Sunny Afternoon

The law firm Dave works for has recently opened a new branch in Carnoustie, a town about 30 minutes or so from Dundee. Although the office has been open for a few weeks now, the official opening do was last Friday after work. They've done some renovations on the office and it's looking really good. On the way home from Carnoustie, we popped into Aldi (discount supermarket originally from Germany) and picked up some peanut brittle. Yum.

Last Friday was also my friend Lydia's birthday so I made a quick turn around after getting home from Dave's office party and headed out to "Antonio's" to celebrate. It was an Italian restaurant, as the name might suggest. Unfortunately, I was pretty full from the food I'd eaten earlier in the evening so I had to bypass the amazing looking mains and settle for an appetizer.

We bought a rotary drier for the back yard a couple of weeks ago, but yesterday was the first free day we've had where the weather has been nice enough to let us pour the concrete for the base and have some hope of it drying the same day. I christened the drier this afternoon and took a picture to mark the auspicious occasion. We have a drying area at the front of the house, but it's right on the public footpath so I rarely use it unless I'm going to be home the whole time to keep an eye on the clothes. Not that I think anyone's likely to march of with my knickers. :D


I did hang up some towels to dry out front recently and it did look like I was making some sort of patriotic guesture.

This is a picture of the home-made pizza that Dave made last night for supper. He even made the dough and sauce from scratch. I was impressed. Of course it was a Meat Lovers pizza with extra meat and extra cheese. Typically Dave. He doesn't consider anything a proper meal unless there's meat in it.


While I've been sitting blogging, here's what Dave's been up to:


Off to enjoy the rest of the sunny afternoon.

Lamb, Hairspray and Potatoes

After getting home from work last night, Dave and I decided to treat ourselves to a meal out. We went to the Riverside Inn which used to be the Marmalade Pot before it changed hands. I ordered a lamb shank and really enjoyed it since I rarely have lamb. Decided to have dessert at home so sat back watching TV and eating mango sorbet. Carte d'Or does a really nice one with tiny bits of mango in it...yum!

This morning I scoured the internet and finally found semi-affordable tickets for "Hairspray" in the West End. It's playing at the Shaftesbury Theatre so Sharaya and I will be going on the Friday night when we're in London.

There's a ceilidh tonight to raise funds for a hospital in Cameroon so I was down at the church this afternoon peeling potatoes for stovies. Between the 3-4 of us, we peeled 22kg of potatoes. No worse for it, except that I developed a slight pressure blister on my finger where it was resting against the peeler. Got a bright blue bandaid over it until it heals. Tesco recently had a sale on bandaids and the blue food hygiene approved ones are the only ones that are waterproof so I went with those. The water-resistant ones are pretty useless.

Tomorrow's Mothering Sunday here and Dave's all prepared. I still have to get a card for my mom so I'll have something to send her come May. The first year I was here I totally forgot that there would be nothing in the card shops when the North American Mother's Day arrived. Live and learn I guess.

The time doesn't go ahead until next weekend so I've got one more week of having my friends and family 3, 6, and 7 hours behind me. Must remember to change the batteries in my smoke alarms and carbon monoxide detector next weekend.

Bowling

On Thursday, the department wrapped up a big sponsored study so we headed off to the bowling alley to celebrate. This was only the second time I've done "3-hole" bowling as I call it, where the balls are massive and you have to jam your fingers into the slots. I couldn't get past the risk of being dragged down the lane if my fingers got stuck in the holes, so I resorted to bowling with 2 hands. It served me well. In our second game I lost by a mere 6 points with a score of 116.


Pete - our disabled bowler. He'd chopped his finger the night before with a carving knife while making dinner. The cut bled for hours so he ended up having to go to the Emergency Department to get it glued shut and bandaged.


Tricia and Pippa fighting over their preferred bowling ball.


One of my bowling shoes (UK size 4). Since moving to the UK I have been known to buy kids shoes occasionally. They're not taxed so they're super cheap. In Canada, my feet were small but not small enough to fit into kids' sizes.


Pete and Karen facing off.


The electronic score boards. Not entirely accurate if you ask me.


Sri getting ready to demonstrate his cat-like prowess.



Tricia celebrating. I didn't manage to rotate the film so you'll have to do a head tilt.

Dried Apricots**

On Tuesday night, Spanky's Heroes (Dave's band) played at the final for Marrow Dundee's Battle of the Bands. Marrow Dundee is a local charity that works to recruit people for the global bone marrow donor register. Anyway, Spanky's Heroes beat out 16 other bands to win the competition! Needless to say I was really proud of them. Anyone who's interested in hearing their music can check them out at myspace.com/spankysheroes. Their CD "Out of the Depths" is also available on iTunes.

In other news, I'm going to have my first publication credit in the next few weeks! The abstract for the swimmers' study that I mentioned in my last entry is being submitted for publication and I'm listed as one of the authors.

Sharaya and I are planning a trip to London for a long weekend in April and I booked the tickets on Thursday. Managed to get a sweet deal - return flights for £29 ($53). So now we're having fun planning what to do while we're down there. The Wilkies (Dave's family have been friendly with them for ages) are putting us up so that's accommodation sorted out.

We finally replaced our microwave this week. I never realised how much I use it until I didn't have it. It's our 3rd microwave in 2 1/2 years. They always seem to break just after the warranty expires and it's cheaper to replace than repair.

I went to see "The Young Victoria" this afternoon and Dave's grandmother came along with me. I've always enjoyed historical films and thought this one was really good. After the film I went back to Granny Anderson's flat for tea and cakes. While I was there, she showed me a family tree of the royal family that her husband's father had researched. It went back to a few generations before Queen Victoria and showed dates of birth and death and marriage dates. Dave's great-grandfather died in 1951 so the last entries were the births Prince Charles and Princess Anne. It was amazing how much time and effort it would have taken for him to put it all together, and seemed strange that today I take for granted that I can type "British Royal Family Tree" into Google and I have all the information instantly.

No plans so far for the rest of the weekend. Off to have dinner......

**DISCLAIMER: The title has nothing to do with the actual content of today's blog, and instead refers to the food I've been munching on while writing.

Catch up

I knew it had been a while since I'd updated this, but I didn't realize quite how long it had been! I was having trouble thinking about what I've done since I last wrote, so I'll refer to my handy planner.

January 25
Dave's mom won a photo shoot from a local photographer so she, Andrew, Peter, Euan, Dave and I go along to get some pics taken. I'm having flashbacks of picture day at school--especially the one in grade 4 when the camera lens had a hair on it and the pictures came back with a large hair hanging off the end of my nose. At least that's what my mom said to make me feel better. Maybe there was a hair on my nose. Needless to say, I went for re-takes. Anyway, writing about our most recent picture escapade has reminded me that we haven't gotten the pictures back yet. I'll have to ask Elspeth about that.

January 27
My friend Carrie who used to work with me at Ninewells has returned from her year-long trip to New Zealand and it's great catching up with her. She sent semi-regular email updates to her friends and family while she was away, but it's always nice hearing about stuff in person. She's heading back in mid-March for another year.

January 30
The bottom of my pull-along box of supplies that I take with me when I'm doing study visits at GP offices falls apart when I get off the bus with it, blocking the exit of everyone else from the bus. 47% of the contents fall in a large muddy puddle under the bus and I have muddy water on my face for the first time since going to the mudflats in Nova Scotia. More people than necessary rush to my assistance, exponentially magnifying my embarrassment. As the bus stop is at the hospital entrance, I phone the office for someone to come down with a replacement trolley. As I wait, my appearance elicits looks of sympathy or disgust from those passing by.

January 31
Sharaya and I go to Broughty Ferry for ice cream at Visoci's and a walk along the waterfront and castle. The fact that it is extremely cold and windy doesn't deter us.

February 1
I accompany the church's African choir on my guitar. The ladies in the choir take pictures of the group and laugh at how the flash reflects off my pale skin, making me look like a light bulb.

February 8
I arrive in Stirling (about an hour's drive from Dundee) at 6.30am to help with a study involving competitive swimmers from across the region. We're all there until about 2.00pm and are sustained by lots of coffee and croissants. I decide that I will not actively encourage my children to go into competitive swimming.

February 9
I have my fastest dentist appointment ever. No more than 5 minutes in the chair!

February 14
Valentine's Day. Dave and I go to see "Bolt" in 3D. I think the 3D glasses make us look like Roy Orbison. We have lunch at "Bon Appetit" (a local French restaurant). One wall has clippings from various French newspapers and Dave amuses himself my asking me to translate them. My attempts at translation are modest at best and completely inaccurate at worst.


February 19
We get a Wii! I receive confirmation from the Wii Fit that I am indeed 24 years old and my mother has not been lying to me about when I was born.

February 27
We go to the bi-weekly movie night at Neil and Felicity's. Everyone contributes £3 and Neil and Felicity make dinner and desert and we watch a film. Last night was roast beef/roast chicken, sweet potatoes/roast potatoes, and various veg while watching "A Knight's Tale". Afterwards we play "Rub-a-Dub" on Playstation 3 where you have to round up all the rubber ducks before they are eaten by sharks and without falling off the edge of the tub. Bizarre game, but good fun.

So that brings me to the present. I slept until 10 this morning in an attempt to make up for all my really early starts at work this week. Just finished my breakfast and then planning to catch up on a bit of the housework that I've neglected to do this week. Going over to Ross and Justine's tonight. They have a 2-year-old son Roory (that's a phonetic spelling since I don't know the proper spelling) who's one of the cutest kids ever.

I guess that's me caught up. Resolving not to let my blog get so neglected in future.

An assortment of subjects

Well, it's a new year, and a new DIY project has begun in the Morrison house. Carpet needs to be put down in the spare room, so I thought I'd take the opportunity to get rid of the nasty orange and yellow striped wallpaper that's been there since we bought the house, and paint the room a colour that I actually like. I don't know what colour it's going to be, except that it will be some variation on a neutral shade. Suggestions welcome!

Last Friday I tried out the Nintendo Wii for the first time. A girl from work got one for Christmas and I had a go on it with Wii Sports and the Wii Fit. I woke up Saturday morning feeling fine and thinking I'd managed to avoid any muscle soreness. I was soooooo wrong. On Sunday morning I was incredibly stiff. I think I had a mild case of Wii elbow (got a little carried away with the pitching during our baseball competition) and the hula hooping had done a number on my hips. It was like I'd aged 30 years overnight. Was fine by Monday morning though so it didn't put me off having another go in the future.

Here's a picture of the cross-stitch pattern I recently finished. I still need to frame it, but I think this is the first full-sized one I've ever finished. The last time I did any cross-stitch was when I was around 12 and my efforts were confined to bookmarks and small Christmas ornaments.

We watched this film last night, but I felt like I didn't want to just sit and watch a film so I decided to keep my hands busy....


This is the dish cloth I started at the beginning of the film and worked on for the duration of it. Hopefully I'll get faster so that I can actually complete an entire one in 2 1/2 hours.

The leftover pancakes from breakfast this morning. We decided to make a batch and start on the 1.89 litres of maple syrup that was given to us in the fall. I think it'll end up being my equivalent to the massive roll of Vita Wrap that lasted the family for something like 5 years when I was growing up.

Lauren and Steve over one night last week. I introduced them to Dutch Blitz and was promptly beaten by Steve two games in a row. Beginner's luck. It was a bit chilly that night so Lauren was wrapped up in a blanket that Mom crocheted for us two years ago.

What was left of Dave's "7 cup Dumpling". Like the name would suggest, it's made with a cup each of 7 different ingredients. Like a fruitcake - very yummy! Stuff on the right is a brandy sauce which wasn't that great, but it was store bought so I guess it wasn't our fault. :)

It's been a while since I've gotten any significant amount of reading done, so I've decided to start back into reading a bit each evening. Since making the resolution, I've finished "Papillon" by Henri Charriere. The book is about how he was given a life sentence of hard labour for a murder he didn't commit and his insane number of escape attempts he made before he was able to get away and settle in Venezuale. I think I would have given up after the 2nd failed attempt if I'd bothered to try at all. Next on the list is "Lord of the Flies". It's one of the many 20th century classics I seem to have missed out on.