Scotland

I have often heard people compare Scotland, well the UK in general, to Canadian landscape. When we drove across the border into Scotland and the rolling hills popped up on either side of the road, B.C. terrain was certainly brought to mind. In fact we joked that it was a whimsical version of our former home, with its decades old stone walls dividing plots of land, the fields of sheep and somewhat unfamiliar foliage it was like our past views had been made up for a film. However once you drive through even one small town you are reminded how different Scotland is to any place I lived while in Canada. Castles dot hillsides in almost every direction, even the smallest of villages appear to have a qualified kilt maker, and of course boast houses older than Canada itself. We stayed in an estate cottage about an hour south of Edinburgh and used this as our home base for the whole time we were in the country. Although we were very happy with our little dwelling it was not all that conveniently located for us to reasonably visit lots of the places we would have liked to and so much of what the country offered had to be missed. We had a cosy three bedroom place that more than comfortably fit our family of four, but perhaps that is because it was so much larger than the flat we currently call home. The grounds it was on offered many walking trails, a pond, a spectacular view of the ocean and an ancient church that can still be booked for events.

We did spend our first full day in Scotland exploring the property we were on. We also did a quick visit to the ocean but as we got caught in our first of many rain showers, did not stay long. Rested and ready to explore we made a trip into Edinburgh, home of the first Fringe festival, which happened to be taking place the same time we were there. For those of you who are fans of Edmonton's version this would have swept you away in enthusiasm, the streets were lined with show schedules, performers rushing around, and throngs of people there to take it all in. For those who feel the Fringe is a crowded, noisy, and bothersome event, you have nothing to complain about. One friendly Scotsman we talked to told us that Edinburgh was home to about a million people but the with the fringe on it was about eight million and I for one believed him. Although I believe that this city is beautiful with many amazing things to offer, it was difficult to enjoy it the way we would have liked with queues running all through the city and the crush of people all around you. Not one to be generally put off by large crowds, I rather enjoy the anonymity they allow, we still followed through with our planned outings but even I was more than done with them by supper time. We stopped first at Arthur's seat, Edinburgh's very own extinct volcano. Much to the chagrin of our kids we took the challenge to hike to the very peak where we could enjoy a panoramic view of the entire city. Despite the initial complaints I think both the kids felt a sense of accomplishment to have reached the summit and collect some volcanic rock to bring home. After lunch we then headed to Edinburgh Castle, a rather impressive structure that as far as I could tell you would be hard pressed to miss if you are pretty much anywhere in the city. You could easily spent a whole day exploring the place and marvelling in the history told in every section. This is also where you go to see the crown jewels of Scotland and although you were unable to photograph them, rest assured they were pretty marvellous and did a good job of reminding the mass of people just how unroyal we all are.

Having been told much of its beauty we decided to take in Loch Lamond just past Glasgow. In truth it was pretty, worth the more than two hour drive - maybe not. It had some lovely walks, the lake was sparkling, and the kids excitedly played on its little playground but honestly it was a lake. We had a picnic lunch and then moved on feeling that the hour or so that we spent there was more than enough time to feel we had seen it. Which I suppose speaks to the fact that I have been spoiled by the lakes of the Okanagan where I called home for so long. 

I have a good friend who told me that he found Glasgow to be a bit dull and grey, and as I have a lot of respect for him I expected to be a bit disappointed by the city. I will say that as you drive into the outskirts of Glasgow there is not very much nice to look at, in fact I laughed that maybe he meant that there were many actual grey buildings, however once we parked and came out into it's down town core I was taken aback by the life of the whole place. I fell in love with the history, architecture, museums, art galleries, and of course it's shopping. As we were unsure what there was to see and do here we opted to take one the guided tour buses that took us all over city and had a live commentary of interesting historical facts and tips of what was worth stopping at. The tour gave us two days of on and off privileges and so we rode all the way around the first day and did a little transit hopping the next. We visited a transportation museum, the botanical gardens and explored the shopping district that is apparently second only to London in all of the UK. The whole time we were there I heard people talk about the things we would do next time we were there and so I although I would never try to change his mind I do hope that my friend might consider giving Glasgow another chance to impress him.

We are tourists, that has to be our excuse, but we madly decided to make the four plus hour drive across Scotland to visit Loch Ness. The kids were anxious to visit this famous landmark and I admit to having a mild curiosity to see the place as well. We parked the car at the Loch Ness exhibition centre that has a hotel, restaurant, several gift shops and a interactive museum all dedicated to the mystery of the monster in the lake. So to truly enjoy the experience, we ate at the cafe, did the two mile hike to get the best view of the lake and overlooking castle, spent money in the gift shop and toured the museum. I in no way came away convinced that the creature exists but did enjoy the hype around the whole thing. Would I make an eight hour drive to spend four hours caught up in the mystery and hype again, as a die hard romantic, absolutely. The lake itself had a very Okanagan feel to it, except for the depth and temperature that is. The Loch holds more water than all of the rest of the UK and Wales combined and apparently could cover the worlds population with water three times. As you can imagine that kind of depth makes the water fairly frigid in the summer and makes it unlikely to ever freeze in the winter, it also makes it quite easy to hide a massive sea creature so one can see how the myth survives.

By the dawn of our last day in Scotland our previous exploring had left its toll on us and we opted to have a much more sedate day. We chose to use some of the day to drive to Dalkieth however as this is where my husbands family came to Canada from. Despite our best efforts we were unable to locate even one tartan type item that actually bore his family name so visiting this place gave us a moment to really feel connected to our ancestry. We found a pretty little park to wander around and speculate if our long passed family had walked the same paths.

True to its reputation we enjoyed plenty of rain while in Scotland and despite it being August the weather seem to think it was April. I know I end these blogs often by saying that I would of course go back and see more and perhaps you think I can't not like a place. Maybe that is true, I do fall in love with pretty much all the places we visit and I have been to very few that I wouldn't happily go back to. Perhaps like the Mumford and Sons, I too am a Hopeless Wanderer doomed to ache to see the next place and the next. I did love Scotland and I would go back but know this, I also am in love "with the sky I'm under". 

      

 

Blenheim Palace and more

This week was wet, really wet. We had rain pretty much everyday and more than once got caught outside in a thunderstorm. In my defense it is cloudy here often and doesn't rain so I haven't completely prepared for the times that clouds turn to rain or in the cases this week thunderstorms. We do now own a couple of umbrellas but they aren't always grabbed when leaving the house as they should be. The point is this week found us indoors more than I would have liked and to fill the time I baked, a lot. Which teaches me something interesting about myself, the winter months here are going to be very hard on my waistline because I am told it rains here all the time. So apparently when I am getting out for exercise less I compensate by filling the house full of home baked goods, yup, no problem.

I also made some chocolate chip cookies, cinnamon scones and I made the buns twice, so really a lot of baking for one week. As I mentioned last week I have planned some activities for the kids and I to do over summer holiday and as last week was treat heavy this week I tried some crafts with them. 

One day we came up with a bored bag, so they listed activities to do alone or as a family, some that cost money and some that require a bit of extra planning, wrote them on Popsicle sticks and put them in a bag. Now whenever they don't have an idea to keep them entertained they reach into the bag and do the activity written there. A couple of the days my daughter was away at camp and my son and I were on our own. One day we played with Lego, setting it up in various situations and I would take a picture and later we put them into powerpoint and then wrote a story to go with the photos. We also did some shirt design and you will see that my son took the job a little more seriously than I did.

We have about an hour away from us in the city of Woodstock a place called Blenheim Palace that right now has a deal on that if you buy a days admission you can upgrade to a year long pass. Last Saturday we went there before we hit Oxford and purchased our passes. As it is a fairly easy distance from us we returned this Saturday to do more exploring.

You can tour the palace itself, picnic on the massive grounds, visit any of its many manicured gardens, spend money in the shops and restaurants, or take a run at a hedge maze. They also host a number of large special events through the year, some seasonal like the ones held at Halloween or Christmas and some that show off the history of the area. The one that drew us there this weekend was an all out, Knight's tale feeling, jousting competition. They had rowdy squires, a loud mouth King, and fully decked knights ready to dazzle us with their medieval skills.  We got to witness sword fights as well as several events done from the back of a horse. It was during this demonstration that I was caught for the second time this week unprepared for what our announcer called a fine English summer. Fortunately the rain didn't last long enough to drive us away from the exhibition or the park so we were able to see the winner crowned and ramble around the grounds.

The grounds offer miles and miles of walking trails that if followed will lead to a rose garden, a lake side stroll, a waterfall, and many other outdoor wonders. You can also catch a little train to an area that they call the pleasure gardens, which seems to mean children's area. This is where you find the hedge maze, butterfly house and adventure playground. The train runs every half hour and is painfully slow. Since it only takes about fifteen minutes to walk from the palace to the pleasure gardens, we decided to make the hike rather than wait the extra time to hop on the train. 

  

As one of the more costly places that we have paid to visit, I am awfully glad that it allows us a year to explore the place as we still haven't set foot in the building or tried any of the cafes. I am also interested in the Halloween entertainment, Dickens Christmas and seeing more of the massive grounds and this would certainly been less attainable without it being free for us to continue to go.

University town

Wednesday the kids finally finished their current school year and were let out for summer, in an attempt to keep them somewhat stimulated throughout this break I came up with a list of things to do with them. I wanted to come up with things that would hopefully entertain them but not be too painful for me to be involved, and as my daughter was given several homework assignments and they are going to learn a little more about the work I do around the house as I am getting a little tired of the 'What DO you do all day' question, not too time consuming. I thought it might be fun to show off the efforts of these activities as they are completed, or at least the ones that go well. Thursday we made microwave chips, and although our first attempt were tasty we agreed some tweaks needed to be made and then next day I applied the changes and the results were very nice.

Returning to a Pinterest recipe for Fridays stimulation, we tried a homemade chocolate sauce recipe. Both the kids were anxious to try this one and to sample the fruits of their labor. Which is why it was tried in milk and on ice cream, both which we enjoyed, luckily as the recipe made more than I would have expected so we will be having that for pudding and nothing else.

Having heard much about its beauty and many offerings too look at and explore I was happy to spend Saturday exploring Oxford. The home of 34 individual universities all within very close proximity, that make up the Oxford university, it is a beautiful city of learning. 

Very compact and heavily populated they encourage you to park outside the city and take a bus into the center of town. This weekend was also graduation ceremony time and the streets were spilling over with accomplished students and proud families attempting to get the perfect photo op and shower congratulations. I admit I wished I was wearing the long gown with fur trimmed collars standing with my scroll in front of the historic building as it was very easy to get caught up in the excitement that was palpable in the air. As so many people opt to not bring their cars into the city Oxford becomes a very walkable place to be. The campus's are not only close together but are also interspersed with shopping and restaurants making it very easy to imagine living the student life there.

It is a city full of libraries, bookstore, beautiful architecture, and galleries and so made you feel somewhat intelligent just by walking around its maze like street systems, as if the walls themselves can teach you. As so many of the buildings have been standing for hundreds of years there is a distinct possibility that these particular structures could in fact teach me more than one thing. Despite the threat of rain that hung over us ominously all day, most green spaces were filled with people soaking up the vibe of the place with artists drawing and singers singing, adding to the development of self this place seems to create. Crowded, noisy, and for me easy to misplace myself but still a place I will encourage my children to someday attend, enjoy and grow from being in.

  

Reflections

Life settles into a routine, it always will, and so it has for me. Every weekday morning I get up have breakfast and start a load of laundry. This is not an exaggeration, if I don't do washing every day I will never get the clothes dried, the kids would be uniformless and the machine would never hold a load, so each morning I put in the clothes before I do almost anything else so that it has the most time possible to dry. Then of course the work it requires to get the kids off to school with homework done and lunches packed. Once this is done I put in as good a workout as my living room allows. Then I shower and get myself ready for the day. Most days will require a walk to the shops for groceries or other supplies one can't live without, but even if nothing is required I still try to get in a stroll through the neighborhood. These are the everyday, routine things that I do, this week I also visited a friends home, went for lunch with a different friend, did a bunch of baking and finally finished the furniture projects I had on the go.

You can see from the picture that my current hobbies fill my living room as I work on them. The table, chairs and entertainment unit have all been refinished and this week the final top coats were applied and I was able to finally put them out of the the way as much as possible. Of course this meant I had to search out and find what my next project should be. I also cut my sons hair, this was a two part job as I didn't have clippers and had never used any before even if I had. I know that many women out there will be rolling their eyes at me right now but after walking over to the store to pick up a set I then had to read all the instructions before I would even be willing to go near his head. Finally Thursday we gave him what we are calling his summer hair which makes it sound like I went that short on purpose instead of the truth which is that I picked to low a number. This weekend my daughter had a big fancy dance over in Wales, her first since being in the country, and this required a new dress, a manicure, pedicure and the day of a elaborate up do and make up application. The point I suppose is that I keep myself pretty busy, perhaps even busier in some ways than I did in Canada. I am making friends, something I don't do great at, developing new hobbies, trying new recipes, getting outside, planning trips and visiting new places. It is odd then that I can still have so many moments of feeling lost and out of place. Interestingly I still have times when I succumb to boredom and find myself wondering what I should do with myself.  As I asked myself the question this week 'why', I discovered the truth about me, I am a leaner. I realized that I had always counted on my family and friends to simply be there when I needed them, if there was a time that I found myself at a loss I would dial one of them up or pop out for a visit. Now with all of them so far away instead I stare at the clock and calculate how long before it is an appropriate time to face time. I am glad to be in this beautiful country and am loving the opportunities that it affords me but I wanted to let those back home know that without you, I will always be a little lost.

Today was another remarkable sunny day so after church we packed a picnic for tea and headed to another of Swindon's parks. As I know some of you count on photos and travel tips I thought I should include these.

The park has a fairly good sized lake, that I am told that people used to swim in but opt not to these days, with a walking trail that skirts all around. In the park there is also an eighteen hole golf course for those into that kind of thing and for those at my golf skill level a mini golf course as well. There are plenty of grassy spots to lay out and work on your tan and lots of shade to lay out blankets and enjoy a meal in the outdoors. When the heat get too much or after working up your appetite circling the lake there is also and ice cream vendor that was doing roaring business today. Kids can also play on the playground or in the sand pit  so really there is something for everyone and it is easy to see why so many people head out there on a sunny Sunday afternoon, much to the chagrin of some seeking more private interludes, like for example the couple enjoying each other a little too much on the next blanket over from us. After some significant coughing and loud talking they did seem to get the hint and we were all able to go back to enjoying nature as was intended. 

Lydiard Park

We decided that this weekend we would stick closer to home and explore our own city and everyone said that we should check out Lydiard Park, so being obedient off we went. It was another beautiful weekend here and so a picnic lunch seemed in order and an afternoon walking the expansive park was the perfect way to spend our Saturday. The park is actually the grounds of a house owned now by the borough of Swindon but up until 1940 was owned by the same family that built it in the 1400's. Now converted into a bit of a tourist spot with a couple of cafes and ice cream shops, a large playground, a lake, miles of walking trails and even more green space to lay out on and enjoy an alfresco meal. We were not allowed to photograph inside the house which you can tour, but an amazingly passionate employee showered us with additional information about the property and the homeowners. I think at one point she was worried she was bothering us but I found her information interesting and even the kids would stop what they were saying to listen and learn from her.

One of the women who was mistress of the house was an avid gardener, and so before her marriage broke up when she left with her lover, a beautiful walled garden was constructed for her enjoyment. As I walked through and marveled at the beauty I couldn't help feel a little bad for those women in their long heavy gowns that would have taken a turn in the almost shade free paths. In fact I felt pretty bad for the gardeners who were working the grounds in the 30 degree sun we were enjoying.

Also on the grounds and built for the use of the original homeowners and their future generations was a chapel. The old structure has a sign posted right inside the gate informing you of all the worship times that are available to attend but as you walk around it, it is very difficult to imagine sitting all that comfortably through a service in the somewhat decrepit building. 

Of course the kids were anxious to see the large playground and were pretty insistant that after some ice cream that should be our next stop in the park. Sadly not very long into their exploration of the equipment offered they settled on the swing set while it was available and my son fell in a most spectacular way that is really very hard to explain directly onto his head into the wood chips below his swing.  Despite an impressive bump on the back of skull he was fine but it did do a masterful job of ending time on the actual playground as we left in search of ice. However despite this first introduction they are both determined to go back and try all the apparatus available, presumably without the head drop.

We still managed to walk some of the trails once the tears had dried and found a lovely shaded spot right by the lake to enjoy the remainder of the waning afternoon and devour our packed dinner before we headed home for the evening. We all had something we still wanted to explore and as the park is really only about 15 minutes from us I assume that we will be back for more picnics here. The also host many theater in the park options that we may draw us back as well.

Today we were invited to spend the afternoon visiting some friends who live about 30 minutes down the road in a village in the Cotswolds. I felt disappointed that I forgot to grab my camera as they walked us around the charming village. Small, intimate and full of the beautiful white brick houses that I have come to truly love, I found the place completely endearing and well worth the drive.

Off to the Beach

Okay I admit, I find planning activities here very stressful. Every week I face the decision of what we should do or where we should go, and every week I feel totally overwhelmed. The problem is that there are so many things to see here and so many places that I am dying to visit that picking one means not picking potentially something better. I know that I have many weekends and will undoubtedly will get to see everything that I want to but as it is still all very new it can sometimes be a little daunting. But this time it was all clear, the sun was shining, not a cloud to be seen and the forecast was as optimist as the view from my window, we needed to get to a beach. We asked around and looked online and discovered a place called Bournemouth, and from everything we learned this was the beach for us. So Saturday morning bright and early we got up and headed off in hopes that we could beat the rush and find our own patch of sand to claim as our own.

If you get a chance you really should check out the Bournemouth tourist page, it will show you pictures of the beach and city, inform you about surf lessons and give you a rather amusing comparison of Bournemouth and California. Having visited both places I can see why they feel they can compare the two places, both have long sandy shorelines, both have green cliffs that can line the beach side, both are full of surfers and paddle boarders, both are beautiful. I can't say knowing that Bournemouth is only two hours away doesn't make me long for the beaches of California less but it is a pretty good place to spend some time and I will certainly go back.

The stretch of beach goes on for seven miles, I am told and as far as I can tell there was not one section not at least somewhat populated but anything around the piers was densely so. Around the two piers is where the restaurants are located, where you would find someone to teach you to surf, and any shopping to be found by the beach is also found here, which is of course the reason for the crowds. As the two piers are quite a distance from each other they provide a little train to take you between the two, for a fee of course but having walked between them I can see the appeal of using the moving transportation.

Also running along the cliffs and nestled neatly facing the coastline are these tiny cottages that you can rent, inside they have a camp stove and chairs and some small amenities that make a day at the beach enjoyable. They also offer something that the rest of the seven miles of coast doesn't, shade, so again you could see the appeal of shelling out the cash to secure one for yourself.

We spent a glorious day basking in the sunlight, splashing in the frigid water, well the kids did as it was far too cold for me, and walking the coast and planning our next visit. We got burnt and tired and came home full of all our adventures.