A rainbowy day?

Yes, I realize that rainbowy may not be a correct spelling, but I'm pretty sure that the word doesn't exist anyway...wait, let me check...ha! It is a word and I've spelled it correctly, so there!

Anyway, the day that I actually started this post I saw 5 rainbows! I got pics of a couple of them and thought I'd share them. They aren't the most magnificent ones that I've seen here, but I'm not picky when it comes to rainbows.

Proof:
Anyway, rainbows are all well and good, but I meant to blog about my recent travels. So here goes...

After Amsterdam I went to Germany for some meetings and got to see the Alps! I took way too many pictures to post here, but here are a couple, just to give you a sense of what it was like.

The old meets new!

A little bit of home...

Our hotel!

Anyway, I had a great time and am planning to go back at some point. I had no idea how much I would like Germany and how much it would remind me of the States. If you want to have a taste of Bavaria, go to Vail Colorado. I know that sounds wrong, but really, the feel is pretty much the same.

Planes, trains, and bad internet connections.

...and that pretty much sums it up. For the past three weeks, I've been airport hopping, canal crossing in Amsterdam, and hill walking in Bavaria. I spent 2 weeks in Amsterdam, and came away even more attached to that city than I'd been before. Don't get me wrong, it has it's faults and I was introduced to some of them on this trip that I'd missed the first time around, but all in all, I like the city. We did A LOT of walking this time, and I even took a solo trip one afternoon. The only disappointment was our failure to do any successful shopping. We did a lot of shopping, but came away empty handed :(

But back to my solo trip... I took off to find a art store that I'd found online, and after 40 minutes of walking, turning around, and looking for street signs (what's with the lack of street signs?), I made it to Van der Linde Art Store. Unfortunately my bad shopping luck was unshakable and they didn't have a single waterproof pen...but, the trip was not a complete failure. I found this on the way:


I decided to head in and get a croissant, and since I wouldn't be sticking around the area for long, I let my obviously famous name slide. I asked if they got many customers that were named Jennifer, and when the woman exclaimed "No! Never!" I couldn't help but let her know that she had now. My obnoxious behavior paid off, and I walked away with a Jennifer's sticker! Ha!

Next blog stop: Germany!!!

The first mini-stitch project

After finally finding a bit of cheap fabric to use (a.k.a. an old sheet), I embarked on my first adventure with my £5.00 mini stitch. Just like at home in Kansas, line drying is really big here. Unlike back home in Kansas, we don't even have dryers here (that's beside the point, but I wanted you to know). Up to now, we'd been using a tuperware container as our clothespin holder. This means that every time I need another clothespin, I need to bend down, lose hold of whatever I'm hanging up and hope that it doesn't blow away as I grab the clothespin and make it back up. It's almost as tedious as explaining the inconvenience itself.

So, here is the solution that the mini stitch came up with!


As you can probably tell from that picture, it's been gorgeous lately so I have spent a little time outside. The other day I went to a beach on the other side of town for a bit of a walk and a bit of a sit down. It was just...just...well, see for yourself:



Well, that's it for today. In case anyone's interested, my next project involves these...



And this...


Stay tuned.

Cloth, paper, scissors

Look at what I've been up to!


I recently was inspired by this very crafty post, and started to gather supplies straight away one at a time (I really love getting parcels in the mail). I ordered 3 cahier journals, and accidentally sent them to Kansas...forgot to change my address on a certain account. Luckily, I realized what I had done within 24 hours (which is too late to change a delivery address on this site apparently), so I didn't lose any time ordering another set and having them sent here. Once they arrived, I ordered this stuff called Bondaweb from Ebay. Got that, so I finally got serious about fabric and ordered a bunch of samples from a shop on Etsy. My fabric was delivered by our loyal postman two days ago, and the rest is history. I'm gonna miss waiting on my packages!

A spontaneous purchase

Yesterday I went into town to go to the post office, and came home with a sewing machine. As you may have guessed, I did not obtain this sewing machine at the post office, but at a cute charity shop in town. Because I think it's so cute, I like to go in on a regular basis to check things out. The women that work in the shop are Gaelic speakers, so sometimes I like to buy things just so I can talk to them and practice :)

So, after checking out the entire store again yesterday I was lamenting the idea of leaving the shop without finding anything to buy when I came across this baby:

It was 5 pounds and something inside me said, "BUY IT!" So I did. Now I've just got to get my hands on some fabric...hmmm...

Summertime and the living is easy...

The revelation came as both good and bad news. I was chatting with the Postman (whose name is Ronnie), and he asked me how I was getting on. I told him that I really liked it here and thought that everyone seemed to be very friendly. At that he laughed and said something to the effect of..."That's because it's so nice out! What until winter comes..."

The good news was that the summer season on the Isle of Lewis means that everyone is in a good mood ALL the time! Yes, it's true. Strangers smile at each other as they pass. Drivers watch out for those poor few with the Learner plates on their car so that they can help them out. Shopkeepers are chatty and everyone is always ready to help others in any way they can. All of this means that for the rest of the summer I can look forward to feeling like the sweetheart of this community as people are quick to forgive my cultural ignorance and are ready to smile at my accent.

The bad news is that because I came here at the beginning of April, I thought that this was just the way people were here. I thought that I really was the sweetheart of the community because everywhere I go people are smiling at me and seem to genuinely care about how I am getting on. Oh well, at least I was made privy to this phenomenon before I bumped into it come winter.

In other news, I've been working on my art journal a bit! See for yourself :)

I have joined a ceilidh dancing class...it's a bit like square dancing slowed down...

The second picture was drawn in a cafe in Amsterdam...
the wall was much cooler, but that's part of what it said.

We spent an afternoon at Luskentyre Beach on the Isle of Harris (which is technically attached to Lewis).
It was warm and beautiful!

Finally settled in...

So, I guess it's been almost 2 months since I arrived in Scotland, and I believe now I finally feel settled in. Until now we've been working on getting bank accounts, meeting neighbors, and making this house look a little less...well...I won't get into that. Another item of business that we've been working on and waiting for is our phone and internet service, this being in my mind the highest on the list of "things I need to feel at home." It may sound trivial to some of you, but after more thought, I'm sure most would agree that having internet (aka communication with the outside world) on an island far far away from home is very close to a necessity.

All that to say that this week, we got our internet installed! Yay!!! There was much rejoicing, and then silence as we spent the next hour on our computers... So hopefully, now I will be posting a bit more often.

And since I enjoy posting pictures on this blog, here's the view from my window...


In other news...I have been spending a significant amount of time behind the wheel of our MANUAL Ford Fiesta...and I'm doing alright if I do say so myself. I have yet to kick it into 5th gear, but it may be a long time before that is necessary...these island roads make 50 mph feel reckless!