Gone Walkabout 2

A Surprise for Himself: Office Makeover Before

2012-02-01T06:00:00.001-06:00

This is going to be my first $0 Make-over! I’m going to redo Himself’s office so that it is organized and easy for him to use. He detests organizing from scratch and since he’s home only half the year, there are so many other things he would rather do. I hate it that he always wants to shut the door when we have company over.

This is going to be his Valentine’s present for this year… tho it will be a while before he can enjoy it! (But that gives me more time to do it… LOL).

His desk is positioned in front of the window because he enjoys bird watching. But it is cluttered up with too much nonfunctional stuff. It needs to be streamlined with elements that make keeping organized simple.

That UGLY blind has to go… we bought a replacement and have never gotten around to putting it up.

Lighting has to be addressed. It’s too high; I need to cut the glare.

The mess under the desk needs help too. Computer components are such a hassle!

One of the biggest issues is filing. The two pitiful file cabinets he has are a pain to use and hard to get to. So I will be working on a filing system that will be easy for him to use.

Ahhhh… the closet. Totally useless.

We took off the two big doors because it took half the tiny room for them to open. Seriously… who planned this room’s layout? That is the stuff I threw in there when we moved in. Stacked like that, you can’t get to anything! Total overhaul needed.

Need a more comfortable extra chair too. Kicker is, it does have to be a folding chair so it can be put away when not being used.

Books and mementos. Need to come up with a better way to display things to make the most out of his space. And he needs to be able to get to the books he uses.

So… this is my challenge. To organize Himself’s office into an incredible space that will bowl him over when he gets home. And to do it without spending any cash.

To keep me moving on it, I’ve joined the “29 Day Challenge” over at ‘Organizing Junkie’.

http://orgjunkie.com/blog

Cooking at Ingredients: Gluten Free

2012-01-31T06:00:00.017-06:00

I enjoy taking cooking classes on a variety of subjects. The less I know about it, the more appealing the class is to me!

So when I heard Ingredients was offering a class on gluten free meals, I definitely wanted to check it out. A few years ago we were invited to a small potluck get together and one of the guests was gluten intolerant. Yikes! I ended up doing a simple vegetable dish because I didn’t know what else to do.

The class was taught by Sarah-Jane Bedwell (she taught the “Rev Up Your Metabolism” class I took last winter). She is now the nutrition blogger for ‘Self’ magazine at http://www.self.com/fooddiet/blogs/eatlikeme

According to the Wikipedia, “Gluten sensitivity is thought to affect approximately 6% of the general population. Symptoms of gluten sensitivity include bloating, abdominal discomfort, pain or diarrhea; or it may present with a variety of extraintestinal symptoms including headaches and migraines, lethargy and tiredness, attention-deficit disorder and hyperactivity, autism and schizophrenia, muscular disturbances as well as bone and joint pain.”

Yikes!

And even if you are not gluten sensitive, it is starting to be suggested that one cuts back on the amount of gluten products in their diet. That means wheat and wheat products (bulgur, couscous, farina, graham flour, matzo, spelt…) of course; but it also means barley/malt, oats, and rye/triticale.

So what sorts of starches are ‘good’? A few are beans, corn, legumes, lentils, nuts, peas, potatoes, rice, soy, buckwheat, tapioca, teff flour (Yes! My Ethiopian injera is good!).

But it is not as easy as just avoiding certain baked goods. A cereal may be made out of corn… but has malt for flavoring. Seasonings in rice mixes might have gluten. Processed meat. Non dairy creamers. Processed cheese. Dried fruit!! Some brands of baking powder contain wheat starch. Sauces might use flour to thicken them.

You have to read the labels.

Myself… I want to start avoiding gluten products as part of my weight loss program. And I am curious if I will feel any physical benefits to cutting back. (I’m not going completely gluten free but plan to cut back heavily).

As part of the cooking class, Sarah-Jane used different gluten free products so we could try them out.

We started with an appetizer of Brown Rice Quesadillas with Goat Cheese. Interesting. They are thinner and more delicate than a flour tortilla. Still haven’t decided if I like them for a quesadilla… but I think they might make a great oven baked chip.

Next was Lemon-Dijon Salad Greens with Herbed Croutons. Salad was no surprise. The gluten free croutons. Meh.

The entrée was Parmesan Cayenne Baked Cod. This was a winner! Found out that a lot of the “shaker” parms have wheat starch to keep them from sticking together! Use the real thing… it is better anyway.

And dessert was Gluten Free Chocolate Peanut Butter Cake. Another winner! Dense, moist, good! But you have to make sure you check the peanut butter for allergens!

Parmesan Cayenne Baked Cod

1 pound of cod fillets (or similar mild white fish)

1 tablespoon of olive oil (enough to lightly coat a baking dish)

3 tablespoons of mayo

1 1/2 teaspoons Dijon mustard

1 teaspoon Worcestershire sauce

1 tablespoon minced onion

Dash of ground cayenne pepper (add or reduce to your taste… I would add)

2 oz grated Parmesan cheese (I would probably up that amount…but I love parm!)

Salt and pepper, to taste

1 teaspoon paprika

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F.

Wash and pat dry the fish. Coat a baking dish with the olive oil, and set the fish inside.

In a small bowl, combine the mayo, mustard, Worcestershire sauce, cayenne, and onion. Mix well and spread over the fish fillets.

Next sprinkle the fish with the Parmesan cheese, and season with salt, pepper, and paprika.

Bake uncovered for about 30 minutes, or until fish becomes flaky and the top is crisp.

Serves 2.

A Still Life: Scottish Stones

2012-01-30T06:00:00.024-06:00

Remember I mentioned that one of our souvenirs from Scotland was 53 pounds of rocks? In fact, several of you have asked “why?” we would want to bring home rocks.

Well, it is time to do something with them! I found some inspiration in a photo challenge from “I Should Be Folding Laundry”, and decided the perfect thing would be to make a still life.

Gneiss, granite, basalt, gabbros, greywacke, and some I haven’t yet identified.

So many were banded. Some were twisted like a wrung out rag, while others were ruler straight.

The patterns are fabulous.

A closer look. Every pattern is natural and goes thru the stone. Incredible, yes?

The long one standing upright is longer than my forearm and the big grey one on the left is the size of a small watermelon. And that is what 50 pounds of Scottish rocks look like (I’ve used some for other purposes – you’ll see them pop up here and there).

Do you see why we brought them home?

http://linda-coastalcharm.blogspot.com/

http://www.ishouldbefoldinglaundry.com/

Zero Dollar Decorating Challenge

2012-01-29T07:47:00.001-06:00

I’m going to have some fun by combining three of my passions – decluttering, being frugal, and redecorating my home. Pinterest hasn’t helped curb those passions either!

Then I found a great idea on the blog "The Thrifty Abode" (http://thethriftyabode.blogspot.com/ ) – “Zero Dollar Decorating”.   Brilliant idea! I have SO much stuff available to use (lumber, hardware, cloth, etc) that I am issuing myself the same challenge! I will spend nothing and will completely makeover a room or area. I have 7 areas (so far) that I want to work on. I’m sure that list will expand!

I will make one exception to the no spend rule… paint for the walls. You can’t make it and it is an important element in redecorating a room. However, any other paint for furniture, frames, whatever… has to come from my stash.

Also considered “fair” will be found items, swaps, gifts, or smuggled-out-of-my-parents-house. (Shhhhh… don’t tell them!) ;-)

I’ll tell you my plans for my first makeover on Wednesday!

Picture This... A Clean Garage!

2012-01-28T14:27:00.000-06:00

A few weeks ago Donna at Funky Junk ( http://funkyjunkinteriors.blogspot.com/ ) issued a challenge to get one room of our home “picture perfect”.

Right now I didn’t NEED a room per se to be perfect… but my garage was a disaster. I’m going to remodel my hobby room this year and that means everything must come out of a very large room. And it had to go somewhere.

That somewhere was the garage.

Time, energy, and bad attitude combined; the result was chaos.

For three weeks I plugged away at it. Two truckloads went to the charity store. Some was shifted up to the shed (which I’m not concerned with until warm Spring comes!). The dump and recycling center took a bunch too. But most of it was just put away more neatly.

Before: At least we could still get the truck in. Tho getting out could be an issue…

After: All the clutter is up off the floor and nothing pooching out from the shelves. Crafting stuff is temporarily stored at the end and chairs I’m going to redo are hanging out of the way (with a couple holding some bird houses that I’m going to make look cute).

“Garage stuff” shelf is looking good. I can find everything I need and get to it easily.

Before: But you couldn’t get out thru the ‘people door’ for the bags of pillow forms and woolens for felting.

After: This is my gardening, bonsai and bird feeding area. That big box in the picture above of the end of the garage is a huge utility cabinet. Just got to get it put together and it will stand in the corner next to the door.

Before: Things were stacked haphazardly. Even my craft supply shelf was a mess.

After (taken from the opposite angle): This is my future workshop area. I’m going to build a 4’ X 8’ workbench that will hold those grey tubs underneath. The tubs hold bulky and/or heavy crafting supplies. The white workbench will be repositioned to about where I was standing for the photo to be an extra work space.

My crafting shelf… much more organized. The plastic drawers will hold my office supplies when I empty that out of my hobby room. The blank spaces are where things belong that I have brought upstairs to work with. The right side is my jewelry stuff and the left side space is where my mixed media supplies belong.

Before: Behind the shelf wasn’t any better. Nothing was put where it belonged.

After: Everything picked up and put away.

The household storage shelf was culled and organized too.

It’s not going to be featured in “House Beautiful” but I am very happy with my results.

http://funkyjunkinteriors.blogspot.com/

Fill In The Blank...

2012-01-27T09:38:00.000-06:00

There is a fun link up over at http://thelittlethingswedo.blogspot.com/ called “Fill In The Blank Friday”. The questions this week are on travel, so of course that caught my attention!

1. My favorite place I’ve ever traveled to is Scotland.

2. China is somewhere I'd love to go someday.

3. I pass the time on a plane (or bus, or car ride or train) by looking out the window… isn’t that the reason to travel – to see something new? (OK, on a plane I’ll read).

4. My three must-haves when I travel are my camera, my travel journal notebook, and my pocket knife.

5. My favorite travel companion is my husband.

6. The craziest thing that ever happened to me while traveling is in Hungary when we got on the wrong train car. (there train cars unhook from the main line and are switched to a new train instead of the passengers getting off at a station – which we did not know). Although no one on the train spoke English, a sweet old man figured out we were expecting to go to a different city. The resulting uproar as we got this figured out (as I said, no one spoke English) was so funny. At least to me it was funny, I loved it. Himself… ummm, not so much! LOL We did make it to the correct city.

7. The most exotic food I've ever tried while traveling is winkles (sea snails) in Scotland or maybe camel in Kenya… no, it has to be the owl shish kabob in Russia.

8. If I could live anywhere else, I'd live in MO near my baby niece and nephew. If overseas, on Colonsay island in Scotland.

9. I have been to 38 states in the U.S.

Impressions of Scotland: Courtesy is a Way of Life

2012-01-26T06:00:00.016-06:00

When I started this series on our Scotland trip, I wrote about the good manners I saw in how people used their cell phones.

That wasn’t the only example. In fact, it seems to me that on a whole your average Scots are much more courteous than your average Americans. And it was very refreshing.

For example, think about your last trip to the grocery or a major retailer (you know who I’m talking about). As you put your items on the belt, the person behind you has their buggy up on your heels and when it’s time to pay, they are practically breathing down your neck as you try to privately enter your PIN number into the machine. Then before you can even put your receipt away and gather all your bags the cashier is ringing out the next person… sometimes even starting to bag their items!

EVERY place I shopped for groceries in Scotland, the pace was much more peaceful. The person behind always left enough space for you to move around your buggy. When the transaction was completed, the cashiers always waited until you stepped away before starting the next person.

There are many ‘single track’ roads in Scotland – meaning they are only one lane wide… for two way traffic! Can you imagine that in the US? Talk about road rage explosions.

Not so in Scotland. Folks who are closest neatly tuck into one of the many passing areas and wait until the approaching car passes. Then each smile and wave as they go by!

And if you are staring in confusion at a map or time table, in just a moment someone would stop and politely ask if they could help you to find something.

Doors were held open, apologizes made when bumped into, we were always asked if we were enjoying our trip or even invited into a home or group to visit.

Several times people stopped what they were doing in order to show us something, explain something, or give an impromptu tour.

The few times we had any sort of issue with someone, they were ALWAYS an expat or tourist.

Amazing.

Pinterest Inspired: ‘Meh’ Painting to Fun Button Tree

2012-01-25T06:00:00.020-06:00

You might remember a while back when I took a series of painting classes, only to discover that I am not an artist. Didn’t get those genes from my great-grandfather… drat it!

In one of the classes we did this winter tree. Poor sad little tree. I never really liked it, so it has been sitting in a stack in my hobby room.

Then I saw “button trees” on Pinterest. And I knew what was going to become of my sad little tree.

A trip to Hobby Lobby and I had enough buttons for several projects. There was a bag called “Autumn”. Perfect since those are the colors in the painting.

After a quick look at my Pinterest inspirations, I started placing buttons.

It was fun watching it change.

And now I love my button tree painting!

http://jaimelyn11.blogspot.com/

Galloway to Glasgow to Home

2012-01-24T06:46:00.000-06:00

Before we knew it, it was time to go home. We had even extended our stay in Galloway a day by skipping our time in Glasgow. Neither one of us are much for cities and we decided that Edinburgh was enough this time.

We had to decide which route we wanted to take to travel up to Glasgow… by seaside or by land. Since we had been staying in a seaside cottage, we picked the land route up thru the ‘Southern Uplands’.

Excellent choice!

The drive took us thru the Galloway Forest Park. This is someplace we will come back to and spend a few days. It is a designated “Dark Sky” park… meaning it is far enough from sources of light pollution that you can truly see the beautiful wonders of the night sky.

The daytime is beautiful too with great mountain views. The park covers almost 375 square miles, so there is a lot to see.

The forest is lovely.

We saw our third type of deer going thru the park… this is a fallow deer. He crossed the road in front of us. I took the photo thru the closed car window before he disappeared into the woods. The park also has an area known as “Red Deer Park”. It has a nice hiking trail around it where you can view the deer.

Another area is the “Wild Goat Park”. They are an ancient breed of goat. Not sure why they have their own area in the park tho…

But doesn’t this bad boy have the most fantastic horns?

Another stop was at the Clatteringshaws Visitor Center. It had a nice picnic area.

There is a small wildlife museum where you can see mounts of animals found in the park. (The mounts all came from animals that had been killed accidently). A lot of hands on exhibits made it even more interesting.

A red deer stag.

There is a small café with wonderful hot chocolate (it was a dreich day and I wanted something warm!) and a wee gift shop. Can you believe it? Haggis potato chips!!! LOL

We stopped in the town of Hollybush – well before Glasgow, to have our dinner. We were fortunate to come across the Hollybush Inn restaurant (http://www.hollybushinn-ayrshire.co.uk/index.htm ). I highly recommend it!!

I had “ROAST LOIN OF SCOTTISH HIGHLAND VENISON Carved on creamed savoy cabbage, red onion & smoked bacon compote, drizzled with juniper berry jus.”

And Himself had “OVEN BAKED STEAK & ALE PIE: Served with panache of fresh market vegetables & fries.

With only a little difficulty we made it to the Glasgow airport, dropped off the rental car and checked into the airport Holiday Inn (literally AT the airport terminal entrance… closer than the parking area!).

Next morning (if you could call it that – 4:30 am!) we were in the airport for our departure. We held our breaths a bit as our bags were weighed. I am absolutely sure there was an angel with his finger under the scale as 2 bags were literally ounces from being overweight! (Remember all those beautiful rocks in our photos? We brought home 53 pounds of them!!! And about 25 pounds of books.) Dave… the two big ones from Colonsay weighed 23 pounds and 9 pounds! And they are sitting in our living room in front of a bookshelf.

My last view of Scotland.

Until next time…

You Ate WHAT???

2012-01-22T19:18:00.000-06:00

In planning our Scotland trip, one question I found puzzling was when people would ask me “what will you eat?”

Ummm… food?

When I would press for just why were they asking that particular question, I’d always get an answer along the lines of “they eat weird stuff over there”. That’s why I decided to try everything I could that was different from the normal (even semi-normal) American diet.

But different was often only a slight change in how we eat it over here in the US.

First, and most famously (and probably the reason for the “what will you eat” question), is the haggis. Pronounced HAG (rhymes with nag) gis. OK folks… haggis is sausage. Plain and simple. Do you eat a McRib sandwich? Same ingredients! Like any sausage, each recipe is different but they were all good… to fantastic. I had it every chance I had!

Black Pudding: also known as blood sausage. Yep… blood mixed with oatmeal, made into a sausage. Fried or grilled. There was a much greater range of what I considered “good” with these. Some had a pretty heavy duty ‘iron’ taste, which I didn’t care for. Others – definitely the famous “Stornoway” variety – were well seasoned and quite tasty.

Winkles: The little sea snails I have already talked about them in my story about the Three Chimneys restaurant. Nothing wrong with them, just seemed like a lot of work for a tiny nibble.

Kippers or Smoked mackerel: I didn’t find this strange at all, tho some have. It’s just a tasty little smoked fish. Quite good. It’s popular at breakfast… which I didn’t like as I found it a bit strong flavored that early in the morning.

Tablet: It’s a candy very similar to the praline candy (without the pecans). Delicious and very, very sweet. (The little cubes in the middle of the plate in the above photo).

Scotch Egg: A boiled egg wrapped in a meat mix, and then deep fried. Best I had was at the Smoo Cave Hotel where the meat was haggis. I’ve made them using regular sausage. The little mounds next to the egg are ‘Neeps and Tatties” (mashed turnips and potatoes).

Rhubarb Rock: hard candy in rhubarb flavor. Kind of like a ‘SweetTart’ in candy stick form.

Marmite: A yeast spread used toast. Think a beef bouillon cube with enough water mixed in to make a paste. Very strong flavored and salty. (The Australian cousin is Vegemite – which is somewhat weaker in strength and less salty.) I tried both and was not overly impressed. The saltiness is what got to me (I don’t eat a lot of salt and even potato chips are somewhat overwhelming now).

Rumbledethumps: It is a casserole of mashed and mixed potatoes and turnips, with cooked cabbage mixed in. Baked with cheese on top, it ‘rumbles’ as it cooks. Very good!

Mushy Peas: Think the green version of refried beans. Dried green peas, soaked, cooked and mashed. Commonly eaten with fish and chips.

Cullen Skink: A smoked fish soup. Not strange at all… a really good fish chowder.

Bridie: A basic meat turnover. Lightly seasoned.

Scotch Pie: A very meaty ‘pot pie’. I was told they are usually lamb/mutton, tho beef is very popular. I had lamb and it was very spicy. And very good!

Fried Bread: Just that, buttered bread fried in a pan. Crispy, buttery, wonderful. This treat we now do at home.

Porridge: The best cooked oats I’ve had… especially the ones that needed to be soaked overnight.

“Whisky Porridge” was offered at a few places we ate.

Clootie Dumpling: A dessert, kind of like a bread pudding that is steamed instead of baked as it is here.

Treacle: A syrup… think a mild molasses.

Cranachan: Sort of a mini trifle. Oats are soaked in whisky overnight, mixed with whipped cream and honey. Berries are at the bottom of the bowl and the cream mix is spooned over. Himself said it was very good.

I had a lot of game meats… venison,

…grouse,

…pigeon.

Local cheeses were wonderful. Very flavorful.

All in all, I had some of the best food ever in Scotland. Some was simple, some was quite creative… but not weird, not bland… just good.

Hairy coos and Belties and Woolies… Oh My!

2012-01-19T06:00:00.041-06:00

On our Scotland trip, one of the things that always made me smile was the critters. Or more specifically… 3 critters.

Highland Cows (coos)

I mean, seriously… how can you not look at this face and smile?

They come in blonde…

… red head…

… black.

And they have some impressive horns.

But no matter what, they are just CUTE!

Well… maybe not so cute if they are winning a stare down contest with you…

Belted Galloway Cows

AKA… Oreo cookie cows!

What a handsome bull!

Look at that perfectly curly hair. He looks like he has a perm!

Two Original Oreos… and one with “Double Stuff”!

And I found out that “Belties” come in grey too (they are actually a cross breed). They are called “Blue Belties”.

Sheep

Sheep were EVERYWHERE! And they always look surprised to see you.

They pick the dumbest place to scratch an itch…

And the get into EVERYTHING! Over and over we were told… “Make sure to shut the gate (or door) to keep the sheep from getting out (or in)!”

The newest look for wool cowls…

Sheep graffiti? Genetically pre-dyed wool? Hunter orange? Tennessee fan?

I’ve heard of “blue blooded” but never “blue butted”!

Some of those sheep were real ‘rednecks’.

Seriously tho, the paint jobs are how they mark who owns what sheep… a color ‘brand’ so to speak.

And this is WHY they are painted… ya can’t keep them fenced in!

So… have these three critters made you smile too? J

On The Road: The Mull of Galloway Lighthouse

2012-01-17T06:00:00.049-06:00

A view from our cottage (tho this photo is actually taken a bit south of it).

In planning one of our drives about Galloway, we knew we just had to get over there to see it!

And we were not disappointed! It is a lovely lighthouse and it has a museum too. We didn’t get to go up in the lighthouse itself because it was closed for the season. Bummer!

It dates to 1786!

Here’s what it looks like from above. You park down that tarmac road and walk up to it. On the far right is the foghorn.

It was a very windy day (the day after our gale). The lighthouse custodian said the winds had been up to 70+ the day before (doing some damages) and was gusting today at 50+ mph. And it gusted a LOT! I had to hide behind our car to stay stable enough to take this picture.

Isn’t the top pretty?

Here’s what the lens inside it looks like.

Meet Rosie… The Lighthouse Dog. She wants you to know that it is all capitalized because she is very important. Rosie is a Border Terrier. And she is serious about her bright pink ball…

Looking from the lighthouse towards our cottage. Too misty to actually see it.

OK… if you squint (and Blogger puts the photo up clear enough)... you can see just over the cliffs a faint land mass on the horizon.

That would be Ireland.

And if you squint again… on this horizon is another land mass.

That would be the Isle of Man.

(This was one of the very few days that I was actually aggravated with the grey skies!)

Before leaving this photo, note the lovely stone dyke.

Let’s look a bit closer at the stones. Hmmmm… what’s that patterning on it?

Snails! Bunches of snails!

One of the workers at the lighthouse said some of the folks like to gather them up to eat.

I’ll pass, thank you. I’ve already sampled escargot.

The foghorn below the lighthouse. I think we heard it in the cottage a few of those stormy nights!

It is big!

Himself hiked over there for some photos. With the wind like it was, I didn’t feel like going.

Yep… my husband… He has a habit of doing stuff like this. Remember… there were wind gusts up to 50 mph…

(He ages me sometimes… SIGH! )

But he did get some nice shots of the lighthouse…

Love this angle. Taken from the foghorn.

As the weather cleared, the lighting was very dramatic.

We even got a rainbow.

This is Gallie Craig Coffee House, a very nice café and gift shop at the lighthouse. We had a nice lunch there. Can’t remember what we had… but it was good!

This photo is from the parking lot above it (between the lighthouse and the café). From the other side, there are large windows and a big patio. From there you see the view of my “looking at Ireland” photo.

You also see this… the southernmost point of Scotland.

Pub Music at the Steam Packet Inn

2012-01-15T06:00:00.023-06:00

After we left Sorbie Tower, we headed out to find somewhere to have lunch. It had been quite some time since breakfast and we were feeling a bit peckish. A lady we asked directed us to keep heading down the road to village of Isle of Whithorn. She said the Steam Packet Inn was a pub that had a nice lunch buffet.

So off we went to the very end of the road… in farther and we would have been in the bay!

Good thing we arrived when we did, as it was the end of the serving time. (In Scotland the food serving times are much shorter than here in the US. One meal service does NOT blend into the other!) Sarah, the lady at the buffet told us no rush, to enjoy our meal.

Sarah visited with us a bit, talking about the area and urging us to try a bit of everything on the buffet.

And we did! We were so hungry neither one of us thought to take pictures!

Only later did we discover that Sarah was the owner of the pub!

The entire time we were eating, we were also enjoying listening to a group of musicians playing in another room (in the pub area itself). As soon as we were done, we headed in there to listen for a while.

“A while” turned out to be hours!

The musicians are local folks how get together once a month to jam. The man to the far right is Philip and he scooted his chair over close to Himself to explain things and answer questions – all while never missing a note! (Please excuse the backlighting. That is what I had to work with.)

Everyone brought in whatever they played and had a blast.

Some of the members played and sang.

Some played several instruments! This man played the bodhran (Celtic drum) and the guitar.

The accordion was unusual to me. This small one I think is called a “button accordion”.

But enough with the still photos! Below are some videos I recorded through the afternoon.

Enjoy!

Sorbie Tower of the Clan Hannay (Hanna)

2012-01-12T06:00:00.001-06:00

THE destination for my visit to Galloway was Sorbie Tower. This is the ancient seat of the Clan Hannay (Hanna).

It is a ruin, having been abandoned in the in the mid 17th century. (Let’s just say the Clan Hannay got on the wrong side of a feud with the Clan Murray… and were outlawed!! They also didn’t get along (to be mild) with the Clan Kennedy or Dunbar. Himself had too much fun with that tid-bit of information…).

It is now owned by the Clan Hannay Society (of which I will be a member by the end of this month) and has received several grants towards restoration. That is our clan tartan.

Here’s what it looked like in its glory days of the late 1500s.

Here is what it looked like when the Clan Hannay got it back in the mid 1960s.

And here it is Oct 2011.

From the inside. Four stories tall, it was an impressive building.

This window was probably quite beautiful.

They had to put bars on the lower windows to keep out vandals.

The other side shows its “L” shape.

Beams support the old stairwell.

OLD graffiti!

And this is the motte… the first dwelling place dating to the 1100s!!

This is clansman David (I think…sorry!) Hannah, who were there doing maintenance work over the weekend. He very kindly stopped what he was doing and opened the tower so we could see inside. That was such a blessing for me!

He told us about the restoration work, history and a bit about the clan. He even tried to arrange for us a visit with the clan chief, but unfortunately they were on holiday (vacation). Drat!

(Mr. Hannah, if you read this… thank you so much for everything!)

Morning Stillness

2012-01-11T06:00:00.014-06:00

Last morning I woke up to a grey, chilly day. It reminded me of the dreich days we had in Scotland.

From our deck the flat grey sky made perfect silhouettes of the sycamore tree and its seed balls.

I’d never noticed this nest. I wonder if it belongs to the Titmouse sitting near it?

Across the river there was a heavy fog over the marshy area.

Even grey, even chilly… it was a beautiful peace start of the day.

http://www.ishouldbefoldinglaundry.com/

Galloway: By Sea

2012-01-10T06:30:00.002-06:00

As much as Galloway is beautiful countryside, it is also beautiful seaside.

We spent a lot of time walking along beaches relaxing.

And exploring small harbors and the towns around them.

The harbor at Port William. Remember I said the tide extremes were big? Quite a few boats have these “legs” that they can stand on as the tide goes out.

Very clever!

Himself went down for a closer look and ended up having a long chat with the boat owner. He says it was a good story and he’s going to write about it… and I can read about when he’s done. Humph!

This is looking back from Port William towards our cottage. You can see it on the far left almost at the end of the caravans.

It was a long way back up those steps…

… after spending hours climbing on the likes of these rocks!

Beautiful red stones.

Himself with some of the stash of beach rocks that came back to Tennessee.

Never did see the critters that make these.

One day a gale blew in. The seas were dramatic and wild.

We had just come thru there and got hit by a big whooshing wave!

So we stopped on the other side and watched other cars come thru.

I really feel sorry for the people who buy that “Scotland For Dummies” book and skip coming to the Lowlands because they think there is nothing here.

It’s so incredible.

http://lifeoftwosokools.blogspot.com/

Galloway: By Land

2012-01-10T06:00:00.001-06:00

We started our journey slow and easy on the island of Colonsay… home to my paternal grandmother’s clan. And we ended our time on Scotland equally slow and easy in the area of Galloway… home to my paternal grandfather’s clan.

I discovered in my planning that the Lowlands get little respect in the tourist information realm. You’ll hear about Dumfries and Greta Green and sometimes Wigtown for its books, but that is about it. If Robert Burns wasn’t from this area I wonder if there would be even less tourist information. In fact, the writer of “Scotland For Dummies” dismissed the entire region as not worth seeing except for a few pubs in Dumfries that Burns had frequented. (That book got dropped in the trash can!)

But I could understand when looking at his point of view. His Scotland interests were pubs, party venues, distilleries, and sites of macabre happenings. And that is not Galloway (tho I’m sure if one dug, one could find such).

Galloway is pastoral, green, peaceful, friendly, slow paced, and incredibly beautiful. So much so that we cancelled our tourist day in Glasgow so we could stay one more day in Galloway.

I think we went down every road in the area in our cute little Nissan Note rental car (Clarkson of Scotland – GREAT service!).

Beautiful… yes?

You can tell there’s usually a brisk wind blowing.

Long and winding roads.

So little to see… NOT!

We visited the villages of Port William (of course), Wigtown, Sorbie, Garlieston, Whithorn, Isle of Whithorn, Mochrum, Kirkkinner, and Kirkcowen.

Sorbie Parish Church

Love the weather vane! The church secretary (I think) came by to drop off something as we admired the outside. She offered to show us the inside.

This window is the St. Ninian window by stained glass master Christopher Whall.

It is a lovely church.

Their pulpit Bible.

The inscription shows it was first given as a wedding present in 1876, and passed along in 1932 and 1941.

A very large estate in Garlieston. You can walk around parts of it.

A very small road. Several times we turned around in barn yards!

Ruins.

The trees have such character.

Galloway is well known for its hiking trails.

Himself relaxing in a small grove.

A roe deer. They are about the size of a German Shepherd.

Fast little guys!

Some of the local traffic was very slow moving….

… tho the youngsters could move out!

These girls took their sweet time. That was fine, as we had all day. It was fun sitting there watching them.

This girl decided she was going to watch us too. Notice the windshield wiper?

It was on ‘intermittent wipe’ and was still as she came closer to check us out.

Then all of a sudden a MONSTER leaped up from the window! She barely escaped with her life!

Himself and I laughed so hard at her reaction to the wiper activating. Such things GET tender little cows!

Another ruin with the forest growing up around it.

Mochrum Estate. Those are pheasants in the yard. They were everywhere in Galloway.

Loved this home.

I really, really miss the stone dykes (fences).

There are a lot of single track roads running thru the middle of Galloway. Not a lot of traffic tho.

But definitely a lot to see…

Snow Jars... My Way

2012-01-09T06:00:00.026-06:00

I’m rather pleased with my little snow jars.

With all the traveling I have been doing, I hadn’t seen the pictures on Pinterest of the snow globes from Anthropologie. So after Thanksgiving when we were in the store, I picked up one of the cute jars.

And very carefully set it back down. Seriously… they wanted $38 for a quart size snow globe.

Methinks not!

Next day I hit the Dollar Tree. Package with 2 mini snow frocked evergreen trees… $1. Package with a set of three people… $1.

One for Little Bird.

One for Little Hoss.

And one for me.

Jars from my stockpile. I got this at Home Goods for $2.50.

Glitter. Used about $5 worth (Martha is spendy but it’s good stuff!). Had a lot left over.

I glued the figures down with a hot glue gun. Then I brushed white glue on the bottom of each jar and poured in some of the finest glitter. Swirled it around to cover the bottom of the jar. I wanted the bottom to not be able to be seen thru when the jar is shaken.

Then I poured in a bunch of the course and medium glitters ( I mixed them to what I liked the looks of... not too dusty).

And ta-da! Snow globes.

Anthropologie… $38 each.

Teri… $5.50 each.

Priceless!!!!!!!!!!!!

http://diyshowoff.com/

http://thecsiproject.com/

A Seaside Cottage in Galloway

2012-01-08T16:42:00.000-06:00

Our final “unique stay” lodging was to stay in a seaside cottage. This last week I wanted a totally relaxed pace. Time to explore the area the other side of my Dad’s family came from… Galloway.

We found a wonderful cozy seaside cottage in Port William.

It’s called the West Barr Cottage. It’s owned by Ean and Joyce Stewart, who also own an adjacent ‘caravan’ park (in the US it would be called an RV park). They were very accommodating hosts who helped us with whatever we needed.

It was perfect. Just like stepping into your very own home.

Loved the kitchen! Everything we needed was there.

See that white cabinet on the right? That is a “tankless water heater”. I had heard about them and wondered how well they could work. I now know… they are fantastic. We never ran out of hot water… even taking showers right after each other.

Here’s the double room. There’s a dresser and closet behind me that you can’t see in the photo.

And the twin room.

I absolutely loved those deep window ledges!

We spent a lot of time out here on the sun porch. Even the smallest amount of sun made it quite cozy. We rearranged the furniture so we could sit and look out on the ocean.

The only ‘hitch’ was a couple of the doorways were a bit low… Himself knocked his head several times. I was *just* able to walk under without ducking… so they were right about 5’10” high. Sis and Big J would have killed themselves here!

We had this lovely burn (stream) at the edge of the yard. It sounded really nice.

But THIS is what we were here for… the VIEW!

What a way to finish the day…looking out across Luce Bay at the lighthouse.

Christmas With The Babies!

2012-01-07T06:00:00.039-06:00

Meant to get the Christmas photos up sooner, but I guess at Epiphany is good too!

Little Bird is getting so big. This year she really noticed the ornaments for what they are and not just something ‘shiny’ to grab.

Little Hoss is still grabbing! LOL He gets supervised visits to the tree!

Christmas morning was over at the babies’ house. Little Hoss found an empty wrapping paper roll and was soon ‘getting’ Grandpa!

Then Grandpa tried to sic him on Auntie! … Thanks Dad…

And he taught Little Hoss that not only can you bop with the roll, you can make noise with it too. We had a lovely ‘moose call’ concert for a while.

Soon it was time to open presents. It’s a long reach down when the stocking is as tall as you are!

Little Bird got a snow globe from her Grandma and Grandpa. She loves them.

Little Hoss is thrilled with his toy microphone. But of course… it makes NOISE!

There’s a monkey in the house! Bird likes to watch her TV programs sitting on her rocking horse, holding the stuffed toy of whatever character is on TV. So now she has Curious George. Looks like her Daddy is having as much fun as she is.

Bird loves horses. (That’s my girl!!) She gets to go see the horses up at Grant’s Farm and has really taken to the Clydesdales. So when I saw this unbreakable Clydesdale I just had to get it for her. Her first model horse!

This car ramp toy was a hit with both babies.

Of course, empty boxes are great fun too! (Ya know… I think kids would be completely happy if you shopped for them at U-Haul. Boxes, bubble wrap, and big ol’ blankets…)

Grandma and Grandpa gave Little Bird a shopping cart and it was SO hard to wait for Daddy to put it together.

“Hurry up Daddy! Curious George wants a ride!”

Happy baby girl!

The gifts we gave this year all came from Scotland. A dancer doll for Little Bird…

And a rugby player boy doll for Little Hoss.

I found some soft hand knit caps in Galloway. Little Hoss LOVED his. Told Sis he looked like “Weird Harold” from the ‘Cosby Kids’!

Yep… Weird Harold… LOL

Bird with her pink cap.

For Dad I found a cap in our clan tartan. Big J (BIL) got a tweed cap of Scottish wool.

Sis got a shawl in the tartan. And Mom received a handmade purse of Harris Tweed.

We received lovely presents too. Thanks everyone!

Little Bird and I going over the holiday photos. She is a mouse master!

A Day Trip South of Edinburgh

2012-01-06T06:00:00.045-06:00

Our ‘good-bye’ to Dave was a short one. We did a day trip to some areas south of Edinburgh, to a place that would have been a bit difficult for us to find.

On our way out we stopped to look at the Forth Bridge (built in 1890) over the Firth of Forth. (You don’t even want to know the blethering the guys did on that one… they sounded like the “Swedish Chef” Muppet! )

It is quite a famous railroad bridge. There is a photo of it on a twenty pound note and a one pound coin. Here’s what the Wikipedia says about it: “The bridge is, even today, regarded as an engineering marvel. It is 2.5 kilometres (1.6 mi) in length, and the double track is elevated 46 metres (151 ft) above high tide. It consists of two main spans of 521.3 metres (1,710 ft), two side spans of 207.3 metres (680 ft), and 15 approach spans of 51.2 metres (168 ft). Each main span comprises two 207.3 metres (680 ft) cantilever arms supporting a central 106.7 metres (350 ft) span truss. The three great four-tower cantilever structures are 100.6 metres (330 ft) tall, each 21 metres (70 ft) diameter foot resting on a separate foundation.[10] The southern group of foundations had to be constructed as caissons under compressed air, to a depth of 27 metres (90 ft). At its peak, approximately 4,600 workers were employed in its construction.”

On our way we drove through more lovely villages.

Our destination was New Lanark. This village isn’t just a location… it is an idea AND an ideal. I’m going to let the Wikipedia explain it, as it will much more concise than my ramblings.

“It was founded in 1786 by David Dale, who built cotton mills and housing for the mill workers. Dale built the mills there to take advantage of the water power provided by the river. Under the ownership of a partnership that included Dale's son-in-law, Robert Owen, a Welsh philanthropist and social reformer, New Lanark became a successful business and an epitome of utopian socialism.

Dale sold the mills, lands and village in the early 19th century for £60,000, payable over 20 years, to a partnership that included his son-in-law Robert Owen. Owen was an industrialist who carried on his father-in-law's philanthropic approach to industrial working and who subsequently became an influential social reformer. New Lanark, with its social and welfare programmes, epitomized his Utopian socialism.

In Owen's time some 2,500 people lived at New Lanark, many from the poorhouses of Glasgow and Edinburgh. Although not the grimmest of mills by far, Owen found the conditions unsatisfactory and resolved to improve the workers' lot. He paid particular attention to the needs of the 500 or so children living in the village (one of the tenement blocks is named Nursery Buildings) and working at the mills, and opened the first infants' school in Britain in 1816.

The mills thrived commercially, but Owen's partners were unhappy at the extra expense incurred by his welfare programmes. Unwilling to allow the mills to revert back to the old ways of operating, Owen bought out his partners.

New Lanark became celebrated throughout Europe, with many leading royals, statesmen and reformers visiting the mills. They were astonished to find a clean, healthy industrial environment with a content, vibrant workforce and a prosperous, viable business venture all rolled into one. Owen’s philosophy was contrary to contemporary thinking, but he was able to demonstrate that it was not necessary for an industrial enterprise to treat its workers badly to be profitable. Owen was able to show visitors the village’s excellent housing and amenities, and the accounts showing the profitability of the mills.

As well as the mills' connections with reform, socialism and welfare, they are also representative of the Industrial Revolution that occurred in Britain in the 18th and 19th centuries and which fundamentally altered the shape of the world.

In 1825, control of New Lanark passed to the Walker family. The Walkers managed the village until 1881, when it was sold to Birkmyre and Sommerville. They and their successor companies remained in control until the mills closed in 1968.

After the mills closed people started to move away from the village, and the buildings began to deteriorate. In 1963 the New Lanark Association (NLA) was formed as a housing association and commenced the restoration of Caithness Row and Nursery Buildings. In 1970 the mills, other industrial buildings and the houses used by Dale and Owen were sold to Metal Extractions Limited, a scrap metal company. In 1974 the NLCT was founded to prevent demolition of the village. A compulsory purchase order was used in 1983 to recover the mills and other buildings from Metal Extractions. They are now controlled by the NLCT. By 2005 most of the buildings have been restored and the village has become a major tourist attraction.

It has been estimated that over 400,000 people visit the village each year. The importance of New Lanark has been recognized by UNESCO as one of Scotland's five World Heritage Sites, the others being Edinburgh Old and New Towns, Heart of Neolithic Orkney, St Kilda and the Antonine Wall.”

The River Clyde that powered the mills.

Himself enjoying the sounds of the rushing water.

One of the huge mill engines.

The church.

The main room of the school.

I found Owen’s ideas of education a bit strange and self profiting. The school was open to children from 18 months (weaning) to age 10-12 at which time “they went on to work in the mill”.

The children were required to wear uniforms of little white robes. They received a formal education of music, literature, and dance and were often required to perform for the visitors to the village.

To me – it felt as tho the children were favored ‘pets’ trained for his amusement until they could be sent to work at often dangerous jobs in his mills. This part of New Lanark left me feeling somewhat put off.

One of the restored buildings.

On the rooftop garden. It has really nothing to do with New Lanark but it is quite lovely. I love this carved barn owl.

The village had its own “company store”. While the people were not required to shop there, part of their pay was “credit” in the store. For the most part, it was cheaper than buying other places.

The mill families lived in one room tenement housing. The ‘kitchen’ area and living area was on one side of the room.

And on the other was the sleeping area. This shows the trundle beds.

Contrasted by the house that Owen lived in… with the many large rooms.

Comfortable dining area.

Overall, I found it very interesting. The exhibits on how yarn is made are fantastic and the Owens idea of social reform are worth think about.

Our next stop was at Rosslyn Chapel.

I’d heard it was beautiful with a lot of unique stone carvings.

Some of the carvings were indeed very beautiful.

There was a lot of detail in the figures.

I think this is of John writing his gospel.

Himself said the stones reminded him of Petra.

Beautiful flower carvings.

However, Rosslyn Chapel overall left me feeling very ‘creeped out’. Many of the carvings on the inside were of demons, skeletons/death, pagan symbols, and such. The most famous carving – a pillar – tells the story of jealousy and murder. All mixed in with symbols and carvings of Christ.

To me, it was the epitome of what should NOT be in a Christian church. I was happy to leave and felt very quiet and heavy spirited for a while after being there.

To lighten the mood, we went off for some fine dining at a very famous Scottish named eating establishment!

Two Happy Meals equal a double cheese burger, medium fries and large coke. And I have the toys for the babies!

What was it like? The food isn’t as salty as American. The fries are crisper and better! The soda is served without ice. And there is no sweet tea!! (And after 3 weeks… this Southern Girl was looking forward to some sweet tea!!!)

Leaving there, I saw something that made my heart dance a bit…

A TJ Maxx store!!! Except in Scotland it is TK Maxx.

Same thing tho!

Dave had never been to one. I caught him looking at the men’s sweaters. Methinks he liked what he saw! LOL

Of course I found something… a pretty shawl with a Celtic pattern.

After that, Dave took us back to the guest house and we said our real good-byes.

Thanks Dave and Maureen for a GREAT trip and all the extra little things you did to make it special.

A Visit to a Living Nativity

2012-01-04T06:00:00.020-06:00

As long as I can remember, a business in my home town has put a living nativity scene on their front lawn.

I love the life-size figures.

People come from all over to bring their children down to see it.

The camels are about the right size too.

Nothing has changed in 45 years!

Except for the little people who are seeing it for the first time!

Little Bird doesn’t know quite what to think about those camels.

The babies loved feeding the greedy donkeys…

…with a little help from Auntie and Mama.

Little Bird is fearless and loves giving pats.

This calf wasn’t going to miss out on free carrots.

She wasn’t as enthusiastic about the goat. He was a bit grabby for her tastes.

Little Hoss wasn’t real sure about the donkeys when they started getting pushy…

… and even less so after seeing that!

“Well Dad, we went over to the fence to feed them…”

“…and they were like…grabbing everything!”

"I just couldn't believe how rude they were acting!"

"And Wow! They have BIG mouths!"

“I told them to back off! Give me some space!”

Oh well, maybe he’ll be more excited about them next year…

Edinburgh Castle

2012-01-03T06:00:00.032-06:00

The day of our bus tour, yours truly forgot to bring the spendy Edinburgh Castle tickets she had purchased as part of a package at Stirling. So we went back on another day. It was on my “must see” list. It contains The Honours of Scotland (the crown jewels) and The Stone of Destiny (the stone that monarchs of Scotland and later Great Britain have sat upon when crowned – Edward I of England pinched it in 1292. It remained in London until 1996 when Queen Elizabeth sent it back where it belonged!). These I had to see!

The castle dominates the skyline in the most beautiful way. Can you imagine THAT being the view from your window?

And when you are right up on it, it is no less impressive.

The left flag is the governor’s flag and is flown when he is present in the castle. The center flag is the Saltire – the Scottish national flag. The right flag is the flag of Edinburgh Castle.

A view of the cannon battery facing out to Edinburgh (towards Princes St).

Stairs heading to the upper area of the castle.

Beautiful stonework was everywhere.

And there are fantastic carvings and stained glass windows.

The castle grounds are like a small village. It is huge.

More lovely architecture.

A window commemorating William Wallace (Braveheart).

Mons Meg – a siege gun given to King James II in 1457. The gunstones were found as far as 2 miles away. That’s Himself peeking over the middle. He is 6’1”… more with his shoes on. The roar of that massive gun must have been deafening.

And you can see that the gunstones are not small!

A monument in the army garrison area. The realism is fantastic.

Having fun with some statues…

Love this thistle pattern! It will be used in some sort of upcoming crafting I do!

Exploring Edinburgh

2012-01-02T06:00:00.002-06:00

We allotted 4 days to “base camp” in Edinburgh. We stayed in The Sherwood Guest House near downtown. It was the perfect location for us. The bus stop was just steps from the front door and for about a $1.50 we could go directly to the heart of city center.

The plan was 3 days of sight-seeing and one day trip out of town. But we ended up sleeping most of the first day!

The Sherwood has a nice dining room with a computer available to use free after breakfast is finished.

And they service a true continental breakfast with cold meats, cheese, pastries, fresh fruit and cereal. It was a welcome break from the albeit delicious but heavy ‘cooked breakfasts’ served in all the B&Bs.

On my ‘life list’ was “ride a double decker bus”. Checked that one off in Edinburgh. There are multiple companies offering on-off tours and they all have to queue up in the same place. The offered tours are slightly different with slightly different prices… so check out the brochures before you chose your bus. We picked Mac Tours.

Up the tiny spiral stairway to the top of the bus…with a polite reminder not to bash your head as you did so!

And away we went with a tour guide telling us about the places we were passing.

Some of the streets were ordinary streets.

And others held a piece of history. This was the home of Sir Walter Scott (author of “Ivanhoe”, “Rob Roy”, and many others).

Close by is the Scott Monument, finished in 1844. Himself climbed the 287 steps to the top. He said the view was fantastic from there. I waited and people-watched at the base.

There was this statue of medical missionary Dr. David Livingston (he of the “Dr. Livingston, I presume?” quote).

We passed by many interesting buildings…

This is the National Monument (the columns) and the (Vice Admiral Horatio) Nelson Monument on the hill and in the foreground is the train station.

This is Arthur’s Seat; an 822 foot rocky crag only a mile from downtown Edinburgh. People like to hike up to the top for the fantastic views.

We visited the lovely St. Giles cathedral. It’s about 900 years old and is the main place of worship in Edinburgh for the Church of Scotland. It is a beautiful church and I wish I hadn’t been in a snit and refused to pay a fee (that I thought too high) to photograph the interior.

High Street… shopping overload!!!

Blocks and blocks of shops with anything you can think of to buy – and a few things you would have NEVER thought of…

I was able to finish up my Christmas shopping on this street. Came out of this store with a pretty good sized bag…

Besides the shops, there were vendors set up on the street. This is what I really enjoy; the local artist. This man did incredible watercolors as he sat with his paintings.

Of course I came home with one…

We were worn out after our day of exploring. Since another thing on my ‘life list’ was to take a ride on one of those cute little British black cabs, we caught one at the bus drop-off. Fun and so much easier than trying to figure out just which city bus went BACK to our guest house while wrestling with the shopping bags (yes Dave… I hit the tourist shops! LOL).

A Whole New Year... And An Extra Day Too!

2012-01-01T00:01:00.004-06:00

Keeping it simple this year.

As Christian evangelist Mike Warnke put it… “If you keep doing the do’s, you won’t have time for the don’ts…”

The Falkirk Wheel

2011-12-29T06:00:00.027-06:00

The last stop on our tour with Dave was in Falkirk to see the impressive Falkirk Wheel. When the decision was made to reconnect two canals so to connect Glasgow and Edinburgh by waterway, there was the not-so-small issue that the canals were separated by a level of almost 80 feet! Compound that with the fact that the area of connection is right next to the historic Roman times Antonine Wall.

So this cool looking mechanism was invented. It is the world’s only rotating boat lift.

You can tour it by taking part of a boat ride to see how it works. This is the boat we were on… right up in the front seat!

There were two operators who told us about The Wheel and then actually drove the boat for the tour. They were great fun with stories, jokes, and information as we puttered slowly along.

The boat moves into this ‘trough’ that has a twin on the other end of the rotating arm. Water is displaced in proportion to the weight of the boat entering; so it is always the exact same weight as its twin.

Then it starts to rotate!

Up to the top of the aqueduct.

The trip to the top takes only 5 and a half minutes and is so incredibly energy efficient it uses the same amount of power it would take to boil 8 pots of water in 4 minutes. Once at the top, two gates open to bring the aqueduct water into the trough and the boat motors out into the canal to continue its journey.

For the tour, it goes down a bit thru a tunnel before turning around to come back down via The Wheel to where we started from.

It looks a wee bit scary as you approach on the return and look off into… nothing! Boating thru an infinity pool can make one pause.

Especially as the boat pulls all the way forward! That is a long way down!

And just a few minutes later we were at the bottom and our ride was over.

I definitely recommend visiting here if you have any interest in cool engineering feats! Below is a time-lapse video so you can see how it works.