The Christmas Snow . . .

A quick post (mostly photos) for those of you who wish you could have shared our Christmas felicitations.

It's been snowing here for nearly a week (it stops occasionally). This weather is pretty rare, but an ideal opportunity for taking photos.

St. Mary's chapel (ruins), on the scenic option of our daily commute:


View over the harbor from St. Mary's chapel.


St. Andrews Cathedral, also ruins, also in snow.


Isaac and I on Christmas Eve (snowing during our last-minute shopping) as we pause in front of Holy Trinity church (where John Knox once preached).


Our tree and many, many, many presents. (Goodness!)


Our first breakfast: treats from a local (chain) bakery called Fisher and Donaldson and some locally roasted coffee. The tallest treat (on the right) is a coffee tower; the flattest (on the left) a lemon tart, and the others are fudge donuts (think bavarian creme but much, much better).


Isaac was so good this year that he got TWO stockings! (both full!)


I wasn't quite as good . . . but I got a second stocking anyway (an incentive for next year?).


Isaac's favourite gift was this Tolkien atlas from John.


After our unwrapping frenzy, we took a walk along the North Sea, which was gorgeous.


Merry Christmas!

Let it Snow?

O, happy busy life! Isaac and I have been working hard to plan our Christmas festivities this year. I've finished a second draft of my thesis proposal and will be taking a few days off to celebrate with my family (airlines and weather permitting). As the North America contingent is scheduled to arrive tomorrow, we've been busy shopping, wrapping, and cleaning. Last weekend we took a lovely Saturday jaunt with several new friends and visited lovely Edinburgh (also pictured a few weeks ago: it's the city with the castle that glows blue at night). We ate at two lovely pubs, watched a very ambitious but unimpressive street performer, and wandered around the Christmas market (one booth of which is shown below) before heading home, exhausted and happy.



More recently, we took a trip to neighboring Dundee, a city I generally find about as inspiring as our Edinburgh performer, but one that has its merits. We did some basic mall strolling/shopping, then noticed out the windows that the sky was snowing wetly on an(other) outdoor Christmas market, so we ran jubilantly out to immerse ourselves. It was a wet snow, so we retreated indoors with some modicum of efficiency.



Isaac surprised me last week with a wonderful little tree, which has lights and will soon be sporting decorations of slightly greater substance.

Love and Christmas wishes to all our friends and readers this week!

Wait, What Month is it Again???

Well, happy December, stalwart readers . . . November, as is commonly its want, has flown past, leaving Isaac and I with Christmas looming and the year winding down most impressively. When last I posted, I was recovering valiantly from an exciting cold, which I most generously and subsequently gave to my beloved husband.

December arrived abruptly and unexpectedly: the city of St. Andrews celebrated St. Andrew's Day at the end of November with a festival of Christmas lights (you may notice that said lights are not, perhaps, quite as impressive as the speeches and countdown intimated), Isaac and I attended an enjoyable evening of Gilbert and Sullivan, and I received my diploma in the mail after skipping graduation festivities entirely. We've attended a few choral evenings, enjoyed a party or two, and one of my dearest friends from last year became engaged and is happily planning a wedding (ah, weddings). We are also looking forward to the arrival of my parents next week (BA permitting).



Last weekend we took a trip to Edinburgh with a few friends and enjoyed a chance to Christmas shop, buy some extra blankets for our flat, and see the lovely Christmas market that spreads out throughout Edinburgh in December. Alas, I've not yet retrieved those photos from my camera, but it was lovely. I've also handed in the second draft of my thesis proposal and am looking forward very much to getting started on a chapter (God and advisor willing) in the next few weeks.

Brief, I know, but lest you all long for detailed descriptions of sconebaking and Elizabethan manuscripts, there's little else to say. And I must get back to work . . .

Catching Up: A November Medley

We've been quite busy here in Scotland, and the biggest benefit of waiting a long while between posts is that it gives us a chance to have exciting events to discuss. Most days, my busyness takes the form of reading several books, perhaps writing a bit, or (if very lucky) attending an evening lecture. If Isaac is working, I try to walk into town with him in the morning. His busyness then consists of making soup, boiling potatoes, and baking scones, while I'll often do a great deal of my daily work in the hours of quiet and solitude. If I wander away from my "office," I'll often visit the grocery store on Market Street; the early morning hours are the best time for shopping. Here's the morning view on Market Street:



The tall spire is Hope Park Church, which I attended two years ago. You can also see Subway, which I boycott on principle, and the fountain in market square, near which, if the weather is well, a number of merchants will often have outdoor stalls.

Last weekend was a bit mad: new students to St. Andrews celebrate an event known as "Raisin Weekend." Said new students find an "academic mother" and "academic father," who are (purportedly) intended to help them navigate the dangers of this tiny Scottish fishing village. Traditionally, Raisin Sunday was spent taking raisins to one's mother in the afternoon and enjoying a tea party (and receiving a "raisin string," the significance of which I still fail to comprehend), then taking a bottle of wine to one's father's home in the evening and receiving a "receipt" for said wine. Nowadays, most students take wine to both parents' homes and receive, in return, far more alcohol than is healthy. By noon on Sunday, the main streets of St. Andrews are filled with drunken students, often tied or duct-taped together, who stagger or skip down the street, names and addresses painted on their limbs and embarrassing slogans adorning their faces, perhaps singing nursery rhymes or working on a scavenger hunt. For us boring folks, it's a day to avoid the town center if at all possible.

The most tremendous part of Raisin Weekend, however, occurs on Monday morning (while classes are still taking place), on which day the academic mothers dress their new offspring in costumes (which range from embarrassing and dangerous to clever and fun), parade them through the streets of the town, and send them off to a shaving-foam battle in the oldest part of the university, St. Salvator's quad. A student's admission ticket for said battle is the "receipt" given by the academic father (which is why it's important to have two parents). Students parade through the town, navigate a system of police barricades, and indulge in the foam fight (which doesn't last particularly long, all things considered). Here's part of the aftermath:



For more traditional fun, Isaac and I recently enjoyed a trip to Scotland's smallest legal whiskey distillery, which is located about two hours northwest of St. Andrews in a lovely little tourist trap called Pitlochry. My Bible Study leaders from last year, who had proposed the trip, kindly drove us to the distillery, where we four enjoyed some tea and coffee, and then given whiskey samples and a tour of the distillery. The term "legal," we learned, applies to the size of the still: if one man and one horse can't move the still, then it's "legal." The (legal) still in question is the large copper-coloured tank on the left of the photo; it's shaped a bit like a gourd.



Finally, we had a chance to visit a large shopping centre with the same friends. While our shopping wasn't quite as productive as we might have wished, we did have a chance to take a beautiful hike to see this waterfall:



For those of you curious about our Thankgiving, we celebrated ours on Wednesday evening with a number of American friends as well as some British folk and a young lady from Australia. Our British friends were surprised by the amount of food and complained in particular about the American penchant for eating sweet foods as part of the main meal (rather than as dessert, which is here called pudding). The meal was delicious, and the company good (but numerous). Since then, however, I've been battling a bit of a head cold, which I'm hoping to kick this weekend.

Thus ends my current summary.

Photo Teaser

From our previously mentioned perambulations in a nearby forest:



It's been a busy (but lovely) week and weekend, and I'll be blogging more later.

Sunset strolls and (a) soggy Sunday . . .

Work, work, work . . .

We've kept pretty busy this past week, though Isaac eventually had a few days off, which gave him some time to unwind. I've been out late each evening attending lectures (four in as many days) and have been longing for some quiet evenings at home. Those will come, no doubt. I'm meeting with my supervisor this week (which should be particularly interesting as I discovered only today that another scholar has possibly written an abbreviated version of my proposed thesis topic) and will otherwise be reading pretty steadily, D.V.

After five good solid days of work, we enjoyed a lazy morning yesterday and spent the afternoon visiting a local pottery shop (some friends are giving us pottery as a wedding gift!) and taking a walk in nearby Kemback Woods. Although we began our walk around 3.00 and were home by five, the new time change and shortened days meant that we were able to enjoy not only the stunning fall colours, but also sunset over the nearby town of Cupar. Gorgeous!

Today Isaac and I enjoyed communion for the first time since we arrived in Scotland. We've mostly been alternating between the "traditional" and "contemporary" services at our local church. As the skies "pissed" rain all morning, Isaac and I reveled in the warm cosyness of our flat for as long as possible this morning, then dashed to the contemporary (later) service in the downpour. A good friend of ours (also the assistant minister) planned the service to build up, in a non-liturgical but very appropriate way, to the celebration of communion, which was lovely. Afterwards, Isaac and I split a serving of fish & chips and then Isaac headed to the cafe and I to the English Research building. It poured all evening and flooded some as well, so our walk home was a bit puddly, to say the least (apparently a good bit of St. Andrews has flooded). Isaac's now cooking me supper (a lucky wife am I) and we'll hopefully have a chance to relax for the remainder of our evening.

Take care and God bless!

So Long & Thanks for All the Healthy Wishes . . .

Long time no blog, I know. We've been alternately crazily busy and excitingly ill. Alas, the "exciting weekend" I anticipated in my last blog post did not quite materialise as I'd hoped, but Isaac and I did manage to take a nice hike along the Fife Coastal Walk to a rock formation known as the Rock and Spindle on that Saturday.

Last Tuesday, I came down with an exciting stomach flu, which began around midnight and kept me up all morning. By the time Isaac left for work, I felt slightly less queasy, but decided to stay home and rest (a decision facilitated by my super-100. Friday? Isaac woke up in the wee hours with the same ailment. I was a bad wife and left the house after lunch to finish my research overview, which my supervisor is reading this week :). This week (and last week as well, come to think of it), Isaac's been overwhelmed with work and I've been diligently reading and attending numerous evening lectures for general enjoyment. Last night I attended a wonderful lecture given by a local professor of history who argued that the rise of the print book briefly hampered the existence and growth of libraries during the Renaissance; tonight I enjoyed a wonderful lecture on T.S. Eliot's poem "Marina" and the importance of biography (context) to studies of this author.

Outside the classroom and the cafe, we've enjoyed some short hikes, including the coastal one mentioned above, as well as a day trip to the city of Dundee, located perhaps fifteen miles north of St. Andrews.

Isaac here. In Dundee, we enjoyed a pub lunch that stuffed us to the gills--perhaps because our recently-ill stomachs weren't quite up to the task of finishing so much food. We went to an Asian grocery after lunch to buy rice and miso soup mix. I have no idea how much paste to use to make decent miso soup, but at least I've got the first step in the process done. After the grocery, we had it in our heads that walking around for a bit would make us feel less full. We had designs on some sticky toffee pudding back at the pub. Apparently, we were so full that after an hour or so of walking, we couldn't handle the mere thought of more food. So what do you do when you can't eat anymore? You go to Borders, obviously. We spent around an hour or so browsing their selection, and even bought a book!

Our trip back to St. Andrews was uneventful. The important bit is that we stayed mostly dry despite the persistent rain.

On Sunday, we went to the traditional service at Holy Trinity which, though the pews are mighty uncomfortable and I don't know any of the tunes, has the distinct advantage over the other service in that it finishes before noon. Their more modern service (dubbed "Trinity") starts around 12:00, features chairs instead of pews, and has songs I actually know. The afternoon found us napping before a friend's evening birthday party.

Monday brought another cafe opening. I was supposed to work only 6 hours over 2 days this week, but due to illnesses, I've worked around 18 hours over 3 days.

That's about all the news from the edge of the North Sea. Bed beckons, and the promise of a long lie-in in the morning makes the call even sweeter. Goodnight.

Running to Catch Up / Stand Still

Oh, how busy and exhausted and almost-ill and really ill we have been!

Almost immediately after Isaac landed his chef job, he came down with a vibrant and nasty cold, which began with a sore throat and expanded, as colds often do, into headaches and a runny nose and a cough and . . . well, my readers will get the idea. So on his first actual morning of work, my unfortunate but lovely husband, bound by a strong sense of duty, dragged himself from bed at 6 a.m. (if some of you will recall, incidentally, Isaac is not a morning person) and walked to work with his favourite wife, in order that the good patrons of his cafe might have scones and fruit crumble and soup to eat. This early-morning schedule kept up for the first week, and then grew even more daunting; during the second week of work, he was asked to cover the closing shift as well, thus requiring him to be up by six and in town till at least six (sometimes seven) with a long lunch break in between. This, of course, has precluded any substantial healing and also ensured (as I typically walk with him and work a similarly long day) that we've not really seen or cleaned the inside of our beautiful flat. I've so far managed to stave off all but the sore throat, which I consider a fair accomplishment on my part, but studying has occasionally been difficult, as, after numerous exhausting days, my mind sometimes forgets to focus.

Between all these wearying schedules and illnesses and near-illnesses, we've found time to have a little fun. We went in early October to hear a beautiful string quartet play music by Haydn, Mozart, and John Marsh and this past week were given tickets to hear the Scottish Chamber Orchestra play pieces by Borodin and Sibelius, as well as Beethoven's 5th. We've dined out on occasion (mostly when too tired to cook) and spent some enjoyable afternoons at the home of a fellow English student who's been confined to bed of late. We've also endured numerous run-ins with bank tellers, who--though so lovely on my last trip abroad--seem to have turned into incompetent ogres in the space of a year.

The days are already growing shorter: at the beginning of last week, we were able to catch several glorious sunrises as we walked along the beach towards town, but recently the sun has eluded us on our stroll, and we've been enjoying, instead, grey-glowing clouds.

We've finally arrived in the midst of a wonderful three-day weekend, and hope to do something fun with our time before Monday morning strikes again.

Our sunrise last Wednesday (already we had begun to miss the actual "sun" bit!

God bless!

Monday, Monday . . .

This morning, Isaac had his first early shift at the cafe in which he works. We were out the door of our flat by 6.45 and had a beautiful "commute" along the beach as the sun rose over the water, reflected in the wet sand. Sadly, I was carrying a great deal of soup and bypassed the camera this morning, but rest assured that we had the most glorious commute I've ever enjoyed . . . and I'll be taking the camera on another morning, I promise!

We had a lovely and exciting weekend as well. One of my friends here took us out driving with a ordnance map, which clearly marks a number of older and/or ruined buildings in the area. We first visited a lovely old castle . . .


. . . then found a beautiful roofless church nestled in amid a number of fields . . . [please note the cow on the hillside just past the church on the right].

. . . and discovered our last castle (not pictured) was half an archway standing straight up in the middle of a large field.

After a delicious lunch, a trip to the grocery store, and afternoon tea with a dear friend, I strolled home along the beach, dashed into the house, and dragged Isaac back outside with me to see the full moon rising over the North Sea. As you can see, it was gorgeous; the sand reflected just a tiny bit of sunset and the wet sand gleamed like silver in the moonlight. Our house (be jealous) is less than three minutes' walk from this glorious location.

We enjoyed lunch with some dear church friends on Sunday, and I spent my first Sunday morning in the college church (my favourite church building ever) while Isaac cooked away in the cafe. It has been a lovely week!

25

Tuesday was Isaac's 25th birthday, and it was (I thought) a marvellously delightful day. I took the day off from research and enjoyed the opportunity to sleep in and snuggle with my lovely husband. We enjoyed an almost traditional breakfast and spent most of the day relaxing, talking, and generally unwinding--even though life is a lot more gently paced in Scotland, it still feels busy sometimes! We'd been hoping o take a stroll along the Coastal Walk, but a light drizzle kept us inside, and we enjoyed some of the online BBC TV shows and did some sudoku puzzles. Isaac made a large quantity of American biscuits in the afternoon, and I followed that up by cooking dessert and supper while he enjoyed a chance to catch up with family and friends via Skype.

Supper was local lamb chops smothered in garlic, lime, and spices; peas; and rice. We supplemented this with some pear cider (a mutual favourite but a nice treat for Isaac in particular).


After supper Isaac opened most of his gifts, although we broke into the basket earlier in the morning to dig out the (local) fresh-roasted coffee. Most of them are comestibles, as it seemed imprudent to buy lots of large, exciting presents we'd later have to lug several thousand miles around the world.


Last but not least, we finished off the birthday dinner with more of the local coffee and my first attempt at a yellow cake--the cake wasn't bad, but the icing was too runny and thus was drizzled over the cake as a sauce.



Yesterday Isaac received probably his biggest and most exciting birthday present: a brand new job! He'll be working as a chef at one of the local coffee/tea shops, baking scones, making soups, and compiling sandwiches. His cafe is right down the street from the library and my research building, and I'll easily be able to structure my study hours around his work schedule.

That's all for today!

A Relaxing Weekend

This morning one of our mothers emailed us a link to the Fife Coastal Walk, so I thought I should add this exciting photograph of St. Andrews taken from the section of the walk nearest our home (which, ironically, is the section she found to link). Our house is roughly thirty feet or so from the path (I may exaggerate slightly, but not much), or at least from the entrance to it. My goal a year ago was to hike the entire path from end to end (a little over ninety miles, I think), but I ended up merely hiking the eight mile stretch nearest St. Andrews many times over (it was hard to get much farther without busses and other complicated mechanisms). This year, we've brought our camping gear and might be able to manage some longer weekend excursions.

At any rate, we spent our Saturday morning shopping in town and then took a stroll on the Coastal Walk in a southern direction, but headed back quickly as the Swing Dance Society was hosting a barbecue on the beach. Our evening included eating good Scottish beef burgers, watching an undergraduate try to cycle on the beach (photo below), and dancing on the sand at the edge of the North Sea as the sun set. As always, the most fun occasions never get photographed, so I have no images of this wonderfully romantic incident--but it was magical.

The cyclist:


Today we attended church in Holy Trinity Church, located in the town center. The church is famous for having hosted John Knox in its pulpit. I took this photo of the outside of the church last December, so it's a little less grey and misty in these sunny September days.

Settling in . . .

Today I had a cosy morning curled up on the couch with a mug of cocoa (and, of course, my laptop). We've had a busy week thus far. Isaac has been peddling resumes about town, and had an interview of sorts this afternoon (at one of my favourite coffee shops, hurray!). I spent the better parts of Monday and Tuesday slogging through recent journal articles and enjoyed a day off yesterday for a "welcome to graduate school, O English students" seminar that lasted all day and included a free lunch and was followed by a wine and nibbles reception (the nibbles were leftovers from the lunch and thus seemed rather substantial indeed). Today I spent what seemed like hours in lines to matriculate, an endeavor which was fraught with complications (I left my visa at the flat and poor Isaac had to dash back to retrieve it, my ID card went absent due to lack of photo even though when I went to be photographed they found a photo in my account, and--the best part--the individual who will be changing my name on paper next week, who was in the registration building today, asked me to get the registrar to verify my certified copy and fax it to him. Ah, administration. I also stood in the "health services" line for twenty minutes, as required, only to find out that I'm still enrolled (hurray--no paperwork) and Isaac, as a non-student, can't be enrolled at matriculation). I do, however, have an ID card now, although it doesn't (yet) work in the buildings I wish to enter. Ah well. Tomorrow I'm attending an all-day seminar on how to be a productive researcher, and then will eventually have a chance to return to research. Eventually.

I'm really in love with my research, as well as the amazing staff and my fellow students I've met (or seen again) at English department gatherings recently. I am truly blessed to have the most amazing supervisor and a wonderful second supervisor as well. Our flat is gorgeous and the sea is amazing. We wish you would all come visit.

And, as a special treat, our flat (please note the flowers and champagne from our landlords and the supper Isaac so carefully prepared).

Seventeen thousand words . . . or the equivalent thereof . . .

Behold, I give you the photos that should have accompanied yesterday's post, but didn't because I am lazy.

First, a last photograph of our old apartment in Albuquerque. Here you can see the wonderful water slide I fashioned for the water dripping happily from our ceiling. We are so glad that we no longer live there!


I didn't take many photographs of our cross-country drive, but snapped this photograph of New York as our ship left the port.


After the embarkation party, we wandered down to our room, where we found this lovely bottle of champagne awaiting our discriminating tastes.


Each night, while we enjoyed a scrumptious dinner in the main dining room, our steward would enter our room to turn down the sheets, rearrange the pillows, and turn on the lamps. You can also see, at the foot of the bed, our abbreviated newspapers, the schedule for the following day, the room service breakfast menu, and two small chocolates.


We spent a great deal of time on the deck of the ship. This is a view of the wake the ship left behind herself.


Our ship had a lovely theatre and gave the interested public a tour on one of the last mornings.


Isaac decided to try his hand at a table tennis competition.


Afternoon tea was held in this lovely room every afternoon, and accompanied by a variety of skilled musicians. Below that photo is a close-up of a chandelier, secured, quite practically indeed, by four guy wires.



One of the most amazing parts of our cruise was the wonderful, wonderful food. In the first photo is a seafood plate I assembled at one of the four buffets during one lunchtime. Below that is mango panna cotta, a dessert Isaac particularly enjoyed, from one of the other buffets. The lovely ice sculpture is one lone example of the beautiful decorations the buffets used for their culinary displays (most of the other decorations were created entirely out of food).



Finally, a photograph of Isaac at dinner on our last formal night. He is in the process of selecting a wine for the evening and has a plate of lobster and shrimp before him (I chose duck instead).


The sunset was beautiful during our last night aboard, but my photo doesn't do it justice.


Here's a photo of Isaac trying to look bright-eyed and bushy-tailed before our 6.30 a.m. breakfast shortly after the boat docked in Southampton.


From our time in London:

Above, a set of buskers play at the Covent Garden Market. Note that the cellists have their instruments hooked onto their shoulders! Below, the view of London from the cafe at the top of the Tate Modern art museum, where Isaac and I had afternoon tea.

Back to Blogging (yet again!)

Greetings, friends and family! I write from a comfortable couch in our new home, which, ironically, was also my home for a few months about a year ago, when I was finishing my M.Litt. Isaac and I have had an exciting trip to this new home, and are looking forward to a wonderful year abroad, which (if we can manage to keep this blog updated from time to time) we would dearly love to share with all of you, our friends from around the world. Stay tuned--and feel free to nudge us over email or Skype or Facebook if you feel you're missing out too much on our lives.

We left our last home, in the high desert, at the end of August shortly after several days of pouring rain had turned our ceiling into a sieve--and done something similar to our floor, to the consternation of our downstairs neighbor. We had lots of help from our desert friends, and managed to squeeze most of our belongings into a small storage space and eight bursting suitcases before we spent a week driving cross-country, visiting friends in Oklahoma and family in Illinois, Ohio, and Maryland along the way. After three days spent visiting old friends and consolidating the contents of eight bags into six, we headed up to New York City, and eventually sailed east on the beautiful ocean liner Queen Mary II. Six nights of luxury later, we docked in Southampton, traveled to London, and spent a few days sightseeing (and dodging raindrops). Eventually we ventured north to Edinburgh and St. Andrews, where we were greeted by old friends and set up our home in this beautiful flat a few hundred yards from the North Sea.

Actually, we've not had to "set up" much: our flat is fully furnished, from the brand new double bed down to curtains, cutlery, and even towels and soap. Our landlords even put flowers in the living room an master bedroom, compiled a basket of jams and oatcakes (one of my favourite Scottish delicacies), and stocked the kitchen with milk, orange juice, bread, and fruit. We've been thoroughly blessed to have been blessed with this beautiful home!

I realise that's a terse summary, but could probably manage to elaborate on aspects of the trip in the near future, should I be asked. Isaac and I send love to you all--and please come visit!