New Dentist Digs

Today I went to the dentist, and sometime in the past two years, they moved to some impressive new digs!  Exciting, I know.  Just look at the waiting room reception area...that is indeed a handy iced tea dispenser for waiting patients.  Probably unsweetened, but in this neck of the woods (my mother excluded), I believe that's just fine.

I was in a bit of a rush this afternoon, so I didn't have time to get home and brush my teeth after my yummy lunch of peppercorn steak over rice with the grandparents (their treat!).  Ever the problem solver, I made a hasty visit to the CVS across the street from the dentist for a cheap toothbrush and toothpaste, and managed to walk in exactly on time!  I was feeling pretty good about my quick thinking until I walked into their equally lovely restroom to brush my teeth.  They had a basket full of colorful, good quality toothbrushes, travel sized toothpaste tubes, and floss there for the taking!

So I took one of each and stuffed them in my purse.  After the ordeal that followed, I don't feel guilty at all.

I once suspected that I had bipolar disorder

Circa 2008

The suspicion was short-lived, however, and I have since come to the conclusion that I'm just bad at making tough decisions...and sticking to them!

Luckily, these days I'm not suspecting bipolar disorder, but maybe just a dash of schizophrenia.  A tad?  Since I've been home, I can't seem to get a handle on the girl I was before I left.  I'm finding it difficult to understand her and some of her decisions completely, and in addition to being mildly baffling, this is also a bit scary.  What if, 3 years from now, I'm in the same position, and I can't understand why I felt so strongly about following a path I'm about to choose?  Whew...  I usually end this train of thought right here, so...

That brings me to a funny little paragraph I found today while I was looking through one of the many boxes of stuff I stashed at mom's house while I was away.

On the first page of an old blue Peter Rabbit journal, I found this gem:

This is a storybook I wrote in my spare time.  I wrote all these storys from the insporation of all my animals.  My sister Robyn was writing about her cat sugar.  So I am grateful.


Come again?  Seriously, who was that?  I have no idea... but I suspect that whoever it was would probably be mortified that her future self would post it on a blog.  Sorry lil Jennifer.

The Ness Melodeon Band World Tour!

So I mentioned a few trips taken during my "blank blog" period in the month before I made it home to Kansas, and the Ness Melodeon Band World Tour was the first of the trips.

South Africa & America!

Technically it was the Ness Melodeon Band Highland tour (2 nights in 2 venues), but Fios, the weekly paper in Ness, publicized it as the World Tour and the title stuck!  However, in the end, the trip lived up to our expectations.  As you see above...

The band rented a big van...

And the two stops were Poolewe and Beauly, two very picturesque highland towns.  We had an awesome time!  I was a groupie, and mostly just hung out with the band, danced at the ceilidhs and took pictures.  Our accommodation at Poolewe was definitely an adventure though, and I will never forget my night's stay in the Poolewe hotel.  And thanks to me, neither will you.

Apparently the hotel went bankrupt after our reservations were made, but decided to honor them anyway...which was lovely.  The room however was a little less than lovely.  It was FREEZING because the heat wasn't turned on, and the hot water was really really temperamental.  So temperamental that we had no idea that we even had hot water until 20 minutes after we turned on the hot water tap!  Nothing (no, not even freezing cold water) came out of the faucet for the first 20 minutes.  Luckily we forgot to turn it off, so we were surprised with torrents of hot water when it eventually did work.  When I say "we," I mean my roommate Lesli.  Lesli was the lucky girl to get sprayed with uncontrollable, boiling hot water.

Anyway, even though the room was freezing, the hot water was temperamental, and the shower was in the main bedroom...with a glass door, everything paled in comparison with the roll top bath.  I will never forget you lovely roll top bath.  I mean it.

Back to Basics

Oh my goodness.  It's almost been a month since I last updated!  And such a crucial time...  My goodness.

Well, since I last posted I:
- went on the road with the Ness Melodeon Band on their world tour
- went on a solo Jane Austen inspired holiday to Bath
- packed up/mailed out/gave away/secretly deposited all my worldly possessions
- drove from Ness to North Wales
- spent a week in Ireland
- moved back to the States

Just the packing stage was a bit traumatic, but nothing like the leaving bit.  I had several moments of panic leaving the island, then leaving the UK, then leaving Ireland, then landing in Newark, NJ, and then landing in Cleveland, OH.  Landing in Kansas City was a walk in the park, and since then I've just been basking in the attention of my family.

So yeah, something is better than nothing, and this something will have to do for now!  I may be jobless and car-less, mooching off my kind sister, and without any prospects...of ANY kind, but at the moment I'm busy and content.  Probably because I know this phase of my life will be over before I know it.

Also, there is a vase of lilacs on my dresser.

Local Take-out

The other day, I got a very important call.  It was a call from a very loyal friend to tell me that a local cafe called the Woodland's Center was serving mushroom stroganoff for lunch.  I've got a thing for mushrooms and stroganoff, and very much wanted to try it.  Since this loyal friend happens to work at this cafe on weekends, she had them put aside some for me to pick up.

When I went in to pick it up, here's what I got:

"Just bring it back when you're through," the helpful young man said.  Of course climbing up to my Gaelic class with it took away a bit of the charm, but not all of it.

Next time: The Ness Melodeon Band World Tour Part 1

A trip to Scalpay

courtesy of: http://www.explore-harris.com/

This past Saturday we took a trip to a little island off the coast of the Isle of Harris (which is actually south of Lewis...and attached...like completely attached, see the map if you don't believe me!).  If you're observant & have your glasses on, you'll be able to see Scalpay off the southeast coast.

Anyway, we were shown around by someone who was born and brought up there, and it was lovely!  There are fishing ports all over the place, and more houses than I thought there'd be.  Apparently it used to be a thriving fishing community and was visited by fishing boats from all over.

In addition to the exceptional tour, we also were invited into a local home for tea!  Let me tell you, that was a good tea spread.

It was a dreary day, but I did manage to get a few pictures!

A Poly Pocket Project

If you're a member of my generation, here's what popped into your head just now:

Weren't they brilliant!  I have fond memories of various soap opera's I created using my palm sized polly pocket compacts, but that's not what I'm talking about.

My POLY Pocket Project looked more like this:

I went through all my Country Living magazines (the UK version), tore out the pages I liked, and slid them into poly pockets.  I now have two binders full of lovely magazine spreads to take home with me! 

And in case you were wondering...that plant has indeed seen better days.