Category: Scotland

Temari in Scotland

5/30/2022

During the 8 month long planning for this trip, one of the items I had pack was temari making supplies. Elisa has Japanophilia, as do I, and since I make temari and she does not, we thought this would be a great opportunity to show and make her a temari or two.

I assembled a basic kit of rice hulls, yarn, pins, needle, paper strips, mari thread and colored threads for the design, and 2 patterns I knew I could finish during my visit.

A day or two after I arrived I started making a mari by putting the hulls in a piece of cloth and wrapping with yarn and then wrapping with a pale teal. I showed Elisa how I use the paper strip and pins to mark and divide the ball. The next day I lay down the marking thread and started stitching. I did not finish the first temari until after I returned from the walk. After the wrapped bands on a Combination 8 in red, green gold/brown was finished I started the Simple 12 kiku pattern in Pink and Purples.

The best part was when Elisa decided to take some artsy-fartsy pictures of the supplies used and of me too.

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Vacation Visit Voided

3/25/2017

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I was planning on visiting Elisa of Scotland (see the pictures in the banner above) in Scotland next month. It has been almost 5, yes FIVE, years since I visited and it was time for one more visit.

Elisa and I started to plan this trip last October and we figured that late April / early May would be a good time to visit as there would be almost NO chance of snow but it would be cool; the tourist season would not have started making it a great time for a wee side trip to Glasgow.

And here we are with 35 days until my scheduled departure and "we" canceled the trip and visit.

As I wrote yesterday, Elisa is in the throws of Shingles Saga herself. It has been almost 2 months since it began and despite the fact that she is healing, she isn't feeling all that well at the moment and add the fact that she has CFS, we don't expect her to be up to a visit in a month either.

Thus the decision to void the visit and vacation was made. And a good thing we did this now versus next week. When you cross that 30 day limit with award miles, the cost of cancelling is much higher. But the award miles are back in my account and come May of this year I can look at booking the trip, again, for next April.

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Weetabix Season in Scotland

10/5/2016

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What do you see when you look at this most recent picture from the northern wild reaches of Scotland.

Do you see a harvested roll of wheat or a ginormous Weetabix?

In the U.S.A we would call it a Shredded Wheat.

Now i just need to find a bowl and spoon big enough to hold one; a whole lotta of milk and many many people so we can eat it.

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Brrrrr..

3/25/2015

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Spring is attempting to arrive in Scotland but the nights are still cold and the days can be foggy or misty.
Elisa of Scotland has sent over some pictures for us to ponder over.

Trees emerging from the mist during the drive into Turriff

Banff harbour in the mist. You can just faintly see Macduff across the water

A misty night in the village

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First Snow at Dawn

1/11/2015

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This picture is from Elisa of Scotland.
She says this is the first snow of winter that the village has had. There has been snow on the mountains in the area but they had avoided it so far.

Remember that dawn for her (northern Scotland) today was at 8:44 am.

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Winter Views of Scotland 2014

1/20/2014

Winter has not really arrived ins Scotland. They are having cold weather but not a lot of snow.

Elisa has sent along some new pictures, one of which is my new banner.

New Banner Image (again)

10/16/2013

It has been a while since I have updated the banner image and once again, Elisa of Scotland has taken an amazing photo.

Enjoy.

Summer has arrived and stayed a while in Scotland

7/3/2013

The weather in Scotland has been warm (for them) and sunny so Mike and Elisa have been out in the garden planting flowers and getting a good dose of Vitamin D and warming their bones.

While we here in southern California are slowly cooling off after a week of 100+ temps, northern Scotland has had Summer arrive plus their own heat wave.

What is a Scottish heat wave?? That is when the temps go above 70 F. Yup, SEVENTY. We all know that over here that is a cool summer day right?

Yesterday Mike and Elisa had some errands to run and get the car inspeced so they went up to Buckie .. well, I will let Elisa tell it:

We didn't have much time. Once we had dropped the BMW off for its MOT we had the loan of a car for an hour or two. So we went down the coast to Cullen Bay.

Here is the view from the bay looking north. The entire NE coast is made up of bays and headlands. And on a clear day, & from the right vantage point, you can sometimes see several headlands fading into the distance. Very beautiful Here there's just one or maybe two...

And here's one I called 'Low flying gull'

There's an RAF station close by and it uses the glens and sea to practice low flying. We used to get a lot of it along the Great Glen when we stayed in Fort Augustus. And this seagull reminded me of the planes ;o)

The we drove back and went to find some fish and chips in Whitehills (a small village close to Banff). We found a wonderful newly opened restaurant http://www.thegalleywhitehills.co.uk/

and we had a proper sit-down meal of excellent fresh fish .... sigh!!

As Mike pointed out - it is YEARS since I have been well enough to manage to go out for a meal \0/ so it was a really special treat!!

As you can see from the pictures, it was a good day out.

Now, about this final picture below.
The people in Scotland KNOW that they don't get many tourists let alone other visitors in the off season. And when IS the off-season? That is from September/October (early Fall) through March/April (Spring??) and most "touristy" places have reduced hours or just close up. I have visited Mike and Elisa in September and tried to visit Fyvie Castle TWICE and both times it was closed - it was in September and we picked a day when they were closed [yes, I know we should have checked their website but back then the internet was NEW].

So, Elisa sent the picture, below, as a reminder of the strange hours kept in the wilds of Scotland.

Personally, I think it should have read:

If it is too damn cold to get here we won't open; if we can't see the sun, we won't open; if it is raining or snowing, we won't be here then either. So if YOU think it is a nice winter day.. take your chances cause we might actually be here - on Saturdays and Sundays ONLY"

Spring Has Arrived In Scotland

6/2/2013

Winter has finally fled the far northern reaches of Scotland and thus Elisa of Scotland has ventured forth to take some pictures and make me some new banners. If you look at the new banner for Kernology you will see a dandelion with dew and below are the other pictures that she has sent of blossoms from her crab apple tree.

If you want to more of Elisa's photography, she can be found on Flicker.

It's a cold day in Scotland

1/18/2013

It is not "Winter is coming" as they say in Game of Thrones, but IT IS HERE. Actually it is there, in Scotland and Elisa has sent some pictures from her yard.