Rudders at Home

As stated, I want to live here. Doesn’t that look like a nice, peaceful place to be? I wonder if we could get a good deal on it.

Probably not. But I suppose that’s ok – I don’t think I’d like to see this place in winter. Plus there would probably be some sheep thrown in with the bargain and I don’t think I’d like the responsibility of looking after the furry things.

This is a photo I took in Glen Coe last year when my parents were over visiting. We spent a good amount of their holiday enjoying the lovely sites that Scotland offers up, and both my dad and I were camera crazy.

This specifically is one of the Three Sisters in the range there. I don’t know the technicalities of it all. I just like how that tiny house makes the background look so striking and massive.

More pictures from our holiday North (notice the capital “N”) can be here, in the Gallery.

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Last night, I attended my very first ceilidh. It’s pronounced “kay-lee” and it’s a type of Scottish folk dancing. Basically, it’s square dancing, Scottish style.

I’ve been trying to convince Paul for ages that this is something we wanted to do. He didn’t seem to be too keen on the idea. However, when I got two of my girlfriends to come along and booked tickets, he didn’t have any excuse not to go.

We had such a good night. Basically, you show up, have a drink and then the dancing started at 8. There was a band with a caller, and while they don’t call the whole song, they do walk you through the first steps. So, it was really very beginner friendly.

It was very similar to the square dancing I did during one summer when I was younger. The steps were a bit more complicated, and there was a lot more spinning involved, but I think that just made it even better! There were a number of different kinds of dances. Some took 4 couples, some took more depending, and there were also couples dances and one where Paul danced with one lady on each arm! Isn’t he the charmed one?

My favorite dance was definitely the one where I ended up flying! Two couples go to the middle of the square and the ladies put the arms over the men’s shoulders and then you go flying off into a spin! If I could remember the name of it, I’d post a link. Unfortunately though, I was too caught up in the moment to remember the names of any dances.

I don’t know what I expected, but it was so much fun. I am a bit disappointed there wasn’t any dancing like this going on, though! The Ceilidh Club organizes these things, and it was a pretty nice setup. It was a group of really friendly people, folks who just wanted to dance and have a good time. Paul’s already to agreed to go again, and I can’t wait!

I just wish I had remembered my camera.

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I absolutely LOVE this Scottish advert!

Maybe this is what it will be like at the ceilidh next Friday!

Edit: Because we don’t get them in the States, you can find out all about wine gums here.

httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ho7gIb91Jc0

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Two weeks ago, Paul and I went for a drive in Kent, the Garden of England. Beautiful countryside, busy as all get out, which is what everywhere in the south of England seems to be. Or, rather everyplace Paul and I tend to go, is where everyone wants to be. The intention was for me to get some practice driving in an enjoyable environment, and also to get some country air. I didn’t and we did. As an aside, I am driving more and more here now – but that’s another story, and perhaps we’ll talk about that later.

So inspired by our drive – and because we’re being cheap at the moment – got to find funds for a caribou hunt someplace! – we decided to go for a walk in the country last weekend. For a walk in the country – I sound like Londoner when I say that. At home, and so many other places, you just walk out the door. Here, you drive for an hour to get to the country, and then you’re still not far from everyone.

So we took a six mile wander around Kent on public footpaths. It was the first time in a while I’ve been surrounded by countryside. It was gorgeous. We were lucky as well. On our drive the weekend before, I noticed the bluebells had been out for a while. Happily, I caught some of these beautiful flowers with my camera. I got my macro lens out and had a bit of fun with that. The bluebells don’t have much longer to go before they’ll fade. They’re such pretty seas of blue in the woods here in Kent, they easily make spring my favorite season in the UK.
The countryside in Kent is beautiful, and quite walkable as well. It’s so easy and accessible for us as well. I hope this is the beginning of a wonderful summer. We have plans to get a tent and hopefully do some more exploring of the English and French countryside – rustic style!

Just keep your dog on a leash and don’t let it worry the sheep!

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I’m still catching up on things, it seems. I’ve been meaning to post about this for ages, but just haven’t. I don’t have an excuse, I admit it.

But here we are at Easter weekend – what did we do? Not much, it was Easter. But, we did take some time to visit the lovely city of Bath. It was also insanely busy. We seemed to have arrived in the middle of a rugby game – which was unlucky, as Paul would say.

This meant we didn’t get to spend a lot of time there in Bath. Most of our time was spent finding a parking space. Seriously, it was crazy busy. By the time we were parked, and out of the car, we really felt like getting back in heading home. Especially as the weather was a bit crap and there were so many people milling about.

However, once we made our way up to the abbey, the weather broke and the blue sky came out. Still cold, but at least we had sunshine. I was able to get a beautiful shot of the abbey, with this brilliant blue background. If you look at the picture you can see the angels going up and down the ladders, to and from heaven. We didn’t go in to the abbey, or even the Roman baths. I’d been before, on my first trip to the UK, and Paul wasn’t as keen as I was to see scenes from Jane Austen.

And that was my real reason to visit Bath again – to see bits I hadn’t seen before… things I’ve seen in movies and had read about in books that I wanted to see in real life and to dream a little bit. So, we had a bit of a wander and followed some other tourists around. We took a few funny pictures of ourselves, and then went to the Sally Lunn bun place, which was highly overrated with very bad service. Although, how can you resist a cream tea, I don’t know.

I really liked Bath the first time I visited, and I’m sure we’ll go back. I think when we do, we may spend an evening and explore a little more. Our trip this time wasn’t very well thought out, or timed right at all. A bit of a spur of the moment decision which turned out to be a very nice day.

Our way back home was maybe just as interesting as our day. One thing I didn’t get a picture of, and really wish I had, was we drove through a town called Pennsylvania!! I was completely flabbergasted! There was even a B&B there – maybe we’ll go spend a night in Pennsylvania some time!

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