Back In Beauly

We are back in the charming village of Beauly. Just below the Black Isle and just above Inverness, where all the signs are in both English and Gaelic.

We went to The Free Church of Scotland in Inverness on Sunday. As we walked down the sidewalk along the River Ness there were church bells ringing all around us. It was lovely.

We went grocery shopping at Aldi after church. Aldi is a bit like Grocery Outlet in Ellensburg. We are in the Whiskey trail of Scotland, everywhere there are Whiskey distilleries. We’re waiting for visitors to try some of them out. In the mean time, I may need to give up my hunt for good red wine in the North of Scotland. However, I did find this one and cracked up at the pairing.

I wonder if it goes with Tater-Tot casserole or only Shepard’s Pie.

I continue to struggle a bit with the food. One day we were out to breakfast and as you can see I ordered Salmon and scrambled egg. Look at that Salmon! Impressive, tasty and inexpensive.

I took one bite of the egg and it was all I could do to not spit it out. I inquired if they had cream cheese. The lovely helper went to look. She came back shaking her head.

“Ach I’m sorry. We only have Philadelphia”

…Philadelphia cream cheese…, “Perfect” I exclaimed. “May I have Philadelphia and a scone, please?”

Here I am learning to adapt.

The house hunt continues…

There is no MLS in Scotland. There are a few different independent websites for house selling. Sellers list their homes with an Estate Agent/Solicitor. The Solicitor does a variety of functions for the Seller. Not all Solicitors do the same functions, none of them show the property, not all of them place the property on the large independent websites and some seem to only place a sign in the window. Looking for a property is a bit exhausting and we (as former Realtors) know what we’re doing!

We have a system. I check the 3 major websites for new listings everyday for the areas we want to live in. My Loving Spouse checks 7 Estate Agent sites to see, if they’ve listed anything new everyday. I did say it was exhausting, right? Mostly because we’re so hopeful everyday and then disappointed, but with the new year we’re more hopeful than ever.

Most of the homes come in two sizes….too big and too small. Being along the coast in old fishing villages lots of homes have no garden, no parking and no garage. We can deal with a lot of that, but a garden for Gunner and I is a must.

My Loving Spouse joined the local Facebook community group. He added a picture of Gunner and let everyone know that he needed a home, after all they do love dogs here.

We continue to do our best to uncover every potential lead.

Looking forward to the day, when we can put our feet up in our very own home.

…and may you be blessed.