Cheating in Haddington

Haddington

Hi there - hope tonight's blog finds everyone well and in good spirits.  I am doing and feeling great.  Got up this morning and headed out on the 10:05 am bus to Haddington.  Haddington is about 11 miles from Dunbar, and takes about 20 mins to get there by bus.  You travel through rolling hills via the motorway to get there.  Of course, the bus makes multiple stops along the way so maybe it was longer than 20 minutes to get there lol.  Haddington is the administrative, cultural and geographical centre for East Lothian (East Lothian is the county).  Haddington was known as Haddingtonshire up until 1921.  So now that you have had a little history lesson on the town, here's the reason my mom and I went there - shopping!!! LOL.  Its a quaint little town with a main street of shops and a couple of side streets,  So we wandered in and out of shops aimlessly.  Of course so much window shopping makes you thirsty and hungry so we found this cute little coffee shop called Diggorys, and this is where the cheating part comes in.  We went in with the sole purpose of having a cappuccino, but then we saw the baked goodies they had for sale.  As most of you know I am on weight watchers, and I can tell you that their baked goods were not on my menu for today lol. The willpower just didn't kick in hahahaha.  I ended up with a small slice of Millionaire Shortbread, which wasn't that small when it came to points for the day.  It cost me a whopping 9 points of my daily assigned 26 points....yikes. Won't be doing that again....lol.  For the Americans who don't know what Millionaire shortbread is, let me just say its delicious but fattening.  Its got buttery shortbread on the bottom, a layer of caramel above it, and chocolate on the top.  Not good for someone on a diet, or a diabetic (which I am both).  Sometimes you just have to be bad though, and I picked today to be bad.  Tomorrow I promise to be good..lol.  My mom made a much better choice than I did.  She had some yummy looking Lemon oat bar slice.  It probably had quite a few points too, but nothing like mine.  As I told my mom, next time we feel the urge to eat something like this, we need to just buy one and share it. lol.

Millionaire Shortbread

After the coffee stop disaster, we headed to Tesco to do some grocery shopping and stock up on fruits and vegetables, and all things good for us.  Going to really watch what I eat for the rest of this week before weigh-in next wednesday. After we got home, I left on a 45 minute walk by myself up through the farmlands.  It felt good to get out and walk briskly.  As we head into the evening, we are all relaxing catching up on mail, games, genealogy and watching tv lol.  Dinner was sizzling steak and mushroom rice.  Going to have to bring home some packets of the sizzling steak seasonings because it was really really yummy.
No big plans for tomorrow.  The only thing we are going to do is a long walk.  Going the opposite direction of the walk we did yesterday so will take the camera along because who knows what neat things i might find to take pictures of lol.   I didn't take any photos today so I will not be uploading anything tonight.  Just this rambling blog.
 So for now I bid you adieu, adios, ciao, totsiens, cheerio.  Be good and don't do anything I would do, you may get in trouble lol.

Come Walk With Me

Woods

Good afternoon everyone.  It's a beautiful sunny day in Bonnie Scotland.  My mom and I started the day with a long walk, and the route we took was one of the prettiest I have ever been along.  We started off by going through the woods, through some farmland towards the beach, along the cliff tops by the golf course and then down into the town of Dunbar.  I have lots of photos to share, so be sure to check them out on Facebook when I add them.  The route that we took is part of the John Muir Country Park.    I will definitely be walking this trail again soon.  On our way back into town, we stopped at the Leisure Pool. This is an indoor heated swimming pool and fitness area.  Got some brochures on it.  They offer an aqua-fit class that looks like fun that I may try out.  They also have all kinds of other fitness classes available.  Thought it would be something different to try.  We also stopped at the pharmacy (chemist in Scotland), the bakery and we visited Val at the shop on the way home.   Had some lunch and then headed to ASDA for some  

Cliff Top Trail

groceries.  So got quite a bit of walking in today. I am thinking we walked at least 5 miles.  Tonight my Aunt Connie is coming down, and she, my mom and myself are headed to our weight watchers meeting in town.  Looking forward to getting back on track.  So thats it for today.  I will leave you with this quote from John Muir - "In every walk with nature one receives far more than he seeks."  I am thankful, grateful and blessed that I get to walk in such a beautiful land.  As long as my two feet will keep carrying me, I will keep on walking :-)  Have a great day everyone, wherever you may be.

Afternoon at the Royal Mile

The Royal Mile

Welcome back !   I have heard from so many of you that you are enjoying reading my blog each day.  Thank you for reading it, and letting me know.  It's a great way for me to keep track of what I am doing every day and wish I had done this on previous trips.  The older I get the more forgetful I get and sometimes I can't remember what I did two days ago lol.  This way I can go back and read where I went and what I did.
So lets get on with today.  Got up and watched a British show called "Wild at Heart".  Its actually filmed in South Africa and is about a vet at a game reserve.  Its pretty good - great scenery, music and the animals are awesome.  After the show was over, took a quick bath as we had to catch the train around 11:30'ish.  When we arrived in Edinburgh, we made our way over to Primark so I could return some shirts I had bought last week.  After we got that business taken care of, we headed up the Mound towards Edinburgh Castle.  We didn't go in the Castle as we have all seen it before.  So we just stopped at the entrance to take some photos and enjoy the views.  Edinburgh Castle for those of you not familiar with it, sits high up above Edinburgh on top of a volcanic rock called Castle Rock.  There are some magnificent views of the city from up there.  After the castle, we made our way down the Royal Mile in the direction of Holyrood Palace.  A lot of the Royal Mile is cobbled, and there is so much history in the buildings that line the Royal Mile.  We stopped in for a visit at St Giles Cathedral.  St Giles is magnificent inside.  They used to allow you to take photos inside the cathedral, but now there is a charge to take photos.  We didn't bother with taking photos as I have some from the last time I was here.  After St Giles, we wandered slowly down the mile, looking and exploring closes as we walked.  If you are wondering what a close is, here is an explanation of "closes" from Wikipedia -

"The Old Town of Edinburgh, Scotland, consisted originally of the Royal Mile and the small streets and courtyards that led off it to the north and south. These are usually named after a memorable occupant of one of the apartments reached by the common entrance, or the occupations of those that traded therein. Generically they are termed closes, a Scots term for alleyways, although they may be individually named closes, entries, courts and wynds. A close was private property and therefore gated, hence closed to the public, whereas a wynd was an open throughway, usually wide enough for a horse and cart. Most slope steeply down from the Royal Mile creating the impression of a herring-bone pattern formed by the main street and side streets when viewed on a map. Many have steps and long flights of stairs. "

Buildings on the Royal Mile

We found some interesting closes, one of my favorite being White Horse Close.  It has little houses on there, and if I had to live in Edinburgh I would love to live there.  It kind of reminds me of a french look.  While we were there exploring the close, my mom started talking to a lady that came out of one of the houses.  She told us a little history about the place, and then we found out she was a housekeeper at Holyrood Palace for 20 years.  She received a medal for 20 years of service from the Queen herself.  She said that meeting her in person and getting the medal from her was mind boggling, and it made her speechless.
We also stopped for lunch on the Royal Mile at a place called "Has Beans".  My mom and I had Cream of Chicken soup and a toasted Coronation Chicken sandwich.  My dad had a Haggis and Caramelized Onion toast on ciabatta bread.  The food was delicious, and we will definitely return there again sometime for lunch.

The Bridges

We made it down to Holyrood Palace, took some photos and then headed back up the Royal Mile.  From there we headed down the Bridges towards St James Center (a shopping mall) as my mom and I wanted to go to Poundland to buy some weight watcher biscuits (cookies)  Poundland is like our 99 cents only stores.  While we went to the mall, my dad disappeared to go get a pint (a beer).  As we had about an hour to waste, my mom and I did a little clothes shopping.  Found a really nice dress and shirt that I just had to have.  Also a cute hat.  I don't normally wear hats but this one just caught my attention.    We caught the 4:30 train home back to Dunbar.  Now we are just reaxing at home, all playing on our electronic toys lol.  I added quite a few photos to my Facebook from our trip today so I hope you will take a look at them.  Tomorrow we were going to head to Haddington ( a town close by) but we have decided to do that on Thursday.  So tomorrow we are taking a nice long walk around Dunbar - down by the beach.  I will take my camera along as it will be new territory for me.  
Well thats it for tonight.  Until tomorrow .........bye for now :-)

Charity Work

Dutch Curried Pea Soup

Ocean View from the Dunbar Fort

Good Evening all.  Hope everyone is having, or has had a good Monday.  I had a great day.  Woke up kind of late again.  But got up and put on the sneakers and hit the pavement.  I walked 3 miles today.  Was an interesting walk through the high street, down to the harbor, along the beach, past the church and then home.  There are so many different trails and paths to walk around this town that I could walk every day and not get bored by the scenery.  I have to get back into running too.  There are a lot of little foot paths where I can run like the wind.  Have to build up that endurance, which is lacking in me hahahaha.  After my walk, I had made plans to make the South African Dutch Curried Pea Soup for dinner, so I had to walk to ASDA to get the ingredients to make it. My dad went with me and when we got back from the store, I put the soup together and on the stove to simmer away for a couple of hours.  My dad watched the soup for me as I was headed into town to work at the charity shop my mom volunteers at.  I had so much fun helping out.  I got to use the tag gun to add price tags to the clothes, I went through jigsaw puzzles and books, and helped put prices on them.  Thank you to Val for letting me help out.  My services are available to you for the next however many Mondays I am here lol.  After helping out at the store, we headed home where I finished up the soup.  It turned out SO delicious.  It's one of those soups that you can't really mess up.  Now we are just relaxing.  I am catching up on my blog and my moms on her ipad and my dad on his laptop.  Tomorrow we are going to head into Edinburgh to return some shirts I got that didn't fit, and then we will walk the Royal Mile.  I think my dad might actually go with us tomorrow, so we will get some photos taken.  Before I end for tonight, a very hApPy BiRtHdAy to my sweet Cameron.  He turns 7 today.  I am going to face time with him later, so looking forward to that.  Have a good night all :-)

Birthday Fun

The Cunninghams all together again

A week ago today I was flying over the ocean at the start of my journey.  The week just disappeared as I have been occupied with things to do every day.  Glad I have an open ended ticket and I don't have to return back to the USA in two weeks.  I so love it here.

Happy Birthday Nicole

Well today I woke up with every intention of putting at least three miles on my walking shoes, but about 5 minutes into our walk it was raining and sleeting on us.  So we stopped at the co-op and  picked up some bacon for breakfast and returned home.  My run keeper recorded 1 mile...I guess that's better than nothing.  Going to have to make up for it tomorrow lol.  It tried to snow a couple of times, but it would snow for about 5 minutes and then clear up as the sun came out.  They have some strange weather here  - rain, sleet, snow and sunshine all in the same day.  Spent the rest of the day relaxing until Simone came down from Prestonpans and picked us up.  Today is my niece Nicole's 19th birthday...hApPy BiRtHdAy NiCoLe......She was still at work when we arrived in the Pans.  Once she got home from work, we ate dinner which consisted of three different types of curry.  Don't ask me the names because I don't remember what Simone told me they were, but all three were absolutely delicious.  I haven't had curry in over 20 years, so it was quite a treat for me.  I am going to have to learn how to make it.  Maybe I should take up cooking classes while I am here because I am not very inventive when it comes to cooking lol.  After dinner we had birthday cake (also made by Simone - yes sirrreee she is talented) and then Daniel brought us back home to Dunbar.  Now I am sitting here catching up on the blog.  Tomorrow will bring a walk, a pot of Dutch Curried Pea Soup (cooked by moi - say some prayers for my mom and dad that I don't poison them) and some work in the charity shop my mom volunteers at.  So tomorrow will be yet another eventful day.  As for the week, we have plans to return to Edinburgh to walk the Royal Mile, maybe a trip to Haddington and Berwick later in the week.  So until tomorrow, good night every one.  Have a great week !

North Belton Farm

Uncle George at the cottages at North Belton Farm

Guid Mornin - Scottish for Good Morning.  Saturday is upon us.  Got up and went on a walk by myself.  Whilst out walking, snow flurries were coming down.  I got my hopes up that maybe it would snow good, but alas my wish didn't come true.  It stopped about 3 minutes into my walk lol.  Walked about 3 miles alone and didn't manage to get lost.  I think I have been here enough to know where I am and which direction I am going in.  Tomorrow morning I think I will make it a beach walk as I havent been down near the beach or harbor yet. Well after today's walk, I came back home and walked back into town with my mom to get some grocery shopping done.  Stopped in at the Chest, Heart & Stroke charity shop to say hi to Val.  My mom works there as a volunteer too.  Thanks for the coffee, Val - you did an awesome job :-))))  Found a red jacket that I had to have.  Be sure to be looking for it in future photos lol.  After getting the grocery shopping done, we took a taxi back up the road as we had too many bags of groceries to walk.  I think I met the first "unfriendly" Scotsman ever.  Mr Taxi Man was dour-faced, unspeakative and unhelpful.  I think he's in the wrong job lol.  Had some Scotch pies for lunch (yum yum) and then took a bath in preparation for a visit to my Aunt Connie and Uncle George's cottage for dinner tonight.  Love the bath here - its very long where you can lie down and stretch out and your feet don't even touch the bottom.  I am 5"7" so the bath has to be at least 6 foot or longer.  Sorry, but it amuses me as my bath at home is short and it drives me nuts that I cant stretch out and be comfortable lol.  Anyway, I am all cleaned up, prettied up and looking forward to going to the farm.  Hopefully it is still light when we get there so I can see the horses and the countryside.  I am taking the camera so photos will be shared soon.  So I will sign off for now and catch up with the blog when I get home later.  Cheerio !!!! :-)
Ok back again.  Had an absolutely wonderful time at my Aunt Connie and Uncle George's house.  They live in a place called North Belton Farm.  It is located in the countryside of Dunbar.  Surrounded by rolling hills and horses, the cottages are beautiful and I am so jealous they get to live in such a place. So happy for them, but jealous...lol.  I have to live in blah Victorville.  Anyway, my aunt made us Scottish salmon, couscous and potato celeriac, topped off with the best no-bake cheesecake I have ever had.  Thank you, thank you, thank you Aunt Connie and UNcle George for a great evening.  Enjoyed the laughs, the hospitality and the memories.  I will definitely be taking you up on your offer to come visit and stay for a few days.  I am looking forward to it.
Well thats it for tonight folks.  Tomorrow is Nicole's birthday so we are headed to Prestonpans for a visit.  Have a great Sunday and talk with you al tomorrow.  Night Night!!!!

Relaxation

Highland Cow

Welcome to my Friday.  This morning we headed over to Val's house to work on the rag time quilt.  We helped Val and my moms other friend Ann lay out their blocks so they can start sewing rows together.  Both Val and Ann are new to the world of quilt-making but they have done a great job of making their blocks, and their quilts will be pretty when they have them all completed.  Got to visit with Val's dog Sasha.  She is so sweet and friendly.  I think Val said she was a collie/shepherd mix.  I told Val I will have to take her out for a walk some day so I am looking forward to doing that.
Took a walk to ASDA.  ASDA is owned by Wal Mart.  Bought a sweater and a bottle of Barefoot White Zinfandel.  Couldn't find Moscato.  They do sell Moscato here because I bought some a couple of years ago but I think it was at a different market.  I think I got it at Tesco in Haddington.  Anyways, just had a nice visit with my nephew Daniel and niece Nicole.  Daniel is in the Royal Air Force and comes down to visit on weekends when he can.  It was good to see him and I will get to see him again on Sunday.  Sunday is Nicole's birthday so we are headed there to help her celebrate.  Well not much more to add today.  Mom's making haggis, neeps and tatties for dinner, I am looking forward to that.  I love haggis.  Tomorrow we are headed into Dunbar itself for a little look around, and tomorrow afternoon we are headed to my Aunt and Uncle's cottage for dinner.  They live on a farm and I am looking forward to seeing where they live.  I have heard lots about it, and it sounds so pretty.  So I will be sure to take my camera with me and get some photos.  Happy Friday to all in the USA.  Hope everyone has a great weekend.

Edinburgh Bound

Edinburgh

Thursday is upon us.   Was up bright and early at 6:30 am.  Ok it wasn't bright as it was mostly overcast...lol.  Got up this early so we could go get our walk in for the morning before heading to Edinburgh for a few hours.  It was a little chilly when we first started walking but it didn't take long for the blood to start pumping and all felt good.  Actually, weather-wise it is probably warmer here than it is in Victorville at times.  People always talk about Scotland being wet all the time, but I have been here three days and haven't seen any rain yet..lol.  Well we got 3.25 miles under our belt this morning and should probably get in a few more miles walking around Edinburgh today.  Getting ready to head out the door and catch the 10:45 am train so will pick this up when I get back.  I wasn't going to take my camera but I will.  Adios until later !
Ok I am back.  Had a nice few hours in Edinburgh.  What started initially as a walking trip turned into a shopping trip!  LOL.  Well we still walked, but it was in and out of stores.  We didn't make it up to the Royal Mile.  Going to go back and do that next week some time.  My mom and I got to Edinburgh around 11:10 am and ran a couple of errands before heading to Jenners (a fancy department store like Bloomingdales or Macys) for lunch.  The food was yummy.  Had Carrot and Coriander soup with a fresh baked roll, and then finished up lunch with a scone, jam and clotted cream.  The clotted cream was not on my weight watchers diet, but oh well, when in Britain do as the British do hahahaha.  After lunch we did some clothes shopping.  I am officially going to dress like a scottish lass - leggings, boots, and long shirts or dresses...lol.  I will fit right in here, however I might stick out like a sore thumb upon returning to the desert hahaha.  Oh wait - I am not returning to the desert according to some folks lol.
I was extremely over the moon today to find some boots I have been searching for for a while.  A couple of years ago when I was here, Clarks shoes were selling these boots that I absolutely loved and I hummed and hawed over them, and left Scotland without them.  Well today I went looking for them and when we went into Clarks they were no longer on the shelves and I was disappointed until the sales associate came over and asked me if I knew the name of them  When I told her the name, she tells me that she actually has only one pair left in the back in a size 7.  I about fell over because British size 7 was my size.  She brought them out and I tried them on and they fit perfectly, like they were made for me.  I was so excited to get these boots.  I'm a happy camper :-)
Plans for tomorrow.  We will be staying in Dunbar.  Going to visit Ms Val - my mom's pal.  My mom has been teaching her and another friend how to make a rag time quilt.  So we are headed over to Val's house to show her how to put the quilt together.  Looking forward to the visit.  So that's it for now.  Have a good night everyone !!!!

Smeaton Lake

Smeaton Lake

Good evening, or should I say Good Morning to those family and friends over in the USA.  Evening falls upon us here in Dunbar, and it has been a fun day.  I couldn't fall asleep last night so caught up on some of my shows on my iPad.  Of course that meant I slept in a little later than I normally would.  I think I got up around 9 am.  It was overcast and a little windy, but that didn't stop our plans to do some walking around the East Linton/Smeaton Lake area.  So we hopped on the bus that would take us down the road to East Linton.  East Linton is about 6 miles via bus or car down the highway from Dunbar.  Its a quaint little town that has always captured my attention as we drove through there.  We got off the bus in East Linton to walk to a place called Smeaton Lake.  It is a small man-made lake down a long country road.  There is a mossy path that winds around the lake.  The pathway is surrounded by many trees and plants.  Lots of rhododendrons with new buds line the way.  And all the snowdrops are popping up through the leaves on the ground.  This little area kind of reminded me of my trip to the HOH Rainforest in Washington State a few years back.  After we walked around the path, we headed further up the path to have lunch at the Smeaton Nursery and Tea Room.  This was a beautiful nursery with lots of different plants.  The tea room was to the rear of the nursery, and they had the best food ever.  We all had Leek & Potato soup with a crispy roll and then finished with a scone, jam and fresh cream.  Yum Yum.  The scone and cream wasn't good for my diet, but oh well.  How can you say no to fresh baked scones.  After lunch we headed back down to the main roadway (with a stop off to visit the horses in the field).  We wandered over to Preston Mill.  Preston Mill is a watermill on the River Tyne.  It is no longer a working mill.  The last time it was used was in 1959 to produce oatmeal.  Preston Mill consists of a kiln, mill and millers house.  After the mill, we headed back the main street in East Linton to catch the bus home.  We did stop and take some photos of the bridge at the River Tyne and the rushing water.  All in all we had a very nice day.  Got 4 miles of walking in.  Just finished dinner (stovies), and now just relaxing catching up on this blog.  Going to try to go to sleep early tonight as we have more adventures planned for tomorrow.  Going to get up early and walk around the neighborhood, and then later in the day head into Edinburgh on the train to do some birthday shopping for my niece and a little sightseeing. Oh and more walking lol.  Going to walk the Royal Mile.  The Royal Mile for those of you who are not familiar with it, is a thoroughfare that runs a mile between Edinburgh Castle at the top end, down to Holyrood Palace at the bottom end.  Holyrood Palace is where Queen Elizabeth stays when she visits Edinburgh. The road is cobbled in many areas and is lined with shops, churches and underground streets.  It is steep near the castle, so should get quite the workout.  So tomorrow be sure to check back in for photos and an update of my day in Edinburgh. Well I guess that is all for today.  I wil leave you with this quote from Oprah Winfrey - "  The biggest adventure you can take is to live the life of your dreams".  I can certainly say that I am blessed that I am able to be doing that as we speak.  Night all.

Home At Last

Well welcome!! Thought I would give this blogging thing a go and see if I like it.  So bear with me while I try it out.  Sometimes I can be technically challenged but they seemed to have made this blogging tool pretty easy to use so we will see.
Well where do I start as I am happier than a clam in a shell.  Its awesome to be back in my home country - land of bagpipes, haggis and Nessie.  Its hard to explain the feelings I have as I set foot on this land, but this rush of happiness, ease and relief wash over me.  California has been my place of residence for the past 28 years, but has it really truly been home?  My family lives there, I live there but that sense you have when you know you are home is alway missing.  Its somehow different for me when I am here.  Anyways, here I am and I am ready to share my adventure with you all.  I will update the blog daily with stories, photos, videos, thoughts, anecdotes and more.