On the Road with My Pink Jesus

Three Countries, One Day

2007-08-28T09:50:00.001-07:00

Once again, we woke up really early so we could get an early start. But this time, we really did leave close to on time. We needed to be in Egglescliffe England by mid morning, so that one of the "cousins" could take us to Teeside airport for our flight to Dublin.

We made it to Egglescliffe in one piece, and had a quick lunch before Margaret took us to the airport. When we got about half way there, Peter realized that he didn't have a few things that we might need in Dublin - our hotel reservation info being one of the items. Margaret graciously offered to drop us at the airport, then go back to the farm, get the items and return before we needed to board the plane. Since it was only a 15 minute drive (tops) to the airport, we agreed.

Well, we waited and waited, no sign of Margaret. I had gotten a little nervous because Ryan Air has a very stricy policy about checking in and boarding - and they do not do seat assignments (sort of the SouthWest airlines of the UK). We decided to go through security, and I prayed that Peter wouldn't have the same problems that he had in LA and London (he'll have to tell you about the small holding cell he was placed in at LAX). We got through and waited for our flight. Peter went to get some candy and while he was gone, a voice over the loudspeaker asked that Mr. Wong please go to the security area. I asked Peter if he thought they had maybe meant him. He didn't think so, but, what the heck, he would check it out. Apparently, my husband has been operating under and assumed name, because he was, in fact, the Mr. Wong they were looking for. : ) Margaret had brought what we needed and gotten the security guard to page us so we could collect it.

We got on the plane, and arrived in Dublin. After deciding which type of bus pass to purchase, we hopped onto the bus that would take us to the city. We found our hotel fairly easily, and were really pleased with its location near Temple Bar. (More about Temple Bar later).

We hopped onto a sight-seeing bus that we figured would bring us back to the area in about an hour and a half. Unfortunately, this was the last run for that particular bus. The driver made one of her last stops and said something along the lines of, if you are going to want to ride a bus back to other stops on the route, get off now and I will tell you where to catch the last bus. You will need to hurry. We got directions to where we needed to go, ran like bats out of H-E-Double Hockey Sticks, and still didn't make the bus.

We walked back towards the Temple Bar area and looked for a place to grab some dinner. In our guide, we found a restaurant called, "The Bad Ass Cafe." Just the name alone was interesting. Then, we read that at one point, Sinead O'Connor had been a waitress there. (Sinead O'Connor being the singer who ripped up a picture of the Pope on Saturday Night Live, thus ending her career. She is not to be confused with Sandra Day O'Connor - former Supreme Court Justice.) We decided to eat there anyway.

The menu gave us a little bit of sticker shock. The burger and pizza that we wanted to order were going to cost us $18.00 and $21.00. Don't get me wrong, but a $21.00 individual pizza isn't much better than a $10.00 individual pizza. Still, the atmosphere was fun.

The Temple Bar area is filled with restaurants, pubs and clubs. There are often street musicians, and it draws the young adult crowd. Very hip place to be. We walked around for awhile, and I got a dessert crepe from one of the creperies. YUM!

All in all, a long day, but a good one. We couldn't wait to see what Dublin had to offer.

Feeling the Fringe

2007-08-28T08:55:00.000-07:00

Monday morning, we woke up and had breakfast at our B & B in Pitlochry. Then, we headed to the home of Elizabeth Philp in Edinburgh.

Elizabeth is the cousin of the husband of Margaret, who is Peter's First Cousin Twice Removed. (I hadn't been able to figure out what she exactly was, until I went to a genealogy chart). Anyway, Simon (Peter's Second Cousin Once Removed) had asked Elizabeth if she would let us stay with here for one night. She generously agreed. Elizabeth is a very nice woman, very candid about her life, and very helpful in telling us how to get around.

We followed her instructions for the bus, and soon found ourselves on the Royal Mile. The Fringe festival was in high gear.

The month of August is filled with festivals in Edinburgh. There is a spirituality festival, a film festival, music, theatre, the arts, etc. The Fringe is the festival of performance art, stand up comedy, and everything that doesn't seem to fit into the other categories. Peter and I had tickets to see, "Potted Potter - The Unauthorised Harry Experience." (http://www.pottedpotter.com/) In this show, the two actors tell books 1 through 6 of the Harry Potter series, in just 60 minutes. They include a live, audience participation Quidditch game. Peter and I made our way to the theatre where Potted Potter would be taking place. One cool thing about this theatre, is that is was made up of a number of stages and theatres. The inside of the place was crazy. See for yourself...

Peter got each of us a pint, and we went into the Theatre. The show was so entertaining, I could have seen it again and again. But, the show was completely sold out. Peter and I were pretty hungry by now, so we had lunch in this pub...

Then, we made our way to John Knox house. This was the home of John Knox before he died. In one of the rooms, there was a cloak and hat to put on, so you could dress up like John Knox and pretend to write with a quill. Well, I couldn't resist the opportunity, and Pink Jesus even got in on the action. I kept waiting for him to tell me something to write on the scroll, but he thought I looked ridiculous in the hat and wouldn't give me a quote.

Peter decided to go get some cash from an ATM. But, WAMU was giving us a little trouble. He decided to wait for a pay phone in order to call them and settle this issue once and for all. But, as he standed there, some guys tried to pick a fight with him. I wasn't there, so I can't give too many more details. But, Peter said that he had wanted to give me the camera bag and then just let them have it. (Good thing I wasn't there to take it, because, although it would have made a GREAT story for the blog, I would want to have to bail Peter out of jail for street fighting.)

After that, we went to the Museum of Toys. Now, you would think a museum with a title like that would be a cool, interactive, colorful place to visit...

You would be wrong.

Dark, dreary, smelled like an old second hand store, and was BORING. Peter and I didn't last in there for very long. Then, we separated for a little while to do some shopping on our own. I wanted to get Peter and little anniversary present, as well as pick something up for a couple of friends. Peter also had some shopping for friends to do. We agreed to meet at the floral clock in about two hours.

I had some quick leg work to do, if I was going to make the shop at St. John's church by the time it closed. St. John's, I may have mentioned, has this incredible bookshop, and I was able to quickly make my selections before they closed. But, I could have spent an hour in there. I traveled to a couple of other shops before meeting Peter at the clock. When we met up, Peter showed me some of the pictures he had taken of the some of the performers on the Royal Mile. Here is one...

Peter's bags were really heavy, from buying some Whisky. We decided to be horrible tourists and eat dinner at TGIF's. To be honest, buffalo wings just sounded so good to me! After dinner, we poked in a couple more shops, then hopped on the bus back to Elizabeth's.

At her house, we sat up and talked with her for quite some time. Then, it was time to hit the hay, and get ready for a very long day tomorrow.

Princess Cruises continue to mess up our Day

2007-08-22T10:25:00.000-07:00

After that disappointing experience at Cawdor, we decided go visit a place that was sure to deliver. There would be no disappointments seeing exactly what we wanted to see - a visit to Loch Ness to get our picture taken with the monster. (What do you mean there is no such thing?!?!?!)

We drove around the west side of the Loch, and arrived at Urquhart Castle. It was beautiful - an old, ruined castle, on the loch, lots of personality - our favorite castle of all. Here are a few photos the castle and the loch. A couple need color correction, but you get the idea.

The Morning in which Janelle and Peter prove they are totally deprave.

2007-08-21T13:29:00.001-07:00

We got up Sunday morning and didn't go to church. I know that makes me a complete and utter sinner. In fact, I even hid Pink Jesus in the bottom of my bag so that I couldn't hear him chastise me for not finding some small church to attend.

Instead, we got up and played with the children while Edward and Lorna got ready to leave for the agricultural show. The children were really cute. India pulled out an empty water pistol, that she had received at a birthday party the day before, and proceeded to give Peter multiple imaginary gun shot wounds. Then, she decided that Peter needed to wear one of the bows that had been tied to their presents.

Honor, the middle child, was feeling sick to her stomach, but she eventually came around when I offered to read them "Alexander and the Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Day" (a personal favorite). Guy, who is only about a year old, just sat around and looked at his two older sisters - I think he knows already that he is going to be screwed out of bathroom time.

We got ready to go, repacked the Vauxhall, and headed off to Cawdor Castle - not knowing the terror that lurked there, waiting for us.........

buses of people from a Princess Cruise were at the castle when we arrived. Most of them were in line for the loo. I guess they don't have toilets on the boats. I meant to ask Pink Jesus about this, but then I remembered that I had put him in the bottom of my bag, and I feared that if I asked his advice at that moment, he would probably really let me have it.

Once we actually got to the castle, most of the cruisers were gone. I have to say that the castle was a bit of a disappointment. It claims to be one of the most romantic castles in Scotland, but I found it to be a boring trip through the house of a self-indulgent woman who is trying to make a few quid. Very little mention was made of the reason I wanted to go there - the tie to MacBeth.

For you who have not read MacBeth for a long time (why not?) or those who have never read it (how could you?), here is a very little synopsis...

MacBeth, the Thane of Glamis, has just proved himself heroic in battle and is returning home. The King decides to reward MacBeth by also giving him the title "Thane of Cawdor." MacBeth, however, doesn't know this when he runs across three witches who like to pick their thumbs and speak in rhyme, mixed with iambic pentameter. The witches tell MacBeth that he is Thane of Cawdor, and that he will be King. They tell his friend, Banquo, that he will be lesser than MacBeth but greater, and that his children will be King.

MacBeth becomes Thane of Cawdor. His wife encourages him to kill the King so that MacBeth can become King. The whole thing falls apart, Lady MacBeth goes crazy and sees bloody spots everywhere. MacBeth becomes King, the King's son MacDuff kills him...etc. It's a classic, full of witches, creepy heads prophesying out of cauldrons, gruff men in kilts, daggers floating through air and moving trees. Great story, great drama, my favorite Shakespeare play - and CAWDOR CASTLE TOTALLY DROPPED THE BALL.

Arrrgggh. We should have gone to Glamis. I suppose that is what I get for not attending worship on Sunday morning. I don't want to say I heard Pink Jesus snickering, but he did have a knowing smile on his face when I finally removed him from the bag.

double fisted meringues, blether with the Burtons and a drive through the Scottish outback

2007-08-20T14:24:00.001-07:00

Saturday, August 4 - we awoke in the very cool, very slick, very nice Lang's hotel.

The shower at this hotel really was incredible. It had the usual showerhead from on high, but it also had jets mounted on the wall. I thought that would be really neat - a warm shower. I turned on the overhead shower, and it worked well, just the right temperature, just the right amount of water pressure. Then, I turned on the wall jets. BIG MISTAKE. The hot water coming from on high gets quite a bit colder, and the water from the jets comes out even hotter than it did from the overhead nozzle. I thought I was going to have eight circles of three degree burns on my back and back side.

We decided to have our free full Scottish breakfast. This consists of eggs, bacon (but not streaky bacon like we get in the states, these were wide, thinner strips of bacon), sausage, tattie scones, toast, cooked tomatoes, cooked mushrooms, haggis and black pudding. Peter and I both tried the haggis, which was sort of grainy and oatmealy - a little dry. You never would have known, however, that it was oatmeal, sheep innards, and spices cooked in a sheep stomach. I couldn't bring myself to try the black pudding, as I knew that it was blood cooked with a filler until it was congealed enough to be put into sausage form. Peter tried it though, and said that it tasted like burnt spinach. I am sure that we were getting the mass market version of both haggis and black pudding (also called blood sausage) so our opinion of the stuff isn't really fair. I really thought the haggis was ok, but who knows what I would think about the real thing.

After breakfast, we walked over to the Willow's Tea Room for take two of seeing this beautiful tea shop designed by Charles Rennie MacIntosh. We got in, and had tea. I ordered a sweet, meringues with whipped cream. The meringues were HUGE - like the size of two fists. Here is a picture:

Peter had caramel shortbread, one of our new favorite sweeties. After tea, it was time to leave Glasgow. We drove back to Perth and had a really fun afternoon with Eilidh, Jill, Sara and Scott. We talked about the experiences we had on the exchanges - what we thought about each other's congregations - the state of the church in both places - and, in general, chewed the fat. It was a lot of fun. Pink Jesus even decided to poke his head out for a little public appearance. Here are some photos of us hanging out with Jesus. Scott and Jill look great, even though they got almost no sleep the night before when they had returned from the U.S.

After our visit, Peter and I headed up north to Inverurie - where his cousin Edward lives with his wife Lorna and their three children - India, Honor, and Guy. We got a little lost getting to the house, and the fact that they live on a farm didn't help. Once we figured out which street we should be on - it didn't get much easier. This is mostly because the street they live on isn't a street. It is a bumpy, dirt road that is only slightly wider than the most recent car to drive on it. The grass grows up taller than the top of the car, except for the places where it is cut back for "driveways" and field entrances. And, did I mention that at this point, it was dark out? It took us about 30 extra minutes, 5 phone calls and Edward standing in the middle of the road in front of his driveway, in order to find it.

Once we got there, Edward and Lorna were very nice, and we immediately felt welcome and at home, even though Peter had not seen Edward for over 20 years. Lorna's parents were there as well, because she and Edward had to work at an agricultural show on Sunday and Monday, and the grandparents were to babysit the wee ones.

We had an excellent dinner and got to peek in on the little ones as they slept. Then, it was off to bed.

Friday, August 3

2007-08-20T06:02:00.000-07:00

Peter has already titled this day, "Janelle and Peter find out that when we plan 3 things, we really only have time for 1. Intro to Glasgow...," since he took my blog hostage in Dublin.

So, here is how the day went...

Our plan had been to leave the house at 6, arrive in Carmichael at 8:15, leave Carmichael at 9:30, and arrive in Glasgow about 11:00. Unfortunately, packing, cleaning, and laundry took a lot longer than we anticipated, and we didn't leave the manse until about 8 am.

We got to Carmichael, and went directly to the ruins of the old house. Below are two pictures of the ruins. We walked around and in the old house, went up stairs, well, as far as we could without risking bodily harm, and left about 90 minutes or so after we got there.

Then, it was off to Glasgow. When we arrived, we got a wee but lost, but quickly found where we needed to be. Then, we found parking right behind the hotel. As we got into the lift to take us down to the ground level the noxious smell of urine greeted our noses. At this point, my first take of Glasgow was that it was dirty and smelly.

We got to our hotel, Lang's. It was really a nice, modern hotel. Our room was beautiful, except for the paint peeling on the ceiling of the bathroom. We found out that the parking structure behind the hotel was actually NOT for the hotel, and we needed to move our car to the mall parking lot down the street for a better deal on the parking rate. (Why do hotels make you pay to park at them?)

After checking out our room, we decided to head over to St. Mungo's Museum of Religious Life. It was a really neat place that presented artwork and religious items from many different religions - Christianity, Judaism, Islam, B'hai, Buddhism, Hindu, etc. In one section of the museum the displays were titled things like, "Death", "Birth", "Sex and Marriage" and then each displayed had quotes and pictures and objects that corresponded to what each religion believed on each subject. It was very interesting to see an object that looked strange, in my experience, and realize that the Christian objects would look just as strange to someone of a different faith.

After the museum, Peter and I tried to go to the Willows Tea Room. This is a tearoom that was designed by the architect Charles Rennie MacIntosh. His work is beautiful, not just architecture, but furniture, objects d'art, fabric, etc. We forgot, however, that everything in the UK seems to close at 5 pm on every night but Thursday. So, when we finally found the Willows Tea Room (which had been under our noses), it was closed.

Peter and I had also hoped to make it to the Glasgow School of Art, but it was closed as well. This is when we decided to recognize the three in one rule, or what I refer to as the Trinity of travel. Here it is......"for every three things you think you will accomplish on any given day of travel, you will only truly accomplish one."

We grabbed some dinner at a "fauxtalian" restaurant because I was tired of pub food. Although, only the pizza that we had ordered was any good. After dinner we noticed there was a huge multiplex across the street from the hotel. There were also some pubs that seemed to be really hopping. What to do, what to do.

Then, our feet started to fall off, so we walked back to the hotel go to sleep like the 90 year olds that we really are. I mean, who goes to sleep at 7:30 at night? Peter and I, apparently.

Slainte! - Checking in from Dublin

2007-08-08T14:43:00.000-07:00

Haha -

This is Peter, I have taken over the blog in an internet cafe in the temple bar district - and after several pints of Guinness no less. (hic!) We're having a wonderful time and there isn't much time to check in (cafe closes in a bit), so I offered to check in and write a few bullet points for Janelle, to give you a taste of our topics/stories to come.

When last we left you, it was almost a week ago - Thurs, Aug 2. More later on these topics:

Fri, Aug 3 - Janelle and Peter find out that when we plan 3 things, we really only have time for 1. Intro to Glasgow...
Sat, Aug 4 - double fisted meringues, bleather with the Burtons and a drive through the Scottish outback
Sun, Aug 5 - Nessie scared off by Princess cruises, but a fabulous day in the rain, and our favorite castle.
Mon, Aug 6 - Feeling the Fringe, Edinburgh. Potted Potter and a few pints.
Tues, Aug 7 - 3 countries in 1 day! Woohoo!
Weds, Aug 8 - (today) - Janelle has morning sickness, Peter takes one for the team...

More to come. Miss you all very much!
Peter

British Women's Open Ruins the Day

2007-08-02T14:53:00.001-07:00

This morning we had planned on leaving Perth around 11 am so that we could go to St. Andrew's for a couple of hours. St. Andrews is famous for a few reasons:
1. GOLF
2. The place where John Knox was arrested and forced into labor as a galley slave
3. The cathedral were it is believed some of St. Andrew's relics were kept
4. The famous men running on the beach scene from Chariots of Fire

We got a late start, because some of the things we needed to do in Perth took a little longer than we expected. After paying a quick visit to Nan (so I could give and get a farewell hug), we were off.

We arrived in St. Andrews at about 1 something. There were signs all over the place that said, "Women's British Open." And there were a lot of cars all over the place. There was almost no where to park. A kindly traffic officer directed us to where we would be able to find parking (about two miles out of town, near the beach). After walking up the beach, humming the theme to Chariots of fire and taking some pictures of Peter running on the beach, we finally reached the town. We visited the castle ruins. A really neat place, reminded me of the nunnery ruins on Iona. Then, we visited the Cathedral ruins as well.

For a place that gets a lot of money from golf, you would think they could rebuild the castle and cathedral. (just kidding)

The town was PACKED! Geez Louise, was it packed. Had it not been for all the extra people around, we certainly could have done what we wanted to do in the time we had allotted. But, we found ourselves still in St. Andrews at 5 pm, and we still needed to trek back to the car.

We stopped for some fish and chips, and a pint, at a pub. Walked back to the car and made it home at about 7ish.

I have begun vacuuming, dusting, and cleaning the bathrooms. Peter went to the grocery store to get some food for the Burtons (so they will have some food for lunch and dinner tomorrow, since they will be tired from their long journey). And now, it is time for me to go get back to it.

Tomorrow will be our return trip to Carmichael and our day (and night) in Glasgow. Not sure when I will be able to post again, but Peter and I are planning on hitting an internet cafe or two over the next two weeks. We are awaiting an important email from our best friends regarding the birth of their first child.

Tallies Not Working Correctly - Here is an update

2007-08-01T16:05:00.000-07:00

Cups of Tea - 23
Glasses of Red Wine - 10
Pints of Ale - 8
Drams of Whisky - 1
Return trips driving the manual car - 7
Times Confident in the car - 3.168321
Times I have cursed stupid "Chip and Pin" - 5
Return trips in the new automatic car - 1
Times Confident in that car - 1 (Peter was driving)

Travel by Bus - 3
Travel by Coach - 4
Travel by Ferry - 4
Travel by Plane - 2
Travel by Train - 5
Walking trips to and from the church - 14

Rosslyn Chapel and Janelle Finds Her Long Lost Relatives (and Peter almost gets strangled by his beloved)

2007-08-01T14:30:00.000-07:00

On Wednesday, Peter picked up our car. Ahhhhh, automatic transmission. Ahhhhhhh!

We were more than a little stressed on time, as we had hoped to get the car and leave. This was going to be our itinerary:

11 am- leave manse

12 noon- arrive Rosslyn Chapel

2 pm - leave Rosslyn and leave for Carmichael

3 pm- arrive Carmichael (Carmichael Clan Store closes at 5)

5 pm - leave Carmichael

Well, we didn't leave until noon, because getting the car, getting some groceries at Tesco and getting back to the manse took A LOT longer than we had thought.

We drove to Rosslyn Chapel, which has, in recent years, become famous because of a little novel called, "The Da Vinci Code." They haven't capitalized on this at all, no sirreee Bob! (Too bad sarcasm doesn't really translate in the written word, does it?)

The number of people crammed into that tiny building was amazing. Da Vinci may have had a code, but, apparently the folks at Rosslyn Chapel aren't concerned with occupancy codes. The chapel itself is filled with amazing carvings. The ceiling is filled with carvings of stars, roses, and flowers (alas, there were no yellow moons, green clovers, blue diamonds or purple horseshoes - can you tell I am hungry as I write this one). Anyway, Peter's new fangled, fancy camera ran out of juice, so he went back to the car to get the little camera. Here are a few shots:

Pink Jesus liked Rosslyn Chapel, (he's a big fan of Dan Brown's). In fact, he postively glowed there. (Or was that just the sign that something was going to go wrong with the camera).

We didn't get out of Rosslyn Chapel as soon as we had wanted to, due to the crowds. It was 3pm. Ok, it should only take one hour to get to Carmichael. A brief word about Carmichael - my grandmother's mother was a Carmichael, and a member of our family has traced us back to the Scottich Carmichaels. So, this was my chance to see some of the area where my ancestors might have lived. They have a small farm shop with Clan Merchandise, so I was really keen on going there and picking up "some Carmichael crap" as Christmas presents for my family.

We drove to the general area and got completely turned around. Carmichael is a VERY SMALL village. After asking two people for directions, we finally found the centre at 4:30. We browsed the shop, and Trish, the lady of Carmichael - wife of Richard, the 30th cheif of Carmichael came down to the shop to bring somethings that we wanted to purchase. I had emailed Richard and Trish some time ago, and she remembered me. We had a lovely conversation and she invited Peter and I to go check out the ruins of the old house and castle. After getting directions, and spending over £100, we were off. We passed the entrance to the ruins and had to turn around. I was getting really excited, I was going to see something really special. What was just as exciting to me, was that I was going to get some brilliant pictures that I could show my grandmother, who will probably never to get to see this with her own eyes.

We parked outside the gates and began the long walk down to the ruins, not knowing what to expect. This is me, standing outside the gates:

We didn't care that the fancy camera had no juice, because we had the small camera. What we were more concerned about was all the mud, and the kamikaze flies that kept buzzing into our ears. I had my hair in a ponytail, so I made like a heiland coo and kept swatting the flies away with my hair. Peter has short hair and just kept yelling at the flies as he swiped them out of his face.

Here is one shot of the walk down to the ruins:

Then, we were there. The ruins were stone walls that were at least three stories high. It was amazing, it was incredible. I was awestruck. I wanted Peter to catch a picture of everything.

Then, the little camera ran out of juice as well. In fact, it had so little battery power left, it wasn't even able to close up properly at first. In a last ditch attempt to save our marriage, Peter tried to change up the batteries to try and get some sort of power.

Nothing.

I wasn't really as mad as I am making it sound. After all, it wasn't Peter's fault. We both agreed that we really need to capture the area in photo. So, we made a pact to get up at "o-dark-30" on Friday and return to Carmichael on our way to Glasgow. It will mean that Thursday night will be a night of very little sleep, as we clean up the manse and pack, etc. But, who knows when we would be back to this little tiny speck on the map.

We got home about 8 pm and had some dinner, watched a little tv, and vowed to charge every single battery we have.

If it's Tuesday, it must be Edinburgh - aka - the day our feet gave out and we learned to appreciate whisky

2007-07-31T14:00:00.000-07:00

So, Tuesday morning we got up at the "butt crack of dawn" to catch the train to Edinburgh. We arrived at Waverly station and decided to walk the royal mile which runs from Holyroodhouse to Edinburgh castle.

I think the name Holyroodhouse is great. At first, I couldn't imagine how a house could be Holy and Rude, but then, I thought of all the churches out there (NOT Encino or St Matts - BTW) that claim to be holy but are actually quite rude. Perfect example - Scott's experience at Saddleback (from what I have heard).

Anywho, we walked up the royal mile. And I do mean UP. Wow! Wallace Monument seemed like a cakewalk in the park compared to the royal mile. I am sure that no one royal ever walked that mile. We stopped along the way in a few tourist traps, I mean shops, before we reached Edinburgh castle. We also stopped at St. Giles Cathedral and took quite a few pictures. This is the church where John Knox was pastor beginning in 1560.

When we got to the castle, after walking through a bunch of scaffolding that is set up for the military tattoo (why people would pay to watch the military get inked is beyond me - I have a tattoo, it wasn't that exciting to watch it when it was my own - let alone watching someone else get one). The line for the castle was over 30 minutes long. I was hoping, with a line that long that there would at least be characters walking around for photo ops, like at Disneyland, but there weren't.

We saw a second line, sort of a fast pass, for folks with the passes that Peter had bought on Sunday. So, we were able to move to the front of the line and get our tickets. We entered the castle and I made a horrible discovery, it is uphill inside as well. I also discovered that, although tourists from the US are often called "ugly Americans" it was the tourists from places other than the U.S. who had no sense of the word, "queue." It gets me really ticked when people are not aware of others around them and stand in the center of a walkway, blocking the route of people coming from both sides (more about this later).

The castle was neat, but Peter and I had feet that were barking like junkyard dogs. So, we were quite liberal with our stop and sits. After feeling completely claustraphobic in the castle area, we decided to leave and walk back down the royal mile.

Peter decided that we should do the Whisky Experience - partly because we need to learn to appreciate Scotch Whisky, and partly because there is a part on the tour where you get to ride in a whisky barrel. The map for the experience made it look like the whisky barrel was floating in water, kind of like the boats on "Small World" at Disneyland.

The first part of the experience involved learning how to do tasting notes on whisky. First, you look at the color. (ok, yellow) Then, you swirl it around the see how long the stuff that sticks to the side of the glass runs back into the main liquid (ok, is it going to stick like that in my tummy?). Then, you smell it to determine the "notes" (ok, smells like cough syrup without the cherry flavouring). Then, you taste it, to see how long it burns in your throat (ok, the guide didn't use those words, but you get the idea). After a room where we saw a video about how whisky is made, and a room where we learned about the blending of whiskies, it was time for our oak barrel flume ride.

Only, it wasn't a flume ride.

Instead, imagine the Snow White ride at Disneyland, minus the music, black lights and movement. Now, imagine moving at 1/10th the speed of the Snow White ride, through a life size diarama showing the history of whisky. There was a speaker in the barrel with narration that was rather difficult to understand.

We finished the experience, and headed down from the royal mile towards Princes Street and the floral clock. This is where I got really fed up with folks who think they own the pavement (sidewalk to you Yanks). We ended up mixed up in a group of tourists who took up the whole walkway. They were moving along ok until the woman right in front of me just stopped suddenly. I have to admit, it was not very nice of me when I decided to keep walking, knocking her out of the way with my bag that held Pink Jesus. I could hear Him tut-tutting me, but it was drowned out by the sound of Peter laughing at me for "plowing into that woman" (I did not plow her, by the way). Then, I wanted to check out the bookstore at St. John's. It was a great bookstore with forward thinking, peace and justice type of theology titles.

Then, we rushed back to the train station, almost got on the wrong train and headed back to Perth. When we got to Perth, Peter and I decided to give our feet a rest and took a cab back to the manse.

30th July - Stirling

2007-07-30T15:00:00.000-07:00

Wow, what a LOOOONG day this was.

Peter and I got up, I drove to the Tesco to pick up some food, while he got ready and mapped out our plans for the day.

We caught the train to Stirling and were on our way. Once there, we boarded a CityBus Sightseeing Coach. A double decker bus that stops at many of the relevant places in Stirling. First stop, Wallace National Memorial. This is a beautiful memorial for the man whose life is dramatized in the film, Braveheart. To climb to the top of the memorial you need a braveheart, as well as a strong, functioning one because it is 247 (give or take a few) steps up a winding staircase to the top. There are three levels to the monument, so you do get a little stop on the way. The interesting thing is that this narrow, winding staircase is the up and down staircase. So, as you ascend, and as you descend, you have to constantly move over to the right so people can squeeze past you. And Squeeze they must. I think I got fondled going up a couple of times, which was good for my self esteem.

The view from the top was just amazing. We could see out forever.

After we made our way back down the winding staircase (no fondling on the way down - darn), we caught the bus back towards town. Our next stop was Stirling Castle - a favorite of Tom and Terri Holland. It was a beautiful, old castle. (Pictures will be up eventually). We were having such a good time, I looked down at my watch, shocked to find it was 4:45pm. We found out that the last bus left at 5:30. So, we decided to make our way back to the bus stop, to sit on the grass under a statue of Robert the Bruce while we waited. The bus showed up at 5:10, and we wondered if that was the last bus, or if there would be another. The schedule claimed that the last bus left at 5:30. We inquired of the bus driver if he waited until 5:30, or if there would be another bus.

He informed us that this was indeed the last bus, and that he did not wait until 5:30. So, onto the bus we went. Good thing somethine (or someone) made me look at my watch, because otherwise, it was a long walk back to the train station.

We got on the train and arrived back in Perth. We were quite tired, and now needed to walk back to the manse. I convinced Peter that we HAD to stop at a pub - partly because my fingers needed a break, and partly because someone (Tom Holland) had commented that my ale to tea ratio was skewed the wrong way. So, we each enjoyed a pint, and then finished our walk home. We arrived home at about 9pm. We got some great shots of Pink Jesus enjoying the castle, as well as a pint, they will be up eventually.

Sunday, 29 July

2007-07-29T14:00:00.000-07:00

Today I got up early and finished what I needed for worship. I walked down to the church, and sat in front of the River for a little while to collect my thoughts before my last worship at St. Matthew's.

Peter showed up at about 10 and snapped a few photos. Then, he headed off to buy our Great Britain Heritage passes and planned on returning to church in time to sneak in and catch the sermon.

Worship began nicely. The Clerk of Session did the intimations, and presented me with another beautiful picture of Perth at night. It's really cool. Worship went well, I greeted people at the door and Peter joined me. Turns out, they lock all the doors while worship is taking place, so he could not get in to hear me preach. He was really bummed, but I assured him that my preaching isn't worth getting upset about missing. : )

After worship, a few members presented me with the remembrances - mostly pictures and other items from the ceilidh. Then, Jean Young drove Peter and I out to her house in Dunning for lunch. Dunning is about a 20 minute drive outside of Perth, through small narrow roads and lots of farmland. It was beautiful, and I must admit, I was REALLY glad she was driving those little roads.

We had a great lunch, and at about 5 pm, Jean drove us back to Perth. We had her drop us off at the church so we could catch a movie and grab a little nibble. We went to Sandeman's and had chips and garlic bread and a lemon tart for dessert. Then, we walked across the street to the cinema and saw Harry Potter 9 - or whatever number it was. Then, home again.

28 July - Saturday

2007-07-28T12:00:00.000-07:00

This morning, Peter and I slept in. Peter has had a difficult time getting adjusted to the firmer mattress and the extra hours of sunlight.

I went down to the church and conducted Rhona and Stewart's wedding. Then, my presence was required at the dinner, so I attended that part. LOTS of men in kilts, but no real prospects for any of the girls back home.

At weddings in Scotland, the bride is given a horseshoe and a wooden spoon - both given for luck. I don't know if it is good luck for the bride to put up with the husband, good luck for the two of them, or what. But, it was interesting. The speeches following dinner were quite similar to the speeches back home. Except, that the best man read some of the wishes expressed in the cards that arrived from folks who could not make the wedding. I also learnt a new word, upstanding. This is not upstanding, as in an upstanding citizen. Instead it is used like this, "Now if everyone will be upstanding for a toast to the bride and groom."

After the dinner was the reception/ceilidh, but Peter was at home, and I didn't really feel like staying by myself. So, I went back to the manse to find that Peter had taken a wee fall and cut up his knee.

Friday, 27th July

2007-07-27T15:34:00.000-07:00

Friday was spent tooling around Perth.

Peter and I walked into town, intent on spending the day walking around town until a 3:30 tea at the home of Donald, Anne and Ewan McIntyre. Things were going fine until I realized that I had left the address for the McIntyre's back at the manse. So, we walked the mile (mostly uphill) back to the manse, and then, turned around and went back into town.

The McIntyre's live in a flat that overlooks St. John's Kirk. They are a lovely family that lived in Claremont, CA for a while. They are friends of Tom Rennard, an old friend of mine from when I was in college (he had been an Associate Pastor at the church I attended as a youth). We had a great conversation and found out the the McIntyre's were friends of a certain Fred Rogers (Mr. Rogers to you and me). What fun we had talking about Mr. Rogers, Mr McFeely, etc.

Then, it was back to the church for a wedding rehearsal with Rhona Anderson and Stewart Patterson, who were getting married the next day. After the rehearsal, we walked to the cinema, thinking we might catch "The Simpson's" or "Harry Potter", but we were both too tired. So, we headed back to a pub near the church and had dinner and a couple of pints.

Scone Palace

2007-07-27T02:15:00.000-07:00

Yesterday, Peter and I spent most of the day at Scone Palace. But before we could do that, we had to fill up with gas. What a pain in the rear that turned out to be.

We got to the petrol station and pulled up to the pump. Oops, gas tank is on the other side. No worries, I reversed the car, and got into a lane where it would be on the correct side.

Then, Peter asked me to find the gizmo that opened the door to the fuel cap. My car has a gizmo, Peter's car has a gizmo, most cars have a gizmo. But, not Scott's. I was getting REALLY frustrated, when Peter went back to the little door and opened it with his fingers. That would have been funny had I not been wound up so tight about the driving. : )

Peter begins to try to fill up the tank, but the pump won't work. The attendant had to come and tell us that we were at the row of pumps that require chip and pin. Other than uphill starts, chip and pin is the OTHER bane of my existence. So, then we had to go all the way around and enter the petrol station area again!

After that, we went to Asda to purchase some paper towels, etc. And, we now have a list of folks who have asked us to pick up a £5 copy of Harry Potter and TDH. But, they were sold out. We will have to try again later this week.

Then, it was off to Scone Palace, the location of the original Stone of Destiny (or Density - for all you Back to the Future fans). Now it is home to the 7th and 8th Earl of Mansfield. Not sure how the guy got to be the Earl of Mansfield twice, but lucky him! The palace grounds are beautiful. Peter and I had a wee lunch there, and walked around the castle and grounds for a few hours. Then, we went to the "Strawberry Patch" and bought rasps, cheddar wafers, and some muffins that Peter wanted to try for breakfast.

Unfortunately, Pink Jesus didn't go to Scone Palace. After some followers of John Knox destroyed the Abbey at Scone, back during the Reformation, Pink Jesus hasn't been back.

Ate dinner, watched some tv, Peter read HP 5, I slept. Peter's back has been bothering him, because the bed here is REALLY firm. I have had some days when I have gotten out of bed with a back and neck ache, but I usually end up walking down to the church, which sort of works the kinks out. Peter hasn't done that yet. I think he will get adjusted eventually, but for now, he is in a little pain.

Traveling scorecard since arriving:
Airplane - 2
Buses = 1
Trains= 1
Coaches= 4
Ferries= 4
Walking Trips from the manse to downtown and back = 10

Other counts:
Return trips driving the car= 7
Times confident in the car= 1 1/2
Pints of Ale= 2
Glasses of red wine= 10
Times that I have cursed stupid "Chip and Pin" = 5
Cups of tea = 21

Catching y'all up to today...

2007-07-26T03:34:00.000-07:00

For the most part, the last few days have been largely uneventful.
On Monday, I went in to the office in the morning. At 12:30 Harry and Moira took me to a lovely lunch. We sat and talked for hours. I got home about 5:00 pm. That evening, I drove to the Tesco and bought some groceries for Peter's arrival.
Tuesday, I worked in the morning, and had lunch at McEwan's Dept. Store (very small dept store with multiple levels) with Nan, Roberta and Jean Young. Then, it was home to do laundry, clean and get things ready for Peter's arrival the next afternoon.
Yesterday, I got up and went to work. Got home about 12:30 and had some lunch. Then, Jim Smyth picked me up at 3:15 and we went to the airport to pick up Peter. We took the scenic way home, to avoid most of the traffic, arriving home about 7:00 pm. Then, Peter and I went into town and had dinner at "The Capital Asset" - also known as J.D. Wetherspoon's.
Today, we are putting gas in the car, picking up a few things and going to Scone Palace. Which, ironically, is NOT a palace made out of scones. (And, it is pronewnced Scooone, ye yank.)

More later!

Sunday, 22 July

2007-07-22T13:16:00.000-07:00

Wow, am I tired!

I got up this morning, and walked to the church at 7:30 am. I didn't realize it was quite that early, but I was ready to get on the with day. I had decided not to drive because the only parking for the church in directly on the side, with only one way in (incidentally, it is also the same way out). I didn't think I was quite ready for backing out into the busy traffic on Tay Street, and there is no room to turn around, really, in the parking area.

I got to church, no one was there, so I let myself in, read over my sermon, etc. Then, I grabbed my robe and went over to St. John's Kirk to preach at the 9:30 communion service. The pastor there, Liz Brown, is the hip woman I was telling you about. St. John's is a famous church because it was there that John Knox preached such a rousing sermon against the Catholic Church that the congregation stoned their own priest and tore everything down in the church. Thankfully, my preaching was not that rousing. Everything was going smoothly, until I stood up to do my part. I didn't have a Bible. Argh! Liz had to go get me one from the vestry as we just waited in the chapel area. It worked out ok, though. And after worship, it was time to rush back to St. Matthew's.

I got back to the vestry at St. Matts, looked at the bulletin, and realized that I had printed the wrong scripture passages! Arrgh. It worked out ok, but I felt like and idiot for the second time today.

When worship was over, I posed for a picture, which will be the in local newspaper. Then, I stood by the photos of the church at Encino and explained to people what they were looking at. After everone had left, I changed back into my comfortable walking shoes and went to the movie theatre. They were having a sneak peak of Transformers, which doesn't officially open for another week. I saw it, I lived to tell about it. I won't say the movie is total rubbish - but once the robots started to talk, I just wasn't interested anymore.

The movie ended and I still had about three hours until I needed to be at my third speaking engagement. So, I walked over to St. Catherine's Retail Park - thinking there would be a lot of shops to poke around in. WRONG! The Retail Park has a TK Maxx (exactly the same as TJ Maxx, but apparently they couldn't afford the J), PCWORLD, a bed store, electronics store, a carpet store, a sporting goods store, and their equivalent of Linens'n'Things, except that theirs has more "things." I did find two cute little art projects - canvases with an elephant print on one, and a zebra on the other - it came with oil paints, a palette and two brushes. They are really cute, kid-like pictures. But, being the kid at heart that I am, I will have fun doing them.

Then, it was back to City Center, where I sat and waited on multiple park benches to pass the time until I arrived at the church. The 6:30 service there is very informal, the music is contemporary, and I really enjoyed it - very peaceful, and meaningful at the same time.

Now, I am home, getting ready to heat up various leftovers before I turn in for the night. Tomorrow, I have a 9:30 appointment with a woman who is getting married on Saturday. I also have lunch scheduled with an older couple in the church. They are taking me to a golf club.

Saturday, July 21

2007-07-21T08:31:00.000-07:00

Today should otherwise be known as "The Day Janelle took Manual Transmissions by the Stick."

I was scheduled (pronounced shed-yule-d) to go with Nan to Dunblane Cathedral. She had said that she would pick me up at 11:00 am. But, in a message yesterday offered me a "wee bit of a challenge." Namely, drive my own butt over to her house. (Bwah-ha-ha-ha-ha - insert sinister laugh here). I called her this morning to tell her that I didn't think I was up to the wee challenge. She assured me that I was, and told me that she was a little pressed for time in this morning. Ok, now I was stuck! I decided to put on my big girl panties and grow up. I decided to bite the big one. I decided that I was woman, hear me roar! Then, I decided to see how long a walk it was.

Too long.

Bugger!

I was going to have to drive.

I got behind the wheel, made it out on the road, made it part way to Nan's house, and saw the red light coming. I didn't want to stop. The car wanted to go. I wanted to go. Everything in me wanted to run the red light, especially as I saw what was ahead.

A hill.

Bugger again, an uphill start, with cars behind me. VERY CLOSE BEHIND ME.

"Right, Janelle, don't panic. You are woman, hear you..."

"whimper."

The light changed. I pushed on the gas, as I let up on the clutch and lowered the hand brake.

"There is no way this is going to work," pessmistic Janelle thought.

"You've seen 90 year old grannies do it," thought Janelle the bully.

"Just give it gas," I heard Gautham say in my head.....

It worked. Wow, it actually worked. I may not have done it with precision handling, but it worked. I made it to Nan's, parked the car, and we were off to Dunblane.

The cathedral at Dunblane is one of the few surviving churches of the Middle Ages. I forgot to take any pictures. But it was beautiful. They were doing and organ concert inside, not my usual kind of music, but it seemed very fitting, given the setting. Afterwards, we went to lunch and returned home.

I drove home without any uphills starts and lived to tell about it.

Tonight, I am going to work on my abbreviated sermon for the 9:30 service at St. John's Kirk, work on my prayers for the 10 am service at St. Matts, and figure out what I am going to do with the rest of the day tomorrow, since I preach at the 6:30 service across from the movie theatre.

Oh duh, maybe I should see a movie. Hmmm, what should I see? Fill out the survey to the left by midnight tonight and help me decide, eh?

p.s. Surveys are not working today, for some reason. The choices are: Simpsons, Shrek the 3rd, La Vie en Rose, Transformers and Ocean's 13. What say y'all?

Friday, 20 July

2007-07-21T07:16:00.000-07:00

Friday saw me doing a week bit of DIY. I spent the better part of the morning printing out pictures that Peter has sent (at my asking) of the church grounds, sanctuary and people from Encino Pres. Armed with over 20 pictures, the latest copy of the church newsletter, as well as the brochure that was created after the sanctuary re-do, I walked over to the church. Derrick, the day custodian, helped me find markers, tape, and two flip chart stands. I spent about an hour or putting together two presentations so that the people of St. Matthew's could see "from whence I came."

I got home with some time to relax before I had to get ready for the ceilidh. Claire, a member of St. Matthew's and a sweet lady, picked me up at 6:45. We got to the church and were greeted by a wonderful little set up of cheese, biscuits, oatcakes (yum!) and a choice of red or white wine. I thought about how the people at Encino would just FLIP to see wine served on church property. There were plenty of juices for the children.

After a short introduction, the program began.

Finlay, pictured above, opened with a song on the bagpipes. He is quite a good piper!

Then, a dance group that practices in the winter at St. Matthew's began to perform. Only one couple in the group is from St. Matt's. They were quite good, as well.

Then everyone was invited to dance the Virginia Reel. I was quite happy to sip my wine and eat the excellent Stilton, but the man on the left hand side of the above picture would hear none of it. He is one of the members of St. Matthew's. He invited me to dance, and everyone at my table told me I just had to do it. So, I did. I managed to do all right, and I didn't step on his toes, which was good news to him and a relief to me.

Then, a young lady danced a jig and another dance for us. (I can't remember what it was called, but it looked like a traditional highland fling - as if I would know such things.)

After a wee break for tea, coffee and shortbread, some of the youth of the church played for us. Two were on fiddles and Finlay played the short pipes, which are also sometimes called the "indoor pipes", since real bag pipes can be a little overpowering indoors.

After that, folks joined in for a sing-a-long. The only song I knew was the Bonnie, Bonnie Banks of Lock Lomond. Now, I have to admit, the last time I heard this song was when I was a wee one, watching the scottie dog sing it in Lady and the Tramp. So, I never really quite got how depressing the song was until Roberta explained the chorus to me. For those of you who don't remember the Scottie from Lady and the Tramp (HOW COULD YOU NOT REMEMBER!!!)

The words are "Oh! ye'll take the high road and I'll take the low road, And I'll be in Scotland afore ye; But me and my true love will never meet again on the bonnie, bonnie banks of Loch Lomond." Turns out, the low road was the spirit road, the road that the dead would take. The singer will take the low road, with the spirits to reach Scotland before his true love, but they will never be together again. Andy, the man in the picture above, had explained during the evening that much of Scotland's favorite music tends to be written about rather depressing subjects. Boy, was he right!

Then, there was "The Flower of Scotland." It is the anthem for SFA, the football league, apparently it is also the anthem for rugby. A number of people told me they hate because it is often sung by drunks at football matches - sort of like the USC song and chant. Here are the words, "O flower of Scotland. When will we see, your like again? That fought and died for your wee bit hill and glen, and stood against him, Proud Edward's army, and sent him homeward, tae think again." The tune is rather depressing as well.

One song that we heard twice was Highland Cathedral. This was actually a beautiful song, and as a bonus, not about war, death or depression. The chorus goes, "Gone is the past, let us start anew. Let this hope of peace, always remain. Spirit of Scotia, be strong and true. Then your children will smile again, again, again, again."

At the end, the MC presented me with a present that he wanted me to open when I got home. Well, if you know anything about me, I don't wait to open ANYTHING. Which is why Peter always has to hide my birthday presents until the day of. (Or is it because he doesn't buy me anything until the day of - I'm not quite sure.) So, when I got home, I opened it. Now, the surprise had been a little ruined when a church member came up to me and said, "I hope you like the picture I took." At the time, I thought he was discussing the photos he had shot of the event. But, after opening the present and finding a beautiful picture of St.Matthew's as it overlooks the Tay, framed and matted, I knew what he had meant.

I got home and was a little wired, so I decided, after about 3 hours of trying to sleep and not being able, that I needed a diet coke. Small problem, I was out of diet coke. No problem, I thought, I will just hop in the car. Bigger problem, still "nae" comfortable with the gear box. Well, you will be pleased (or frightened for the people of Perth) to know that I, Janelle Tibbetts Vaughan, drove all the way to the Asda and back (Asda is the WalMart of GB). A whole 2 miles! I considered asking Pink Jesus if I should go, but I really didn't want him to tell me "Wait for a sign" when I was needed to feed my D.C. addiction.

I decided to reward myself for driving with not only a 12 pack of Diet Coke, but Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows (which had only been on sale for about 15 minutes at that point) which was on sale for £5.00. That is, with the exchange rate, $10.00! It is hard back, has the UK cover, and I am dying to crack it open, but I am going to wait until I re-read 5 & 6.

Now, it was time to drive home. Things were going fine until the last little part of my journey when I had an uphill start. Damn those uphill starts, they are the BANE of my existence. It took me four lights to do it, but I made it home. Thankfully, there was no one behind me as I tried to go up the hill.

My nerves were shot, I felt queasy, but, I did it, and it was a little freeing to know that if I really need Diet Coke, I have the ability to get it at all hours of the night. That's what freedom is all about, man.

God bless 24 hour grocery stores.

Thursday, 19 July

2007-07-20T09:00:00.000-07:00

This morning I woke up early and headed down to the church to drop off the order of worship. I also met with the church organist to go over the hymns. She told me that two people went up to her on Sunday and "got in a row" with her because they did not like the final hymn. She told them that she did not pick the hymns, but that she had liked the hymn. The funny thing is, I picked the hymn from our hymnal back home and sent it to her. So, we were actually singing something that we sing in church back home from time to time.

Christian (the office volunteer) and I got into a discussion of accents. This was quite funny, because she told me that I was easy to understand, I didn't talk too fast, like some of those other Americans. I know, though, from my time in the South that Californians have a reputation for taking quite fast. My room-mates in seminary used to tell me that for the first two days after my return from a trip to home to CA, they had a hard time understanding me. Of course, that is because in the south, they taaaaaaaaalk liiiiiiiike thiiiiiiis, and every vowel ends up sound like it is at least doubled. Christian wanted me to talk with a Southern accent, so she could hear it. I did a spot on impersonation of my Presbyterian History professor. He was from the Carolina low country, and his class was right after lunch - BIG MISTAKE - I fell asleep frequently. He would talk like this, "Tedaay, claaaas, weh wihhhhll, be stuuuhhhdeeeihhhn hahw the chuhhhhrch respahhhhhnded to the civil waaahhhhhhr." (Hard to phonetically do a Low country sing song smooth as silk southern genteel accent.) She thought it was quite funny, and the look on her face told me that she hadn't been quite sure of what I was saying.

I went home and waited for Nan to call. She had promised to take me on another driving lesson. We drove from the main road onto this little country road, one that became a one lane road with passing places. It worked out fine, and it was a pretty drive. I managed to not hit anything, not even the large female pheasant that just would not move out of the road.

We stopped at a little fruit and veg stand, similar to the Tapas brothers farm stand in Encino. They had the most incredible strawberries and rasps (what they sometimes call raspberries). I bought some to have for dessert.

Then, we drove to the coffee shop that Nan volunteers at on Fridays. The coffee shop is at a park, with the building donated by the park trust. All the proceeds from the sales at the coffee shop go to a cancer day hospice, which has day programs for those who are battling cancer. The hospice even has drivers pick up patients for the day. I had an herb and chese scone and a cup of tea. I actually like tea better the way they drink it here, with a little milk and sugar. While there, we saw a member of the church who lives not too far from the manse. Nan roped her into picking me up for the ceilidh tomorrow night. She agreed (but I am not at all sure she wanted to). Hopefully that will mean she will give me a ride back as well.

Then, it was back to the house. Now, I am not saying that I am ready for a race, but I will say that I felt much more comfortable driving. I even managed to work the hand brake correctly, and not roll to much. I might be ready to try a wee drive on my own sometime soon.

I had my dinner (Tesco Chicken and Chips- not too bad, except not enough chicken and too many chips), took a long, hot bath in the long, deep bathtub, and got a good night's sleep.

No new words today, except Nan asked me if I had tried tablet yet. I told her no, and wondered what I had gotten myself into. She bought me some, it is a really rich candy made from sugar, condensed milk, and butter. Ok, so it might harden my arteries, and it might be full of fat, but I am in Scotland, after all. If they eat candy on occasion that will rot your teeth, give you a heart attack and taste good, all at the same time - so be it, I'm in.

Wednesday

2007-07-20T08:40:00.000-07:00

Wednesday was a very busy day.

Today was a busy day. I was at the church at 9:45 (I know that is LATE for me) to meet with Christian (the volunteer) regarding the children's hand outs for Sunday.

Then, I met with the pastors of the other two churches where I will be preaching on Sunday. They are both extraordinary people. Liz Brown is the paster at St. John's Kirk, a very historic church, as that is where John Knox, the father of the Reformation in Scotland used to preach in 1559. Liz is everything I hope to be at 64 - hip, has a killer sense of humor, and is insightful, kind, and someone I felt instantly comfortable around. We talked about the plan for worship. I will be preaching at the 9:30 am communion service. The church is incredibly close to St. Matthew's, the church I am currently serving. It is like walking from my apartment to the Catholic church at Orange Grove and Fifth.

After a short while, David Denniston, the pastor of Perth's North Church arrived. I will be preaching at the 6:30 contemporary service on Sunday evening. Yep, that's right, three sermons, three different churches, one day. I've been assured that no one from the 9:30 church would attend the 11:00 at St. Matthew's or the 6:30 at the North Church, and no one from St. Matthews would attend the other services, so I get to use the same sermon, with slight tweaks for all three.

David then walked me to his church. This was also VERY close to the other churches. Turns out, it is just across the street from the cinema (where I saw Die Hard 4.0 last Saturday).

After that, I had lunch with a member of St. Matthew's who is the coordinator of Christian Aid for a very large area of Scotland. (Remember my discussion of Christian Ed and Chrisitan Aid?)

Christian Aid is an organization that partners with projects around the globe. Their focus is on all different themes of social justice - the environment, health and sanitation issues, poverty, hunger, etc.

Then, it was quite a long walk home. I haven't done any driving, except for a half an hour last week. Everything is fairly close in Perth, but, I will admit the Christian Aid building is quite a little distance from the house.

What a long day. I was still feeling tired from my traveling to Iona and back. When I got home, I typed up the order of service for Sunday. I received a phone call for a memorial service that I will be unable to do, due to timing issues, and a call from the bride who is getting married on 29 July.

Traveling scorecard since arriving:
Airplane - 2
Buses = 1 (at Heathrow)
Trains= 1
Coaches= 4
Ferries= 4
Walking Trips from the manse to downtown and back = 4 1/2

Other counts:
Times driving the car= 1
Times confident in the car= 0
Pints of Ale= 2
Glasses of red wine= 6
Times I've tried to think of other things to count= lost count

Back to Perth

2007-07-20T08:16:00.000-07:00

I woke up Tuesday morning to the sound of people eating their breakfast. I peeked in and couldn't recognize much of the food, so, I decided to pass.

I took the 10:45 ferry from Iona to Fionnphort; the start of a very long journey back to Perth. The bus from Fionnphort to Craignure was waiting, and I jumped on board for the hour long drive down one lane roads and passing places back to the next ferry.

On the bus with me were another couple from America, and two Aussies. We had quite the interesting discussion of politics and religion - two of the taboo subjects, I know. But, we all seemed to be like minded, so it was refreshing conversation.

I got off the bus, onto the ferry to Oban and pulled out my camera. It was an absolutely beautiful, sunny day. Here are two pictures from the ferry ride.

And this is the first view of Oban, from the ferry:

In Oban, I had about three hours until the bus arrived to whisk me off to Perth. So, I had a wee lunch at the restuarant on the ground floor of this hotel:

Then, I sat in a bench, under a tree and read my book until the bus arrived. I took the above photo from the bus, before we departed.

It was a very long bus ride (about 3 hours), very winding, very full, and very noisy. So, I got good use out of my IPod was we drove through the countryside. It truly is beautiful.

Nan picked me up at the bus station at about 8:30 pm and took me home. She had made me a little dinner to heat up, and gave me a bottle of red wine. I made quick work of the pasta and savored the glass of red.

All in all, the trip to Iona was a long, sometime tiring journey - but most definitely worth it!

At Iona

2007-07-19T07:35:00.000-07:00

Once I had rested a wee bit, I decided to have a look around the island.

One of the first places you see when going up the road is the ruins of the nunnery. These were built about 1200. The ruins are fantastic, with lots of grass and gardens in where the rooms used to be (the roof is completely gone except on one building. All throughout, there are benches here and there for rest and mediation. There are some pictures of it on the link to the pictures.

As you go up the road, past the scarecrows, you see your first big cross.

This is Maclean's Cross, which was probably erected in the 15th century.

Further up the road, you see the abbey. Now, remember, it has been sprinkling and overcast so far this whole day. Rather dreary, and yet, the greens are still so vivid, aren't they?

The abbey's foundation was built around 12oo. The original abbey, founded about 563 was made of wood. It is believed that parts of the Book of Kells may well have been illuminated here. In fact, when Iona was no longer safe, due to Viking invasions, monks from iona moved to the Abbey of Kells, in Ireland.

The stone crosses that are found on the island, and in the abbey's display, date back to 600.

During the Reformation, the Abbey suffered much damaged, but in 1899, the Duke of Argyll (like the argyll socks I used to wear in the early 80's when preppy was cool) gave the ownership over the the Church of Scotland. In 1902, work began to restore this building.

I walked around, took some more pictures, and then decided to walk back to the B&B so I could make arrangements to have dinner. While on the way, Pink Jesus and I decided to take a "rest and remember" moment on a bench. I wasn't sure what I was supposed to remember, I guess I had already forgot. I snapped this little picture of Pink Jesus with my bag. I told him that he didn't need to carry the bag, but he insisted.

I walked to the little pub/restaurant and made a reservation for 6:00 pm. Right, that left me about 30 minutes to unload my bag of the souvenirs and gifts I had purchased at the Abbey and Iona Community bookstore.

The Iona Community that meets at the Abbey for worship. The community was founded in 1938 and is interdenominational. The community includes those who live at the Abbey as full time residents, but many more of the members make a pilgrimmage to the community for special weeks of study, worship, etc. This week was one of the those weeks, so there were quite a lot of people about - both members and associate members, as well as the tourists.

A few members of the church where I am working are members of the community, they had invited me to come to the prayer service. So after dinner, I walked back up the hill. By now, the sun was shining (it was 8:30 at night) and I took this picture:

The prayer service was for peace and justice in the world. It was a beautiful, creative experience. And it really gave me something to think about. For example, in LA, most of us buy bottled water, but there are women in Nepal who travel 2-3 miles to fill jugs of water that is unsafe to drink. They know it is unsafe, and that it might kill them, or a member of their family, but it is the only water available to them. How many of us think about that when we buy our bottle of arrowhead. They gave a lot of other information, but I think I shall save it for a sermon or something. : )

After worship, the three folks from the church walked me back to my room, which incidentally was across the lane from the pub. So, we all went in for a drink. Since I had already had two pints with dinner (my first pints in the UK since I drank them illegally in high school, by the way), I decided to just have diet coke. I got in about midnight, to wait for Peter to call me, but there was no cell phone reception on the island. That is pretty darn remote.

I found Iona to be a beautiful place. There is just something incredibly special about the island, that I can't put into words. You immediately feel at home there, and peaceful. Perhaps it is because of the long journey, perhaps it is because there is very little link to the "outside" world, perhaps it is because the rocks that make up Iona are believed to be some of the oldest on the planet, I am not sure what it is, but it amazing.

I hope, with all my heart, to come back here sometime for a longer stay.

Road to Iona

2007-07-19T06:38:00.000-07:00

So, Monday was my trip to Iona.

Getting to Iona is quite a trip. Since I don't drive well, and didn't want to get lost, I decided to take the public transportation route. On this trip, I think I exhausted all forms of transportation with the exception of riding a donkey. I caught the 8:15 train to Stirling. Right, easy to do. Then, in Stirling, I walked down the street from the rail station to the bus stances. Unfortunately, I had been told of two different stances to stand and wait at. But, I found the right stance, and waited. A man from Nigeria started to talk to me. I couldn't understand a word he said because he had a Nigerian accent and a Glasgow accent, to great accents that didn't go so great together. I am sure the man thought I was a wee daft, because I had to keep saying, "sorry" so he would repeat. Then he would talk reaaaaaaaaaaaaaally, reaaaaaaaaaaaaally sloooooooooooow. Luckily, the bus arrived rather quickly, and soon I was on my way.

Well, not soon really.

The bus ride from Stirling to Oban is around 2 hours. No loo, and, apparently no passengers - except for the young son of the bus driver, who insisted on listening to the radio exceedingly loud, and one other man - a friend of the driver's. I sat in the back of the bus and listened to the Instant Karma CD, hoping that the instant Karma would keep me and Pink Jesus, who was resting in my bag underneath my pajama bottoms, safe.

I arrived in Oban (pronounced Ohbin) and walked down to the pier to catch the 11:50 ferry to Craignure. The ferry was quite large, and a lot of people were on board. It was about a 45 minute ferry ride. I snacked on some oatcakes and watched the rain. Oh, didn't I mention? It was raining the whole time.

Arrived in Craignure (with accent is pronounced Clahgnuere), on the Isle of Mull, about 12:40 ish, and walked off the pier. Not much happens in Craignure. It is mostly a place where people catch coaches to other places. I found the coach that would take me to the pier on the other side of the island and the port of Fionnphort. (Couldn't even tell you how to pronounce that one.)

The bus from Craignure to Fionnphort is an hour long ride. All the roads in Mull seem to be one lane roads with passing places. Now, driving on the Isle of Mull seems to be just one big game of chicken. You drive quickly to the passing places, hoping that you will reach a passing place for the cars coming from the other direction before you have to stop at a passing place for cars traveling in your direction. Sometimes, you reach a stand still, and someone has to reverse back to the nearest passing place. This is all fine and good in a little car, but in a big bus, it is harrowing. Just because we were bigger than the other cars did not mean we would win in a standstill situation. There were a couple of times, on the road, when the bus had to reverse back into a passing place. The countryside was beautiful! I have never seen so many different shades of green as I have in Scotland.

Finally, we arrived at Fionnphort. Now, if I had thought Craignure was a tiny town, nothing had prepared me for Fionnphort. Basically, it is just a dock, with a lot of unused machinery around it. The ferry is a boat with seat on the side and enough room to transport two cars at the max. Since there are no cars allowed on Iona (except with special permission), they don't need a big boat. When the ferry arrives, and the passengers disembark, they walk out of the center, where the cars would pull out. In some ways it looked like a bunch of refuges being released from the hull of the boat. The ferry ride was only about 15 minutes, and suddenly I found myself, a refuge from the big city, on this little island with a handful of B&B's, two small hotels, a few houses, two stores, and a restaurant/pub. The pictures on the link the left show a few of the first pictures I took after walking off the boat.

I checking to my B&B, which was across the one lane road from the restaurant and pub. The one lane road was more like walking across a driveway. The B&B was not fancy, but it was fine. My room had two beds, and a shared bathroom. I sat down, had a cup of tea to warm myself, and ate a piece of shortbread.

Got there safe, and somewhat sane, so the traveling part was pretty good. The rain wasn't too much of a bother.

Traveling scorecard since leaving Los Angeles and arriving at Iona:

Airplanes = 2
Buses = 1 (at Heathrow)
Trains= 1
Coaches= 2
Ferries= 2

New Words -
Wellies - short for Wellingtons - a type of rain boot that comes up to about the knee. Some of the teenagers have quite fancy wellies with flowers, monkeys or stars painted on them.
Brella - short for Umbrella. The lady in the coffee shop at the Stirling bus station called out to a couple, "'Ey, Yoo left yer brella!"
sdfj iwruhgwcnasucb - Nigerian/glasgowian word for something, I have no idea what it was
Coaches - a bus that is fancier than a regular public bus

Photos

2007-07-18T10:16:00.000-07:00

So, I am back from my trip to Iona, and I am even going to attempt to put up some pictures.

These were both taken at 10 pm from the window in the computer room. Pink Jesus likes this spot very much!

Saturday evening and Sunday

2007-07-14T19:16:00.000-07:00

So, I must admit that I did not make it Tesco last night. I just didn't feel like doing the walk. But, never fear, I did have pizza. I ordered from Domino's and had it delivered. I got pepperoni because when I asked Pink Jesus if I should order sausage, he said, "no chance in hell." It was quite good, cost £9 for a large, so about $18.00. I don't know if it was worth $18.00, but a little taste of home was good.

This morning, I slept in a little bit and got to the church at about 9:30. People definitely come earlier to worship here than they do at Encino. People were in the pews, and ready to go. Not like the mass of people who enter after the first hymn back home (I AM NOT NAMING NAMES, I PROMISE). Worship doesn't start until 11 am, and with not having to program the sanctuary, turn on lights, unlock, setup Sunday School, etc, it felt quite strange to not be there at 7:30 am.

A few of the ladies invited me to come back this evening for a special healing service they have once a month. I thought it would be interesting, but I didn't want to walk all the way home and all the way back to the church. So, I walked a little around Perth. I found the city centre Tesco - not as large as the one I went to with Nan. I bought a few items to eat for lunch and then, found the movie theatre, where I saw, "Die Hard 4.0" (which is apparently the name of the movie here.) When I asked for a ticket to "Live Free or Die Hard" the man had no idea what I was talking about. (It cost £5 for the movie, and you picked your seat as you bought your ticket - so the movie theatre was a mix between the arclight and the $2.00 theatre in North Hollywood) The movie ended about 4:30, about the time most of you were getting up this morning. I walked back to the church and went to the service. A very peaceful quiet time of meditation and song. Then, I was lucky enough to be offered a ride home by a nice younger couple.

Ok, new things I have learned: (pronouned - nu thins eye haev layearned)
DIGESTIBLES - graham crackers - does that mean other cookies are not? at any rate, I bought some milk chocolate, caramel digestibles and can't wait until after dinner to see if they truly live up to their name
TEA AND A BLETHER - tea and a good chat - the church here hosts tea and a blether about once a month
CEILIDH - (prrrrronewnced Kay-Lee) a scottish social gathering with food, music and dance. "The kay-erk ees hostin ay kaylee fer ya on Friday, ahren't the?" (Translation - The church is hosting a ceilidh for you on Friday, right?) The answer is yes, they are actually. I am quite excited. A few of the men told me that they are "waerin theyre kilts"
DIET PEPSI - something other than diet pepsi as we know it. So far, the diet coke has tasted the same. But, what I received at the movie theatre was definitely NOT diet pepsi.
CHRISTIAN ED - this is quite funny, actually. Nan was telling me that Marjorie, one of the women I met on Friday evening was in charge of Christian Ed for everythin north of Edinburgh in all of Scotland. When I spoke with Marjorie after worship this evening, I told her that I was truly hoping to meet her sometime for lunch. She had just returned from Malawi, Africa, and I was intrigued about her trip. So, we agreed to meet for lunch on Wednesday. I just looked her up on the web, and boy was I wrong - she works for Christian AID. Wow, glad I found that out before I put my foot in my mouth. : )

Pronounciations:
Oban (town I travel to tomorrow for the first part of my journey to Iona) - Ohbin
Iona (birthplace of Celtic Christianity, an island) - Eye-ohna

Well, that is all for now. I won't be writing again until Tuesday evening, when I have returned from Iona.

Until then,
Cheers!
Janelle

ps. if you have been wondering where the pictures of pink jesus are, never fear. I am waiting for the digital camera cord to arrive from America, apparently it never made its way to my suitcase.

Saturday, 14 July

2007-07-13T03:16:00.002-07:00

Well, this morning I slept in, because I didn't get home until very late. Nan took me to Edinburgh to meet her daughter and have lunch. We didn't go into the city, but Siobhan (pronounced Shihvahn) and I took a walk in Inverleith Park. Quite a lovely park. A large pond with ducks, geese, swans, pigeons and seagulls. Other areas had rugby fields, cricket, tennis, allotment gardens so those who live in the city can grow a bit of veg and herbs (pronouced with the h). It really was a large park. Reminded me of the size of central park in ny.

Then, Nan and I returned to Perth. It was a nice day to be out. The rain from yesterday evening and early this morning has seemed to go away, and there is a lovely view of the hills from the office window.

I am a little disappointed that on such a nice day, I can not go out for another drive. But, I do have things to finish here at the house for worship tomorrow.

A few new things I learned:
Bramble - Blackberry - "Bramble Crumble is so delicious"
Synd (pronounced "sign") - to rinse a dish - One of the ladies said to me, "Let me give your plate a wee synd" This was because I had put my salad on the plate that would be later used for cheese.
Bits - used in place of the word "things"
Commute - Used not just for multiple people going to work. At the end of the evening last night, the lady who had picked me up said, "Ready to commute, then?"
Isn't it - I think this is one of my favorite ones. It is how you end a declarative sentence to make it not sound so declarative. "It is a beautiful day, isn't it." Doesn't really mean, "Is it a beautiful day?" It's more like, I am making this statement, which is a fact, but I don't want it to seem like I am making a statement, which is a fact, now do I? (this gets used a lot of different ways, and it always makes one pause, doesn't it)
Wee - originally I didn't think people actually used this word, but they do! Wee means a little.

Well, that is all for now. I may take a wee walk to the City Centre for some fresh veg from M & S, and I might see how far away the Tesco is. If it is not too far, I may pick up some of that pizza that I burned on Thursday night. Ever since I burned it, I have been craving it, haven't I?

-Janelle

Driving and Dinner

2007-07-13T03:16:00.001-07:00

Well, I didn't die, or kill anyone else when I went driving yesterday. However, I am so uncomfortable with the driving situation, that I think I shall scrap the whole idea and just walk to places. Most of the areas are quite hilly, which is really difficult to manage when you are not used to using the hand brake, gear box, clutch, etc. I would certainly feel more mobile and less couped up if I were more comfortable with the driving. I really had thought I could do it, but I am beginning to be really sure that I can not.
Nan says I am doing fine. But, I don't feel fine about it. Everytime the car rolled backwards, I almost had a heart attack. We went driving for about 30 minutes, and I was so very shaky afterwards. This makes me very disappointed. I had hoped to drive around some, see the countryside, etc. But, it's just not going to happen, as far as I can tell.

Dinner last night was lovely. Ham, potatoes, carrot salad, onion quiche, salad, tomatoes with basil. Then, we had strawberries and meringues. Then, we had a cheese course with coffee and tea. LOTS of food. Lots of laughter, and good conversation. I didn't return home until about 1:00 this morning.

It was a terrific evening!

Comfort Shmomfort

2007-07-13T03:16:00.000-07:00

It is Friday the 13th, and I am just waiting to see what will happen.

Now, I am not overly superstitious, but, I have to admit, being out of my comfort zone as I am, I can't help but wonder what the day will bring.

Today I will have my first attempt at driving a manual transmission on the wrong side of the road. If that doesn't beg for a Friday the 13th disaster, I don't know what does. : )

Yesterday was interesting. I was picked up by Nan (my saving grace here in Scotland) and taken to the church. I met some of the folks there, went over the bulletin (which they call "the order of worship") and took a tour of the facility. A LOT of rooms. Many of them require you to go through many other rooms to get to them. Somewhat confusing for a newcomer.

Pink Jesus made the trip just fine. He has suffered from a bit of jet lag. But, never fear, by this time tomorrow you'll see some more pictures of him.

There are a few noticable differences in language around here. Namely, I don't know how to pronounce anything! (this should be read - Ah dewn't knew ha-ew tew prewnownce eh-knee-thin). : )

Other interesting word differences:
Intimations - these are the announcements, read before worship
Creche - the nursery for the infants
Wee Kirk (kirk is pronouced - caerrrrrrrrrk) - sunday school for children
Fortnight - I bet you thought this word went out with Shakespeare. You would be wrong. Turns out, a fortnight is 14 days, and this word gets used a LOT more than the words, "Two Weeks". I really noticed this because people have been asking when Peter is going to arrive. They usually answer their own question with the words, in a fortnight, right? Or about a fortnight, a fortnight Wednesday past, and a few other conglomerations of words that I don't quite understand. Suffice it to say, yes, I will be glad when Peter is here, because people will stop using the word, "fortnight." (I will also be glad when he is here for other reasons, but pink Jesus doesn't want me to get all gushy on this blog that is supposed to be about him. I know this because when I asked him if I should get gushy, he said, "Sinner." If that is not a sign, I don't know what is.)

Other things I have noticed so far:
Grocery Shopping - there are two options so far, that I have found in Perth. The first is called, "Tesco," to some they are the Wal-Mart of Scotland - they "seem tew have their hand in everythin" (to quote Nan) This place is a grocery store with a section for clothing, etc. Sort of like "Fred Meyer" in Washington State. They have some neat ready made entrees that keep in the fridge. The other grocery store is Marks and Spencer. Picture a small Macy's with a small Gelson's at the back. That is Mark's and Spencer in Perth. So, you can pick up some sweats, and buy some sweets, or get a pair of shoes and some pears, or purchase some "knickers" and buy some...well, you get the picture. : ) Yesterday was their grand re-opening, and they were serving mimosas as you walked in the door. Gotta love that! But, I didn't have any, since I was frantically trying to find an international calling card. I finally found one.

Chip and Pin - no, I am not talking about eating fries whilst playing a game of ten pin. Chip and pin is the technology they use on all their credit/debit cards. What this means is, unless you go to a bank - no one will accept your card for purchases. Thankfully, Peter had picked up some £s for me before I left. Then, I used an ATM for some more cash.

Pink Jesus's head was spinning like the girl on "the exorcist," when I told him about all these differences. (He had decided to stay home and sleep whilst I went walking into town - about a 15 minute walk). He didn't have much to say, though. Only, "Pray Harder."......Which I definitely did when trying to use the oven last night....
I had not had a full meal since Wednesday evening - no breakfast or lunch on Thursday, and by the time dinner rolled around, I was so hungry that nothing sounded good, EXCEPT the Tesco pizza that was in the fridge, waiting to be baked. I followed the instructions for temperature, but there were all these funny symbols on the oven - one looked like a fan, one was a fan with wavy lines over it, one was just wavy lines. I figured this must be a convection oven, and the fan with the wavy lines was what I wanted. Turns out, convection ovens cook things A LOT faster. It wan't long before the pleasant smell of baking pizza turned into the horrble smell of burnt cheese. YUCK! So, I nuked the Tesco lasagna and had the small container of Tesco Tabouleh salad with feta cheese. The salad was really tasty - the lasagna, not so much.

Well, I suppose that sums up yesterday. It is noon on Friday, I am going to go make a sandwich and have some crisps (potato chips to you Yanks). I'll blog more this evening, after my dance with the devil (otherwise known as Scotland driving) and the dinner party I am attending this evening at Nan's (please, don't let her serve haggis).

Until then, cheers!

And another thing...

2007-07-11T14:16:00.001-07:00

I'm not complaining, really. But truly the sun must not get enough sleep around here. It didn't completely go away until well after 11 pm and it was back up, bright and shiny beginning around 4 am.

I'm Here

2007-07-11T14:16:00.000-07:00

Wow! I am finally here in Scotland. It is currently 10:18 at night and the sun is still out. What?!?!? How am I ever going to get adjusted to the new time zone when it looks like 7:30 pm outside?

Pink Jesus is still in the suitcase. I am really too tired to take him out and do the rest of the unpacking. Tomorrow for sure.

Until then, I need to take some benadryl, drink a beer, or SOMETHING.

Are you ready?

2007-07-02T07:12:00.000-07:00

In a mere 8 days, I will depart for on my UK adventure. There is so much to get done between now and then, I find myself wondering why I am wasting time writing my first blog post.
Feel free to fill out this survey, and tell me what other things you think I should be doing to waste precious time before I leave for the U.K.