Portsoy Boat Festival

Two weekends ago we went to Portsoy (which is in the north east coast of Scotland) for their annual boat festival, a celebration of the sea, boats, history and folklore. There was also plenty of food and drink on offer. Portsoy has a 17th Century harbour - one of the oldest in Scotland, and much has been done to ensure the old traditions are passed on down the generations.

Tux even got to join us! He coped exceptionally well with the crowds and all the activity.

We listened to local musicians, drank local beer, enjoyed fish pie and kippers (a type of smoked fish), and watched rowing boat races. All in all a thoroughly enjoyable day!

Puffins!

Today Lynn took me to the east coast, just south of Aberdeen, to an area called Crawton - a spectular coastal cliff area which serves as a breeding ground to many of the sea birds found in this neck of the woods. We went with the specific goal of looking for puffins! A beautiful bird with colorful features in its beak, eyes and feet. They come to the cliffs only to breed and to rear their young. The rest of the time they are at sea. So we were fortunate to catch a glimpse before they return to the open waters. We also got to see several other types of birds with their young - but the puffins were a highlight!

Civil Partnership Celebration!

Yes, the BIG event happened this past weekend! Lynn and I had our civil partnership ceremony in Edinburgh on Saturday, and it was an absolutely wonderful day! Better than either of us imagined, really. The weather was perfect, which helped make the day ... sunny, blue skies and warm temperatures ... which you can't take for granted here in Scotland. After the ceremony, I was so happy that it was so nice out we were able to walk back from the Lothian Chambers to our beautiful boutique hotel, The Glasshouse. We then broke out the champagne with our 2 witnesses, Rosemary Stika and Helen Moir, and four other friends who all joined us for dinner at Fishers Bistro in Leith Harbour.
But let me step back and describe the day's events ... Rosemary, Lynn and I started the morning off by walking up to Edinburgh's Royal Mile - we grabbed hot drinks and a muffin & crescent for our breakfast. Then we walked down the Royal Mile towards Edinburgh Castle ... Rosemary doing a bit of shopping (Lynn was a bit embarrassed with her purchase of touristy Highland Cow slippers ... plastic tartan shopping bag included!) and we checked out the venue for our nuptials later that afternoon - the Lothian Chambers. After showing Rosemary the castle and taking a few photos, we headed back toward our hotel to meet up with Lynn's witness, Helen, who was coming over from Glasgow that morning. We met up for a pub lunch at the Royal Theatre Pub (I had a healthy salmon salad and glass of white wine to calm my nerves a bit) and then went back to our rooms to get ready for the ceremony. Our suite had a wonderful bathroom - I thoroughly enjoyed the large shower!
We took a taxi to the venue and were met by our Assistant Registrar who would be performing the ceremony ... Kayleigh Love! What a perfect name for someone in that role. She went through the paperwork (ie, me showing her my passport and birth certificate) and then she ushered the 4 of us into the McIntyre Suite room where the ceremony took place. Lynn and I had drafted the script for the ceremony based on the proposed samples the Registrar's office had sent us weeks before and writing some of the wording ourselves. We all felt it was just perfect - somewhat personalized based on what Lynn and I have gone through to get to this point. It was great having Rosemary (my friend since we were 6 yrs old in Escondido) and Helen (a good friend of Lynn's for years) there as our witnesses. The two of them had never met but they got on with one another really well ... we couldn't have asked for better "bridesmaids"! After the ceremony was over, we all signed the official Civil Partnership Schedule. As we were coming down the stairs, Lynn's friend/co-worker, Lesley, met up with us and the 5 of us went in search of somewhere to grab a drink in celebration. We found a lovely little place ironically called The Glasshouse (but no affiliation with our hotel) and shared a bottle of champagne and a few munchies.
Then we proceeded back to the hotel for a celebration out on our hotel suite balcony - the champagne was flowing!! And with the wonderful sunshine, we enjoyed relaxing with our friends and toasting to our new life together. I had asked my good friend from my year at Stirling, Melanie Sims, and her husband, Malc, to join us. And Lynn had invited her dear friend Alan Stuffins to join us as well. So the eight of us had a fun time visiting and then headed for dinner at Fishers. The food was absolutely terrific! It was the perfect location for us ... not too stuffy/fancy ... small and quaint and the service was ideal.
After dinner, we all headed back to the hotel to relax a bit more in our suite - a bit more champagne and caught the highlights from the World Cup games that day on the telly. All in all, a marvelous day! Lynn and I are so blessed and very happy!!

BBQ Scotland Style

Last weekend on Sunday Lynn and I went to our friend Sheila's cottage for a brunch / music session. I was put in charge of the BBQ ... there was a light rain falling ... no big surprise since this is Scotland afterall! We rigged up a tarp to give the grillers some protection ... I dare say the sausages and bacon turned out great! All totaled we had 9 people and 5 dogs in attendance and everyone behaved wonderfully. (In other words, Tux didn't bite anyone - he was the only male in the whole group.) Really enjoyed meeting more of Lynn's friends and they are pretty good musicians, too! The traditional Scottish tunes were fun to listen to - we had fiddles, guitars, a mandolin and a baran (traditional drum). A fun afternoon.

2 Day Tour of Cairngorms Nat'l Park area

Got home late last night from our 2 day tour with Lynn's friend Agnes. Our motivation behind the trip was to meet up with Lynn and her group of students and staff during their activities week. They are doing an "Across Scotland" trek ... hiking, biking, kayaking from Mallaig, ending up at Spey Bay ... camping along the way. Ugh. Tux, Agnes and I were happy in our little Pine Bank Chalet in Aviemore. Ironically Lynn's group ended up in the camp ground just across the main road from us - they were supposed to be at a camp site about 5 miles away but they got to Loch Insh a bit early so they decided to bike a bit further. Lynn "sneaked" over and spent the night with us.

Wednesday Agnes toured Tux and I through some of the area. We did an hour and a half walk around Loch Eilean - there was an island on the loch with old castle ruins on it (photo). We grabbed lunch at Ballindalloch Castle (photo - a tiny figure of Agnes in the doorway) and then played 9 holes of golf at the Ballindalloch Golf Course (photo of entrance with sheep keeping watch). Boy, you could sure tell you weren't playing golf in OC ... there was an "honor" system where you paid for your round by slipping the money through a slot in an envelope and then you just walked on the course. We were the only ones on the course - wild!!

Stretched our legs again in a small fishing village, Aberlour, walking along the River Spey - the river Lynn's group is kayaking down. During our drive we were in the heart land of whisky distilleries - every couple miles you saw another one. The scenery was amazing, rolling green hills with sheep, cattle and crops scattered as far as the eye could see.

A wonderful 2 day trip thanks to Agnes! What a tour guide!

Terrific Sunday!

Just had to create another post after the beautiful day we just had. It was super sunny, clear blue skies, and in the high 60s! Instead of doing "chores" I spent the afternoon driving around the area with Tux taking some photos and going on a walk. Wanted to make sure I got some photos of the lambs before they grow up or disappear. I've always been a sucker for sheep/lambs. There is a terrific lookout point just up the road from our house on Morven View - it is called the Queen's View. I gather Queen Victoria really liked the location. The first photo is a shot from that viewpoint.

Afterwards I took Tux to the Drummy Trail just outside Tarland. He loves going off leash there and we had the place to ourselves. What a way to end the day! Then I came home, hooked up my computer to Lynn's iPod speaker system and enjoyed listing to 104.3 My FM radio. I have to admit I'm not a big fan of the British radio stations. They have way too much DJ chatter for my taste. I just want to listen to MUSIC. I'm thankful for the internet and being able to listen as if I was sitting in Orange County. I've been entertained all evening. Just wish KLOS wasn't blocked ... oh, well, I'll live.

I hope everyone enjoyed their Memorial Day weekend in the States!

Another week gone

I thought I would be creating more posts on this blog ... where does the time go? So another week has come and gone. I continue to get more and more settled here in Scotland. This week's accomplishments include getting my iPhone up and running which really helps me be in touch with folks. I can even do international texts without too much cost, which I'm sure will be handy in the future. I dropped Lynn off early (6:45 am) on Saturday morning for her "Across Scotland" activities week with a group of her kids. She will be biking, hiking, and kayaking across the country for a week - camping along the way. Thankfully the weather forecast for the week is looking reasonable - only a couple days of potential rain.

While she is away, several of her friends have reached out to organize activities so I won't get too lonely. Lesley came over on Saturday and we biked from a little village (Dinnet) to Ballater along Queen Victoria's old railway line. It was just my kind of ride - pretty flat! All told, it was about a 15 mile ride and we had nice weather. The photo is along the River Dee. Saturday evening I joined Lesley and her husband for a terrific Indian curry meal in Echt (a village along the road to Aberdeen). I'll definitely be going back there - my curry selection was super!

Yesterday another friend, Frieda, met me in Aboyne and drove me into Aberdeen for lunch in a park where there was a huge green house. She said she thought I would like it because there were a lot of plants from "home" ... and she was right. Lovely California poppies, and even some epiphilium plants like the ones I had from my mom. Brought back memories, that's for sure. We did a little shopping in the city then on the way back to Aboyne we stopped off at a vintage car show being held in Crathes. There were some real classic cars on display (2nd photo).

Today is a beautifully sunny day - perfect for mowing the grass and hanging out some laundry to dry. I'm sure Tux and I will manage a nice walk/hike in the late afternoon, too. Oh, and I learned that my Tustin house has been leased! Hurray! Means I'll have some income coming in to help cover some costs.

More later ....