While I was in Alva, they held the 153rd (I think) Famous Alva Highland Games. So of course I went.
It rained. All day. And it was cooooold. I was frozen through and quite damp by the time I left to get fish 'n chips to watch the World Cup semi-finals (Uruguay was playing, and my World Cup crush plays for them). The rain meant that the crowds were small, and that the Highland Dancing and piping got moved indoors somewhere... I never heard where, though. I watched all the heavy events, which were interesting considering how wet everything was. Only one guy even got the caber to flip over, which was disappointing. I think the contestants were all annoyed with the rain, too. It can't be very nice to be throwing deadly things around without a good grip.
I still enjoyed watching them, and there were a few I remembered from last year's events. I also watched all the footraces, the hillrace, and the cycle races. The hillrace was crazy... they ran all the way up to the top of the hillfoot behind us and back down-- the fastest one in just over 20 minutes! That would be an all day event for me, and they were running it. Mad.
I took some photos, of course. They are here.
The videos, in case you didn't notice, are in no real order. I just stuck 'em in places. =)
Showing posts with label holidays. Show all posts
Showing posts with label holidays. Show all posts
Wednesday, 29 September 2010
Tuesday, 28 September 2010
Alva Thesis Retreat, Take Two
Study, study, study. In Alva. Thank you, Paige, for the loan of your flat while you were away!
It worked well for me in January to be away for a few weeks, and to just work somewhere different. I hoped it would work that way again, especially after being so frustrated with the whole robbery and losing my work fiasco. I debated about not going, but I'd already bought my train tickets before the theft, and I couldn't see wasting the money (they were, of course, non-refundable cheap tickets). So off I poddled to Alva for two weeks.
I didn't get completely done, but I did get a lot accomplished. It's funny how just a change of scene can work wonders on motivation and focus, sometimes. The weather wasn't great, as it was rainy and cloudy most of the time... but there is a great park just a couple of blocks down that I took my books and notebooks to when the sun came out. The university even loaned me a netbook to use for two weeks. Granted, I made them feel bad enough about having kicked me out of my office right at the end of my time when I needed a place to work the most, and laid it on thick about then having my laptop stolen in the break-in... they couldn't really do anything but loan me one that was sitting around unused, could they?
Anyway. I worked a lot. I drank coffee and ate snacks and sat in the window and watched the World Cup and read in the times when I wasn't working. It was productive, and it was refreshing to be somewhere other than the 'Deen for a bit. Thanks, Paige! I owe ya. =)
Where are the photos? They're here.
It worked well for me in January to be away for a few weeks, and to just work somewhere different. I hoped it would work that way again, especially after being so frustrated with the whole robbery and losing my work fiasco. I debated about not going, but I'd already bought my train tickets before the theft, and I couldn't see wasting the money (they were, of course, non-refundable cheap tickets). So off I poddled to Alva for two weeks.
I didn't get completely done, but I did get a lot accomplished. It's funny how just a change of scene can work wonders on motivation and focus, sometimes. The weather wasn't great, as it was rainy and cloudy most of the time... but there is a great park just a couple of blocks down that I took my books and notebooks to when the sun came out. The university even loaned me a netbook to use for two weeks. Granted, I made them feel bad enough about having kicked me out of my office right at the end of my time when I needed a place to work the most, and laid it on thick about then having my laptop stolen in the break-in... they couldn't really do anything but loan me one that was sitting around unused, could they?
Anyway. I worked a lot. I drank coffee and ate snacks and sat in the window and watched the World Cup and read in the times when I wasn't working. It was productive, and it was refreshing to be somewhere other than the 'Deen for a bit. Thanks, Paige! I owe ya. =)
Where are the photos? They're here.
Sunday, 19 September 2010
A Haiku
Sunny hillfoot walk
like poetry in motion
inspires this 'hi, coo!'
I wrote this haiku for Paige. Because she said I should. When we were walking along the path at the base of the Hillfoots from Alva to Menstrie, to see the Highland Coos. I mean, cows. It was our last day in Alva for the Eurovision trip, and we were enjoying the nice nearly-summer weather and the middle-of-nowhere nature. I took quite a few photos, which you can find here. It was a great way to round off our weekend out of Aberdeen. It's always hard to come back to the Granite City for this.
Saturday, 18 September 2010
Pleasure Princesses
While at Paige's place, there are far more touristy places we can get to than from Aberdeen. Since we all four have Historic Scotland memberships, we decided to take advantage of that fact, and we headed out to spend the day at Linlithgow, formerly the royal pleasure palace.
It was fabulous.
They have the oldest working fountain in Scotland (or maybe all of Britain, I can't remember for sure), and it's a wedding-cake style with loads of carved figures. They also have lots and lots of staircases, some of which now lead nowhere. We definitely got our exercise that day. The view from the top is worth the climb, though.
We popped into the local kirk, which is also lovely (except for it's bizarre metal spire, that's supposed to represent the crown of thorns but is, in fact, just plain ugly). Even better, there was a rehearsal going on for the National Youth choir (or something like that... I can't remember their exact name). It was amazing. They had a great repertoire-- many of which I knew, which made it great, of course. =)
We ruled that palace, we four pleasure princesses.
It was fabulous.
They have the oldest working fountain in Scotland (or maybe all of Britain, I can't remember for sure), and it's a wedding-cake style with loads of carved figures. They also have lots and lots of staircases, some of which now lead nowhere. We definitely got our exercise that day. The view from the top is worth the climb, though.
We popped into the local kirk, which is also lovely (except for it's bizarre metal spire, that's supposed to represent the crown of thorns but is, in fact, just plain ugly). Even better, there was a rehearsal going on for the National Youth choir (or something like that... I can't remember their exact name). It was amazing. They had a great repertoire-- many of which I knew, which made it great, of course. =)
We ruled that palace, we four pleasure princesses.
Thursday, 16 September 2010
Narnia, aka Stirling University
Who knew? ;)
The three of us girlies in Aberdeen went down in late May to visit Paige in Alva-- largely so we could all watch Eurovision together (more on that tomorrow). Since none of us had really seen much of her new uni, we forced her to take us on a tour-- which was great, because she hadn't seen most of it, either. =)
Stirling University is a fairly new Scottish university, all things considered, and the architecture leaves much to be desired. The setting, however, is breathtaking. We'd all noticed it on the bus between Stirling and Alva, but none of us had wandered around it. We had gorgeous weather, and needed to be home in time for Eurovision, so it was a perfect day to wander in the great outdoors on campus. The postbox says it's Narnia, and we believed it! We found lots of gorgeousness, hidden glens and cottages, tumble-down cemetaries, and more.
After spending time out on campus, Paige showed us around her office and her building. They have a great collection of Scottish art... which wasn't there. Ha. They had several things up in other places, and we got to enjoy it. Plus Paige showed us the window she gets to design in the entryway with all the other art, when it's at home. And her office... dang. Bunnnies galore cavorting just outside, and a view of the Wallace Monument. Lovely. Makes being in the office not so bad when you have beauty and distration so readily available. ;)
And we had a good time with each other. Although I'm sure you can't tell that from the photos.
The three of us girlies in Aberdeen went down in late May to visit Paige in Alva-- largely so we could all watch Eurovision together (more on that tomorrow). Since none of us had really seen much of her new uni, we forced her to take us on a tour-- which was great, because she hadn't seen most of it, either. =)
Stirling University is a fairly new Scottish university, all things considered, and the architecture leaves much to be desired. The setting, however, is breathtaking. We'd all noticed it on the bus between Stirling and Alva, but none of us had wandered around it. We had gorgeous weather, and needed to be home in time for Eurovision, so it was a perfect day to wander in the great outdoors on campus. The postbox says it's Narnia, and we believed it! We found lots of gorgeousness, hidden glens and cottages, tumble-down cemetaries, and more.
After spending time out on campus, Paige showed us around her office and her building. They have a great collection of Scottish art... which wasn't there. Ha. They had several things up in other places, and we got to enjoy it. Plus Paige showed us the window she gets to design in the entryway with all the other art, when it's at home. And her office... dang. Bunnnies galore cavorting just outside, and a view of the Wallace Monument. Lovely. Makes being in the office not so bad when you have beauty and distration so readily available. ;)
And we had a good time with each other. Although I'm sure you can't tell that from the photos.
Monday, 13 September 2010
Mini-Break and Maxi-Dog
Way back in May, I took a long weekend for a mini-break to stay with Paige. This time, though, she wasn't in Alva... she was in Auld Reekie. The Capitol. Edinburgh.
Nope, she didn't move. She has a friend at Stirling Uni who lives in Edinburgh, and has a monster dog. Hazel. She's seriously scary... or her tongue is, anyway. It's faster than the speed of light, I swear. Other than that, and her need to tear up with her teeth every growing thing she sees, she's a sweet puppy. So Paige was there flat- and dog-sitting, and as she had just finished a major presentation for uni, she was totally up for a weekend of some fun. And Papa John's pizza.
Oh, Papa John. I wish you were here in Aberdeen. But you aren't. So I have to go to Edinburgh to get you. Paige and I had a perfect plan: delivery. Because they SAY they deliver. And there are two different branches. It's a big city, sure, but not that big, surely. Ha. How wrong we were. They don't deliver to where we were. Pretty much if you aren't in a one-mile radius of their store, you can't get delivery. Which is flippin' ridiculous. Our dinner plans were thwarted by their dastardly delivery deviousness... so we went to Waitrose and bought a for-two curry dinner. It was delish.
The next day we were determined to get our pizza. We spent the day in the city, at the Elephant House for coffee and studying and wandering around. Then we walked out to where the PJs is... about a fifteen minute walk from Princes Street. Not too bad. The plan: get our pizza take-away to-go and then get a bus back to the flat. First part worked fine. Got our pizza (two of them, actually), and headed back to a bus that would take us home. Part two didn't really work out so well. Apparently you aren't allowed to take food on a bus. Really? Because I see people eating on buses all the time. But this driver wouldn't let us on. Grrrrrrr. Here we are, walking around the capitol in the chilly May evening with two big pizza boxes, not to mention all our other bags. Now what?! I was ticked. Seriously ticked. Paige decided we'd just get bags to put the pizza in... which we did. At Whittard's. She bought a pretty reuseable bag that fit her pizza, and got the sales person to give her the biggest plastic carrier bag they had, which *just* fit my huge pizza. On the bus we got. Finally.
By the time we got to the flat, the pizza was no longer hot. But does that matter? Not so much. PJs is just as good cold, and we had a microwave to zap it if we wanted it hot. What did matter, however, was the fact that they forgot to put in the garlic butter dip. WHAT?! Oh good grief. I could not believe it. On top of the rest of the disaster, that was the final straw. Papa John, you have some serious making-up to do to me if you want me to love you like I used to. I'm so disappointed in you.
Other than the pizza debacle, and the monster dog, we wandered around the nice suburb where we were staying. There's a big private school there that Hogwarts could have been partly modeled on. And there is a big park with a pond and lots of water birds and a gorgeous view of the city. We saw swans, and mallards, and other birdies whose names I don't know. We enjoyed the sunset, and the walk. It was lovely.
Mostly we just hung out and laughed a lot. It's just what happens when we get together.
All of the photos can be found in my All Around Amie site here. (If for some reason you can't access it, let me know and I'll send you an official invite. Hopefully it'll just let you in.)
Nope, she didn't move. She has a friend at Stirling Uni who lives in Edinburgh, and has a monster dog. Hazel. She's seriously scary... or her tongue is, anyway. It's faster than the speed of light, I swear. Other than that, and her need to tear up with her teeth every growing thing she sees, she's a sweet puppy. So Paige was there flat- and dog-sitting, and as she had just finished a major presentation for uni, she was totally up for a weekend of some fun. And Papa John's pizza.
Oh, Papa John. I wish you were here in Aberdeen. But you aren't. So I have to go to Edinburgh to get you. Paige and I had a perfect plan: delivery. Because they SAY they deliver. And there are two different branches. It's a big city, sure, but not that big, surely. Ha. How wrong we were. They don't deliver to where we were. Pretty much if you aren't in a one-mile radius of their store, you can't get delivery. Which is flippin' ridiculous. Our dinner plans were thwarted by their dastardly delivery deviousness... so we went to Waitrose and bought a for-two curry dinner. It was delish.
The next day we were determined to get our pizza. We spent the day in the city, at the Elephant House for coffee and studying and wandering around. Then we walked out to where the PJs is... about a fifteen minute walk from Princes Street. Not too bad. The plan: get our pizza take-away to-go and then get a bus back to the flat. First part worked fine. Got our pizza (two of them, actually), and headed back to a bus that would take us home. Part two didn't really work out so well. Apparently you aren't allowed to take food on a bus. Really? Because I see people eating on buses all the time. But this driver wouldn't let us on. Grrrrrrr. Here we are, walking around the capitol in the chilly May evening with two big pizza boxes, not to mention all our other bags. Now what?! I was ticked. Seriously ticked. Paige decided we'd just get bags to put the pizza in... which we did. At Whittard's. She bought a pretty reuseable bag that fit her pizza, and got the sales person to give her the biggest plastic carrier bag they had, which *just* fit my huge pizza. On the bus we got. Finally.
By the time we got to the flat, the pizza was no longer hot. But does that matter? Not so much. PJs is just as good cold, and we had a microwave to zap it if we wanted it hot. What did matter, however, was the fact that they forgot to put in the garlic butter dip. WHAT?! Oh good grief. I could not believe it. On top of the rest of the disaster, that was the final straw. Papa John, you have some serious making-up to do to me if you want me to love you like I used to. I'm so disappointed in you.
Other than the pizza debacle, and the monster dog, we wandered around the nice suburb where we were staying. There's a big private school there that Hogwarts could have been partly modeled on. And there is a big park with a pond and lots of water birds and a gorgeous view of the city. We saw swans, and mallards, and other birdies whose names I don't know. We enjoyed the sunset, and the walk. It was lovely.
Mostly we just hung out and laughed a lot. It's just what happens when we get together.
All of the photos can be found in my All Around Amie site here. (If for some reason you can't access it, let me know and I'll send you an official invite. Hopefully it'll just let you in.)
Sunday, 21 February 2010
Pancake Day
Mardi Gras? What's that? Around these parts, it's Pancake Day. Why? Well, I asked Wikipedia, and she told me this:
"Pancakes and doughnuts are associated with the day preceding Lent because they were a way to use up rich foodstuffs such as eggs, milk, and sugar, before the fasting season of the 40 days of Lent. The liturgical fasting emphasized eating plainer food and refraining from food that would give pleasure: In many cultures, this means no meat, dairy, or eggs."
I invited Aleithia and RitaBekah over for a pancake supper. I have some Krusteaz mix, and we made three kinds: banana (with raspberry jam on top), chocolate chip (with powdered sugar), and plain (with golden syrup). They were so yummy. I hadn't made them for a while, but I'm not sure why when I enjoy them so much. And it was fun, hanging out and chatting with the girlies who were in town. I missed Liz and Paige, but oh well. That's life, isn't it? And, of course, silly me-- I forgot to take a single picture. Again, that's life.
"Pancakes and doughnuts are associated with the day preceding Lent because they were a way to use up rich foodstuffs such as eggs, milk, and sugar, before the fasting season of the 40 days of Lent. The liturgical fasting emphasized eating plainer food and refraining from food that would give pleasure: In many cultures, this means no meat, dairy, or eggs."
I invited Aleithia and RitaBekah over for a pancake supper. I have some Krusteaz mix, and we made three kinds: banana (with raspberry jam on top), chocolate chip (with powdered sugar), and plain (with golden syrup). They were so yummy. I hadn't made them for a while, but I'm not sure why when I enjoy them so much. And it was fun, hanging out and chatting with the girlies who were in town. I missed Liz and Paige, but oh well. That's life, isn't it? And, of course, silly me-- I forgot to take a single picture. Again, that's life.
Thursday, 4 February 2010
Christmas Girl's Get-Away
The good thing about Paige living in Alva is that we now get to visit her there, and spend time in Stirling, and all the other places roundabouts that are so much easier to get to from central Scotland.
The bad part about Paige living in Alva, of course, is that it means she's not living in Aberdeen. *sigh*
Anyway. Liz and RitaB and I headed down in December for a wild and crazy girls Christmas weekend! We went to see the panto on at Stirling Uni on Friday night, which was Sleeping Beauty. Liz and I have been to pantos before, so knew what to expect. I was a little concerned that P and RitaB wouldn't like it... they are quite an experiences. But they loved it! At least, they claimed to. I don't have any photos, and I don't even really know how to explain it. It's musical comedy theatre with a LOT of audience participation and ad libbing from the dame, who is, of course, in drag. They are based on fairy tales or other folk tales (the other one I saw, in Cambridge a couple of years ago, was Aladdin.). They are great for kids and families, but we weren't the only adults there without children. It was hilarious, and a little sad, but of course had a happy ending. Ah... a Christmas tradition I'm happy to add!
Other than the panto, we wandered around Stirling on Friday, and indulged in our first try of the Milk Shak eBar. Oh dang. I don't have photos of that, either, but it was heaven. The city was all decked out, and we enjoyed it... what we could see, anyway. We also were on a quest to find a certain board game... which was elusive, til the very last. And we played it A LOT over the weekend. It's better than the original! You should try it. =) Oh, and Liz left us on Saturday, the day in which we pretty much stayed in the flat. Except for the brief time the sun came out, and the three of us took a walk along the Hillfoots to Menstie and back.
We went to church on Sunday at Stirling Methodist, and everything was all frosty. Even the spiderwebs. It was lovely. From there, we went to Glasgow for the afternoon, because we could. It cost less than seven pounds, and took just over half an hour. Brilliant. You can't get anywhere from Aberdeen for those. I was going on a mission, that the girls didn't share with me. We eventually met up at the Kelvingrove Museum, which was where I headed directly from the train station. I saw an exhibit that I've been dying to see for a year, and just in time before it left in January. I also heard the Salvation Army band playing in the open middle bit, and visited Jesus. He's hard to photograph, though. Silly lights.
Finally from there, we went back to Stirling and climbed up, up, up the slidey mountain to get to the castle. We had tickets for the caroling. It was lovely, with all the frost. A little creepy, too, but I liked that. The caroling wasn't really what I expected--it was a concert by some group. Bah. I expected, from it's name and it's advertising, that it would be an actual caroling eveing, with everyone joining in and singing songs and stuff. So I was a bit disappointed. The choir was fine; it just wasn't what I wanted. The Great Hall was very festive, though.
From there, RitaB and I caught the train home. And that, as they say, was that.
The bad part about Paige living in Alva, of course, is that it means she's not living in Aberdeen. *sigh*
Anyway. Liz and RitaB and I headed down in December for a wild and crazy girls Christmas weekend! We went to see the panto on at Stirling Uni on Friday night, which was Sleeping Beauty. Liz and I have been to pantos before, so knew what to expect. I was a little concerned that P and RitaB wouldn't like it... they are quite an experiences. But they loved it! At least, they claimed to. I don't have any photos, and I don't even really know how to explain it. It's musical comedy theatre with a LOT of audience participation and ad libbing from the dame, who is, of course, in drag. They are based on fairy tales or other folk tales (the other one I saw, in Cambridge a couple of years ago, was Aladdin.). They are great for kids and families, but we weren't the only adults there without children. It was hilarious, and a little sad, but of course had a happy ending. Ah... a Christmas tradition I'm happy to add!
Other than the panto, we wandered around Stirling on Friday, and indulged in our first try of the Milk Shak eBar. Oh dang. I don't have photos of that, either, but it was heaven. The city was all decked out, and we enjoyed it... what we could see, anyway. We also were on a quest to find a certain board game... which was elusive, til the very last. And we played it A LOT over the weekend. It's better than the original! You should try it. =) Oh, and Liz left us on Saturday, the day in which we pretty much stayed in the flat. Except for the brief time the sun came out, and the three of us took a walk along the Hillfoots to Menstie and back.
We went to church on Sunday at Stirling Methodist, and everything was all frosty. Even the spiderwebs. It was lovely. From there, we went to Glasgow for the afternoon, because we could. It cost less than seven pounds, and took just over half an hour. Brilliant. You can't get anywhere from Aberdeen for those. I was going on a mission, that the girls didn't share with me. We eventually met up at the Kelvingrove Museum, which was where I headed directly from the train station. I saw an exhibit that I've been dying to see for a year, and just in time before it left in January. I also heard the Salvation Army band playing in the open middle bit, and visited Jesus. He's hard to photograph, though. Silly lights.
Finally from there, we went back to Stirling and climbed up, up, up the slidey mountain to get to the castle. We had tickets for the caroling. It was lovely, with all the frost. A little creepy, too, but I liked that. The caroling wasn't really what I expected--it was a concert by some group. Bah. I expected, from it's name and it's advertising, that it would be an actual caroling eveing, with everyone joining in and singing songs and stuff. So I was a bit disappointed. The choir was fine; it just wasn't what I wanted. The Great Hall was very festive, though.
From there, RitaB and I caught the train home. And that, as they say, was that.
Sunday, 3 January 2010
Christmas Celebrations in My City
Merry Christmas, and Happy New Year! I have been too busy to update much, and this is no exception. Just thought I'd share a few photos to give you a taste of what my festive season has been like. More later... but for now, I hope everything is happy and bright, wherever you are!
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