Cheery Christmas!

I was thinking about various holiday greetings recently and found myself comparing the phrases "Happy Hanukkah" and "Merry Christmas." "Happy Hanukkah" has such nice alliteration to it as opposed to "Merry Christmas." I did find an explanation of "Merry Christmas" and other Christmas phrases here, but I'm going to start using "Cheery Christmas" anyways. It still isn't alliterative, but I think it has a much nicer ring to it than "Merry Christmas." What do you think?

Christmas party roundup

I had the last of my Christmas parties today, so it's time for a summary of the good times.

First off, Friday night was the dancers' Christmas party out in BA. The nice thing about this party is you get to people who don't come to dance whether by choice or by health. The guys' and girls' gift exchanges are done separately so the men don't have to put up with our stealing fun. I gave a crystal swan I had bought in Scotland, but I made it a bit too difficult to open. I wound up with shortbread, a glass mug, and some specialty coffees, but the person who bought that gift knows I don't drink coffee, so she offered to take the coffee for herself and get me some tea. The most popular gifts of the evening were a pair of singing Scottie dogs.

The Previous Christmas party was on Sunday afternoon, but the cook was sick so the festivities were scaled down to a trip to Cafe China without a gift exchange. At the previous Previous meeting, they made a big deal about dressing in festive attire but nobody was festive but me. I didn't feel awkward. I was just just disappointed for everybody else that they didn't have so much fun with the holiday spirit. As for me, I was quite happy wearing my red kilt and a poinsettia in my braid.

One more party to go - the office party. We have a super-sized version of our monthly birthday lunch. After stuffing ourselves full of great food, we have a stealing-style gift exchange. The stuffed puppy and cocoa I gave went through a couple of steals. I was all set to steal a red fleece blanket for its last steal when the round of stealing right before my number went one steal to long and someone else beat me to the last available steal on the blanket. Nothing else seemed stealworthy for me personally, so to the tree I went where I unwrapped a jam server that I hung onto until the end of the game. It is decorated in clover - pink and green - so it matches my other ceramic kitchen decor, but not the overall theme I'm trying to give my kitchen. I've got a kitchen with a split personality half dark green and dark red, half light green and pink.

"Stupid Survey"

I got this forwarded from Chris and thought, Hey, why not? (I'm not too good at one-word answers, though.)

01. WHAT COLOR ARE YOUR KITCHEN PLATES? one set is clear glass, t'other multi colored
02. WHAT BOOK ARE YOU READING NOW? I don't remember the name of the current one, but I'm getting ready to re-read The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe
03. WHAT IS ON YOUR MOUSE PAD? My mouse isn't on a pad, but I have a really cool one from Scotland that has Edinburgh Castle, a Westie, Castle Urquhart, Wallace Memorial, a Scottish piper, the Forth Bridge, highland cattle, Balmoral Castle, Greyfriars Bobby, and St. Andrews.
04. FAVORITE BOARD GAME? Shetland Yard, maybe
05. LEAST FAVORITE SMELLS? sour milk
06. WHAT IS THE FIRST THING YOU THINK OF WHEN YOU WAKEUP IN THE MORNING? what I need to do that day
07. FAVORITE COLOR? green or brown - brown just seems rather underappreciated, but it has such a wonderful variety of beautiful shades
08. LEAST FAVORITE COLOR? pink
09. HOW MANY RINGS BEFORE YOU ANSWER THE PHONE? however many it takes to find the phone
10. WHAT WOULD BE YOUR NEXT CHILD'S NAME? Janna Kathryn
11. CHOCOLATE OR VANILLA? that depends on too many outside factors
12. DO YOU LIKE TO DRIVE FAST? when the speed limit is fast
13. DO YOU SLEEP WITH A STUFFED ANIMAL? on occasion, Sammy Sad Sack
14. DO YOU LIKE THUNDERSTORMS? of course
15. WHAT WAS YOUR FIRST CAR? '93 blue Ford Escort, the same one I've got now
16. WHAT IS YOUR SIGN? Taurus - maybe that should be my next car
17. DO YOU EAT THE STEMS OF BROCCOLI? umm, yeah
18. IF YOU COULD HAVE ANY JOB WHAT WOULD IT BE? a board game tester
19. IF YOU COULD HAVE ANY COLOR HAIR, WHAT WOULD IT BE? light strawberry brown
20. IS THE GLASS HALF FULL OR HALF EMPTY? half full
21. FAVORITE MOVIE? Singin' In the Rain
22. DO YOU TYPE WITH YOUR FINGERS ON THE RIGHT KEYS? usually, but lately stuff's been coming out garbled
23. WHAT IS UNDER YOUR BED? a table
24. KETCHUP OR MUSTARD? both
25. HAMBURGER OR HOT DOG? hot dog
26. WHAT IS YOUR FAVORITE SEASON? Fall
27. BEST PLACE YOU HAVE EVER BEEN? Scotland
28. WHAT WALLPAPER IS ON YOUR COMPUTER RIGHT NOW? some inland view of St. Croix
29. FAVORITE FAST FOOD? Long John Silver's or any taco joint
30. SPICY OR MILD? mild

Scottish Word of the Week

So I was just reading about Ernie Els return to golf after his knee injury earlier in the year, and I came across the following description of it: "Ernie Els' timeous recovery from his knee injury will enable him to play in his 14th Nedbank Golf Challenge at Sun City." What? Wait a minute. Is "timeous" a word? Yep, it sure is, and it turns out it's chiefly Scottish at that even though it was used in a South African news posting.

Per Encarta World Dictionary.
timeous
time·ous
adjective
Definitions:
Scotland timely: happening or done in good time
time·ous·ly adv

Kelpies!

Last Thursday didn't get any more normal by going to dance. We actually only danced two dances - and super easy ones at that - Circassian Circle and Petronella. The majority of the evening was spent walking through a 7-couple dance called "The Kelpie of Loch Coruisk." Yes, a 14 person dance. Beth's patience with us was admirable as she did an incredible job conducting us through the dance.

What a day!

Today has actually been interesting enough to seem a little blogworthy.

My morning sleep was restless, so I gave myself an extra 15 minutes to sleep in. Then it took me three tries to find an outfit even with my system (which I'll blog about later). Sleeping in requires breakfast on the go so I popped a couple of waffles in the toaster and ate them in the car. Upon arriving at work, I decided I needed some grapefruit juice to rejuvenate me. When I went to get the juice, the vending machine ate my quarter.

The rest of my morning was uneventful except for the surprising news that David Duval is leading the Dunlop Phoenix golf tournament in Japan. For all you non-golf fans who think that name slightly rings a bell, I should explain that DD was the number one golfer in the world for a while back around the beginning of 2000. Since then he has gone into a slump of monumental proportions. This year on the PGA Tour (where he still has an exemption to play being a major champion) he only made one cut. That is why much of the golf world was stunned to awake this morning to the news that Mr. Duval is at the top of the leaderboard, a stroke ahead of Tiger Woods.

Back to my day... When I got back from lunch, a button fell off of my sweater vest so I exchanged it for the spare navy cardigan from highschool that I keep hanging in my office. Much to my amusement, I actually got a comment on my "pretty blue sweater." Walking down the hall later in the afternoon, I was surprised to find a puzzle piece in the pocket of the sweater until I remembered it was something the assistant APA coordinator gave all the APAs my junior year of college. One of those odd memories that springs up from time to time.

My task lately at work has been what I call "The Taming of the Muckle Muck." It's a reconciliation that got passed to me this summer, and now that I have a good grasp of it, I thought I'd go back and clean up the report because the prior accountant working on this reconciliation passed it to me with pages of items that they hadn't cleared against other months reconciliations. Anyways, at one point I became so flabbergasted that I couldn't stop laughing.

My day at work was capped off with a nice messy piece of chocolate cake, and now I get to go Scottish dancing.

New apartment

First off, I want to mention that I edited the arrangement of my Scotland trip to give it its own page in my links.

On to the subject at hand, I moved into a smaller apartment in my same building last week. I loved where I was but it just seemed silly to me to pay rent for a 2-bedroom just for me. Now, I'm in a loft style apartment with the bedroom upstairs and the living area downstairs. Sneaking a few extra trips up and down stairs into my life should be good for me.

The move over went well. With the help of Mom and Dad, 2 Scottish dancers, 1 church friend, and 1 random guy from ORU that recruited we got the task done in an hour and a half.

Well, that's about it. Nothing too exciting about it other than the mere fact that moving is an event in and of itself.

Flapjacks

I've searched far and wide for a good recipe for flapjacks, those wonderful oat bars I discovered while vacationing in Scotland. After several tries, I've finally adapted a recipe that works for me and was met with hearty approval by my fellow dancers.

Scottish Flapjacks

5 ounces butter
2 heaping tablespoons light brown sugar
4 tablespoons honey
2 heaping cups steel-cut oats
1 medium banana, mashed
2 heaping tablespoons chopped dates

Preheat oven to 375°F. Spray a small baking tin (8"x8", 7"x11", or 9"x9") with cooking spray. Melt the butter, sugar, and honey. Add the rest of the ingredients mixing everything well. Pour the mix into the baking tin and bake for 25 minutes. Cut into fingers(bars) whilst still warm and allow to cool completely before removing from the pan.

Enjoy!

(Edit 11/11: I just noticed that I used the word "whilst" above. I don't think I did it intentionally just to use an uncommon form of the word "while." I believe it was simply a typo, but since it's a typo that actually works in a way I can't bring myself to correct it.)

Oktoberfest 2005

Oktoberfest was as wonderful as always. It was nice to have new costumes again and dance in our kilted skirts. (Come to think of it I never mentioned my new skirt here. How did that happen? I got a beautiful Royal Stewart kilted skirt made by Edinburgh Woolen Mills on E-Bay for less than $20 including shipping. It was all I could talk about for the week after I got it.) So, anyways, back to Oktoberfest... The performance went great. Laurabelle was actually able to do all the dances she was going to do before breaking her wrist except for the one she broke her wrist in.

A little on our program...

O! My America! - Originally written by Scots immigrating to America. We learned this dance after Hurricane Katrina in honor of the way Americans came together to help each other. This dance features Schiehallion's Reel - a figure like a Grand Chain without touching. My partner: Lara.

Lost in Edinburgh - We danced this in honor of the adventure I mentioned in the last post when Beth broke her wrist. My partner: Brian.

Belle of Bon Accord - Beth and I learned this Strathspey at the dance class we visited in Strathaven, Scotland. My partner: Lance.

Quarrie's Jig - A complicated dance several "learned" after I left Scotland, but no one really learned it until Beth sat down and made sense of it for herself and taught it to us back in Tulsa. I didn't dance this one.

Preston Mill - A very new 5-couple dance Beth introduced after several travelers visited this National Trust of Scotland site. I was the alternate, but Laurabelle was up for dancing.

Hebridean Weaving Lilt - A unique dance performed to mouth, or waulking, music and danced as a running step rather than the usual skipping or strathspey step. This dance features an intricate weaving/unweaving figure that the audience really liked (judging by their applause). My partner: Sara.

Of broken wrists and resulting adventures

Several of my fellow travelers to Scotland stayed there an additional three weeks after I had left. In this time, Beth, the group leader, managed to fall and break her wrist during a visit to Edinburgh. According to the recounts I heard upon their return to Oklahoma, this led to quite an adventure trying to find a hospital in the unfamiliar streets of Edinburgh followed by the experience of a Scottish hospital complete with "hat bowls" and purple gloves.

Beth's wrist has since healed, and we've been busy preparing for one of our biggest performances of the year: Oktoberfest. All was going well - we could do the program several times in an evening with time to spare when it happened - Laurabelle broke her wrist in the middle of our dress rehearsal 10 days before the big event. She was laughing so hard during the dance that at the point where she's supposed to kneel then rise she lost her balance when rising and heard/felt a snap after she reached down to break her fall. So everyone hopped in their cars and caravaned over to the hospital where we managed to get lost in the parking lot even though it wasn't Edinburgh. The ER secretary was a bit shocked when a whole crew of kilted folk appeared at her desk at once. She was glad to find out that we were all just there for moral support for Laurabelle (and of course not to miss a second hospital adventure).

Stay tuned to find out how Oktoberfest went.

T.G.I. Friday's: Mild or Wild

You've probably seen the T.G.I. Friday's commercial for their Mild or Wild 3-course meal. Well, they've got a little Mild or Wild Challenge to help you decide which menu you should go with. The reason I like this particular quiz is that they are willing to admit they can't peg me and in doing so pegged me quite accurately as Mildly Wild. Try the challenge yourself here.

Pat on the back

I'd just like to briefly crow that I called the Seve Trophy score dead on (GB&I 16 1/2, Contintent 11 1/2) and was within 1/2 a point of the final results of the Presidents Cup (US 18 1/2, International 15 1/2). With two matches to go, the Presidents Cup was a little too close to a tie for comfort. That putt by DiMarco was such a huge relief. Every once in a while a tie might not be too bad of a thing but not two years in a row!

John Q. Hammons Hotel Classic

I suppose it's about time I report on my experience working at the golf tournament last week. My main job was to sit across from the golfers as they finished their rounds in groups of three and add their scorecards once they had checked the numbers for each hole. Christina Kim was in the very first group that came into the trailer and she stared at me intensely while I added the numbers. Inside, I was panicking and thinking, "What if I added them wrong. What will she think?" It was quite disconcerting, but of course I had to write a number down and so I had to get over those thoughts pretty quick. The golfers were all pretty nice, but naturally matter of fact as they were going about their ordinary business of course. A few were especially friendly and made small talk while waiting for the others from their group. A few were a little more sour simply because they hadn't played well and just wanted to get on with their days.

On Friday afternoon, I worked at the 18th hole scoring trailer, and took the role of the scoring volunteer who made sure that we got the walking scorer's tabulation. This meant I spent plenty of time out by the green and was able to watch most of the women play the hole. The hole placement was pretty difficult and very few birdied it. One of the grandstands provided plenty of shade where I was, so the heat was not unbearable. On one of the very few groups when I stayed busy in the trailer, a golfer overshot the green. I, minding my own business, found myself under attack with a sudden startling loud Klunk! as her ball bounced off the roof of trailer. The ball landed on the wrong side of the trailer, so she had to try to hit it over coming back and managed to hit the roof again on the return shot. Someone joked, "Does she get a bonus for hitting it twice?"

On Saturday, I worked at the 9th hole and the volunteers seemed a bit more disorganized, so I spent most of the time manning the scoring table in the trailer. Jennifer Rosales' caddy gave me one of J-Ro's golf balls and it was marked with two colorful flowers. I also got a golf ball that Michelle Ellis left behind. I did get to watch about 8 groups including Annika Sorenstam come through at the halfway points in their rounds. I also noticed that Catriona Matthew (of Scotland) had www.visitscotland.com on her bag.

All in all, I enjoyed working in the scoring trailer and would do it again in a heartbeat.

Team Golf

This week it's time for two big events in men's golf. The President's Cup between the US and International players and the less publicized (in America at least) Seve Trophy between Great Britain/Ireland and Continental Europe. I did an analysis similar to the Solheim Cup, but I won't bore you with the details just the results.

President's Cup - It's a close call, but I'll say US comes out on top thanks to strong singles play. US 18, International 16.

Seve Trophy - I came up with the British Isles on top, but that may be because I'm familiar with more members of that team. GB&I 16.5, Continent 11.5.

Interlude

"If all your friends jumped off a bridge, would you jump too?"

This age-old metaphorical question visited my thoughts last night, and it occurred to me that the fitting answer for me would be, "Probably, but not from the bridge." Knowing me, I'd head for the high ground supporting the bridge and jump from there.

Golf

I was trying to do an analysis of where I went wrong on my Solheim Cup prediction, but it was taking too long so here's my rant instead.

The sports report Monday morning on the local news was pitiful. Pitiful! They only reported on football. Granted it was the big opening NFL weekend and there were all the college games, but Hello?! Tennis's U.S. Open was this weekend, but I suppose a face off between Andre Agassi and Roger Federer in a Grand Slam event just isn't scintillating enough material. To cap it all off, they made no mention whatsoever of the Solheim Cup. The Solheim Cup! One of the biggest women's golf events of the year. Maybe, maayybe, I could have passed it over if the American's had lost, but we won! There were no highlights at all. Not of Paula Creamer trouncing Laura Davies, not of Annika Sorenstam's game efforts to keep the Europeans alive, nothing. I am sorely disappointed.

Of course there will be more than enough coverage this week, since the LPGA is actually in town.

Quiz

Well, since I played a female pirate this week, a fitting question would be who were the two most famous pirates in Irish history?

Higlight below for answer:

Grace O'Malley and Anne Bonny

Interlude

Have you ever had a night of dreaming so realistic followed by a day so similarly strange to the prior nights dreams that the only way you can tell the difference between the two is the peculiar TU Corn Dog Dance that could only occur in a dream? Of course not. You've never seen the TU Corn Dog Dance while asleep or awake.

All silliness aside (right), Thursday and Friday were really like that for me as I became so obsessed with my pointless yet eventually successful goal of getting my tax returns done that I was doing taxes in my sleep while everyone else danced in the hallways (the dancing being in the dreams only of course). But now I can giddily dance all I want since I'm done!

Review

This week I have a double review for two romantic comedies.

Despite initial doubts on the entertainment value of Monster-in-Law, I was pleasantly surprised to find myself enjoying the characters Jane Fonda and Jennifer Lopez portrayed. The feud was just unrealisticly bizarre enough that the movie made for a pleasant and amusing break from reality.

On the flip side, The Wedding Date, did nothing but dissapoint. The characters were shallow, rude, vulgar, and not in the least bit funny. I can't say I wanted anyone in the movie to be the hero or heroine and the "villains" weren't any better.

Interlude

It just struck me 45 minutes ago how close September 15 (tax deadline) is, so that's all I have time to say in today's interlude.

Wordplay/Link

This week's link is OneLook, the most comprehensive dictionary reference source online. In and of itself, I suppose it's not a particularly exciting link, but it's the source for my wordplay of the week also. Using OneLook, you can play solitaire word association by selecting a word from the similar words list.

Example:
By using the first unused word in each list, September can be related to Pininfarina (a world-class automobile designer).

September
sep
sept
family
kin
akin
related
germane
appropriate
apposite
appositely
Pininfarina

Interlude

Aaarrr!

I was in my first parade this weekend. While visiting friends in Henryetta, I was invited to be a pirate in their float. We wore red & white striped shirts, bandanas, and eyepatches. It was a lot of fun. I even got to ride instead of watching by offering to watch the kids. I've got my parade wave down now. Best of all, though, was that Chadana was there too all the way from Israel on summer break!

Golf

The Solheim Cup between the U.S. and European women golfers is this week, so I thought I'd do a comparison of the teams.

U.S.A. Europe Favored Comments

1. Cristie Kerr vs. Annika Sörenstam (Sweden) - Sörenstam - Pretty straightforward.
2. Meg Mallon vs. Laura Davies (England) - Davies - Seems be having a better year than Mallon, as long as accuracy is not key.
3. Juli Inkster vs. Ludivine Kreutz (France) - Kreutz - The stats favor Europe again.
4. Rosie Jones vs. Maria Hjorth (Sweden) - Hjorth - She's been playing well, and, hey, she went to school in Scotland.
5. Pat Hurst vs. Iben Tinning (Denmark) - Hurst - Both ladies have played excellently this year, but Hurst gets extra confidence points for coming in fresh off of a win.
6. Natalie Gulbis vs. Trish Johnson (England) - Gulbis - Johnson just hasn't shone much this year, and Natalie's stats are great.
7. Christina Kim vs. Gwladys Nocera (France) - Nocera - Kim has been unimpressive this year.
8. Paula Creamer vs. Carin Koch (Sweden) - Koch - I think this is the best matchup on the list. Koch is having a great year, and she did go to school here in Tulsa after all. Creamer is on fire in her rookie year. (Note: What is it about the intials PC and comments related to U.S. vs. Europe team golf events?) Anyways, I decided Koch gets experience points.
9. Michele Redman vs. Catriona Matthew (Scotland) - Matthew - These two are pretty well matched but I pick Matthew not because of her homeland but because her last two showings were stronger than Redman's.
10. Laura Diaz vs. Suzann Pettersen (Norway) - Diaz - Neither has been impressive. Diaz gets my vote just because she's played all season, and Petterson was out for much of it.
11.Wendy Ward vs. Sophie Gustafson (Sweden) - Ward - Both have been hit and miss, but Ward did better in this year's match play.
12. Beth Daniel vs. Karen Stupples (England) - Daniel - Similar records, but Daniel gets the experience vote.

In summary, Americans 5, Europeans 7. Translated to points, my pick is Europe 16½ over U.S.A. 11½. Don't get me wrong, I'm still cheering for the American team all the way. The Europeans just look a little stronger.

Quiz Interlude

Fulling is the process of working cloth to thicken it. What is the Scottish term for this process?

Highlight below for answer:

The process is waulking, and is usually accompanied by mouth music to the beat of the pounding of the cloth.

Review Interlude

Elvis Has Left the Building

Well, I don't have many options to review this week, so Elvis Has Left the Building is it. It tells the story of a traveling makeup saleswoman who seems to be the trigger to a series of accidental deaths of Elvis impersonaters. To complicate matters she and an apparent Elvis impersonater find themselves mutually attracted to each other. All in all it is a cute bit of fun, but nothing outstanding. An fan of Elvis and romantic comedies should enjoy it more than I did as a strong fan of neither.

Links Interlude

Squirrels

ESPN Page 2 featured this squrrel battle this week. Reading it reminded me of another great squirrel story online at Life Is a Road.

Got any good squirrel stories of your own?

Wordplay Interlude

Nicknames

Permanent nicknames can be funny things, but when you get used to calling someone by such, it's hard to imagine them as anything else. For example, in college I knew a guy who went by "Ju-Ju" (or some spelling that was pronounced like that) because his sister couldn't say his name when he was born and he was a "Jr."

This came to mind recently because this week I noticed there is a pro golfer on the Nationwide Tour whose name is listed as Boo. Reading his profile revealed that he is nicknamed after Yogi's sidekick, Boo Boo Bear, but the profile does not indicate his birth name. His profile also indicates he went to high school with another Nationwide golfer whose name is listed as Bubba. Just to go a little further, there are actually two "Bubbas" on the Nationwide Tour.

Golf Interlude

It's fun to watch excellent rounds like Brad Faxon's 61 yesterday not only from a quality golf point of view but also statistically. I started figuring out things like the fact that it was the lowest final round for a winner since David Duval's amazing 59 in '99, but of course someone on the PGA Tour staff gets paid to dig up these tidbits and has better accesses to resources, so the lowdown on what that 61 means can be found here.

It took some extra digging to find out how long Faxon's drive that wouldn't stop rolling down the cart path on 17. Since he's not that long of a hitter, that extended roll had to make that one of his longer drives at 329 yards.

Quiz Interlude

What mill near East Linton holds the claim to be Scotland's oldest working water mill?

Highlight below for answer:

Preston Mill

Review Interlude

Well, I thought I was going to review a book or movie today, but lunch convinced me to do a restaurant review.

We went to Red Robin today for a birthday lunch. I have to say I was not impressed. While the service was good, the food was not. I ordered an open-faced chili cheeseburger that came with a side of fries. To start with a positive, I will say that the chili tasted good although not exceptional. The problem lay in that the chili was cold to lukewarm and the burger wasn't particularly warm. The least impressive part of the meal was that the fries were downright mushy.

So while the service and atmosphere were nice enough, I'd have to say that if I want a good burger and fries I'll choose Goldie's over Red Robin.

Link Interlude

Today for your listening pleasure I refer you to the link of the week, CMRadio.Net. This award winning internet radio site not only has the Celtic Christian music I enjoy so much it also has seven other Christian stations featuring "Best Mix," hard rock, hard metal, high energy, modern/alternative rock, soft rock, and inspirational praise.

Wordplay Interlude

For a different way to flex your mental muscles, try taking a long list such as the books of the Bible, American presidents, or U.S. States and spelling them "backwards backwards" from the last letter of the last item to the first letter of the first item. I.E.:

n-o-i-t-a-l-e-v-e-R...s-i-s-e-n-e-G

Golf Interlude

I was thinking to myself yesterday afternoon that Firestone Country Club is one of my favorite courses to watch the professional golfers play each year, and today's pgatour.com quote of the day reveals that at least one pro agrees with me:

"I don't think there's a better golf course we play all year to tell you the truth, other than Augusta National." -- Chris Dimarco

My Thinking Man's Golf (3M) game uses Firestone's signature 16th hole as its par 5 7th hole. This hole is the hardest one for me in the game and it's also one of the hardest holes for the pros on tour. (I believe it ranks 8th hardest this year.) Not only that, only the best pros even get a chance to play it each year. If a full field played the hole, it would almost definitely rank even harder. It's simply a beast, and it is fun to see how the pros play it. On Sunday, Sergio Garcia was the only player to go for the green in two and that was probably just because he didn't have so much to lose after double bogeying 14. All in all, despite the poor scores on Sunday, the NEC Invitational at Firestone is a great tournament to watch.

Quiz Interlude

Today, I'm introducing the question of the week to appear each Friday.

Bon Accord is in the title of several Scottish tunes and dances (Belle of Bon Accord, Lass of Bon Accord, etc.). There is no town named Bon Accord in Scotland, but there is a Scottish city that has claim to the phrase. What city is it?

Highlight below for answer:

The motto of "Bon Accord" appears on the crest of Aberdeen.

"Going My Way" Interlude

I watched the movie Going My Way last night. It's the the story of a young Catholic priest played by Bing Crosby who is sent to a church that is in trouble under the care of the elderly priest who has been there since its inception 45 years prior. The story line took several tracks that somehow actually managed to be tied together but it left it a bit disjointed and odd. Crosby's singing was top-notch as always, but the best scenes belonged to Barry Fitzgerald playing the older Father Fitzgibbon. I couldn't stop laughing when he tried to figure out if he could jump over the bush.

Links Interlude

This weekend I'm hopefully going to start a separate links page. See Sarah5's Links.

P Interlude

So, our young adult group leader loves words beginning with the letter P. After a lengthy group discussion about obscure words starting with P, he challenged us to come up with sentences with as many P words as possible. Since I love word play myself, I immediately took up the challenge and added my own challenge to do it without any non-P words. The following sentence was the result:

Periodically, per pontifical prompting, parish priests pray pre-prandially, "Pater, provender provider, please permit poor parochial people prosperous partaking presently."

Or revised to better fit the group (Previous):

Periodically, per pastoral prompting, Previous persons pray pre-prandially, "Pater, provender provider, please permit poor parochial people prosperous partaking presently."

Golf Interlude

Cheers to Phil Mickelson for winning the PGA Championship this morning! I realized just how much of a Phil fan I am when my initial reaction to seeing the final scoreboard on my computer screen was very similar to Phil's 2004 Masters jump. I think I even jumped as high as he did. :P Then a coworker walked in and thought I was reacting to something under my desk. Given that no one in the office shares my golf enthusiasm, I didn't even try to explain.

And now back to Scotland...

Scotland 2005

G'day! I shall start this blog with a diary of my recent trip to Scotland and see where things go from there. June 10-25, 2005 I traversed to Scotland with 13 of my Scottish dance friends.

Edit (11/10/05): I have done some rearranging so my Scotland trip can be read in one page from top to bottom. Ignore the dates the blog says these were posted.

Any of the pictures can be enlarged by clicking on them.

Scotland - Day 1

The flight was uneventful. I think I got about 4 hours of weird airplane sleep. The most eventful part was the inordinate amount of time spent not flying. We spent to close to 2 hours waiting to take off after boarding.

Since I flew over with the second half of the group, a day after the first half departed, part of the early birds met us at the airport in Glasgow. We rented a car for Lori to drive and a van for Beth to drive. Riding in a car on the left side of the road was interesting, but I've had that experience before in Singapore. The roundabouts that replaced our American intersections were what really made travel interesting. I had to bite my tongue to avoid being too much of a backseat driver especially since I didn't get to be the designated navigator either. Jim & Lance did a fine job of navigation.

After a short stop at our "home base" cottages in Bonnybridge, it was off to Edinburgh. The old buildings mixed with the modern atmosphere had me practically drooling with excitement. We found Saint Margaret's Well behind Edinburgh Castle and shopped a bit of the Royal Mile and Princes Street with a light supper at Deacon Brodie's Cafe across the street from the better known tavern of the same name.

Oops, almost forgot... On the way back to Bonnybridge, we got lost and took the opportunity to visit the grounds of Linlithgow Palace, birthplace of Mary, Queen of Scots.

Although it was late, and I was exhausted, there was one more stop for the evening. We women had to go to ASDA for food to stock the cottages. ASDA is owned by Wal-Mart so it's the same basic principle, but the one we went to in Cumbernauld was like Super Wal-Mart on steroids. It was two stories and had an inclined moving sidewalk/escalator to take carts/buggies upstairs and an elevator to go back down. More to come on Scottish food in a later blog...

Points of note:

• Saint Margaret was the beloved queen of Malcolm III in the 11th century. I have enjoyed stories of her in historical fiction novels, so her sites had special meaning to me.
• Deacon Brodie was the inspiration for the story of Dr. Jekyll & Mr. Hyde.
• It was odd seeing photos of the G8 protests on Princes Street so shortly after I had been there.

Scotland - Day 2

Well, everyone in my cottage got up and ready to go Sunday morning, but not a soul was up in the other cottage. We left a note so we could meet up with them later and headed on into Glasgow. After navigating an unfamiliar city, we found a parking lot a few blocks from Glasgow Green. We walked through the park to the River Clyde, then headed over to the People's Palace where there was a free museum of city life in Glasgow through history. An impressive fountain representing the four corners of the British Empire under Queen Victoria was in front of the Palace.

Next, we drove on down to Ayr where, of course, Lance & Lori, had to stop in the Rangers store to shop. As we walked on down the shopping street, a heavy downpour that even had hail forced us to dash for cover. We wound up ducking into a lovely Cantonese restaurant that served a delicious three-course meal for one fair price. By the time we finished lunch, the rain had stopped, so we walked on down to the seashore for our first glimpse of the Scottish coast. Before long it was raining again, so we turned around to head back to the car with a brief duck into an arcade for the heaviest part of the shower.

By this time we had talked to the group from the other cottage, and they had just discovered that we all had the wrong time down for our planned summer dancing at Culzean Castle and it was over already. Although we had missed the dancing, we went on down to explore the castle grounds. There was a good view of the isle of Arran, and on the distant horizon Northern Ireland was barely visible.

A stop at the chippy shop in Bonnybridge for some fish & chips was the perfect way to wind down our first full day of sightseeing in Scotland.

Scotland - Day 3

Day Three meant everyone was up early for our road trip up north to the Orkneys. We started out with two accidental scenic detours. The second one actually led us by Auchterarder and Gleneagles. At the time, we knew it was a famous golf course, but had no idea that in just a few weeks it would be the focus of world news for the G8 Summit.

We all stopped in Pitlochry mid-morning and visited the heather gems factory outlet store. Since David V. wanted to look for some special meat in a nearby town, Lori's group went that way. I stayed with Beth's group as we headed on to Inverness. We tried to find lunch in the village of Kingussie to no avail.

As we drove into Inverness, we managed to get lost for the third time that day and found ourselves heading west out of town along the Beauly Firth. Jim navigated us back into the center of town where we found the main shopping mall and shopping street and ate lunch. We strolled down the street shopping and Beth and I went all the way down to the castle.

We went back to the mall and met up with Lori's group at which time I joined up with them to make travel plans for the next couple of days while Beth's group traveled ahead. After making lodging arrangements for the next night, we realized we were going to have to take a shorter Orkney tour than Beth's group. After everything was settled, it was back on the road again.

We stopped in Golspie for supper and went down to the beach behind the restaurant and collected seashells. Then we went on to Keiss and settled into our hotel for the night. I had a nice view of Sinclair Bay out my window.

Scotland - Day 4

I don't know if I can do this day justice, but here we go...

The hotel served a full traditional Scottish breakfast with sausage, bacon, tomatoes, mushrooms, egg, and a roll. They also had granola and oatmeal available. After breakfast, we walked down to the beach and collected more shells. The rocks were slippery, and we had to be careful to avoid the limpets that were still alive. Laney found a crab pincer.

We drove up to John O' Groats to board the ferry to the Orkney Islands. It was chilly so we rode inside on the way. We landed on the southeast island of South Ronaldsay where we boarded the tour bus. The tour guide told us about the history of the islands including economy and agriculture. The history during World Wars I & II seemed particularly significant in recent history. It was at that time the Churchill Barriers were built to connect the southeast islands to the main island.

Our first stop was Kirkwall, the capital and largest town. It is home to the magnificent St. Magnus Cathedral and the ruins of the Earl's Palace and the Bishop's Palace. We didn't have long but I took off on a quick mission to try to find the remains of St. Olaf's Kirk to no avail. I wanted to find it because it's the origin of the town's name, but it's not too well known. By that time the sun was out and the weather felt perfect.

Next, we went across the island to the other main town and port of Stromness. We had a snacky lunch featuring Orkney ice cream. I enjoyed the vanilla honeycomb flavour. Then it was off to Skara Brae, the highlight of the tour. It's a neolithic village from about 5,000 years ago. We also toured the nearby Skaill House, a mansion belonging to the noble Breckness family. We went on down the road a ways and stopped at the Ring of Brogar which is a large circle of tall stones somewhat like Stonehenge but bigger in diameter and without any intentionally horizontal stones.

We headed on around the island and back toward the ferry with one last stop at the beautifully painted Italian Chapel where we ran into the members of our group who were backpacking and had time for a quick hello, howdy-do.

Since the sun was out David, Laney, and I rode on the top of the ferry watching the birds and the ocean as we crossed back to John O' Groats. Most of the birds were guillemots, but Laney and I are sure that we saw one puffin. Back on the mainland, we had to hurry to get back to Inverness before the Bed & Breakfast closed. The time crunch meant that by the time we had time for dinner the only places open were take-out, really expensive, or McDonald's so McDonald's it was. I'd say it was about as unimpressive as McDonald's here.

Scotland - Day 5

For a town that closes down early, it sure takes Inverness a while to get going in the mornings. When we headed out neither the grocery store nor the bakery were open, so we walked down to the shopping area where nothing was open either. It was a beautiful crisp morning, so we enjoyed the walk and the scene of Inverness Castle on the River Ness. Once the bakery opened, we got some breakfast pastries and headed on to Culloden Battlefield. A video explained how in 1746, this battle ended the Jacobite rebellion supporting Bonnie Prince Charlie and was the last battle on British soil. We walked around the paths noting where different clans fought and were buried.

Next we headed west to Urquhart Castle and Loch Ness. We watched a video of Urquhart's history and explored the ruins before going on to Fort Augustus for a pub lunch. This was the one place I found a communication barrier when I tried to ask a girl working at the pub for internet help. She replied, "Sorry, no language." I don't know if (A) I just spoke too fast with an American accent, (B) she might have been a Gaelic speaker given the region, or (C) she was an employee from somewhere else in Europe working in Scotland for the summer.

Fort Augustus had an impressive lock system for the canal into Loch Ness so we waited and watched as a couple of boats went under the road's drawbridge before proceeding throught the Great Glen. I was sleepy and dozed off and on waking up at Fort William to see that I couldn't see Ben Nevis, the tallest Scottish mountain, through the fog. We stopped at the Glencoe visitor centre, but it was all about the mountain area not the massacre. We would have appreciated it more if that was what we were expecting and were not so tired.

After Glencoe, Lance took a turn in the driver's seat. The scenery just south of Glencoe was some of the most beautiful I have seen anywhere. The mountains were several shades of green and streams and waterfalls decorated them like garlands and tinsel. Unfortunately, I was not able to get any pictures. I'll have to check with Lori.

The rest of the drive "home" to Bonnybridge was fairly normal. I did get to see the Loch Lomond golf course where the Scottish Open is held the week before the British open each year.

Scotland - Day 6

On Thursday, both cars headed to Alloway where we visited Burns National Heritage Park beginning with the cottage where Robert Burns, Scotland's National Poet, was born. I enjoyed seeing the collection of his original writings carefully maintained under cloth-covered glass.

Then we went a few blocks to the "Tam O'Shanter Experience" where they show a tri-panel film of Burns' poem "Tam O'Shanter." This was also where I discovered the delicious whole-seed Arran Mustard at lunchtime. After lunch we walked through the gardens to the Brig O'Doon where Tam O'Shanter crossed to safety in the poem. We also visited both the Auld Kirk (with notable tombstones including Robert Burns' father) and the New Kirk (with beautiful stained glass windows including one dedicated to Robert Burns). As we left town, we saw a Scottish wedding party -- kilts, bagpiper, and all -- at a nearby restaurant.

We got back to the cottages early enough to relax and watch a couple of movies with some nice warm soup.

Scotland - Day 7

Scotland in Miniature

Today, Beth's family had to get ready for the anniversary party the next day, so the rest of us went to Ardrossan where we took the ferry to the Isle of Arran. The ferry was the most luxurious ferry I've ever seen. It had a nice cafeteria, a gift shop, a bar, couch-like seats around tables, TVs, and more inside. We settled outside to enjoy the scenery and took turns wandering around inside. We could see jellyfish swimming in the water near the boat. By the time we reached Arran we had decided on a bus tour to take us around the island.

The bus driver was very friendly with plenty of interesting anecdotes as we went around the island. We saw a couple of the seven golf courses including one that had two holes with the tees on one side of the road and the greens on the other. We saw the Holy Isle in the distance at one point and King's Cave later on. Holy Isle is a Buddhist retreat. King's Cave is the site of the legend of Robert the Bruce seeing the spider that inspired him to "try, try again." Wildlife we saw included red deer, seals, and anhingas. On the domestic end we saw plenty of chickens and cattle including the long-haired highland cattle.

Our stops on the tour were all for shopping. First, we stopped at the Arran Fine Foods Factory Store where their wonderful mustard is made. Next, we stopped at the southern creamery on the island and sampled their deliciously creamy Arran Dunlop cheese. They weren't operating the machinery when we got there but we were still able to go in and see what the creamery was like. Our last stop was at the Arran Aromatics Factory Store and nearby cheese shop for the other creamery on the island where I sampled several local cheeses and bought a cup of ice cream to take on the bus. This cup of ice cream started a funny anecdote because as I was getting off the bus the bus driver offered to throw my then empty cup away for me. I, however, had different ideas for what he considered "rubbish" thinking I might try to use the label in a scrapbook or something. When I told him I wanted to keep my cup, his response was, "A bit odd, but that's okay." Hence, I was labeled a rubbish collector for the rest of the trip.

Back at the cottages, I wrapped up the evening with a game of charades with the kids.

Scotland - Day 8

Party Day

Since the party wasn't until the afternoon, I had decided to explore the surrounding area by foot in the morning. Lance, Lori, and I started the day by walking into Bonnybridge to pick up breakfast at the bakery. On the way, we found a damp, slimy tunnel that made a good shortcut.

After breakfast, David and Laney joined us for a walk along the Antonine Wall. The others had already done more exploring than I had, so they knew how to get to the Falkirk Wheel. Ironically, I was the first after arriving to find and explore the Antonine Wall on the cottage property, but I was one of the last to go beyond the cottage property. Anyways, the weather was nice, the early morning rain had stopped and the sky had cleared, so it was a great day for a walk. In fact by the afternoon, the high had reach approximately 78° F.


It was neat to walk along a piece of history dating back to the time of the Romans. We also walked around the area that was a once a Roman fort now referred to as Rough Castle. I suppose I should clarify that the Antonine Wall is not a stone wall but more of a very long grassy mound of earth. Rough Castle is also completely grassed over now with some vague lowered and raised areas that give some idea of how the fort was set up.

On past Rough Castle is a wooded path where we met a local Scottish farmer taking his dog for a walk. The path comes out very near the Falkirk Wheel so we took a break and watched the wheel turn to transport tour boats before we headed back to the cottages to get ready for Fred and Mary's 60th anniversary party.

Beth and Laurabelle prepared a fine spread of Scottish goodies for the party. Mary's Scottish family members started arriving and I tried to be sociable and mingle but the conversation was confusing. The walkers hadn't arrived yet so we couldn't really dance. After saying hello on the phone to Fred & Mary back in Oklahoma, I hid in the cottage playing Charades with Molly and Laney again. The walkers eventually showed up after an adventure of 2 getting off at the right stop and 2 missing the stop and having to figure out the right train schedule. I really can't do the story justice since I wasn't there.

And so anyways, that evening we... Ack!... I don't have a clue what we did that evening. There's a complete chunk of my time in Scotland missing. I didn't have a drop of alcohol at the party, so who knows?

Scotland - Day 9

First off, I remembered what we did Saturday evening after the anniversary party -- we went into town to pick up some Chinese/Indian/Fish & Chips takeout and watched a movie or two back at the cottages.

On to Sunday. Lori's rental car had a flat tire so they had to take care of that. I continued my strategy of bouncing back and forth between the two cars and went into Glasgow with Beth's family to meet up with the walkers for a day of shopping. The weather seemed like it was going to be nice and the news wasn't telling me otherwise (a "weather girl" popping up for a minute every 1 1/2 hours doesn't help much) so I decided to wear sandals. That proved to be a bad decision as a gloomy rain settled over the city as we arrived. The Barras, Glasgow's big flea market was slow opening, so we moodily huddled under what little shelter we could find until the walkers showed up. The rain finally let up as the walkers were arriving and we wandered about mostly "window" shopping and enjoying the atmosphere of a Scottish flea market.

When we started getting hungry we crammed all 10 of us in the 7-seater van and went in search of Sauchiehall (pronounced "Suckiehall") Street where Beth knew there was more shopping to be had. We set out in search of a pub lunch and found Lauder's which was decorated inside with memorabilia of Harry Lauder.

We continued shopping on Sauchiehall for a good long while. When I knew my dad would be up back in Oklahoma, I called home to say happy Father's Day. Eventually, it was time to part with the walkers and head back to the cottages for the evening, and the day ended nicely.

Scotland - Day 10

Stirling

Monday morning began rather leisurely. Once all at the cottages were ready we headed on to the train station to pick up the walkers. While we were waiting, I took the opportunity to run into the nearby corner store to steal a glance at the newspaper to find out who won the U.S. Open. That's two consecutive U.S. Opens I've been traveling for now.

Anyways, once all we assembled and squeezed into the autos we set out for Wallace Monument in Stirling. We took a group picture with the rather Mel-Gibson-like statue of William Wallace then began our trek to the top. Before we could climb the 246 steps of the tower, we first had to ascend a good-sized hill. At the desk, we were all provided with listening devices telling about William Wallace and the displays inside the monument. The staircase began straight but most of it was a quite narrow spiral. On the way the top there were 3 levels to stop and view displays. The first had a Wallace video and various related artifacts; the second, my favorite, had busts of many famous Scots and beautiful stained glass windows; the third displayed information about the scene viewed from the top of the monument. We finally made it to the top and tried to make out various landmarks in the area, most notably Stirling Castle.

Somehow, I wound up ahead of a lot of the group and since I was a bit frustrated with Beth over some communication problems, I headed on back to the base of the hill for some alone time. Everyone went at their own pace so when we were finally back together, it turned out Jay had gone off exploring and wasn't back. It was well into the afternoon by that time so some of us went ahead to Stirling Castle while the others looked for Jay.

Arriving at Stirling Castle, I discovered I had left my prepaid Historic Scotland pass at the cottage, so I had to pretend to be David and Lori's daughter on their family pass. We hadn't gotten far into exploring the castle when the rest of the group caught up with us. One of the shopkeepers told us there would be a guided tour available soon if we waited by the well so we waited there until we figured out that the shopkeeper was wrong and the last tour of the day had already gone. We went ahead and did some touring of our own and specifically went down to where they were weaving tapestries of a unicorn hunt. My favorite thing about the tapestries was trying to find little things, like a frog or dragonfly, hidden in them.

Since we hadn't had much of a lunch, we were all ready for supper and found a restaurant with both American food and decor to satisfy our bellies before parting with the walkers for the evening.

Scotland - Day 11

Edinburgh

The group in my cottage decided to travel into Edinburgh by train on Tuesday and meet up with the walkers. By the time we got on the train, I needed to use the toilet and figuring out the door to the train toilet was an adventure in and of itself. First, I couldn't find a handle so a nearby passenger showed me the button to push to get the large curved door to slide open. Inside there were three buttons to operate the door: one to close, one to lock, and one to open. Now that I think about it, I should have taken a picture. Anyways, at first I didn't understand the buttons and figured that when it closed it locked, but the door only seemed 99% closed and a flashing light told me I needed to press the lock button. When I did it wouldn't lock and wouldn't lock, so I decided to risk it and just use the toilet. That didn't work 'cause I was too nervous the door was going to come sliding open, so I tried pressing some more buttons to no avail. Then, suddenly and unfathomably, the button lights changed, and I tried the lock button one more time. It finally worked! Fortunately, getting the door to open was not so difficult, so I could happily get on with my day.

When we got to Edinburgh, we walked up to the castle and took a break and watched the workers setting up the seating for the Tattoo in August while the walkers dropped their packs off at their hostel. I made certain I had my Historic Scotland pass that day and got in without a problem. A tour guide led us around the castle grounds giving us the basic layout of the castle and showing us where significant things were. Then we were free to roam the castle ourselves and visited the Scottish War Memorial, the Great Hall, and the Royal Apartments where Mary, Queen of Scots, gave birth to James VI/I . The highlight was seeing the the Stone of Scone or Stone of Destiny that all kings/queens of Scotland and now of all Great Britain have sat on when they were crowned. The Stone and the Honours of Scotland (the crown, scepter, and sword) were displayed in the Royal Apartments. We also went through a museum chronicling Scotsmen in war and hung around long enough to hear the one o'clock gun.

After a nice lunch just off the Royal Mile, we walked down the Mile to Holyrood Park to hike to the top of Arthur's Seat. Since no one but David S. and I seemed inclined to look at a map, we wound up taking a rather long route to the top, but I suppose it made for a good adventure. We began with a slow ascent around the wrong side of the wrong hill. Somehow, although I started out slow and behind almost everybody break differences led me to wind up ahead of most of the group by the time we got around that hill so I took advantage of the time to find a shortcut off the paved path. The next step of our journey took us up a series of short, steep switchbacks and eventually to the saddleback over to Arthur's Seat. To get to the top we had to pick our way around a hill of loose, slick stones. It was windy at the top and I had to cling to the marker as I took in the view.

As we began our descent, we watched a helicopter land on the lawn behind Holyrood Palace. We suspect the passengers were Prince Charles and Camilla because the walkers heard they were in town the next day. The day was tiring enough that we skipped the dancing in Princes Street Gardens and headed straight back to Bonnybridge for the night.

Scotland - Day 12

Wednesday began with a trip to the Edinburgh Crystal Visitor Centre just outside Edinburgh in Penicuik. We were able to watch craftsmen working on various levels on engraving on the crystal.

After we were done shopping, we headed back in the direction of Edinburgh and stopped in Roslin to visit Rosslyn Chapel. Lori had some ancestors with connections to the chapel. There are a lot of stories tied to the history of the chapel. A magnificent pillar in the chapel is said to have been carved by an apprentice mason who was subsequently killed by the head mason jealous of the apprentice's skill. The apprentice was then buried under the pillar. Legend also exists that there are "Secret Vaults" which possibly hide treasure including the Holy Grail.

Our next stop was the Edinburgh Zoo for lunch and the penguin parade. Between lunch and the parade Laney and I took a really fast tour of the middle area of the zoo. My favorite creature was the mongoose. Most of what we saw were primates. We joined the others and watched the rockhopper penguins until the parade started. The zookeepers could only get six penguins to join the parade that day. I think four were king penguins and two were Magellanic. One of the Magellanic strayed a bit and seemed to want to visit our rockhopper friend.

We didn't have time to do much at the zoo because we had tickets for a cruise on the Waverley paddle steamer sailing from Greenock, west of Glasgow, that evening. The Waverley is the last sea-going paddle steamboat in the world, but we did not go out to sea. We sailed from Greenock on the Firth of Clyde to the end of Loch Long and back. It was so crowded it seemed like they overbooked, but there was plenty of time to wander around and explore. There were a cafeteria, a snack bar, and two bars. One of the bars had live music, but I never caught more than snatches in passing. In the other quieter, less-crowded bar, the portholes were right at the water level, and it was neat to watch the water line. In the interior, the cogs were open to view as the paddles turned. They had a cute little purple stuffed dolphin with a top hat riding in the middle of the cogs. Being on the water in a moving boat made the air outside chilly, but near the end of the evening I found the perfect spot to enjoy the fresh, crisp outdoor air while staying warm by hovering near the grate above the steamy cog room.

Scotland - Day 13

Borders

I went down to Gretna Green with Beth's family on Thursday. It was one of the longer, less scenic drives on the trip. Of course you can't go to Gretna Green without seeing a wedding or two, and that day there were indeed two weddings at the Old Blacksmith's Shop famous for 250 years for elopements.

After shopping around for a bit and eating lunch, we parted ways with the walkers once more and ventured onward to Caerlaverock Castle. There we viewed the display discussing the history of the castle. Being near the border, it had to be defended from the English several times and finally fell in 1640. It surprised me that it was rather triangular in shape rather than squared. We all enjoyed exploring the different levels of the ruin. Caerlaverock Castle was my favorite castle of the trip because it was exactly what I imagine a traditional castle in ruins to be like. The four corners had turrets topped with battlements, and it was surrounded by a moat.

By this point in the trip, I had done all the things I wanted to do and was expecting to actually get to do except for one key thing -- dance. The first chance, the time was wrong; next chance, there weren't enough dancers; then, too many were too tired; then, the Waverley was not quite like we expected; and we didn't have any verification that the last planned dance was actually going to take place. I decided to do what I could to remedy this, so Thursday morning before leaving the cottages I pulled out the list of summer dancing and a map to see if there was any way we could make it to something, anything, before I left. I found a possibility and mentioned it to Beth. I didn't want to push the issue, so I didn't know for sure if we were going to do it until I heard mention of Strathaven on the way back from Caerlaverock. We pulled into town, got directions to the church, and had time for supper before the dancing started. It was really just a dance class somewhat like our own Thursday nights although the dance teacher, Miss Allison, was a bit more structured and picky than Beth. They did a lot of dances that were new to the locals, so we weren't the only ones just learning the dances. They were very friendly and asked us to dance almost every dance. Beth even brought one of the dances, The Belle of Bon Accord, back, and we are learning it now.

Scotland - Day 14

Rest

By Friday, I had pulled off 13 straight days of nonstop tourism and I was worn out. While the rest of my cottage-mates went into Glasgow, I opted to stay back at the cottages and relax. I just read, watched some movies, and walked into Bonnybridge for lunch.

When the others got back from Glasgow, we went to the Underwood Lockhouse, a new restaurant recommended by the cottage owners and likely to become a hotspot before long. The service and food were great and the prices were very, very reasonable. Before we went in to eat, a boat came down the canal so we talked to the men who operate the locks and watched them do their job. It was pretty cool.

The next morning, it was time for me to say goodbye to Scotland and head back home.

The End

Scottish food

So now it's time to say what my palate thought of Scotland. Yum. Long John Silver's will never be the same after having eaten fish and chips on the sea coasts of Scotland.

Sandwiches on regular whole grain sliced bread are common lunch fare, but the fillings weren't so familiar. The bread was always spread with butter. Shredded cheese was a common filling. What they call a chicken salad sandwich is not chopped chicken with mayo but sliced chicken with salad (lettuce and tomato). A sandwich similar to a BLT with brown sauce (kinda like steak sauce) was even sold as a breakfast sandwich.

Flapjacks over there are not pancakes. They are deliciously soft chewy oat bars often with fruit or chocolate. Black currant juice was a tasty beverage. If you order a cheese and pickle potato (yep, it's on the menu), the pickles will be a brown-sauce-based relish.

I found the best tastes of Scotland to be on the isle of Arran. There you can find ice cream from the local dairy, Arran Dunlop cheese, and original Arran Mustard. Arran Mustard is horseradish based and chock full of whole mustard seeds.

And now for a rundown of some of the places I ate:

Deacon's Cafe - Edinburgh - Royal Mile - Named after Deacon Brodie
Ruby Seven - Ayr - Cantonese - Three course meal
Bamboo Garden - Bonnybridge - Serves sweet and sour chicken with sliced almonds in the batter
Lock Inn - Fort Augustus - Gaelic country, near Loch Ness, internet access
Lauder's - Glasgow - Sauchiehall - Decorated with Harry Lauder memorabilia
The Filling Station - Stirling and elsewhere - American food and decor
Castle Arms - Edinburgh - near Royal Mile - Great food and dining area options
Underwood Lockhouse - Bonnybridge - Recently opened Indian restaurant in former canal lockhouse