Aberdeen-The Silver City?

We recently went to Aberdeen. By recently I mean in July. I have been very delayed in writing my blogs.





Here is Andy in Aberdeen striking his usual pose.









This is the former college that will soon become government offices. The pic does not really do it justice. It is one of the most gothic buildings I have ever seen. Very pointy.











This is the main street in the town centre. When the sun is out the town really shines.



However, because all of the buildings are made of granite, when the sun is not out, it is quite colourless. One does not realise how colourful Glasgow actually is until one goes to Aberdeen. In Glasgow you have red and blond sandstone to offset the grey of granite (and pebbledash in some parts of town).

We had some great meals during our trip and took a tour around the city (a cold one as we did not have on proper jackets as it was July).

I do have to say that the trip up and back was nice (we took the train to save on petrol). I would recommend going there, albeit just for a day or two. However, you may emerge from the area feeling as if you have been visiting Pleasantville.


I hope to have more blogs posted soon. I have collected some pics from various places and shows and not bothered to blog about them.

The good news is that just when I thought no one cared or noticed, I had three people ask me in the course of a week when I would start doing them again. At least I know that some people want to read them. :)

Big Ole Dragoon

What's that o'er on tha greenhill??? Holy Cow!!! It's a Dragoon!








Be quiet and sneak up on it slowly. (Click to make it larger).






It's seen us...run!









This stone dragon is on the hills at the beach at Irvine and was the inspiration for a story called DarkIsle. It is made up of the remains of an old railway bridge. If you are in or near Irvine, this part of the shoreline is a great place to walk. Just be wary of the sand dunes some of them try to eat you alive. Or is it something else under the sand???



Coming Soon: other activities that we have done over the past 6 months and never wrote a blog about.

Pics from Daytona

Hello All !

We recently went back to Florida for a visit. Unfortunately, I became quite ill and spent most of the time in bed! However, we did get to see family for a couple of days so it was well worth the trip.

We went to Daytona / Holly Hill on the way back as usual. Here are a couple of pics that we took:
It was a perfect day to go to the pier and have a nice lunch outside. We even had lunch on a boat, though I do have to admit that the boat was not floating at the time.


This is the view at the end of the pier. It is a rock barrier to calm the seas so that boats can come into the bay safely. Does that sound like a good reason? I just made that up, though it is probably true.

There is a nice lighthouse near the pier and restaurant. This photo looks like a postcard, but really Andy took the pic.

Yes, we will be doing more trips around Scotland this summer and we will try to attend at least a couple of comedy shows at the Edinburgh Festival. So, I will have material for the blog.

I'm sorry about not having any postings for a while. We have been on a bit of budget and have been staying close to home.

I am sure most of you would be bored with 'here are the reruns that I'm watching on the telly' blogs. LOL.

Cheers, K and A

My Scarf!!

My first present of the season!

Read all about its creation and see the pictures!!!

http://ssssshhhhhhdonttellkimie.blogspot.com/

Cheers, Kimberly

NANOWRIMO

Hello, it is that time of year again.

Two things happen in November. First, it is normally the month we take our long holiday to the U.S.A. Second, it is the NANOWRIMO month. It is the month where I try to write a novel of 50,000 words or more. Honestly, it is not just me but thousands of people around the globe.


I did not finish last year. I did not even come close.

However, I have a laptop this year and am not preparing to put new floors into my parent's house. Yes, there is a list of chores waiting for us in Florida, but I am hoping it is much shorter this year.

It is only a couple of days into November, why don't you join me in trying to get to the 50,000 word mark? It is about quantity, not quality for this challenge. Come on, give it a try...please?

The Scottish folks are in a 'word war' with the English folks to generate a bit of healthy incentive to keep writing on a daily basis. Help me in 'winning'. If everyone around here typed as fast as they talked...no problems.

Here's the link. It's open to everyone worldwide. http://www.nanowrimo.org/

You may not see as many postings (or any) once we are away to the U.S. I will try to do a couple of small postings to this and my other pages before I go. I still have Halloween footage that has not yet posted!

Cheers, K

Crazy Cat Lady

For the first time in a long time, I actually put some effort into my Halloween costume. Click on any of the pictures to make them larger...if you dare!





Isn't it great? Oh wait, that is the original CCL.








It was a lot of work. Andy was my hair and makeup artist.












Believe it or not, that mess is actually my hair and not a wig. I was so worried that I would not be yellow enough. No worries there.










By the way, getting off Halloween makeup is a really great exfoliation method. My skin is super smooth this morning.











My goal next year is to attempt to get Andy to leave the house. I mean not just on Halloween. He needs to leave the house. Seriously.

Next Issue: More yearbook entries..if anyone actually gives me permission to use theirs. By the Way, does anyone have a yearbook where I have written an entry. That would be funny. I will even supply photos of me with cheesy 80's hair or even the dreaded series of cheerleading pictures. Herkie jump!!!!

That's Huckleberry Finn , Stupid!!

Here is my Rush Concert review finally. Of the 9 times that I have gone to Rush concerts, I have only been unhappy with one of them and I blame the terrible sound quality of whichever Jacksonville stadium they were in that year. So, it is no surprise that I loved it.

I brought with me Andy, who has only seen them once and knows about 3 songs, and Robert who has never been to a concert and knows none of the songs. Thankfully, the show was so good that they both really enjoyed it.

Also, thankfully, they played no less than 9 new songs instead of going too far down nostalgia lane. I am one of those weird people that enjoy seeing new material and like the classics to be kept under control. It makes me feel less old.

The one down side to the concert is that the SECC is not really that big of a place, so the video screens were banished to the stage area, which kind of defeats the purpose which I imagine is to allow us poor people on the higher seats to see what is going on down on the stage, as well as demonstrate video and animation clips. The fun part is that not the same clips were on all of the screens, so we could only see the left hand side one and most of the middle one.

There was a clip of the South Park kids trying to play Tom Sawyer to introduce the song. I have no idea if this is part of a real episode or not because our South Park episodes are really old repeats. Carmen, as usual gets all the words wrong: ' That Tom's Sawyer's a mean mean guy, he floated down a river on a raft with a black guy! I'm Geddy Lee and I can sing whatever lyrics I want!'

There were also some lovely Reefer Madness clips during 'Passage to Bangkok' as I think like most old time rock songs, it is about drugs. Bob and Doug Mackenzie made a short appearance as well. Those Canadians have to stick together.

Oh and yes the music was fantastic. Rush is a love or hate thing with most rock fans. I have always said that it is a shame that many people can't get past the high frequency singing because there are few people on the face of the earth than can play their instruments as well as these three guys. The drum set is obnoxiously large, but never wasted and Alex still tends to hold several guitars at once, but they do only have 3 people to make a sound that 5 would find difficult to achieve. It is also a shame that rock radio has done what it normally does with groups, even long lasting ones, they play the same 3 to 4 songs over and over, rather than giving any other material a chance. For a band that has released 20 studio albums and 5 live ones, it simply is not fair.

To me a concert is not just about the music, but about the crowd as well. Glasgow crowds are different from Florida crowds. They sit and listen and only cheer between songs. To an outsider one thinks that they are being unenthusiastic. I think maybe it is just a keen interest in the music. I have always been annoyed by people in the upper stands that stand up so then everyone behind them has to stand up. I have always wanted to slap 'whooopers' or people who whoop and cheer in the middle of a song right next to you. I am glad to be rid of them.

There were lots of dads there and also embarrassed kids. I mean if your dad was wearing a faded tight old Rush Tshirt and doing air guitar, well you may be embarrassed too. Now, I was pretty far back and did not see what was going on up front very much. I did see that there were some signs being held up in the crowd, which I would have been upset about it I were behind the people. However, according to various Internet blogs (oh so reliable right???) most of them were jokes and it is rumoured that the crew gave some of them out. Some of the signs spotted:

• My Grampa Says Your Cool


• Can I roll your bones? (they have a song called 'Roll the Bones')


• I was conceived while my dad was at a Rush concert (I don't think the mom was)


• My mom thinks you're hot!!


• Freebird!


• I though ZZ Top had beards

I give the concert a big double thumbs up and not just because it is one of the few place on earth where there is no line for the Women's Toilets. After all, there were only about 10 of us there.

Next Time: I will try to fit in a yearbook post or two before I leave. And stay tuned to see the real live crazy cat lady.