Rudders at Home

Last weekend, Paul and I took a much needed weekend break. We went to Fort Worth, a place well worth visiting.

Now, I had been to Fort Worth once before, on a trip to Dallas nearly 10 years ago. I don’t remember much about it, apart from Billy Bob’s Texas, and meeting a nice young man from Nebraska. He tried to show me how to two-step, and I repaid him by telling him I knew absolutely nothing about Nebraska, except maybe, don’t they grow a lot of corn there? Is that why they call you cornhuskers? Years later, I realize I probably wasn’t my most charming, but it was a memorable experience, and he laughed, so I think all was forgiven.

Back then, I ddn’t really realize there was more to Fort Worth than the Stockyards, which is where we spent our Saturday. We spent the day in the Stockyards, allowing the Scot to gawk all he wanted at the old west feel of that part of town. And there was plenty to look at, because they were having their 10th Annual Frontier Forts Days, which was really interesting. They had loads of people in period costume, doing re-enactments and teaching people about frontier living. It was nice to see, and more of what a person would expect from Texas. I was happy to see it.

We also spent some time in downtown, which had a great feel all of its own and was very walkable. They had some really nice shopping and restaurants. On top of that, the Sundance Square area had a fab night life. It was a nice break from the huge sprawl of Houston and it would have been nice to have been able to stay longer. But we had to return, and now this weekend, we appear to be fighting centipedes. Yuck. They’re all over our balcony, and I’m really wishing I were back in the UK where all we had to contend with were huge but harmless spiders.

We didn’t visit Billy Bob’s on this trip, but I think that was more because Paul was afraid I’d get swept away by some handsome cowboy, rather than his fear that I might make him dance! I think we’ll definitely check it out next time, especially since I got myself a nice cowgirl hat for the occasion!

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So, I’m in Texas. And what do I think is a good hobby to pick back up now that I’m back? Knitting. Yep, that’s right. Knitting. Honestly, I had picked it back up before I moved over, but with the time I’ve had off here, I’ve been able to have a bit more fun with it. And I have certainly been having fun.

Just recently, I finished my first fancy pair of socks. By fancy, I mean something that has a pattern on it. Up until this pair I’ve only been knitting plain vanilla socks, but trying different techniques. This time I tried my hand at something a little fancier, and they turned out pretty nice. I’m very pleased with them! I bought the yarn at a local yarn shop, which I was very happy to find. They just didn’t have that sort of thing near my home when I was in England, so it’s a pleasure to go to a store and actually handle yarn, and have the possibly of taking a class, which is also on my list. I”m mostly self taught, so there’s a lot for me to learn yet. On my next pair of socks I’m going to try cables. I’ve never done those before, so it should be a good learning experience.

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In case you haven’t been following the moblog, here’s some shocking news for you: Paul and I have moved to the US. Texas, to be precise. Yes, we’ve done it. I’ve become a repat, and Paul is now the resident expat.

Now, after a fairly long hiatus, I have decided to return to blogging. I dropped it when the move became too much, and after that I just felt I didn’t have much to blog about – even when one of my biggest life changes was happening.  I  photographed it all and added what I wanted to the moblog. I didn’t really feel I needed to add the text to it. Or in fact, share all the photographs. You would think a move home would be the best thing in the world, what with how much I missed it, but it hasn’t always  turned out  like that. 

It’s taken me a long time to make peace with the move and everything that’s gone along with it, but here I am, so I guess I better start making the most of it. Texas is almost as much a foreign land to this Pennsylvania girl as it is to the Scot I married, and we’re hoping to explore as much of this great land as we possibly can.

So, welcome back, baby! It’s good to be home!

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We’ve recently added quite a bit to our kilt collection here.  The project has moved on since the last time I posted about it., and hopefully I will catch you all up on it soon. Today, though, I’m highlighting Paul’s belt buckle.

Belt buckles for kilts have all sorts of designs on them, from celtic knots to Scottish saltires, to the rampant lion or a clan crest. We picked a nice Scottish thistle design for Paul’s belt buckle.  I really like the thistles on it and think compared to a lot of the design’s I’ve seen, it’s quite unique. You can’t see it here, but the belt also has a Scottish thistle design, and Paul’s sgian dubh also has the shape of a thistle on the hilt.

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Along with the foxes, there seem to be pheasants everywhere in this country. When Paul and I first got our car and drove around every weekend like it was going out of style, it was nice to see the birds everywhere, but also sad to see how many ended up as roadkill. Seriously, they were everywhere. Ever since, I’ve been trying to get a nice shot of one – with my camera, guys, the camera! – but haven’t had any luck. With as prolific as they are you would think this would be an easy task, but they’ve eluded me so far.  I think I’m just a bit too obvious about how I go about it. I never could walk quietly in the woods!

Well, I finally got a shot at one – with the camera!!

And here’s my pheasant:

I was finally able to get a lovely picture while I was visiting friends near Leeds. We made a trip to Harewood House while we were there, and that’s where we found this old boy just hanging out along a path.

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