On Walking

I love to walk. When I was working out of town (a lot!) I would call Craig after a hectic day and he would often say to me "after you go for your walk, you'll feel better"; and he was absolutely right. I'm not

Seriously-Super-Salads!!!

Yay! My cookbook, Seriously-Super-Salads! A Delightful Salad Adventure Awaits!, is out through the Blub On-line Book Store: Order Salads are healthy and versatile. You know how they say "you can make anything into a musical" (Evita, Cats, Sweeny Todd, Bye Bye Birdie, Human Centipede: The Musical). You get

Lake George: Sister's Retreat '24!!!!

Carie, Kiki, Gigi and I had our Sister's Retreat at a lovely Airbnb on Lake George, NY, just south of the Adirondacks. We found out that Lake George is one of the clearest, cleanest lakes in the world, and a really fun place for a fantastic week together!

Returning

Craig and I got back from Scotland three weeks ago. Kiki asked me if I had culture shock, which I didn't expect, thinking that our countries were so similar, but I did (am) experiencing some culture shock, and hmm, there are so many more differences between the US

Friends and Family

Kamala Harris is being called "the candidate of joy". She must know my friends and family...pure joy!!! And I am blessed... The middle of August, Craig's brother, Bret, and his wife, Lisa, visited us in Edinburgh. We had a lot of fun. Besides giving them

The Edinburgh Book Festival

The Book Festival is among the many festivals in Edinburgh during the month of August. Interestingly, (if not ironic - but not in the Alanis Morissette sense, that's just coincidence!!), this post, where I convened with writers, may be my shortest post. However, what I learned, was just

Isle of Skye

It's overwhelming. Beaches, waterfalls, sea stacks, volcanic formations, mountains, lochs, glens, streams and rivers, quaint sea side towns...oh, and, sheep (we'll get to that). In other words, the Isle of Skye is beautiful and varied and an amazing, amazing hiking experience. Plus, I've

The Orkney Islands via John O'Groats

Wonder. Awe. Reverence. Our trip to the Orkneys had a lot packed into a few days, much of which we're still processing. There were many moving parts and quick connections, but we were on a budget and knew there were some once-in-a-lifetime things that we wanted to see

Visiting Glasgow

I've never been to Glasgow. I've never even thought about going to Glasgow. I've only started actually spelling it right, instead of Glascow (sorry!). Nobody in Edinburgh even talks about Glasgow. I asked a man at a ceilidh, who answered "why wouldya?"

Castles, churches, and, yes...Taylor Swift

There are a lot of churches in Edinburgh, but most of them are now community centers, concert halls, office space. There are also castles in and around Edinburgh and, of course, many throughout Scotland. I've made some connections in my mind and I'll attempt, as best

The North Berwick Experience

Craig and I decided we wanted to start to explore some of the many quaint, small coastal-towns outside of Edinburgh along the North Sea. There are many you can get to by bus or train from Edinburgh, and North Berwick was recommended to us by several ladies at a ceilidh.

London is Calling...

https://youtu.be/EfK-WX2pa8c Craig and I took the train to London for a four day holiday. The train was an easy five hour ride from Edinburgh, and I highly recommend the hotel we stayed in, The Sanctuary House Hotel. The city is amazing. Craig kept saying it was adult

The Botanical Gardens and Portobello Beach

I've fallen in love with the Botanical Gardens in Edinburgh. All my gardening friends, I wish you could be here with me experiencing the brilliance of the azalea copses in bloom. My pictures don't begin to capture it all (of course). Part of the magic, I

Kelpies, Stirling Castle, Loch Lomond, Ceilidh, and our notorious neighbors...oh my!!!

So, I'm going to start this post with the latest breaking news...our neighborhood is going all to heck. We thought we were in a nice, quiet, respectable neighborhood, until a couple of days ago when the First Minister ticked-off the Green Party, something you definitely do not

Settling In

Staying someplace else for six months is much different than just going on vacation for a week or two. We're adjusting to things like remembering to look right rather than left when crossing the street, and crisps are potato chips and chips are fries. And, Edinburians aren'

Dean Village and The Zoo

Ahhh, Dean Village! Only a ten minute walk from our "flat" is the idyllic Leith River Walk and Dean Village. Not at all a stretch of the imagination to see Belle (Beauty and the Beast) waltzing through the village in her layered skirts and apron, one arm circling

The Trees

I used to quite seriously love trees. I'm pretty good at identifying and naming trees: birch, black walnut, oak, maple, willow, poplar, and so on. When I was younger I saw trees as mostly silent, except in the fall when they would shine in a blazing glory of

Where is God in all of this??

We landed in Scotland Wednesday morning, April 3rd. As most of you know this is an adventure that Craig and I had spent over a year in the planning. (Craig also has a blog: https://auld-riecke.ghost.io/. His is very entertaining. We don't have competing blogs; you

What is in a name??

I'm usually a creative person. But, a name for my blog...drew a blank. I'm not sure why; I just created my son's business name: Rivendell Masonry and Construction. For those of you who are JRR Tolkien fans, of course Rivendell is the "

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