
Where ghaists and houlets nightly cry" - Rabbie Burns

I have to be honest here, this little excursion was a little while ago but I've really got to share it because it's such an interesting place. The kirk itself dates back to the 16th century and it's got an eerie little poem about it written by Rabbie Burns. Tam O'Shanter rides his horse Meg home from the pub in Ayr and he gets caught up with the ghosts and witches dancing around in the auld kirk. He gets caught watching them and chased until he crosses the Brig O'Doon. However, he wasn't fast enough because the witches got a hold of his horses tail(poor thing).

This is one of the most intricate and well preserved tombstones I've seen here. I'm guessing that whoever is buried here was a blacksmith.
The kids liked these hand carved tombstones as well, but everytime they looked at them they laughed and pointed.... I couldn't quite find the humor they saw in it. I guess some things just look different to children.
Speaking of children, I couldn't believe how many children were buried in this graveyard. There were family tombstones with four or five children on them before the parents were buried with them. It was very sad reading the ages of some of the people buried there, but amazing as well that some of them lived to the age that they did.

Guess what this is......
Okay I'll tell you, it's a mortsafe. If that doesn't explain it enough for you, they would lock this onto a coffin temprarily until the body decayed enough so nobody would want to steal the body. Yes, they did steal body's way back when there wasn't as many people as we have today to donate their bodies to science.


The Brig O'Doon!
"Now do thy speedy utmost, Meg
and win the keystane o' the brig" - Rabbie Burns
I like quoting Rabbie! hehehe
Did you know that witches can't cross running water? I didn't know that so if you're ever getting chased by witches make sure you head straight for a bridge over a river.... I believe that's the moral of the story...
but anyway, if you were ever wondering what is on the other side of the bridge, it's just a small footpath through bushes and trees and I'm not sure where it ends up eventually because I didn't walk down it too far but I'm sure it ends up on a road closeby...

hey and check out those cobblestones!

Exploring Glasgow

This morning we walked over to the train station and hopped on a train to Glasgow. We saw many interesting things when we arrived in Glasgow, and I am happy to report that Jaime Oliver is opening up a new restaurant near George Square.
The first place we visited was The Piping Centre ang Bagpipe Museum.

The museum displayed everything that had to do with bagpipes. There were bagpipe making tools, music, shuttle pipes, highland bagpipes, lowland bagpipes, instruments owned by Rabbie Burns and bagpipes from all over europe.

I couldn't believe how big some of the bagpipes were, or how little some of them were. Paul enjoyed being at the Piping Centre the most because as most of you may know, he's leaning to play the bagpipes.

Afterwards we trecked through George's square

The building looks quite nice inside, with mosaic tiles and statues. My sister in law Emily got caught in the revolving door due mostly to Paul.

Anyway, we walked down the street and came upon the oldest house in Glasgow.

Built in 1471, the oldest house in Glasgow called Provand's Lordship is open for free to the public. The house displays what it may have looked like in the 17th century.





There was a room filled with pictures of influencial monarchs from King Henry VIII to Mary Queen of Scots and all the way through to..... Bonnie Prince Charlie(the picture above), then it all stopped there, hmm....I wonder why?

So we walked across the street to St. Mungo's Museum of Religious Life and Art(what an interesting place!) There were artifacts from around the world and from every religion.

As you can see there was even an egyptian mummy, with a mumified falcon next to it. There was also a Kenyan headhunter's shield, christening gowns, greek pottery, stained glass windows, a Roman sacrafice altar, a death mask of a baby, bibles, African initiation masks. All the artifacts from all the different religions were put together into sections such as birth, initiation, marriage and afterlife.

This bible here was printed in 1725 in Dutch for the Dutch Lutheran Church, it was to display the changing of the church during the reformation when people could start reading the bible in their own language.

We also went to St. Mungo's Cathedral and marveled at the enormity of the stained glass windows and arches.

In the basement we saw memorials and graves. There were three above ground tombs and two of them had lids that were badly cracked on the ends. Our kids decided to climb on top of them and peer inside(obviously not knowing what they were trying to look at) after my son shouted that he could see something we got out of there.


For your viewing pleasure I've included a couple of the grave markers. they're just so old(and there's a familiar fictional character's name on one, which is a crazy popular name here by the way).... so I took pictures of them.

Okay, I know there's a heck of a lot of pictures but there was just so much to see, so i will take you to the cemetary where I took this awesome picture (and I am using the word awesome correctly) of the cathedral and a celtic cross.

It was a nice little hike up around in this area they call the Necropolis. Paul enjoyed walking around the one masuleum, he tapped on the door to ask if anyone was home...(my mother in law joked that they were out to lunch, hahaha).

Okay so we had enough of walking around the dead for one day so we went to the Gallery of Modern Art.

This horseman with the cone on the top of it's head was probably a better depiction of modern art than the art inside the building. I'm not saying that the art was all that bad, it's just that it kind of lacked in artwork.
Oh and I found a Dr. Who style Police box!!!!!

It's probably weathered from all the time travelling......