When life gets full, it also gets random.

A random assortment of things from me to you, from my world to yours as a testimony to what my life looks like these days.  Random and full.

1) Back on November 30 the town celebrated the annual St Andrew’s Day, consisting of a huge procession of pipers, torch bearers, weird fish people (typical oddities in every public celebration here), and, of course, that which makes a Scottish procession complete—men in skirts kilts.  The procession led to an amazing display of fireworks (for St Andrews quality, that is) nearby the Old Course Hotel, before rounding back up to the city centre for the world’s largest outdoor street ceilidh (a Scottish country dance party)!   I do love me a good street dance!

2) Because St Andrew’s Day is a national celebration, many of the historic sites are open for visitors, and are free!  Here in St Andrews, one of the greatest attractions, particularly for women, is the open doors of The Royal and Ancient Clubhouse.   Normally only members of the R&A are allowed inside, and only men are allowed to be members of the R&A.  I’m all for traditions, so I’ll let it slide.  And I couldn’t care less about golf.  Nevertheless, on St Andrews Day each year, non-members of both genders are allowed inside its doors to sneak a peak at what only the elite few ever get to enjoy.  It’s pretty cool, but nothing to get your knickers in a twist over.  It was, however, pretty cool to look out over the 18th green from within the clubhouse.

3) In other news, in church on Sunday an older Scottish man said to me, ‘Ye know, yer quite aye haesler (hustler)’!  If I hadn’t been stationary when he said it, I probably wouldn’t have thought twice about the seemingly out of context phrase.  Nevertheless, I decided I didn’t want to know what exactly he meant by it.  ‘Gee, thanks’.  Later I asked another Scottish person what it meant, and they said it is someone who ‘Get’s things done’.  I suppose that’s okay!

4) Also on Sunday, I met someone at church for the first time.  We exchanged a few words previous to the service, after which we continued the conversation.  Upon resuming the dialogue, she said to me, ‘I thought I detected a slight French accent at first’. 

Bahahaha!!!  I know, right?  French?!  Minnesotan is as far from French as one can get!

5) We had the St Mary’s (Divinity School of the U of SA) Carol Sing in the St Leonard’s Chapel the other night.  It is entirely lit by candles, drafty, and oh so great for singing the sharp notes of ‘O Come O Come Emmanuel’.

6) And the University of St Andrews has also had its yearly carol service at Holy Trinity Church.  It is a much larger service, church, choir and sound than the St Mary’s Carol Sing, making each good in their own ways.  (The background picture on this blog is of Holy Trinity Church.)

7) We’ve had some pretty cold temperatures (low-30’s in the daytime and mid-20’s at night) with lots of freezing rain, black ice, and frost on the grass that doesn’t leave for days on end.  It’s a chilly cycle ride to work in the mornings.  And slippery.  And dark.  The sun is rising these days at 8:30 am and setting at 3:30 pm, and we’re still 1.5 weeks from the solstice.  

8) Tragically, a St Andrews student was killed in a car accident two weekends ago due to nasty roads.  She and I were tutors together at the University.  I didn’t know her super well, but well enough.  So not only has that been sad to think about, but my work load has instantly doubled.  And my boss has been sick for the last week.  So make that a tripled work load.  The semester is just two weeks away from being done though, so it will all end soon.

9) Unfortunately, I had planned on having a chapter written by the end of this week.  I’m not sure it’s going to happen now due to the tripled tutoring hours, but I’m trying to make a valiant effort nonetheless.  Talk about long days of darkness.  Metaphorically and Literally.

10) On a happier note, I finished a shawl that I’ve been working on for Judith, my land lady, for her Christmas gift.  I think it looks great.  One really can accomplish a lot by spending just ten minutes every day or so! 

11) A few of the things I’m loving these days:  mornings of German by a warm Aga, nights of reading by a COAL fire, phone conversations with friends near and far, reading with a small dog snuggled next to me.

12) To continue the randomness of all of this…. For all of you moms of wee ones, I’d like to point you to my friend Betsy’s blog.  I’m not a mom, but I look forward to every post she makes.  Her daughter, Norah, is the most verbal child I’ve ever met, and comes up with the most hilarious things to say.  Check out the ‘Lately Said’ on the right side of the page.  You young (and experienced) mom’s may especially like one of her last posts:  winter and the hereafter. 

13) And another one:  Another blog I like is a winter resident’s in Cooke City who posts some of the most incredible pictures of winter sights and adventures there.  I’ve never met him, but, like Betsy’s, I look forward to every picture he posts.  Check it out:  The Cooke City Chronicle. 

14) I will unashamedly say that Christmas is never easy away from home, and especially not this far from home.  Please send me emails or cards telling me all about your lives these days.  Any sense of connectedness helps me to get through the season with a bit more joy that I would otherwise have.  You are all constantly in my thoughts.

16) Okay – that’s all for a study break tonight!  Good night from Scotland!

Mountain-Side and Sea-Side Women Unite!

Isn’t she just the cutest little old lady that you’ve ever laid your eyes on?  I mean, really.  Just look at her polka dotted shirt and that neck bow tie, and her soft hair as white as snow speaking silently of days past when it was gorgeous long blonde locks glowing in the summer sun.  Her name is Janet, and standing at a feisty five feet tall, she is one mean knitter. 

When I think about all that is similar and different between my former life in the mountains and my new life here on the edge of the sea, there are several parts I could write about.  One cross-over in particular that I didn’t expect pre-departure was that I’d somehow find myself (again) with a group of women, primarily ages 55-80, who gather together to sew, knit, craft, and of course, to chat.  How could anything as great as a group of women who got together to do crafty things and called themselves the “SCAT Club” be replicated?  Well, they can’t, for sure.  And never will be.  But I have stumbled on a group of women with a similar, albeit less rugged, mentality. 

I’ve left the “SCAT Club” behind on the mountain and joined the “Pins and Needles Club.”  They are a group of women, all substantially older than myself (by 25 years minimum probably), who meet fortnightly at my church, some of them doing so now for more years than I can remember.  And while there may be no “Sunlight” or “Crandall” in the mix, there certainly are “Artistic Tea.drinkers!”

While there is no one even close to my age here…

There are those who are more focused and those who are, shall we say…. less focused.  The social encouragers, if you will.

And while there are no antelope watching over us, there is no Question of the Day or a four course simple soup and salad meal, I don’t snowmobile to get there half of the year, and I highly doubt there will be a Not-Your-Typical Thursday here, there are friends sharing in life together, doing the things they love.

Both are different.  Both are good.  But one is still unbeatable.

Hat, Sweater, Hat

One year ago I learned how to knit, or at least I learned a "knit stitch."  Since then I've made hats and a baby blanket.  Who would have thought, right?  My project for this winter was going to be to tackle a toddler sweater for my friend's child Norah who will be two in December.  At a minimum I thought it would take me three months to do and I even made it (what I thought would be) a size too big in case it took even longer to accomplish than intended.  Compared to what I had done to-date, this sweater was complex.  It required a collar and sleeves and a shaped neckline and a button, etc.  More than the straight lines of a blanket. 

Well, it didn't take the expected three months or more.  In fact, it took about one month!  I started in October when my mom was out and had it in the mail the beginning of November!  I guess I had never worked with "chunky" yarn before (this was called "Poof" and it was super, super soft) and didn't realize how the combination of chunky yarn and big needles can make a project come together in no time at all!  And because it took so little time, I whipped up a couple hats to throw in, one for Norah and one for her sister who came along only a couple weeks ago, Baby Harriet.
 

Here's Norah sporting her sweater and hat.  Her mom says she's made it her fashion statement to wear her hats high on her head!  Isn't she adorable?  And I'm told the sweater fits perfectly!  Without having a child Norah's age around, I had no one to test the size on!

And here's Baby Harriet sporting her hat.  She's got some room to grow into it!

I'm A Knitter!

I've had many "firsts" here in Cooke City, but one of the most surprising, even to myself, is that I have now knitted my first ever baby blanket!  All by myself!  "Domestic" is not a word I would use to describe myself, but if knitting is considered domestic, then I might be more so than I thought.  I really enjoyed knitting this blanket this past spring/summer.  Last fall when I first arrived, I stayed with a lady from the church who taught me the simple knit stitch - way back last October.  Since then I've learned the pearl stitch and have knitted several hats, scarves, and this blanket; but the blanket was by far the most time-consuming project.  You'll notice the ripples in the pattern - the time it took to knit the four rows from ripple to ripple was about 50 minutes.  So 50 minutes times however many ripples there are = lots of hours.  They were all worth it.  It was knitted with a special baby in mind and I can't wait to give it away... and start a new one!