Creature Bug

Friday's Quick Takes

2013-05-03T22:18:37-07:00

: 1 :

This week is Operation House Fall Apart, which has just been a real kick in the pants. First, there was the plumbing incident. Well, actually, no. First, there was what we thought was a dead mouse in our furnace vents. It was a horrible, awful, morbid smell. The smell of something dying.

I opened windows and sprayed deoderizer and tried not to think about dead mouse molecules going up my nose every time I breathed.

The smell went away.

The plumbing went awry.

The smell came back.

Good gracious, what is happening in my house?

Turns out, it was the smell of something dying. It was the smell of our furnace dying. It went out yesterday, and the technician came by today and told us that the smell was not of a dead mouse but of a furnace circuit breaker frying itself to a crisp. He was horrified at the state of our 40-year furnace and told us to keep the power off until we bought a new one. Miraculously our house did not burn down.

So, we get to buy a new furnace.

Yay.

Fortunately, the timing is pretty ideal: it's going to be nice weather for a few days here so we don't have to worry about freezing. All things considered, it could have been worse. Our house could have burned down and we could have been left in the freezing cold. Both those things would have been much more inconvenient than buying a new furnace.

: 2 :

Several months ago, we decided that Sydney probably needed her own room. Currently, Syd and Jules share a room, and Addie has her own. This works out pretty well since Addie is not a super terrific sleeper. But it's time for a switch, so we have been looking for bunk beds to replace the double bed the older girls have been sharing.

Thanks to Craigslist, we got one today.

So my project for next week is to do a big ole switcheroo on the bedrooms and repaint as well.

I am a little nervous about the switch. If Jules wasn't so terrified of sleeping by herself, she really is the one who needs her own room because the other girls get along better with each other than they do with her. But, Jules would not tolerate having her own room, and Sydney wouldn't probably handle it very well either.

We'll see.

: 3 :

I am now officially on summer vacation. I taught my last class on Tuesday, and other than doing a final bit of grading (final assignments will come trickling in until midnight tonight, no doubt), I'm unemployed for four months.

I loved my classes. Not all my students passed--one of them was even completely surprised that she wasn't going to pass despite not turning in any assignments--but other than those few, I had some ridiculously awesome kids.

I'm glad for the break, though. It's always nice to have time off.

: 4 :

As if to celebrate my summer vacation, we have had remarkable weather. It was over 80 degrees today! Sunshine makes me so very happy. For as much as I dislike rain and cold, I really was born to live in a different locale. I think Hawaii would have worked out pretty well. Minus my general aversion to oceans on account of sharks.

: 5 :

Speaking of sharks, I had a student give a speech about why we shouldn't be afraid of sharks. It didn't actually persuade me of anything, but it was a good attempt at any rate. I have always been careful not to pass on my irrational fears to my girls, but today was a bit of a failure on two accounts.

First, Jules became a tiny bit unglued when she spotted a spider on her foot. I do not fault anyone for their responses to spiders. I have my own stories of unglued-ness when I find spiders on me. I got her calmed down, cleaned off her shoe, and all was good.

Sydney said, "It's just a spider. Spiders can't do anything to you."

"Well," I hedged, "some spiders can." Still trying to help foster her general sense of well-being.

"What? No. Spiders just crawl around."

Some spiders, I explained to her, can bite you. I could see a tiny bit of fear working its way into Sydney's brain, so I tried to counter with "but, of course, most are more likely to run away from you." I'm not sure how she's going to take this information.

And then later on we were talking about swimming in Florida.

"We can go out where it's really deep," Jules rejoiced when I told her we wouldn't have to worry much about undertow.

"Well, not too deep," I said. "You'll still want to stay where you can touch."

"No!" she said. "I want to swim far out into the water!"

I should have left it at that. But instead I said lightly and in a way that I thought communicated my desire to keep her safe, "Well, you know if you go too far out, that's where the sharks live."

"Sharks?! Well, I'm not going in the water at all then."

I don't always get this parenting thing right.

: 6 :

I ran the Eugene Half Marathon last Sunday. I had signed up for it right after I finished the Portland Marathon last October; although, in hindsight, I probably should have just signed up for a nice little 5K. I mean, 3 miles is no big deal. At least, the way I run 3 miles is no big deal (Jason thinks it's harder because he feels like he has to run really hard the whole time). But 13.1 miles is not exactly a piece of cake. And I did not particularly put in the requisite training for it. But if I don't pay money to run these distances than I'd never make much of an effort to ever run more than 3 miles.

So, yes, I'm the person who runs a marathon without ever running more than 10 miles in training. And I'm the person who trains for a half-marathon while only running more than 4 miles once.

Consequently, I'm a slow runner.

But that's okay.

Because I enjoy it. And Sunday's race was really terrific. The weather was great. The route was fun. The cheering bystanders were entertaining. I pretty much just love being around runners, even if I am one of the slow ones, because they are a solid group of people. As Jen--my friend and fellow runner--wrote, It's a good tribe to belong to.

And then the finish line? It was at Hayward Field. How cool is that?

Jason ran it too (although far ahead of me), and we both met our goals. I wanted to run it under 2 and a half hours, and I did. Jason wanted to run it under 1:45, and he did. So for two runners who only manage to get in runs on the weekends, it wasn't a bad showing.

: 7 :

I forgot to mention that the levy for Jason's school district passed a couple weeks ago. I know some people weren't thrilled that it went back on the ballot after it failed the first time, but it ended up being a good thing for the school district.

Obviously, paying more taxes isn't ever super fun, but considering it insures Jason's class size doesn't get above 30 and it allows for schools to have vice-principals, we're pretty happy about it.

Quite happy, actually.

It will make his (and my) summer vacation much more enjoyable.

Speaking of summer vacation, only four more weeks of school for the girls, and only six more weeks of school for Jason. Whew.

Almost done.

{More Quick Takes are over at Jen's blog.}

Ninth Annual Tulip Tradition

2013-05-02T13:56:15-07:00

It's spring!

Really, honest-to-goodness spring. With real sunshine. And warmth! (Unless you live in Colorado or Minnesota or one of those other states that spring has forgotten. In which case, I just want to cry for you. Snow on the first day of May would be enough to make me start selling furniture so I could buy a plane ticket to Hawaii. Hang in there.)

Here in the Pacific Northwest, however, we have made it through another winter, and now I can hopefully not worry about falling into the depths of rain-induced despair for many months.

Sarah and I got a bit distracted with whatever distracts us, and last week realized that we better get out to the tulip fields before they were all gone. This marks our ninth trip to the tulips. We started with 2 kids in 2005, then four in 2006, then five in 2008, six in 2010, and seven in 2012. We used to go to Woodburn, Oregon, and now we go to Woodland, Washington (yes, the town names still trip me up). We've gone in rain with umbrellas and boots; we've gone wearing shorts and flip flops. We've gone with Aunt Andrea. And almost always we go with cookies.

No matter what, though, we go.

As soon as we get there the girls sprint into the fields and start collecting all the petals that have fallen on the ground. They have strict instructions not to pick the flowers--which, of course, is very very hard not to do--and older kids periodically accuse younger kids of breaking the Pick No Flowers rule, but generally, they do pretty well.

Though they are happy with petals, their main goal is a find a whole tulip that has been knocked over by the wind. A tulip with its stem? That's gold.

The last few years I haven't been taking too many pictures because it's a little bit of "how many tulip pictures does a person need?" But this year I have my new camera, and my kids are old enough that I don't have to worry about them eating (too much) dirt, so I managed to snap a few more pictures than I usually get.

Of course, no matter what, there's always pictures to be taken. Who can pass up babies in tulips, or kids with tulip heads?

No one.

There they all are! Addie, Toby, Clover, Wavey, Jules, Sydney and Med.

And despite Sydney falling and scraping her leg, and despite Med's protests, Sarah and I decided that the weather was nice for not just ONE flower adventure but TWO.

From wide open tulip fields, we drove a mile down the road to a cute little perfectly manicured lilac garden.

It was beautiful.

It had dozens of lilac trees, and benches, and paths, and secret hiding spots. The kids played hide and seek and collected flower petals, and Addie and I strolled around smelling all the plants.

On the drive home Sydney said she wanted to go back and take pictures, and Clover wants to go back with her sketch pad, and I wouldn't mind going back with a book. And we could sit in the garden and just take it all in. I think that sounds like a very good idea.

So, if you're in the area, the tulip fields don't have too much more life left in them, but Hulda Klager Lilac Garden is open year round, and I suspect they have lots of things blooming all summer long.

I know that May 1st is traditionally when you go around surprising neighbors with flowers on their doorstep, but we opted to use our tradition to just surprise ourselves with flowers in the fields.

Another year, another tradition kept.

The Sink's Unsinking Saga

2013-04-29T23:10:11-07:00

PROLOGUE

Last week our kitchen sink started draining slowly.

Very. Slowly.

ACT I

Tuesday night I walked out to the kitchen to discover Jason under the kitchen sink, removing pipes.

"It's not draining. Clog somewhere." And then he pulled off a pipe, releasing a lot of gross kitchen water onto the kitchen floor.

We will not discuss why there wasn't a bucket there to catch all the water from the pipes. That is, shall we say, water under the floorboards, er, bridge.

Despite using a plunger to move the clog into a less stubborn position, and despite removing the pipes, no clog was discovered. I feel like it should be a rule that if you go to all the work of removing the pipes there should be something you can take out of the pipes.

So, pipes reassembled. Water is run. Water sits in sink. Multiple homemade draining solutions are attempted (via Pinterest), but, indeed: Pinterest fail. Plan made to get Liquid Plumber in the morning.

ACT 2

Wednesday afternoon, I pick up some heavy duty/this will practically melt your pipes/guaranteed to work Liquid Plumber.

I poor the goop down the sink, which has by now slowly emptied of all the water that was sitting in the sink the previous night.

Because I believe that if a little is good, a lot should be better, I pour the whole bottle of goop down the sink and let it sit there for awhile, hoping that it will realize the error of its ways and apologize for the inconvenience it has caused by way of allowing water to once again flow freely through the pipes. I even pour boiling hot water down the pipes--per the bottle's recommendation--only to discover the water is draining even slower than it was before.

I'm not convinced that I allowed the Liquid Plumber to sit long enough, so I wander over to Mom's house to see if they have any. They do not. They also do not have a (plumbing) snake that we could push down the pipes to move the clog.

I'm not willing to get caught up in a power struggle with my kitchen sink, so I make plans to call a plumber.

ACT 3

Before I call a plumber, however, I wander outside to enjoy some sunshine. And because we are nothing if not crazy/resourceful, I see my mom walking towards our house with her heavy duty leaf blower.

"I'll need your help," she says. "We're going to blow the clog out."

Allow me to paint the picture for you: my mom standing in our kitchen with the leaf blower's engine slung over her shoulder (it's contained in a backpack) as she points the nozzle towards the sink. Since we have a double-drained sink, I'm hunched over one drain, my hands covering that hole so that water won't come spraying out that way.

My mom starts the engine, and things momentarily go flying throughout the kitchen. Then the air is directed down the sink, and we briefly think it might work.

But then.

We had not accounted for the air gap required for the dish washer.

You see that little white stumpy thing on the right side of the sink? That's where air needs to flow to allow the dishwasher to drain properly. It's connected somehow to the pipes, so even though high velocity air flow may go down one drain, and even though a highly capable person may be covering up the other drain, water can still go up up up that air gap.

That water can then spray all over your kitchen walls, kitchen cabinets, kitchen countertops, and unsuspecting individuals just trying to lend a helping hand.

Granted, it's not toilet water. But it's not clean water either.

After the leaf blower failed to budge the clog, my mom packed up her gear and said, "Well. We tried. Good luck cleaning up."

ACT 4

I call a plumber, and schedule one to come out. We'll have to pay extra because it's after hours, but I don't care. Oh, but wait. We live where? That's an extra $40. So I call a different plumber, and he'll come out the next day.

Meanwhile, Jason gets home from soccer practice, bringing more Liquid Plumber and some gadget that attaches to a garden hose and can blast the clog out with water.

He once again disassembles the pipes--prepared this time with a 5-gallon bucket. He goes outside, and I take the hose with its special attachment and put it inside the pipes. Jason turns the water on, the special gadget inflates so that water doesn't come spraying back out at me, and we blast water for 30 seconds into the pipes.

Since the water is going into the pipes we assume the clog has been cleared. I tell Jason to turn the water off.

He turns the water off, and for whatever reason, all that water we blasted into the pipe comes spraying out at me. Gallons and gallons of water.

I scream.

Jason misunderstands my scream as a signal he has turned the hose on rather than off, so he turns the hose back on (thinking he's turning it off).

Water water water water. EVERYWHERE.

Fortunately, I had thought just a tiny bit ahead and figured out that in case of an emergency I could always pinch the hose and stop the flow of water. I finally do this, and then direct the hose over the 5-gallon bucket and get Jason to turn the hose off.

The sink remained clogged.

ACT 5

Where did all that water go? All that water pouring into the pipes but not into the pipe where the clog was? We start pulling out drawers and opening cabinet doors to follow the pipes. We see one pipe going down under the house, and one pipe going...up. Up to the roof. Another air gap.

We had hosed off our roof, and then when the hose was turned off, all that water that went up, came rushing back down right into me.

We make one last ditch attempt to at least make sure the line is cleared from the sink to the spot where the pipe goes down.

A tube, a wire hanger, an overly optimistic wife saying, "Don't worry. That wire won't get stuck in the pipes."

EPILOGUE

The plumber came the next day, and to the tune of nearly $400 vacuumed out nearly 10-gallons of crud--and one relatively new wire coat hanger--that had compacted in our drain over the past 40 years.

Who knows exactly what final piece managed to finally complete the dam that blocked the flow of water.

Some mysteries just don't need to be solved.

We will run again

2013-04-15T22:56:36-07:00

This afternoon I received an email.

It was a statement put out by the Eugene Marathon, which Jason and I are running in at the end of the month. We are only running the half marathon, but the marathoners and half-marathoners run part of the course together. We're all runners.

I didn't have to open the email to know what the organizers would say. That today's events are heartbreaking. That the race would go on despite the horrors that happened at Boston. That city officials would work hard to insure the safety of runners.

We'll run. Of course, we'll run. There is no consideration of not running.

It's the same words I hear people saying about running in Boston next year. Of course I'll run it.

The thing about the Boston Marathon that non-runners may not know is that you have to qualify to get into it. I can't run in Boston. Jason can't run in Boston. My brother Jake ran it last year, and could have run it again this year if he wanted, but that's because his times are good enough to get into it. He had to run a 3:05 to get in; I'd have to run a 3:40. You know, a mere 90 minutes off my Portland time.

People train their whole running careers to get into Boston and don't make it. My mom tried a few times and missed it by only a few minutes. Part of the reason Jake ran it is because no matter how many other marathons he had participated in, people always asked him, "Have you run Boston?" It's the marathon to be in.

The people who ran in the Boston Marathon today have been looking forward to this day for months, years maybe.

This day, circled on their calendar, has been in their sights for a long time.

For me, that's what makes today's tragedy extra heartbreaking. If you haven't ever participated in a race, whether as a participant or spectator, then you may not know what's happening on the course. All along the route, runners hear people cheering, strangers telling you to keep up the good work. Bands play music, water station volunteers give high fives. And in my experience as both a participant and a spectator, the finish line of a marathon is like nothing else: the air is filled with triumph and celebration, and people are coming together to celebrate the endurance of the human body.

This day, for tens of thousands of people, was supposed to be a day unlike an ordinary day. It was, and not for the reasons they circled April 15 on their calendar.

When I think of it all--the triumph marred by the terror--it makes me so sad for all those runners, and the organizers, and the families who lost loved ones. Some runners may not run on their own legs again. Some familes are planning funerals for next week. It doesn't make sense.

What does make sense, however, is that we will run again.

No monster takes away our race.

We will lace up our shoes, we will eat those awful protein bars, we will stand at the starting line again. The air will again fill with triumph and celebration because that is what we do.

We endure.

We will run again, Boston.

Lately

2013-04-06T22:54:52-07:00

I missed linking up with Jen's Quick Takes Friday, but Friday is gone and Saturday is here. And so I adapt to the days like a blogging chameleon. (Please allow that imagery to linger for a moment until it seems like a non-ridiculous metaphor.)

: 1 :

One reason why I missed posting yesterday is because I was having a garage sale. As far as I can tell, there are two types of people: those who like garage sales (whether going or having) and those who do NOT. Sure, some people may be somewhere in the middle, but I have no use for those people in this analogy. Because the thing is...I do not garage sale. I do not go to garage sales nor would I ever think that having one is fun.

And yet.

For some reason beyond my comprehension--no doubt in a moment my morning medication was making me feel unreasonably optimistic--I thought I should have a garage sale. We have a lot of stuff that I want to get rid of, and I'm not super keen on Craigslisting items for reasons that are unclear even to me, and while I usually just donate stuff, I thought maybe I could pull this off. Though the universe was telling me that I should not have a garage sale (weather and location were not ideal), I went ahead and had one anyway.

The end of the story is this: my planned two-day sale turned into a one-day sale because I am not cut out for having garage sales, particularly when I'm standing under a canopy in the pouring rain. It fills my brain with profanity and makes me hate every person in the whole world. I made $120, and it wasn't even worth it a tiny bit. I will never ever ever again have a garage sale.

Ever.

One brief moment of cuteness from yesterday: Addie climbed into the baby swing and said, "I'm a baby!" Even in the dark hours of garage sale-ing, that girl can make me laugh.

: 2 :

This last week was spring break for Jason and the girls, and so Jason and I managed to get out for a date on Thursday (a school night! woo hoo!). As you might be able to tell from the above picture, we went to Widmer Brothers, a restaurant in Portland. It was nice to get out and go into town--and by "town" I mean Portland. *sigh* I love Portland. If you've never been to Portland, you really ought to because it's awesome in so many ways.

Anyway, my love of Portland aside...

We had wanted to see a movie, but there's nothing out right now that appeals to me, so we came home and watched "Pitch Perfect," a movie that many would not enjoy, but as a former choir kid, I loved pretty much everything about it. I could easily watch it many times because I love movies that make me want to sing.

: 3 :

Speaking of singing, I probably should be watching the tv show "Nashville." The only thing I've ever seen is this clip from last week's (?) episode of these two kids covering the Lumineers, which I found so charming.

I know people love the show, but I still haven't seen any episodes. I just don't have time for tv.

I know.

It's *almost* tragic.

: 4 :

It's possible some of my agitation at Friday's garage sale fiasco was a result of having to buy a laptop earlier in the week. Our Mac laptop died, and since Jason and I often need to be on the computer at the same time, it was a necessary purchase.

Even after 2 1/2 years of using a Mac, I never got used to it. In fact, we never saved a single thing on the hard drive because I could never figure out how to organize the file system (this ended up being a good thing since we didn't have to worry about recovering anything when it stopped working). But seriously, me and Macs are not compatible. I know that they are supposed to be super user-friendly, but we never really managed to connect in a meaningful way.

Ergo, back to Windows.

I did all the necessary research and we bought a Toshiba laptop from Costco. I quickly discovered that I hated the trackpad more than a person really ought to hate a trackpad. Even though I could have used an external mouse, that felt like a workaround solution that wasn't going to make me feel better.

So I went and bought another laptop. A very nice Dell that will work just fine. It's not pretty like the Toshiba, but it doesn't make me crazy.

Sometimes I think that's the primary goal of everything--to reduce craziness in my head.

: 5 :

Turns out Thursday was my lucky day as far as eating in Portland goes. I currently have a terrible cough and couldn't teach class that day, but it meant I could meet up with a friend I haven't seen in 20 years. TWENTY YEARS! Yep, 20 years ago I went on a missions trip to Romania, and I saw on FB that a guy from my team was going to have a free afternoon in Portland before flying back to Florida. We had lunch at Por Que No, talked about where we've been the last 20 years, and that trip down memory lane was a rather fun one indeed.

: 6 :

I think I have found the solution to the Google Reader problem. In case you haven't heard, Google Reader--which I use to follow all my favorite blogs--isn't going to be offering their blog subscription service anymore.

Even though I'm moderately tech savvy, I do not like change when it comes to how I interact with the Internet. Or interact on computers in general (refer to #4 and my inability to learn how to use a Mac).

Being forced to make a change though, I switched over to Bloglovin.

I have to tell you, I'm actually really liking it. I haven't quite figured out all the settings, but one thing that I'm learning to like is the feature of reading the blog post from the actual blog. Bloglovin opens up the blog in a special window and then you can click through to the next blog post using an arrow at the top. I thought I might find this annoying, but it's working for me.

If you use Bloglovin, you can click this link to follow my blog with Bloglovin. I think.

: 7 :

I don't have a lot pictures going on today. But if you're looking for some, there's always that little sidebar on the right that shows my Instagram pictures. I'm a bit of an Instagram addict, and so I post most days. And, yes, most pictures are of Addie.

I just can't help myself.

Sinking Pink

2013-04-01T21:53:15-07:00

As much as we do love pink, I ultimately decided that we better switch our house back to gray.

Goodbye, pink house.

You were fun for a day!

The pink house photo managed to momentarily confuse my sister, who thought to herself, "They just painted their house not that long ago." And I made my mother gasp in horror, despite the fact that she lives next door and knew full well we had not painted our house.

Then she told me I have too much time on my hands.

Ha. Photoshop made painting the house a mere 3-minute job. If only all paint jobs were so easy!

One thing I do have going for me if I should ever paint my house pink? Jason is red/green color blind so he can't tell the difference. I showed him the pink house photo, and it looks exactly the same to him as the gray house photo.

There are so many ways I could take advantage of Jason's color blindness...

The actual home improvement project that we had going on around here was much less flamboyant.

We got a new sink faucet. Isn't it pretty? We had a white one before...

But probably around the time this picture was taken, the sink started leaking. We expertly handled the leak by placing a pan under the sink, and emptied it occasionally. I know. We're so super duper handy that way.

It was getting annoying though. And ever since the kitchen make-over, I have wanted a brushed nickel faucet to match the cabinet handles.

Jason thinks I might have purposefully broken our old faucet, but I promise, it broke all by itself. Unless I suddenly acquired the ability to think an object into brokenness. In which case I should try thinking about our washer and dryer a little harder. I have really wanted a front loading pair.

Anyway, new sink faucet. Expertly installed by my dad.

It's pretty. It's not pretty in pink, but it's pretty.

Money shot.

So there you go! It's no pink house, but I'm still happy--or should I say "tickled pink"--with my new faucet.

Here's to April!

Embrace the pink

2013-04-01T12:28:14-07:00

A few facts about our household:

1. 80% of our household is female

2. 80% of our household loves pink

That being said, this was bound to happen eventually.

It was a hard sell to Jason, but he was outnumbered. Pink is perfection.

;)

Update: Yes, this was my April Fools day joke. I guess we'll stick with our gray house.

Easter Happiness

2013-03-31T21:55:12-07:00

While it is not uncommon to have nice weather on Easter, today we had exceptionally nice weather.

Ridiculously nice weather.

Seventy-five degrees/blue skies for miles/if we're lucky we get a day like this in June kind of weather.

This is the kind of weather I will never get tired of. Never.

And celebrating Easter is also a day I will never get tired of. Never.

Both of them stir something in my soul, a kind of thankfulness that is difficult to articulate. They make me alternately feel like I should look to the heavens and sing, or drop to my knees and weep. Either way, it's gratitude: profound, deep, and mysterious.

We had a wonderful day filled with lots of joyfulness. Church, Easter meal with the grandparents at Jason's parents' house, back to the farm to catch the tail end of Ty & Sarah's Easter celebration.

(Jason actually had a nice shirt on for church and then changed after church, not that anyone cares about what people wear to church anymore, but I thought I would mention it.)

Jason and the girls are now on their spring break for the week, and even though I have to work my regular Tuesday and Thursday, it will feel good to be together with them on my off days.

Happiness all around.

Hope you had a wonderful Easter!

Spring Break: Day Six {Inveraray & Glasgow}

2013-03-30T22:20:46-07:00

"Twenty years from now you will be more disappointed by the things you didn’t do than by the ones you did do. So throw off the bowlines, sail away from the safe harbor. Catch the trade winds in your sails. Explore. Dream. Discover."

Well, here we are. Our last full day of the trip. And since our Sunday of the trip wasn't particularly eventful-- other than walking around Andrea's neighborhood, having a delicious breakfast at a cafe down the road, and visiting Tesco (the grocery store) to pick up last minute souvenirs--this will be my last Scotland recap. Sometime next week I'll post a link round-up of all the links I found helpful in planning for our trip, but mostly...this is it.

We're at the end of our amazing trip.

In case you happened to miss some of the days, here are the posts in chronological order:

Saturday, March 31, 2012: travel to Iceland
Sunday, April 1: stuck in Iceland
Monday, April 2: Edinburgh
Tuesday, April 3: Saint Andrews & area
Wednesday, April 4: William Wallace & Stirling Castle
Thursday, April 5: Scottish Highlands
Friday, April 6: Iona & Mull

...and now we're at Saturday, April 7, and it's exactly a year ago today that we were flying out to Scotland.

You can't even imagine how much I wish we were flying back there again, or even that we had another trip planned there. But hopefully someday we will visit Scotland again!

Ready for today's adventures? Here we go!

Always important to get our bearings:

Yesterday we traveled to Iona (J) and then drove around Mull (I). Today we'll leave Mull, and drive towards Glasgow (A), making a stop at Inveraray Castle (K) on the way there. We'll see a couple lochs (lakes) today, and they all have proper names, but none of them stick in my head except Loch Ness (for obvious reasons) and we never even visited Loch Ness because it's farther north than we wanted to travel.

After a delicious breakfast--no, not the traditional full breakfast; we already did that!--we are on our way towards the ferry terminal.

We say goodbye to the Argyll Arms Hotel where we were treated quite well. It definitely didn't have the charm of the B&Bs, but it was clean, the food was good, and everyone was very nice. Hooray for having excellent accommodations for our entire trip!

On our drive towards the ferry, we decided to make a quick stop at a foreclosed castle and wander around the grounds.

We had seen it yesterday, and remarked about it to the main guy at the Argyll. He told us it was for sale. "...for a million pounds. If you happened to have a million pounds laying around, you can buy a castle. Of course, then it will take the rest of your money to keep it going." Which evidently is what got this particular castle in trouble: expensive upkeep.

Well, no time for castle shopping. We have a ferry to catch!

We ferry across the sound, back to Oban, where we get some lunch, some candy to take home to the girls, and a coffee for the road.

I can vouch for their coffee: it tastes just fine. I have discovered from Andrea, however, that they are quite limited in what syrups they offer. So the next time you have your salted caramel mocha, be thankful. Because Scotland doesn't have it. They have castles, though. So you know. Maybe it evens out.

On our drive to Glasgow, we are undecided about whether or not we want to visit Inveraray Castle, which is right on the way. We decide that we'll stop to at least get pictures.

Now is that a gorgeous castle, or what? The castle is fenced off, so if we really want to take a good look at it then we'll have to pay admission.

After a bit of indecision, we decide to take the tour. Andrea has already toured Inveraray and said that, yes, it was a good tour.

Inveraray Castle is the home of the Duke of Argyll and his family. In fact, as we were walking around outside we saw the kids jumping on the trampoline out back. I bet this is a fun place to live.

The tour inside was very well organized, showcased lots of history, and had lots of royalty-related memorabilia.

At just over 63 feet, Inveraray Castle has the highest ceiling in Scotland. Muskets and other arms dating back to 1740 are all over the walls, and I have to say, it is quite the entrance. Funny story behind the pictures: no photography is allowed inside the castle, but I thought I would just take a couple of this room because it was so cool. I slyly pulled out my iPhone and quietly snapped two pictures.

Andrea saw me, and was properly horrified. "Steph! No pictures!" I think she was afraid we'd get kicked out of the castle--which possibly we had been warned ahead of time was a possibility--and so the little sister shamed the big sister into putting her camera away. Well, not shamed enough that I'm embarrassed about telling the story. I still think it's a funny story.

A few more pictures and then we are on our way to Glasgow.

These are two of my favorite pictures from the trip, so the stop at Inveraray was definitely worth it.

All good road trips must come to an end eventually, and early afternoon we roll into Glasgow. We had been hoping to spend all of last Sunday there, but these things happen. What do we want to see most? Andrea's school and her neighborhood.

We drop our stuff off at Andrea's flat, and walk to the University of Glasgow (or Glasgow University, as it is also called).

It is an absolutely gorgeous evening!

For all the castles scattered throughout Scotland, unfortunately Glasgow does not have one. They have a bit of a complex about it, but you know what they do have? The fourth-oldest university in the English-speaking world. In Scotland, only Saint Andrews is older.

They also have a connection to Harry Potter movies. The spires of the main building (above photo) were the inspiration for Hogwarts. The catacombs were also a set-piece in one of the movies (they tried to film in the catacombs but the lighting was poor, and I've also heard that the university didn't like a lot of Harry Potter filming going on there).

As a Harry Potter fan, it was fun to be in Glasgow knowing that several of the places ended up in the movies.

Glasgow University also has Lord Kelvin as an alumnus. He did important science stuff. Stuff I don't know anything about, but people do. Smart people! Good job, Lord Kelvin.

You know what other important person is connected with Glasgow Uni? My sister!

Here she is sitting on the steps of her academic building. Yay English majors! You are awesome.

A little more walking around...

...before we make our way to Ashton Lane (last Harry Potter reference: Ashton Lane is said to be the inspiration for Diagon Alley; okay, I'm done now).

Ashton Lane is a trendy little street that has lots of cute restaurants and a movie theatre. We have dinner, and then end the evening by watching the movie "Hunger Games," which just happened to be the book that Jason and I read on the flight over to Scotland.

And there you have it. Our trip to Scotland.

We had road trips and castle tours, landmarks and movie trivia; we ate amazing food, took ferry trips, and walked along ancient paths.

We went to celebrate our fifteen year wedding anniversary.

We went to visit my sister.

We went because we were lucky enough to have the means to go and the graciousness of those who watched our kids. I didn't want to waste a single moment of it because I thought, I'm not going to leave my children and spend lots of money to travel halfway around the world without making the most of it.

Obviously, we didn't do everything, but we did a lot.

Hope you enjoyed all the photos and stories. To relive the trip, even reliving it a year later, was great fun. It really was one of the best trips I've ever been on in my life.

Spring Break: Day Five {Iona & Mull}

2013-03-29T14:51:30-07:00

Ready for some island living today?

Before you start dreaming of tropical weather and warm sandy beaches, let me remind you that we are in Scotland! Island living around here means ferries, one lane roads, and expansive watery views.

Friday, April 6, 2012, dawned as cloudy and gray...just like most our days in Scotland. Fortunately, there were always long stretches without rain, and every once in awhile we might even have a glimpse of blue sky. Of course, being lifelong Pacific Nor'westers we are more than a little used to this kind of weather.

We started our day with breakfast at our hotel. Even though there are a few B&Bs on the Isle of Mull, Andrea arranged to have us stay at the Argyll Arms Hotel because it has one of the only restaurants open on the island during this part of the year. In fact, it might have very well been the only restaurant that served dinner. The guy who checked us in last night also is in charge of the restaurant...as far as I could tell, he was the first one up in the morning and the last one to close up the restaurant. I commented to him on how exhausting his job must be, and he told us he was looking forward to the seasonal help that was arriving later in the month. No doubt.

Not having had a traditional Scottish breakfast--also called a "full breakfast"--so far on our journey, today was the day we decided to "indulge."

Hope you were hungry for protein because you'll get a lot of it! Starting from the pile of baked beans on the left and moving clockwise: fried mushrooms, sliced sausage, back bacon (what we call ham), haggis, blood sausage, a fried tomato, and an egg sunnyside up right in the middle. Not pictured is the obligatory tea and toast.

I ate the beans, egg, ham and tomato. I tried the blood sausage (spicy) and haggis (like meatloaf) just to say I've tried it. I didn't eat the mushrooms because I never eat mushrooms, and Andrea was happy to have both mine and Jason's mushrooms (part of the reason I married him: he dislikes mushrooms even more than I do).

Although I wouldn't opt for a full breakfast every day, it does keep you full for a very long time.

After breakfast we drive to Fionnphort at the tip of the island to catch the ferry over to Iona. It's a walk-on ferry because no cars are allowed on Iona except for the locals who live on the island.

Ten minutes later we were at Iona.

You can clearly see the Iona Abbey from the ferry.

Our plans for the morning are to walk around the island and see the Iona nunnery ruins and the abbey.

It was really an amazing feeling walking around Iona. For one thing, because there are very few cars, you feel as though you are walking around a huge park rather than an actual community. It's very quiet, and extraordinarily beautiful...even though it was raining.

For another thing, it has a strong spiritual feeling to it--particularly at the abbey. Iona is significant because of the ancient monastery that was built there around 563, and that monastery helped convert the locals to Christianity, which in turn allowed Christianity to spread through England.

We walked along the road to the ruins of the Iona Nunnery.

Even though there are lots of old ruined buildings all over Scotland, you know it's significant if it has a plaque out front explaining what it used to be. Fortunately, no one seems to mind if people tromp around the old ruins. Good thing, since we tromped around plenty.

We eventually wander off to see the Iona Abbey.

Two crosses stand out in front. The one on the right is St Martin's cross, and it's been there since the middle of the 8th century. Wow!

The other one--not quite as visible in the above photo--is a replica of St John's cross. The original is in a little museum in the back.

Here's a better view of it.

The building is still used as a church and spiritual retreat center, but some of the areas inside were closed off because it was Good Friday and they were preparing for Easter.

Still plenty of history to take in.

Out behind the abbey in another room, they were preserving some ancient grave slabs and monuments that had been carved, oh, about 1500 years ago. No big deal.

I have to tell you, it's a bit surreal being around stuff that is that old. Also, there's a bit of disconnect in that you want to appreciate how old it is, but on the other hand, it didn't have any personal connection to me so they sort of felt like a bunch of old rocks.

Really old rocks.

But I'm glad someone is taking the time to protect them! Important stuff.

Before leaving, we stop at the gift shop and end up visiting with some of the local residents. Trouble is, I am not good at understanding the Scottish dialect. Consequently, Andrea had to repeat some of the questions so I didn't have a perpetual blank face of confusion.

When we leave we discover it's not raining anymore. Yay!

No blue skies, but we can put our umbrellas away. We wander around a little more, and then eventually head back to the port where we'll catch the ferry back to Mull. Since we have a bit of time to kill, we stop in at a cafe for a "spot of tea."

This was one of my favorite moments of the trip--sitting in the restaurant's sunroom, sipping tea and eating scones with jam and clotted cream, watching the ferry arrive. It was just...perfection.

Our ferry finally arrived, and soon enough we were headed back to Mull.

Knowing that we won't have much time to explore Mull tomorrow (because of an early-ish departing ferry), we decide to do a bit of exploring this afternoon. No plans, just a car, a one lane road, and a "I think I saw a sign for this" adventure.

We drive from the ferry port, back towards Bunessan--where you can just barely see our hotel in the distance--and then drive on towards the rest of Mull.

Mull isn't that big, but guess what? It's big enough to have a castle.

Hello, Duart Castle! Fancy seeing you here. Duart Castle is one of those castles that people live in and open up for tours--no doubt to help offset the costs of maintaining the castle.

We didn't tour it because it closed early on Fridays, but we did wander around the grounds, much to the consternation of the little terrier dogs tied up out front.

Mostly we wandered down to the field below the castle to get a good view of the area.

Yep. Nice area.

Out across the water we saw the ferry we would be taking to get back to mainland Scotland.

Hello, ferry! We'll see you tomorrow!

Back to the one lane road for us, to see what else we can see.

Oh boy. Are you in for a treat. Are you ready?

Are you sure?

Because seriously.

Baby cow! We watched this little guy for quite a few minutes because he had somehow managed to get on the wrong side of the fence from his mama. He kept running up and down the fence, and even though we could see the hole where he could get back inside his mama's pen, he couldn't figure it out.

Poor baby.

Having considerably more fun down the road were some spring lambies.

Hello, lambie!

Finally, we turn back towards the hotel for a late afternoon nap before dinner.

And just a bit of video showcasing parts of our day.

Fortunately for us, going back to our hotel meant we wouldn't have to drive out again for dinner since we were at the dinner spot. Quite early on, it got busy with tour groups and anybody else who wanted to go out for dinner. Since we could easily occupy ourselves with a card game up in our room, then we decided to have a late dinner to avoid the crowds. Andrea is a big fan of playing hearts, so we often played that in the evenings.

My philosophy at playing hearts is to "shoot the moon" as often as possible. ("Shooting the moon" is to collect all the penalty cards for that round, which then gives you zero points but gives everyone else 26 points.) It happened on this occasion that my gaming philosophy was working.

We had determined that we would play to 100 points, but since I had shot the moon a couple of times, both Jason and Andrea had considerably more points than I had.

It finally comes down to Andrea having 98 points and Jason has 99, and we figure it will be the last game before we go to dinner. Andrea jokes that she and Jason need to conspire together so that I end up with all the penalty cards except 1 (which she would collect) in order to keep the game going. They didn't actually set anything up, but early on I decided that I would again shoot the moon.

As luck would have it, I collected every single penalty card except the very last one, which Andrea picked up. To say we were a bit noisy in our collective response to that last card is putting it mildly.

Andrea and Jason both lived to see another game, and even though I ended up the ultimate winner they still felt rather victorious too.

I suppose that's the best way to end a game, isn't it?

And can you believe it? Tomorrow is our last full day in Scotland. We'll take the ferry back to the mainland, and drive back to Glasgow. *sigh* It's been a fabulous trip so far, hasn't it?