Springtime

Another beautiful spring day in Aberdeen.  The city deserves a bit of a break after having to endure the tragedy of losing all passengers and crew of a helicopter on its way out to one of the rigs.  In that way, Aberdeen still has quite a small town feel to it.  It was something everyone talked about and sympathized over for the better part of the week.  

We've been getting a few things done around the house, doing some spring cleaning, sending forms for our US taxes, hanging the last of our pictures, etc ...  Yesterday we walked up the hill into Rosemount to look into getting a few pictures framed.  We must have spent a good half hour with the shop attendant getting the right mats and frames, and all for a quite reasonable price.  It feels good to stay in the community for stuff like that.

We also went down to the butcher to try and find some back ribs.  We have word that Fiona's dad is coming in mid-September, so we have to make sure that we can make his favorite ribs.  It didn't start out well.  We spent a fruitless ten minutes trying to tell the butcher exactly what we were looking for.  In the end we got a cut of meat with pork ribs in it, but not what we would normally cook.  We've since consulted the internet for a more exact description of what we need.  I guess it is not a cut of meat that is ever used here.  We then had to make our own apple butter, a key ingredient in Fiona's ribs.  We've had some success making our own apple sauce, but apple butter is another story.  The ribs are cooking now, I'll let you know how they work out.  Don't worry, Roger, we'll have all the kinks worked out by the time September rolls around.

I think the lack of readily available, good quality rib racks won't help Fiona's ribs regain their lost position as her signature dish.  Her apple-rhubarb crumble has, in my opinion, solidified its position as the new top dog.

We're also getting ready to buy another car, as well.  Friends heading back to the US have a nice new Honda Jazz that they are giving us a good deal on.  It will be nice to have a second car - it opens up some other opportunities.  We're also excited because it is an automatic as well.  If we have an automatic then at least one of us should be able to just trade in our license for a British license, instead of going down the path of lessons and tests.

We spent some time outside this afternoon working on our patio in the backyard.  It has been a little overgrown and we tidied up the edges and removed some of the most obnoxious overhanging bushes and plants.  We're looking forward to some nice dinners out there, enjoying the sunshine, flora and fauna.  That being said we are hoping Mother Nature would tone it down a little bit.  We saw the Hannibal Lecter of seagulls quite calmly and savagely latch on to the head of another seagull and drag him all over the neighbour's roof.  The smaller one kept trying to get away, but Mr. Hopkins wouldn't let go.  No word on whether fava beans and Chianti were enjoyed afterwards .... 

Visitors Day 3

The house is quiet again as Pim & Sandra are headed home today.  We had such a great time with them this weekend.

Yesterday started out slow, we had a nice leisurely breakfast of pannekoeken. Then we headed out to the Sands of Forvie for a hike.  A quick 15 minute drive and we were there.  It is close to where Donald Trump wants to build a new golf course.  

It was a beautiful day, lots of sunshine.  The hike was really enjoyable and the trail was well maintained.  The scenery was spectacular.  There were lots of sea birds to be seen.

We were all tired out by the hike so the rest of the day was filled with relaxing and playing some more Wii.  

Thanks for coming to visit Pim & Sandra!

Visitors - Day 2

Day two with the visitors dawned overcast and rainy.  We tried to compensate for the lack of Scottishness in yesterday's breakfast by providing an enormous amount of sausages, but I'm not sure it worked.

We headed out to towards the Cairngorm mountains, with the idea of making it to Grantown-on-Spey by lunchtime.  The scenery was terrific as we travelled on the north shore of the Dee river.  We stopped several times for pictures - the scenery was magnificent.  We took a little detour to Balmoral to see if we could get a glimpse of Lizzie's house - but there was no admission allowed until April 1.  Close by was the the Royal Lochnagar distillery and they had a tour coming up quickly, so we ducked in for a wee look.  The tour was very interesting, with lots of detail about the whole process.  Unfortunately no photography was allowed.  Tasting, on the other hand, was not only allowed but recommended.  I'm not one for Scotch, but I thoroughly enjoyed their single malt.  You can see from the pictures that I was not alone.

After the tour we pushed on through the mountain passes to Grantown.  It started to snow as we went along the road and at some point we were stopped by a friendly Scotsman who informed us the road to Grantown was blocked due to snow.  It was a little hard to believe because we were sitting in brilliant sunshine, but several miles back the snow had been blowing quite hard.

We headed back into Ballater for lunch, which included all the Scotch staples: potato leek soup, toasties and sticky toffee pudding.  We stopped at an old, pre-historic stone circle for pictures before rolling back to Aberdeen.

We went out to a local restaurant for dinner - haggis croquettes as appetizer made sure that we kept to the all-Scotland all the time theme.  We got back in time to see the highlights of the incredibly appropriate Scotland vs Netherlands soccer match (I shouldn't have to tell you who won).  

Visitors - Day 1

We got to go to Aberdeen Thistle Airport on Thursday evening to pick up our first official out of town visitors - Pim and Sandra from Holland.  It was kind of nice to be going there without having to go through security or worry about missing flights.  Interesting point: Aberdeen airport labels itself as the "most improved airport in the world".  Is that a good thing?  How bad did it used to be?  

We all woke up bright and early on Friday morning.  I had managed to take a day off, so we all sat down together to a nice Dutch breakfast.  Pim said he was slightly disappointed not to get a full Scottish breakfasat (eggs, sausage, blood pudding, tomatoes, beans, etc ..).  This will now become the standard first morning breakfast for all future visitors.  Prepare yourselves.

The weather was quite nice when we left, full sunshine and blue sky.  By the time we got halfway to Dunottar Castle it had started to cloud over into what Sandra called her idea of what Scottish weather should be.  We passed a field with a few of the season's first spring lambs, and a few fields of daffodils, so we kept the spring mood.  

Dunottar was gorgeous as usual.  We were unsuccessful again with finding any puffins, but I think everyone enjoyed the ruins.  We even found a couple of rooms that we hadn't seen last time.

The 187 stairs back from the castle to the car park had everyone a little winded and tired, except Casey, so we drove down the road to Stonehaven for lunch.  We had a good hearty meal of fish and chips, washed down with a deep fired Mars bar.  

We did a driving tour of Aberdeen to show off the rest of the sights - it had started to rain, so walking was out.  We went through the harbour, where a CGGV seismic boat was in town, drove by the beach (Pim was declared stone skipping champion) and old Aberdeen.  I think the city acquitted itself quite well.

We spent the afternoon Wii'ing with various levels of success - bowling, billiards and shooting rabbids.  After dinner - BBQ'd steak and asparagus, with Fiona's spectacular apple-rhubarb crumble for dessert - we found ourselves just enough energy to put in a Blu-Ray and watch Batman beat up the Joker for a couple of hours.

We woke up to a little snow this morning.  We're hoping it clears a little, because we're going into the mountains.

Men in Skirts...

Here are a couple of pictures of my handsome husband in his brand new kilt.

Doesn't he look great?

Anniversary

On this day, 9 years ago, Fiona first walked into my apartment, sat down next to me, beat me at a video game and stole my heart.  Like that video game, our time together has seen some exciting twists and turns, a few head on collisions and been a cracking good time.

I won't bore everyone with the details of the "how we met" story, as it surely has made the rounds everywhere.  I also won't get all cheesey, with long soliloquys about the great love of my life.  I'm just glad I chose to go to her friend's birthday, that I wore a clean shirt (as advised) and that I bought her that first drink.

Tomorrow: kilt pictures!

Week in Review

Seeing as we haven't posted since Sunday, I thought I'd take a quick look back at the week that was.

Sunday evening we got confirmation of our first out of town visitors.  Although several fought for the honor, the distinction will go to Pim and Sandra, who will be in town the weekend of March 28th.  We're really looking forward to seeing them again and getting a chance to show off Aberdeen and surroundings.

Tuesday evening we went down the street to His Majesty's Theatre to see a traveling Russian production of Swan Lake.  Fiona had given me the tickets for Christmas and I was really looking forward to it.  The venue, as always, was great, especially from the floor seats we had, although the heat appeared to be on full blast.  The overall production was average, but was highlighted by an amazing performance by the prima ballerina.  We both agreed it was the best we had ever seen.  We had never seen Swan Lake before so we had fun trying to interpret the story.  Comedic relief was provided by a small child three rows back who kept asking (loudly) at every break point before intermission if it was time for ice cream.  The tradition at His Majesty's Theatre is to serve small cups of ice cream during the intermission of plays, ballets and operas.  Seems kind of strange to me, but it grows on you.

It's been a bit of a rough week at work, so we haven't been out and about in the evenings too much.   We've been pulled into this new show (at least it is new to us) called 'Who do you think you are'.  It follows minor British celebrities as they trace their family tree.  Most people find these wonderful and totally unexpected characters in their ancestry.  It's given Fiona the geneaology bug.  She is preparing to do some digging to see what pops up.  With the ancestors being Irish-Welsh, we're now well positioned to go to the relevant places should we need to look up records, etc ...  I've seen the results of an equivalent process done on my Dad's side of the family by a distant relation.  She had managed to track them back several hundred years.  She published a book with the results that is really fascinating.

One of the downsides of expat living is the transience of the people in your lives.  For me it is always been easier to meet people because I could make friends through work.  After each move, Fiona has always had to go out and make new friends, always with good success.  But the business moves people around and she's had to deal with good friends moving away.  We have a feeling that the world economy will be moving more of our friends this year.  Fiona finds that hobbies help her meet new people and keep busy, so she's adding another one to the list of knitting, photography and languages.  She's taken up painting.  Several months back she completed her first painting at a course with friends.  She has since bought some equipment and started painting on her own.  Her second piece was completed last week - photo attached.  I think she has a talent for it.

It's Casey's birthday today.  She'll be five.  She's already working on the sleeping in part, but I think we'll take her for an extra long walk today and throw in a pig's ear to make the day special.  She's working her usual charm offensive on the friends and neighbors here in Aberdeen - making friends has never been a problem for her.

We found ourselves looking at a house across the street that's for sale.  We even went to a bank site and looked at mortgage rates.  A little silly to be doing that in this economy and with my work situation being what it is, but we really like Aberdeen and could live with a long term posting here quite happily.  I guess we've said that before, raving about both Calgary and Houston, so maybe we're just easy to please.

No big plans for this weekend.  I think we'll try and find another nearby hike on Sunday - maybe even stick to the assigned trail this time.  I also might try and watch some of the Six Nations Rugby on Sunday (Ireland vs Scotland).  I still haven't figured out the intricacies of that game, although I think I've caught on to the whole cricket thing....

Lost in the Highlands

After a great dinner party last night - steaks on the new BBQ, back-alley bridge with Vicki and Bob - we decided to work off some of the calories traipsing around the highlands in and around Aberdeen.  We carefully chose our walk from a good guidebook we found in a local bookstore.  We prepared a little lunch, brought along some water, dressed in layers and headed out, Casey in tow.

The walk started with about a kilometer straight up a hill.  The gorse bushes were starting to bloom with little yellow flowers that made parts of the walk quite pretty.  When we got to the top we had a great panoramic view of Aberdeen and surroundings.  On one side we could see the city, with the North Sea in the background.  A little further up the coast was the airport.  180 degrees was a beautiful farmland vista of rolling hills, covered in heather.  We vowed to come back once the heather was in bloom.

Although we thought we had picked a nice day to do this particular hike, once we got to the top of the hill there was no protection from the wind.  It was quite fierce, at one point it was difficult to keep our footing.  So we started down the other side of the hill - perhaps we should have taken an extra look at the guide book before proceeding?  An hour later we were still wandering around the hill, the trail becoming less distinct and our patience running short.  We eventually agreed to retrace our steps to a parking lot we had mis-identified as being right around the corner from where we parked our car.  45 minutes later we stumbled upon our car.  I think Casey was about to give up on us.  She did have a few highlights herself, including bounding through the heather and meeting her first sheep up close.  The sheep were not impressed.

So now we're dead tired and finding a long blog posting harder to accomplish.  We'll leave you with some pictures.

For those who have been asking, it looks like our next trip will be to the Isle of Skye for the Easter weekend.  We just need to finalize the details early this week.  We're quite excited to be traveling again...  

Who Watches the Watchmen? We did ...

As is my wont with movies that I really look forward to, I took the afternoon off yesterday to drag Fiona to the premiere of the Watchmen movie.  Reviews are fantastically mixed.  I loved it.  Fiona was giving a depressed sigh every 20 minutes.  That's a lot of sighing in a 2 hour 45 minute movie.  I did read the comics, which I think will increase your appreciation of the film, but I think it can be enjoyed without reading it too.  It was long, be prepared for that.  And, in highly concentrated outbursts, extremely violent.  Visually, though, both of us agreed that it was stunning.

So I guess I owe Fiona a few romantic comedies.  I tried to buy my way out of the debt with surf and turf after the movie, but I don't think it worked.

Flower power

Well it has been a nice quiet weekend here. Yesterday morning we moseyed down to the monthly farmers market in the city center with Casey. It was Casey's first time walking around the city. She did really well, and received so much attention from people passing by, a great walk by her standards.

We bought some goodies at the market and headed home. On our way to do some more errands we passed the park not too far from house and saw carpets of beautiful purple and white flowers. So today we decided to take a walk and take a closer look. They turned out to be these gorgeous crocuses.

We have been thinking that it is spring but according to locals it isn't here until we see the daffodils. Hopefully soon!

How much is that doggy on the airplane?

She's finally here!  After six long months away from home, we were finally reunited with our Casey today.  As with her previous move, she travelled like a pro, with no incidents or problems.  She took about 10 seconds to figure out who we were, but now seems to be adjusting fine.  

It's been harder than we thought it would be, having her so far away.  But we knew she was in excellent hands with Mom and Manny in San Antonio.  She may have had more fun there than she ever did with us ... chasing squirrels, possums and chihuahua mixes.  

Mom and Manny, we're eternally grateful for the peace of mind you gave us and the excellent care you gave the furriest member of our family.

Winter Olympic Preview

We want to send out a huge congratulations to my sporting parents for their achievements at the 55+ Winter Games last weekend.  They took the bus with the rest of the squad from Edmonton and rolled into Lethbridge as heavy favorites to medal in badminton and cross-country skiing.  And they came through ... my mother with a silver in badminton and my dad with a bronze in cross-country.

We are already planning our trip to Whistler next year to support them in the Winter Olympics!

Poffertjes

Happy Mardi Gras everyone!  Or Shrove Tuesday!  

We celebrate the season this year with a profusion of miniature Dutch pancakes called poffertjes.  We kindly received the requisite pan from my Tante Willy and Ome Ad on our last trip through Holland.  We stocked up on toppings, the traditional (butter and powdered sugar), the new age (Nutella) and the slightly Canadian (Aunt Jemima syrup).  

It took us a while to get the technique right, but we churned out and enjoyed several dozen really good poffertjes.

Laissez les bon snowdrops roullez!

Rik here ...

It looks like spring continues to bloom in Aberdeen.  Another nice day here, with highs of 12C and sunny skies.   The gardens everywhere are full of snowdrops - beautiful little white flowers (come on everyone, let's sing a round or two of Edelweiss ...).  According to the locals, however, we shouldn't get too excited about these very early heralds of spring.  There are actually three phases of spring in Aberdeen.  1.  Snowdrops.  2.  Crocuses.  3.  Daffodils.  It's not officially spring here until you see the daffodils.  We were strung along by cruel Mother Nature on our walk last night, thinking we saw that first daffodil at a house at the end of the block, but it just turned out to be a yellow crocus.

Cheers,

Rik

Laissez les bon temps roullez!

Rik here ...

Fiona's women's group was holding its annual Mardi Gras party last night, so we got together with our friends Andy and Scott to check it out.  Fiona had helped out decorating the hall, and the place looked great.  

They were giving out Hurricanes at the door.  I don't know exactly what was in those drinks, but they were tasty-delicious.  They reminded me of the Hurricanes mixed by Marlene at our going away party, but with a little less kick.

The dinner was also quite good.  The soup was a cajun spin on a local specialty, Cullen Skink - a fish soup.  They replaced the haddock that normally accompanies it with crawfish.  They then served smothered pork chops, some duck breast, green beans and corn.

Somehow we didn't end up as the Mardi Gras King and Queen.  We did gather our fair share of beads though.  The attached picture shows Fiona's haul, the lady next to her is her friend and the Mardi Gras Queen, Kelly.

We put our dancing shoes to good use and were one of the last to leave.  So we've been having somewhat of a recovery day today, but that's OK.  The weather has been gorgeous, with highs around 12C.  The snowdrops are blooming in the gardens everywhere and the daffodils are threatening to bloom as well.  If I didn't know better I would say spring has sprung .... (I hope I didn't just jinx it)

Netherlands Trip - Day 4 - Dorst and Rijen

We had another nice sleep in to start the day.  After breakfast our first order of the day was find a place to stock up on our Dutch supplies.  We were running desperately short on essentials such as chocolate sprinkles.  Fortunately the small town where Ome Wim and Tante Els live had a well stocked small store where we picked up all we needed.  We had brought an extra large suitcase just for this possibility.

It was nice to stay with Ome Wim and Tante Els.  Beyond being great people, they work from home, so they were there to give us pointers and lend us bikes when we decided to bike a few villages over to my Tante Willy, who was celebrating the dual occasions of her birthday and the birth of her daughter Denise's son, Mateo.  The bike trip went well.  It had the potential for disaster when Fiona got a flat.  Luckily she timed it to happen just outside a bike repair shop.  The repair man had it done in time for the ride home.

We had a nice evening with Wim and Els, including a rather competitive game of dominos.  Fiona and I were thoroughly beaten.

The trip back the next day was a little sad and, appropriately enough, it was raining.  The plane was packed on the way home and our fuses were running a little short, but the smiles came back when we exited the plane to a beautiful 13 C and all the snow we left behind was gone.

I guess we're down to planning our next trips - to Canada in May and Paris in June, with lots of exploring inside Scotland in between.

Thanks to everyone who made our trip to Holland such a memorable experience.

Nog bedankt aan iedereen die onze Nederlandse vacantie zo'n success heeft gemaakt!

Netherlands Trip - Day 3 - Breda with Brooymanses

We had a great sleep in the morning of day 3 - well deserved if I do say so myself.  After a nice breakfast, my Ome Wim and Tante Els came by to pick us up.  We said a very grateful goodbye to Ome Ad and Tante Jose for putting us up in such a fine fashion. 

We drove to Breda to meet with my Oma (grandmother) and her husband Chris.  She is now 93 and was full of the same energy that I always remember her having.  It was great to see her again.  As an added bonus, my Ome Sjef showed up as well.  We had some coffee and cream puffs and did some catching up before she suggested we all go bowling.  My grandmother is an expert bowler and she has the trophies to prove it.  Unfortunately we couldn't get a lane.  So we went down to a restaurant situated in the nearby woods.  Good business strategy, it seemed, as almost everyone that went into the woods for a walk stopped in at the restaurant afterwards, many bringing their dogs in with them.

We said goodbye to Oma, Chris and Ome Sjef after lunch and headed for Breda with Ome Wim and Tante Els.  Our first stop was the Great Church, a massive 500 year old sandstone church in central Breda.  It has an almost 300 foot tower and has been partially restored.  Considerable damage was done as the church was passed back and forth between Protestants and Catholics over the years.  It was, nonetheless, absolutely magnificent.  The highlights:  the massive organ, painted ceilings, the burial chapel of the Nassau line, the monstrance with a piece of the true cross, a bible from 1660, a mummified cat believed to have been bricked up in an alcove and the incredible grave markers covering almost the entire floor.  Fun fact from my Ome Wim: the phrase "stinking rich" or "rijke stinkerds" originated with the practice of rich people buying burial plots under the church - as they started to decompose, I guess the resulting smell became quite noticeable.

The next stop after a church tour is naturally a Beer Museum.  Or more specifically a Beer Commercial Museum.  This was essentially a three story pub with every square inch covered in beer commercials.  Again, really cool.  We had a couple of pints there (even Fiona, who had a couple of raspberry beers) and listened to a live Dutch-Irish band.  In fact, one of our old favorites from Canada, the Mahones, were due to play there March 1.  If you're in Breda, you should go.  They put on a good show.  (In the picture the windows say: "Eat what is done, drink what is ready and speak what is true".)

We ended up at a nice restaurant in Breda again and I had a great bowl of pea soup.  No, Mom, not better than yours.  Not even close.