A Very Ancient Christmas

Hello All,

   I want to start out this blog a bit more serious that the usual goofiness. Christmas is my favorite holiday because of what it represents. God showed how much he loved us by sending his one and only Son into the world so that we might have eternal life through him. I want to start out this blog by saying God is Great! The thought of his Grace brings me to my knees with tears streaming down my face.

Christmas in The Highlands



The Cast: Raymond & MB, Andrea & Garrick, Lindsay & Adam, and Adam's best friend Bob.

The Van  

On Christmas Eve we all crammed into a 7 seater minivan. Let me stress the word MINI! When I booked the car rental the women said the van was made for two adults and 5 children. Let me stress that NONE of us are child size. There was also NO trunk space. This means we all had to carry what we brought on our laps or around our feet. The two poor guys in the very back had things piled on top of them. They were good sports! 

The reason we didn't get a bigger van was because Raymond was not old enough. 30 was the age limit and Raymond is 29. Also the van we did get was a stick. Raymond was a CHAMP shifting with his left hand and navigating through the narrow Scottish roads. We had no shortages of Wind and Rain storms. 

Hiking



Can you spot us?



 He had some great adventurous hikes. We went exploring every day. The Highlands is an amazing place with so much ancient history. One of my favorite hikes was to a Pictish fort on top of a mountain. The hurricane force winds we had a few weeks back had torn down tons of trees blocking the beginning of the path. We climbed through these trees and a few scrapes and twigs in the eye later we made it through the trees to a clearing. We went straight up from there. The fort was amazing. It was so awesome to be in a fort that was so ancient, the view wasn't too shabby either.

There was no snow on the ground but the rivers were overflowing! One day we went into Inverness and walked around. We then went a little outside of the town and found this ancient burial grounds. They were dated to be around the time of King David. How amazing is that?

Just outside of Inverness is Loch Ness. Of course we went searching for NESSIE!!! Raymond, Adam and Bob went swimming in Loch Ness. It was so cold but they braved it. Bob even did in NAKED!!!! AHHH

The ladies were not so keen on getting ALL the way into loch Ness. So we kinda got it...



Our "Getting in pic"



On Loch Ness there is a castle called Urquhart Castle. It was amazing!

On our way home we stopped at an ancient Roman camp site near Perth. The wind and rain were fierce, stinging our faces but just picturing a Roman legion camping here on there way to try and defeat the "savages of the north" was inducing chill bumps.

Yes, I'm a history nerd.

Christmas Morning!

Christmas morning Raymond and I woke up late and breakfast was already cooked! What great friends we have! We all ate breakfast casserole and home made cinnamon rolls. (pretty sure I gained 10 lbs from this trip the food was so good) We all brought one gift and did a white elephant gift exchanged.

The gift I got stuck with is terrifying. It is a creepy clown figurine holding a small snow globe. Inside the snow globe was a monkey wearing a hat. Let me tell you, I'm really scared of clowns. I also got a cool foam airplane.

While my older brother was babysitting me he let us watch IT and I've never been the same. Clowns are never ok with me.

Christmas supper was great! We had ham, sweet potato casserole, green beans, and awesome bread. Bob cooked the Ham and it was really tasty!

Sardines & MORE

We played a lot of games while in our 4 bedroom rental house. The first night we played Sardines. Lindsay was the sardines queen. She found almost everyone first and it took us forever to find her when she hid. We had so much fun and laughed till our cheeks hurt.

The entire time we were there we played games. I'm glad we have found friends who like to play games like we do.

All in all we had a great time in the Scottish Highlands and I would love to go back and have more adventures. Who's with me?

Dream Logs + Bus stop Psycho & Beyond

As requested I will have more Raymond Dream Logs towards the end of this post. I have written down several of them. Raymond found my word document and read it. "I never said any of those things" oh Yes... yes you did. One day I'm going to have my camera and film him.

Story 1: 

Bus stop Psycho 

I want to first start out by telling the delightful experience I had last week while trying to catch a bus in Guardbridge.

I was heading to St. Andrews like any other normal freezing, windy day in Scotland. I was waiting at the Mill Clock bus stop (this is our bus stop) all of a sudden, I look across the road and here comes this wide eyed woman, about my age, running across the street. She makes it to the bus stop and the conversation, mostly with herself, that takes place will stay with me for a very long time. The conversation as unfolded like this:

Lady: "AH, I hoped the bus would be late. but now It's on time because I'm a University note taker and my class starts in 10 minutes!"

Me: "Oh are you a post grad? My husbands is in the St. Mary's post grad program. Guardbridge is a great place for postgrads isn't it?"

Lady's phone alarm goes off and she leans outside of the bus stop and starts to scream.

Lady: "BUS YOU BETTER GET HERE NOW!!!" "I'm going to be late so you better HURRY UP AND GET HERE NOW!!!"

At this point in knew I was dealing with someone a little looney. She walks back into the bus stop

Me: "What is your name?"

Crazy Lady: "MELISSA" She growled at me. "I'm not in the mood to socialize, can't you see I'm trying to get the bus here!" "Today of ALL days I wake up LATE and my CAT IS MAD AT ME."

He alarm goes off for the 4th time.

Me: "You sure do have a lot of Alarms"

Crazy Cat Lady Melisa: "THAT WAS MY SNOOZE ALRAM IF I WASN'T GOING TO MAKE IT TO CLASS GOSHHHHHHHHHHHH"

I couldn't help giggle because of how insane she sounded but I think it just made her even more angry. She then started yelling at the bus (still no where in site) and running out in the middle of the road to look around the corner to see if the bus was coming. She almost got run over a several times. So I decided to say something to calm her down.

Me: "Hey Melissa, I understand you are stressed out but no amount of yelling or walking out in the street is going to make the bus come any faster. There is nothing you can do about it now."

Melissa: "YOU ARE NOT HELPING ME. I'M JUST GOING TO STRESS OUT ABOUT THIS PLEASE DO NOT TALK TO ME."

I'm typing in all caps for a reason folks. This girl was screaming at me. It was one of the strangest most hysterical break downs I'd ever seen. This girl was bonkers.

P.S. She was getting her doctorate in Psychology. (make your own assessment)



Raymond met Melissa a couple of days later on a bus ride home. She talked to him the entire way back about her cat. We got off the bus and Raymond said this. "That girl has no self-awareness at all, she is completely oblivious to how she comes across to people." This is completely true.

Story 2: 

WIND

I know I already blogged about the crazy wind we have been having but I wanted to post some pictures of us playing outside!

Lindsay is lookin' fine in that super model weather

I look like i'm a dragon breaking fire.

It was seriously windy. We almost got knocked over a few times.

Story 3: 

St. Andrews Aquarium

One on my good friends here works at the St. Andrews Aquarium. I've heard all about it, so I decided to go visit her. Here are some pics

Octopus! 

Seals

and Meerkats? 

Yep, one of their biggest attractions is the Meerkat exhibit. There are so fat! hahaha

Story 4: 

 Christmas

Here is where I hang out most of the day. I don't know what I would do without a fireplace!

We are renting a house with two other couples and spending christmas in the Highlands! It will be a white Christmas for us! We are very excited to get away and also excited to share this holiday with our close friends.

Story 5: 

Raymond Dream LOG

This first one Raymond says doesn't count because he was half asleep. I think it totally counts. When Raymond get's really really tired and he's almost asleep sometimes I like to talk to him and see what comedic gold I can get. This is really for my own pleasure. Well it was until now.

Raymond, sing me a song please.

Raymond sings me a 5 minute long song about a man with the Hiccups. I don't remember the lyrics but next time this happens I will get it on camera.


Raymond Dream Log 1:  

YOUUUUUUUUUUUU!!!!!!

Me? What about me?

YOU are full of wonderful things. Things that I LOVE

He then squeezed me so tight i thought I was going to pop. He rolled over and went back to sleep.


Raymond Dream Log 2:

It was the middle of the night and I, as usual was cold. I maneuvered around to acquire some of Raymond's body heat. I said to Raymond,

"Your breath is warming my back."

His response, "That's because I'm full of science"


Raymond Dream Log 3:

Sits up quickly, "Throw the fish and they will open the Window FOR US!

Raymond Dream Log 4:

"You need to wear Plaid to get back on the team."
"Why do I need to be on the team?"
"So you can get back to earth, you don't want to stay on Mars's Thorax do you?



THE END



Let me know what you think!

Wind + Red Necks= Frustration

National Weather Alert:

 WINDS ARE LIKELY TO GUST TO 70-80 MPH, WITH OVER 90 MPH ON EXPOSED COASTS AND HILLS.


The wind is CRAZY! The birds are not happy. I saw one try and fly and it didn't go so well for the little guy. I walked outside because I noticed some trash in our backyard.

I opened our gate and was attacked by trash. Our lovely neighbors moved out of their house and left their trash bins full. The bins were knocked down and trash is everywhere.

 I've taken a video and some pictures to show all of you. Warning our neighbors did not clean up after themselves.

I know you can't hear what i'm saying some of the time. That is because the wind is so strong. I almost fell over while walking up the drive.

Here are some pictures.

Our Back Yard and Garden

Our Driveway right side is ours left side is our neighbors 

Driveway

We share a driveway and as you can see, they have a broken down car sticking out of their drive and and other broken down car in their back yard.

The second broken down car

This is the trash that blew down the street. GRUMBLE CAKES



I called Raymond and asked him to buy nylon gloves. I'm gonna be cleaning all this up for days!



One day I'm going to look back on this and laugh... today is not that day.

Stalked by a Black Bra!

Okay, I know I'm not literately being stalked by a black bra but it sure seems that way. Let me explain...

I usually work nights at the University Sports Centre. The hours are usually 5:30 - 11:00. This means I help close down and one of my many lovely tasks is to clear the ladies locker room. There is always without fail a black bra hanging on a hook waiting for me.

Seriously, I have no idea how these kids leave the Sports Centre clothed! There is always shoes, pants, shirts, and that dang black bra!

Is it the same black bra you ask? NO it's a group of them. I think they are all in the same gang. It's starting to worry me. I hope my black bra doesn't join 'em or I'm in for a rather cold / awkward ride home.

Dear Black Bra of mine,

Please don't join the BBG (black bra gang) I really do love you and would miss you dearly. I know your job is very important and I will never take you for granted. I promise to always put you in your special washing machine bag and as the directions say, never put you in the dryer.

For realzies,
   Mary Blake


Now that I've gotten that out of the way...


Raymond and I went for a walk on Saturday and it was beautiful. You can see all the pictures here
A Scottish Winter In this album you will also see the thanksgiving we had with our awesome friends.

Raymond Update:

Raymond is in Edinburgh tonight for a conference. His paper was accepted so he will be presenting tomorrow afternoon. Keep him in your thoughts. I keep trying to convince him to write a blog entry but he's been so busy lately. Maybe if you guys bug him enough he'll write one!

Raymond Dream Log:

Raymond Jumps up out of bed in the middle of the night.
Raymond "Ahhh I have to get ready"
Me "What? Raymond get back in bed"
Raymond "NO They are coming I have to get ready for them"
Me "Who is coming?"
Raymond "The little people are coming for me. I have to get ready"
Me "It's the middle of the night, No little person is coming. Get back in bed.

He slowly got back into bed and fell back into a deep sleep.

Raymond Dream Log 2:

Raymond starts making weird high pitched robot sounds like. BEEP BOOP BEEP  and starts laughing hysterically. I start laughing. Raymond says, "The rainbow cover!" "Ah, the Rainbow Cover!" Then starts laughing again.

At this point I'm laughing as well and he's fallen back to sleep.


Comment below and let me know what you think about the blog. Also let me know what you want to hear about.

Later Days