Rudders at Home

So, Paul and I went to the Borders for an Easter break this year. We weren’t counting on good weather at all, being April in Scotland, so we were pleasantly surprised when we had full on sunshine for the weekend.

We had two options at our disposal, take full advantage of being in Scotland and find a good pub, or take advantage of being in Scotland and do some outdoor activity. So, we decided to go on the Three Brethren Walk, a walk up a big hill with three cairns at the top. And boy was it something.

Here’s the view down the first hill in the walk that we went up. This was a wooded area and there was a stream running along side this road. Once at the top of the hill, the scenery changed slightly.

The hill leveled off and there was a nice bit of flat space to walk down, with a nice stone wall along side it. The landscape opened up here as well, and the ground gradually sloped upwards.

And another scenic picture of the heather and the inclined walk. Not to mention the sheep. There were sheep all over the place, and I can’t tell you how many pictures of sheep I have. But there were lambs everywhere as well, so I think the excessive photo taking was justified. The landscape here just continued in a similar way, with more and more heather (the dark bit on the hill in the distance). And the path became increasingly rougher and steeper.

And after the last arduous bit of the walk, we were greeted by the three brethren (cairns) at the top of the hill and a glorious blue sky. Once up there, we took a break and had a look around and enjoyed the view.

And what a view it was, too. Overall, it took us about 3 – 4 hours (we didn’t time it precisely!) and the walk was around 9 miles long. What a great walk, apart from the wet foot. But that’s a story for another day.

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Welcome British Summer Time! We change our clocks today, moving ahead an hour. I don’t mind losing a bit of time, so long as I get to see more sights like the one below.

And the weather here does seem to be breaking.  It’s definitely not summer time, but it is certainly starting to be more like spring here. The sun is shining a bit more, and the entire mood is starting feel lighter. I’m loving it. 🙂

Next the bluebells will be out in full force.

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But here’s where I fill you all in on where we went for Paul’s birthday!

Brighton! You would think that in the years we’ve been here in London, we would have spent some time in Brighton by now. But no, we’d only been once before, and that was just a quick drop by on our way someplace else. So, we thought that since we wanted to go somewhere, and conserve holiday time, that Brighton seemed like an ideal spot. And overall it proved to be a wonderful place to spend a weekend.

We left work on Friday night, caught the train and arrived around 8:00 or so. It was pretty dark and frigid cold when we got there. We had no idea what to expect the next morning. We were pleasantly surprised when we opened the blinds to this:

Yep, this is the West Pier that burned down a few years ago. If we looked left, we saw the pier in the picture above. All in all, not a bad view.

We started the day with a brisk walk down to the lively Brighton Pier, and spent about 20p playing the penny drop slots. The majority of the rides at the end of the pier were closed due to high winds, (I wasn’t too crazy about the look of them, either) so we turned around and headed back in to town. We then spent the rest of the day wandering around the city, doing some shopping in the Lanes, where we bought a clock for our living room, and then finished the evening off in a pretty nice pub. Not a bad way to spend the day.

Of course, it was all made the better because it started off with Paul’s breakfast in bed…

Doesn’t he look happy?

Not as happy as he was when his robots showed up in the mail!! Sadly, there is no photographic evidence of that. Anyway, I think it was a pretty successful birthday for him this year!

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I’ve been busy recently. Very busy. Work has me in early and home late, so I haven’t had much time to sit down at home, let alone post to the site. However, just last weekend, I did take much appreciated afternoon off to celebrate my birthday.

It started when Paul brought home my birthday cake:

Absolutely yummy. Paul brought this home for me from Patisserie Valerie last Friday. Granted, that was October 31, but we were on our way out the door for my annual birthday trip. This year it was a bit low key, completely different from the year before. But that’s ok, because I had a fabulous time, and I finally got to celebrate Bonfire Night in the UK.

My birthday falls on November 5, which  in America is most often just a normal day, unless it happens to fall on an election day. Which it doesn’t this year. Close, but not quite. In the UK, November 5 is Bonfire Night. Bonfire Night – what is that, you ask? Well, it’s a holiday the UK has to celebrate the foiled plot of Guy Fawkes’ attempt to blow up the Houses of Parliament.

The weekend before my birthday, Paul took me up to Derbyshire for my annual trip. We went there specifically to tour the house Chatsworth and go to their Bonfire Night celebrations. Not to mention enjoy the beautiful countryside up there.

Chatsworth celebrated Bonfire Night in style. Not only did we get to see this massive fire, but they also put on an impressive display of fireworks.

It was a great night. Not too cold, and only minimal rain. The event started at 6:30, and they had food vans selling pasties and sausage sandwiches, along with beer, tea and coffee. It was a bit of a carnival, with people on stilts all dressed up and then they also had performers who were juggling fire batons and all sorts.

It was a quick weekend, with the Saturday spent touring the house and exploring the gardens. I was having a terrible afternoon with the camera, though, and didn’t manage to get many pictures, which is a bit disappointing. It was a nice break and one I’ll definitely remember for a while.

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Following on from my introduction to my kilt project, I thought I would highlight the first purchase in this project, the sgian dubh. So, have a look below at Paul’s sgian dubh.

The purchase of this sgian dubh (pronounce it like “skeen doo”) was my introduction into kilt wear. I bought it as a wedding gift to Paul, with advice from my mother-in-law. I didn’t know anything about what I was doing at the time, so I picked what I thought looked good.

This particular sgian dubh wasn’t outrageously expensive but it is a serious knife. It’s got quite a sharp edge and the whole knife is about 6 or 7 inches long. Sources say that the word “sgian” means knife or dagger, and that the word “dubh” means black, which generally refers to the color of the handle, even though you can get sgian dubhs which are made from wood or horn. It’s worn tucked into the top of the kilt hose, normally on the right leg. The purpose for wearing it is only ceremonial and for decoration mainly. In the UK you aren’t allowed to carry weapons of any sort, but an exception is made for when traditional Scottish dress is being worn.

These knives can be quite elaborate, and I think this one falls on the modest side. You can see the Scottish thistle on the handle, with a piece of topaz glass inlaid at the top, and Gaelic design in silver on the scabbard. Considering the scabbard is hidden withing the hose, I think it’s really the handle that you want to concentrate on for design and embellishments.

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