Hassells in the Highlands

We have been in Thurso for 4 weeks, as of today.  How can that possibly be? Food is interesting. It is my life. I would call myself a "foodie." I love food. Those who know me well know that I am always concerned with the next meal. I like what I like, but I also enjoy trying new things. I would rather eat at a local hole in the wall and have what is popular there, than eat at say, Olive Garden. I want authentic tastes. And I want local flavors.  I can appreciate chain restaurants. They take out the unknown and the 'guess' factor. You know what you like and you can know it will taste the same no matter if it is in Tri Cities or in New York. There is a Pizza Hut and Burger King in Inverness. I did not eat at them, but I know that if I did, it would not be the taste of home anyway. I would expect them to be. The names, the looks, etc., are the same, but the taste would be different. Not bad. But different. When I was a child (from age 7-11), my family...

  Durness.  It is a small but picturesque town on the west coast in Northern Scotland. Mike made a trip there when he was here for a week in March. And he brought back pictures of fabulous hot chocolate and a very cool cave. So, it being a weekend with no other plans, and wanting to take advantage of the time we have here, we decided to make a road trip.  It is 71 miles from Thurso to Durness. It took 2 hours to drive it. Here is why. Two lanes about half the way to Durness. Then one lane, with no road markings at all, but with "passing places" the rest of the way. ("Passing places" are a little wider area on the side of the road- sometimes hardly noticeable without the sign telling you so).  Now, granted, there were "passing places" quite often on the road. But the thing is, the road is windy - there are curves the whole way. Every once in a while, you can get up some speed (50 mph) but you quickly have to slow down either because ...

We had an adventure today. (well, ..... actually it was Sunday. A whole week ago!) A real adventure - taking our lives into our hands. Our friends, Dave and Leah, invited us to go see Puffin Rock. Apparently, the puffins fly to this rock at this time of year to start families. But to see them, you have to take a trek. We drove outside of town for about 20 minutes, stopping in between the signs that say, "Caithness County" and "Sutherland County." This is where we stopped and got out. In the middle of nothing. And then we walked. We did go prepared with boots, because we were told our feet would get muddy. So, I was wearing a pair of rubber boots borrowed from Leah (about 1 1/2 sizes too big, so my feet moved around inside of them), but they worked really great at keeping my feet dry. The wind was blowing about 35 mph (or more), so it felt pretty wild out there. Especially so because I had not taken anything to hold my hair back and it was flying everywhere. A...

This is a rant. I love technology. I really do. It keeps me connected to all my kids and to my friends. It gives me video instructions on YouTube about how to do things and gives me information in seconds. It lets me look at fabric and patterns even when there is not a quilt shop within an hour's drive. It lets me yard sale with a cup of coffee from the armchair in my house. I can see and speak to people through this fabulous technology and it makes me not feel like I am on the other side of the world from everyone I love. BUT.... Sometimes (and often, it seems, for me), it just does not work right. Before I left home (WA), Bryan helped me upload all my files and documents to google drive and then Kathryn set up my phone to sync to the drive. I was set. I used it and it worked. It was wonderful. And all my pictures synced.  It took a bit, but I learned how to get pictures from my phone to the blog. And then I learned how to move them around and make them...

This country is full of small things. SMALL ROADS. I think we've touched on that one already. Our apartment, surprisingly, is not so small. Our rooms are decently sized. The second floor is an open plan - kitchen, living room, dining room with adjoining sitting room with a view of the river. It was renovated to be this way. Apparently, the apartment next door is divided up into separate rooms. Probably with doors into each room.  That would make the same space feel very small. So, let's start with the fridge.  Do you recognize it? This is the refrigerator we all bought for our kids to use in their dorm rooms at college. But even those often had a freezer built in. This one does not.  But we, apparently, are lucky, because the expat who lived here before us said that one tiny fridge just would not do, and she asked the landlord for a second fridge. And he bought one. That one sits on top of the counter.  So, I guess it really is a blessing tha...

Inverness. It's a large city. To get to Thurso, we had to fly into Inverness and then drive the rest of the way. There are other options: train or bus. It is only 119 miles away, but it took us 3 hours to drive it. That seems like a lot of time, you say. Well,...the roads. They are mostly 2 lanes (one each direction) with no shoulders. And I am sure the lanes are smaller than what they are in the US. Mike actually is driving 60 mph most of the way. But I guess there is something about all those curves. Not quite "The Road to Hana," but curvy. And, I have to admit, we found a nice little coffee shop that offers all kinds of homemade baked goods to go along with their wonderful coffee, which just happens to be at a public parking lot. So, we made a 20 minute stop. (Actually, we discovered it on the way up last week, so we sort of planned to stop on the way down). We needed to drive to Inverness this weekend for a couple of reasons. 1. We needed to return the rental ...

Well, after one week "in-country" I must admit that this is more of an adventure for me than a challenge, although I have had my share of challenges - mainly logistical issues (getting a lease signed, buying a car, applying for shipping numbers, etc.). Country and people are beautiful - love the accents. Getting the brain wired to discern what I just heard is a blast.  Especially love hearing locals tell me (and Jodi) that we have strong accents - sounds pretty plain to me. 😁  Have had several tell me they knew I was from the Pacific Northwest from my accent.  Who knew we had a PNW accent??  North East I get, South I get, Texas I get, but NorthWest - who knew? I miss Home Depot - the local stores have a tiny (or is it a "wee") shelf for the handyman.  If you need more, then you need to go to the - pick one: plumbing store, electric store, computer store - oh wait, we don't have a computer store...had to drive 20 miles to another town to find a printer/scann...

The honeymoon may be over. Sigh. I know. I know. Already, you say? I thought, too, that I was made of sterner stuff.  Yes, it is beautifully green. Yes, I love that it is obvious that I am in Scotland by the way the streets are made and the stone bridges and buildings. And yes, I even love the gentle rain and intermittent sunshine. But Mike went to work today (well, at least for part of the day), and I was here at home to do life. That meant, learn how to use the vacuum cleaner. And migrate between bathrooms with a shower that was not draining and a toilet seat that would not stay put, and going grocery shopping with a list and not being able to find Italian sausage.(I confirmed this today with another ex-Pat and it is true. There is no Italian sausage in the highlands. Though there is a rumor that there is some in Edinburgh).  And standing in the middle of the aisle and wondering what was I going to make for supper if I couldn't find t...