dreaming...

What do you think...isn't it cute! We've been toying with the possibility of moving house in the next couple of months, and drove by this house today. We want to move to a more Gaelic speaking area...which is almost anywhere farther away from "town" than we are. This house is in Ness which is up in the northwest part of the island and about 40 minutes from town. It's pretty far up there, but those of you that know me know that I've done this before. Plus, Ness has it's own general store, a heritage center, and even an Arts and Crafts store! Not that the last thing would sway me in any way:)


Obviously this is all just dreaming, but so what, it's fun!

A real live Ceilidh dance!

So here's my first attempt at posting a video. This is something that pictures just can't even begin to capture...a ceilidh dance! This particular dance took place in an extremely poorly lit hall in Tarbert...the "big" town on the Isle of Harris. On a side note, the Isle of Harris is actually on the same landmass as the Isle of Lewis...it's just the southern, less populated part.

Ok, drum roll please...here's the postie's jig!

A weapon against the cold

Yes, these little guys ought to help a bit. And even if they don't...they're just so cute! I bought these at our local supermarket. The Stornoway Co-op (pronounced Cope) recently added on a clothing store called Peacocks, making it a bit more like the beloved Walmart at home.

Even with my new furry friends, I'm not too excited about our launch into winter. So far, fall here seems to mean more rain and lower temps. BUT, I did have a couple walks in the castle grounds that reminded me what fall was supposed to be like...

A taste of home...

I'm not sure why I get so excited when I make cookies, but here I am, soooo excited about my oatmeal raisin cookies! I've mastered our fan oven, and the result was wonderful wonderful cookies. They taste just right!


I'm also pretty excited about the heather that's seemed to suddenly appear on the moors behind our house. I guess I got a little heather happy and I've been out back to cut heather for the house a few times in the past week. It's just so pretty and it seems to last for a long time inside.

vintage fabric?

I just purchased an old sheet and pillowcase from the local charity shop (for you guys back home, that's a thrift store), and have just discovered through my frivolous internet surfing that I didn't really just buy an old sheet and pillowcase. I bought vintage fabric today! Put the word vintage in front of anything and it just sounds so much better doesn't it. But really, that's pretty cool I think.

This past weekend was flea market weekend in Doniphan County, KS and to counteract my feelings of missing out, I went to the closest thing to a flea market that I could find on Lewis (and on a Monday). The Charity Shop! Fun stuff, I also bought a bowl and got to speak some Gaelic. Nice.

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!!!