On to Melrose

I believe it was a Thursday, when we headed from Edinburgh south, to the Borderlands.  Instead of renting a car from the airport, this time we rented one from Waverly Station.  wow.  Three times the cost for one third the time.  NOT a deal I would recommend.  The original plan was to rent a manual, but once he'd driven for a few days, he realized that trying to shift in city traffic would be some kind of nightmare.

He walked downtown to pick up the car, while I waited outside after checkout.  It took longer than we expected, but eventually he made his way back, and we said, "Goodbye!" to The Snug.

 I took several pictures similar to the next one.  It was a profile I saw day after day, focused on the road, mentally chanting, "Stay left!  Stay left!  Stay left!"

 Our first destination was Melrose Abbey, in the town of Melrose.  I had fond memories of this place from 1996, one of them being the kids lined up on a bench giving it "8 thumbs up!"  Anything involving open space and grass was a welcome change from marching up and down the streets going from here to there and back again.  :)

 The abbey is either half-standing or half-collapsed, depending upon your point of view.

I loved the detailed stonework, especially the arches.  And there's something about the graveyards, that seem homey and quaint, rather than creepy.

 I climbed the tower and looked at the view.

 On a distant hillside - I have a pretty good camera - were grazing cattle.

 Shift the angle, and I could see grazing sheep.

After thoroughly exploring the abbey, we walked through Melrose, in search of lunch.  We found a bakery, where we bought a cup of soup, with roll, for a pound.  We also paid a pound apiece, for Empire biscuits.  Tasty towers of iced shortbread, they are very filling!

 We left Melrose, in search of our night's lodging, the Dryburgh Abbey Hotel.  It is located next to Dryburgh Abbey.  On the way, we took in Scott's View.

Sir Walter Scott lived in Dryburgh.  Legend has it that he would stop his carriage at this lookout, every time he went to or from Dryburgh.  He was out of town when he died.  When his horses pulled the carriage containing his body home for burial, they automatically stopped and waited...for him to admire the view.

When we arrived at our hotel, I was stunned.  Look at this place!!  What a tremendous change from The Edinburgh Snug we'd left that morning!  I really felt like royalty, walking into such a place to spend the night.  wow!

We were too tired to visit Dryburgh Abbey, by the time we got to Dryburgh.  There was plenty of time the next day, before heading back to Edinburgh. 

I'm almost done with the trip review, but don't fret.  Each day was packed as fully as the next.  whew!

Back to Edinburgh

When last I left you, we were in Edinburgh, with another day to see the city.  We started with a walk through the Scottish Art Museum and Princes St. Garden.  The garden is BEAUTIFUL, and I was pleased that we actually got the chance to walk THROUGH it, rather than around it.

 This giant thistle was growing in the middle of everything.  I wonder if they're protected, like the California Poppy, in that they get to grown wherever they like and you're not allowed to remove them?

Today's plan was to hop on a tour bus, for a ride around town.  There were 4 or 5 different varieties to choose from.  Husband had looked at the tours online, and decided we wanted to take "the red bus."  uh oh.  Midway through, I asked him about that.  He chose the "Horrible Histories" tour, in the bright red bus.  I think what he really wanted was the "Vintage Tour," in the brick red bus.  Horrible Histories took us through the red light district, and I was actually pleased that I did not listen to any of the audiotour.  I simply took in the sights, and enjoyed.

 We got to see the backside of Edinburgh Castle, a first for me.

 We whipped past Greyfriars Bobby.  Disney made a movie about the dog memorialized above the sign.

 We saw cows.

 This was the first sign that raised an eyebrow.  There were more to follow.  oh my.

 We drove down the Royal Mile, past the Houses of Parliament.

 We saw the gates to Holyrood Palace, where the Queen stays, when she's in Edinburgh.

 We turned a corner, and Pete said, "There's Arthur's Seat!!"  oh. my. goodness.  It's the tallest peak in Edinburgh.  Back in 1996, I hiked the kids, ages 6-12, up to the top while husband attended a convention.  Apparently I was pretty fit, back in the olden days.  :)

After riding the bus around the city, we disembarked and got a bite to eat.  Again we went to the Edinburgh Larder, as my husband is a creature of habit.  I think we ate there 4 times?  Or 5?  Then we walked down to the next bus stop and hopped back onto the bus, up to Calton Hill.  Although he spent a year in Edinburgh, he never took the time to see it up close and personal.  (I think it was further than walking distance, and he's not one to take a cab.)  On Calton Hill is this tower.  You had to pay to enter it, so we didn't.

 There is also this portion of a replica of the Parthenon.  It was to be a complete installation, but they only got this far before they ran out of money.  Interesting.  He was pleased as punch to get up here and see it in person.  (That's him in the above picture, wearing the souvenir hat that we bought for our oldest son.)

 When we walked down the hill, back to the bus stop, we saw these fellows.  There had been some sort of cross-country race (10K?) up Arthur's Seat that morning.  I believe they were participants.

We saw a few phone booths, that had a phone on one side, and an ATM on another.  Graffiti was on most of them.

 

After a long day, we ended up back in The Snug (our Air BNB lodging) for the night. I have my camera set with a 10 second delay.  It's on the shelf on the wall.  I did not zoom in on anything.  You can see the ladder/staircase above my shoulder, that leads to the loft.  See how steep it is?  The door to the street is at its base.  On the leftside of the picture is the lightswitch to the bathroom, and just outside the frame is the bathroom door.  I don't know what the square footage is, but I'd be surprised if it's any more than 150 sq ft.  It is smaller than most hotel rooms.

Stay tuned for tomorrow, when we pick up a rental car and head to the Borderlands.

More Fiber

I neglected to show you the yardage (meterage?) that I purchased in Linlithgow, Scotland.  I asked for local fabrics, but somehow the green VIP print got into the mix.  It's fine though, because Scotland was really that green.

 Before we left for Scotland, I made a quilt for a challenge.  Today we were notified of results.  We were told to wait on releasing them - my quilt did not make the cut - but if I don't tell you what challenge it is, does it matter?  They had a ban on showing our work before the deadline, but now that I know it's not included?  This is mine.

 "Oceanside Sunset"

15" x 14"

Suzanne Kistler 2015

 "Oceanside Sunset - detail"

The next image has bad color, but the bobbin gives you an idea of how tiny the sails are.  I really really liked making this quilt! 

 Not only did I love the front, but my first attempt did not please me, so I slapped it on the back, matching many of the colored stripes.  The back is almost as relaxing as the front, at least to my way of thinking.

The last thing I will leave you with is a picture taken during this morning's sunrise.  I looked out the window to see everything glowing with a rosy tint.  I grabbed my camera and dashed outside.  My view to the east is blocked by TALL trees, but the entire sky was lit with color.  Oranges, yellows and reds covered the heavens, with bits of blue peeking out from the clouds.  It even rained a bit, though I only experienced enough to make my car look dirty.

You can tell by the dark silhouettes of the trees and house that the sun had yet to make it above the Sierras.  Truly, an inspirational way to begin one's day!

Fiber Interlude

I thought I'd interrupt the recollections of our Scotland tour with a recap of what's happening fiber-wise around here.  I've been busy, though not so busy as to have things to actually get super excited about.  I believe my last quilt-related post involved quilting at the Fair, back on the 15th of September.

That weekend, the Kings River Quilt Guild put on their quilt show.  It's an every other year event, one that I make an effort to attend.  I thought this year's edition was particularly good.  Because it's a guild-only display, the members are pressed to produce new work.  I think they outdid themselves this time around.

Unfortunately, I did not take any pictures. 

I shopped the vendors with vigor, but I can't show you much of what I bought.  Let's just say that some Christmas gifts are now hidden away until their December reveal.  Then again, I can't go to a quilt show and not spend money on myself.  Here are my personal treasures from the show:  Hand-dyed socks by Kristin, and the coolest thread cutter I've ever seen.

 I mentioned my surgery a couple of weeks ago.  I had a 2 week follow-up visit with the surgeon, who thoughtfully has her office in Fresno.  It's just a hop and a skip from Quilter's Paradise, so I had to stop by and look through their fabric.  I came home with these goodies.  Not only that, but it was double-punch day.  Woohoo!  I have a full card, which I will bring with me to my next follow-up appointment in November.  :)

 October is not just coming up, it's here.  That means that Miss Penny has submitted her costume request.  This year she wants to be Pochahontas.  Of course she wants to be a character that Disney has NOT patterned.  I found a mermaid pattern that has the right lines.  I'll be leaving off all the floof, and turning it into a simple dress with fringe, a la the upper photograph.  I expect it to be pretty straight forward, but things don't always turn out the way I expect.

 And last, but not least, on the quilting front, I've finished appliqueing Penny's feet.  These are part of the project that I began in the David Taylor class, at Asilomar, back in 2014.  Maybe I will finish it after all.  Goals are good!  :)

And I think that wraps it up for fiber happenings around here.  I need to do some serious housekeeping in the studio, if I ever intend to be productive again.  I don't know how it got so out of control, but out of control, it most definitely is.  I can't even show you pictures, it is that bad.  I can barely open the door to squeeze through, let alone fit in a camera!  :)

But the camera works just fine everywhere else.  I'll leave you with this spectacular sunrise this morning.  I took this picture facing AWAY from the sun.  The entire sky was glowing.  The rosy hue of my backyard pulled me out there to see it.  Truly inspiring, to be sure!  Tut, tut...Looks like rain?

Rail Trip

When last I left you, we had returned to Edinburgh, where we spent the next couple of days.  Hubby had lots of plans, and our first full day was spent retracing our steps from 1996.  Back we went to Linlithgow Palace and Stirling Castle.  In '96, we went to the castle first, and the palace second.  This time, we stopped off at the palace first.  I already mentioned the Patchwork shop in this post, so I'll skip it this go around.

We began the day at Waverly Station.  This is the view, as we took the elevator down to the bowels of the station.

 Once inside, we bought our tickets.  As Pete ran out the door, I paused to capture this poster, which had me laughing out loud.  "Bums in Seats"?  In the US, they prefer no bums in seats.  But bums aren't bums, and despite knowing the difference, I kept chuckling.  yup.  Easily amused.

The chuckle ended when my spouse disappeared out the door and into the crowd.  He came back to chide me for dawdling.  He'd neglected to let me know that we had about 3 minutes to catch the train.  Then he dashed through the turnstile with all of the tickets, leaving me behind again.  He came back wondering about the hold up, gave me a ticket, and took off again.  When it didn't work, one of the station masters looked at it.  It was a return ticket FROM Stirling, so of course I couldn't use it.  He came back AGAIN, and this time gave me the correct slip of paper.  whew!  We stepped onto the train as the door closed behind us.  Made it!

 

Once I teased him about how it would have been so much easier and cheaper to have left me stateside, instead of hauling me all the way to Scotland to be done with me, we settled down and enjoyed the ride.

 Linlithgow Palace was...the birthplace of Mary Queen of Scots?  At least I think it was.  It played a predominant role in her life.  It's been a few weeks, and the specifics are becoming less specific.

 We were encouraged to go to the top of the tallest tower first, because "The sky is blue!  The sky is rarely blue this year!"  We saw cobalt blue skies on multiple days.  It was spectacular.

 This is the view looking down from the tower.  The fountain in the center still functions, but it only runs on Sundays during a couple of summer months.  We'd missed seeing it by a day or two, and they'd shut it off for the season.  (My close-up shot of the fountain keeps coming up sideways, so we'll skip it.)

 We spent at least an hour roaming around the palace.  Actually, I sat in the courtyard and wrote in my journal after exploring about 1/4 of it.  Husband went through the entire thing, reading every informative plaque he could find.  I glance at plaques for the highlights, and prefer to experience the buildings with all of my senses instead.

Once back on the train, we headed to Stirling.  I think they said that Stirling was the most sieged castle, changing hands a dozen times, back and forth between English and Scottish control.  Eventually James VI of Scotland also became James 1 of England, the first Scot to sit on the British throne.  He was the son of Mary Queen of Scots.  Stirling became a showplace under his rule, however once he became the King of England, he only returned to Scotland once. 

This is the approach to Stirling Castle.  It was about a 20 minute walk up the hill from the train station.  It's the uphill that makes it take 20 minutes, not the distance.

 This statue is a representation of either James V or James VI, I'm not sure which.  He was known to dress as a peasant and wander down to the town.  He would sit in the pubs and listen to what his subjects had to say about him and his rule. 

 The Great Hall has been restored to its 16th century glory.  The guide told us that at that time, ALL of the buildings were lime-washed with ochre, to give them a golden glow when seen from a distance.  Apparently when the restorers unveiled the new color in the late 1990's, the locals were aghast, labeling it as an egregious act of vandalism.

 You can see the Great Hall peeking out from behind this portion of the old castle.  The remainder of the buildings have lost their lime wash and are naked stone.  The foreground is the Queen's Garden.  I think we arrived during a changing of the plantings, because there weren't as many blooms as I remember from years ago.

This altar was set up inside the chapel.  The cloth was appliqued, beaded, and embroidered.

 This is one of the restored rooms inside the castle.  I believe it was just inside/under the statue of King James that I showed you earlier.  They had guides in costume, to help you "experience" 16th century life.  It reminded me too much of Disneyland.

 My husband was taken by the reproduction carvings in the ceiling.  Above the docent's head were 36 of these carvings, each depicting a different figure.  Many of them were Greek or Roman gods, as well as Scotland's kings or queens.

 Upstairs, in a light and humidity-controlled room, they had the original carvings on display.  The paint had completely worn off over the centuries.

And I think that with that, I will end this installment.  One thing I loved were the cobblestone streets, which were found in almost every place we went.  It's hard to imagine roads that never need repair.  Maybe we should have cobblestone highways in CA?  Or not.  I just really, really loved looking at them.

Right alongside such historic artifacts are signs that remind you that you are not back in the olden days.  I saw many "dog fouling" signs, but this one had the most informative image.  Just in case you weren't sure how to do it?  I don't know, but I think it's pretty funny.  :)

And with that, I'll end this.  Hope I haven't bored you to tears!!