To the Tower!

3/12/2010 02:07:00 PM Edit This 3 Comments »
Posted by David
(Originally written in January, just haven't been able to finish and post.  Apologies).

Exams are finally over and not a moment too soon!   Debi and I were both beginning to look a little frayed around the edges; time to retreat to a quiet place where we could unplug, recover from the stresses of Uni, the holidays, and work, and just enjoy being together.
 Click on images to view larger size.

We'd spent a few days at the Tower House in Dunning this time last year, and had really enjoyed it.   It's just a few miles northwest of us, in Perthshire.  

The Tower House and the adjoining building were once the family Chapel of the Rollo Family, attached to their sprawling estate house, Duncrub Park.

Alas, the main part of the building was demolished in the 1950s.

However, across the road from the Chapel and Tower is a house that was originally the laundries of Duncrub Park.   Standing at the edge of the property line, it's fun to imagine what the house must have looked like when it was whole.

Last year, the fog set in as we returned from dinner in town one evening.  I joked as we set out across the first field that we might disappear into the mists, as in an old Faerie Tale.   Debi, of course, wasn't very happy with me.

By the time we got to the middle of the field, we could barely see the road at our feet.  The mists were eerie in the woods, and the skelletal trees and the framework of the polytunnels on the farms took on strange forms.   We missed this fork in the road that would have led us to the Tower, and wandered off into the grounds along the dirt road.

We got far along, when I decided to turn back.   We soon saw the dark silhouette of the tower rising out of the mist - a strangely welcome sight.    As it turns out we were never in any danger - the road only goes so far past the house, but at the time, it was a bit...em...well, I knew we'd be fine all along.

Though I swear I heard some muffled chuckling off to the side of the road every so often.

The grounds are extensive - mostly divided into farms and a golf course.   There are some great walks along the property, and a nice path that takes you on a circuitous path from town to the main road.

The light is wonderful, and I did my best to capture it.

It's a short walk through the fields and woods to town, and we had a great dinner at the warm and friendly Kirkstyle Inn. 

We listened to music, read, worked on projects (see Debi's sewing blog) and watched movies.  There's also badminton and ping-pong next door, in the old Chapel, and that was a lot of fun too.
 All in all, a great, relaxing holiday.
Alas, it's back to work now...until the next getaway.
More pics below.



Created with Admarket's flickrSLiDR.

33 Things for My 33rd Year

1/07/2010 04:35:00 AM Edit This 3 Comments »
YAY! It's my birthday.  This year I've got a very exciting list of things I want to do:

33 Things for My 33rd Year:

1. Sew or create 33 things this year
2. Learn new sewing skills (such as a bound buttonhole, matching plaids, etc.)
3. Enter a sewing contest on Pattern Review
4.Take a sewing class
5. Read several sewing books and magazines
6. Sew presents for friends and family
7. Sew a winter coat
8. Learn to knit
9. Go to Knit Camp 2010
10. Try out new features on my blog
11. Refashion 5 garments
12. Get better at sewing for short amounts of time more often
13. Sew one historical costume
14. Get a vintage haircut
15. Try out different vintage hairstyles
16. Attend conference this summer in New Orleans
17. Spend less of my free time on the computer
18. Write letters/postcards to my nephews/nieces/Grandma at least once every two months
19. Finish 3 house projects
20. Take a vacation outside of Scotland
21. Take a vacation within Scotland
22. Have a staycation
23. Watch classic movies from the 1920's-60's.
24.Travel with family and friends that visit Scotland
25. Visit at least 2 new historical places in Fife
26. Start swing dancing

27. Volunteer with local groups
28. Publish a journal article
29. Publish the report I have been working on at work
30. Start up date night once a month

Left over from my 32 things list:
31. Get UK driving license
32. Ride in a hot air balloon
33. Get kittens/cats

Merry Christmas!

12/25/2009 11:55:00 AM Edit This 0 Comments »
We're wishing you all a very happy Christmas and wonderful New Year!




 


After the Longest Night of the Year

12/21/2009 01:56:00 PM Edit This 2 Comments »
posted by Debi

David and I met up with our friends Tara and Nick and their adorable 10 month old, Eisean to welcome the sun after the longest night of the year--Winter Solstice!  We drove part way up the Lomond Hill and were very happy to see the sun peaking out in the distance.  For me, it is always reassuring to know that the days are now going to start getting lighter and that we will be inching towards spring now!

The sunrise was beautiful:



And it was great to share the beautiful sunrise with our friends:


Thanksgiving, and Christmas a-coming

12/20/2009 12:19:00 PM Edit This 1 Comment »
Posted by David






We had a very nice Thanksgiving, just we two ex-pats, here in our lovely wee cottage. I made squash with caramelized onions, stuffing, marinated quorn steaks (a really tasty micoprotien - you can find out more about it here), mixed vegetables and sautéed spinach, and Debi made one of her amazing pumpkin pies. There was champagne and some great music from the 1920's and 30's, courtesy of Radio Dismuke. It was a lovely evening.




We have so much to be thankful for, and we've been better about remembering to count our blessings, but it was great to have a night to appreciate all the great things in our lives, especially each other.




It's a little hard sometimes, being so far from friends and family, and we took great comfort in the fact that our American friends were all doing the same thing, wherever they were in the world. It was kind of like having dinner together, in a way.



After Thanksgiving, it was back to the grind.  A few weeks later, we began to turn our thoughts to Christmas. Getting a tree was a must this year, since we weren't allowed to have one last year, when we were living on campus. We were going to get one at the local nursery but we were uncertain of strapping it to our wee Micra, Bugsy and getting it home safely, so I researched some good ways of getting it delivered. There's a great organization here that uses the funds raised through Christmas tree sales to support local charities. Alas, they were swamped, so we found another service but we hope to buy our tree through Caring Christmas Trees next year.

Our tree arrived in a few days, and in the meantime, Debi and I went to St. Andrews to find some ornaments. I remember Grandma Jo's big box of ornaments; they were mostly handmade, some from India and Africa, from when she worked at the Mission office, and hand-painted papier-mâché balls, and Cloisonné, a few of which I inherited. I brought them back from our last trip to the States, along with some great wooden lantern boxes my brother and Lizz gave us.

I remember these great sugar eggs Granny had when we were kids that had windows and little scenes in them but haven't found anything like them anywhere. They kind of looked like this:



Debi bought me a really nice handmade heart ornament on her last trip to London, and the Church of St. Martin-in-the-Fields.



While she was gone, I'd found her a star ornament. Yeah, we're made for each other, all right.



The tree was a bit too wide for our stand, so I had a bit of friendly persuasion to do on the base, but once that was done, we put on some Christmas music and had a great time decorating.



We also went to a Christmas concert at our local parish Church. Brass bands are a big tradition in the UK and many factories sponsored their own bands. The Tullis-Russell band goes back 90 years, and is still going strong. It took a few minutes to get used to the sound but we ended up really loving it. It was great to be in the wee church with people from our town, all enjoying the music and singing psalms.



Looks like it'll be a white Christmas. It snowed all day Friday, and it's begun again and is really coming down outside now. Speaking of which, we watched "White Christmas" with Bing Crosby, which will be a GrantFry tradition from now on. We saw it together two Christmases ago and loved it. We've been singing this song for the past few days now.

We took a nice walk yesterday, heading down to the fountain, then off to the estate. The Hill was lovely, and we got some nice photos of the snow-covered hills, with some fall leaves still on the branches. There are some hardy flowers blooming as well. Debi planted some of this at our front door: winter-blooming jasmine. But of course they have stubborn, tenacious flowers here. I love Scotland!



There's more to post, so I'll get to it this week.
For now,
Slàinte, sonas agus beartas
(Health, wealth, and happiness)!


Created with Admarket's flickrSLiDR.

St. Andrew's Day and first Apple Pie

12/20/2009 10:21:00 AM Edit This 0 Comments »




Posted by David



I've been meaning to post for a while and there's quite a few photos in the camera waiting for a free moment.  Sorry 'bout that; it's been an intense couple of months at Uni, and I had quite a few essays and projects to juggle and get in on time. This semester has been the most challenging and enjoyable one yet.

Well, I finally have a weekend off, and can relax a bit this week before resuming my studies in preparation for exams in January. But after that, there's a three week vacation, so there's something to look forward to.

Both Debi and I had the day off for St. Andrews Day, Scotland's National Holiday.   It was a great time, and there was plenty going on in the Saint's namesake town.

Debi made an itinerary, and after a relaxing morning, we were off to my University town.  It was a rare, sun-filled, day, and the drive to the coast was wonderful.   We have to pass through miles of scenic farmland and hillsides between here and there, and it was nice to be on the road together.

Debi wanted to see the vintage costume and dress exhibit on at the museum, so we rushed through town to get to that in time.   We were treated to a small but interesting collection.   They allowed us to photograph some of the dresses (without flash, of course), as Debi is considering recreating one of them at a later date.



The moon was just about full overhead, and the sky remained clear so we were able to get some nice photos at dusk.




We walked over to South Street to see the Pipers beat the retreat and the 'Nae for Wimps' Outdoor Ceilidh.  The pipers were amazing; there's something about the pipes that just does it for us.

The pipers, once greeted by the Provost, retreated to the West Port, where a lively Ceilidh Band was waiting on a huge stage.   They began straightaway; as the first reel was announced, dancers moved towards the centre and within minutes, over a hundred revelers were dancing in unison.   Debi and I aren't well-versed enough in the traditional dances yet (though we will be, after the forthcoming ceilidhs in our town), but it was great to see so many people of all ages dancing together, students and professors, children, parents, and pensioners... it was really a wonderful sight.

The band was cracking, and the energy remained high throughout.   However, I'm not used to the breeze, and after a few hours outside, my knees were getting frozen in the night air.   Debi was getting cold as well, so we retreated to the West Port ourselves (there's a pub named after the town gate), for a wee dram.



We decided to forego the torchlight procession, in favour of a quiet candlelight dinner.  It was a lovely way to end a great day together.

The next weekend, we went to our new friend, Nicola's housewarming, and then to Elspeth's for a lovely dinner and evening by the fire in warm company.   We had a great time, then went off to St. Andrews on Sunday so I could join the Archery Club for practice and brunch.

I made my first apple pie from scratch to bring to Elspeth's.   My friend, Alison gave us a pie bird for a wedding gift, and it was great to get to use it.   It worked quite well!

There's more to add, and some fun events coming up now that Christmas is near, so more postings soon!


Created with Admarket's flickrSLiDR.

My First Trip to Covent Garden!!

11/27/2009 09:30:00 AM Edit This 0 Comments »
posted by Debi

I was in London this past week for work and finally got my chance to make one of my dreams come true!!  To see an opera at the Royal Opera House in Covent Garden!!  The site was originally a theatre in 1732 and Handel was one of the first musical directors of the company.  In fact, Handel premiered most of his operas and oratoris in Covent Garden including his first opera 'Il Pastor Fido' and 'Ariodante' (1735).  Unfortunately, a fire destroyed the theatre in 1808.

It was rebuilt and reopened in 1809 with a performance of Macbeth.  Seems they have had bad luck with fires because on 5 March 1856, the theatre was again destroyed by fire. The third (and current theatre) opened on 15 May 1858 with a performance of Meyerbeer's 'Les Huguenots'.

This is what the opera house looks like today:

http://static.panoramio.com/photos/original/1253925.jpg

And inside:

http://www.stltoday.com/blogzone/culture-club/files/2009/08/london_royaloperahouse.jpg

So you can see my huge excitement at having the opportunity to visit this mecca of opera.  I saw Tchaikovsky's 'Cherevichki' or 'The Tsarina's Slippers.  Tchaikovsky himself said this was his favorite opera he produced, though it's rarely played outside Russia. The opera had an almost entirely Russian cast. Based on a Christmas tale by Gogol that mixes realistic village comedy with fairytale fantasy.  You can read the plot of the opera here.

http://www.allgigs.co.uk/images/object/artist/61349/Tsarinas_Slippers_Cherevichki-1-200-128-85-nocrop.gif

It was FANTASTIC!  I loved every minute of it--from the fairy tale/storybook staging, to the beautiful singing to the funny plot to the happily-ever after ending!!

Here's a few photos I found from the production:

http://www.musicalcriticism.com/opera/roh-tsarina-2.jpg

http://www.musicalcriticism.com/opera/roh-tsarina-3.jpg

http://www.musicalcriticism.com/opera/roh-tsarina.jpg
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