In case you haven’t been following the moblog, here’s some shocking news for you: Paul and I have moved to the US. Texas, to be precise. Yes, we’ve done it. I’ve become a repat, and Paul is now the resident expat.

Now, after a fairly long hiatus, I have decided to return to blogging. I dropped it when the move became too much, and after that I just felt I didn’t have much to blog about – even when one of my biggest life changes was happening.  I  photographed it all and added what I wanted to the moblog. I didn’t really feel I needed to add the text to it. Or in fact, share all the photographs. You would think a move home would be the best thing in the world, what with how much I missed it, but it hasn’t always  turned out  like that. 

It’s taken me a long time to make peace with the move and everything that’s gone along with it, but here I am, so I guess I better start making the most of it. Texas is almost as much a foreign land to this Pennsylvania girl as it is to the Scot I married, and we’re hoping to explore as much of this great land as we possibly can.

So, welcome back, baby! It’s good to be home!

Belt buckles for kilts have all sorts of designs on them, from celtic knots to Scottish saltires, to the rampant lion or a clan crest. We picked a nice Scottish thistle design for Paul’s belt buckle.  I really like the thistles on it and think compared to a lot of the design’s I’ve seen, it’s quite unique. You can’t see it here, but the belt also has a Scottish thistle design, and Paul’s sgian dubh also has the shape of a thistle on the hilt.

Well, I finally got a shot at one – with the camera!!

And here’s my pheasant:

I was finally able to get a lovely picture while I was visiting friends near Leeds. We made a trip to Harewood House while we were there, and that’s where we found this old boy just hanging out along a path.

We enjoyed the Med and the pool, spending the majority of the holiday there. Here’s a pic from the casbah in Hammamet.

But we also enjoyed the desert. While we were in Tunisia, we spent two days of trip exploring the country. I believe I’ve seen 75% of that country now. We even spent a night in the desert, under the stars in tents! Pretty nice, I think.

The trip took in El Djem, a well preserved coliseum, and then went on to show us some cave dwellings and places which were Star Wars. We also took in a camel trip, which Paul and I opted out of, but Paul did get some nice Camels for me.

The best part was seeing the sun rise on the Sahara. Yes, yours truly was up at 4:30 am in order to see the sunrise at 10 past five in the morning. And it was worth it. Check it out:

Isn’t that beautiful?

Our trip in the desert ended that day, seeing a beautiful oasis featured in The English Patient.

It was a good trip overall, lovely weather and much more to see than anticipated. There are even more photos in the gallery, if you’d like to gawk a bit more.

The Angel of the North is a large piece of sculpture that is just off the A1.  We’ve driven by this piece of art a couple times, when we go up to Scotland on the route that takes us past Newcastle. We don’t normally go this route, so I’ve only been by once or twice. The weather has never been particularly good, or we’ve been in the frame of mind “must get to Dundee,” so photographing it has never been foremost in our minds. This time, however, we made a special stop to capture Flat Stanley in front of this artwork, and a quick pic for my blog. So, here you go!

We had two options at our disposal, take full advantage of being in Scotland and find a good pub, or take advantage of being in Scotland and do some outdoor activity. So, we decided to go on the Three Brethren Walk, a walk up a big hill with three cairns at the top. And boy was it something.

Here’s the view down the first hill in the walk that we went up. This was a wooded area and there was a stream running along side this road. Once at the top of the hill, the scenery changed slightly.

The hill leveled off and there was a nice bit of flat space to walk down, with a nice stone wall along side it. The landscape opened up here as well, and the ground gradually sloped upwards.

And another scenic picture of the heather and the inclined walk. Not to mention the sheep. There were sheep all over the place, and I can’t tell you how many pictures of sheep I have. But there were lambs everywhere as well, so I think the excessive photo taking was justified. The landscape here just continued in a similar way, with more and more heather (the dark bit on the hill in the distance). And the path became increasingly rougher and steeper.

And after the last arduous bit of the walk, we were greeted by the three brethren (cairns) at the top of the hill and a glorious blue sky. Once up there, we took a break and had a look around and enjoyed the view.

And what a view it was, too. Overall, it took us about 3 – 4 hours (we didn’t time it precisely!) and the walk was around 9 miles long. What a great walk, apart from the wet foot. But that’s a story for another day.

My mother made this, just for me. Aren’t I a lucky girl? And it fits on my coffee table perfectly. I now just have to make sure I don’t spill anything on it! Thanks Mom!

And the weather here does seem to be breaking.  It’s definitely not summer time, but it is certainly starting to be more like spring here. The sun is shining a bit more, and the entire mood is starting feel lighter. I’m loving it.

Next the bluebells will be out in full force.

These started out really well, with the color pattern matching up pretty well. Until the heel/ankle, that is. Plus there was some variation in the striping that all accounts for the big black toe. I used just a basic vanilla sock pattern here. I’m now working on another pair, which I’m doing two at a time, on two circular needles, which is working out just fine. I’m quite enjoying the whole sock thing!