Monthly Archives: July 2009

So getting up this morning was a challenge given the activities of the evening before but we managed to be packed and out before 10 a.m.  Second challenge:  where do we go now?  We aren’t due in Edinburgh until tea time and none of the other Cannon households are likely to be up just yet.  We stopped by Grandma’s as she would be the best candidate for consciousness but she wasn’t home.  Apparently, she didn’t make it down the road last night.  So Tom and Una won the lottery and we headed over there to say good-bye and drop off some of the consumables we had purchased but not yet consumed.  We had a cup of tea and did the round of hugs and then headed out to the scene of last night’s crime (and with me singing, it was definitely a crime!).

Grandma was up but it took a while for the rest of the house to come around so our next cup of tea wasn’t poured until after 11 a.m.  We decided to run some errands while the late risers got themselves sorted and then we’d all meet up at The Portcullis (also at the top of the toon) for, what else, a bar lunch.  We managed some cracking snapshots of the kids

Leah, Duncan, Gillian and Mathew

and did some last minute shopping before saying our good-byes and heading to Edinburgh.  The hotel was literally next door to the car return so that went much more smoothly than in Dublin (yes, I remembered the GPS unit!) and we got to splash in the pool and relax in the sauna before having a lovely meal in the hotel restaurant and heading for an early bed.

/san/

Pedometer: 10,062 or just short of 5 miles.

Alas, it’s the last full day of vacay!  We decided to keep this one pretty local and do some of the sights that we always think we’ll get to and never do.  So first it’s off to Doune Castle where much of “Monty Python and the Holy Grail” was filmed.  We’ve walked around the outside before (“silly English kniggit!”) but this time we ponied up the cash and went in; we even did the audiotour which I usually dislike tremendously but this one was narrated by Terry Jones and included much discussion about where scenes in the movie were filmed.  Historically, it’s an interesting castle from the early 14th century and traditionally the home of the Duke of Albany (remember King Lear?) until a feud with King James cost the castle and it became a royal hunting lodge.  The kids loved this one because it’s mostly unrestored except for one room that was done during the Victorian era and showed what early 18th century historians thought a 14th century castle should look like.

After climbing and scrambling about the castle, it was time to pick up Grandma and head out for flatter grounds: Dunblane Cathedral.  We got a lovely bar lunch at the Dunblane Hotel first and then wandered around a magnificent Church of Scotland ediface.  Turns out our friends Gilby and Jenny were married there!  The building itself dates back to the 12th century but the site has been a place of worship since about 602ish! It was very interesting but didn’t have the one thing that my mother-in-law was looking for: prayer candles.  Today was Frank’s dad’s birthday and she wanted to light a candle for him.  Not very Presbyterian though so we thought we’d go to another church we have only viewed from the outside:  the Church of the Holy Rude.

This church is “at the top of the toon” by the castle and dates back nearly as long.  It’s the only remaining church in Scotland to have witnessed a coronation: James IV was crowned there in 1567 and John Knox preached at the service.  Yup, another Church of Scotland edifice but one that offers prayer candles in one of the chapels (much to the consternation of some of the stauncher Presbyterians but as the guide told me “it brings in money”!) It is a beautfiul building with a fascinating history.  For example, it was divided into two buildings for nearly 300 years because of a theological dispute between two of the minisiters!  Apparently, there was some point on which they fell out and so they divided the building and each preached to their half of the congregation in their half of the building.  The dividing wall wasn’t taken down until the 1930s!

Sightseeing done for the day, we headed back to the cottage to begin packing as we had plans for the evening and had to be out of the cottage by 10 on Saturday.  Today is also my brother-in-law Jim’s birthday so 11 of us headed to the River House for a big dinner before going back to Jim and Therese’s for a few drinks.  Well, more than a few actually.  Then Jim broke out the guitar and we started singing everything from Meatloaf to Johnny Cash (am I the only one who knows the words to “Ring of Fire” by heart?).  In the wee hours, we got a lift home from Jean and Jimmy (who’s car only seats 5 so Gillian had to hide in the boot!) and prepared for a short sleep!

/san/

Pedometer:  Oops, forgot to put it on.  Let’s say 5 miles just for the sake of argument.

Today we gave the kids what they seemed to really want…. a long lie!  Frank and I got up early and headed out to Callander to hike up the Bracklinn Falls while the kids slept.  I hesitate to call it a hike though as the main path is now wheel chair accessible!  The weather was gorgeous – sunshine abounds – and the scenery is beautiful. We did scramble around the rocks at the edge and take some great photos.  Then we wandered through town, had a coffee, bought some fresh rolls, stopped at a newsagents in Doune for a paper and got back to the cottage around 11 and *still* had to wake the kids up and make them get dressed…..

We weren’t just being cruel – they had plans for the afternoon.  They were going to the new sports centre pool in Stirling with cousins Nikki, Amy and Ross so we needed to drop them off.  Then we collected Auntie Una and Gran and headed out for a bar lunch at McQ’s where Uncle Jim was working behind the bar.  It was very nice (gammon steak – yum!) and we dropped various relatives off at their respective residences then wandered off to go house hunting. Yup, we’ve been talking for years about whether or not we should buy a flat or small house over here to use when we visit (and possibly make some money on someday!) and now seems to be the time.  The market here is like the one at home – lots of inventory, prices reasonable – and when we sell my mom’s condo, we’ll actually have some cash for a down payment.

So we were off to see what was available where, how much we might be able to afford in various neighborhoods and the like.  We can’t actually do anything right now because we still have a condo to sell in Burke but it was very enlightening to see what the options are.  Of course, in the middle of wandering through Stirling peering at the adds in the windows of estate agent’s offices, the skys opened up and we had to duck for cover.  The rest of the afternoon was spend driving around instead!

Then we collected the kids and headed out to Cambusbarron to visit friends.  Gilby and Jenny came to visit us a few years ago and we went to the Outer Banks for a week together.  And they still speak to us!  We hung out and caught up, ate Indian take away, had a few drinks (well…) and actually chatted about housing issues.  Luckily Jenny just qualified as a mortgage advisor with a large building society here so I got an introductory lesson in British mortgages.  Interestingly, there’s no such thing as a 30 year fixed here!  You might find a 25 year fixed but they are few and far between.  Nearly everyone does some kind of teaser plan for 2,3, or 5 years before renegotiating.  Not quite a refinance but fairly close.  It was quite the eye opener!  I’ll have to see what the legalities are for this though:  can we borrow from a British bank if we are non-residents?  Will a US bank lend us money to buy foreign “investment'” property?  I have some homework to do – to bad I don’t have a lot of free time to do it!

/san/

Pedometer:  15, 353 steps or about 7 miles most of it without the teenagers!

Another dry morning but one where I was plagued with a very sore ankle so no run for me this morning.  Instead we tried to muster the troops  at a reasonable hour and then headed to get Grandma and assorted other in-laws to have a day out.  Nine people don’t move very fast especially when one is in a wheel chair but the other Cannon family is much averse to early rising and we couldn’t get moving before noon.

But when we did, we headed to Strathclyde and visited “New Lanark” which is kinda funny since it’s a restored mill town.  It was the largest cotton mill in Scotland, possibly Europe (didn’t pay *that* close attention!), during the early 19th century and the mill and supporting buildings have been restored as a historical site and a tribute to their founder Robert Owen.  Apparently, he was quite ahead of his time in terms of providing for his 10-year-old employees and the other workers:  schooling, subsidized food and groceries, one day off a week and only 10 1/2 hour days!  The site is really quite neat and filled with lots of praise for and quotations by Robert Owen.  He apparently also moved to the US for a while with his children and founded Harmony, Indiana – dedicated to communal living, etc.  That didn’t work out so well so he headed back to Scotland.  One of his sons, however, was apparently instrumental in the founding of the Smithsonian Institution!  Of course this small fact was listed on one poster in the basement of his house – I guess it doesn’t merit much over here!

The sun peaked in and out all day but by the time we were covering the most ground (after endless video presentations of which such sites seem to be so fond) the sun was out in all it’s glory and we even snuck in a short walk to some of the smaller Falls of Clyde – little waterfalls!  There were many more a mile or so upstream but not all in the party are quite as fond of walking – especially the one pushing the wheelchair! – so I’ll have to content myself with the shorter walk to the smaller falls.

Then it was time to face “rush hour” traffic back home.  It wouldn’t have been bad except for the road works which had one lane closed on the only road in and out of town.  I swear every road in Scotland is under construction.  It makes the Mixing Bowl project we went through seem like an afternoon in the park!

And we ended with another quite night:  take away eaten in the cottage then Frank went off with his pal Gilby for a pint and I settled in with my book (lent to me by Gilby’s wife many years ago coincidentally!) and the kids did their computer thing.  Nothing all that exciting.

Oh, except that I got promoted… guess I should at least mention that… 😉

/san/

Pedometer: 10, 489 or about 9 miles.

The rest of the family had various doctor and dentist appointments today so the Cannon family got an earlyish start and headed north. First stop, Glamis Castle.  This was the first time we’d visited a baronial estate that was still in private use – it’s the home of the Earl of Strathmore and Kinghorne and is best known as the childhood home of the late beloved Queen Mother.  It was interesting to see how the aristocracy really “lives” and try to imagine how they can possibly fund such a lifestyle!  Of course the entrance fees to the estate probably help.  The castle itself started as a fortified structure in the 1400’s and was added to as the family prospered – gained titles, more grounds etc.  Some of the more interesting bits were the Victorian “restoration” work that was done:  work done in the late 1800’s to restore the castle to what the folks at that time looked more medieval.  And of course lots of references to the late Queen Mum.

After the tour and a cup of tea to wait for the showers to pass, we were treated to a sliver of sunshine under which to wander around the grounds.  They are lovely.  An Italian garden, a “pinetum” (go look it up!) and plenty of trees and highland cattle make for a varied but attractive landscape.  We got in a fair amount of wandering and quite a bit of nature photography.

Then to the coast!  Arbroath Abbey (or the ruins thereof) was the destination but not before we had a bite to eat.  Funny, we have no problem finding pubs in Scotland that will serve baked potatoes for lunch but we had very little luck in Ireland…. go figure. Not surprisingly, there were a fair number of charity shops between the pub and the abbey so our travel time was impeded by the rummaging teenagers.  I’m not sure how they are getting all this stuff home!

Then on to the Abbey.  It was started in 1128 – about the same time as St. Patrick’s cathedral on the Rock of Cashel – but not much of what must have been a magnificent building still remains.  The kids love these kind of sites more than the restored ones because they can wander freely, climb on stuff and imagine for themselves what the building must have been like.  This one was dedicated to the then-recently cannonized Thomas Becket and housed one of the stricter orders of Benedictine Monks.  It also had an important part in Scottish history:  the abbot of Arbroath was an advisor to King Robert the Bruce and basically scribed the Declaration of Arbroath in 1320which was an appeal to the Pope to help achieve peace between Scotland and England with an understanding of why the Scottish are fighting.  It is often referred to as the Scottish Declaration of Independence as it contains the following phrase quoted often by Scottish Nationalists:

“As long as but a hundred of us remain alive, never will we on any conditions be brought under English rule. It is in truth not for glory, nor riches, nor honours that we are fighting, but for freedom — for that alone, which no honest man gives up but with life itself.”

Full of our nationalist fervor, we headed down the coast to Carnoustie and wandered along the newly refurbished beach front.  We explored a bit of Brought Ferry as well before heading inland for a bar supper at the Inn at Muckhart (located in the Yetts of Muckhart outside Dollar of course!) which was lovely.  Then home for a quiet evening of doing laundry and watching the highly recommended – and therefore borrowed – video “Mama Mia!”  I’m not sure what all the fuss was about – I thought it was so bad that I went to bed before it was over.  Maybe that’s why I’m not a film critic!

/san/

Pedometer: 15,539 or about 7 miles.  That’s more like it!

There was brilliant sunshine when I go up this morning so I laced up the Mizunos and headed out for a run. It was most entertaining running through the motorworks that are set up on the road outside the cottage! But I managed an easy 5 miles before waking the rest of the family and getting ready for today’s activities.

It’s my mother-in-law’s birthday today so we stopped at the garden centre down the road to get some nice plants for her flat. We then headed to pick her up, do the gift exchange (she loved the hip flask we brought her from the Jameson distillery) and take her out for the day. She doesn’t walk well right now -recovering from a ruptured Achilles – so we put the wheel chair in the boot and headed north. Destination: the Glenturret Distillery in Crieff where they also make The Fampus Grouse blend. It was Grandma’s first distillery tour and I wasn’t sure if I should be proud or embarrassed that my kids knew almost as much about the process as the guide! This distillery is the oldest one in Scotland (officially est 1775 but in use as early as 1717) and is actually a working distillery unlike the Jameson’s distillery we visited last week. That meant that there was wort in the mash tuns and wash in the wash backs and no photography allowed because of the amount of carbon dioxide hovering in the buildings!

A fine time was had by all and I reaffirmed my status as a non-whiskey drinker by not even being able to finish my free dram! Frank had no problem helping me with that! In the gift shop, he bought a bttle of limited run Grouse that was aged in Scottish Oak. Only 7000 bottls were made and he has a numbered certificate and his name burned into a block of wood from the cask. He’s now a member of the whiskey club there and is entitled to free tours (and tastings!) for life!

Then off to lunch in Crieff – we had a lovely bar lunch at the Caledonian Hotel. Frank had is first haggis as part of his Chicken Balmoral – Duncan had it too! Then off to ravage more charity shops and try to find new shoes for Grandma’s swollen feet. All objectives were accomplished and ice cream was consumed.

We then headed up the road to visit Perth but the weather had turned and we decided not to venture forth under the blackening sky so we headed to visit more relatives – Jim and Therese are just back from Portugal. We dropped in on them and spent the evening drinking, swapping stories. We had take away from the chippy which I couuld actually eat! They fry the chips and the chicken in separate fryers from the stuff in batter so it was safe for me – yum!

/san/
Pedometer: 6886 or about 3 miles

So today was very quiet and probably quite boring from many perspectives.  We slept in this morning – praying at the alter of the Holy Comforter as our old assistant rector used to call it – and got some much needed rest after the late night with my family on Friday night.  Breakfast was a feast of long dreamt of favorites:  sausage rolls, bacon rolls, rolls and jam – see a pattern here?  The most basic of Scottish foods – the ubiquitous morning roll – is something I have never seen duplicated anywhere else and is what my family misses most!  Of course they are now off limits for me but I got some GF substitutes (which really don’t come close but are tasty nonetheless) and had an egg and bacon roll along with the rest of the family.

As it was raining (sigh), we were in no hurry to go anywhere and after watching some Top Gear on the telly, wandered into town to take care of a few errands.  Sunday’s are no longer a consumer wasteland:  many shops are now open and my spending-frenzy teens were happy to hit the Thistle Centre to wait out the showers.  The primary goal was to find a replacement for the 4 year old cell phone which is a usability nightmare and desperately needs to be chucked in the bin.  Gillian had a pay-as-you-go T-mobile phone that she doesn’t use anymore since she inherited my mother’s phone so we got a new sim card for the “red phone” and can now happily retire the “moo phone” – don’t ask!

Then we picked up my mother-in-law for lunch and gave her the choice of eateries.  I confess I was hoping for a nice Sunday lunch at a pub somewhere but her choice was an American-style chain restaurant called Frankie and Benny’s where they play 50’s crooner music and serve… Italian food.  Of all the types of cuisine, she has to pick the one that is least suited to my particular dietary restriction.  Not out of malice of course, but more out of ignorance:  it doesn’t occur to people who don’t deal with this everyday what issues lurk at such places.  It turned out that I could have a baked potato with cheese and sour cream.  That’s it.  No salad unless it was without dressing or anything else.  C’est la vie….

Then on to annoy more relatives.  We wandered over to Bridge of Allan to visit Auntie Jean and Uncle Jimmy which is always entertaining.  Jean is my mother-in-law’s sister and the two of them still cackle like school girls when they get together.  An entertaining afternoon was had by all and my wonderful teeangers sat patiently and listened to the old people chat while drinking tea and eating chocolate biscuits – except me of course.

Then a quick stop at the shop to pick up a few things and I got to make a meal where I could eat everything!  GF pasta with bolognese sauce, salad, GF french bread and a chocolate gateau with ice cream and strawberry sauce (mine was, of course, not the same as I served everyone else but tasty just the same!)  The weather had cleared and it was a lovely and sunny afternoon so we were able to sit out on the patio for a bit before dinner.

A fairly typical Sunday I’d say except for the part where Frank had to find his sunglasses to run his mum home at 10:30 p.m. 🙂

/san/

Pedometer: 8088 steps or just over 3 miles.  Boy are we slugs…. ;l-)

Today got off to a slow start – apparently, staying up until the wee hours is not conducive to an early rise so the household managed to get around to breakfast at 12:30!

We said our goodbyes and headed east to Bannockburn to visit with Frank’s family and get the keys to our cottage.  The place is in the middle of a farm and is brand spanking new – we are only the second people to stay here!  It’s well thought out and well stocked and Duncan and Gillian get their own rooms for the week.  It also has one very important appliance – a washing machine!  We got started on the laundry straight away and after the first quick load was on the line, we headed out to do our shopping.

Sainsbury’s is my new favorite grocery store EVER!  They carry a line of food called “Free from” which covers major allergies including gluten intolerance.  They have rolls, bread, pitas, chocolate biscuits, you name it!  It was most heartening especially as I find more and more of my favorite Scottish foods are now off limits to me:  sliced sausage!  Who would think that they need to add wheat to sliced sausage?  Grr.  But I did get rolls to have bacon rolls in the morning so all is well.  And we bought the makings for spaghetti bolognese for tea tomorrow – yum!

After the shopping was dealt with (£113 later!), we headed to see Frank’s brother Tom and his family for dinner and some chatting.  My mother-in-law is recuperating from both cateract surgery and a torn achilles tendon so she isn’t particularly nimble but managed to enjoy seeing her American grand children again.  Of course, we had a good round of “my how the children have grown!” before digging into the Indian and Chinese food.

As the cottage is a bit rural and there are road works all around, we limited the enjoyment to a drink or two before heading back to an early night.  Good thing too as there was still washing on the line and it was starting to rain.

/san/

Pedometer: 6978 or about 3 miles.  Mostly shuffling around grocery stores and people’s living rooms.

We managed to get to the airport early enough to get the luggage taken care of, get through security (with my shoes on!) and get some breakfast. It’s a short flight from Dublin to Glasgow – 40 minutes – but at the gate next to ours, there was a flight to Cork. Given that we had just driven from Cork to Dublin and even going the *long* way only took about 3 hours by car, I can’t imagine how long the flight would be!

At Glasgow airport we ran into another instance where my inattention to details caused problems: I’d reserved (and prepaid!) the car for the 10th of June instead of July! Not sure how that happened since I only did it in the 9th of June! This was a minor glitch though and with a phone call and a small fee, the problem was solved and a silver Ford Mondeo was ours.

Then it was off to Troon to see my family. We got to the house around noon and after the hugs and hellos, we headed into town for some lunch – no shortage of non-sandwich options here! A walk down the beach in the blazing sunshine prompted the kids to declare it perfect weather for swimming off the rocks. Swim suits were fetched and 5 bodies jumped in and out of the freezing water for a good portion of the afternoon. (There’s a similar post from two years ago with more details – I’ll link to it when I’m not on the Blackberry!)

We headed back to the house to clean up and warm up and then the evening entertainment began. Stephen finally arrived home from work (after running out of fuel and being rescued by Frank!), Auntie Alice was fetched and the barbeque was lit.

Let it suffice to say that grilled prawns, steaks and several bottles of champagne later, the real drinking began. And that’s all I have to say about that.

/san/
Pedometer: 13,405 or about 11 miles in the blazing Scottish sunshine.