Rural Scotland

After a hard work week I was looking forward to today, leap day, taking it off to do some more hiking. No such luck. The weather is gross. But I thought I might share a few photos from recent walks, all remarkably near Edinburgh.

Christina, Z and I went to see Lauriston Castle and the suburb of Cramond. It is adjacent to the same body of water we live along, the Firth of Forth. The castle is publicly owned and, while they weren't giving tours that day, the grounds were beautiful, and we had them all to ourselves. After the castle we walked out to Cramond Island, which is about a half a mile walk across a strip of land when the tide is out.





More recently we hopped on a bus going to another castle. Except it wasn't the right bus, and we ended up nowhere near the castle. We did, however, end up at a splendidly pastoral stretch of land on the edge of the Pentlands, just south of Edinburgh. We pushed the stroller a mile and a half up a muddy trail, but the views were worth it. It was the first time we had genuinely been out of the urban environment in months, so it felt good.





And just last weekend I went out for a "stroll" with friends from church. Six hours later my feet were hamburger, but we did see some tremendous tracks of land. Scotland has a roaming law that allows hikers to cross other people's property, permitting us to see some fairly remote areas of the Borders, a surprisingly uninhabited stretch along the England-Scotland dividing line. I especially enjoyed the number of grouse spotted along the way (how I miss my shotgun!), as well as some old-school stone sheep pens.





With a new baby backpack, we're ready to take on more trails. We're here in Scotland, right? We'd be fools to hole ourselves up in the city.

Wings of Hay and Corn Husks

As I was strolling around you.tube this afternoon I came across this video, which is of a song called "Lawrence, KS" by one of my favorite singer/songwriters, Josh Ritter.




This song has many layers for me, since I grew up in Lawrence, KS. How clearly I remember the house on Mississippi Street, the Pinkney School tunnel, the tennis courts up near KU stadium, walking around the block with my dog. When I visit Lawrence now I find it much changed, or at least so it appears to my adult eyes. And much of it seems for the worse. It seems more broken, more despairing, more centered on things that are fading away. But even so, it must not be left behind. Walking the streets of my childhood, I hope for resurrection at every corner.

February Dreaming

I'm afraid that February is not my favorite month of the year. Cold, dark, snowy, rainy . . . you know how it is. So usually in February I tend to daydream a little. Daydream of choice this February: St. John. I couldn't resist posting a view pictures. Sigh . . . we look so warm.

All About Z

He gets mesmerized by the red-eye light and refuses to smile.

Hanging out.

Getting ready for a walk.

Playing computer games with Daddy.

Z has started eating solid food. As you can see, carrots, at least mushed up carrots, are not his favorite.

He likes yogurt quite a bit more.

Out to see the sea.

Z rolled over for the first time about a month ago!

Prince of Egypt

"An Army of Women . . ."

Last Friday we were at a friend's house for a church get-together. Our pastor is resigning, so it was kind of a farewell gathering for him and his wife, who everyone will miss very much, including Nathan and me, who only met them two months ago. Our church, part of the Scottish Episcopal church, is not very large, but has provided wonderful encouragement for us in the last weeks. It is a beautiful and biblical combination of the true preaching of the Word and the true celebration of the sacrament of the Lord's Supper. I have never, in all my life, felt so genuinely refreshed by church, and I'm convinced it is that combination of Word and sacrament that is so powerful.

Anyway, at this little gathering on Friday night I was chatting with our pastor and another member of the congregation. Our pastor has a kind of booming, jovial voice and this other gentleman is the epitomy of the very English professor with a wonderfully dry sense of humor. We were discussing World War II in England, since both of their parents had lived and worked through the war. Our pastor mentioned that his mother spent the war X-raying bombs to make sure that they had no defects. I mentioned that women in the States also worked during the war, but when the men came home, they were expected to quietly return to their lives as mothers and homemakers, which many of them did not exactly wish to do.

Our pastor boomed out, "Yes, that's the mistake you women made! Why anyone would want to get trapped into the workforce, I don't know! Here women could stay at home in peace and quiet and raise their children, and yet they insisted on going out into the workforce!"

I sensibly proposed that perhaps not all women wanted to stay at home and have babies. Our pastor paused, clearly searching for the proper responce, when the other gentlemen neatly stepped in to save the moment, saying very benevolently, "There's that famous old quote from Chesterton: 'An army of a thousand women will not be dictated to. So they all went out and got jobs as secretaries.'"

Moment of silence, and then great guffaws from the men! What could I do but join in? It was SO funny!

Mustard and Conditioner, Hold the Tomato...

As it is a royal pain to lug heavy items from our supermarket (1 mile away) to our flat, we have taken to ordering groceries from Tesco.com. They deliver for a nominal charge, so once in a while we splurge and order a variety of goods online.

Anyhew, a couple of days ago we got a shipment. They brought everything but one item. They didn't have Christina's Garnier Fructis Active Fruit Complex Conditioner. When Tesco doesn't have a certain item, they send a suitable alternative. Except this time the alternative was Lay's Chip Sensations - Chili and Coriander flavor. As delicious as they looked, we rejected their proposed substitute.

This is a problem, people. When haircare products begin sounding so edible that they're interchanged with fried potato goodness, we may properly predict the end of our society.

Christmas Memories

Nathan's mother, Lisa, came out from California to spend Christmas here in Scotland. We had all sorts of fun exploring Edinburgh, going shopping, snapping pics and doing fine dining. Z came away from his first Christmas with all sorts of new (often funny) clothing and a new best buddy, a stuffed cow named Mobley.