New Life Old Farmers

Thanksgiving is my favorite holiday. The day after Thanksgiving is my favorite day of the year.

We had two options:

1. forgoing this lovely tradition
2. share it with our new friends.

Option 2 for the win!

A children’s Thanksgiving history book was ordered, as no one really understood the origins and meaning of Thanksgiving. Some thought it was just a Christmas dinner served early.

Preparing for Thanksgiving in a foreign country is a bit tricky. We started early with our list at Costco in Aberdeen. (Costco Aberdeen is exactly like all American Costco’s, laid out the same and the hot dogs are delicious. They do call the carts ‘trolleys’ and you can buy haggis, so there are a few differences).

Costco shopping:

• pecans for the pie
• sweet potatoes
• sparkling non-alcoholic juice bottled like champagne for the loons/boys (which was a huge hit as they delightfully toasted each other and saying things like “look what we get to drink)

Grocery store shopping:

• turkey
• marshmallows for the sweet potatoes, which were pink and white, sunk and melted
• cranberry sauce came in jars
• squirty cream (whipped cream)
• fresh green beans as they do not come any other way

Procured online. Amazon for the win:

• Pumpkin pie spice
• Pumpkin puree for pie
• Stuffing mix
• Fried onions for green bean casserole
• Cream of mushroom soup for green bean casserole

Locally sourced:

• Tatties (potatoes) given to us by a friend from his field.
• Pickled figs made by me. Surprisingly a big hit.

Cooked in our new ovens. We’re still getting use to them, but they are brilliant for cooking Thanksgiving with grateful thanks to my B.I.L. who is in the business.

My sewing room could hold us all, as long as we sat down in order, as there was only one way in and out. My heart was full as the youngest loon saw the table and expressed complete delight!

Figuring out that the secretary in the hall would work as a buffet was a logistical hit!

The great thing about a Scottish Thanksgiving is that the stores were never crowded with last minute shoppers who had forgotten to buy unbaked baguettes. Baked baguettes and copious amounts of butter were the loons favorite food.

Hosting Thanksgiving is easier when you’re retired.

Adjusting to the fact that no one else knows it is a holiday is a work in progress.

Having a houseful of friends who were ALL very excited about Thanksgiving was a blessing beyond anything I could have imagined.

Thanksgiving, it never is about the turkey.

…clearly we are so very, very blessed.

I am apparently not too old to jump up and down with joy when I see my treasured friend (BGF) walking toward me at the Aberdeen airport.

Her suitcase was loaded with gifts. Frito’s, home made Choc. Chip cookies, books, puzzles, tootsie roll pops and for my friends, honey sticks and salt water taffy to name a few. Her hugs and her presence were a balm to my soul.

BGF is one of my biggest fans of the blog. She likes that the words are few and the pictures many. All of these photos are hers, with a few thrown in from My Loving Spouse.

I offered to let her write this post, but she immediately declined. You’ll just have to enjoy her photos, which are here in a random manner, just because something caught her eye.

This time together was planned after many tears and the reality that we needed to be together. She needed a short get away and to see me. I needed her to see our life here and to see her.

The Great British Sewing Bee got two thumbs up, as did the Quiz winning Rhubarb and Ginger Gin.

The weather was fine. The Portsoy Rowing Club gave her a warm and cheery welcome, fulfilling a bucket list item for her, rowing on the North Sea.

Such fun to row together.

BFG was a natural. I knew she would be, because she’s sort of awesome.

We went to Cullen, so BGF could have Cullen Skink. She had a wee bowl. Not because she had any reservations about smoked haddock soup, but because she’d spied something new on the menu.

Duck Buns!

We all had a taste and they were delicious, but my favorite part was asking often, “How are your duck buns?”

Remembrance Sunday was a special, solemn time to share.

We’ve been through tough stuff together. Hard times with deaths, illness, children and we leaned on each other. We know with life, we’ll walk through more someday.

Biking through Scotland on a chilly day.

I knew she’d have no problem keeping up with me.

Little did she know that there was a very high likelihood of my getting us lost.

I am glad to say that I did not and the ride ended as planned, just before she was completely frozen. We met My Loving Spouse with the car and bike racks at the cafe and proceeded to warm her up with a latte and the Scottish staple Bacon Bun, which somehow is not nearly as funny as Duck buns.

Walks through the town, the cliffs by the sea, a cider in the pub and coffee in the kitchen with the jigsaw all spread out. Cherished time and my heart was filled. Still time to be silly and dress the same when we went out for an Indian meal.

…and a bit sillier still when they deliver the napkins.

Yes, this could be my favorite picture.

How blessed am I?

I said when I picked her up in Aberdeen with a huge smile on my face. “I think this is how heaven will be. I can just feel Jesus skipping along side of us.”

Now we each are home.

…and we are blessed..

.. and I am grateful.

The Portsoy Rowing Club hosted a Quiz night fundraiser. Located at the Salmon Bothy built in 1834 near the harbor. There was a boat load of raffle prizes, (‘boat load’…get it?)

Small Town life has advantages when it comes to this type of event. Almost everyone can walk to the location and home again. This is good as it was BYOB and bring your own snacks.

Our team of 6 brought enough to share…

I really wanted to go, but was a tad nervous. I wasn’t sure my knowledge would contribute much. Turns out, our team was a good fit with everyone contributing at different times.

I did not know how many cities there are in Scotland. (8)

My Loving Spouse was quite good at Geography.

When a question came up about Premier League soccer winning teams, I asked, if I could phone a friend (Number 2 Son). Ah…no, alas phones were not allowed.

Luckily for my team, there were a smattering of American questions. I fantasized that I was the American secret weapon. (Obviously, I could name all 4 times zones in the US) and recognize the Mexican flag.

Our team was not overly serious as we were having too much fun, still we did fairly well coming in 4th place.

500 pounds was raised for the Rowing Club due to the generosity of everyone’s raffle donations.

Can you say,

“Winner, winner, chicken dinner?”

We gathered up our winnings and started the walk home. It was a beautiful night, so we stopped often to enjoy the walk or we were well loaded down and needed a wee break every once in awhile.

We ran into a cheery well inebriated group walking down to the pub. One gal said, “Whoa! Look at that basket.”

‘Oh, we’ve been to a Quiz night’.

She grabbed my arm affectionately and said, “Well done you! You won! Good job”

‘Yes, I won the raffles’.

“Oh, I thought you won the quiz. I take it back.”

Then she happily wobbled her way to the pub.

A fun night in our town…and we are blessed.

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!