Back and Forth Across the Pond

2018 started so well. And then it went to hell pretty quickly. I was in the final throes of dissertation writing. It was a stressful time trying to get everything finished and knowing it had to get finished no later than early April. Finally, a defense date was decided - April 20 - and my flights were booked. I had been planning a trip with Mom, but we couldn't decide where we wanted to go. We just wanted to get away and enjoy each other's company. We invited Andrea to join us and we were looking forward to it. Then in early March, I gave Mom a call on a Sunday morning. She sounded breathless. She kept poo-pooing it. I told her to call my brother and get to the hospital, but she kept saying she was going to try and see a doctor in the coming week. Annoyed that she wasn't listening to me, I did the only thing I could think of: I yelled at her. I told her to get to the hospital. She was so startled by my reaction that she did exactly that. And that's when the downhill...

A few days ago, the Met Office app began warning about snow and ice on its way to the area. The Weather Channel app disagreed. It didn't even see much in the way of rain in our future. So I kept tabs on the apps to see who'd win. Experience has taught me that the accuracy ebbs and flows twixt the two. So when they disagree so strongly, it's really anyone's guess who will end up correct. Then yesterday, I noticed the Weather Channel was moving into the snow camp. By bedtime yesterday, both apps were predicting the same thing: Snow, and lots of it. I awoke to a nice dusting of white on the ground, but there was just the occasional "sprinkle" of snow every now and then. I got to work on my dissertating for the day. Around 9, the doorbell rang. I ran downstairs to the door and found my postal carrier hunched down in what can only be described as a blizzard. She said it came out of nowhere. I took my parcel, bade her be careful in the weather, and went and grabbe...

I took a walk into town to check out a sale at one of the High Street shops. I snapped some pics along the way to share with Mom. Her useless internet provider can't seem to manage to get emails with attachments to work, so I'm posting them here so she can see the pics.

I use this blog primarily to share in my travel adventures, so I often forget about it when I don't have folders full of photos to share. I thought I'd try and remedy that today with a story of my day. I know, reading about what I did today is a rather boring endeavor to many. But Mom reads this, and I figure she'll enjoy it. Besides, my days now are so different from my days in Florida that, to me anyway, it is a kind of new adventure. Even if I've been doing it for over fifteen months. After several days of wind and rain (courtesy of the remnants of Hurricanes Maria and Lee), today's forecast called for a non-wet day. I had a few items I wanted to get from the craft store, so I decided to postpone my morning dissertating until the afternoon and walk to the store. I double-checked the forecast. It called for a cloudy sky to make way to a partly cloudy one, a 0% chance of rain, and a temperature of 54°F. I decided to put on my quilted vest for warmth and my Harris...

One of the great things about Scotland, particularly the Highlands, is that the journey is just as enjoyable as the destination. The landscape is so beautiful. Every bend reveals something new and exciting. Which is why I have a lot of posts with photos taken from the car. I just can't help sharing! Here are a few snaps taken as we made our way home. I had been admiring this church in Gairloch, but never found myself in a good position to take a photograph. We stopped for petrol on our way out of town. As Steve was handling the pump, I looked out and, lo and behold, there was the church! So I popped out of the car, went to the edge of the carpark, and snapped this pic. It's a lovely little church that sits high on a cliff overlooking the loch.  We paused at a viewpoint for one last look at Gairloch before we bade it goodbye.  And this is an excellent example of every bend exposing something beautiful. When I first saw this munro, I thought it had a "n...

We stopped at Inverewe Gardens on our way home at the recommendation of one of Steve's work mates. It's a property within The National Trust for Scotland, so admission is free to Trust members. We had been pondering joining since we first moved here and decided to just bite the bullet and sign up whilst we were at the gardens. We only have to visit about four more places to have the membership pay for itself. Since the Culloden Battlefield near us in Inverness is part of the Trust, and our membership also grants us access to England's National Trust locations, we figure our membership will end up saving us quite a bit within the year. Inverewe Gardens was once the estate of Osgood Mackenzie. He built his mansion house on a rocky promontory overlooking Loch Ewe in the mid-19th century. He dreamed of having a walled garden of flowers and vegetables and set about excavating a raised beach and building retaining walls and terraces. By 1870, Osgood had created a productive gar...