No more beige!

I suck at remembering to take 'before' pictures. This first one already has the trim and side ceilings painted white instead of their original beige.

The second shot is of the other corner of the room after painting the walls as well as the trim. As you can see I did not shy away from color. The picture on my screen shows the one wall a bit more yellow than in real life, where it is more of the yellow-green color.

I am just waiting for the carpeting to be installed on Monday and then I can start putting the room back together. I already hung new shades for the windows and put up shelves over the windows for some light storage.

Scotland Photos

 So here are some of the photos from the Scotland trip - see the itinerary in the previous post for the details of where we where and when.

This first one of Damon is at the Highland Park Distillery in the tasting room, getting his limited edition bottle of Scotch - doesn't he look so proud!

The next shot of Damon - please note he has his whiskey travel glass around his neck so he does not drop it or lose it - is on our Dufftown Speyside whiskey walk. It is about a 2.5 - 3 hour stroll by 9 distilleries. With a wee sample at each.

After that walk we went to the local Royal British Legion for some music. They are all locals that get together every Monday evening to play a variety of music.

The next morning we went out for a short 2-mile county hike to Giant's Chair - the picture of me is on the trail. As you can see the weather was lovely. We actually had really good luck with the weather, yes it rained off and on over the week and a half, but never really hard enough or long enough to spoil any of our plans.

There are lots of sheep and cows all over Scotland, but this was one of only 2 highland cows we saw - they were grazing in a field next to the castle in Dufftown.

Will post some more pictures in a few more days.

The 2015 Scotland Trip Itinerary

So I can remember when and where we were for this vacation.

Tuesday – Wednesday
Flights: Burlington, Philadelphia, London (Heathrow), Edinburgh, Kirkwall

Wednesday
Hildeval B&B, Kirkwall  http://www.hildeval-orkney.co.uk/
Loved this place would definitely stay here again.

Thursday
Orkney Tailor-Made Tours    http://orkney-tailor-made-tours.co.uk/
David was great! Definitely the best way to see all the sites – have a professional guide drive you around and give you all the info and history on the sites.
The places we visited included: 
The Churchill Barriers http://www.undiscoveredscotland.co.uk/eastmainland/churchill/
The Italian Chapel http://www.visitscotland.com/en-us/info/see-do/the-italian-chapel-p253741
Skara Brae http://www.historicscotland.gov.uk/propertyresults/propertyoverview.htm?PropID=PL_244
Skaill House  http://www.skaillhouse.co.uk/
The Ness of Brodgar http://www.visitscotland.com/en-us/info/see-do/ness-of-brodgar-p673331
The Standing Stones of Stenness http://www.orkneyjar.com/history/standingstones/
The Ring of Brodgar http://www.orkneyjar.com/history/brodgar/
The Broch of Gurness http://www.visitscotland.com/en-us/info/see-do/broch-of-gurness-p248081
And a tour and lunch at the Orkney Brewery: http://www.sinclairbreweries.co.uk/index.php

Friday
Tour and tasting at the Skapa Distillery
Magnus Tour and tasting at the Highland Park Distillery
Walk around and shop in Kirkwall
Bought a necklace by Ola Gorie http://www.olagoriejewellery.com/
Dinner at the Kirkwall hotel – recommend the ‘Pasta Kirkwall’.

Saturday
John O’Groats Busses and Ferry to travel from Kirkwall to Inverness. http://www.jogferry.co.uk/Home.aspx

Royal Highland Hotel, Inverness.  http://www.royalhighlandhotel.co.uk/
A great location – right next to the train station and 2 blocks from the bus station. 

Attended the Inverness highland games – just a short walk down the river Ness to the playing fields. Although they don’t call them ‘Highland Games’ the ticket actually says “Inverness Gala”.

Sunday
The Jacobite Buss/Boat tour of Lock Ness and Urquhart Castle. https://www.jacobite.co.uk/

Dinner at an Indian restaurant called Shapla: http://www.tripadvisor.com/Restaurant_Review-g186543-d7757317-Reviews-Shapla_Tandoori-Inverness_Scottish_Highlands_Scotland.html

Monday

ScotRail to Keith and then a 20 minute taxi to Dufftown.

Highland Spirit B & B http://www.visitscotland.com/en-us/info/accommodation/highland-spirit-bed-and-breakfast-p855441
Would totally stay here again. We were in the Architect room. Lovely view of the garden and one of the local distilleries.

Visited and took the tour at the Speyside Cooperage: http://www.speysidecooperage.co.uk/
Went on the Dufftown Distilleries Walk (Extended tour) http://www.speysidetours.co.uk/dufftown-distilleries-walk.html

And had dinner at the Stuart Arms http://www.thestuartarms.co.uk/
Where Damon and both tried haggis for the first time – Damon loves it!

Based on local recommendations we went over to the local Royal British Legion for some music – it was fabulous! Locals getting together every Monday – they play a variety of music. There were at least 10 fiddles and 5 accordions along with a number of other instruments!

Tuesday

A shopping visit to the Dufftown Whiskey Shop: http://www.whiskyshopdufftown.com/

And then a morning hike out to Giant’s Chair http://www.morayways.org.uk/routedetails.asp?routeid=121
I love these types of walks/hikes – this one along a river and one of the Distilleries.

Taxi to Keith, Scotrail train to Endinburgh (via Aberdeen)

Grassmarket Hotel, Edinburgh  http://www.grassmarkethotel.co.uk/
Great location – just south of the Royal Mile and just down a small hill down from the Scotland National Library. A few restaurants and local shops conveniently on the same area.

Went to the tourist information center and got tickets for the next day.

Wednesday

Tour of Edinburgh Castle http://www.edinburghcastle.gov.uk/

Underground History Tour http://www.mercattours.com/historic-underground.asp

Edinburgh Jazz Festival – concert at the Tron Kirk on the Royal Mile to see Nick Pride and the Pimptones:  https://www.facebook.com/pimptones

Thursday

Royal Botanic Garden Edinburgh http://www.rbge.org.uk/

Strolling around the Royal Mile, and hitting all the little tourist gift shops. http://www.royal-mile.com/index.html

Bought tweeds at Walker-Slater: http://www.walkerslater.com/

Friday

The Scottish National Gallery of Modern Art, for the M. C. Escher and Roy Lichtenstein exhibits.  https://www.nationalgalleries.org/

Strolling around Princes Street, packing up for the trip home.
Bought Hats at Fabhatrix - https://www.facebook.com/pages/Fabhatrix/104165036340612

Saturday
Flights: Edinburgh, London (Heathrow), Philadelphia, Burlington

End of the semester

 So, last week was finals week at the college. As you can imagine there are lots of people looking to maximize study time - but I was still surprised by finding a caffeinated cookie! It didn't really say how much caffeine is in it, but it was a might tasty cookie nonetheless.

I did take part of a day off last week to take an embroidery class with Bonnie Turner. Got to practice some ribbon embroidery.

April SNOW-showers

If April showers bring May flowers, what exactly can we expect from April SNOW-showers? Had to drive home from the guild meeting Wed. night in the storm. This is the result Thurs. morning. About 3 inches of snow. Very wet and heavy - it stuck to everything. I was surprised we didn't have power outages as it was covering all the trees and wires. To its credit it did not stay around long, it did melt by later in the day.

But that is not the end of it. As I sit here this Saturday morning it is currently snowing again.

The March Report

All of Jan., Feb. and March we were waaaaay below the average temperatures - both highs and lows. A very brutal winter. So I did not mind at all when Damon got some Sourdough starter in early January and started experimenting with bread making. After experimenting with a variety of different flours and ratios of them, he found the right combination of all-purpose and bread flour. So now, every few weeks he has been making two loaves of sourdough bread. I am picky about the bread I eat. I prefer softer not crust bread and this is just perfect. My favorite thing is to take a quarter inch slice, butter it and then microwave it a few seconds to get it nice and warm. It has a great flavor.

The quilt guild's challenge this year is to make a seasonal banner 60 inches long and 6 inches wide. Based on the season you got (which you drew out of a hat for) you had to stick with the assigned seasonal colors - I got summer which were blue, green, yellow and purple. You also had to have at least one stitch of handwork and at least one bead or button. So I went with a crazy quilt blocks and did a variety of machine and hand embroidery and added several buttons and beads.

My favorite block is the bottom one with a button and bead spider hanging from its web. The Banner is due at the April meeting so I got it done just in time.

The February Report

So the first picture is of the flowers I got for Valentines day. I also got some chocolates - the flowers lasted longer than the chocolates!

As usual the start of the semester in late January and continuing into Feb. and March means neglecting lots of other things like updating the blog. I did manage in Feb. to bind three quilts that had been sent out for machine quilting. The first two are quilts for Tim (Damon's boss). His mother had some unfinished quilts when she passed away a couple of years ago. I had already finished a few of the smaller mostly done ones. The Jar quilt had blocks done but needed a few more and then I had to put together the rows and the bookcase. The Fish and Flying Geese quilt was not actually started, Tim's mom had bought the fabric to make him a guilt, so I make it instead. This is my original design. The idea is that the flying geese look like ripples on the water that the fish are in. As I was trying to maximize use the of the fish fabric this is actually close to a kink-sized quilt.

The Diamonds are Forever quilt was previously pictures but now that the binding is on it is officially done! I opted for wool batting and it is nice and soft and puffy and warm.