New Life Old Farmers

Yesterday was a Bonnie day and it (Oct. 19, 2024) was the anniversary of our landing in the UK with our suitcases and our dog. As they would say in Doric here, “It was nae (not) easy,” but it was worth it.

We took a walk to the harbor (because that is where the glass recycling is and we might have had a few wine bottles we needed to recycle.) We continue to be aware of how blessed we are to live in this town.

There was loneliness and struggles during the months of not having a home in this beautiful land. My advice to anyone thinking of becoming an Ex-Pat would be, prepare for the first year to be challenging and move where the people are nice and they do not come nicer than the Scots.

It’s actually pretty funny, as we’d been warned by the UK family, that North East Scotland was inhospitable. ‘It would rain ALL the time and the people were not friendly.’ We’re still trying to find the inhospitable people, but so far they keep not showing up. As far as the weather, it is fascinating to watch it all change.

Earlier this week friends took us out for a bike ride. They would usually ride twice as far, but picked this ride out especially for us, as we are the beginners.

This is typical of how people treat others here. It’s about inclusion, acceptance and plenty of laughter.

Yesterday was clear and the sea was calm. A group gathered and we rowed around practicing our skills, enjoying a good blather.

This fall, we have a cozy home…

…and due to a fancy channel, we get to enjoy the NFL! (Oh, be still my heart).

We invited the family next door over for American Football night. We served American Football food, as well as we could with Scottish ingredients. The Loons (boys) had asked what color to wear based upon who we were rooting for. We did the ‘wave’ and I taught them when to yell at the TV. It was great fun and we’re grateful to have each other.

As for moving to Scotland, it was like my best friends and I used to say in High School, a “bonne idée” which in French means “good idea.”

…and my prayer is that you are blessed.

xx

Ex-pat living…

I get asked often, “Are you on holiday?” (Makes sense, I talk funny).

I often ask, “Excuse me, what did you say?”

The one area I did not expect to struggle in was the laundry. I know how to do laundry. My Loving Spouse will tell you what a great job I do, doing the laundry. For 50 years, I’ve put the clothes in the machine, picked the cycle, put the detergent in and started the wash.

The first time I washed in Scotland, we thought the machine was malfunctioning. It went on for 2 1/2 hours! What kind of a wash cycle is that?

Our machine has an ECO cycle. It runs for 3 hours. You run your machine at night, and then hang it out in the morning. Except…often my laundry was still really wet. I was so very careful not to overload my small front loading H-WASH 500. Still my big fluffy bath sheets were not that fluffy anymore. I needed help.

Every month or so there are two sweet gals from church who ask me for coffee and bake us a loaf of gingerbread. I told them my washing woes.

They asked me hard questions like “what spin do you use?”

I had a pretty snappy comeback. “Hun?”

I told them the detergent blob I was using. They said, “Aye, that’s no good.”

“I think I need a tutorial. Come for coffee?” I asked.

The Laundry Cavalry was on their way, complete with the proper detergent, softener and fresh ginger bread.

Never having a front loader, how would I have known that you can change the temperature of the water and the rate of the spins. Eco was set too low to spin out the water, (besides I am not sold on anything that takes 3 hours).

Even the Laundry Cavalry needed a bit of research on this fancy machine.

Additionally, I was ‘under loading’ the machine. Spending most of my life in the land of Fahrenheit and pounds. 9kg means nothing to me. Apparently in washing machine language it means almost 20 pounds, as in a whole lot of dirty laundry.

We figured out a reasonable setting. It’s called “all-in”, runs for 59 minutes. I keep the cold water at 40 and spin the heck out of H-500 at 1400. With my new Fairy soap, everything thing is sweet and clean and fluffy.

We then had coffee and American blondies and talked about coats. This lead to us talking about sweaters. I showed them the one I had my eye on.

They thought it was ‘Bonnie’ and said, I should order the red one. Obviously, their wisdom has worked pretty well for me so far….

and so I did….and I am blessed.

I am revising (studying) for my drivers theory and hazard perception test. I can only drive on my US drivers licence for one year and my time is almost up. My theory test has been ‘booked’ for Oct. 12 (yikes). It took me two days just to book the test. Appointments are ‘booked’ online, the more I looked for test sites with earlier dates, the more I got thrown out of the system. (That was fun). Causing us to sign up for a new VPN, which took a couple of more hours. There should be an internet alternative for ‘well lived’ people, when they need to do something. A bit like the butcher shops here who have a family pack special of the week and an O.A.P. special. In the UK they don’t sugar coat it. O.A.P. stands for Old Age Pensioner. There should be an App for assisting us O.A.P.’s whenever we need to navigate cumbersome sites. (Wouldn’t that App make trillions!)

Revising partner….

Before you can get your test ‘booked’, you have to get your provisional license. You are not allowed to wear your glasses in the photo OR smile. I guess they want a level playing field where everyone looks equally awful on their license.

Before I natter on about driving tests I have learned that there are a lot of different kinds of potatoes and are usually referred to as tatties.

I may not have any opinions on Tatties, but believe me, I’m in the minority.

While ‘revising’, I have had to sometimes ask my tutor (My Loving Spouse) to interpret what The Official DVSA is actually saying. He’s been surprisingly helpful. We’re a pretty good team. He helps me understand stuff and I help him find stuff, like his dustpan. It was missing “from his workshop” for weeks.

My Loving Spouse signed me up for a driving lesson with ‘El Paso’ driving school. It was a wise idea to get some assistance out on the road with a trained professional. I learned that the basis for all driving in America SMOG (Signal Mirror Over-the-shoulder Go) was wrong. Seriously! I have 50 years of muscle memory in that system. Here in the UK it is Mirror Signal Maneuver and there is some controversy on the ‘over the shoulder’ piece. Other than that, ‘El Paso’ was very helpful and filled me full of confidence, sort of.

This sweet cottage has nothing to do with this post, other than it is lovely. Gunner and I pass it often on our sea cliff walk and my B.G.F. likes lots of pictures in the blog.

I ‘revise’ everyday. Here are some of the questions on my mock study tests:

• Who can use the Toucan crossing?
• When can you pass on either side of another vehicle?
• You are parked in a 40 mph road at night. What lights should you leave on in your car?
• What must you do when the amber light is flashing at the Pelican crossing?

Signs: Triangles are for warnings. Round signs are orders. Square brown signs are tourist information.

My all time favorite triangle sign and my favorite question on my mock test. (Wouldn’t you just want to pick the 4th answer for fun?) Since you have to get 93% on the test to pass, there is no ‘monkeying around’!

The DVSA confirmed my testing date and let me know that 54 out of 100 do not pass. They are so encouraging. Luckily I have my faithful revising partner…

hard at work.

Answers to questions:

• Bicycles and pedestrians
• On a one way street
• Parking lights
• Wait for all pedestrians currently crossing to finish crossing.

I’m blessed to have you along.

Thank you.

As I keep learning and revising and finding dustpans….

North East Open Studios is a not-for-profit
organisation promoting Arts and Crafts
in the North East of Scotland.

We’d seen these books and posters around.

We had no idea what it was, until…an acquaintance ran into us and gave us hers. Actually, she not only gave us her book, but explained to us what was going on.

There are hundreds of artists in North East Scotland. 300 of them for one week in September open their private home studios to the public. There are multiple maps and trails developed by the local artists to make the most of the adventure of peaking into the artists studios.

We’d taken turns combing through the book to find the studios we wanted to visit. Driving through the back streets and side streets of nearby villages was an adventure in and of itself.

Most of the artists we met were not only lovely, but ‘chatty’ as well. Talking about not only their work, but how they are usually a bit introverted, but this was their week to be out and about.

My Loving Spouse made me let me drive, as I am practicing for my UK driving test (which is another story).

We learned about some of the different artistic methods involved and found it fascinating.

Private studios mostly meant private homes.

From a warm wood stove and 4 month old puppy…who ran off, because she smelled bacon. (Who can blame her).

To an old printing press…to a meandering whimsical backyard complete with a bit of their ceramics to remind you to shut the gate.

There were plenty of cards for us to buy at most studios, which was perfect.

After all, it wasn’t as if we were going to be buying anything larger than that…right?

Well, maybe just one.

To top it all off, we stopped at a recommended farm store on the way home. Chatted with more friendly folks. Got to meet and scratch a lovely bull named Huxely…

We got on so well, I might be dropping by during calving time.

What a lovely day…we are blessed.

It was as ‘they’ say a Bonnie day, so we took a drive to Dallas (Scotland, population 138) for Open Farm Day at Thorabella Farm. A 40 acre farm, so every acre needs to be productive, which is why one had to watch their step in the parking field.

Thorabella raises Water Buffalo, which was our big draw. To entertain My Loving Spouse on the drive I played one of Team Offspring’s favorite songs, Everybody Has a Water Buffalo. I didn’t ask the owner at Throrabella, if they knew the song. I did ask them if they ever fed their favorite girl bananas. The answer was ‘no’, but a commitment to give it a try. It was lovely to chat with someone who loves their cows as much as I love cows.

Meet Susan. She is a lovely cow. I gave her a nice scratch and wished I brought her a banana.

The only picture I got of their logo was off the side of their farm truck. Check out the picture carefully. They know their buffalo and have a good sense of humor.

It was a beautiful day with lots of families enjoying the grassy slope and multitude of other animals (emu, wallaby, pigs, goats, rabbits). Huts for overnight stays are available, should you desire a farm stay.

Buffalo burgers were on the grill as well as a long line for ice cream. We zipped straight over to the butcher section and bought a couple of steaks for our dinner.

Thorabella is on season 6 of one of our favorite shows. BBC This Farming Life. If you’re in the US, I recommend you add BritBox to your subscriptions and enjoy many marvelous shows.

Our dinner…. to be honest, I’d give it a 7 out of 10….and still we are blessed.

The previous owners left us this picture of our home. How long ago was it taken? We don’t know, but the cars all have sun roofs and the gas line was just put in.

Check out all the gardens and flowers.

It wasn’t like this when we bought it. Our brick wall in front leaves a lot to be desired. The more My Loving Spouse looked at the picture the more he thought flowers in the front garden would be lovely.

I continue to let him think the front garden was his idea.

A lot of research has gone into the garden, as it is a very new growing area for me. I also want it to be a beautiful English Garden. I subscribed to Gardener’s World magazine and it is a complete delight and allows me “Premium” advice on their website.

Each magazine comes with my favorite part.

“What to do now”.

I keep on budget by never buying more plants than will fit on the large garden cart.

These scrubs will be the green backbone of the garden.

I lay out where I want to plant the climbing roses with help from my Garden Dog.

I cut out the lawn. The lawn pieces are really heavy, filling every bucket we have. It takes me two days to cut out all the lawn and two trips to the ‘tip’ (dump) with the trailer to dispose of it all. We have a complicated rubbish bin system from the council, (food waste, paper waste, recycling, ‘regular’ trash and bottles). No green bins for garden waste. Probably good for me that the tip is less than a mile away.

Someone’s got their butt in the new garden bed.

Our base is roses, lavender, holly, white dwarf rhododendron, and a few I’ve forgotten the name of. Since this is not my first rodeo (garden) I did keep all the information for the pots in the garage..

My magazine just came and claimed cyclamen would add good color for this time of year.

There are lots of discounts for bulbs in my magazine, so I’ll have more opportunities to ‘stay on budget’ and order tons of bulbs.

My Loving Spouse thinks we might not have bought enough cyclamen. Who am I to argue with him? We will just have to get more.

We look out on this garden from the sewing room and the living room. I’m very excited to see it grow, get bigger and more colorful. Remember this is just the base…the beginning.

I love gardening and as this is Scotland, God helps me water.

….and I am blessed!

One of the challenges of living in Scotland is not understanding. Not understanding what is said, and what is meant. I’ve much more empathy for anyone moving to another country who truly doesn’t speak the same language.

In my defense, when you move to a very small town, people assume you know the ‘ins and outs’ of town life. ‘People’ would be wrong.

The Portsoy Traditional Boat festival is held every year and is a very big deal. I have never been.

I don’t know what Portsoy 75 is. I had no idea why they would want ‘bottles’. What in the world were they going to do with them? We were busy getting ready for our trip to America and THE wedding, so I didn’t pay it too much attention.

Until they asked again.

Well, we had some bottles and we had some time, so we took them around and dropped them off.

The next day we got this….

Ohhhhh…..

Now I understand.

Yep, that’s me…

I imagine with the amount of things I don’t understand, I will keep them laughing in Portsoy, Scotland for quite some time.

Humbled and blessed.

Fordyce Village is 2 1/2 miles down the road from Portsoy. Fordyce is a historical village with an abundance of charm. I had been looking forward to wandering around people’s gardens ever since I understood their advertising in the lay-by along the main road.

The village event was well manned, clearly this was not their first ‘rodeo’. Upon parking our car in the school’s playing field we were given a map of the wee village with locations of the gardens we were allowed to wander around in.

The first stop had an impressive vegetable garden.

Most of the gardens on display were small, but abundant.

But not everyone enjoys gardening….

There were plenty of walls to sit on for My Loving Spouse, if I wandered a bit farther than he wanted to.

One accessed this garden by walking through their Landry room…

Obviously they took the ‘open’ of the “open garden” part quite seriously.

We followed the sound of a brass band around a corner to the vintage tractors.

After all, what kind of day would it be without a few of the greatest vehicles ever made.

If you use your imagination, you could hear the babbling burn (brook) that backed up to many houses.

There were a few places to have tea or strawberries and cream or kippers.

One of us was very excited by this. I have learned that there are not any kippers that swim in the sea. A kipper is a herring that has been smoked, possibly even barbecued.

All great fun and information for the garden I am digging for our cottage.

…and we are blessed.

Number Three arrived in Scotland and he fell in love. He kept repeating,

“Oh, I just love it here!”

We didn’t wait long before we took him to one of the most important places, Portsoy Ice Cream.

Soon he and his Dad disappeared into The Work Shop. Number Three was falling in love with hand sewing and leather work. Little did he know how much he was going to fit right in for our evening ‘program’, The Great British Sewing Bee. It’s so nice when your kids grow up to love your stuff.

I’d been wanting to see Slains Castle, but had been waiting for someone to go with me. A gorgeous country drive from Portsoy that took about an hour.

The pathway is lined with crushed shells, which suited us and Gunner just fine. Loved how it loomed in the distance. There is a 20 minute walk from the parking lot to the castle. (No bathrooms, nope, not a one, so come prepared).

Slains Castle is on the North Sea cliffs and warnings are everywhere to watch your step and do not let your dog of the lead.

Built in 1597 and visited by Bram Stoker, it is believed to be the castle that gave him the inspiration for Dracula’s Castle.

The castle was fabulous, click the link for better pictures and more information.

The castle is wonderfully remote. Excellent to visit it with a history loving guy.

The Fishing Museum in Buckie is worth a trip. Free with good parking. It might be small, but it is packed with information. I was drawn to an example of the gansey’s on display. The different knitting patterns were for the different villages. If a fisherman was lost at sea, his knitwear could identify where he’d come from. The website gave me a much better understanding of the sacrifice of the area with 40 pages of those lost at sea over the years. Some years more recent than I would have thought.

No visit is complete without a stop into Buckie’s hardware store. Number Three finally found the new towel he was looking for.

A trip to My Loving Spouse’s Turkish barber for a hair cut and a straight razor shave.

I’ve never seen him hold so still.

Items of food to try when you’re in Scotland. After all if Number Three ate them they must be good…

Irn-Bru

Skirlie (twice)

Fish n’ Chips

Mince and Tatties (twice)

Mac N’ Cheese (what can I say, they love it here) – twice

Meat pies (twice)

….we took one for the team and agreed to go back to Portsoy Ice Cream for a second scoop.

A wonderful visit, precious time together. He kept saying, “Thank you for letting me come.”

I finally said, “We’re your parents you don’t have to thank us for letting you come. We’re glad you’re here.”

…and we are blessed.