Three countries, two students, one blog post

March has been a busy travel month. On the last day of February, Isaac headed back to The Homeland, and I am--on the last day of this month--currently back at the Great Repository of Books located in central London:

[This is an old photo, and one that I've used on this blog before, but, really, the British Library doesn't change much from month to month or even year to year].

I'm finally in the really fun stage of my thesis--not that the past eighteen months of work haven't been delightful, rewarding, and just plain wonderful--and I've jumped back into the world of seventeenth-century manuscripts. I'm loving this, and the knowledge that I have about six months of dedicated manuscript research awaiting me is unutterably exciting. Today I'm reading two poetical manuscript miscellanies from the 1620s-30s, and have been enjoying similar tomes all week.

And, well, not to bore you all with the intricacies of seventeenth-century secretary hand and poetic revision, in between Isaac's trip to Amerikaland and my brief and current journey to England (a very-early-morning train adventure of this past Monday), we've also recently celebrated Pi Day.

For our Pi Day festivities, Isaac took me to a wonderful little town called Blair Atholl, just a few hours' train ride from St Andrews, where we enjoyed the snow-covered hills . . .

. . . walked along forest creeks and snowdrop paths . . .

. . . enjoyed some random decorations . . .

. . . and sampled local blended whisky (as well as some local beers, not pictured, from a charming one-man microbrewery).

We also read books by the fireside, wandered around the outside of a castle, tried on lovely woolen garments, walked across the River Tilt, ate breakfast in an enormous old baronial hall with stuffed hunting trophies on the walls, played puzzle games in a pub (near another roaring fire), and took several lovely walks. It was a delightful holiday.