January 31

This weekend we had the fun of celebrating Robert Burns with a dinner in his honor with about 100 other locals at at the only hotel here in St. Monans.  For those of you who don't know who Rabbie Burns is here is a little information.

Robert Burns (25 January 1759 – 21 July 1796) (also known as Rabbie Burns, Scotland's favourite son, the Ploughman Poet, Robden of Solway Firth, the Bard of Ayrshire and in Scotland as simply The Bard) was a Scottish poet and a lyricist. He is widely regarded as the national poet of Scotland, and is celebrated worldwide. He is the best known of the poets who have written in the Scots language, although much of his writing is also in English and a "light" Scots dialect, accessible to an audience beyond Scotland. He also wrote in standard English, and in these his political or civil commentary is often at its most blunt.The dinner is meant to be a fun evening, and has many a tradition attached to the evening.
The first is the Selkirk prayer.

Contemporary
Some have meat and cannot eat;

Some cannot eat that want it:
But we have meat and we can eat

So let the Lord be thanked!

Traditional
Sae let the Lord be thankit! Some hae meat and canna eat,
And some would eat that want it;
But we hae meat, and we can eat,
Sae let the Lord be thankit.

The Selkirk Grace by Robert Burns
                                                        

After the grace came the pipping of the haggis:  What is haggis you ask?
From Wikapedia:
Haggis is a kind of sausage, or savoury savory cooked in a casing of sheep's intestine, as many sausages are. As the 2001 English edition of the Larousse Gastronomique puts it, "Although its description is not immediately appealing, haggis has an excellent nutty texture and delicious savoury flavour".
The haggis is a traditional Scottish dish memorialised as the national dish of Scotland by Robert Burns' poem "Address to a Haggis" in 1787. Haggis is traditionally served with "neeps and tatties" (Scots: swede, yellow turnip or rutabaga and potatoes, boiled and potatoes separately) and a "dram" (i.e. a glass of Scotch whiskey), especially as the main course of a Burns supper. However it is also often eaten with other accompaniments.Our menu consisted of:
Cockie-a-leekie soup  (a chicken broth soup with leeks and carrots)
Haggis
Neeps
Tatties
Cloutie dumplingAfter the dinner we had speakers who gave us toast to the Lassies, toast to the Laddies and of course toast to Rabbie Burns.  We enjoyed all of the fun toast, mostly making fun of the Lassies and Laddies and honoring the poet Rabbie. 
For those of you who are unfamiliar with Mr. Burns he did indeed write many poems which are familiar with with like "My love is like a red red rose".  
The evening closed with his famous song, which we all held hands as we sang "Auld Lang Syne".

Should auld acquaintance be forgot,
And never brought to mind?
Should auld acquaintance be forgot,
And auld lang syne!
Chorus.-For auld lang syne, my dear,
For auld lang syne.
We'll tak a cup o' kindness yet,
For auld lang syne.
And surely ye'll be your pint stowp!
And surely I'll be mine!
And we'll tak a cup o'kindness yet,
For auld lang syne.
For auld, &c.
We twa hae run about the braes,
And pou'd the gowans fine;
But we've wander'd mony a weary fit,
Sin' auld lang syne.
For auld, &c.
We twa hae paidl'd in the burn,
Frae morning sun till dine;
But seas between us braid hae roar'd
Sin' auld lang syne.
For auld, &c.
And there's a hand, my trusty fere!
And gie's a hand o' thine!
And we'll tak a right gude-willie waught,
For auld lang syne.
For auld, &c.

Translated:
and never remembered
Should old friends be forgotten
and the days they shared together
Chorus
For days now in the past, my dear
For days now in the past
We'll drink a toast of kind remembrance
For days now in the past
You can pay for your pint tankard
and I will pay for mine
We'll drink a toast of kind remembrance
For days now in the past
We two have run about the hillsides
and pulled wild daisies
but now we are far apart in distance
From those days now in the past
We two have paddled in the stream
from morning until noon
but oceans now lie between us
since those days now in the past
So take my hand, my trusty friend
and give me your hand
and we will take a hearty drink together
In memory of those days now in the past
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vu8hwvvmEhc&feature=related
We had a lovely evening celebrating a Scottish poet and meeting new friends.
May you have such a lovely evening.
Love until we meet again.
Dawn

January 28

Some time ago, Micah told us that he had watched a TV show with Gordon Ramsey comparing different restaurants in Great Britain and one of the best was a small place in St. Andrews.  We had tried to eat there before but it had been closed so on Wednesday before going to the movie we had dinner in this Thai restaurant called. Nahm-Jim. The food that I had was very good, but I did think that I'd share with you that my dear husband had, of all things, "Scottish Haggis Thai Style"!  Here we are, in a famous restaurant and he has haggis.  I think he is seriously more Scottish than any of us ever thought!

By the way, the nearest theater to us is in St. Andrews and we saw the wonderfully moving movie "The Kings Speech".  Recommend it to all.  Would watch it over again, Colin Firth did a great job.

Love to all,
Dawn

New Beginings- January 10-17

Here I am back again, and it has been an eventful three weeks in our lives! 

We left on December 23rd and flew home to a wonderful Christmas.  The first night we stayed in Wilsonville with Caleb.  He had for the first time in his bachelor apartment put up a Christmas tree for us and even brought in real fir boughs to make the apartment smell wonderful (really a sweet thing to do).  On the 24th we went to Lebanon and Chelli had gone to so much work to make it a "Very Scottish " Christmas for us, even providing haggis, which no one but Robb and I ate.  We were surrounded by Scottish decorations on the tree and a beautiful flag swag on the mantle that spelled out Merry Christmas in Gaelic.  Our son-in-law Mike had the warehouse apartment warmed with a wonderful wood fire.  It was truly a wonderful welcome home.

Christmas Eve was spent with family as we noshed on real Scottish cheese, which thankfully had made it through customs and on time, since our luggage hadn't flown with us.  It had been a long two months away from everyone and was wonderful to be back with the grandbabies (sorry Jake and Lilly), all seven of them.  Christmas morning arrived to the usual confusion and fun as presents were opened then everything was cleaned up as we awaited the arrival of the other family members from their homes.  Once again confusion and presents, clean up and then a wonderful roast beef dinner with homemade pies by Jodi (this was indeed a gift as you know how often she cooks) and cookies and candies by Chelli.  We were tired and happy as we went to sleep.
Then.... December 26th arrived.  The mood changed and we were in wedding mode.  We had waited to buy many of the decorations for Alli and Bill's wedding which had a snow flake theme until the after Christmas Sales.  Save money? Yes.  Good Idea?  Added tons of stress to Alli as we went around trying to find enough lights for the trees and centerpieces.  Good Fun?  In the long run, yes it was.
On Monday night, my sister and brother-in-law, Diana and Bob, arrived from California.  We did let them rest for a few hours and then they too were swept into the fray.  Diana made snowflake candies while I finished sewing the bridesmaids dresses.  And together with family and friends we baked the goodies for the wedding.  I found a pair of shoes that were high enough, sturdy enough for me to wear one on my left food while I wore my boot on the other.  I don't think too many people noticed I was a little titled, nor could they really see the boot with my long dress.  All in all the wedding went exactly as planned, took a little bit more time than we had thought but it met all our expectations plus.  I so enjoyed the entire event, but admit I was tired and ready for a rest.
On Jan 3, Diana, Bob, Mom and Dad Aldridge all left for California.  We were concerned for them as I-5 had been closed due to snow near L.A.  Odd to have that much snow close to where they lived rather than there in Oregon.  It's been a topsy turvy year with weather.  Robb left later that day to fly back to Scotland and I flew out the next morning to Georgia where I had a wonderful visit and rest with my Mom and Don.  I left there on the 8th, spent the night at Cabe's, left on the 9th and arrived here on my birthday, the 10th.  Robb picked me up, took me out for a lovely birthday dinner, back home where I slept for a few hours and by 11a.m. the next morning we were packed and off to England for the better part of this first week back.  Like I said, a busy three weeks.
I found a few photo's of the "new" house along with the description of it from the rental site that had been managing it as a holiday rental.  So this will show you a little of our house.  We are very comfortable and WARM!  Robb moved a few things around for me, we set up our offices, hung some towel bars and all is well.
GROUND FLOOR :-
Entrance Porch leading to main hallway with access to patio garden
Kitchen / Dining Room - Modern and well equipped kitchen with table to seat 6, flat screen tv
Double Bedroom with double bed and ample storage
FIRST FLOOR:-
Sitting Room - impressive room with ample comfy seating and lovely sea views
Family Bathroom - Quality fittings with Bath, overhead shower, wh basin and wc
SECOND FLOOR:-
Double Bedroom - Double bed, ample storage, colour tv/vido - Panoramic sea views
Family Bedroom - Double bed with extra single bed, portable tv with video

This is the ground floor bedroom.

The kitchen, which is really very very nice.

The first floor sitting room.  Remind anyone of another sitting room?

The view to the other side of the sitting room.

The patio out the back of the house.  It was, we have been told, used to house coal and the little window is part of what was the old wash room, now storage.

This is the view out side the sitting room window.  Our bedroom, which I don't have a photo of is up stairs above this room and has an even more beautiful view of the Firth of Forth (the bay of the river opening up to the North Sea. 

This last photo is the second bedroom (family bedroom) on the second floor (our 3rd floor) and the master bedroom is on this same floor. 

There are 17 steps up each level, and since the bathroom is on the middle floor, a lot of going up and down is taking place.  I rather think it is my new 'step weight loss program'.

Lots of Love to all,

Dawn